Brief history of the municipality
The existence of a settlement within the boundaries of the current municipality of Kordelios-Evosmos dates back to the beginning of the 17th century. This settlement, known by the name of Harmankioi (Turkish: Harman köy: village with threshing floors), the namesake of the Ottoman “Tsifliki” (large private agricultural area), was located next to the road leading to the plain of Thessaloniki-Vitolia (Monasteriou). Its name undoubtedly identified the main characteristic of the occupation of its inhabitants: agriculture.
A few native families leaved in the area, approximately 32 houses at the end of the 18th century. To this population, semi-nomadic Vlach herders from the Megala Livadia (great meadows) of Paikos (N. Kilkis) were added, at the beginning of the 19th century.
The core of the pure Greek settlement of Harmankioi, inhabited by "217 Greek-minded souls" (1905), was, according to the sources, the area around the Holy Church of Agios Athanasios, which also explains the existence of the church from the second decade of the 19th century (foundational inscription, 1819). It is even worth emphasizing that the church - the emblem of the former municipality of Evosmos - is, based on a special study by the Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities, an important historical monument for western Thessaloniki.
Important historical developments in the area of the municipality
Over time and due to the developments in the Balkans and the Near East (end of the 19th, beginning of the 20th century), Harmankioi and Karaburnou (in eastern Thessaloniki) became the main reception areas in Northern Greece for the thousands of Greek refugees from the East. One could say, daring a play on words, that the place was prophetically named so (i.e. Harmankioi), since the coexistence of refugees and natives, was a blend/mix, which is an interpretation of the Turkish word harman.
1920s-1930s
Undoubtedly, the arrival of the refugees was the catalyst in Harmankioi's residential development. It also caused the "division" of the toponym: a) Paleo (old) Harmankioi was now the area around the historical church of Agios Athanasios, b) Neo (new), or Kato (lower), Harmankioi was called the area (today's Eleftherio) with the tents, the shacks and the French wards of the Army of the East (Armée d'Orient). In the period from 1914 until the end of the 1920s, thousands of refugees, from all over the East: Eastern Thrace, Eastern Romilia, Pontus, Kars, Cappadocia and Asia Minor, passed through Harmankioi, or settled there temporarily. Much less refugees settled permanently
266 refugee families settled in Paleo Harmankioi, most of which came from the wider area of Izmir and especially from Koukloutza, a suburb and resort of Izmir. Another 10 families came from Pontus and 2 from Eastern Thrace. Just four years after the refugee settlement, the settlement was renamed Neos (new) Koukloutzas (1926), in memory of the birthplace of the majority of the refugees.
1930s-1940s
249 families chose (Neo or Kato) Harmankioi as their permanent place of settlement, most of which came from Pontus and the interior of Asia Minor. Also, very close to Harmankioi, another settlement, Neo Kordelio, was established by 68 families. (282 people) from the seaside Papa Skala of Smyrna, adjacent to the famous and much-sung Kordelio (Karsi Yaka or Peraia). 50 families (191 people) from Vasilikos of Eastern Romilia (M. Sea coast) also chose Neo Kordelio as the place to settle down.
The three settlements belonged to the community of Stathmos (formerly Harmankioi) from the mid-1920s until 1934. At that time, they separated and formed the Community of Neo Kordelio, based in Neos Koukloutzas (Government Gazette Vol. A 23/18.01.1934).
This event was another important intersection in the history of the region. With the participation in the community council of citizens from all three settlements - N. Koukloutzas was numerically superior due to population - an attempt was made to solve the problems, to arrange the finances and to improve the daily life of all the residents, even in the turbulent period of the 40s decade.
1950s-1970s
After about 20 years of common path, the Community was dissolved (Government Gazette 2/5.01.1953). Neos Koukloutzas became a separate community and two years later (1955) it acquired the name EVOSMON/EVOSMOS (probably an accurate translation of the former Turkish name).
Neo Kordelio and Harmankioi (Eleftherio/Eleftheria since 1949, in honor of Eleftherios Venizelos, after a proposal by the then Minister Leonidas Jasonidis) formed the single community of Eleftherio.
Since the 1950s, with the wave of internal migration in the big cities of our country, the agricultural and livestock settlements of the communities of Evosmos and Eleftherio experienced an unprecedented population explosion, since hundreds of families, mainly from Northern Greece, gradually settled around them. Approximately 3,500 Sarakatsani from Skopje (1962-1968) also chose the Eleftherio community for permanent residence. Today their number in the municipality - the largest nationwide - probably reaches 6,000.
1970s-1980s
The very large increase in population led to the recognition of the communities of Evosmos and Eleftherio as municipalities of the same name in 1972 and 1982 respectively. In 1984 the municipality of Eleftherio was renamed the municipality of Eleftheriou-Kordeliou. It is worth noting that the preservation of two toponyms in the name of a municipality was rather an unprecedented phenomenon at a nationwide level.
1980s-1990s
A considerable population growth takes place. Political refugees (Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, etc.) arrive in the 80s, also, a wave of expatriates from the Republics of the former Soviet Union and to a lesser extent Northern Epirus (early decade '90). Internal migration was intense at the same time, was the last major change in the residential development of the region. Finally, it should be noted, that, in recent years , as our country continuously accepts and welcomes new residents, a large number of foreign economic immigrants, have settled, Albanians being the "Lion's share".
Today
The well-established "Kallicratic" municipality of Kordelio-Evosmos, the second most populous in the urban complex of Thessaloniki, is growing, utilizing its capable human resources, its citizens and residents for a modern and operating municipality. After all, the common past, the memories of the refugees and the natives, drive the harmonious symbiosis of heterogeneous populations.
Bibliography:
P. Vakoufaris, Eleftheria – Neo Kordelio. Homelands then and now, vol. 1-2, Thessaloniki 1997 and 2002
Mrs. Chatzikyriakidis, Evosmos. The history of the place and its people, Thessaloniki 2008
Mr. Chatzikyriakidis, "Kallicratis meets the history of our country", Ta Nea tou Koukloutza newspaper, November 2010 Τα Νέα του Κουκλουτζά, Νοέμβριος 2010
Οι φωτογραφίες προέρχονται από τις παραπάνω εκδόσεις και τη φωτοθήκη του Δημοτικού Ιστορικού Αρχείου
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