A group of Greeks from Tenedos, living in Melbourne will organise a journey to their homeland in order to celebrate the feast day of St. Paraskevi on July 26.
Antonios Limnios, who is currently living in Melbourne, said that although he was forced to leave his home at the age of 13, in the 60s, he never forgot his homeland, Tenedos, like most Tenedians across the world. Limnios stated that the Turkish regime forced all Greeks to abandon the island. They were forced to sold their properties and leave. “We visit our island often since we can’t forget it,” he said.
The islands of Tenedos and Imbros were ceded according to the Treaty of Lausanne to the new Turkish republic that emerged with the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire in 1923. The treaty called for a quasi-autonomous administration to accommodate the local Greek population and excluded the Greeks on the two islands from the wider population exchanges that took place between Greece and Turkey.
However, the terms of the treaty were violated. The Turkish authorities confiscated the Greek properties, desecrated orthodox churches and closed the Greek schools. The Greek residents of the islands were forced to abandon their homes. Today the remaining Greek residents on the two islands are mostly elders.