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Smyrna - The Forgotten City

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  • Smyrna - The Forgotten City

    SMYRNA - THE FORGOTTEN CITY
    John Halkias, [email protected]

    American Chronicle
    http://www.americanchronicle.com/article s/79580
    Oct 31 2008
    CA

    Greeks-Americans are the second most educated ethnic group living in
    the United States. Through hard work, determination and a desire to
    sacrifice for the next generation, Greeks have successfully assimilated
    to American life. But at what price?

    Today's young Greek-American has but a vague knowledge of Greek
    history, with perhaps the most glaring oversight being the Greek
    Catastrophe and the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1923.

    "Who, after all, remembers the annihilation of the Armenians?" Adolf
    Hitler spoke those words before he began the extermination of six
    million Jews during the Holocaust. Only a few years earlier, Mustafa
    Kemal, a/k/a Ataturk, was responsible for one of the largest purges
    of humanity known to man - the extinction of 3.5 million Greek and
    Armenian Orthodox Christians who occupied Asia Minor or Anatolia. It
    also resulted in the near extinction of another Christian ethnicity,
    the Assyrians, who occupied Asia Minor for thousands of years. Here
    is the definition in Websters Dictionary for Assyrian: "a member of
    an ancient Semitic race forming the Assyrian nation and based in Asia
    Minor.." The Assyrians weren't an ancient race in 1910, yet they were
    almost completely eradicated by the Kemal's forces. This eradication
    of all Christian populations culminated with the destruction of Smyrna,
    a largely Greek City in Asia Minor on September 9, 1922. Almost 300,000
    Smyrnan-Greeks were murdered or displaced during the course of the
    battle for the city. The real tragedy is while the city burned and
    Greeks were being butchered, a fleet of American, British and French
    warships were stationed in Smyrna's vast harbor. They stood idly by
    and let the carnage happen.

    HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

    Until about the late 14th century, almost all of Asia Minor was
    inhabited by Greeks. The weakening of the Byzantine Empire and
    insurgence of marauding Mongols, Ottomans and other nomadic peoples
    from the East eventually led to the downfall of the Byzantine Empire
    and formation of the Ottoman Empire.

    In 1821, parts of mainland Greece achieved independence from the
    Ottomans and began a slow, but steady reclamation of Greek land. The
    hope was that one day, a Greek nation with Constantinople as it's
    capital would emerge - this idea was known throughout Greece as the
    "Great Idea." World War I gave Greeks the perfect opportunity to cash
    in on these goals. Led by Venizelos, who set up a rebel government
    to combat the "neutral" government of King Constantine of Greece,
    Greece joined the fight against Germany and it's ally, the Ottoman
    Empire. By the end of the War, Greece had gained a remarkable foothold
    into Asia Minor (which still had hundreds of predominately Greek cities
    and towns) and it seemed Constantinople would be Greek once again.

    However, Ataturk led a disenfranchised group of Turks and revolted
    against the Ottoman Empire (known as the Young Turk Revolution),
    starting the Republic of Turkey and promising western reforms. This
    also sealed the Greeks fate. Until this time, Greece was being aided
    primarily by England.

    Now that England had someone else (namely the new Turkish nation) it
    felt could represent their interests in Asia Minor, they cut off all
    support to the Greeks. The Greeks were pushed all the way down Asia
    Minor into Smyrna. As they were pushed through each city, the Greek
    and Armenian homes were burned and their inhabitants murdered. It
    culminated with the destruction of Smyrna.

    AFTER-EFFECTS

    How has it happened that the death of 3.5 million Orthodox-Christians
    is not remembered and honored as, say the Jewish Holocaust. The answer
    is that Turkey has used every measure it can to block recognition
    of the Greek Catastrophe/Armenian Genocide. Turkey has consistently
    denied a genocide ever occurred, despite historical record to the
    contrary. Their efforts to conceal the genocide are extraordinary:

    Throughout the Cold War, Turkey used American Air Force bases in
    Turkey as black-mail, preventing the U.S. from publicly recognizing
    the genocide;

    In the 1970's and 80's, Turkey was successful in excluding mention
    of the commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the genocide from
    United Nations Reports;

    Turkey influenced both the Reagan and Bush administrations to kill
    Congressional resolutions recognizing April 24 as a national day of
    remembrance for the millions of Orthodox Christians killed;

    Turkey lavished giant grants on American Universities (including $1.5
    million to Princeton and Georgetown University, where, incredibly,
    the professors who chair the departments started with these funds
    have denied a genocide ever occurred) in an attempt to revise history;

    When a Conference on Genocides, that would report on the Greek
    Catastrophe and Armenian Genocide was planned for Tel Aviv, Israel in
    1982, Turkey threatened repercussions against Jews living in Turkey if
    the Conference went forward. This might seem laughable if not for the
    fact that the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington received
    similar threats when it planned an exhibition on the matter.

    WHAT CAN BE DONE?

    There have been numerous resolutions passed and/or brought before
    the House of Representatives that would have honored the memory of
    the millions of Greeks, Assyrians and Armenians who perished. It also
    included a provision that would have blocked certain economic aid to
    Turkey until it recognized it's actions. Unfortunately, the resolution
    never made it to the President for signature. We must keep pushing
    our elected officials to put pressure on Turkey to recognize this
    and other injustices Turkey is guilty of (e.g., Cyprus). As young
    Greek-Americans, it is our duty to our ancestors, our children and
    ourselves to continue this fight and, most important of all, to never
    forget our history. For more information, I urge you to read Thea
    Halo's wonderful book, Not Even My Name, which gives a first-person
    account of many of the horrors described above and describes in great
    historical detail how the Pontic Greeks, original settlers of Asia
    Minor, were evicted from their homes and sent on long death marches.
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