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Again, for the sake of comparison against the events which under theleadership of Atatürk led to the building of a centralised modern state,one is inclined to recall the support given at the beginning of this centuryby a few Greek idealists to the idea of preservation of the Ottoman empire,which they thought should take the form of a multinational federation.They held a sincere belief that the cultural ties which existed betweenthe multiethnic inhabitants of Anatolia vvere suffıcient to securetheir coexistence and cooperation 2 . It proved at the time an utopian vision.Hovvever in our times that vision reflects the ideological undercurrentof a vvhole system of political and legal precepts, aimed at the protectionof minorities. It corresponds as well to the norm of preservation ofthe territorial integrity of multinational and federal states.In the same vein of thoughts I would wish to refer to that cardinalcatastrophic event of exodus of Greeks from Anatolia and Thrace 3 , aswell as of Turks from Greece, a topic that cannot be ignored as we arepassing under review the stages of creation of the Turkish Republic. Ishal not speak of my own thoughts when referring to the tragic eventswhich again occurred 75 years ago, but of those of a most talented writerand an enlightened mind of modern Turkey, Yaşar Kemal who some timeago, speaking in public, deplored the lack of political courage and visionwhich, as he put it, vvould have prevented to submit 1.500.000 Greeksand 500.000 Turks to the most cruel fate of forced expatriation. WhatYaşar Kemal said should not be heard as a lament on things past, of whatcould have been avoided, but rather as an appeal for the acceptance of the"otherness", an appeal to national tolerance, and as rejection of ethniccleansing.The events of 1923, namely the outcome of the war of independence,form a new historic departure for Turkey. She then enters into a new relationshipwith the western world and aspires to a new European identitywhich atatürk is striving to secure to her. On the other hand, the sameevents mark for Greece the end of a historic period, loaded with visionsnot of Byzantine splendour, but of a purposeful irredentist move to expansioninto territories where lived millions of Greeks. It can be said withcertainty that page of Greek history, and that of the Great Idea since thenwere defınitively closed. It would be groundless to argue othenvise.However a new page in the relations of the two countries did openbetween Greece and Turkey, after the final settlement of territorial issues,the exchange of populations and other important matters by the signing of2. See Professor Thanos Veremis, "History of Greek-Turkish Relations, 1453-1998",Ed. (in Greek) ELIAMEP and I Sideris, p. 53.3. On ythat issue the "Centre for Asia Minör Studies" of athens, under the directorshipof Professor P. Kitromilidis remains the main source of research and historiographicmatterial published under its aegis.561