In these first days of autumn, every year thousands Greeks sadness appears in the eyes and the heart bleeds. The last mass pogrom of Greeks in Turkey on September 6-7, 1955 put a bloody end to 2.5 thousand years of Greek history in this city.
69 years ago, already in the peaceful years after the end of World War II, thousands of Christians living in Istanbul and Izmir, Greeks and Armenians, relived the catastrophe of the 1920s.
Under the terms of the 1923 treaty that ended the Greco-Turkish War, Greece agreed to withdraw its troops from Constantinople, Eastern Thrace and the Princes' Islands, and Turkey agreed to preserve the Greek population there (Greeks were deported from other regions of Turkey). In turn, Greece allowed the Turks and Muslim Bulgarians to remain in Western Thrace (Orthodox Bulgarians were deported “to their historical homeland”).
However, the Turks were not inclined to adhere to this agreement all the time, and the Greeks were forced out of Istanbul in various ways. The Christians of Istanbul were subjected to mass persecution from the new Turkish authorities from the very beginning. The Greeks were forbidden to engage in certain professions, their rights were limited.
Greek education was suspended on the Princes' Islands, and Turkish colonists from the mainland were brought in. As a result of emigration between 1925 and 1955, the Greek population of Istanbul had already decreased from 270,000 (39.6%) to 100,000 (7.8%). By 1955, there were no more than 100,000 Greeks left in the city..
In the spring of 1955, unrest began in the then British colony of Cyprus. Greek Cypriot activists demanded independence from the British crown and, as a logical consequence, unification with Greece. The British authorities had invented and always adhered to the “divide and rule” policy towards their colonies. Turkey, which had previously paid no attention to the neighboring island, was skillfully focused on the problems of the Turkish Cypriots. As a result, the Turkish authorities began a campaign to incite national hatred both in Cyprus and at home.
Streets of the Peri district before the pogrom
There was no need to prepare public opinion. After the genocide of the 1920s, the few Greek and Armenian families that remained in the former Ottoman Empire were able to rise again economically, rebuild their homes, start their own businesses and achieve success, mainly in trade. Many quarters of Constantinople once again began to resemble the good old days, as in the heyday of Christian trade enterprises. Whether their Turkish neighbors, who had not achieved the same economic prosperity, liked this is a rhetorical question. It is always easier to find someone to blame for one’s own misfortune, especially if they are of a different nationality and religion. Therefore, it is easy to assume that there was no shortage of voluntary pogromists.
This is what the Kemal Ataturk House Museum in Thessaloniki looks like now
The reason was the explosion in the Kemal Ataturk House Museum in Thessaloniki. As it turned out later, the explosion was carried out by the museum curator himself, using an explosive device given to him by the Turkish secret services. The Turkish media skillfully inflated the scale of the destruction of the great Turkish leader's home, causing a storm of indignation in the Turkish public. The press of the times of President Bayar and Prime Minister Menderes presented a truly Turkish scenario of pogroms and vandalism. The newspaper “Hurriyet”, for example, wrote then: “We would like to remind our small neighbor Greece that unworthy children, if they do not come to their senses, deserve a spanking. Needless to say, Greece is familiar with Turkish beatings.” Directly and openly.
Crowd with Ataturk portraits takes to the streets
The plan for the pogroms was just as simple. The previous night, houses, shops and churches were marked for desecration and destruction. The following night, more than 100 thousand pogromists, well organized and provided with transport, began to carry out their dirty work. About 80 churches, 4,500 shops, 2,500 apartments and 40 schools suffered. Christian cemeteries were desecrated, where the pogromists did not limit themselves to destroying tombstones, but also opened graves. Christian women and girls experienced terrible moral shocks. The number of those killed is estimated at 37 people, but this figure is not absolute due to the impossibility of an exact count. The material damage amounted to hundreds of millions of US dollars, according to some estimates – up to a billion dollars in the prices of that era!
How it all happened
The five main roads leading to Taksim Square were filled with crowds of people who were armed with sticks, axes, shovels, hammers and iron crowbars. The crowd chanted “Kahrolsun giavourlar!” (Curse the infidels!) and “Yikin, Kirin, giavourdur!” (Destroy, break, they are infidels!). The police and the army did not take any action, as they had received absolutely no order to restore order and limited themselves to impassive observation of the events.
When about 50,000 people had gathered, the next stage of the plan was put into effect: the destruction of all Greek property and the desecration of all sacred places of the holy city of Hellenism. The leaders of the pogromists were instructed not to leave anything of value.
Circles of Hell
Part of the crowd moved to the Istiklal Kadessi district, also known as Pera, which was considered the most famous shopping center of Constantinople. The area contained about 700 shops, the vast majority of which were owned by Greeks.
The first shop that was attacked was the Eptalofos cafe in Taksim Square. The crowd rushed into the cafe like a herd of mad bulls, destroying everything in sight: windows, tables, chairs, buffets, glasses, cups.
Then came the attack on a Greek-owned textile shop. Four rioters used a tram rail to break down the door and smash the shop windows. A few minutes later, the crowd burst in and began throwing fabrics, shelves, and other goods into the street. A sewing machine was smashed with the same tram rail in the street in front of the screaming crowd. The rioters' next target was an electrical goods shop, whose contents were scattered all over the street.
A little further on there was a grocery store, at the entrance of which stood an elderly Greek man.
Старик с удивительным мужеством стоял перед магазином и говорил толпе: «Уходите отсюда! Мы живем в этой части шесть поколений, и вы не может беспокоить нас ". Эти слова были последними в его жизни.
The crowd rushed at him, within minutes the shop was destroyed and the old man became the first victim of that nightmarish night. His wife survived by hiding in a corner, but soon died of the shock she had experienced that night. The crowd continued on its way, destroying all the shops in the Pera area one after another. The famous confectionery “Kervan” of Dimitri Pilavidi, “Baile” of Lethe and Kiripsi “Eskişehir” of Yannis Tsouli…
In large and luxurious stores, the rioters took silk shirts, suits, new shoes and put them on before continuing their destructive work. In the famous Frangoulis jewelry store, the crowd of rioters staged a real fight among themselves to seize the most valuable jewelry.
When the crowd arrived at the Church of the Holy Trinity, they hesitated for a moment. But their hesitation was overcome when the crowd shouted, “Curse the infidels!” and then the Turks stormed into the church. All the property of the church was destroyed and desecrated.
Icons, sacred vessels, and priests' vestments were the targets of the maddened crowd. The pews and altar of the church were destroyed when a new group of rioters burst into the church with containers of gasoline to burn the temple.
До сих пор так и не ясна причина, почему погромщики не смогли сжечь церковь Святой Троицы в Пера.
The Pera district changed dramatically in a matter of hours. The streets became like a kind of substrate, a mixture of things that had been destroyed: cars, furs, watches, shoes, oils, cheeses, textiles, dishes, clothes, various types of food and clothing mixed under the feet of the crowd.
After that night, the vast majority of Greek and Armenian families left Turkey forever. A new, yet another exodus of Christians from Constantinople – how many of them there were, starting with Black Tuesday in 1453!
Of the 140,000 Greeks who lived in Istanbul in the mid-20th century, only a few thousand remained, and new repatriates appeared in Greece. Where is the Lausanne Agreement of 1923, which secured the right of the Greek community to live in Istanbul? Probably in the same place as the right of self-government of the Greek communities on the islands of Imvros and Tenedos.
The rioters' fury was getting out of control, and the army had to intervene on the morning of September 7. The unrest also affected other cities in Turkey, most notably Izmir, where the families of Greek officers stationed at NATO headquarters in the city suffered. At the same time, NATO troops stationed in Izmir, as well as the Western European public, preferred not to intervene in the events.
In 2000, only 2,000 Greeks lived in Istanbul. The Princes' Islands (Imbros (Gökçeada) and Tenedos (Bozcaada)) were soon resettled by Turks after the 1955 pogrom, and there remained 250 and 25 native Greek residents, respectively, and the use of the Greek language in schools and administration was prohibited, and schools have been closed since 1975.
Progressive citizens of Turkey, however, do not forget the shameful pages of their history. On September 7, 2007, the Turkish newspaper Sabah published an article by Ergun Babahan dedicated to the events of half a century ago. The Turkish journalist writes bitterly about the crimes of the Turkish government against its citizens: “the great city has lost its colors, lost its voice,” and relates historical lessons to the current situation in the country, when the problem of Islamization and the Kurdish minority are acute for modern Turkish society.
In 2006, the Ecumenical Federation of Residents was founded Constantinople for the joint resolution of the problems of 26 communities of Constantinople, located both in Greece and abroad. The goal of creating the federation is declared to be the unification of efforts to support the patriarchate in Fanari, compatriots who remain in Constantinople and, of course, to preserve and pass on the culture of Constantinople to the younger generation.
Now Turkey is raising the issue of paying war reparations under the Lausanne Treaty of 1923. And who will return the thousands of lives of Greeks in Constantinople, Cyprus (the 1974 war)?
When creating this article, materials from the sites were used greecetoday.ru And pontos-news.
More Stories
The Magic Number 56 and the Covered Market of Kalithea. Part 2
The Magic Number 56 and the Covered Market of Kalithea. Part 1
Türkiye Bans Patriarch Bartholomew from Serving at Panagia Sumela Monastery