YOUNG TURKS' CRUELTY
80,000 CHRISTIANS DIE OF STARVATION IN LEBANON
Ashburton Guardian,
18 July 1916.
(Received July 18, 11.40 a.m.)
LONDON, July 17.
A Mussulman, writing to the "Journal
de Geneve," protests against cruelties
of the Young Turks against Christians
in Lebanon. He states that 80,000 have
died of starvation, since the beginning
of May thousands have perished. The
highest in Syrian society have been de-
ported.
Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXVI, Issue 8504, 18 July 1916, Page 5
TURKS VICTIMS.
GREEKS AND ARMENIANS.
Star (Christchurch).
19 Dec 1918, p. 4.
LONDON, December 5.
Reuter has received from a Greek
source figures showing that in the
spring of 1914 the Turks deported
700,000 Greeks, of whom 500,000 are
now refugees in Greece. From the
beginning of the war to the end of
1917 the Turks had deported 2,140,000
Greeks and Armenians, of whom
900,000 Greeks had been massacred.
Further, 200,000 mobilised Greeks
had been put to death or had died of
their sufferings. A great number of
women and children had been convert-
ed forcibly to Islamism. Others had
been killed or had committed suicide.
The property of Greeks taken by the
Turks and Germans was valued at
£120,000,000.
Star (Christchurch), Issue 12506, 19 December 1918, p. 4. Retrieved on 19 Nov 2020 from https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TS19181219.2.18
TURKEY'S JIHAD
APPEALS BY THE PRIESTS
Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate
1 Dec 1914.
ATHENS, Monday.
Hajis from the minarets at Beirut
have exhorted the populace to massacre
Christians and Europeans whenever the
warships of the Powers of the Entente
appear.
Beirut is on the coast of Syria, at the
foot of Lebanon, and 147 miles from Jeru-
salem.
The Italian cruiser Calabria has been
ordered to proceed to Syria to protect
Italian subjects.
TURKEY'S JIHAD. (1914, December 1). Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate (NSW : 1876 - 1954), p. 5. Retrieved November 16, 2020, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article137430075
THE SALONIKA CONGRESS
YOUNG TURKS AND THEIR PROGRAMME
The Times (London)
3 Oct 1911.
(From our Correspondent in the Balkan Peninsula).
(excerpt)
Sooner or later the complete Ottomaniza-
tion of all the Turkish subjects must be effected,
but it was becoming clear that this could
never be achieved by persuasion, and recourse
must be had to force of arms. Moslem domina-
tion was inevitable, and respect must be
preserved for Moslem institutions and tradi-
tions - the most humane in the world. Other
nationalities must be refused the right of
organization, for decentralization and autonomy
were treachery to the Turkish Empire ; these
nationalities were a negligible quantity ; they
might retain their religion, but not their
languages ; the diffusion of the Turkish
language was one of the principle means of
assuring Moslem predominance and assimilating
other elements.
The Salonika Congress. 1911, October 3. The Times (London), p. 3. Retrieved November 16, 2020, from
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/archive/article/1911-10-03/3/10.htm
Note: In October 1911, the London Times' Balkan correspondent reported on the results of the Committee of Union and Progress Party's annual Congress which was held in Thessaloniki, at the time part of the Ottoman Empire. The Congress confirmed that Ottomanization of the Empire was necessary and since it was not possible through peaceful means, violent or military means were required. Non-Turkish people were to lose their right to form their own organizations based on their ethnicity since this threatened the unity of the Ottoman state. Ottoman minorities they said had to be disregarded. In the years that followed these policies of assimilation were achieved through re-settlements and deportations and other means.
GREECE IN ASIA MINOR, 1919-1922
Victoria Solomonidis
C. Hurst and Co. Publishers, 2010.
320 pages.
‘Chronicles and analyses the events leading to the Asia Minor disaster in considerable depth, giving a highly detailed account, which is unique to this volume, of the Greek administration in Smyrna, providing rich and illuminating detail.’ — Dr Steven Morewood, University of Birminghamin
In 1919, at the behest of the victorious first World War allies, Greece sent an expeditionary force to occupy Smyrna and the Vilayet of Aidin pending final Allied agreement to the terms of the peace treaty with the Ottoman Empire. The immediate mission was to protect the very large Greek and other Christian communities from the depredations of the Turkish nationalists. The underlying Greek motivation was the pursuit of the age‑old ‘Great idea’ which aspired to incorporate the un-redeemed Hellenes within the Greek Kingdom.
After a bungled military landing in May 1919 and in the face of innumerable challenges, a civil administration under High Commissioner Aristidis Stergiadis made heroic efforts to govern effectively and even‑handedly over the disparate populations. The odds, however, were overwhelmingly against an enduring success. In September 1922 the catastrophic rout of the Greek army at the hands of the Turkish nationalists resulted in a civilian bloodbath, the destruction of Smyrna and the expulsion of Hellenism from Asia Minor.
This history is considered here against the background of fluid post‑war Allied relations, major foreign financial interests, the plight of the Christian minorities in Turkey, the inexorable rise of Turkish nationalism, the fraught political situation at home and developments both on the military front and in diplomatic negotiations. Greece in Asia Minor reassesses the work and reputation of the much‑maligned Aristidis Stergiadis, the reluctant but dedicated public servant, and challenges the view that he was the principal author of the ‘Smyrna catastrophe’.
Of Smyrniot descent, Victoria Solomonidis studied at Athens University and the School of Slavonic and East European Studies (UCL) before completing her doctoral thesis at King’s College, University of London, where she is a fellow. Beyond her academic interests she has extensive experience in international cultural relations. (Oct. 2010)
The Greek Genocide was extensively covered in the English print media.
Below is a chronological list of some news reports.