GAVCARoCOM wrote:10 Biggest lies of Greece
To Vima newspaper from Greece declared the 10 biggest lies mentioned in the history books against the Ottoman Empire.
As in most of the Balkan countries, even in the European Countries, the history books read are full of heroic stories and myths. The biggest part of the history books is the revolt of Greece against the Ottoman Empire for getting its independence in 1821. Inspecting the history books full of heroic stories of the Greek people during the fighting period, TO VIMA newspaper published the "10 biggest lies" of Greece on the 185th Anniversary of its revolt against the Ottoman Empire. According to the research made by Andreas Pappas one of the authors of the newspaper, here are the Greek lies:
1st Lie: During the 400 years of Ottoman administration, Ottomans forced the Greek to accept Islam.
2nd Lie: Taken form their families by force, Christian children are forced to accept Islam and closed to Janissary Barracks.
3rd Lie: Greeks used to go to secret schools for learning their language and Christianity.
4th Lie: Greek Church fought hard against the Ottoman Empire.
5th Lie: Greek nation got its independence with a mutiny against the Ottoman Empire in 1821.
6th Lie: Thanks to the mutiny, Larissa (Central Greece) joined to Greek lands in 1881. Athens siege of the Ottoman Empire failed in 1897. Ottoman lands are shared with the Treaty of Sevres in 1920.
7th Lie: Only Greeks revolted against the Ottoman Empire.
8th Lie: Foreign countries supported Greeks because they liked them much.
9th Lie: Only Greeks lost their home.
10th Lie: Greeks emigrated from Anatolia to Greece are taken out of Hellenic lands during the First World War.
1st true Ottomans never forced Christian (beyond some exception) the reason was that the Christian subjects were paying ...taxes and not because Ottomans were tolerance (Turkish myth).Ottomans like all the conquerors were interested to collect taxes from the conquered areas.
2nd false (one more Turkish myth) about the devshirme ,we are dealing with the large numbers of Christians who, in spite of the material advantages offered by conversion to Islam, chose to remain members of a religious society which was denied first class citizenship. Therefore the proposition advanced by some “historians”, that the Christians welcomed the devshirme as it opened up wonderful opportunities for their children, is inconsistent with the fact that these Christians had not chosen to become Muslims in the first instance but had remained Christians there is abundant testimony to the very active dislike with which they viewed the taking of their children. One would expect such sentiments given the strong nature of the family bond and given also the strong attachment to Christianity of those who had not apostatized to Islam.First of all the Ottomans capitalized on the general Christian fear of losing their children and used offers of devshirme exemption in negotiations for surrender of Christian lands. Such exemptions were included in the surrender terms granted to Jannina, Galata, the Morea, Chios, etc…Christians who engaged in specialized activities which were important to the Ottoman state were likewise exempt from the tax on their children by way of recognition of the importance of their labors for the empire.Exemption from this tribute was considered a privilege and not a penalty.There are other documents wherein their [i.e., the Christians] dislike is much more explicitly apparent. These include a series of Ottoman documents dealing with the specific situations wherein the devshirmes themselves have escaped from the officials responsible for collecting them.A firman,in 1601 [regarding the devshirme] provided the [Ottoman] officials with stern measures of enforcement, a fact which would seem to suggest that parents were not always disposed to part with their sons.“..to enforce the command of the known and holy fetva [fatwa] of Seyhul [Shaikh]- Islam. In accordance with this whenever some one of the infidel parents or some other should oppose the giving up of his son for the Janissaries, he is immediately hanged from his door-sill, his blood being deemed unworthy.”It is obvious that the population strongly resented…this measure [and the levy] could be carried out only by force. Those who refused to surrender their sons- the healthiest, the handsomest and the most intelligent- were on the spot put to death by hanging. Nevertheless we have examples of armed resistance. In 1565 a revolt took place in Epirus and Albania. The inhabitants killed the recruiting officers and the revolt was put down only after the sultan sent five hundred janissaries in support of the local sanjak-bey. We are better informed, thanks to the historic archives of Yerroia,about the uprising in Naousa in 1705 where the inhabitants killed the Silahdar Ahmed Celebi and his assistants and fled to the mountains as rebels. Some of them were later arrested and put to death.Since there was no possibility of escaping [the levy] the population resorted to several subterfuges. Some left their villages and fled to certain cities which enjoyed exemption from the child levy or migrated to Venetian-held territories. The result was a depopulation of the countryside. Others had their children marry at an early age…Nicephorus Angelus…states that at times the children ran away on their own initiative, but when they heard that the authorities had arrested their parents and were torturing them to death, returned and gave themselves up. Finally, in their desperation the parents even appealed to the Pope and the Western powers for help.This happen by the Greeks parents of west Minor Asia, where their tragic request to the knights of Rhodes to intervene Pope Calixtus III to transfer them to Rhodes in order to avoid devshirme This request is saved and exist in the national library of Paris, this a written proof.
3nd true Ottomans never forbidden education (they never really interested)
4th partly true official church never fought (could not do else in Constantinople) against Ottomans but the local bishops ,simple priests and monks were side by side with the rebels.
5th false (another turkish myth ) The Greek uprising was victorious Ottomans were defeat and they asked the help of their ally of Egypt (and with the 2 Greek civil wars ) the Egyptians start to to give an end to the Greek revolution but the Navarino sea battle change the result.
The turkish myth is that the greeks are zimmi and the Turks are gazi reality is differend without the help of the Egyptians Greeks were the gazi.
6th I think that we forget the balcans wars (I dont know why they mention this as a lie Greek history just pass in two lines the defeat of 1897)
7th true The rebels consist from Greeks and Greek speaking Arvanites and Arvanitika speaking Arvanites (christians and muslims)
8th true Foreigners liked the ancient Greece.
9th the exchange of the population i also remember it from my school history book i dont know why the mention it as a lie
10th partly true because they already exist for hundred of years massive greek populations in Cappadokia Pontos and Asia minor.They migrate people like my grandmother to work to greek rιch house as a servant but temporarily.
Now just to mention one more Turkish (and pan turkish) myth like the lie of the 16 Turk Empires that the most of them are not related with the anatolia (Turkish) tribes (because Turkish is new term that was established after the so called Turkish War of Independence)
In Greece is a group of leftist historian that try interpret history in a different way.
