PREFACE
The policy of extermination which Greece has consistently been pursuing, for a very long time, against Turkey, has been made evident first by the occurrences which happened during the last years, secondly by the consequences accruing from the policy, and thirdly by the events recorded in history.
Today there is scarcely anyone who has not acquired the conviction that ferocity is the outstanding feature of Greek policy towards Turkey. Within the territories which had the misfortune to fall under Greek domination, one sees now nothing but ruins of former villages whose inhabitants fled, panic stricken, before the barbarous invader.
The atrocities perpetrated by the Greeks, since they landed in Smyrna, exceed all similar crimes recorded up to now in the annals of history. The Greek soldiery have even violated little girls under eight and old women above seventy years of age.
Great is the number of villages which have been burnt down by them, without any military necessity. All the sacred institutions and objects of worship which all nations, not excepting the most savages, are taught and wont to respect, have been polluted by them. The Koran, the sacred book of Mohammedans, has been torn to pieces and its leaves used for the filthiest and most disgusting purposes before the very eyes of Turkish peasants.
There is not the slightest doubt that the savageries committed by the Greeks of Greece and by that section of the indigenous Greeks, who sided with them, have been deliberately planned and carried out under orders proceeding from the Commanders of the various Greek military units. This fact is established beyond question first by the documents of which a photographic reproduction is published in books treating of Greek atrocities and secondly by the testimony of innumerable eye witnesses.[X]
[X] In a book written by the late Bekir Bey, native of Grevne entitled “Flying Columns” in which the author narrates his reminiscences of the Balkan War, it has been proved by authentic documents that King Constantine, who at the time was crown Prince, issued an order for the extermination of the Turks.[X]
But, perhaps, the most striking proof that the work of destruction and annihilation is being carried out according to a plan, is the fact that the 10th Greek Division is designated by the Greeks “division of vengeance and devastation.” This unite is equipped with all sorts of materials and instruments of arson and destruction. The fact that all the villages destroyed by the Greeks are precisely those indicated on General staff maps and that they all are situated within some well defined zones, is another proof that they have been designed beforehand for destruction.
A commission set up by the West Army investigates into and notes down gradually the atrocities committed by the Greeks in the villages which were reoccupied by our troops. These cruelties will be described at length in a book for the edification of the civilized world.
The cases ascertained and put on record are those which the Greeks have not been able to conceal or to deny. Innumerable must be the acts of savagery which have not yet come within the knowledge of the commission of inquiry as well as those perpetrated in villages that still await liberation.
The atrocities have been committed with such a ruthlessness and savagery that those who have not seen them with their own eyes and do not know the morality of the Greek race, will perhaps be inclined to express some doubts as to whether such horrors could really be perpetrated. To obviate this, special care has been taken to prove the veracity of all the allegations put forward in this pamphlet by documents which consist of:
A) Photographs taken on the spot;
B) Official reports issued by the Commission of Inquiry;
C) Testimonies before witnesses of Greek prisoners of war;
D) Evidence collected by the American Near East Relief Committee;
E) Depositions of peasants. The committee of inquiry into atrocities attached to the Intelligence Service of the West Army has divided the atrocities into three categories:
1) Atrocities to which were subjected, in contravention of International law and contrary to all dictates of humanity, Turkish prisoners of war.
2) Cases of arson, pillage, rape, torture and murder, the victims of which were non-combatants.
3) Destruction of towns, villages and hamlets without any military necessity and offenses against sacred institutions.
STATEMENTS OF GREEK PRISONERS OF WAR.
Evidence of the lieutenant of infantry, A. Pepas, pilot attached to the third airplane squadron.
Q: Have you seen any burnt villages in the area of military occupation?
A: Yes, I have seen a certain number of them to the west of the river Sakaria and along the Said GaziAlpukeuy line.
Q: Did you notice any military detachments in the neighborhood of these villages?
A: Yes, I have seen some of them. Their presence there was justified by the fact that the burnt villages are all lying within the zone of military operations.
Q: Do you hold that the above said villages have been burnt down by order of the Greek Commandant?
A: I believe that the Commander in Chief of the Army has been informed that the villages were being burnt down.
A Acryoti, of the rank and file of the 41 tg. Regiment (12th Division), and Colizakis Emanuel of the second battalion of the 45th Regiment (12th Division) made, after being sworn in, the following statement:
“The commandant of the division, Prince Andrea, order the soldiers to set on fire all the villages through which they were to pass. The British officer who accompanied the Prince took note of this. The order in question has been communicated to the whole division.
Polatli September 15th, 1921
(Signed)
A. Acryoti Colizakis Emanuel
(I certify that this is my own handwriting).
Declaration of the sergeant pilot Avanguelikos.
Q: Have you seen any burnt villages in the battle zone?
A: I have seen a number of them to the west of the river Sakaria between Sieid Gazi and Alpu-Keuy.
Q: Have you ever seen your Headquarters or any Greek military unit in the vicinity of burnt villages?
A: I only saw on one occasion our Headquarters in the neighborhood of a burnt villages.
Q: Do you think that the villages were burnt by order of the Commander-in-Chief?
A: I am rather inclined to believe that the Greek Command knew about the destruction of the villages
By fire.
Signed: Sergeant Avanguelikos, Pilot attached to the Third Airplane Squadron.
Atrocities Perpetrated by the Greeks, Contrary to the Laws of Nations and the Dictates of Humanity upon Turkish Wounded and Prisoners of War.
Declarations of some of our soldiers wounded or captured by the Greeks during their first offensive and left by them on the battlefield in a half dead condition, after they began to retreat:
“I was born in 1863 at Sivas in the borough of Chaban. I was wounded in the battle and fell into the hands of the Greeks who dragged me to a place where a captain was standing. The latter put me some questions about our army and asked me, among other things, to describe the physiognomy of Moustapha Kemal Pasha. As I had never seen the Pasha before I could not satisfy the curiosity of the Greek officer. Being extremely hungry I asked for some bread but the captain refused to give me any, saying that it was for Moustapha Kemal Pasha to stay my hunger. He then put a guard of four men upon me and took me to the edge of a ditch in which the corpses of several Turkish soldiers lay piled up. Pointing to the dead he shouted: “If you don’t say at once all you know you will share the fate of these men.” I swore that I knew nothing about our army. Upon this, the four Greek soldiers proceeded to search me and robbed me of my watch, my knife and eight boxes of cigarettes. I besought them to allow me to retain a few pounds. This request was answered by blows with the butt-ends and stabs with the bayonets. Although I was awfully hungry and thirsty they did not even give me a piece of bread or a glass of water. Nobody cared for my wounds. They were afterwards bandaged by a Turkish hospital orderly named Aly, who happened to be among the prisoners. Later on the captain came to see me and inquired about the treatment I was receiving at the hands of the Greeks. I complained of being subjected to tortures. This seems to have aroused his anger for he began to abuse me, saying that I should be thankful for not having been put to death. I spent 18 days in captivity at Karandji in company of thirty Turkish soldiers under a tree which was our only shelter under a tree which was our only shelter. In order to obtain now and then a morsel of bread we were obliged to do the most degrading menial services to the Greek soldiers.”
The above declaration is extracted partly from the report of the General commanding the army corps and partly from that of the committee of inquiry, set up at the hospital of Polatli.
Declaration of Osman Oglou Abdoullah, a native of Sinope
"I was taken prisoner by the Greeks after having been wounded in the leg. The first day I was attended by a surgeon who bandaged my wounds. The Greeks told me not to be afraid, assuring me that I would be sent to Athens. Despite this they robbed me of all I had upon me, including forty pounds. I vain I begged them to give me back at least five pounds. Instead of complying with my request they beat me badly with rifle butts shouting “You Turkish pig. Have you not fired shots at us?” Upon this they took me to another place and tortured me for three days. Whenever I asked for some bread they invariably answered “Go and ask some from Moustafa Kemal.” Three days later the Greeks were in full retreat and I was saved by the soldiers of one of our battalions which happened to pass through the locality where I was kept prisoner. "
Declaration of Ali Osman Oglou Moustafa
“I fell into the hands of the enemy some distance beyond the Sakaria. I was suffering from a wound. During the first days of my captivity the Greeks gave me some tea and a bit of bread, besides taking care of my wound. But the soon changed their attitude and after a few days they began to shamefully maltreat the Turkish prisoners, reducing the daily ration to a single loaf of bread for every batch of thirty soldiers, which they contemptuously threw in our midst. Their own wounded were well nursed and sheltered under tents whilst we had to camp on the barren soil in the open air. Later on we were marched off to Sivri-Hisar. As we were passing by the hamlet of Oglakdji, my native village, I saw with amazement that there remained of it nothing but a heap of ruins. This village too had been burned and thoroughly destroyed by the enemy. A few days later the Greeks took flight and our soldiers came and saved us. My father came to see me later on. He told me that before razing our village to the ground the Greeks had looted it. They robbed him of 150 pounds and carried my brother Ismael away. A villager named Mahmoud tried to put out the fire which menaced to destroy his house. He was at once seized by the Greek and hurled into the flames where he perished. Our fields have been ravaged and our crops annihilated. Our family, which numbered eight persons lived in very modest conditions. But, at least we had a home and enough to eat our full. Now we are in a state of utter misery and destitution as our whole property consists only of two blankets. The village having become uninhabitable, the villagers are roaming on the mountains in search of herbs and roots which constitute their only food.”
As a result of the hardships he had to undergo and the tortures inflicted upon him, the poor soldier
who have the above evidence is now in a state of extreme debility.
Declaration of Halil Oglou, a native of the village of Ilguin
“I was wounded and captured by the Greeks in the battle of Haymane. After having been stripped of everything I had upon me a Greek doctor dressed my wounds with bandages taken from a dead Turkish soldier. We were forty Turkish wounded in all. Our daily ration consisted of a morsel of bread and a glass of water. Later on we were sent off to the village of Katrandji. On my way there I saw the corpse of a murdered Turkish peasant lying by the roadside. The Greeks tortured and ransacked a number of poor villagers in front of the gate of our prison. Eight out of the 30 Turkish wounded died of hunger.”
Cheih Roumi Oglou Cheih, Halid from Bitlis
"Who was wounded and taken prisoner by the Greeks, together with Haliloglou Halil, confirmed fully the above statements."
Mehmed Oglou Asssim, of Konia Made the following declaration:
“I was with Ali Osman Oglou Moustapha. The Greeks robbed us of all our belongings. During the first days of our captivity we got some bread but later they left us without food, so that we nearly died of starvation. Whenever I dared ask for some bread I was threatened with death.”
Habib Oglou Bedjed of Chebin-Kara-Hissar, Province of Samsoun
When this poor man was picked up on the battlefield he was half dead, with all the characteristic symptoms of starvation. He was so exhausted that he could hardly utter a word. While whispering his statements he shut at every moment his eyes, a proof that he was terribly in need of rest. He said:
“I was wounded and taken prisoner with several comrades in the battle of Haymana. We were carried on the back of some Turkish peasants to a village. The women peasants, out of pity, looked after us. The Greeks not finding this to their liking, began to mishandle the women who had been kind to us, and expelled us from the village. For some days we were without shelter and food, and had some poor and compassionate women not helped us secretly by night, we would all be dead by this time. While we were roving in the vicinity of the village, the Greeks suddenly swooped upon us and carried some of our comrades away, driving the rest to the mountains, thus making it impossible for us to obtain food. At last, impelled by hunger, two of our comrades dragged themselves on to the top of a hill and cried for help. Fortunately, their screams were heard by some peasants who realizing that we were in distress, hastened to come to our aid and bringing with them water and foodstuff. Later on we were saved by an ambulance.”
Aly Oglou Mehmed, of Tarsous
Who was wounded at the battle of Haymana and confirmed fully the above declaration.
Eumer Oglou Mehmed, a native of Boskir
“I was wounded and taken prisoner at Haymana. The first day of my captivity the Greeks dressed my wounds and gave me some bread. Later on I was sent off with several other Turkish wounded to a village. On the way there we were roughly handled by our escort and robbed of all we had on us. I saw the ruins of five Moslem villages which had been burnt down by the enemy. One of our comrades was gagged simply because he dared ask for some water.”
Dourmouche Oglou Dourmouche
Confirmed every word of the above statement.
Mehmed Oglou Rassim, of Koush-Ada declared:
“I was wounded beyond the river. After pulling all my clothes off the Greeks left me among the corpses of dead Turkish soldiers. Eventually I was picked up by an ambulance. The Greek wounded were under tents whilst we had to remain in the open air. For six days they left us without bread or water. Six of our comrades succumbed to hunger and thirst. On the twentieth day of our captivity the enemy began to retreat in great haste taking away with him his own wounded. By that time we were half dead. Happily we were saved by our troops.” Despite his youth, the poor soldier when taken to our hospital, was nothing but skin and bones.
Himmet Oglou Ali, a member of the family of Toppal Hassan of Adalia
“I was wounded and taken prisoner on the west banks of the Sakaria. Although I had a fractured leg I was treated with the most ruthless brutality and dragged from one military post to another. I attempted to escape but was caught and conducted to a railway station the name of which I do not know. The Greeks submitted me to an interrogation asking me among other things why we, the Turks, were waging war against them. I answered textually: “It is not we who entered your country, but you who invaded ours. We are fighting in order to defend our homeland, our honor, our families and our property.” After this they put me some questions about our army. I, of course, refused to reveal anything. My obstinate silence infuriated them to such a degree that they fell upon me thrusting their bayonets into the sundry parts of my body thus inflicting me with seventeen deep wounds. I fainted and collapsed. The next day they returned to the place where I was lying and thinking that I had breathed my last, struck some blows on my head and went off. A few hours later our soldiers arrived and saved me from a certain death.”
Doctor Djevdet, Surgeon of the Polatli Hospital, who examined the wounds, has drawn up a very
detailed medical report which is at everyone’s disposal.
Series of Atrocities Inflicted on Non-combatants Forcibly Carried off by the Greeks.
During their retreat the Greeks carried away with them the greater part of the non-combatant civilians. Unhappily, we know nothing about the fate of most of these unfortunate people. Some of them succeeded n escaping while some others have been released by our troops.
Following is the evidence given by some of them.
1) Guem Hassau Oglou Ali, from the village of Ibourd (Haymana): “The Greeks came across me at Yeni-Mahalle, during their retreat. As my right arm had been amputated ruing the great war they thought that I was in the service of the Kemalist army. They carried me off repeating at every moment that being a nationalist soldier I was doomed to death. When we reached the village of Merdjan I hid myself, and after the departure of the enemy I returned to my native village. I heard from trustworthy sources that the Greeks outraged the women and ill-treated the villagers.”
2) Kassim Oglou Battal, from the village of Kara-Pounar (Haymana): “The enemy forced me to serve him as a guide. During a march I ran away and fled towards my village. In the course of their retreat, while passing through our village, the Greeks seized me and took me to Merdjan where they left me without food, their intention being apparently to starve me. All the inhabitants of our village have terribly suffered at the hands of the invader.”
Concurrent Statements made by
Ismail Oglou Ali of the village of Yeni-Mehmedli............ aged 45
Osman Oglou Ali of the village of Indjirly...................... aged 65
Abdullah Oglou Halil of the village of Karaya Ychanly... aged 41
Moustapha Oglou Ali of the village of Karaya Ychanly... aged 21
Tahir Oglou Satilmich of the village of Guedich............. aged 45
Veli Oglou Eshref of the village of Tlrnaksiz.................. aged 46
Eumer Oglou Seid of the village of Yeni-Mehmedli........ aged 54
Tahir Oglou Kerim of the village of Yeni-Mehmedli......... aged 20
“The enemy took us by force from our homes in order to use as guides. We were subjected to all sorts of torture and dragged, under a shower of blows with the butt ends from one post to another, some of being even stabbed with the bayonet. The villages invaded by the enemy are nearly all situated between Seid-Gazi and Eski-Chehir. The Turkish villagers were compelled to carry on their back more than 500 Greek soldiers who had received wound sin the battle of Karayavchanli. These soldiers were fed with the corn and cattle robbed from the Musulmans. The Greeks violated a great number of married women and young girls before the eyes of their husbands and fathers. From time to time a Turkish airplane made his appearance flying above our heads. Those of us who dared to look up were hit on the head with the butt ends. During their retreat the enemy left nothing in the villages through which he marched. The skulls of all the cows were split asunder with axes and the brains torn out.”
The above joint declaration is quoted from a report of the Army Corps Command dated September
20th, 1921.
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A number of inhabitants of the village of Tirnaksiz had the misfortune of being carried off by the Greeks. Among them are Zeydoullah Oglou Mehmed, Timour Oglou Abdurahman, Ali Osman Oglou Riffat, Abdulkadir Oglou Habib, Tahir, Hadji Arif, Salim Oglou Nureddin, Riffat Ben Ali, Benli Said Abdul Rahman, Eyoub Oglou Yacoub, Tahsin Salim, Eumer Oglou Mehmed, Hassan Oglou Noureddin, Benli Hadji Oglou Tahsin, whose fate we have not been able to ascertain.
During their retreat the Greeks forcibly took with them four villagers of Guzeldje Kale besides carrying off Mehmed Oglou Cheyho and Arif Oglou Ahmed, natives of the village Kaltakli Hadji Oglou Said Ahmed and Salavat Oglou Velli from the village of Sogoudjanly, Veli Oglou Rifat, Abdullah Oglou Hourchid and Hassan Oglou Mehmed from the village of Tchelikji as well as twenty four inhabitants of Yeni Mehmedli Demir, four inhabitants of Kara Kouyou, five inhabitants of Toy, two inhabitants of Yornia and the named Hodja Moustapha, Husni, Kadri, Arif and Bekir of Koasakli.
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Atrocities committed upon men and women of every age, children included, and in general, on noncombatants.
The horrors and atrocities inflicted by the Greeks on the unlucky inhabitants of occupied villages, the names of which will be cited below, have duly been ascertained. The narrative of these acts of barbarity is extracted from the reports of the Commanders of the various Turkish divisions and is confirmed by the testimony of mayors and divines of the devastated regions as well as by the photographs taken on the spot. The details which follow will give an idea of some of the most tragic scenes.
Village of Kaltakli:
The Greeks subjected to horrible outrages the women of this village, not even sparing the children. The mayor of Yaprak Bayir, Ahmed Tchaouch, an immigrant, has been literally cut to pieces while attempting to save the honor of Zeineb, wife of Ali Oglou Ahmed. The wife of Hadji Oglou Mehmed, named Zeliha, a women with child, who had emigrated a short time ago to Kaltakli, has been atrociously maltreated by the Greeks. The poor woman died under the blow of her butchers.
The wife of Ahmed Oglou Mehmed Ali, named Hanife, a native of the village of Baghtchedjik, who had also emigrated to Kaltakly, has been violated by six Greek soldiers. She survived this outrage only one hour.
The she-cousin of Hadji Ahmed, named Retbeb and the daughter of Eumer Oglou Memish, named Sherife, who had managed to escape when the Greeks entered Baghtchedjik and had taken refuge at Kaltakli, have been defiled by Greek soldiers. The wife of Eumer, one Fatma, a native of Kaltakli are among those who were subjected to atrocities. A poor countrywoman called Chanze, has been massacred together with her two sons, Mehmed and Ali. The villagers say that they have seen the corpses of two other Musulman victims of Greek savagery.
Village of Yeni-Mehmedli
The women of this village have had to undergo same outrages of those of the village of Kaltakli. Fatima, wife of Ali, Aiche, wife of Osman, Satia, wife of Ismail, Nourie, wife of Mehmed, Neriman, wife of Hadji Eumer, Fatiua, wife of Ibrahim, Elif, wife of Tchaki, Aiche, daughter of Hassan, Cherife, wife of Ahmed Tchavouch, are among the above mentioned victims. The wife of Djemal, who offered a determined resistance in order to defend her honor, has been submitted to unheard of torture. Her aggressors violated her and afterwards riddled her with bullets. The poor woman is now on her deathbed.
It may be that she has already given up the ghost by the time these lines are being written. In the village of Yeni-Mehmedli, Hussein, son of Yousouf, in his efforts to defend the honor of his sister, whom some Greek absolutely wanted to violate, was grasped by them and drenched with petrol to be burnt alive. The cries and lamentations of the villagers made the Greeks change their mind and they though it more advisable to carry the unfortunate young man away to an unknown destination.
Village of Tcheltekli
This village has also gone through a terrible ordeal. Among other cases we may cite that of the wife of Soulou Kan Oglou Osman, one Fatma, aged 70, who was shot at and badly wounded by some Greek roughs. The same ruffians also nearly beat to death one Hafiz Oglou Riza and outraged his wife Aiche and his daughter Hava before his very eyes.
Village of Sougoudjali
All the women of this village, without any exception, have been assaulted and defiled by the Greeks. Among them we particularly mention:
Satia, wife of Hadji Halil Oglou Mevloud.
Djennet, wife of Hamza Ogla Safa.
Fatima, wife of Ali.
Azer, wife of Hadji Oglou Ibish.
Chukrie, wife of Ibrahim Oglou Molla Hussein.
This latter has been outraged by no less than thirty Greek soldiers. Fatima’s husband, who resolutely defended his wife against her aggressors has been savagely killed by them. The one year old child of Mehmed Tchaouch has been thrown from the roof of a house down into the street and cut to pieces with bayonets.
Village of Guzeldje-Kale
In this village several persons were beaten and wounded. Hadji Hussein Halil and Mouheddin received injuries in the leg. As will be stated in a special chapter, seven Turkish horsemen belonging to a cavalry division, who had fallen into the hands of the Greeks, were shot dead, revolvers being discharged into their mouths. The assaults on women were of a specially savage nature. The names published below are those of women who suffered the worst outrages.
Zehra, wife of Djemal
Sultan, wife of Hassan
Ana Kadin, wife of Mahmoud
Emine, wife of Rustem Oglou Ali
Hadjer, a widow
Gulbehar, a widow
Emine, daughter of Ali
Dede Kiz, daughter of Mehmed
Village of Melek
Hadji Ismail, of the village of Evliafaki Kasakli, after being sworn in, gave the following evidence before the inquiry commission of the intelligence service of the West Front.
“As I fled prior to the coming of the enemy, I don’t know what happened in Evliafaki Kavakly after I left it. On my arrival at Melek I heard the adjutant of the Greek Commander say to his soldiers not to burn the village which was nearly empty at the time, as most of the inhabitants had taken refuge I the mountains. The Greeks removed all the furniture from the houses and drove the cattle away and set the village on fire. Being not acquainted with the people of that village I am unable to tell the names of the women who were shamefully outraged by the Greeks. I saw them drag away a girl from Broussa who fell a victim to their lust. During the night they abducted many other women. They tried to extort money from one Ali Agha, who refused to accede to their demand as was thereupon killed.
They massacred six persons, among them a man named Abdoullah, son of Nizameddin, stabbing him with their bayonets and throwing afterwards his corpse from the roof of a house down into the street.”
The Tragedy of Karie Oglou
This village which contained 120 houses is now a heap of stones and ashes. It was occupied by the enemy at the beginning of the Sakaria battle. A Turkish squadron made an attack on the village of Uzum Bey in which one of the higher Greek officers had taken up his quarter. He escaped by a miracle. Shortly after the Greeks came back. As they suspected the villagers of Karie Oglou of having informed the Turkish military authorities of the presence of the above said officer in Uzum Beili, they at once started to destroy the former village, razing it literally to the ground.
The poor inhabitants were put to death in a most barbarous and revolting way. The Greeks penned them like cattle in a few houses, the doors and windows of which they walled with big stones, and then simply set the whole village on fire. The Turkish army corps, which after the defeat and retreat of the Greek army, reoccupied Karie Oglou, found there nothing but charred corpses. Among these pitiable human remnants one could see hands of children clung to the railings and carbonized arms of women, with tinsel bracelets still hanging on them.
These facts have been ascertained by the army corps and by all the inhabitants of the neighboring villages where these tragic events still constitute the sole topic of conversation.
Village of Merdjan
This village has been completely destroyed. We chanced to come across a villager of Etrek who had succeeded in obtaining some information about the tragic events of Etrek. He gave the following evidence:
“Although a native of Etrek, I was living at the time of the Greek invasion in another village called Etrek. During his advance towards the coast the enemy did not do any harm to either of these villages, for the simple reason that he was drawing his foodstuff from them. But during his retreat, he separated the men from the women. Being afraid of falling into the hands of the Greeks, of whose savagery I have heard so many frightful stories, I at once fled with two other villagers named Halil Oglou Eumjer, a native of Aivalik and Osmau Oglou Suleiman, a villager of Etrek, and in company of our respective wives we took to the mountains. We had already covered a certain distance when all of a sudden we heard the sinister rattlings of machine guns accompanied by heartrending shrieks of women. Looking in the direction of the village we saw that it was ablaze. Fearing for our lives we quickened our pace until we reached the banks of the Sakaria. We swam across it and were at last saved by our army.”
Village of Koraskli
Out of the twenty five houses which constituted this village there remains today scarcely six. The Greeks violated Fatima, wife of Bekir and Nazife, wife of Ali.
Village of Sari-Halil
In this village the enemy in the worst cruelties and outraged most of the women; among them we specially mention Fatime, daughter of Suleiman, Fatime, daughter of Osman Safie, daughter of Aziz Dayi, Adile, wife of Halil, Saide, wife of Fouad and Kiazime, wife of Portucal. The inquiry commission of Polatli has interrogated Zahide Hanem, of the above village, who made the following statement:
“Robberies, rapes and destructions followed each other in rapid succession. The Greek, with daggers in their hands, forced all the men to deliver up their supposed hidden treasures. Children were lashed for not bringing eggs to the Greek soldiers. Everything has been destroyed and the whole population has been literally wiped out. Even dogs and cats had to undergo tortures. One poor old man who refused to guide the Greeks across the mountains was immediately put to death.
Village of Tcherkirdeksiz
The atrocities committed in this village, which were witnessed and related by its inhabitants, have been noted down and duly verified by the commission of inquiry. This village contained 50 houses and was inhabited by emigrants from Turkey’s former European Possessions. In the course of the battle of Dona-Tepe, it was occupied by the Greeks. During the first two days there occurred no incident whatever.
The Greeks, however, soon remarked that their batteries were easily located and silenced by Turkish artillery. This aroused their suspicion which was strengthened by the discovery in the course of a search of an old telephonic apparatus, which had anyhow been forgotten there by the retreating Turkish army. They made this a pretext for accusing the inhabitants with being in secret intelligence with the Nationalists to whom they were supposed to indicate the positions of the Greek batteries. Thereupon they ordered all the villagers, without distinction of age, to congregate at a certain place. When they all were assembled they were formed into a column and made to march until they reached the brink of a ravine.
Youssouf Tchavouche, Sueilman Agha and the wife of Aziz Aga, who were among the deportees, gave the following account of the miseries endured during this forced exile:
“On our way to the spot marked out for us, we expected at any moment to be slaughtered. But after we reached our destination the Greeks simply abandoned us to our fate. We spent seven days in a barren region without food. After dark we crept down to the fields in the plan to glean some spikes of corn which we crushed between two stones before eating them. On the seventh day the Greeks began to flee westwards and drove us before them until we found the way barred by a torrent. Here they halted for some time, warning us that if we stirred we should all be shot dead. Some hours later they resumed their precipitate retreat taking away with them four of us as hostages, the principal notable of the village, Aziz Aga, being one of them. Up to the present we have not been able to get any information about their fate.
When the Greeks were out of sight some of us made their escape towards the village. But the bulk of this population preferred to remain in hiding in the mountains, lest they should fall again into the hands of the enemy, in case of his reoccupying the village. Some peasants told us that they saw four carbonized corpses lying in a lonely place. We have not been able to ascertain whether these corpses are those of the four unlucky hostages. All our live stock and the whole of our chattels and furniture have been robbed and carried away by the invader who, not content with this, burnt down most of our houses besides annihilating our gathered in crops, thus leaving us in a state of utter destitution. Today we have not even got a blanket to protect us from the cold.”
At this point of the narrative an old man, native of Exime, who once possessed a prosperous farm, approached us with a view to give some further details about the Greek savageries. He took us to a place near his house and pointed to a skull and some teeth which had belonged to a Turkish soldier treacherously murdered by the Greeks.
Village of Kitchache
This village too was swept over by the torrent of Greek vandalism and barbarity. Three men and one woman, whose corpses were duly identified, have been assassinated by the Greeks at a place called Baldji Oglou Baghtchessi. The enemy furthermore, burned alive the son of Hussein Agha aged eighteen, one woman and one child of twelve years of age. There remains now in the whole village only two women, whose legs are half burnt and two males, the one of whom has been wounded with the bayonet, whilst the other was it by a rifle bullet which left an open and deep wound in his back.
Village of Demirdji
The Greeks looted all the houses of this village carrying away all the valuable. They destroyed everything that they could not take with them, burning the stores of provisions as well as the mills. The cattle numbering about 2,000 heads which they were unable to carry off, were killed with bayonets. The carcasses of these beasts may be seen scatter about the ruins. All the women of the village were shamelessly outraged. Among these we identified:
Maksoude, daughter of Hassan............. aged 20
Nedjibe, daughter of Deli Agha............. aged 15
Cherife, daughter of Mehmed................ aged 21
Kiazime, daughter of Bedour Mehmed... aged 18.
The Mosque of the village has been destroyed and the holy books torn to pieces. The leaves of these books were later on found in the cesspools of the enemy camp.
Some more atrocities committed in the village of Oglakdji
(Extract from a report of the Commander-in-Chief of an army corps dated September 24th, 1921).
The enemy carried off the greater part of the existing cattle and provisions and burnt the rest. Nedjib Effendi, son of Hussein Effendi, the Moslem priest of the village was beaten until he lost consciousness. Among the violated women whose identity has been established we mention:
Fatima, daughter in law of Ali Aga
Selman, wife of Hussein Hodja Oglou Ismail
Selma, daughter of Ayvaz Oglou Ali
Village of Sinanli
All the women of this village have been violated by the Greeks. Below we give the names of some of them who had to undergo the most revolting outrages.
Mariam, wife of Hadji Mehmed Oglou Shakir
Raife, wife of Mehmed Oglou Mehmed
Zeliha, wife of Tayar Oglou Hamid, a divine
Hava, wife of Youssouf Oglou Hamid
Cherife, wife of Dede Oglou Mehmed
Naile, wife of Ali Bey
Moussa Tchaouche has been severly wounded.
Village of Katrandji
This village has been entirely destroyed by the Greeks who violated the following women:
Hanife, wife of Moustapha Oglou Aziz
Fatime, wife of Ismail Oglou Mehmed
Zeineb, wife of Kaya Oglou Hussein
Fatima, daughter of Kara Gullu Ahmed
Village of Baltchik Hissar
The Greeks carried off seven persons and murdered them in the valleys around the village. Besides, they wounded one Osman Oglou Hussein and his son Redjeb in the leg.
Village of Cherefli
This village which consisted of sixty houses before the Greek advance is now a heap of ruins. The Greeks murdered two villagers named Hatib Moussa Oglou Chaban and Abdoullah Oglou Ahmed and badly thrashed one Hatib Moussa. They pillaged the foodstuff supplies and all the valuables. The villagers fought on the ruins on their homes until they were overpowered. It is quite extraordinary that the women of this village have not shared the fate of those of other villages.
Thefts and Robberies Committed By the Greeks in the Occupied Area.
List of the objects pillaged by the Greeks:
Village of Kaltakli
2006 sheep, 2000 cows, 20 donkeys, 5000 okes of wood, 13,000 okes of wheat, 4000 okes of barley, 15,000 okes of butter, 2000 okes of cheese, 1000 Turkish pounds in paper, 156 Turkish pounds in gold and all the house furniture.
Village of Guzeldje-Kale
1000 sheep and goats, 9 horses, 15 donkeys, 30 yokes of oxen, 50 carts, 40,000 okes of wood, 10,000 okes of wheat, 50,000 okes of barley, 200 okes of rice, 8 okes of butter, 100 okes of butter, 1000 okes of cheese, 45 beehives, 400 pieces of iron, 8 carpets, 20 bags, all the valuable owned by the women, all the household furniture and 500 Turkish pounds in paper money belonging to the mayor of the village.
Village of Sogoutchali
200 sheep and goats, 200 cows, 6 horses, 40 donkeys, 1200 okes of flour, 6000 okes of wheat, 2000 okes of butter, 2000 okes of cheese, 456 Turkish pounds in paper money and all the objects of value owned by the women.
Village of Tcheltekli
2500 sheep and goats, 40 horses, 20 donkeys, 6 buffalo, 60 cars, 10,000 okes of wheat, 1000 okes of barley, 2000 okes of lentil, 100 Turkish pounds in gold, all the valuables and the whole household furniture, 239 carpets and all the sowing seed.
Village of Yeni-Mehmedli
3000 sheep and goats, 350 cows, 30 horses, 50 donkeys, 40,000 okes of flour, 3600 okes of corn, 3600 okes of wheat, 2500 okes of butter, 5000 okes of cheese, 3000 Turkish pounds in paper money, 30 carpets belonging to the mosque and 40 carts.
Village of Korsakli
350 sheep, 200 cows, 10 horses, 1600 okes of flour, 4000 okes of wheat, 4500 okes of barley, 1000 okes of lentil, 1500 okes of honey, 19 donkeys, 30 carpets belonging to the mosque, all the household furniture and 150 Turkish pounds in paper money owned by the Moslem priest of the village.
Village of Kara-Coyou
700 sheep, 35 cows, 50 horses, 800 okes of flour, 50,000 okes of barley and 6000 okes of wheat.
Village of Toy-Demir
1000 sheep, 300 cows, 1000 okes of flour, 18 horses, 500 pounds in gold belonging to the villagers and the whole household furniture.
Village of Sari-Halil
1000 okes of flour, 1500 okes of wheat, 6000 okes of barley, 500 okes of butter, 700 okes of wheat, 1000 sheep and goats, 200 cows, 20 horses, 20 donkeys and all the valuables and household furniture.
Village of Tirnaksiz
13,500 sheep and goats, 175 oxen, cows and horses, 122,000 okes of wheat and all the furniture and valuables. All the shops and storehouses of this village have been destroyed.
Villages Destroyed or Burnt Down by Greeks, Without any Military necessity.
Village of Tcheltekli – out of the 55 houses of the village 10 have been burnt and the rest have been destroyed.
Village of Yeni Mehmedli – out of 70 houses 20 have been burnt down.
Village of Sogoudjali – out of 30 houses 10 have been completely and 20 partially destroyed.
Village of Guseldje-Kale – out of 35 houses 25 have been burnt to the ground.
Village of Kaltakli – in this village only 7 houses have been burnt out of a total of 40.
Village of Sari-Halil – total number of houses: 30; burnt: 10. The rest completely destroyed.
Village of Koraskli – total number of houses: 25; burnt: 10. The rest completely destroyed.
Village of Tchanakli – completely destroyed. Its inhabitants roam about the mountains.
Village of Kara-Hamza – completely destroyed. Its inhabitants fled to the mountains.
The following villages were completely destroyed:
Village of Yildiz
Demirdji
Oglakdji
Horta
Kotchache
Kadindjik
Kadindjik
Holanti
Yorma
Ayvrli
Merdjan
Yari Yayla
Kurd Yaylassi
Tahtali Tatar
Karye Oglou
Cheih Ahmedli
Kozrtch
Besides, all the crops on the fields lying between the villages of Inler Katrandji and Kurd Tadjiri as well as all the flour mills existing in the districts occupied by the Greeks have been destroyed.
* Published by the Second Section of the General Staff of the Western Front
PRINTING-HOUSE HUSN-I-TABIAT Opposite the Sublime Port CONSTANTINOPLE,1922
Greek Atrocities in Asia Minor has been copied as it was printed. Only obvious misspellings, mainly in English, have been corrected. At the time the book was written there was no uniform transliteration system for Ottoman Turkish, so many of the names may be hard to recognize. See the “Names and Spellings” section on the web site.
Louisville edu.pdf
*****
I wonder, are the people, who declared Turkey and Turkish people as a "scapegoat",
aware of the following facts?:
British historian W. Alison Phillips , who wrote the History of the Greek Revolution,
noted in 1897:
Everywhere, as though at a preconcerted signal, the peasantry rose, and massacred all the Turks—men, women and children—on whom they could lay hands. In the Morea shall no Turk be left. Nor in the whole wide world. Thus rang the song which, from mouth to mouth, announced the beginning of a war of extermination... Within three weeks of the outbreak of the revolt, not a Muslim was left, save those who had succeeded in escaping into the towns.
According to another historian of the Greek revolt, William St. Clair, upwards of twenty thousand Turkish men, women and children were killed by their Greek neighbors in a few weeks of slaughter.William St. Clair also argued that: "with the beginning of the revolt, the bishops and priests exhorted their parishioners to exterminate infidel Muslims." St. Clair wrote:
The Turks of Greece left few traces. They disappeared suddenly and finally in the spring of 1821 unmourned and unnoticed by the rest of the world....It was hard to believe then that Greece once contained a large population of Turkish descent, living in small communities all over the country, prosperous farmers, merchants, and officials, whose families had known no other home for hundreds of years...They were killed deliberately, without qualm or scruple, and there was no regrets either then or later.
Atrocities toward the Turkish civilian population inhabiting the Peloponnese had started in Achaia on the 28th of March, just with the beginning of the Greek revolt. On the 2nd of April, the outbreak became general over the whole of Peloponnese and on that day many Turks were murdered in different places. On the third of April 1821, the Turks of Kalavryta surrendered upon promises of security which were afterwards violated. Followingly, massacres ensued against the Turkish civilians in the towns of Peloponnese that the Greek revolutionaries had captured.
The Turks in Monemvasia, weakened by the famine opened the gates of the city, and laid down their weapons. Six hundred of them had already gone on board the brigs, when the Mainotes burst into the town and started murdering all those who had not yet reached to the shore or those who had chosen to stay in the town. Those on the ships meanwhile were stripped of their clothes, beaten and left on a desolate rock in the Aegean, instead of being deported to Asia Minor as promised. Only a few of them were saved by a French merchant, called M. Bonfort.
A general massacre ensued the fall of Navarino on August 19, 1821.
The worst Greek atrocity in terms of the numbers of victims involved was the massacre following the Fall of Tripolitsa in 1822. Up to 30,000 Turks had been killed in Tripolitsa:
For three days the miserable inhabitants were given over to lust and cruelty of a mob of savages. Neither sex nor age was spared. Women and children were tortured before being put to death. So great was the slaughter that Kolokotronis himself says that, from the gate to the citadel his horse’s hoofs never touched the ground. His path of triumph was carpeted with corpses. At the end of two days, the wretched remnant of the Mussulmans were deliberately collected, to the number of some two thousand souls, of every age and sex, but principally women and children, were led out to a ravine in the neighboring mountains and there butchered like cattle.
Although the total estimates of the casualties vary, the Turkish, Muslim Albanian and Jewish population of the Peloponnese had ceased to exist as a settled community. Some estimates of the Turkish and Muslim Albanian civilian deaths by the rebels range from 15,000 out of 40,000 Muslim residents to 30,000 only in Tripolitsa.
According to historians W.Alison Phillips, George Finlay, William St. Clair and Barbara Jelavich, massacres of Turkish civilians started simultaneously with the outbreak of the revolt, while Harris J. Booras wrote that the massacres followed the brutal hanging of Ecumenical Patriarch Gregory V of Constantinople.
Historian George Finlay claimed that the extermination of the Muslims in the rural districts was the result of a premeditated design and it proceeded more from the suggestions of men of letters, than form the revengeful feelings of the people.
William St. Clair wrote that: "The orgy of genocide exhausted itself in the Peloponnese only when there were no more Turks to kill."
page 12 book:
Central Greece
In Athens, 1,190 Turks, of whom only 190 were capable of bearing arms, surrendered upon promises of security. W. Alison Phillips noted that: A scene of horror followed which has only too many parallels during the course of this horrible war.
Vrachroi, modern day Agrinio, was an important town in West-Central Greece. It contained, besides the Christian population, some five hundred Mussulman families and about two hundred Jews. The massacres in Vrachori commenced with the Jews and soon Mussulmans shared the same fate.
Aegean Islands
There were also massacres towards the Muslim inhabitants of the islands in the Aegean Sea, in the early years of the Greek revolt. According to historian William St. clair, one of the aims of the Greek revolutionaries was to embroil as many Greek communities as possible in their struggle. Their technique was "to engineer some atrocity against the local Turkish population",so that these different Greek communities would have to ally themselves with the revolutionaries fearing a retaliation from the Ottomans. In such a case, in March 1821, Greeks from the Samos island had landed in the Island Chios and attacked the Muslim population living in that island.
Another similar massacre took place in the island Hydra, one of the most important Aegean islands. Besides the atrocities committed against the local Muslims in the island, two hybrid brigs captured a Turkish ship laden with a valuable cargo, and carrying a number of passengers. Among these was a recently deposed Sheik-ul-Islam, or patriarch of the Orthodox Muslims, who was said to be going to Mecca for pilgrimage. It was his efforts to prevent the cruel reprisals which, at Constantinople, followed the news of the massacres in Peloponnese, which brought him into disfavor, and caused his exile.There were also several other Turkish families on board.
British historian of the Greek revolt, W. Alison Phillips noted: The Hydriots murdered them all in cold blood, helpless old men, ladies of rank, beautiful slaves, and little children were butchered like cattle. The venerable old man, whose crime had been an excess of zeal on behalf of the Greeks, was forced to see his family outraged and murdered before his eyes...
page 48
In the Morea shall no Turk be left, Nor in the whole wide world.
page 48 book:
That Greece Might Still Be Free:
The Philhellenes in the War of Independence by William St Clair
page 77
This office decribed the barbarities which he withnessed at rripllitsa many months after the capture of the city : a young Turkish girl 'beautiful as Queen Helen of Troy' being summarily shot by Colocotrones nephew; a Turkish boy led around by a rope, thrown into a ditch, stoned and stabbed, and then while still alive being tied to a plank and burned; three Turkish children being slowly burned to death over a bonfire while their mother and father were forced to watch; ....
page 83
More disturbing facts soon came to their attention. An unpleasant smell hung around the towns which they soon discovered arose from the headless corpses lying outside the walls. Emaciated and frightened young women and boys were to be seen running around, half naked among the ruins.
Wild dogs and scavenging birds were everywhere. The Greeks at Navarino, eager at first to impress, told boastfully of the great massacre of a fex months before. One Greek claimed to have personally killed eighteen Turks, another said he had stabbed nine men, women and children in their beds.
The volunteers were proudly shown the boddies of Turkish women who had been thrown from the walls a few days previously after being raped and then having their arms and legs cut off.
Far from being impressed, as the Greeks intended they should be, the volunteers were shocked and distressed at these sights; they were equally horrified at the open PROSTiTUTiON of the surviving TURKiSH BOYS and the UNASHAMED offers of the GREEKS to share their PLEASURES - another aspect in which the military customs differed from those of the WEST.
As for the Europeans it merely served to confirm their opinion that the Greeks were not only barbarians but cowards as well....
page 86 book:
*
Greek Atrocities in the Vilayet of Smyrna-May to July 1919:
*
If we are looking for the truth, then we need to face the facts. History is not one-sided.
SB
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