In the first years of the republic population exchange stories from crete to Söke

The period after the Balkan Wars and during World War I was signified by more andmore nationalization of the Balkans and Anatolia. After the Lausanne Treaty in 1923, hundredthousands of people had to migrate from Turkey or Greece where they were born and grownup, because of the obligatory population exchange that was signed by the governments; sothey left their country behind. This migration was not their decision, but determined theirfuture. This population exchange is the greatest one that Anatolia and Greece have everwitnessed just in a little time in history. With this change, both countries were morehomogenized on a national basis. Amongst the immigrants, Cretans who settled in Söke, wereso special that their cultural, economic and even liguistic characterictics were so differentfrom the others. The Turkish immigrants faced a lot of difficulties before and after theyarrived in Söke. The adaptation process of 1923 immigrants is coming to an end in bothGreece and Turkey. After begining with historical situation, the research is based onnarrations of emmigrants and second and third generations about socio-cultural andeconomical life before and especially just after the migration. Morever, changes of cultural,social and economic values in the process of adaptation to new social environment after sometime and after migration were studied in terms of historic techniques.