Collective Memories of War and Forced Displacement and Their Role in the Securitisation of Migration

Southern Europe faces intersecting challenges of historical legacies and contemporary political pressures, which often shape public attitudes and democratic practices. Collective memories of historical victimisation can significantly influence present-day attitudes towards unrelated victimised groups today, and serve as charters that justify and legitimise an ingroup's actions towards them. This is particularly true in cases of traumatic historical events. We focus on Greece – a country with a history of victimisation, whose public attitudes and policies towards immigration are consistently among the most hostile in Europe. Following a decade of warfare with the Ottoman Empire/Turkey in 1922, around a million refugees fled from the Turkish mainland across the Aegean. The 1923 Lausanne Treaty legalised the compulsory population exchange of more than a million Christians to Greece and around 400,000 Muslims to Turkey. This movement left lasting impacts on both states and societies, particularly in Greece, where the memory of refugeedom remains strong to this day. A century later, Greek-Turkish relations are still tense, albeit in a state of abated conflict, and Greece continues to be a focal point for forced migrations. This paper draws on political science, social psychology, and the securitisation of migration literature to explore whether and the extent to which collective memories of historical victimisation influence contemporary public attitudes towards increasingly restrictive immigration policies amid present-day security concerns. We draw on unique and rare survey data capturing the memories, perceptions, and attitudes of Greek citizens. This data was collected just a few months after the centenary of the Lausanne Treaty, following closely on the heels of snap parliamentary elections in Greece, and presidential elections in Turkey. By situating Greece within the broader context of Southern Europe, this paper explores how the interplay between historical legacies, populist rhetoric, and security discourses challenges democratic norms and practices.