The following letter was submitted to the Economist in response to the article "Smyrna, 1922 End of an era"

 

Hellenic Electronic Center (HEC)

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May 2, 2008

 

 The following letter is in response to the May 1 review of Giles Milton's book, "Smyrna 1922 the end ofan era. The article states that Greeks and Turks "blame one another". The article adopts a posture of neutrality when past historical research conclusively proves that the Greeks and Armenians were victims of genocide! As such, it is historically wrong to portray the events from the perspectives of both victims and perpetrators. The article states that Greeks refer to the events of 1922 as the "greatcatastrophe" when in fact Greeks refer to what transpired in Smyrna as "Genocide", plain and simple.

 Mustafa Kemal's General Noureddin Pasha stated that Turks should each kill "four or five Greeks" andsubsequently ordered the brutal murder and dismemberment of Greek Orthodox Archbishop Chrysostom.The assertion that Mustafa Kemal's troops "routed" the Greeks is a fantasy promoted by pro-Turkish propagandists. The fact remains that the Greek Army fought hard, and fought well against the Kemalists.Kemal received arms and other support from the Italians, French, British, and the Bolsheviks while adefacto embargo was imposed on Greece that was ultimately responsible for reversing what would havebeen an inevitable Greek triumph and the eventual "route" of Mustafa Kemal's thuggish bandits.

 Under the cover of the First World War, the Young Turks decided to eliminate the Armenian, Assyrian,and Greek Christian populations through means of genocide. It is on the basis of the historical evidenceput forward by western diplomats, news correspondents, foreign missionaries, and other observers thatPrime Minister Venizelos decided to intervene in Asia Minor. In the aftermath of the Great War, severalEmpires had been dismembered and territorial changes had been brought about as a result. The mistreatment of Christians by the Turks justified both the effort to establish an Armenian Republic, andthe Greek military's liberation of Greeks in Asia Minor.

 

Theodore G. Karakostas TKarakosta@aol.com

 

Member of HEC Executive Council

www.greece.org

 

Smyrna, 1922

 

End of an era

 

May 1st 2008

 

From The Economist print edition

 

 WHEN Smyrna—modern Izmir—fell to the Turkish army in 1922, and much of it was destroyed by fire, the city's role as a bastion of Greek and Christian culture, going back nearly 2,000 years, came to an abrupt end. Before that, the port had been home to a diverse and cosmopolitan population; by the standards of the region, it was a beacon of tolerance and prosperity.

 In addition to the Greeks, Armenians, Jews and Turks, there were also Americans and Britons and what Giles Milton calls the “Levantines”, rich families of European descent, who spoke half a dozen languages and occupied vast villas. Their dynasties dominated the trade and industry of the region. Some (like the Whittalls) retained British nationality over generations of Ottoman life, and it is their English-language diaries, letters and documents that provide Mr Milton with his best material. Although this slant is unrepresentatively British and privileged—lots of parties and picnics—it allows the author to be fair towards the Greeks and the Turks, who still blame one another entirely for the disaster.

 The city's destruction—still known in Greece as “the catastrophe”—had its roots in the first world war and the effort by the great powers to grab pieces of the disintegrating Ottoman empire.

 Britain, America and France backed Greece's charismatic leader, Eleftherios Venizelos, in his pursuit of the megali idea (“great idea”), the dream of creating a greater Greece by occupying Smyrna and swathes of Anatolia. Having licensed a war by proxy, the allies in varying degrees turned cool on it. They looked on passively as Mustafa Kemal (later Ataturk, republican Turkey's founder) and his troops routed the Greeks from Anatolia and reoccupied Smyrna, bent on revenge for Greek atrocities in the city and further east.

 The port was ransacked and looted for days. Women were raped and mutilated, children were beheaded and more than 100,000 people killed. Meanwhile, 21 allied warships sat in the harbour. Hundreds of thousands of refugees were trapped on the city's quayside, yet officers on the ships still dressed for dinner and ordered louder music to drown out the screams. “Paradise Lost” is a timely reminder of the appalling cost of expansionist political ambitions; it tells a fascinating story with clarity and insight.

 

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