Smyrna and the 100 Years of the Great Fire

The current year 2022 was marked by events commemorating the 100 years of the Asia Minor Catastrophe with the burning of Smyrna by the Great Fire in September 1922 becoming the most highly represented symbol. Books have been written on the subject many of which are featured on the HEC page (www.greece.org).  Over the years, many movies have been released on the theme of the Great Fire of Smyrna. However, the recent movie release (2021) Smyrna, My Beloved, directed by Grigoris Karantinakis, became the banner under which most Greek communities world-wide grouped together, this year in 2022, to view in memory of the Catastrophe.

A relatively succinct documentary produced by ERT in 2012 also highlights the key facts of the tragic annihilation of a city and its historic culture over thousands of years.

Noteworthy is the reminder that on October 13th, 1998, the Greek Parliament of Greece adopted the  “National Day of Remembrance of the Genocide of the Greeks of Asia Minor and Eastern Thrace by the Turkish State” (Hellenic Genocide Day) by Presidential Decree to be commemorated on Sept 14^th.   Within this framework, as of September of this year and to date, the Greek Government, and in particular the President’s Office, have delivered many speeches to the Greek Parliament in remembrance of the many thousands of victims of the Great Fire of Smyrna which subsequently fueled the unjust Population Exchange upon the signing of the Treaty in January 2023.  

Remembering History, the victims of aggressions and the loss of cultural continuity is the responsibility of all Hellenes world-wide.

References and additional information:

• Remembrance of the Pontian Greek Genocide (article).
• March 11th, 1994 Greek Parliament Decree establishing May 19th in remembrance of Pontian Genocide.
• October 13th, 1998, the Greek Parliament Decree establishing September 14th Hellenic Genocide Day.
• U.S.A. official acknowledgement of the Armenian Genocide. The approved bill is declaring that the killing of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Turks was, in fact, a genocide.
• Smyrna, My Beloved «ΣΜΥΡΝΗ ΜΟΥ ΑΓΑΠΗΜΕΝΗ» (Video)
• The Hellenic Genocide Archives – A Hellenic Electronic Center Project, where additional information can be found about the genocide which was perpetrated by the Ottoman Turks against other Greeks across western Turkey, as well to Armenians and other minorities.