Why Greece Did Not Get Constantinople After World War II—And Why It Should Now

Why Greece Did Not Get Constantinople After World War II—And Why It Should Now
By Bobby Darvish

The fall of Constantinople in 1453 marked one of the greatest catastrophes in Christian history—the capture of the Second Rome by the Islamic Ottoman Empire. Though the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire died with Emperor Constantine XI at the city walls, the memory of Constantinople lived on in the hearts of Greek Orthodox Christians. In the 20th century, Greece had multiple opportunities to reclaim its ancient capital. After World War II, the moment seemed ripe—but it was lost. Today, amid growing regional tensions, historical revisionism, and revived Islamist expansionism, the call to restore Constantinople to its rightful heirs—Hellenic Christianity—has never been more justified.

Why Greece Didn't Reclaim Constantinople After WWII

1. Anglo-American Geopolitics and Cold War Realignment

Though Greece was on the side of the victorious Allies, it was not rewarded for its historical claims. Instead, global power politics took precedence. The United States and the United Kingdom prioritized containment of the Soviet Union over justice for smaller nations. Turkey, despite having remained neutral for most of the war, declared war on Germany and Japan in February 1945, a mere formality that allowed it to join the United Nations and be treated as a de facto Ally [1]. Turkey’s strategic location between Europe and the Middle East made it valuable to the West, and it was welcomed into NATO in 1952 to guard the southern flank against communism [2].

2. Greece’s Postwar Civil War and Weakness

Greece emerged from Nazi occupation economically shattered and politically divided. The Greek Civil War (1946–1949), fought between Western-backed royalists and Soviet-supported communists, left the country too unstable and weak to assert territorial claims against a newly important U.S.-backed Turkey [3]. Greece’s internal chaos effectively ended any hopes of territorial redress.

3. The Western Betrayal of Hellenism

Western powers, particularly Britain, had previously encouraged Greek expansion into Anatolia during the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922), part of the post-WWI Treaty of Sèvres. However, when Turkish forces led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk crushed the Greek army and reclaimed the land, the West abandoned Greece and recognized the Treaty of Lausanne (1923), which gave full international legitimacy to Turkey’s control of Constantinople [4]. Western realpolitik favored Islamic Turkish nationalism over Christian Hellenic restoration.

---

Why Greece Should Get Constantinople Back Now

1. Historical and Moral Justice

Constantinople was founded by Emperor Constantine the Great in 330 AD and served as the capital of the Christian Roman Empire for over 1,100 years. It was the beating heart of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, Roman administration, Greek culture, and classical civilization. Its conquest in 1453 was achieved through jihad and desecration—iconoclasm, rape, slaughter, and the conversion of churches into mosques, most notably the Hagia Sophia [5]. To restore the city to Christian hands would be to correct a centuries-long injustice.

2. Religious Oppression Under Turkish Rule

The modern Turkish Republic, far from being secular in practice, has systematically oppressed the Christian minority. The Greek population of Constantinople has declined from over 100,000 in 1923 to fewer than 2,000 today, due to pogroms, forced expulsions, and discrimination [6]. The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople remains under state control, and Turkey refuses to recognize its global religious authority [7].

3. Erdogan’s Neo-Ottomanism and Islamist Imperialism

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has pursued a policy of neo-Ottoman revivalism, converting Hagia Sophia back into a mosque in 2020, glorifying Ottoman conquest, and expanding Turkish military influence in the Aegean, Syria, Libya, and the Caucasus [8]. His regime promotes an aggressive Islamist-nationalist identity. Reclaiming Constantinople would be a powerful blow to this ideology and a spiritual and cultural victory for Christian civilization.

4. Reparation for Genocide and Colonialism

Between 1915 and 1923, the Ottoman Empire and early Turkish nationalists carried out genocides against Armenians, Assyrians, and Greeks, resulting in over 3 million deaths [9]. Turkey has never been held accountable. Returning Constantinople to Greece and to the Christian world would represent a symbolic act of restitution—an echo of justice long overdue.

5. Constantinople Is Not Just a Greek City—It’s a Christian City

The city represents not just Greek nationalism, but the legacy of Rome and Christianity. Its loss fractured the spiritual unity of Eastern Christendom and opened the gates to centuries of Islamic imperialism. Just as Jerusalem holds meaning for Jews and Christians, Constantinople holds sacred meaning for all Orthodox and Catholic Christians. Its liberation would restore a sacred site to the faithful.

---

Conclusion

Constantinople was never meant to be Istanbul. Its fall was not the end of a nation—it was the murder of a Christian empire. Its current occupiers continue to suppress the very faith that gave it life. After World War II, geopolitical cowardice and strategic miscalculations prevented Greece from restoring its ancient capital. But history is not static. The time has come to raise again the Cross over the City of Constantine, and to restore Christendom’s rightful legacy—not in revenge, but in justice, truth, and restoration.

---

Citations

1. U.S. Department of State. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1945: The Near East and Africa, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1945v08

2. NATO Official Archives. “Turkey’s Accession to NATO in 1952.” https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/topics_52044.htm

3. Iatrides, John O. Revolution or Self-Defense? Communist Goals, Strategy, and Tactics in the Greek Civil War. Journal of Cold War Studies, Vol. 5, No. 3 (2003).

4. Hanioglu, M. Şükrü. Atatürk: An Intellectual Biography. Princeton University Press, 2011.

5. Runciman, Steven. The Fall of Constantinople 1453. Cambridge University Press, 1965.

6. Clark, Bruce. Twice a Stranger: The Mass Expulsions that Forged Modern Greece and Turkey. Harvard University Press, 2006.

7. U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. “Turkey: Religious Freedom Concerns.” https://www.uscirf.gov/countries/turkey

8. Taşpınar, Ömer. “Turkey’s Strategic Vision and the Rise of Neo-Ottomanism.” Brookings Institution. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/analyzing-turkeys-neo-ottomanism/

9. Dadrian, Vahakn. The History of the Armenian Genocide: Ethnic Conflict from the Balkans to Anatolia to the Caucasus. Berghahn Books, 1995.