SEPTEMBER 1922: REMEMBERING SMYRNA

The period between September 4 and September 20 marks what is referred to in Greece as the Asia Minor Catastrophe, the sacking of the Ottoman Empire's most cosmopolitan city, Smyrna -- today's Izmir. In September 9, 1922 Kemalist forces captured Smyrna, and the city was burnt to the ground. Tens of thousands of Greeks and Armenians were massacred or incinerated. The Greek army’s defeat and the subsequent burning of Smyrna led to the forced exodus of approximately 1.3 million Orthodox Greeks from Asia Minor, who ultimately settled in Greece. It marked the end of the 3,000-year presence of Greeks in Asia Minor and led to a significant shift in Greek culture and demographics.


April 13, 2014 British Pathé: Burning Of Smyrna (1922).

The Asia Minor Catastrophe remains a traumatic event in modern Greek history, and its centennial anniversary was commemorated in 2022.

Efforts have been made to preserve the archival records and testimonies of the refugees, such as the Digital Portal of Archives for 1922 (link), to ensure that their stories are not forgotten.

There are many excellent musical tributes available in remembrance of the beloved city and its culture, but we will leave those for some other day when that's more appropriate. More in "Eternal Hellenism: Rebetika Music" (link). 

The Asia Minor Catastrophe happened in the aftermath of World War 1 when the armistice was still being negotiated. A provisional treaty had been negotiated at Sevres, but was never ratified. 

In the armistice negotiations Greece had won considerable territory for its contributions to the Allied victory (France, Great Britain, Russia, Italy, Romania, Japan and the US) over the centrist powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, Ottoman Empire).

To the Greek territories were added Thrace, Gallipoli and the Aegean islands except the Dodecanese. Greece was to hold Smyrna for the duration of five years, by which time a referendum would be held. 

By 1919 Mustapha Kemal had become a strong Nationalist force in what had now become the state of Turkey, leading a reaction against the defeat of the Ottoman Empire.

By May Britain's PM Lloyd George strongly supported the Greeks to advance into the hinterland of Anatolia in order to defeat Kemal. 

A military disaster slowly unfolded. King Constantine was blamed for the debacle as the Venizelos government resigned after Kemal defeated the Greek army at Ankara by August 1921. 

Since the Sevres negotiations the pieces on the geopolitical chess board had begun to shift. Kemal had become a force. France betrayed Greece by signing a treaty with Kemal, supplying him with arms and ammunition. Italy  reverted to its anti Greek position.

An obvious parallel is often drawn with the sacking of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453 when the Western powers also left their fellow Christians in the lurch. 

The British PM told the Greeks to hold on, which they did through the winter of 1921 and 1922.

In negotiations in Paris in March 1922, Kemal made Greek withdrawal from Asia Minor a precondition. In September the Kemalist forces proceeded to sack and loot Smyrna. 

External reading
Greek Reporter: The History of the Ancient Greek City of Smyrna

The Greek Holocaust Resource Center (link) provides a time line how the disaster unfolded. 

2 September 1922
Panic began to spread among the Christians in Smyrna and many residents tried to flee.

4 September
The Greek government made a request to the British government to arrange an armistice with the Kemalists for an immediate and orderly evacuation of Hellenic forces from Asia Minor. 

5 September
Civilians from the interior began to flood in. The Smyrna Relief Committee which monitored the arrival of refugees by train and by foot estimated they were arriving at a rate of 30,000 a day.

8 September
The Greek High Commissioner at Smyrna announced that the Hellenic administration of the city would end that night. 


Auto translation: On this day, in the hell of Smyrna, the captain of a Japanese merchant ship orders the crew to throw the cargo overboard and puts hundreds of Greeks on board who are desperately trying to save themselves. Ultimately saving over 800 destitute refugees per hour.

9 September
Turkish Kemalist forces rode into Smyrna. They were met by a British official who told them that Hellenic forces and civil servants had left the city and advised them to restore confidence. 

Armenian and Greek shops were the first to be looted by Turkish civilians and troops. Italian and Turkish patrols stood by and offered no interference. Lieutenant Commander Harrison Knauss of USS Simpson witnessed the violence first-hand late in the afternoon. Eye-witness accounts (link).

10 September
Turkish forces moved from house to house in the Armenian quarter systematically murdering civilians not before taking all their cash and jewelry and raping women and girls. Eye-witness accounts (link).

It was abundantly clear that the Kemalists had no intention of taking the city peacefully, and that the Greek and Armenian residents of the city who had been sympathetic to the Allied occupation, would be severely dealt with.

Kemalist military commander Nurettin Paşa summoned the Metropolitan of Smyrna Chrysostomos and cried out to a waiting mob to "treat him as he deserves." The mob tore out the Metropolitan's beard, gouged out his eyes with knives and cut off his ears, nose and hands.


11 September
American officials met with Kemalist military commander Nurettin Pasha suggesting that the only solution to the humanitarian problem facing the city was to get the refugees back to their homes. He replied: "Take them away. Bring ships and take them out of this country. That is the only solution."

12 September
Near East Relief's Harold Jaquith reported from Smyrna that 700,000 -- mainly Greeks & Armenians -- in the city faced famine due to the Turkish occupation and cutting of relief supplies.

13 September
There was no attempt by the fire department or Kemalist forces to extinguish the fires. The director of the American Girls' College at Smyrna, Miss Minnie Mils saw Turkish soldiers breaking into nearby homes, lighting fires, and spreading them with petroleum they poured from tins. Eye-witness accounts (link).

16 September
Allied warships continued their strict neutrality, not allowing any of the hundreds of thousands of panic-stricken refugees to board their ships. A circular signed by Nureddine Pasha issued an ultimatum to the remaining Greeks and Armenians at Smyrna.


All Greek and Armenian males between 18 and 45 years of age were declared prisoners of war and were denied exit from Turkey (most were later massacred). All other Greeks and Armenians were permitted to leave Turkey by October 1.

Those remaining after the deadline, mostly women and children, were faced with the prospect of being driven into the Turkish interior, which was in effect a death sentence.

17 September
Forced deportations had begun. American patrols and officials witnessed refugees being herded into large groups and escorted eastward out of the town towards the Anatolian interior.

19 September
A Near East Relief cablegram reported a death toll of around 10,000 at Smyrna with an unknown number of deceased still in their homes. Thousands were prevented from escaping. The NER also witnessed large groups of people being marched to the interior following the fire.

21 September
A cable sent by the NER at Constantinople reported that a delay by the Allied governments to take measures to evacuate the refugees from Smyrna was furnishing an opportunity for the Turks to kill hundreds to their deaths by deportation.

Groups were driven by soldiers from the quay through the city to unknown destinations in the interior. Young Greek and Armenian girls were torn from their families and disappeared.

22 September
American NGOs were reporting that many refugees were dying of exhaustion and many people had gone insane. Others who were fearing removal to the interior where certain death awaited them, had committed suicide by drowning.

 


- More on Smyrna, Greece, Turkey - 


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