Greek genocide | |
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Part of World War I, the aftermath of World War I and the late Ottoman genocides | |
![]() Greek civilians mourn their dead relatives, Great Fire of Smyrna, 1922 | |
Location | Ottoman Empire |
Date | 1913–1923[1] |
Target | Greek population, particularly from Pontus, Cappadocia, Ionia and Eastern Thrace |
Attack type | Deportation, genocide, ethnic cleansing, death marches |
Deaths | 1.000.000 - 1.500.000[2] |
Perpetrators | Ottoman Empire, Turkish National Movement |
Trials | Ottoman Special Military Tribunal |
Motive | Anti-Greek sentiment, Turkification, Anti-Eastern Orthodox sentiment |
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The Greek genocide[A 1] (Greek: Γενοκτονία των Ελλήνων, romanized: Genoktonía ton Ellínon), which included the Pontic genocide, was the systematic killing of the Christian Ottoman Greek population of Anatolia, which was carried out mainly during World War I and its aftermath (1914–1922) – including the Turkish War of Independence (1919–1923) – on the basis of their religion and ethnicity.[8] It was perpetrated by the government of the Ottoman Empire led by the Three Pashas and by the Government of the Grand National Assembly led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk,[1] against the indigenous Greek population of the Empire. The genocide included massacres, forced deportations involving death marches through the Syrian Desert,[9] expulsions, summary executions, and the destruction of Eastern Orthodox cultural, historical, and religious monuments.[10] Several hundred thousand Ottoman Greeks died during this period.[11] Most of the refugees and survivors fled to Greece (adding over a quarter to the prior population of Greece).[12] Some, especially those in Eastern provinces, took refuge in the neighbouring Russian Empire.
By late 1922, most of the Greeks of Asia Minor had either fled or had been killed.[13] Those remaining were transferred to Greece under the terms of the later 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey, which formalized the exodus and barred the return of the refugees. Other ethnic groups were similarly attacked by the Ottoman Empire during this period, including Assyrians and Armenians, and some scholars and organizations have recognized these events as part of the same genocidal policy.[14][15][16][17][18]
The Allies of World War I condemned the Ottoman government–sponsored massacres. In 2007, the International Association of Genocide Scholars passed a resolution recognising the Ottoman campaign against its Christian minorities, including the Greeks, as genocide.[15] Some other organisations have also passed resolutions recognising the Ottoman campaign against these Christian minorities as genocide, as have the national legislatures of Greece,[19][20][21] Cyprus,[22] the United States,[23][24][25][26] Sweden,[27][28] Armenia,[29] the Netherlands,[30][31] Germany,[32][33] Austria[34][35] and the Czech Republic.[36][37][38]
The genocide was committed by two subsequent and chronologically, ideologically, and organically interrelated and interconnected dictatorial and chauvinist regimes: (1) the regime of the CUP, under the notorious triumvirate of the three pashas (Üç Paşalar), Talât, Enver, and Cemal, and (2) the rebel government at Samsun and Ankara, under the authority of the Grand National Assembly (Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi) and Kemal. Although the process had begun before the Balkan Wars, the final and most decisive period started immediately after WWI and ended with the almost total destruction of the Pontic Greeks
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The total number of Christians who fled to Greece was probably in the region of 1.2 million with the main wave occurring in 1922 before the signing of the convention. According to the official records of the Mixed Commission set up to monitor the movements, the "Greeks' who were transferred after 1923 numbered 189,916 and the number of Muslims expelled to Turkey was 355,635 [Ladas I932, 438–439; but using the same source Eddy 1931, 201 states that the post-1923 exchange involved 192,356 Greeks from Turkey and 354,647 Muslims from Greece].
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