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.

Book availability

‘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)

• Smyrna