Back حريق إزمير Arabic Голям пожар в Смирна Bulgarian Velký požár Smyrny Czech Brand von Izmir German Καταστροφή της Σμύρνης Greek Incendio de Esmirna Spanish آتش‌سوزی سمورنا Persian Smyrnan suuri palo Finnish Incendie de Smyrne French Grutte Brân fan Smyrna Frisian

Burning of Smyrna

Burning of Smyrna
Part of the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922) and the Greek genocide and Armenian genocide[1][2]
Plumes of smoke rising from Smyrna on 14 September 1922
Date13–22 September 1922
LocationSmyrna, Greek Zone of Smyrna (today İzmir, Turkey)
Also known asGreat Fire of Smyrna
Smyrna Catastrophe
PerpetratorSee Responsibility for the burning of Smyrna
Outcome80,000–400,000 refugees
Destruction of the Greek and Armenian quarters
DeathsEstimated at 10,000–125,000

The burning of Smyrna[3][4] (Greek: Καταστροφή της Σμύρνης, "Smyrna Catastrophe"; Turkish: 1922 İzmir Yangını, "1922 İzmir Fire"; Armenian: Զմիւռնիոյ Մեծ Հրդեհ, Zmyuṙnio Mets Hrdeh) destroyed much of the port city of Smyrna (modern İzmir, Turkey) in September 1922. Eyewitness reports state that the fire began on 13 September 1922[5] and lasted until it was largely extinguished on 22 September. It began four days after the Turkish military captured the city on 9 September, effectively ending the Greco-Turkish War, more than three years after the Greek landing of troops at Smyrna. Estimated Greek and Armenian deaths resulting from the fire range from 10,000 to 125,000.[6][7]

Approximately 80,000[8] to 400,000[9] Greek and Armenian refugees crammed the waterfront to escape from the fire. They were forced to remain there under harsh conditions for nearly two weeks. Turkish troops and irregulars had started committing massacres and atrocities against the Greek and Armenian population in the city before the outbreak of the fire. Many women were raped.[10][11] Tens of thousands of Greek and Armenian men were subsequently deported into the interior of Anatolia, where most of them died in harsh conditions.[12][6][13]

The fire completely destroyed the Greek and Armenian quarters of the city; the Muslim and Jewish quarters escaped damage.[14] There are different accounts and eyewitness reports about who was responsible for the fire; most contemporary sources and modern scholars attribute it to Turkish soldiers setting fire to Greek and Armenian homes and businesses to eradicate the last traces of Christian presence in Anatolia,[15] while a few, Turkish or pro-Turkish,[15][16] sources hold that the Greeks and/or Armenians started the fire either to tarnish the Turks' reputation or deny them access to their former homes and businesses.[15] Testimonies from Western eyewitnesses[17] were printed in many Western newspapers.[18][19]

The event is considered one of the most catastrophic urban fires in history and it is widely regarded as an act of genocide and a war crime; the event is still a source of tension between Greece and Turkey.[1][2] Winston Churchill called it an "infernal orgy" and stated that: "For a deliberately planned and methodically executed atrocity, Smyrna must...find few parallels in the history of human crime".[20]

  1. ^ a b Shirinian, G. N., Martoyan, T., eds. (2017). "Chapter 8. The Destruction of Smyrna in 1922: An Armenian and Greek Shared Tragedy". Genocide in the Ottoman Empire: Armenians, Assyrians, and Greeks, 1913–1923. Berghahn Books.
  2. ^ a b Morris, B., Ze’evi, D. (2021). The Thirty-Year Genocide: Turkey's Destruction of Its Christian Minorities, 1894–1924. Harvard University Press. pp. 434–444.
  3. ^ Stewart, Matthew. "Catastrophe at Smyrna Archived 27 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine." History Today, Volume: 54 Issue 7.
  4. ^ Tsounis, Catherine (8 September 2010). "Remembering Smyrna: The Asia Minor Catastrophe". Queens Gazette. Archived from the original on 15 July 2011. Retrieved 13 May 2011.
  5. ^ Horton, George. The Blight of Asia. Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1926; repr. London: Gomidas Institute, 2003, p. 96.
  6. ^ a b Naimark, N. M. (2002). Fires of Hatred: Ethnic Cleansing in Twentieth-Century Europe. Harvard University Press. p. 52.
  7. ^ Biondich, Mark (2011). The Balkans: Revolution, War, and Political Violence Since 1878. Oxford University Press. p. 92. ISBN 978-0199299058. Archived from the original on 26 March 2023. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference Bierstadt was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference RC was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Trudy Ring; Noelle Watson; Paul Schellinger (2013). Southern Europe: International Dictionary of Historic Places. Routledge. p. 351. ISBN 978-1134259588. Archived from the original on 26 March 2023. Retrieved 23 February 2014. Kemal's triumphant entry into Smyrna... as Greek and Armenian inhabitants were raped, mutilated, and murdered.
  11. ^ Abulafia, David (2011). The Great Sea : A Human History of the Mediterranean. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 287. ISBN 978-0195323344. Archived from the original on 26 March 2023. Retrieved 23 February 2014. As the refugees crowded into the city, massacres, rape and looting, mainly but not exclusively by the irregulars, became the unspoken order of the day... Finally, the streets and houses of Smyrna were soaked in petrol... and on 13 September the city was set alight.
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference Abulafia was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference Djordjevic was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ Stewart, Matthew (1 January 2003). "It Was All a Pleasant Business: The Historical Context of 'On the Quai at Smyrna'". The Hemingway Review. 23 (1): 58–71. doi:10.1353/hem.2004.0014. S2CID 153449331.
  15. ^ a b c Goalwin, Gregory J. (2022). Borders of Belief: Religious Nationalism and the Formation of Identity in Ireland and Turkey. Rutgers University Press. p. 126. ISBN 978-1-9788-2648-9. Archived from the original on 20 November 2022. Retrieved 20 November 2022. Many Turks argue that it was the Greeks and Armenians themselves who started the fire, but reports from Western observers at the time lead most scholars to place the blame squarely on Turkish soldiers, who were seen igniting Christian-owned businesses in the city.
  16. ^ Nevertheless, some Turkish sources have accepted Turkish responsibility for the fire. See, for example: Falih Rifki Atay, Çankaya: Atatürk'un Dogumundan Olumune Kadar, Istanbul, 1969, 324–325
  17. ^ list of them here
  18. ^ i.e. The Daily Telegraph 19 September 1922: The martyrdom of Smyrna and eastern Christendom; a file of overwhelming evidence, denouncing the misdeeds of the Turks in Asia Minor and showing their responsibility for the horrors of Smyrna Incendiaries at work – Destruction of christian quarters]
  19. ^ Daily Mail: [1]
  20. ^ Cabanes, Bruno (2014). The Great War and the Origins of Humanitarianism, 1918–1924. Cambridge University Press. p. 174. ISBN 978-1-107-02062-7. Archived from the original on 26 March 2023. Retrieved 22 February 2023.

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