APRIL 4, 1952
THEOTOKAS AGAINST ‘ISTANBUL’: From a letter to the Athinaion: «On the occasion of a visit by a senior administrative official of a neighboring, friendly country, certain official receptions were held and speeches were made which we read in the newspapers. In two of those speeches, specifically those by the Athens mayor and the chairman of the Municipal Council, we heard several references to the city of ‘Istanbul,’ one that is unknown to us. We discovered that the city in question was none other than Constantinople, the city that bears the name (…) of Constantine the Great and which, according to the history books, is linked to the history of the Greek nation. In antiquity, it was known as Byzantium. In everyday speech in Greece, it is usually referred to as ‘The City.’ I therefore believe that when we want to refer to this city in official speeches, we should refer to it by one of these three Greek names. Just as with the famous cities of, say, Italy, when we refer to them in Greek, we use the Greek forms, and not the ‘Roma, Firenze, Venezia’ used by the Italians. With The City, it is not only a matter of language, but one of respect for tradition and history (…). Yours faithfully, Giorgios Theotokas, April 3, 1952.»
