SMYRNA – THE FORGOTTEN CITY
John Halkias, info@macedonian.com.au

American Chronicle
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.