Modern Comprehension of the Treaty of Lausanne (1923): Historical Documentary, Searching for Rodakis by Kerem Soyyilmaz
Authors: Semertzian Theodora , Ifigeneia Vamvakidou , Koutroukis Theodore , Ivasina Heleni I. 
Published: December 2024

This study analyzes the award-winning documentary film SEARCHING FOR RODAKIS, directed by Kerem Soyyilmaz, produced in 2023. The aim is the historic comprehension and analysis of this filmic narrative in the field of social-semiotic literacy and its utilization in historical studies for approaching issues of conflict in modern History, otherness, collective experience and trauma, collective memory. The research material is the documentary "Searching for Rodakis" (Produced by: Denmark, Turkey 2023, Screenplay/Director: Kerem Soyyilmaz, Duration: 57'), received the awards: Adana Golden Boll FF 2023 Turkey | Best Documentary, Thessaloniki International Doc. Festival 2023 Greece, Greek Film Festival Los Angeles 2023 USA, Istanbul Documentary Days 2023 Turkey. The historic context: the year of production, 2023, coincides with the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne, where Turkey's current borders were set and the "population exchange" legally sealed, i.e. the violent expulsion of 400,000 Muslims, citizens of Greece, many of whom spoke only Greek, and 200,000 Orthodox citizens of Turkey, who in the majority spoke Turkish. At the same time, the Treaty (1923) ratified and finalized the expulsion of approximately one million Orthodox who were forced to leave the Ottoman Empire as well as 120,000 Muslims who had fled Greece since the beginning of the Balkan Wars (1912-1913). About two million people emigrated, lost their citizenship and property, in the context of "national homogeneity" that connotes an ethnic cleansing, with the official states ignoring the criticisms of lawyers and academics who spoke of violations of constitutional rights. Mohammedan Greeks, estimated at around 190,000 as early as 1914, based on ecclesiastical statistics in the Pontus region, did not receive attention from the provisions of the Treaty of Lausanne even though linguistically and culturally (origin, customs, culture and traditions) they did not differ in any way from the orthodox Greeks. In Turkey there was general indifference to the thousands of desperate people who arrived, with the exception of a few academics and the Lausanne Exchange Foundation. The filmic scenario: as a Greek tombstone of unknown origin is discovered underneath the floorboards in an old village house in Turkey, an almost forgotten story from the country&rsquo;s creation unravels; the forced population exchange between Greece and Turkey in 1923. The engraved Greek letters tell of a woman, Chrysoula Rodaki, who died in 1887. Thus the search for her descendants begins: it leads director Kerem Soyyilmaz to local archives, where his own family's role in history is laid bare; to abandoned ghost towns and through the memories of older villagers &ndash; all while Soyyilmaz meets massive support for his quest from Greeks on the other side of the border. The stone becomes a portal to the past &ndash; and for a while, the trauma becomes redeemed when the previous owners of the village house return. Searching for Rodakis is a movie that reconnects people, culture, and the stories that were discarded in order to build a strong, nationalist state &ndash; told through the director's personal experiences. The release also marks the 100-year anniversary of the forced population exchange. Image 1, Poster- https://www.filmy.gr/movies-database/searching-for-rodakis/ The research questions as they arise from the cinematographic material itself, are: How the historical memory of traumatic events of the previous century such as the exchange of populations according the Treaty of Lausanne is recorded in the cinematographic narrative? What are the historical sources? To what extent did the origin, ethnicity, geographical location of the narrators as participants influence the preservation of historical memory and the historical research? What are the criteria of the approach of the creator, what are the criteria of the participants? Methodologically, we apply the historic and the socio-semiotic analysis in the field of the public and digital history. The results: the types of historical sources found in filmic public discourse are the oral narration of testimonies, of experiences and of memories, the director&rsquo;s historical research in state archives, the material culture objects and the director&rsquo;s digital research. Thus, historic thematic categories occur, such as a) the specific persons and actions by country in Turkey/Greece, by action as on-site and online research, by type of historical source, as oral testimonies, as research in archives, as objects of material culture. B) Sub-themes such as childhood, localities and kinship also emerge. Discussion: these cinematic recording of biographical, oral narratives as historical and sociological material helps us to understand the political ideologies of the specific period 1919-1923. The multimodal film material is analyzed as testimonies of oral and digital history and it is utilized to approach the historical reality of the "otherness", seeking the dialogue in cross-border history in order to identify differences, but above all the historic and cultural similarities vs the sterile stereotypes. The historic era and the historic geography as Greek and as Turkish national history concern us for research and teaching purposes a hundred years after the Treaty of Lausanne (1923) which set the official borders of the countries.