The Reconstitution of Turkish Pogrom
The chronology of the pogrom falls in a hard period, when the Cyprus issue had caused difficulties in the political relations of Greece, Turkey and England. It is considered that Hikmet Bill the owner of the Turkish journal Hurriyet and Ahmet Emin Yalmas the owner of Vatan received a large amount of money in order to create the political atmosphere of the pogrom from British sources. By July 1955, the Turkish press and some organizations such as The‘Cyprus is Turkish’, the National Federation of Turkish Students and the National Union of Turkish Students organized mass demonstrations against the Greek minority of Istanbul and the Ecumenical Patriarchate (Vryonis 2005). Nowadays, most Greeks and Turks are unaware of the fact that on the night of September 6, until the early hours of September 7, 1955 the Adnan Menderes’ government and the Turkish Intelligence Service carried out the most destructive pogrom in Europe since the well-known Krystallnacht on the eve of the Second World War. In addition, they do not know that this pogrom damaged, and in many cases destroyed several houses, businesses, churches and institutions and that this had as a result, the elimination of the Greek minority, the oldest historical community of Turkey (Vryonis 2005).
On the afternoon of September 6th 1955, a radio station in Ankara reported that a bomb exploded under mysterious circumstances in the courtyard of Kemal Atatürk’s house in Thessaloniki, causing minor damages. The reports did not produce any reaction at first. However, a few hours later the Turkish journal Istanbul Express circulated an extra edition. According to the newspaper, the birthplace of Kemal Atatürk in Thessaloniki had been bombed. ...
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...were wilful violation of their religion (Vryonis 2005). In spite of this, the Greek minority of Istanbul was still possessed by an intense sense of insecurity, which has as a result, the flee of hundreds of families from their birthplaces to Greece, threatening to diminish the community as a whole.
Additionally, apart from the Greek minority the Pogrom of 6-7 September delivered a severe blow to Turkish economy. Street markets in Istanbul, which were under the control of Greek merchants, covering the basic needs of the citizens of the most populous city of Turkey. Therefore, the partial destruction brought about the impoverishment to the greater part of the Turkish population, leading to significant shortages of basic goods and a rapid rise in prices. The painful condition of Turkish economy would play a significant role in the issue of payment of compensation.
...Talaat responded to the problem by sending out coded messages to all the governers of the Turkish provinces to bury the bodies. Of course, they listened not, and allowed the bodies to continue rotting, as those involved in the mass murders were not so interested in stopping along their marches and mass killings to dig their victims graves.
With an official statement, issued on 7 September 1955, the Menderes government expressed its deepest sorrow for the losses suffered by Greek minority in Istanbul. The Turkish Prime Minister blamed the riots on communists, underlining its commitment to the exemplary punishment of the perpetrators (Xristidis 2000). The interpretation of the pogrom as a conspiracy of international communism was repeated during the extraordinary meeting of the Grand National Assembly, which took place on September 12, 1955. However, under the force of circumstances, Adnan Menderes admitted that the government knew about the demonstration on September 6th, in advance. Also, the Turkish Prime Minister argued that, the riot was a spontaneous expression of national sentiment of the Turkish people who was stimulated by the news about the imminent massacre of Turkish Cypriots on 28 August. Moreover, he stated that the hysteria that gripped the crowd was so strong that immobilized the police forces, which found themselves between their quest to restore order and their commitment to the homeland, thus leaving full freedom of movement to the protesters. The claim of the Turkish government that the country suffered a severe blow because of the Communists was met with scepticism by foreign observers (Guven 2006). First of all, the number of Communists in Turkey was small and secondly, their activities were under the watchful eyes of the Turkish Intelligence Services (MIT). It seems that, only a small percentage of people who were arrested immediately after the episodes were communists. The arrest of those who had communist beliefs, such as the well-known Turkish writer Aziz Nessin, was totally unjustified, since there was no evidence for their participation i...
?In the 8th century, the first Turkish-speaking tribes migrated westward from central Asia and began converting to Islam.? They became Sunni Muslims, who follow the most orthodox form of Islam.? Islam appealed to these nomads because it was a simple faith with straightforward requirements.? Many were so passionate about the faith that they became ghazis, ?warriors for the faith.?? Fighting the Byzantines, they began to conquer the lands of Anatolia in the name of Islam.? The Ottomans, one of the Turkish clans, became the dominant leaders of this new land and united the scattered Turkish tribes.? By the 12th century, a new wave of Turkish immigrants who followe...
To purify the Ottoman Empire, the Turks decided to try and erase the Armenian race. The Turks used the war to cover up the mass killings of Armenians and it worked for a little because everybody was worrying about the war. However, the Turks called it a civil war and not a genocide, but there are many things proving otherwise. The treatment of the Armenians is a genocide, despite Turkish claims, because the genocide process was evident, the government was involved, and it was done on a large scale.
"When one man dies it's a tragedy. When thousands die it's statistics"-these are the words of Joseph Stalin, a man who understood that "killing was a tool; properly used it could eliminate enemies, terrorize survivors into submission, and overwhelm outsiders beyond their ability to intervene" (Altman 41). The Soviet government claims that the famine of 1932-1933 was due to "conditions beyond human control," that it was an unfortunate but unintended consequence of the collectivization effort (Altman 47). The reality is that this disaster was not the result of inflation, crop failure, natural disasters, nor war. The shocking truth, which has been buried under sixty-five years of Soviet propaganda and Western corruption, is that the famine was engineered by Stalin and used as a weapon to annihilate between seven and ten million Ukrainians.
Genocide is the act of killing a lot of people depending on their race, ethnicity, and religion. There are 8 stages of genocide which include extermination and denial. The victims of the Bosnian genocide consists of elders, women, men, children, and even babies. The Bosnian genocide is a war between Bosnian Serbians and Bosnian Muslim to which republic can control Bosnia. Many Serbains deny the fact that his genocide even happened even though there is scientific proof that this genocide happened. The purpose of learning genocide is so we are informed and we won't let it happen again.
As mentioned in Armenian Genocide and the Christian Existence, after more than 75 years, the Armenian people have still not healed and are faced daily with the effects of the past. The Christian religion in this group of people has been exterminated since 1915 to some. And not even just the feeling of religion, but something exterminated during this time was the culture. (Guroian, 1991) With the notion of being “Turkified” many lost a sense of who they were and what their ethnicity and culture was during this time of hopeful survival and forced
On April 24, 1915 the Armenian genocide began. 1 million and 5 hundred-thousand people got killed because of Turkish government. Many of them got raped, enslaved and murdered. For instance, they drowned people in rivers, burned them alive, executed and etc. They also kidnapped children and sent to Turkish families. In many places, Turkish people rapped and used Armenian women as a slave. “The Armenians marched by Turkish soldiers” picture in “artvoice.com” website shows the Armenians nearby prison in Mezierh by armed Turkish soldiers. Also only 25% Armenians deported to the deserts of Syria and Iraq. After the war between Armenian and Turks, only 380’000 Armenian remained in the Ottoman Empire. In June 1915, 25 percent of the Armenian population was deported t...
The Turkish government had a reason to get rid of the Armenians. In the Ottoman Empire, Armenians were second class citizens that lived in harmony with the Turks before the forces of nationalism came into the picture. Even though the Armenians had to face higher taxes and second class citizenship, they were treated and accepted pretty well. When nationalism took over, things began to change. The Ottoman Empire began to fall and the Armenians were considered to be the only major Christian minority since all the other minorities had gained their independence already. The Ottoman Empire became known as the "sick man of Europe". An empire that was once strong and an independent power, was now starting to collapse. The Turks had an envision of spreading new-Pan Turkic empire to Central Asia and the only thing that came in the way of doing so was the Armenians. Because of this, Turks wanted to get rid of the Armenians. Sultan Hamid II ruled the Ottoman Empire and because of him, the empire was saved and did not fall. Despite saving the Ottoman Empire, Hamid ordered th...
The Armenian genocide was the first genocide of Modern World History, but it was not the first time the world saw an ethnic and religious group angry with and persecuting another. The Armenian genocide is special because it was the first time the world saw mass slaughter being planned and executed by government officials. This deliberate slaughter of Armenians has been the focus of many because of its unique persecution of a single ethnic group and the fact that the Turkish government still denies its existence. Although the Armenian genocide took place in the Middle East, it has impacted the entire world. The Armenian genocide happened during World War I. Most known genocides have happened during times of war, because most of the world or the population of the country is so focused on the war, so they do not notice the mass killings going on in their country or in other countries.
The city had a specialized quarter in which the Turkish merchants who dealt with the Byzantines were based. The relationship between the Turkish merchants and their Byzantine counterparts consisted of a peaceful coexistence between the two. The Turkish people were granted this quarter when Constantinople returned to Byzantine control in 1261. The Turkish people had their own kadis (a judge) to settle commercial disputes as well. This Turkish community had been left in peace by the Byzantines up until Bayezid’s siege. When the siege began, Manuel II was prompted to evict all of the Turkish population from the city and to destroy their mosque. Manuel II did as expected: he removed anyone associated with their enemy from the city. This ensured that there were no Ottoman sympathizers that could provide aid to Bayezid’s army from inside Constantinople’s walls. The impact of their removal was insignificant; as people were more concerned with getting enough to eat than potential espionage. Bayezid’s move resulted in the removal of the entire Turkish community from Constantinople for the duration of the siege. After the siege was lifted, the merchants and kadis returned to the city shortly thereafter, resuming business as usual for the Turkish
First factor of migration in Athens is religion. Very loyal and friendly attitude of the Greeks to the citizens of other nationalities and foreigners who came partly is in cause of the traditional Christian upbringing. The main religion, venerated in Greece, represented by the Eastern Orthodox Church of Christ, controlled by the Holy Synod. Here basically are very religious people that observe all Christian traditions and commandments. However, it is not forbidden to practice Islam or any other religion in the country. So, this factor can be pull for religious people, but also, it can be push for atheists.
Luis Lopez 8D The Armenian Genocide I will be writing about the Armenian genocide that happened around 90 years ago. It is one of those genocides that were forgotten Not many people know about genocide because the one in peoples head is the holocaust the one that happened during world war II with Adolf Hitler killing millions of jews or people that didn't look like germans. The Armenians live in Armenia but I heard it is called Republic of Armenia. Not sure.
On the 25th of March 1821, the Greeks’ fight for independence from the Turks began. After about 8 long years of numerous battles, Greece was able to gain their independence in 1829. Their independence would not have been achievable without the help of their allies, who were mainly the French, Russia, and Great Britain. The philhellenes, or Greece-loving people, in those countries would rally support for Greece, and their revolution was a success because of their support. Greece would not have been able to attain their independence if not for the help of the various influential philhellenes in Great Britain.
Ener, Mine. “Religious Prerogatives and Policing the Poor in Two Ottoman Contexts.” Journal of Interdisciplinary History 35, no.3 (2005): 501-511. EBSCO.