Asia Minor: Ionia & Pontus
Asia Minor, home of the Hellenes for 4000 years. Ionia
and Pontus, once home to millions of Hellenes has been torn
from the cradle of Hellenism by the butchers of the Balkans,
the Turks. The ethnic cleansing of 1 million Pontian Hellenes
in 1915 and 1.2 million Ionian Hellenes from Ionia in 1922
cannot be written off and left to dust in the pages of history.
We have an obligation to those that lived there, and to
those that died there, to tell their story and to correct
the historical mistake that is Turkey.
Articles about the Asia Minor Holocaust of 1922
From the New York Times
By EDWIN I. JAMES.
Copyright, 1922 by The New York Times Company.
Special Cable to THE NEW YORK TIMES
LAUSANNE, Dec. 1.--A black page of modern history was written
here today. Ismet Pasha stood before the statesmen of the
civilized world and admitted that the banishment from Turkish
territory of nearly a million Christian Greeks, who were
two million only a few short years ago had been decreed.
The Turkish Government graciously allows two more weeks
for the great exodus.
The statesmen of the civilized powers accepted the Turkish
dictum and set about ways to get those thousands of Greeks
out of harm's way before they should meet the fate of 800,000
Armenians who were massacred in Anatolia in 1910 and 1917.
New Light on Turkish Massacres.
Here, in the beauty of the Winter sunshine of the Swiss
Alps, diplomats have been for ten days talking political
problems with the Turks, treating them as equals. Massacre
and bloodshed seemed far away. But today a change took place,
and a new light was thrown on the situation. The facts are
not new: the world knows the Turks' cruelty and massacres.
But the way their crimes were presented this afternoon came
like a clever stage effect.
As an audience may change from smiles to tears, the diplomats
here seem to have had their souls touched today as Lord
Curzon unfolded the sinister story of the fate of the Greeks
in Asia Minor; and today's events cannot but fail to have
an important effect on the final settlement. In all probability
no treaty will be written at this
session, and in two weeks the conference will be adjourned,
it is
believed, to meet again in a month or six weeks. In the
meanwhile the Turks will have time to think things over
and become more reasonable or face the consequences.
Today's meeting was scheduled under the simple heading:
"Exchange of Prisoners." The delegates rolled
in luxurious automobiles to the old chateau. They left it
two hours later with solemn faces. Within the ancient walls
the shades of murdered thousands had poured to have their
say.
Dr. Nansen Reads His Report.
Dr. Fridtjof Nansen, who had been sent to Anatolia by the
League of Nations, read his report on conditions there and
made the radical recommendation that all Greeks under Turkish
sovereignty be got away quickly to save them from starvation
or death by other agencies. It was immediately apparent
that something more than the mere discussion of the fate
of some few thousands of prisoners of war had been staged.
Ismet Pasha arose and said that the Turks were willing
to begin the discussion of means for getting all Greeks
out of Turkey and suggested that the conference proceed
at once to take up the subject of minorities.
Lord Curzon declared that he felt that many thousands of
lives were at stake and said that quick action must be taken.
He said that the Turks had decreed that all Greeks in Anatolia
must get out by the last day of November and added that
they had extended the date to December 13. Immediate steps,
Lord Curzon said must be taken to remove the Greeks by that
date.
Ismet Admits Decree of Banishment.
Instead of retreating before Lord Curzon's attack, Ismet
agreed that the Greeks must leave Anatolia and volunteered
the statement the Greeks in Constantinople had better depart
also. Lord Curzon protested that this would mean great economic
loss for Turkey. Ex-Premiere Venizelos declared that if
those hundreds of thousands were sent to Greece the country
could not care for them and would have to ask the United
States for aid. When Lord Curzon warned Ismet of danger
to the Turks in Western Thrace, which remains Greek, Ismet
coolly replied that it might be good
idea to trade the Greeks in Turkey for the Turks in Greece.
Lord Curzon then said that he wished to give some statistics
in order that there might be a clear idea what was at stake.
He said that figures from American sources showed that before
1914 there were 1,600,000 Greeks in Anatolia. Between 1914
and 1918 300,000 died, left the country or otherwise disappeared.
Between 1919 and 1922 another 200,00 left Anatolia or disappeared.
In September and October of this year another reduction
of 500,000 took place leaving now 500,000 or 600,000 Greeks
in Anatolia, most of whom were males between 15 and 60,
to whom the Turks had refused permission to leave.
A Million Greeks Wiped Out.
"In other words" said the British Foreign Minister
"a million Greeks have been killed, deported or have
died."
Lord Curzon said that there had been 300,000 Greeks in
Constantipole, most of whom were still there, 320,000 Greeks
in Eastern Thrace, some of whose families had been there
for a thousand years and more, all had fled before the dread
of the Turks, leaving desert areas behind them.
Turning to the issue of the prisoners of war, Lord Curzon
said that the Greeks held 10,000 Turkish soldiers and about
3,800 Turkish civilians. The Turks hold about 30,000 Greek
soldiers. He further pointed out that there were in Greece
proper, in the Greek islands and Western Thrace 480,000
Moslems. He further mentioned 120,000 Greeks who have been
deported by the Turks into inner Anatolia. He recommended
that immediate steps be taken to solve the tragic problem.
Ismet demanded that the Greeks free at once the Turkish
civilians whom they held, whom he called hostages. He said
that some of Lord Curzon's figures were too high, but he
did not deny that the Turks had decreed that all Greeks
must leave their territory. The outcome of the discussion
was the appointment of a subcommittee to consider means
for getting the Greeks out of Turkish territory.
This story of the fate of 2,000,000 Greeks who were in
Turkey takes no account of the wiping out of an almost equal
number of Armenians of whom the Turks wished to be rid.
After the massacres of war times only about 300,000 Armenians
remain in Turkey. There is almost an equal number in Constantinople
and Thrace. They must go somewhere else or be killed, in
all probability.
The Turks have been invited by the Allies to become members
of the League of Nations. They have replied that they will
join when their friends, the Reds of Moscow, are admitted.
Recess From About December 15 Planned.
Facing a situation which seems almost impossible, the leaders
of the Lausanne Conference have about decided to try to
arrange a temporary settlement of the most pressing issues
between the Turks and the Greeks and take a recess from
about December 15 until the middle of January or the first
of February. It is reported that meanwhile Ismet Pasha will
go to Angora to explain the allied position on the larger
questions.
On the issues of the exchange of prisoners, the protection
of
minorities, the capitulations, the customs and the Ottoman
debt, the diplomats believe that an agreement can be reached
with the Turks. But on the issues of the European frontier
of Turkey, the future of the Straits and the Anatolian boundary
line, it appears unlikely that as long as Ismet Pasha sticks
to his instructions, any agreement can be reached.
According to present plans, Ismet will take to Angora the
proposals of the Allies relating to these questions and
endeavor to bring back new instructions.
This proposal originated with Ismet Pasha and was tentatively
approved by Lord Curzon, who today communicated the suggestion
to the *** *** *** including the Americans *** *** *** would
be taken to allow Ismet to confer with the Angora Government
in person, conversations with the Turkish delegates reveal
another idea, namely, that the Brussels conference may produce
a change in the complexion of the allied negotiations with
the Turks. The Turks feel that the allied unity at Lausanne
which they did not expect, is due to a bargain between England
and France by which England has promised France aid in the
solution of the latter's economic problems, including reparations.
The Turks reason that after the Brussels Conference the
French will either have the fruits of their bargain or will
be ready to act against Germany without British help. In
either eventuality they calculate that France may be ready
to stand less firmly by the side of England against themselves.
It seems scarcely believable that the Poincare Government
could have given the Turks any encouragement in such hopes,
but nevertheless the Turks seem confidential that they will
lose nothing by waiting.
Turks Working With Russians.
On the issue of the Straits the Russians, whose chief delegate,
George Tchitcherin, arrived tonight, are ready to fight
to the end the British claims, whatever they may be. The
Turks so far are working closely with the Russians and are
denying the British demands for the demilitarization of
the Straits. Coached by the Russians, they now refuse to
listen to the proposal to have the League of Nations guard
the Straits, although three weeks ago in Paris, Ismet said
that the solution would be acceptable. While the British
demand the right to send their warships through the Straits
into the Black Sea, the Russians demand that the Straits
be closed to all warships, as before the World War.
With respect to the European frontier the Turks demand
a bridgehead on the western side of the Maritsa River, on
the ground that it contains the railroad station of Adrianople.
The Allies refuse to allow the Turks to cross the Maritsa,
on the ground that it gives them an excellent bridgehead
for offensive operations in Europe.
The Anatolian frontier issue hinges on the Mosul oil fields,
which the British intend to keep within the borders of the
Mesopotamian mandate, but which the Turks claim for themselves.
On none of these three issues has the slightest progress
been made
toward a settlement.
It is true the Turks maintain stoutly that the British
have made them
proposals by which the Turks would get sovereignty over
the district in return for an assurance of oil concessions,
the British giving assurances that they could dispose of
the French, Italian and American claims. Lord Curzon himself
authorized a denial that any such proposal has been made.
The basic trouble here is that the Turks present themselves
as
conquerors having whipped the Greeks in 1922, while the
Allies present themselves as conquerors, having whipped
the Turks in 1918. Ismet Pasha, leading one side, acts on
the basis of the Mudania armistice which marked the halt
of the victorious Turkish troops while Curzon, leading the
other side, acts on the basis of the Mudros armistice, which
marked the halt of the victorious Allied troops. Russian
intervention on the one hand and *** intervention on the
other, serve to muddy the waters with the result of a confusion
which is almost complete.
M. Tchitcherin on his arrival went into a three-hour conference
with Ismet Pasha, head of the Turkish delegation. Tomorrow
the Turks will entertain the Russian delegation at luncheon.
In a statement to the press M. Tchitcherin said:
"Two principles will guide the Russian delegation
at the Lausanne
conference.
"One is the principle of self-determination and the
other is the need
for peace in the world. The first obviously applies to Turkey
as well as to other nations and, therefore, the Russians
will demand an independent Turkey. As for the second principle,
we consider one of the essential conditions for peace in
the Near East is that the Straits shall be effectively closed
to all foreign warships."
Bulgaria Threatens to Fight Greece.
Premier Stambouliwaki of Bulgaria, in an interview tonight,
declared that he had quitted the Balkan League and was going
to work with the Turks. Furthermore, he said if the conference
did not give Bulgaria the port of Dedeaghatch and a corridor
to the Aegean, the Bulgars would "go and get it."
"It is foolish to talk about the Balkan bloc,"
he said. "There is no
such thing. If this conference does not give us Dedeaghatch
as demanded, we will fight the Greeks for it."
"The Bulgarian Government is in complete accord with
Turkey and ready to support all her claims in return for
Turkish support for our demand for an outlet to the Aegean,
which has been promised us and which we mean to have."
M. Stambouliwaki said that as for the proportion of the
Ottoman debt owed by the parts of Bulgaria won from Turkey.
Bulgaria would not pay one cent.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1922
Page 1, Col. 1
TURKS PROCLAIM BANISHMENT EDICT TO 1,000,000 GREEKS
Ismet, in Lausanne Conference, Gives Those Remaining in
Turkey Two Weeks' Grace.
ALLIES ACCEPT THE DICTUM
Proceed to Discussion of Means of Evacuation -- Greeks
in Constantinople Included.
CONFERENCE RECESS SOON
Leaders, Despairing of Agreement Now, Plan for an Adjournment
About Dec.15
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, December 3, 1922
New York Times Editorial
Page 6, Col. 2, Section 2,
A BLACK FRIDAY.
There have been many Black Fridays in recent history. Most
of them have been days of financial panic. There has been
none of blacker foreboding than last Friday. And the blackness
is not loss or fear of loss in stocks and bonds. It is the
blackness of loss of home, the blackness of exile and suffering
and the peril of death. But that which deepens the darkness
that has come upon the earth in the broad daylight of the
twentieth century is civilization's prompt acceptance of
the Turks' decree of banishment not only of a million Greeks,
but incidentally of all Christian minorities within the
Turkish realm beyond the Hellespont, which the Aryan crossed
over three thousand years ago. Light blackens such a blot.
Lord Curzon but urged that the Greeks be gotten out as
quickly as possible in order to escape massacre. For the
rest there was, so far as reported, only quiet acquiescence.
Meanwhile, the dispatches from Washington of the same date
report that the Administration believes that the United
States "is not without influence at Lausanne,"
that not only the Allies but the Turkish representatives
appear to be "wholly satisfied" with the part
that the United States is playing at Lausanne, and that
the very latest reports from Ambassador Child enable the
Department of State to draw the conclusion that the work
of the "gathering" at Lausanne is "proceeding
satisfactorily." Let us assume that the "very
latest reports" do not include the happenings of Friday.
If the government were knowingly "wholly satisfied"
with that day's record, then black were white. It is inconceivable
that the American people can be as "wholly satisfied"
with our part as the Turks are reported to be.
Is this to be the end of the Christian minorities in Asia
Minor--that land where, thirteen centuries and more before
the Turk came first to rule it, Paul had journeyed as a
missionary through its length and
breadth, and where the first "seven churches that are
in Asia stood," to which the messages written in the
Book of Revelation were sent?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
December 4, 1922
The New York Times
Page 16, Col. 3
THE STATESMANSHIP OF EXTERMINATION.
What The Times thinks about the morality of the Turkish
plan to drive every Greek and Armenian out of Turkey--which
means that a great many of them will die or be murdered
on the way, and that others will fall victims to famine
or pestilence in their places of refuge--has already been
said. It has been pointed out, too, that the serious thing
is not so much the morality of the Turk, which has been
fairly well known to the world for several centuries but
that of the so-called Christian Powers which stood by and
were consenting.
The British Government protested in the name of humanity
when the Greek revolutionaries shot a group of ex-Ministers
and Generals. But when the Turks announce that a million
Greeks are to be expelled from the country where they have
lived since two thousand years before the Turks were heard
of, and driven out to die, Lord Curzon's moral scruples
are satisfied with a request for two weeks delay. Politicians
it seems can be knocked by killings only when the victims
are other politicians.
Even granting that this eviction on a grand scale will
be successful--as apparently it will--what is to become
of Turkey? What will become of the deported Greeks and Armenians
is, unhappily plain enough. What of the Turks who will be
left to undisturbed enjoyment of the country which has been
somewhat inexactly called their homeland? Their friends
make much of their "racial vitality" which has
been demonstrated by the national revival. But racial vitality
which exhausts itself in a capacity for
fighting diplomatic intrigue and a low grade of agriculture
is poor
equipment for a nation in the twentieth century, especially
for a nation occupying a country of enormous strategic and
military importance. Already there is trouble in Smyrna.
The expulsion of the Greeks and Armenians has ruined the
town. What has happened in Smyrna will happen in Constantinople
if the Christian population is expelled. Turkey will be
left a nation of peasants, and the business which was formerly
done by Greeks and Armenians will have to be done by somebody
other than the Turks.
It is too much to suppose that the world will leave the
Turks to till
their fields and enjoy the pleasant spectacle of deserted
and ruined
cities undisturbed by the complications of modern business.
Somebody is going after the iron and the oil. The great
cultured nations of Western Europe which watch calmly the
annihilation of some of the oldest stocks of European culture
may be calm because they think they will get a bigger share
of the business with resident business men out of the way.
But business there must be: even the Turks will need it.
And the killing off of the races that have done the business
hitherto will merely widen the field for that foreign intrigue
which the Near East has known for centuries and will continue
to know so long as weak or incompetent States lie in the
zone between Asia and Europe.
There is some justice in the Turkish complaint that the
Christian
minorities were used as pawns in foreign diplomatic games:
but the games will go on with other pawns. The Turks will
not be let alone, nor will the Near East cease to be a breeding
ground of European wars. The Turks have found themselves
unable to get along with races whose collaboration was essential
if Turkey was to continue to exist under modern conditions.
They knew no way to solve that problem but the extermination
of the minorities. Yet this murder of hundreds of thousands
of men, women and children will in the long run bring no
profit either to the Turks who do it or to the European
Powers which are apparently going to allow it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
December 9, 1922
The New York Times
Letter to the Editor
THE EXPELLED GREEKS.
Turkey's Defiance of All the Laws of Civilization.
To the Editor of The New York Times:
The last decree of the Angora government that 300,000 Greeks
who were living peaceably in Turkey should leave that country
at once and the refusal of the same Government to allow
Greek ships to take them away was a gross breach action
by the American Government. It is true that a nation may
require individuals who are unfriendly and suspected of
crime to leave the country. But that is a very different
thing from compelling immediate deportation of 300,000 men,
women and children with the warning that if they do not
go at once, they will be carried off to the interior. This
means, as experience with the Angora Government shows, that
the men will be killed and the women enslaved. These people
were living in their homes, earning an honest living, quite
independent of the charity of foreign nations. The President
of the United States had called upon the American people
to relieve the distress of the multitudes who had been already
driven out of Turkey and many of whose friends had been
murdered by the Turks. The Times has given us pictures of
these Christian refugees who are temporarily sheltered in
tents and are being cared for by the American Near East
Relief and by the Red Cross. Now the Turk is proposing to
put upon us the burden of over 300,000 more. It is a most
unfriendly act and one that we should resent
and defeat by every means in our power.
The rule which should govern civilized nations was well
stated by Daniel Webster, when he was Secretary of State
in 1842, in a dispatch to our Minister in Mexico. Referring
to American citizens who had been captured when they were
alleged to be members of a large Texan force acting in hostility
to Mexico, he said, "It is still the duty of this Government
to take so far a concern in their welfare as to see that
as prisoners of war, they are treated according to the usage
of modern times and civilized States. Indeed although the
rights of the safety of none of their own citizens were
concerned, yet if in a war waged between two
neighboring States, the killing, enslaving, or cruelty treating
of
prisoners should be indulged in, the United States would
feel it to be their duty, as well as their right, to remonstrate
and to interfere
against such a departure from the principles of humanity
and
civilization. These principles are common principles, essential
alike to the welfare of all nations, and in the preservation
of which all nations have, therefore, rights and interests."
The extreme cruelty with which the Turks carried on their
previous
deportations is described in the report of the American
Military Mission to Armenia, dated October 16, 1919. It
sums up the slaughter thus: "The dead from this wholesale
attempt on the race are variously estimated at from 500,000
to more than a million, the usual figure being about 800,000."
We hear much about the new Turk. As far as appears, the
new Turk of the Angora Government is only new in that he
has revived the fanaticism and cruelty of the Turks when
first they conquered Asia Minor and captured Constantinople.
The Sultan, whom they dethroned, had at least some moderation
in his crimes. Henry Morgenthau, in his article recently
published in The Times, states the case very clearly:
"Only the Turks are ready and eager at this moment
for a strong
offensive movement against civilization. In the light of
recent events
this constitutes a very grave danger to the whole world.
Other nations, worn and weary, ask only for peace. The Turks
have no commerce, no manufactures, no merchant marine. They
have nothing to lose. They have no culture. They have no
training save in bearing arms, no science save the science
of war, no art save the lethal art. They are mere marauders."
The questions for America now to consider are these: Will
Congress support the recommendations of the Secretary of
War and the Secretary of the Navy and authorize an army
and navy of sufficient force to protect civilization, of
which America is still a part, from these marauders, and
will the President use the force he now has as a police
to do our part in the struggle? And will he notify the Angora
Government that it must revoke at once this order for deportation,
or have we become a new America--cowardly, selfish and short-sighted--forgetful
of the
principles of our great statesmen and the action of our
Government in previous administrations, and mindful only
of our own immediate ease?
God forbid.
EVERETT P. WHEELER.
New York, December 6, 1922.
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