Massacre of Phocaea
Massacre of Phocaea | |
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The massacre of Phocaea (
Background
In 1914, the Ottoman Empire had just emerged from the disastrous
At the same time tensions mounted with the
The Young Turk leadership began implementing ethnic cleansing policies in the spring of 1914. The Greek communities of the Aegean region of
Massacre
During early June 1914, Turkish irregular bands looted the villages south of
On June 12, irregular bands launched their attack against Phocaea itself. The attack began during the night from three different sides and was well organized from the beginning.
The amount of the looted property was so extensive and widespread that even irregular groups who didn't participate in the massacre and the destruction took part in the share.[18] The surviving civilian population ran to the harbor and tried to escape by boat. Due to the general disorder, some people were drowned while trying to swim in order to save themselves.[18]
On June 25, the Danish consul of Smyrna, Alfred Van de Zee, quoted an eyewitness of the destruction:[7]
[W]ithin a quarter of an hour after the assault had begun every boat in the place was full of people trying to get away and when no more boats could be had the inhabitants sought refuge on the little peninsula on which the lighthouse stands. I saw eleven bodies of men and women lying dead on the shore. How many were killed I could not say, but trying to get into a house of which the door stood ajar I saw two other dead bodies lying in the entrance hall. Every shop in the place was looted and the goods that could not be carried away were wantonly destroyed.
Also, Félix Sartiaux and his excavation team witnessed the massacre.[19] Sartiaux's documented testimony and photos are invaluable in describing the sequence of events before and during the massacre.[19]
The French archaeological mission took drastic measures to help the remaining population and managed to save hundreds of them.[20] They hoisted French flags on their homes and provided shelter whenever possible while the irregular groups were still committing atrocities. According to French archaeologist and eyewitness, Charles Manciet, the Ottoman authorities sent regular troops to Phocaea to deal with the perpetrators, but these troops also participated in the destruction of the town.[7] Manciet mentions that when they left their houses, he saw the most disgraceful acts ever imaginable.[6] He also states that on 17 June soldiers were sent from İzmir to establish order but these soldiers ended up plundering the town and that the murder and plunder continued until the 18 June.[6] Manciet states that the atrocities he had witnessed were of an organized nature that aimed at circling Christian peasant populations of the region.[6] He also eyewitness packed camels climbing the mountains through the roads connecting Eski Foça to outside while they were full with the plunder taken from the town.[6]
In addition, the German reporter, Harry Stuermer, who was the correspondent of Kölnische Zeitung newspaper and was usually sympathetic to Turkish authorities later saw the town's "smoking ruins".[21]
Newspapers of that time reported that many Greek refugees, who fled from the region, had bayonet and bullet wounds and they were starving.[22][23] In addition, they stated that the Turks set on fire some of the Greek properties.[24][25]
Also, Muslim residents of the town mention the massacre.
Rescue
The Ottoman authorities tried to cover up the incident. However, after two days a French steam tug boat arrived at Smyrna and spread the news about the massacre. The crew had observed a large number of people on the promontory and sent ca. 700 survivors to the nearby Greek island of Lesbos. The Greek authorities there rescued the remaining 5,000–6,000 inhabitants by sending boats to bring them to the island.[7] According to Manciet, the massacre continued until 18 June, when there were no Greek inhabitants left and Phocaea was finally turned into a ghost town.[5]
Aftermath
Right before the massacre, the county reached a population of approximately 23,000 people most of whom were Ottoman Greeks, but after the forced migration and killing of the Ottoman Greeks due to the massacre the population of the entire county decreased down to 4,000.[6]
The events in Phocaea elicited sympathy for the victims in Europe, especially in France. The people of Marseille, which was founded by Phocaeans circa 600 BC, raised a sum of 20,000 French francs to support the refugees.[26]
Similar activity was also carried out by Turkish irregular bands against several other settlements in western Anatolia, while on one occasion almost all inhabitants of the village of Serekieuy, near Menemen, were killed after local Greeks armed themselves for resistance.[27] These attacks against the Ottoman Greeks were performed in manner similar to those undertaken at the time against the Armenian population in eastern provinces of the Ottoman Empire.[28]
During 1914, a total of ca. 154,000 ethnic Greek inhabitants living in the Ottoman Empire lost their homes. With the outbreak of World War I, the Ottoman policies against the Greek communities took a more violent and systematic form and affected a more extensive area, including also
Legacy
A 2014 documentary film titled "Gegonota sti Fokaia 1914" directed by Agnes Sklavos and Stelio Tatakis has been showcased in the 17th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival.[30]
See also
- Outline and timeline of the Greek genocide
References
- ^ The Young Turks' Crime Against Humanity: The Armenian Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing in the Ottoman Empire. Princeton/Oxford: Princeton University Press. p. 84.
- ^ a b Turks Slay 100 Greeks The New York Times, June 17, 1914.
- ISBN 978-1-4985-6197-6.
- ^ Bjornlund, 2013: p. 47
- ^ a b Smith, 1998: p. 32
- ^ ISSN 2261-4184. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f Bjornlund, 2013: p. 40
- ^ a b c Smith, 1998: p. 31
- ^ Αγτζίδης, Β. (15 June 2014). "Η καταστροφή της Φώκαιας στην Ιωνία" (in Greek). Archived from the original on 1 July 2017. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
- ^ Lieberman, 2013: pp. 79–80
- ^ Bjornlund, 2013: p. 14
- ^ a b Bjornlund, 2013: p. 39
- ^ Boubougiatzi, 2009: pp. 82–86
- ^ Boubougiatzi, 2009: pp. 76–100
- ^ Lieberman, 2013: p. 79
- ^ Bjornlund, 2013: p. 35
- ^ Boubougiatzi, 2009: p. 109
- ^ a b c Boubougiatzi, 2009: p. 110-111
- ^ ISBN 0857728814, I.B.Tauris, 2016.
- ^ The Classical Journal. Classical Association of the Middle West and South. 1916. p. 198.
he succeeded in protecting several hundred Greeks and helped many to escape
- ISBN 9781442230385.
- ^ "Turkey and Greece". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 23, 850. New South Wales, Australia. 18 June 1914. p. 9. Retrieved 15 February 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
- Tweed Daily. Vol. 1, no. 144. New South Wales, Australia. 18 June 1914. p. 3. Retrieved 15 February 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "massacre of Greeks". The North West Post. No. 6383. Tasmania, Australia. 18 June 1914. p. 3. Retrieved 16 February 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
- Daily Herald. Vol. 5, no. 1322. South Australia. 18 June 1914. p. 5. Retrieved 16 February 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ Boubougiatzi, 2009: pp.146–148
- ^ Bjornlund, 2013: p. 41
- ^ Lieberman, 2013: p. 80
- ^ Vryonis, Speros (2000). The Great Catastrophes: Asia Minor/Smyrna – September 1922; Constantinople – September 6–7, 1955. Order of Saint Andrew the Apostle. p. 3.
By 1914, some 154,000 Greeks had lost their homes. Phase two of the persecution was much more systematic and widespread...
- ^ Türker, Murat (7 March 2015). "1914'te Foça'da Neler Oldu?". bianet.org.
Sources
- Bjornlund, Matthias (2013). "The 1914 Cleansing of Aegean Greeks as a Case of Violent Turkification". Late Ottoman Genocides: The Dissolution of the Ottoman Empire and Young Turkish Population and Extermination Policies. Routledge. ISBN 978-1317990451. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
- Boubougiatzi, Evaggelia (2009). "Οι διωγμοί των Ελλήνων της Ιωνίας 1914–1922 [The Persecution of Greeks in Ionia 1914–1922]" (in Greek). University of Western Macedonia. Retrieved 23 June 2013.
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(help) - Lieberman, Benjamin (2013). The Holocaust and Genocides in Europe. New York: Continuum Publishing Corporation. ISBN 978-1441194787.
- ISBN 978-1850653684.
Further reading
- Dalègre, Joëlle (2012). "Félix Sartiaux et Phocée, Eski Foça, Παλαιά Φώκια". Cahiers balkaniques (in French). 40: 1–11. doi:10.4000/ceb.874.
- Erol, Emre (2013). "Organised chaos as diplomatic ruse and demographic weapon. The expulsion of the Ottoman Greeks (Rum) from Foça, 1914". Tijdschrift voor Sociale en Economische Geschiedenis. 10 (4): 66–96. ISSN 2468-9068.
External links