Greek adolescents on the Asia Minor Catastrophe: perceptions of the past, views on the present, expectations for the future

The year 2022 marked one hundred years since the defeat of Greece in the Greco–Turkish war (1919–22) and the end of the Greek presence in Asia Minor, two events that are registered in Greek historiography and collective historical memory as the ‘Asia Minor Catastrophe’. The Asia Minor Catastrophe gradually evolved into an important pillar for the formation of collective memory and historical consciousness in modern Greece. However, its links with contemporary historical culture and the attitudes of Greek citizens on critical foreign policy issues, especially regarding Türkiye, have not been explored. For example, does the historical perception of the Asia Minor Catastrophe influence citizens’ attitudes regarding Greek–Turkish relations? Do Greek citizens’ views on contemporary Greek–Turkish differences determine their historical perception of the Asia Minor Catastrophe? With these thoughts in mind and in order to address the above question, we attempted to explore 18-year-old adolescents’ perceptions of the Asia Minor Catastrophe. The sample for the research involved 20 18-year-olds attending a state school in Athens in spring 2022. A semi-structured interview was chosen as the main research tool for the study, and the views expressed by the participants were recorded, while the data analysis followed the lines of qualitative content analysis. Adolescents’ perception of the Asia Minor Catastrophe seems to influence their attitude towards contemporary Greek–Turkish issues.