Forgetting to Forget, 1923–1944 and not regard oneself as Turkish. Accordingly, satisfying these criteria,
a handful of notable Dönme, such as Ahmet Kapancı’s son Mehmet
Kapancı (and not Ahmet Kapancı himself, as is commonly thought in
Greece), managed to remain. According to a Kapancı interviewee, some
members of her family, who were important timber merchants, were able
to remain in Thessaloníki after the population exchange because they had
obtained either Albanian or Serbian citizenship.^9
The situation faced by the Dönme who remained in Thessaloníki was
similar to that facing the Dönme who were beginning a new life in Is-
tanbul. The period after the founding of the Turkish Republic was much
worse for the Dönme in Thessaloníki than the era between the Greek
conquest of the city and the population exchange, when some Dönme at
least were able to retain their posts and properties. Articles in the Greek
newspaper Efēmeris tōn Balkaniōn (Newspaper of the Balkans) from the
years immediately following the population exchange provide testimony
to the negative sentiment the Dönme faced in the city that had once been
their main home. One notable article from 1923 , entitled “The Trial of
Osman Said,” informs us that the last Ottoman mayor of the city was
put on trial, and charged with high treason.^10 Osman Said had been ar-
rested and imprisoned along with the mufti of Thessaloníki following the
rout of the Greek forces in Anatolia and the burning of Izmir in 1922.
Both men were released, however, and Osman Said left Thessaloníki that
summer after being acquitted of all charges.^11 The mayor’s sisters were ap-
parently inconsolable over having to leave their beloved city for Turkey.^12
One reason may be how comfortably they lived. The Mixed Commission
records provide evidence of the extent of the family’s property and wealth.
Safiye, Osman Said’s wife, owned so much property that she had to insert
additional pages into the standard form.^13 The family of Osman Said’s
brother Osman Adil also owned much property.^14 In 1925 , Anatolian ex-
changees were allocated land on the estate of Hamdi Bey, Osman Said’s
father, as part of the process of the state expropriating land and handing
it over to refugee groups, who built homes on it. Ironically, this included
sixty refugee tram drivers, who thus settled on the estate of the architect
of Salonika’s tramway system.^15
That same year the Efēmeris tōn Balkaniōn published several inflamma-
tory articles concerning another significant Dönme family when it ran
stories about Mehmet Kapancı, the son of Ahmet. It questioned Mehmet
Kapancı’s citizenship and right to own property. If Mehmet Kapancı was