THE MIRACLE A True Story Kemal Atatürk was born. The bomb went off but caused no damage, apart from shattering a few windows. However, this was of no importance. The plan drawn up by the Turkish state was not aimed at destroying the building. The bomb explosion was merely a pretext to blacken Greece's name. And this is precisely what happened: two Turkish newspapers had already prepared special editions with prefabricated texts full of disinformation.    "Greek terrorists destroy Atatürk's family home in Thessaloniki!" ran the headlines in a special evening edition of the Istanbul Express on September 6th, 1955, which contained photographs that had been specially doctored to suit the purpose.    It was later discovered that the wife of the Turkish Consul General had asked a photographer called Kyriakidis for these photographs. She attended the opening of the 20th International Fair in Thessaloniki on 3rd September, 1955, and said she wanted them as a souvenir of the Kemal Atatürk house, as she was leaving for Constantinople the next day.    These photographs - suitably doctored, of course - were then used in the special editions published by the two Turkish newspapers on the evening of 6th September, 1955.    "Kemal Atatürk's house totally destroyed!" was the message put about. The special editions published by the two Turkish newspapers at the time of the demonstration were the signal. The five main streets leading to Taksim Square were suddenly filled with a raging mob armed with axes, shovels, clubs, sledge-hammers and iron bars and shouting "Kahrolsun giavurlar! Curse the giavours!" and "Yikin, kirin, giavurdur! Smash it, pull it down -it belongs to the giavours!"    The police and state security forces were supposedly caught by surprise. They received no instructions to restore order and merely watched the goings-on with a cool indifference.    When the yelling mob had swelled to approximately 50,000, the next stage of the plan came into effect: the destruction of all Greek property and the desecration of all churches and holy places belonging to the Greeks in the city. The instructions were that nothing was to remain standing.    The hours that followed were a living hell for Constantinople's Greek population.    One part of the mob moved off towards Istiklal Caddesi, formerly known as Pera Street, a kilometre-long road that was the city's best-known shopping centre with about 700 shops and stores, most of them owned by Greeks.    The first place to come under attack was a cafeteria on Taksim Square known as "Eptalofos" (meaning "Seven Hills"). The mob burst into the cafe like a herd of bulls and smashed everything in sight: windows, tables, chairs, sideboards, glasses, cups - nothing was left intact.    The next place destined for attack was a textile store owned by a Greek businessman. Four members of the rabble ripped up a tram rail and used it to break down the door and smash the shop windows. Within the space of a few minutes, the shop looked like a bombsite. Lengths of textiles and shelving were strewn on the streets and a sewing-machine was smashed on the road outside before the eyes of the screaming mob.    Next to be targeted was an electrician's shop, where the rampaging mob fell upon the goods and scattered them in the street.    A little further down was a grocer's store owned by two elderly Greeks. The old man stood firmly outside the door of his shop and said with remarkable courage: "Get 41 and 42 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 (43th of 204) © For Internet 2001 HEC and Leonidas Koumakis. Updated on 19 June 2001.