By THEODORE P. ION, D.C.L.
The German dream of dominion from Hamburg to the Persian Gulf has
naturally attracted the attention of the world to Asia Minor, a country
which has been for centuries in a dormant condition on account of its
subjection to a moribund state. Conquered and reconquered by Asiatic
hordes, its wealth ravaged and pillaged many and many times, its
cities, towns and villages razed to the ground more than once, and
its inhabitants having been subjected again and again to massacres
_en masse_, Asia Minor has been and will naturally continue to be the
reservoir, so to speak, of European civilization for the Great East.
From ancient times the rays of civilization which shone on this
peninsula were not Asiatic but European, that is Hellenic, the
civilizing influences of the language of Homer and Plato having been
kept alive even during the rule of the Mohammedan Arabs.
As is well known, the Arabian Caliphs of Bagdad were always surrounded
by Hellenists and considered the books of the Greek sages more valuable
than gold.[2]
Hence came the great impetus given to Arabian philosophy and positive
science through the translation of the writings of the Greeks, which
were subsequently transplanted to Europe by the Moors even before the
time of the renaissance.
The darkest epoch of Asia Minor began undoubtedly with the advent
of the followers of Osman, who, ever since their irruption into
that country, have wrought havoc among its people, and within a
comparatively short space of time have reduced that fair land to
barbarity and desolation. The ancient seats of learning, the theaters,
the stadia, the treasures of art and other tokens of Hellenic
civilization are now nothing but heaps of ruins, inarticulate witnesses
to the ancient glory of Hellenism.
It is a remarkable phenomenon that beneath these smoldering ruins
civilization was not entirely destroyed, for in spite of the slowly
burning fire Hellenism continued to exist, and toward the close of the
18th century began to show clear signs of that vitality and vigor which
blossomed forth so quickly in the following century, and, in our own
time, have produced such far-reaching results.
Hence the apprehension shown by the Turkish conquerors during the
tyrannical régime of Abdul Hamid. Hence the great efforts made by that
potentate to bring from the confines of Russia Mohammedan hordes such
as Circassians and other unruly tribes and freebooters in order that
they might roam about or settle there according to their fancy, with
the view to offsetting the ever-increasing Greek population of Asia
Minor. Hence the inrush to that country of Mohammedan emigrants from
the territories which have been wrested from the Turk ever since the
events of 1878, it being immaterial whether these Mussulman fanatics
gave themselves to robbery, murder and massacres of the Christians in
the land, or settled there in order to develop the great possibilities
of agriculture in the country.
The diplomacy of Europe, having been satisfied with the platitudes
embodied in the Treaty of Berlin of 1878 as to the introduction
of reforms by the Sublime Porte, both in its European and Asiatic
provinces, has let things take their natural course, the first outcome
being the Armenian horrors of the Hamidian era, which were continued
under the “constitutional régime of the Young Turks” and culminated
in the scientific extermination, by starvation, of that highly gifted
Armenian nation, carried out under the high patronage and guidance
of the Germano-Turanians, whose diabolical activities during the
present world war have overwhelmed in a like catastrophe the Hellenic
population of the Ottoman Empire and particularly of Asia Minor.[3]
From the time that the present German emperor resolved to make the Near
and perhaps the Far East the great market for Teutonic trade, German
scientists of all kinds have been dispatched to Asia Minor to study the
country from every point of view, so that the German Government may, at
the opportune moment, be ready to seize the “golden fleece.”
As a result there have appeared various essays dealing with Asia Minor
from different points of view, and in particular the one with which we
are here concerned, by Dr. Karl Dieterich, forming the principal part
of the present publication of the American-Hellenic Society.[4]
It is worth noticing that the German essayist describes in a vivid
manner the vitality and the potentialities of the Hellenic population
of Asia Minor, and, unlike the ruling class of Germany and many of his
compatriots, he speaks favorably of the Greek populations of Anatolia.
Dr. Dieterich, referring to the persecution of the Greeks, says
erroneously that these “systematic persecutions,” as he admits them to
be, began with the spring of 1914 (see p. 19), while, as a matter of
fact, they commenced on the very day that the Young Turks consolidated
their power (1908-1909), when, in spite of their much heralded formula
of “equality, justice and fraternity,” they designed and instituted
a well-organized method for the annihilation of the Christian
populations, the Adana massacres of the Armenians in April, 1909, being
the precursors of all the subsequent horrors.
Nor did these would-be “reformers,” or “constitutionalists,” conceal
their plans for the Turkification of the Christians in the Ottoman
Empire, for they openly resorted either to forced conversions to
Mohammedanism or to the annihilation of those who seemed unlikely to
submit to be “Ottomanized.” Thus, as early as September, 1908, one of
the moving spirits of the Committee of Union and Progress, namely, Dr.
Nazim, during his visit to Smyrna, at a social gathering held in the
house of a British subject, spoke freely about this matter.[5]
The Young Turks having thus initiated, under the very eyes of Europe,
a systematic extermination of the Armenians,—whom the bloody hand of
Abdul Hamid had not completely destroyed,—turned their attention to the
“more dangerous Greeks.”
It was this plan for the destruction of the Christian nations that,
in 1912, brought together the Balkan States, who saw that under the
new régime in Turkey the peoples of these various nationalities
would gradually be annihilated, if they did not take some preventive
steps. The result was the war of these States against Turkey, the
complete defeat of the latter and the freeing from the Turkish yoke of
hundreds of thousands of people. As a further consequence of this war,
there began on the part of Turkey a wholesale expulsion of the Greek
population from the coast of Asia Minor simply because the neighboring
islands of the Ægean had been incorporated with the Greek Kingdom.
Up to the declaration of the present world war hundreds of thousands
of Greeks were expelled from Turkey, having been, at the same time,
deprived by the Turks of all their movable and immovable property.
All these unfortunate people took refuge in Greece and gave no little
embarrassment to the Greek Government.[6]
It is therefore incorrect to say, as the German writer alleges, that
the persecutions of the Greeks began with the outbreak of the present
war (p. 19).
The difference, however, between the _ante-bellum_ persecutions and
those perpetrated subsequently is this, that while in the former cases
the Greeks were expelled from their native country and were deprived
only of their wealth and their property generally, in the latter not
only were they compelled to abandon everything they owned, but they
also perished through untold hardships and starvation. (See details
about the tragical condition of the Greeks in Publication No. 3 of the
American-Hellenic Society cited above.)
Nor did the Turks in carrying out this cruel work care whether Greece
was friendly or unfriendly to Turkey. As a matter of fact, these
persecutions were in full swing during the “régime of Constantine”
(see dates in _Persecutions of the Greeks_, etc.) when that potentate
was in close relationship not only with the Germans, but also with
the Bulgarians and the Turks, and consequently the persecutions of
the Greeks had nothing to do with the alleged projected territorial
compensations to Greece; besides, Turkey was assured by Germany that
Constantine, who then had the upper hand in Greece, would under no
circumstances attack Turkey.
Therefore it is not correct to say, as the German writer asserts, that
one of the reasons for these persecutions was the promise made to
Greece by the Entente Powers in 1915 of territorial concessions in Asia
Minor (see p. 19).
An indication that even such an evidently impartial writer as Dr.
Dieterich cannot divest himself of the German point of view is his
statement that in the struggle for life the Greeks were on the
offensive, while the Turks were on the defensive (see p. 19). This, in
plain words, means that it suffices for a nation to be intelligent,
active, frugal, moral (as he too acknowledges the Greeks to be, p. 50),
in order to acquire the odium of carrying on an offensive struggle
if another nation living side by side with it happens to be stupid,
fatalist, immoral and incapable of holding its ground in the struggle
for life.
The writer’s theory of the existence of a Greek propaganda in
Asia Minor, “forwarded by every possible means,” is a gratuitous
supposition. Dr. Dieterich evidently misunderstands the conditions in
which the Greek populations have been living in Asia Minor and trying
to promote or revive their national ideals. As a matter of fact, all
the existing Greek schools in Asia Minor,—which is also the case with
the Greek educational institutions in every part of Turkey,—have been
established and supported by the Greek communities themselves, and if,
at times, they have received outside financial aid, this was due to
the generosity of persons who were natives of the country, who had
emigrated to foreign lands and acquired wealth abroad. The many names
of these benefactors appearing on the Greek school buildings attest
the accuracy of this statement.[7] Therefore the allegation of the
writer that a Greek propaganda is carried out in Asia Minor is totally
incorrect.
Another supposition of the German author that the Greeks of Anatolia
intermarried with the “Seljuk Conquerors” is not a historical fact.
On the contrary, judging from the general character of the people and
their attachment to the Christian religion, it is certain that the
Greeks did not intermarry with the Seljuks, since they invaded Asia
Minor after their conversion to Mohammedanism.
That many Greeks, abandoning the faith of their forefathers, embraced
Mohammedanism, is an incontrovertible and historical fact, but that
Turks or other adherents of Islam could not become Christians and
consequently could not intermarry with the Greeks is also a truism.
For, according to Mohammedan Law, a “true believer” who abandons
Islam is liable to be put to death. Therefore, although many Greeks
by becoming Mohammedans lost their nationality, no Turks or other
Mussulmans could become Christians and, consequently, Greeks. That has
been the strongest shield of Hellenism for the preservation of the
Greek nationality.
In the same way his allegation that, as the language of the Greeks in
the interior of Asia Minor was Turkish, they “did not share in the
national and racial consciousness of their kinsmen on the coast” (p.
52) is equally erroneous. Anyone who has lived in that country and
intermingled with these people could not have helped noticing their
intense patriotic spirit and their attachment to Greek ideals, the best
evidence of these being the creation of schools for the study of the
language of their forefathers, namely Greek. Nor is the other statement
of this writer that the Greeks “succeeded in introducing the Greek
language in their schools alongside of the Turkish” correct, because,
as a matter of fact, these schools were established for the study of
the Greek and not the Turkish language, the latter tongue being taught
as a foreign language, occupying the same place in the curriculum of
the Greek schools as foreign languages hold in European or American
schools.
The observation of the author that Germany will have to come to terms
with the Greek peasant of Asia Minor, because “he is on a higher moral
plane,” is worthy of especial notice, and his further remark that “it
would be just as perverse as it would be foolish to depend on the
Turk to the exclusion of the Greek, who has the controlling hand in
trade and traffic, as well as in the cultivation of the soil” (p. 50),
confirms the favorable opinion of both German and other writers and
travelers as to the vitality of the Hellenic element of Asia Minor.
Thus, a distinguished French geographer,—whose statistics, however,
on the populations of Asia Minor are not accurate, since they are
presumably based principally on Turkish sources,—referring to the
Greeks of the Province of Smyrna, says that “among all the Christian
communities of the Province of Smyrna that of the Orthodox Greeks is
the most considerable and that it is, in a general way, better educated
and more prosperous. It is among them,—apart from the merchants who are
best fitted for handling large enterprises,—that are found the most
clever mechanics, often excelling in their various callings, and the
best agriculturists, their well-known characteristics being industry
and activity.” (See Vital Cuinet, _La Turquie d’Asie, Géographie
Administrative_, etc., vol. III., p. 355.)
So, too, the famous English historian of the Crimean War, Kinglake,
writing in 1845, refers to Smyrna, which the Turks call, as he says,
“infidel Smyrna,” in the following terms: “I think that Smyrna may be
called the chief town and capital of the Grecian race. For myself, I
love the race, in spite of all their vices.”[8] (See _Eothen, or Traces
of Travel brought Home from the East_, by Alexander William Kinglake,
p. 41, ed. 1876).
Another English traveler, who made the tour of Asia Minor on foot,
describing the American College in the city of Marsovan and referring
to the Greek students there, says: “Like all Greeks, whether of Europe
or of Asia, they have a quality which always compels interest. In
general intelligence, in quickness of perception, in the power of
acquiring knowledge, they are said, as a race, to have no equals among
their fellow-students—nor in their capacity for opposing each other and
making mountains of difference out of nothing. Watching them, it grows
upon the observer that traditional Greek characteristics have survived
strongly in the race, and that Asia Minor Greeks of today are probably
not different from the Greeks of twenty centuries ago.” (See W. J.
Childs, _Across Asia Minor on Foot_, p. 55, 1917.)
An English general, who during the administration of Lord Beaconsfield
was sent to Asia Minor on a special mission after the conclusion of the
Cyprus Convention of 1878, after referring to some of the well-known
characteristics of the Greeks of Anatolia as an enterprising,
keen-witted people, well gifted with a rare commercial instinct, goes
on to say:
“Profuse expenditure on education is a national characteristic, and
to acquire a sufficient fortune to found a school or hospital in his
native town is the honorable ambition of every Greek merchant....
The Anatolian Greeks generally are active and intelligent, laborious
and devoted to commercial pursuits. They learn quickly and well, and
become doctors, lawyers, bankers, innkeepers, etc., filling most of
the professions. They are good miners and masons, and villages are
generally found near old lead and copper mines. They have much of the
versatility, the love of adventure and intrigue, which distinguished
the ancient Greeks, and a certain restlessness in their commercial
speculations which sometimes leads to disaster. The democratic feeling
is strong; the sole aristocracy is that of wealth, and ancient lineage
confers no distinction. The children of rich and poor go to the same
schools and receive the same free education” (Sir Charles W. Wilson,
_Murray’s Hand-book for Travellers in Asia Minor_, 1905, pp. 70-71).
A brilliant French Hellenist and scholar, in referring to the Greeks
of Smyrna, gives the following picturesque description of them. “They
are,” he says, “so numerous in that city, that they consider it as
part of their domain. Wide-awake, lively, playfully sly and always
interesting, they are here the tavern-keepers, the grocers, the
boatmen. These are the three trades that most of the Greeks of the poor
class prefer, just as the profession of lawyer and that of physician
are particularly popular among the Greeks of the well-to-do class. As
tavern-keepers they talk all day long; they keep up with the news, they
discuss politics, they run down the Turks, they are always stirring,
bustling and struggling, in their way, for the ‘grand idea.’”
“As grocers they sell a little of everything. They do business as money
changers, an infinite happiness for a Hellene. As boatmen they have the
sea, this old friend of the descendants of Ulysses, as their constant
companion; they go right and left in the hustling of the port, they see
new faces; they question the travelers who come from afar; they dispute
with them about the boatfare, which is yet another rare pleasure for
the Greeks. An amusing race, sympathetic, on the whole, notwithstanding
its faults; patriotic, persistent, sober, mildly obstinate in its
indomitable hope.”
“Because of their constant activity and their wit, the Greeks have
supplanted the Turks in many places in Turkey.”[9]
The vivid description of Hellenism in Asia Minor given by the German
author, and corroborated by numerous other writers and travelers, shows
the important rôle that the Hellenic element is destined to play if
that unfortunate country is ever favored with the blessings of good
government.
The Hellenic State should undoubtedly be the natural inheritor or at
any rate the executor of the estate of the Sick Man of the East; if
not of all of Asia Minor, at any rate of a great part of it, _i.e._,
western Anatolia. But if the Ottoman sway in Anatolia is prolonged,
it is to be hoped that the country will, at least, be under the joint
tutelage of some civilized states which will take into consideration
the wishes and aspirations of the Hellenic people.