“In the Autumn though he (Mustafa Kemal0 felt ready for the Greeks they again routed
him, and advanced to the strategic railway lines connecting Constantinople with
Konya. Lloyd George was able to announce to the House of Commons, “The Turks
are broken beyond repair.
This last turn of affairs proved too much for the French and Italians. They insisted
that the Greek advance be restrained, and enjoined the supreme council to order
the Greek army to stop in its tracks. French, British, and Italian forces rode out to
confront the Greeks, halting them at a position far more precarious, than the one
they had abandoned to rush to the Allie’s rescue in June. At the eleventh hour
Kemal and his recruits were thus rescued from destruction”.
Smyrna 1922 the Destruction of a City by Majorie Housepian Dobkin
A Greek Response to Turkish Genocidal Threats.
by
Theodore G. Karakostas
Devlet Bahceli who leads Turkey’s National Action Party has sought to remind the Greeks
that Turkey chased them into the sea in 1922. Bahceli’s Party is the political arm of the infamous
“Grey Wolves” terrorist organization that has a long history of political and racial violence. In 1996.
members of the Grey Wolves murdered Greek Cypriot protesters Tasos Isaac and Solomos Solomou.
A decade later they murdered Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in Constantinople.
Turkish fascists love to boast of their blood soaked victories but their facts are always wrong. They
deny Turkey has ever been responsible for Genocide but use their bloody history to make ominous
threats. Regarding the events of September 1922, the Turks need to be reminded that their “victory”
came about because an embargo was imposed on the Greek Army by the European powers and that
the Powers armed Mustafa Kemal after cutting secret deals with him. The Turks should not flatter
themselves by thinking themselves invincible.
In addition, the Greek Army crushed the Turks in the Balkan Wars and successfully liberated Macedonia,
Epirus, and Crete. The Turks did not have the European Powers intervening on their behalf during the
Balkan Wars. The Greeks likewise inflicted serious punishment on the Turks after the uprising of 1821.
Greece is in a difficult position owing to the fact that the leaders of Turkey are even more unhinged
than usual. Turkey’s emerging dictator Erdogan has made clear that he wants a revision of the Treaty
of Lausanne. Lausanne effectively whitewashed the Armenian, Assyrian, and Greek Genocides and
gave legal sanction for the ethnic cleansing of over 1,500,000 Greeks from Asia Minor and Eastern
Thrace. Kemal was given Smyrna (after presiding over the slaughter of Christians) Constantinople,
Armenia, and Eastern Thrace.
For Turkey this was not enough as the invasion of Syria in 1939 and the invasion of Cyprus in 1974
demonstrate. Now then, Turkey is hungry again and is making a claim to the Greek islands. Erdogan
and Bahceli are not the only Turkish political leaders openly expressing their desire for an invasion
of Greece. Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the Republican People’s Party has stated if he were
Prime Minister that he would invade and take over eighteen Greek islands just as the late leader
of his Party Bulent Ecevit invaded Cyprus in 1974. The leader of the “Good Party”, Meral
Aksener has also endorsed invading Greece.
Recent news sources have recalled plots by the Turkish military in 2003 to shoot down one of their
own planes in order to blame Greece and trigger a war. Fortunately, in that case rational elements
in the Turkish military and police interceded to prevent this plan from being carried out. Fifteen years
later, it would appear that Turkey has no more rational players on the scene and the extremists are
without restraint.
As dangerous as the situation is, there is reason for hope. Erdogan cannot restrain himself. In the past,
he has nearly triggered was with Israel and Russia. He has recently infuriated Germany, the Netherlands,
and France. Officials of his Government have threatened the US with an “Ottoman slap”. and Ankara
threatened to attack American troops protecting Kurds in Syria. NATO has just stated that it will not
take a position regarding Greece and Turkey.
This is a repetition of NATO’s refusal in 1955 to condemn the anti Greek pogroms in Constantinople.
Then, as now Turkish leaders were psychopaths as the then government of Prime Minister Adnan
Menderes ordered the bombing of their own Consulate (which includes the home where Kemal
was born on its property) in Thessaloniki to as a means of inciting the pogroms against the Greeks.
Regardless, Turkey does not just threaten Greece. Ankara’s policies are a direct threat to Europe
as Erdogan has threatened to unleash three million Muslim refugees into Europe. They are also a
direct threat to Russia. Vladimir Putin has become so angry with American policies that he has
blinded himself to the Turkish threat. While Russia has committed to preserving the Asaad
regime in Syria, Turkey is committed to bringing Asaad down and supporting an Islamic regime.
Finally, the United States has betrayed the Kurds of Syria who fought bravely and honorably against
the Islamic State. Turkey assisted the Islamic State and the United States has once again appeased
Turkey. Even so, Erdogan is such a narcissist and psychopath that he cannot be controlled by anyone
and chances are he will eventually provoke a serious confrontation with America, Russia, or perhaps
both of them.
If Turkey were to act on its threats to invade the Greek islands, it is safe to say they will wage their
war with the aim of exterminating the Greek inhabitants on the islands. All Greeks should remember
Smyrna and Cyprus and realize that Turkey still has genocidal ambitions.
