ASIANOVERLAND.NET WINTER EUROPEAN DAY 31/204:  ALEXANDROPOLOUS TO IPSALA, TURKEY

“11-1-81 ANOTHER BIG DAY’S DRIVE, BUT WE FINALLY MANAGED TO GET TO TURKEY – RAKI !!!!!”

The driving distance from Alexandropolous to the Turkish border checkpoint at Ipsala is only about 50 kilometers, but in a blizzard and gale force winds, it can be a pretty tough drive in winter, even though you don’t even notice the drive in summer.

During parts of WW1, Greece had two governments: A royalist pro-German one in Athens and a pro-Entente (Russian/French?British) one in Thessaloniki. The two governments were united in 1917, when Greece officially entered the war on the side of the Entente.

In the aftermath of World War I, Greece attempted further expansion into Asia Minor, a region with a large native Greek population at the time, but was defeated in the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922, contributing to a massive flight of Asia Minor Greeks. During this period, according to various sources, Ottoman and Turkish officials contributed to the death of many Asia Minor Greeks, as well as Assyrians and Armenians. The resultant Greek exodus from Asia Minor was made permanent, and expanded, in an official Population exchange between Greece and Turkey. The exchange was part of the terms of the Treaty of Lausanne which ended the war and formed the modern state of Turkey from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire.

The following era was marked by instability, as over 1.5 million propertyless Greek refugees from Turkey, who had to be integrated into Greek society. Cappadocian Greeks, Pontian Greeks, and non-Greek followers of Greek Orthodoxy were all subject to the exchange. Some of the refugees could not speak Greek and were from unfamiliar environments to mainland Greeks, such as in the case of the Cappadocians and non-Greeks. The refugees also made a dramatic post-war population boost, as the number of refugees was more than a quarter of Greece's prior population.

In 1940, Fascist Italy demanded the surrender of Greece, but the Greek administration refused, and, in the following Greco-Italian War, Greece repelled Italian forces into Albania, giving the Allies their first victory over Axis forces on land, although the country eventually fell to German forces during the Battle of Greece.

The Nazis proceeded to administer Athens and Thessaloniki, while other regions of the country were given to Nazi Germany's partners, Fascist Italy and Bulgaria. The occupation brought about terrible hardships for the Greek civilian population. Over 100,000 civilians died of starvation during the winter of 1941–1942, tens of thousands more died because of reprisals by Nazis, and the country's economy was ruined. 

Following liberation and the Allied victory over the Axis, Greece annexed the Dodecanese Islands from Italy and regained Western Thrace (where we are driving today), from Bulgaria.

The eastern borders of Greece contain a region that is among the best wildlife and bird watching sites in the country: the Evros Delta National Park. The Evros River flows through Greece after rising in Bulgaria, and for much of its length it marks the border between Greece and Turkey. It is a politically sensitive area as well as an ecologically sensitive one - the Greek authorities take an interest in anyone visiting the area, so don’t be surprised if you are approached and asked to produce identity papers and a permit to visit parts of the area.

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