Global Politician, NY
May 11 2008
Turkish Denial and The Forgotten Genocides
Ioannis Fidanakis – 5/11/2008
Throughout time man has associated certain images with events, images
that shock the human mind so much they are permanently engrained in
our memories. The Holocaust, the mere mention of the word fills people
with images of horrible persecution. Mountains of shoes and gas
chambers are all quickly associated with the horrible events which
took place in the Second World War. In the United States, whippings
and lynchings are seen as trade marks of African-American Slavery in
the South. Today’s society identifies these images with crimes against
Humanity. We are taught to no longer tolerate such acts of hatred, and
instead commemorate and study these important lessons of the past to
honour the many innocent who lost their lives. Yet the most disturbing
imagery, that of mountains upon mountains of human skulls and long
marches of women, children and elderly in the desert, are lost on
society. Our `civilized’ society turns a blind eye to such images and
the events in which they are identified with, the forgotten Hellenic,
Armenian, and Assyrian Genocides initiated during the First World
War. How can the international community allow the suffering and
persecution endured by the Christian subjects of the Ottoman Empire
and Republic of Turkey to just be left to fade away into history? Why
are these millions of innocent men, women and children that perished
not given the same respect of commemoration, study, and remembrance?
The lack of recognition, dealing with the Hellenic Genocide, which is
known by scholars as the Greek and Pontic Greek Genocide, is in and of
itself a crime against Humanity. To simply surpass the importance of
such a terrible part of History is a disservice to all those who lost
their lives during those years of fear and terror. How can Western
Civilization, who owe the Hellenic people so much for its very birth
and continued survival. Not feel as if their own ancestors perished
under years of oppression and atrocities.
There are many excuses behind the lack of international recognition,
mainly based around the historical events that took place shortly
after the Genocide. The Treaty of Lausanne, which was signed in 1923,
and brought an end to the Hellenic population living in Anatolia,
makes no mention of the persecutions and troubles suffered by the
Christian subjects at the time, and hence sealing the issues fate. The
Greco-Turkish Treaty of Friendship signed in 1930, is also used by
many as a reason behind the Genocide’s omission from history books,
because of the concessions that were made for peace in the
region. Lastly, and what appears to be the most logical, is that fact
that Hellas suffered political and social turmoil, with the Nazi
Occupation and Civil War, which took place shortly afterwards. The
mere survival of the Hellenic people took precedence over the
recognition for these events.
The tragedy that befell those Hellenes living in Anatoliki Thraki
(Eastern Thrace) and all of Anatolia can be divided into two separate
phases. The first falling between 1914 and the closing days of the
First World War, at the hands of the Ottoman Government , and the
second from 1919 till the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923 by
Mustapha Kemal and his Kemalist followers, who were the old guard of
the Young Turk movement, that had previously ruled the Ottoman
Empire. It is during these years that the rivers of Anatoliki Thraki
and Anatolia ran red with Hellenic blood.
`The first step in the persecutions of the Greeks was the attack on
the ecclesiastical, legal, and educational rights which had always
been possessed within the Turkish Empire by the Greek ecclesiastical
authorities and which had gone far toward mitigating the distress of
the Turkish regime. The Turkish language was introduced into Greek
schools; geography and history had to be taught in Turkish. Greek
priests were arrested and imprisoned without warning or reason and
without notification of the ecclesiastical authorities. Forcible
conversions to Mohammedanism, long forbidden by law, began to appear
again, particularly in the case of Greek girls carried off to Turkish
harems without the usual right of intervention which the Greek
Patriarch and Metropolitans had always possessed. `(1)
The persecutions of old rightfully echoed loudly in the hearts and
minds of the population with the return of those once forgotten
practices and a new form of the janissary system, disguised in the
form of charitable Orphan Asylums. The ingenious method of masking
these charitable institutions for devious purposes was second nature
for the Turkish Government. The Orphan asylums sprung up under the
disguise of relief, and yet were used as tools of the Government’s
planned extermination of the Hellenic population still living within
the Empire.
`These orphan institutions have in appearance a charitable object, but
if one considers that their inmates are Greek boys who became orphans
because their parents were murdered, or who were snatched away from
their mothers, or left in the streets for want of nourishment, (of
which, they were deprived by the Turks.), and that these Greek
children receive there a purely Turkish education, it will be at once
seen that the cloak of charity there lurks the `child collecting’
system instituted in the past by the Turkish conquerors and a new
effort to revive the janissary system. The Greek boys were treated in
this manner. What happens to the Greek girls? If we review the
Consular reports about the persecutions from the year 1916 to 1917 we
shall find hardly one of them which does not speak of forcible
abductions and conversions to Mohammedanism. And it could not have
been otherwise, since it is well known that this action, as has been
stated above, was decided upon in June 1915, in order to effect the
Turkification of the Hellenic element. This plan was carried out
methodically and in a diabolical manner, through the `mixed
settlements’ of Greeks and Turks, always with a predominance of
Mohammedan males and of Greek females in order to compel mixed
marriages.'(2)
Other methods used by the Turkish government during both phases were
Work battalions, Concentration camps, death marches, and straight-out
massacres to put an end to the Hellenic Question. The famous work
battalions, known as `Ameles tabour’, were created `on the plea that
the Christians could not be trusted to bear arms against their
coreligionists they were drafted into labor battalions and set into
the interior of Asia Minor to do work for the Turks.'(3)
The conditions, in which, they were forced to live in were
terrible. `A piece of unsuitable bread made from tare (animal food)
and a watery soup daily, under the rain and snow, with insults,
humiliations, and beatings, sicknesses of dysentery, diarrhea, typhus,
did not leave much margin for survival. The number of those who
survived these notorious ameles tabour, `the death battalions’ as
called by Christians, was minimal.’ (4)
Anatoliki Thraki and the Genocide
One of the most overlooked regions, in which the Genocide accrued, is
Anatoliki Thraki. A place, which suffered systematic plans of
genocide, under both the Bulgarians and Turks, seeing double the
carnage of other Hellenic lands during those years. During the years
of persecution in Vorio Thraki (Northern Thrace) by the Bulgarians,
the Turkish policy towards the Hellenes was one of friendship, because
of the Slavic threat against the Ottoman Empire. Thus, generally
speaking, the position of the Greeks of Thrace was a good one in this
period. With the revolution of the Young Turks, the Greeks of Thrace,
as all the Greeks of the Empire, hoped for the amelioration of their
position believing in the declarations of equality and
brotherhood. They were soon disillusioned, however, since the measures
of the Young Turks against the Greek communities affected many of
their privileges. (5)
An eerie sense of doom must have been felt creeping in, with the
Turkish reoccupation of Thraki, which would bring an era of brutality
not soon forgotten with the return of atrocities, looting and
massacres against the Hellenes. Whole villages being destroyed by the
Turkish military in the most sadistic ways, at the time, a wireless
dispatch to the Daily Chronicle from Constanza says: `Turkey has been
running an `atrocious campaign’ most unscrupulously to cover her own
misdeeds and distract attention from the appalling facts of the
Thracian massacres by the Turkish army of reoccupation. (6) The death
and destruction seen in Thraki during the Balkan Wars would be
surpassed only with the coming First World War.
`When the European war broke out, the Turks, with German connivance,
began a policy of extermination of the Greek population which
parallels in almost every detail the terrible outrages against the
Armenians.’ The Turkish Government used the outbreak of the War to its
full advantage to begin the removal of the Hellenic Population from
their ancestral homeland, under the pretext of the ‘military security’
of the Turkish cities, a large part of the population of eastern
Thrace was deported towards the hinterland of Asia Minor hinterland
(as was the case with the population of western Asia Minor and
Pontos). Many were forced to convert to Islam, and they were distanced
from the Patriarchate and had no access to Greek schools. A large part
of the male population was exterminated in amele taburu or labour
battalions. (7)
The Terror and destruction decimated the countryside, turning the once
beautiful crossroads between Europe and Asia, into Hell on earth, with
Turkish hordes descending upon the local peasantry leaving nothing in
their wake. Life in the countryside changed from one of children
playing and parents working, to silence, as Hellenes dared not to tend
to their fields, while Turkish bands roamed freely in the open
countryside.
Reports from the Ecumenical Patriarchate tell us of the anarchy and
terror, which reigned over Anatoliki Thraki, where these Turkish bands
were free to, committed the oldest crimes in the newest ways. Turkish
civilians aided the Ottoman Government in their plans of
extermination, in whatever manner they could. Turkish peasants would
execute orders given to them by local officials mainly during the
cover of darkness, to hide their identity from their
neighbors. Individual incidents like that from the Diocese of
Heracles, show the pure horror that Hellenes living in Thraki had to
deal with on a daily bases, `At the end of May, 1919, three
Albanian-Turks, guarding the Tsikili Farm, on the Tsads-Tyroloe road,
killed two young Christian men from Tsads, whose clothes and ears they
sent to this town, to frighten the peasantry and whose corpses they
gave to the dogs of the farm for food’. (8)
In the Diocese of Ganos and Chora, `The Turkish peasants’ fanaticism,
provocations and threatening attitude toward the Greeks had grown so
violent, that they openly declared, even in presence of Government
officials, that they would quite soon annihilate them. This state of
things paralyzed the will of the Greeks and prevented them from
attending to their business’ (9). A perfect example of their
fanaticism comes from one report in December of 1919. `Periclis
Prodromou from Avdini, was slaughtered like a lamb, near
Atelthini'(10), as if the Hellenic people were livestock, this just
goes to show the mentality held by the Turkish people at the time.
In the Diocese of Didymotechon, which lies on the border of Anatoliki
Thraki and Western Thraki, we see, `On May 21st, a double murder of
two Greeks took place in the village Tchanakli. These two farmers
coming to Ouzoum Kioprou, were on the way attacked by four
soldiers. The head of one victim, Athanassius, was cut off, while the
other victim, though seriously wounded, was able to creep as far as
Eski-keuyto. The wounded reported the crime to the authorities and
after a few hours succumbed to his wounds.'(11)
In the end Hellenism in Anatoliki Thraki would face the same fate as
that of Anatolian and Pontian Hellenism. With the evacuation of the
Hellenic Army in 1922, the surviving 300,000 Hellenes living in
Anatoliki Thraki, excluding those living in Constantinople were forced
to leave the homeland of their ancestors, which had been theirs for
thousands of years.
A Call for Justice and Recognition
In the same spirit that brought recognition and restitution for the
victims of the Holocaust, so should Turkey be held accountable for the
crimes of its past. How else can it truly be seen as a partner for
peace, ready for entrance inside the European community? Those seeking
justice are not looking for War or dismantlement of the Turkish state,
but rather for the wrongs of the past to be recognized and set
straight. The Turkish people should not fear international
recognition, but should welcome it, as a means to finally write an end
to this ugly chapter of history so all people involved can look to the
future instead of the past.
Far too much time has past since those terrible events during the
early 20th century, without an international declaration memorializing
these atrocities as Genocide. Hellas is politically and socially
stable enough to final push for international recognition of the
Genocide suffered by its people during those long years of oppression
and persecution. It is time that the movement for justice and
recognition finally take center stage inside the many important
National Issues facing Hellas today. In 2007, an important step was
realized, when the International Association of Genocide Scholars
(IAGS) recognized the crimes suffered by the Assyrian, Hellenic, and
Armenian populations between 1914 and 1923 as Genocide. `The
resolution declares that `it is the conviction of the International
Association of Genocide Scholars that the Ottoman campaign against
Christian minorities of the Empire between 1914 and 1923 constituted a
genocide against Armenians, Assyrians, and Pontian and Anatolian
Greeks.’ It `calls upon the government of Turkey to acknowledge the
genocides against these populations, to issue a formal apology, and to
take prompt and meaningful steps toward restitution.'(12)
It is my firm belief that the only honorable and logical way to handle
recognition and restitution of the Genocide committed against the
Hellenes of Anatoliki Thraki is with a solution deemed acceptable for
both parties involved. This mutual understanding must benefit both
Christian and Muslim Thracians still living inside Turkey, as well as
those descendants living outside the region. The first step towards
justice would be the Genocide’s recognition inside Turkey, as well as
internationally. Something that has already slowly come about with the
recent declarations from International Associations, as well as
limited recognition by some in the International Community and locally
in the United States.
The second step would be the creation of a Genocide Memorial in
Constantinople to commemorate all those lost during those bloodily
years of turmoil. This memorial could also run as a research center
and academic hub for Hellenic and Turkish scholars studying these and
other similar events.
Third and perhaps most radical part of the process of restitution is
the question of monetary compensation and land claims. As stated
before, those of us seeking justice do not wish to be seen as war
enthusiasts bent on the destruction of the Turkish state.
Instead such radical parts of this process can be answered, while
still protecting Turkish sovereignty. At this point and time it would
be impossible to have monetary compensation given to the families of
the survivors, just as it would be wrong to reward the Hellenic state
with such compensation. Unlike the state of Israel, which was founded
after the Holocaust, by survivors of the tragedy, the Hellenic state
was already in existence and the victims were not Hellenic citizens,
but rather Turkish. With this in mind it seems to me that a third
option must be presented. This being the creation of an autonomist
Anatoliki Thraki, which would receive monetary compensation directly
from the Turkish state, keeping the funds within the borders of
Turkey, to aid one region economically. This process could be seen as
a reconstruction or renovation of the region for the betterment of its
local population. This autonomist region would be governed by local
Christians and Muslims, as well as returning individuals whose family
roots are from Anatoliki Thraki. The returning descendants of refugees
expelled from the area would be reintroduced via settlements, much
like those created by the state of Israel. Finally its capital should
be seated in Constantinople, and a special relationship with the
European Union must be established. This seems to be the most
reasonable and appropriate solution for justice for Thraki and the
Thrakiotes.
Citations
1. `Turkish Cruelty Bared by Greeks.’ New York Times, June 16, 1918
2. `Turkish Cruelty Bared by Greeks.’ New York Times, June 16, 1918
3. `Turkish Cruelty Bared by Greeks.’ New York Times, June 16, 1918
4. Tsirkinidis, Harry. At Last we uprooted them¦ Pg 83
5. `The Expansion of the Hellenic State’
6. `Turks massacre Greeks in Thrace’, New York Times, July 28, 1913
7. `The Expansion of the Hellenic State’
8. The Black Book, Press of the Patriarchate. 1920
9. The Black Book, Press of the Patriarchate. 1920
10. The Black Book, Press of the Patriarchate. 1920
11. The Black Book, Press of the Patriarchate. 1920
Bibliography
1. Tsirkinidis, Harry. At last we uprooted them¦The genocide of
Greeks of Pontos, Thrace and Asia Minor, through the French
Archives. Translated by Stratos Mavrantonis. Kyriakidis
Brothers. S.A. Publishing House.1999
2. James, Edwin I. `Turks Proclaim Banishment edict to 1,000,000
Greeks.’ New York Times. December 2, 1922
3. `The Statesman of extermination.’ New York Times. December 4,
1922. Pg 16, Col 3
Ioannis Fidanakis is the President of Panthracian Union of America
`Orpheus’.
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