İzmit massacres explained

Event Name:İzmit massacres
Partof:the Greek genocide
Type:Ethnic cleansing, genocidal massacre, mass murder
Motive:Anti-Greek sentiment, Turkification, Turkish nationalism
Participants:(mainly) Turkish nationalist Army and irregulars,[1] [2] on a minor scale: native Greeks, Hellenic Army (insubordinate role), Circassian mercenaries[3]
Location:İzmit district, Ottoman Empire
Date:March 1920 – June 1921
Deaths:12,000 by the Turkish Army (+ 2,500 missing)
~ 300 by the Greek Army

The İzmit massacres were atrocities committed in the region of İzmit, Turkey, during the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922) which took place during the Greek genocide. An Inter-Allied Commission of Enquiry that investigated the incidents, submitted a report, on 1 June 1921, about the events.

Background

Ethnic cleansing policies undertaken by the Ottoman government were launched in various regions of the Ottoman Empire, including the Izmit region as early as 1915. This included the massive deportation of local Greek and Armenian communities.[1] In 1915, The New York Times reported that 19,000 Greeks from the Izmit province had been uprooted from their homes and driven to purely Turkish districts.[4] The Armenian Metropolitan of Izmit, Stephan Hovakimian stated, that, of the 80,000 Armenians belonging to his Diocese, 70,000 had been lost in exile, succumbing to hunger and exhaustion from long marches, and the slaughter of men and women upon arrival at their destination.[5] Later, in 1918, after the Armistice of Mudros a number of attacks by nationalist bands against the local Christian population were reported.

Incidents

This violence increased against the local Greek population, from March 1920 and especially during June–July 1920, when the advance of the Hellenic Army in the region was imminent.[2] These groups were operating as far as Üsküdar, while some of them were organized by the Turkish Nationalist Movement.[2]

As a result of this activity, several villages of the region were burnt and their inhabitants killed, especially in the regions south, north and northeast of Adapazarı, as well as south and southeast of Iznik.[2]

The presence of the Hellenic Army in the region from July 1920, limited the activity of the Turkish bands, although in Karamürsel, south of the Gulf of İzmit, some Turkish nationalist groups were still attacking surrounding villages inhabited by Greek populations.[2]

Later, the Hellenic Army in the region, was accused of supporting assaults against some villages east of Beykoz. Accusations included the killing of civilians and the burning of small settlements. Accusations also included violence perpetrated by local Greek civilians who had previously suffered from Turkish atrocities [6]

From the spring of 1921, the activity of the Turkish bands increased in the region extending geographically to the south of Izmit, which resulted in the destruction of the Christian villages there.[2]

Evacuation of Izmit

In the early summer of 1921, due to the developments of the ongoing Greco-Turkish War, the retreat of the Hellenic Army was imminent.According to the British High Commission, 33,000 people were evacuated. Of these, approximately 21,000 were Greeks, 9,000 were Armenians, and 3,000 were Turks and Circassians. They were distributed as follows:- [7]

Aftermath

An Inter-Allied Commission of Enquiry that investigated the incidents in the region generally accepted the claims by Greek authorities that 32 villages had been looted or burned, and that more than 12,000 local civilians had been massacred by Turkish forces, and 2,500 were missing. The Commission accepted these figures as "fundamentally true, notwithstanding a certain amount of exaggeration in the figures".[1] [2]

According to British journalist and latter historian, Arnold Toynbee, as a result of the activities of the Hellenic Army and irregulars, up to 300 persons were killed.[3] Toynbee in general omits to notice the conclusion of the Allied commission. Moreover, Winston Churchill, stated that the Greek atrocities were "on a minor scale" compared to the "appalling deportations of Greeks from the Trebizond and Samsun provinces", which were undertaken by the Turkish nationalists in the same year.[1]

Partial list of affected settlements

The Allied commission concluded that 35 villages in the region were affected due to the activity of Turkish nationalist bands.[1] [2] A partial list of the villages according to Greek reports:[8]

See also

Sources

Notes and References

  1. Book: Shenk, Estate of Robert E.. America's Black Sea Fleet: The U.S. Navy Amidst War and Revolution, 1919–1923. November 15, 2012. Naval Institute Press. 9781612513027 . Google Books.
  2. Reports on atrocities in the districts of Yalova and Guemlek and in the Ismid Peninsula, p. 11
  3. Book: Toynbee, Arnold Joseph. The Western question in Greece and Turkey. 1922. Constable. 9781152112612. 287–297–298–299. 1108521W.
  4. Turks are evicting native Christians. 12 July 1915. The New York Times, p. 4
  5. K.Faltaits. The Genocide of the Greeks in Turkey. Cosmos 2016. pp.103-4
  6. Reports on atrocities in the districts of Yalova and Gemlik and in the Izmit Peninsula, p. 10
  7. British Reports on Ethnic Cleansing in Anatolia, 1919-1922: The Armenian-Greek Section edited by Vartkes Yeghiayan 2007 p 211
  8. Evdoridou, p. 111-144
  9. The Genocide of the Greeks in Turkey: Survivor Testimonies from the Nicomedia (Izmit) Massacres of 1920-1921 by Kostas Faltaits 2016 pp 43-51
  10. The Genocide of the Greeks in Turkey: Survivor Testimonies from the Nicomedia (Izmit) Massacres of 1920-1921 by Kostas Faltaits 2016 pp 65-69
  11. Asia Minor Tragedy: An Eye-Witness Testimony by Michail Angelou Kiriakatiki Athens 2013 pp 196-197
  12. British Reports on Ethnic Cleansing in Anatolia, 1919-1922: The Armenian-Greek Section edited by Vartkes Yeghiayan 2007 page 172
  13. The Genocide of the Greeks in Turkey: Survivor Testimonies from the Nicomedia (Izmit) Massacres of 1920-1921 by Kostas Faltaits 2016 pp 71-74
  14. Web site: Nişanyan Yeradları. nisanyanmap.com.
  15. The Genocide of the Greeks in Turkey: Survivor Testimonies from the Nicomedia (Izmit) Massacres of 1920-1921 by Kostas Faltaits 2016 pp 91-98
  16. The Genocide of the Greeks in Turkey: Survivor Testimonies from the Nicomedia (Izmit) Massacres of 1920-1921 by Kostas Faltaits 2016 pp 75-80

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