The Smyrna Catastrophe 1922 – End of Greco -Turkish War

 

 

 On September 13th, 1922, Smyrna (now Izmir), one of the wealthiest cities of the Ottoman Empire, on the Aegean coast of Anatolia, inhabited mostly by Greeks, Jews and Armenians, went up in flames.

 

 

Greek forces, which had occupied the city for the past three years, retreated under attack from the Turks, marking the end of the Greco-Turkish War, bringing about the largest compulsory population exchange in history and the creation of the Turkish Republic.

This tragedy came to be known as the “Smyrna Catastrophe” or “The Asia Minor Disaster”.

 

The Greco – Turkish War (1919–1922)

 

 

The  Greco – Turkish War commenced, when Greek forces, later joined by local Greek and Armenian untrained volunteers, landed in Smyrna, on 15th of May 1919.

Many acts of violence, including murder, rape and looting, followed the landing, mainly commited by a mob of local Greeks from the city, whilst the military authorities looked on but made no attempt to stop the mayhem.

 

 

On 26 June, the atrocities were condemned by the British House of Commons.

 This resulted in Eleftherios Venizelos, a significant politician and leader of the Greek national liberation movement, being forced to make an official inquiry.

A Court martial, held on August 15, 1919, led by the Greek High Commissioner, led to seventy four convictions.

 

 

Only a few days before the end of WWI, the Western Allies and the Ottoman Empire, which was defeated in the war, had signed the “Armistice of Mudros”, stating that The Ottoman Empire was to be divided up amongst the Allies.

The Allies awarded Greece the city of Smyrna and authorized Greece to occupy Ottoman regions, resulting in the Occupation of Smyrna by Greek forces.

For Greece, this justified the Greek foreign policy goal of re-taking Constantinople and re-establishing the Byzantine Empire, or “Greater Greece”.

 

The Turkish Great Offensive:

The end of the Greco – Turkish War

 

 

Originally, the Greek forces’ plan was to remain in the area surrounding Smyrna, by the summer of 1920 though, supported by Britain, plan B was put into action and they headed for Ankara and by October 1920, they had taken power over northwestern Anatolia.

 

 

The Greeks however, were met with Turkish revolutionary forces using guerilla tactics, which slowed down their progress immensely, and by 1921, after heavy losses during the Battle of Sakarya, the Greek advance came to a halt and they were forced to retreat to Smyrna.

 

 

On 26th August 1922, Turkey set in motion a brutal attack “The Turkish Great Offensive” crushing the Greek forces.

Defeated, the Greek forces evacuated Smyrna on the 8th of September 1922.

 

Turkish troops enter Smyrna

 

 

On the 9th of September, the Turkish Nationalist forces, led by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, entered Smyrna and raised the Turkish flag, signifying the Liberation of Izmir.

 

 

Four days later, on the 13th of September 1922, Smyrna, a cosmopolitan city, with a larger Greek population than Athens, the Greek capital, was burning.

The fire started in the Armenian quarter of the city and raged until September 22nd, resulting in the deaths of 10,000 to 125,000 Greek and Armenians.

The port of Smyrna, one of the busiest in the area, was burned to the ground.

 

Smyrna burning

 

 

The fire completely destroyed the Greek and Armenian quarters of the city; the Muslim and Jewish quarters escaped damage.

Around 80,000 to 400,000 Greeks and Armenians rushed to the waterfront to escape from the fire, where Turkish troops had closed off the quay, trappingng them within the fire zone, pillaging their shops, looting their homes and separating the men from the women.

 

 

Panic broke out with terrified refugees jumping into the water to escape the flames, children were trampled and many ill and elderly died from fear.

 

 

A British sailor, who witnessed the horrific fire from the deck of the HMS King George, described the scene:

“There were the most awful screams one could imagine… It was a horrible scene; mothers with their babies, the fire raging over their heads… and the people all screaming.”

By September 22nd, the fire was finally out and on 24th; the first Greek ships entered the harbor to rescue around 150,000–200,000 people.

 

 

About another 30,000 Greek and Armenian men were deported to the interior of Anatolia, many dying under the harsh conditions or executed along the way.

The Greco-Turkish War and the 3,000-year Greek presence on Anatolia’s Aegean shore was over, as was the vision of a “Greater Greece”.

 

 

Population Exchange

 

With the war over, peace negotiations began; Britain, France and Italy, along with other nations, came to the conclusion that, to avoid the deaths of more innocent civilians, a compulsory population exchange was the answer.

On October 16, 1922, Greek statesman, Eleftherios Venizelos, in a letter to the League of Nations, requested an exchange of Greek and Turkish populations.

 

 

An agreement was signed at Lausanne, Switzerland, on 30 January 1923, by the governments of Greece and Turkey.

The exchange involved at least 1.6 million people; 1,221,489 Greek Orthodox from Asia Minor and 355,000–400,000 Muslims from Greece.

 

 

The Birth of the Republic of Turkey

 

On October 29, 1923, the Grand Turkish National Assembly announced the creation of the Republic of Turkey.

Today, this war, religious differences and squabbles over territory, still cause tensions between Greece and Turkey.

 

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