According to the former Article 19 of the 1955 Citizenship Law ( No. 3370 ) , a person of non-Greek ethnic origin leaving Greece without the intention of returning may be declared as having lost Greek nationality . According to the Greek government , between 1955 and 1998 , approximately 60,000 Greek Muslim individuals , predominantly Turkish , were deprived of their citizenship under Article 19 . Of these 60,000 , approximately 7,182 lost their citizenship between 1981 and 1997 . The application of this law to the Turks of Western Thrace was a retaliatory measure in response to the devastating state-sponsored pogrom which targeted the Greeks of Istanbul in September 1955 . The pogrom precipitated an exodus of ethnic Greeks from Turkey . Article 19 was repealed in 1998 , though not retroactively
targeted the Greeks of Istanbul
Istanbul pogrom
Turks of Western Thrace