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[achilles]

Since today is the memorial day of the Pontian Genocide i thought i should post this as a minimal tribute to those who were slaughtered without any reasonable justification, apart from the fact that they were Infidel Greeks...

This was the initial plan:

They would destroy all Greeks, Syrians, Armenians, and other Christians, move Moslem families into their homes and into their farms, and so make sure that these territories would not similarly be taken away from Turkey.

It was an anti-Christian campaign in order to establish a 'clean' Turkey comprised only by Turks. The architects of the masterplan were the Young Turks. The above can be easily verified by a relatively independent source:
A reliable source of information is the book of Henry Morgenthau: "American Ambassador at Constantinople from 1913 to 1916", where the honest diplomat reveals the facts that have taken place in Turkey during that period: "I have therefore laid aside any scruples I had as to the propriety of disclosing to my fellow countrymen the facts which I learned while representing them in Turkey. I acquired this knowledge as the servant of the American people, and it is their property as much as it is mine."

The master plan continued:

throughout the Turkish Empire a systematic attempt was made to kill all able-bodied men, not only for the purpose of removing all males who might propagate a new generation of Armenians, but for the purpose of rendering the weaker part of the population an easy prey....

Here is the link to all the above.

Here is what was submitted to the House of Representatives (USA) on September 9, 1997, regarding the attrocities and eventual burning of Smyrna in Minor Asia:
Whereas in 1914 the Turkish Nationalist regime initiated a systematic campaign to eradicate the ethnic Greek population in Asia Minor, consigning and killing thousands of male conscripts... (Introduced in House)

105th CONGRESS

1st Session

H. CON. RES. 148
Commemorating the 75th anniversary of the burning of Smyrna and honoring the memory of its civilian victims, and for other purposes.


IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

September 9, 1997
Mrs. MALONEY of New York (for herself, Mr. SHERMAN, and Mr. BILIRAKIS) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on International Relations



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Commemorating the 75th anniversary of the burning of Smyrna and honoring the memory of its civilian victims, and for other purposes.

Whereas in 1914 the Turkish Nationalist regime initiated a systematic campaign to eradicate the ethnic Greek population in Asia Minor, consigning and killing thousands of male conscripts in forced labor battalions and destroying Greek towns and villages and slaughtering additional hundreds of thousands of civilians in areas where Greeks composed a majority, as on the Black Sea coast, Pontus, and areas around Smyrna;
Whereas in 1922, Smyrna, the largest city in Asia Minor, a cosmopolitan hub populated by a highly educated Greek community and flourishing commercial and middle classes, was sacked and burned and its inhabitants massacred by the Turkish forces of Kemal Attaturk;

Whereas Turkish forces turned on the Greek population, whose numbers had swelled to 400,000 with the influx of refugees from Greek villages destroyed in the countryside, after first slaughtering the Armenians of Smyrna in their quarters;

Whereas on September 9, 1922, Turkish soldiers, led by their officers, set fire to Smyrna and razed most of the city under the gaze of United States, British, and French ships and foreign diplomats and journalists stationed offshore;

Whereas Metropolitan Chrysostomos, the spiritual leader of the Orthodox Christians in Smyrna who refused to abandon the city, was seized from religious services he was conducting in the cathedral by Turkish police forces and given over to be dismembered by a mob in the streets;

Whereas 3 other Orthodox metropolitans were brutally tortured to death in 1921 and 1922, as were 37 Armenian clerics and thousands of priests in the broader period from 1894 to 1923;

Whereas in 1923 more than 1,200,000 Greeks were expelled from Turkey; and

Whereas persecutions of Greeks in Turkey were repeated in a pogrom in Istanbul in 1955 whereby Orthodox churches and Greek businesses were burned and vandalized, again in 1964 with the expulsions of Greeks, and continues today with restrictions on press and religious freedoms and harassment of the Ecumenical Patriarchate: Now, therefore, be it


Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That--

(1) the Congress joins the Hellenic and the Armenian American communities in honoring the memory of the victims of Smyrna in 1922 and the millions of Orthodox Christians who perished in the genocidal campaign in Asia Minor from 1894 to 1923;

(2) the United States should encourage the Republic of Turkey to take all appropriate steps to acknowledge these crimes against humanity and commemorate the victims at Smyrna; and

(3) the American people should never forget these events, and an accurate history thereof should be restored and preserved so that such atrocities may never be repeated. Link

Here are some famous quotes as has been saved by primary sources, regarding the mentality of the Young Turk regime of the time:

“The Turks have decided upon a war of extermination against their Christian subjects.”

German Ambassador Wangenheim to German Chancellor von Bulow, quoting Turkish Prime Minister Sefker Pasha, July 24, 1909.

“The anti-Greek and anti-Armenian persecutions are two phases of one programme - the extermination of the Christian element from Turkey.”

Father J. Lepsius, German clergyman, July 31, 1915.

“...the entire Greek population of Sinope and the coastal region of the county of Kastanome has been exiled. Exile and extermination in Turkish are the same, for whoever is not murdered, will die from hunger or illness.”

Herr Kuchhoff, German consul in Amissos in a despatch to Berlin, July 16, 1916.

“On 26 November, Rafet Bey told me: ‘We must finish off the Greeks as we did with the Armenians’...On 28 November, Rafet Bey told me: ‘Today, I sent squads to the interior to kill every Greek on sight.’ I fear for the elimination of the entire Greek population and a repeat of what occurred last year.” (referring to the Armenian Genocide)

Herr Kwiatkowski, Austro-Hungarian consul in Amissos to Baron von Burian, Foreign Minister of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, November 30, 1916

“Consuls Bergfeld in Samsun and Schede in Kerasun report of displacement of local population and murders. Prisoners are not kept. Villages reduced to ashes. Greek refugee families consisting mostly of women and children being marched from the coasts to Sebasteia. The need is great.”

German Ambassador Kuhlman to German Chancellor Hollweg, December 13, 1916.

Herr Pallavicini, Ambassador of Austria-Hungary to Turkey, writes to Vienna, listing the villages in the region of Amissos that were being burnt to the ground, their inhabitants raped and either murdered or exiled, December 19, 1916:

“The situation for the displaced is desperate. Death awaits them all. I spoke to the Grand Vizier and told him that it would be sad if the persecution of the Greek element took the same scope and dimension as the Armenian persecution. The Grand Vizier promised that he would influence Talaat Bey and Enver Pasha.”

Austro-Hungarian Ambassador Pallavicini to Vienna, January 20, 1917

“The time is near for Turkey to be finished with the Greeks as we were with the Armenians in 1915.”

Talaat Bey as quoted by an Austro-Hungarian agent, January 31, 1917

“...the indications are that the Turks plan to eliminate the Greek element as enemies of the state, as they did earlier with the Armenians. The strategy implemented by the Turks is of displacing people to the interior, without taking measures for their survival by exposing them to death, hunger and illness. The abandoned homes are then looted and burnt or destroyed. Whatever was done to the Armenians is being repeated with the Greeks.”

Chancellor Hollweg of Germany, February 9, 1917. link

And this is what eventually happened(from the same source):

Thus, by official government decree, were 353 000 Pontian Hellenes slaughtered. Another 500 000 fled into exile (60% to Hellas, 40% to the Soviet Union). The Christian nations of the world were witnesses to this crime against humanity, but for reasons of political expediency and economic self-interest, by their silence, they pardoned the criminals. The Ottoman and Kemalist Turks denied the Hellenes of Pontus, of Kappadokia, of Ionia and of eastern Thrace the very right to exist.

Strangely, the Turks celebrate in their own unique way the 19th of May:


This is just the introduction. There is more to come for anyone interested.

RIP to the 353,000 Christian Pontian Greeks that have been slaughtered by a paranoid regime 80 years ago. May the world never witness another genocide again.

[achilles]

(1914–1923) massacres by the Young Turk government Approximately 500,000–750,000 Assyrians in the Ottoman Empire were killed. The Turkish government still denies that there was any genocide.

Between 600,000 and 1.5 million Armenians in the Ottoman Empire died. Armenians and most historians believe the deaths constituted genocide. The Turkish government denies allegations of genocide.

Between 300,000 and 600,000 Pontian Greeks in the Ottoman Empire were killed, and several hundred thousand others exiled. The Turkish government denies there was any genocide, instead blaming the wars with Greece which took place around the same time.

From Wikipedia

Greece's mistake was to aim at taking back Constantinople, whilst we should have stuck to the already established borders. Not that Constantinople was not Greek, but the timing was innapropriate. The government of Eleftherios Venizelos should have never undertake such an offensive against one of bloodiest regimes modern history has faced. No doubt, we payed a very high price for that mistake, and thats not to say that the Young Turks would not want to exterminate Christian communities, if it hadnt been for the Greek campaign. The plan was there all along and in fact, it goes back many years before the 1914-1923 period.

Lets see what the Department of Holocaust and Genocide Studies of the Danish Institute for International Studies has to say:

18-19 May 2005
On this occasion, the Department of Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS), in cooperation with University of Southern Denmark, will hold an international conference on the Armenian genocide, where researchers from Armenia, Turkey, Canada, USA, Great Britain, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark will discuss a range of historical and topical subjects:
- The Armenian genocide as precursor and prototype of 20th century genocide
- Other victim groups of genocide and persecution in the Ottoman empire from 1914-1922, for instance the Greek and Assyrian minorities

Danish Institute for International Studies (1)

A related article from the same institute

The Hiroshima Peace Institute depicts as a case study the following:

Turkish genocide of Armenians (Aghet), Pontian Greeks and Assyrians in Turkey, 1914-23

Hiroshima Peace Institute

Unfortunately it does not provide with the source itself.

Lets look a bit into detail what the New York Times had to say in 1922:
The Asia Minor Holocaust of 1922 - Four articles from the New York Times

[achilles]

Here is what the New York Times of the time had to say about the Greco-Armenian-Ottoman affairs. A few titles:
1914

___, «Starvation in Thrace» January 1 1914 p.3

___, «Greece Tells Turks to Stop Expulsions» June 13 1914 p.3

___, «Turkey Fails To Reply» June 16 1914 p.2

___, «Turks Slay 100 Greeks» June 17 1914 p.6

___, «Turkey Is Conciliatory» June 19 1914 p.3

(Mallet, Sir L.) «Says Enver Pushed Turkey Into War» December 12 1914 p.5

___, «Sultan Blames Russia» December 16 1914 p.3

1916

___, «Trebizond Falls To Czar’s Attack By Land and Sea» April 19 1916 p.1, 3

___, «Prominent Syrians Executed by Turks» July 10 1916 p.3

___, «Turks Deporting Greeks» August 21 1916 p.2

1918

___, «1,000,000 Greeks Killed?» January 1 1918 p.15

___, «Franco-Turkish Exchange» May 11 1918 p.2

___, «Turks To Swap Prisoners; Terms for Invalids: 300 British plus 100 Indians Equal 1.500 Turks» May 26 1918 Section 2 p.3

(Editorial) «Tino As Protector» June 10 1918 p.10

___, «Turks Hold Americans: Took 842 with Them When They Were Driven from Jerusalem» July 2 1918 p.2

(Einstein, L.) «Tells of Turkish Cruelty To Greeks» August 26 1918 p.9

Housepian, M.M. «Turks’ Prophecy Fulfilled: The Fall of Damascus the Beginning of the End for Them» November 3 1918 Section 3 p.1

___, «Turk Brutality Recorded: 3.290 Captured British Reported Dead and 2.222 Missing» November 21 1918 p.2

1919

___, «Terrorize Greeks in Asia Minor» March 15 1919 p.24

___, «Turks Massacre Greeks» March 21 1919 p.3

___, «Greece sends semi-official mission to tell of part she took in war» May 4 1919 Section 2 p.1

(Editorial) «Armenia and Trebizond» May 4 1919 Section 3 p.

Tabet, Dr. E.G. «The French in Syria» (Letter to the Editor) May 4 1919 Section 3 p.

___, «Smyrna Is Taken Away From Turkey» May 17 1919 p.5

(Editorial) «Dividing Asia Minor» May 19 1919 p.16

(Associated Press) «Allies Question Italy on landing» May 23 1919 p.1

(Editorial) «Enver Pasha» May 26 1919 p.14

___, «Murders in Asia Minor» July 8 1919 p.6

___, «Turkish Army Moves To Destroy The Armenians» July 31 1919 p.1

___, «Turks Parboiled 250,000» July 31 1919 p.2

___, «Turks Slay 21 Boy Scouts» August 15 1919 p.10

___, «Turks Murdering Greeks» September 23 1919 p.19

___, «Kemal Defies Allies; Forms A Government» October 10 1919 p.19

___, «Editorial: A Near Eastern Report» October 24 1919 p.12

For a more comprehensive list of titles click here.

[achilles]

STATISTICS OF DEMOCIDE
Chapter 5
Statistics Of
Turkey's Democide
Estimates, Calculations, And Sources*

By R.J. Rummel

The infamy of executing this century's first full scale ethnic cleansing belongs to Turkey's Young Turk government during World War I. In their highest councils Turkish leaders decided to exterminate every Armenian in the country, whether a front-line soldier or pregnant woman, famous professor or high bishop, important businessman or ardent patriot. All 2,000,000 of them.
Democide had preceded the Young Turk's rule and with their collapse at the end of World War I, the successor Nationalist government carried out its own democide against the Greeks and remaining or returning Armenians. From 1900 to 1923, various Turkish regimes killed from 3,500,000 to over 4,300,000 Armenians, Greeks, Nestorians, and other Christians. The University of Hawaii

I think its useful at this point to define what a democide is, for those who have never heard of the term before:

Democide is a term coined by political scientist R. J. Rummel to describe "the murder of any person or people by a government, including genocide, politicide, and mass murder". For example, government-sponsored killings for political reasons would be considered democide. Democide can also include deaths arising from "reckless and depraved disregard for life"; this brings into account many deaths arising through various neglects and abuses, such as mass starvation. Wikipedia

I think the term 'democide' fits more to the case of the Armenian annhilation, although 'democidal' practices have been also applied to the Greeks, Kurds and Assyrians, but to a lesser extent. I am referring to forced starvation, famine and other similar techniques of massively evaporating people.

Here is a slightly different estimation of the bodycount:




The total regarding the Hellenic Genocide is quite close to what i have posted so far, i.e. an estimated death toll of 353,000 Greeks.

[garbitsch]

yeah yeah yeah... but we forgot to kill you! Sorry! May be next time!

[achilles]

yeah yeah yeah... but we forgot to kill you! Sorry! May be next time!

That was one hell of a post. Do you want your cookie now or later?

[achilles]

Venizelos and the Minor Asia Catstrophe

The Greek Offensive to Liberate Ancient Motherlands and Treason

The Eleftherios Venizelos Foundation on the Asia Minor Catastrophe

A Greek Micrasiatic State, by Stavros Stavridis

Remembering Chrysostomos, a Modern Day Martyr

The Greek Army in Asia Minor 1920-22: the British view

A Republican Greek American
STAVROS STAVRIDIS is a Historical Researcher at National Centre for Hellenic Studies and Research of Latrobe University, Bundoora, Victoria. Australia.

REPORT ON THE PORTRAITS OF CHRISTIAN ASIA MINOR CONFERENCE
Attendance

The conference was attending by approximately 140 people over its two-day duration (60 on Saturday and 80 on Sunday). Apart from our overseas and interstate speakers, there were also a number of dignitaries in attendance. Acting Consul-General Cenk Karaduman of the Turkish Consulate-General in Sydney, Consul Elizabeth Photiadou of the Hellenic Consulate-General in Sydney, former U.S. Senator John Nimrod from Chicago, Secretary-General of the Assyrian Universal Alliance, and Mr Younatan Bet-Kolia from Teheran, representing the Assyrian community of Iran.

Participation from the Assyrian community was as exceptionally high as participation from the Armenian and Hellenic communities were low. It was pleasing that the Centre was making contact with another community beyond its traditional Jewish/ Armenian/ Hellenic base.

It was disappointing that publicity for the Conference amongst the Armenian community was so poor. This is the reason I kept hearing as being the cause for the absence of Armenians.

The Hellenic community has proven once and for all its unwillingness to travel north of the Harbour for such events. Advertising in the Hellenic-community media was extensive and regular. There have been articles about the Conference in Hellenic and English since late-last year. This aside from the paid advertisements I placed and the interviews I gave on S.B.S. and other Hellenic-radio programmes. Distance is no excuse. The Assyrian community delegates travelled from Sydney’s south-western suburbs for the Conference, a similar distance to travelling from the eastern or southern suburbs.

There was also a group of delegates from the Turkish community. They, too, travelled some distance to attend the conference. The Conference made front-page news in the Sydney Turkish-community press under the headline "Anti-Turkish University Conference". They came as an organised group and seemed intent on being as disruptive as possible, particularly during the discussion periods that followed each session. Their behaviour as a whole was completely unacceptable at an academic conference. Some of them constantly interjected during the presentations of speakers dealing with the Asia Minor Holocaust and preferred theatrical grandstanding to asking relevant questions, as can be seen from the video-recording of the Conference.

Does the above highlighted attitude ring any bells? It is very understandable that recognizing the hidden holocaust is not an easy task.
For further details on the conference click here

More interesting links:
The Turkish Crime of the 20th Century: the Hidden Holocaust


Sometimes pictures speak by themselves...

WARNING EXTREMELY GRAPHIC:

Turkish Slaughtering, Hanging, Burning and other Democidal Acts

[Main_Source]

"I WANT COOOOOOOOOKIESSSS"

[achilles]

To those who persistently deny historical facts:
If you can come up with credible, independent sources that actually refute the Minor Asia Holocaust that was commenced by the Young Turks and finished by Kemal, then please post by all means. Otherwise keep lubricating the broken down...

[Main_Source]

Achilles, I was only joking about the cookies...

please don't hack me, im Greek.