Istanbul
lack of government assistance made them rely more on their local relatives
in Istanbul.
From records at the Archive of the Republic in Ankara, one learns that
most Dönme arrived in Turkey self-divided into Yakubi, Karakaş, and
Kapancı extended family groups, sometimes as many as over three dozen
people together. They made the journey in the summer and fall of 1924 ,
after most other Salonikan Muslims had already departed, and a full year
after the migration process had begun. It seems the Dönme were in no
hurry to leave Salonika; they quit the city in the last months before the
terminal date set for Muslims to leave Greece. One can chart a Dönme
migration calendar. The Karakaş came first. The Kibar family came in
the third week of July; the Balcı, two months later, in the third week of
September; the Karakaş (including Karakaş Mehmet’s son Ali Macit),^68
Dilber (including Kibar Muhsin),^69 Şemsi Efendi (his wife Makbule and
daughters Yekta and Marufe),^70 and Şamlı families (such as that of Dr.
Ahmet Tevfik),^71 in the first week of October. After the Karakaş came the
Hamdi Bey (Yakubi) group in the second week of October. Finally, the
last to leave were the Kapancı, including the Kapancı family and the Akif
clan, including the wives, sons, and daughters of Mehmet, Yusuf, and
Ahmet Kapancı, and the son and daughters of Hasan Akif. They waited
until the last day of October. Some important families, such as the İpekçi,
are not documented, leading one to conclude they migrated either before
or after the population exchange, or during the exchange but outside of
governmental channels.
By 1924 , Mehmet Kapancı and his two brothers, Ahmet and Yusuf, and
other leading merchants, such as Hasan Akif, Karakaş Mehmet, and Mus-
tafa Cezar, leading lights such as Şemsi Efendi, and local politicians such
as Hamdi Bey had already died. Mehmet Kapancı must have passed away
on the brink of being deported, because he was still listed as being alive in
a document concerning the liquidation of the assets of his daughter Safi-
naz dated January 1924.^72 At the time of the population exchange, some
of the children of leading Dönme resided in central and western Europe,
such as Hasan Akif ’s tobacco merchant son Osman Nuri and his wife
İkbal, who lived in Vienna.^73 In 1922 , the Greek municipality confiscated
Osman Nuri Akif ’s property in Hamidiye at number 141 Odos Basilissis
Olgas (formerly Hamidiye Boulevard). Although he lived in Vienna, he
pursued his claim with the Mixed Commission, even submitting a letter
addressed to the municipality in Greek, and demanded monetary com-