It is ironic that Greeks annually commemorate October 28 in remembrance of the heroic defiance and victory of
Greece over Mussolini’s aggressive attack on Greece. It is ironic because Greeks have forgotten the oldest and
most dangerous enemy of the Hellenic nation, Turkey. President Erdogan of Turkey is scheduled to visit Greece.
The decision by Athens to extend an invitation to Erdogan is suicidal and is a continuation of the failed policies of
previous Greek administrations.
It is not even necessary to recount the horrors of occupation under the Ottoman Empire, only the horrors of the
past century. During the First World War, the Young Turks decided to exterminate the Armenians, Assyrians, and
Asia Minor Greeks. No Turkish regime up to the present has repented or expressed remorse for these horrors.
In September 1922, Mustafa Kemal one of the most evil and ruthless mass murderers of the twentieth century
conquered the Christian City of Smyrna and presided over the slaughter of Christian Armenians and Greeks.
As a result of the Great Power (Italian, French, British, American) collaboration with the Kemalists against the Christians
Greece was forced to withdraw from land in Asia Minor and Eastern Thrace it had historic, cultural, and religious claims
to. Greece also had claims to these territories because they were still inhabited by Greeks. Greece was friendless and
alone and being bankrupt had to take in over 1,500,000 Greek refugees. Former (and future) Prime Minister Venizelos
negotiated for Greece at the Lausanne Conference but even his outstanding diplomatic abilities were unable to overcome
the international hostility directed at Greece.
Greece was forced to abandon rightful claims to Constantinople. Venizelos was a brilliant leader who had previously
led Greece to victories over the Turks in the Balkan Wars and initial Greek successes in Asia Minor were due to his
brilliance until his downfall from power. The best Venizelos could do for Greece was to ensure that 100,000 Greeks
and the Ecumenical Patriarchate would remain in Constantinople. Even this minor concession was too much for
the Turks who immediately began a campaign of terror against the Greek minority and Patriarchate.
In 1930, Venizelos was Prime Minister again and signed a Treaty of Friendship with Turkey. Venizelos had to be concerned
with Bulgaria and Italy at the time and was in no position to fight the Turks. In 1934, Greece and Turkey were both members
of the Balkan Pact. When Italy (and Germany) later invaded Greece, Turkey failed to to come to the assistance of its
ally under the terms of the Balkan Pact. When Greece was under Nazi occupation, Turkey immediately moved to
impose extremely harsh taxes on Greeks, Armenians, and Jews in Turkey. Those that could not pay were deported into
concentration camps in Anatolia.
In 1955, the Greek Cypriots (eighty percent of the population in Cyprus) revolted against British rule to achieve union with
Greece. The British unscrupulously encouraged the Turks to claim Cyprus and so Turkey again claimed territory belonging
to someone else. Turkish Cypriots with the blessing of Ankara and London began terrorist attacks on Greek Cypriots.
In addition, the government of Prime Minister Adnan Menderes ordered the infamous pogrom against the peaceful
Greeks of Constantinople. Turkish criminals with the support of the regime burned and destroyed Churches and
Monasteries. Greek women were gang raped, priests doused with gasoline and burned alive. Men were murdered and
lynched. The Armenian community was likewise attacked by the Turks.
In 1964, ten thousand Greeks with Hellenic passports were forcibly expelled from Turkey. Thirty thousand more fled in terror.
In 1974, Turkey invaded Cyprus and ethnically cleansed the occupied territories of over 200,000 Greek Cypriots. Cyprus has
become a Turkish colony with Turkish born settlers taking the homes and property rightfully belonging to Greeks. In 1996,
the Turkish Grey Wolves murdered Greek Cypriot protesters Tasos Isaac and Solomos Solomou.
Turkey has also violated Greek airspace and has violated Greek territorial rights in the Aegean Sea. Turkey has also attempted
to destroy the Ecumenical Patriarchate by closing the Seminary of Halki and officials of the Turkish Deep State have been
implicated in the violent terror campaign against the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Erdogan himself has continued to insist that
that Cyprus has been settled and has begun the process of holding Islamic prayers in Hagia Sophia annually during Ramadan.
After all this, why would any Greek leader invite the Turkish President to Greece? Erdogan and Turkey are enemies of Greece
and should not be permitted on Greek soil. Greeks must remember and mourn the dead of Asia Minor, Cyprus, and Constantinople.
The anti Greek pogroms of 1955 and the Turkish claim that “Cyprus is Turkish” put an end to the phony Greek-Turkish
friendship. Greek efforts at “reconciliation” (surrender is a better word) took place under various Greek governments over the
decades.
In 1999, the government of Prime Minister Costas Simitis (a disastrous leader) lifted its veto in the European Union and
permitted Turkey to become an associate member of the European Union. Turkey has never made any concessions on a single
issue. Not only should Erdogan not be visiting Greece, Athens should be closing Turkish Consulates in Greece. The Turkish
Consulate in Thessaloniki includes on its property the home that the butcher Mustafa Kemal was born in 1881. Staff of that
Consulate bombed their own Consulate in 1955 as a means of inciting the anti Greek pogroms.
The Kemalist regime has fallen and been replaced by an Islamist one, but the policies remain the same. Greeks everywhere should
say OHI (NO) to Erdogan in Greece.