Imbros Greeks in the changing symbolic economy of Gökçeada

Gökçeada, one of the North Aegean Islands, has experienced a remarkable transformation in recent history. Until the 1970s, the island was predominantly inhabited by Greek Orthodox Christians, but since then there has been a rapid decline in the Greek population. In inverse proportion to the decrease in the Greek population, there has been an increase in the Turkish and Muslim population on the island. In this framework, it is argued in the thesis that the Turkification policies have resulted in this situation. With the neoliberal policies pursued in the economy and the effect of the European Union candidacy process, it has been observed that there has been an increase in the Greek population on the island, although it has not reached the previous quantity. The reasons for the migration of the Greeks from the island formerly known as Imbros, the process of Imbros becoming Gökçeada and how Gökçeada remembers the Greeks are analysed, as well as the extent to which Gökçeada relies on the symbolic culture of the Greeks of Imbros in the neoliberal era. It is noteworthy that the Traditional Gökçeada Film Festival, the first of which was held in 1998 and Panaiya, which is sacred for the Greeks, coincide with the same period. In addition, the transformation of the symbolic capital of the Greeks into symbolic economy is revealed, considering the tourism policies in which the symbolic cultural elements specific to the Greeks come to the fore.