THE MIRACLE A True Story   4    Lying on my bed, I found it impossible to sleep that night. My father's words kept running through my head: "Remember what a narrow escape I had..." He was talking about the night of 6th September, 1955.    The picture came into my mind, as in a dream, of us all gathered on the flat roof of our house, squeezed into a corner that overlooked the road and watching for my father to appear. Later, when he had come home, it was in this same spot that we waited, terrified, for the murderous mob to go past. Those moments will remain imprinted in my memory for ever. The fear that we might be attacked made us like mice caught in a trap. No matter how many years go by, I shall never forget the scene, which is etched in my memory like a nightmare: wherever you looked, the sky was filled with fire and smoke, and shouts of "Damn the giavours!" pierced our ears like bullets.    On the afternoon of 6th September, 1955 all seemed quiet. A small group of students demonstrating against Greece had gathered in Taksim Square, at the top of Pera Street. The Turkish authorities had always viewed Greece as a target for the mob. In the early 1950s, Turkey had found a new source for the renewal of anti-Greek fury: Cyprus. The British had made Turkey a present of part of the island in order that they might assume the role of "arbitrator" and thereby safeguard their own interests.    Through his inflammatory anti-Greek articles, Sedat Simavi, a Turkish Jew working as a reporter on the newspaper, Hurriyet, had managed to boost the newspaper's daily circulation from 11,000 copies in 1948, when it was first issued, to 600,000 copies a day! Naturally the other Turkish newspapers were not long in following suit and so the general climate had been well prepared.    A large part of this negative mass psychology was spawned by jealousy of the increasing economic prosperity of the Greeks of Constantinople. To this, Turkish propaganda artfully tacked on the notion that the Christians, the Armenians, the Jews and the other minorities who enjoyed most of the country's wealth were to blame for Turkey's misfortune and inability to make economic progress. The Emperor Nero had likewise misled his wretched people by ascribing all evil and adversity to the Christians. The Turks improved on his tactics: the fanaticism which permeated down to the popular masses was more acute, extremely well-organised and for the most part very well-controlled.    Organisations known as "Cyprus is Turkish" sprang up like mushrooms. Their leader was another reporter on the newspaper Hurriyet, Hikmet Bil, who was also very successful in channelling inflammatory anti-Greek feeling to the masses.    There followed the staged failure of the tripartite London Conference at the beginning of September and the implementation of a perfectly devised plan to wipe out Hellenism in Constantinople.    As was later established, the official point of departure for the plan was 500 kilometres away, in the city of Thessaloniki. A few hours before a demonstration was due to take place, Oktay Engin, a Muslim student at Thessaloniki University's Law School who came from Komotini, in Thrace, delivered a bomb to the guard at the Turkish consulate in Thessaloniki, Mehmet Hasanoglu. The guard planted the device in a garden shared by the Turkish consulate and the house where the Turks believe 39 and 40 Leonidas Koumakis THE MIRACLE A True Story If you prefer a hard copy of the book, please send an email to HEC-Books@hec.greece.org Previous Page | Initial Page | Site Map | Next Page (41st of 204) © For Internet 2001 HEC and Leonidas Koumakis. Updated on 19 June 2001.