THE HELLENIC ADMINISTRATION IN SMYRNA
(May 15, 1919—September 9, 1922)
Despite many difficulties, the Greek civil authorities, as far as their
influence extended, succeeded in giving Smyrna and a large portion of
the occupied territory, the most orderly, civilized and progressive
administration that it has had in historic times. Mr. Sterghiades, who
continued to the last his policy of punishing severely all offenders of
Greek origin against the public order, lost, for that reason, popularity
in Asia Minor. When he left Smyrna after the debacle of his troops he
was hooted by the people of the town who had not come loyally to his
support. He was, indeed, a great man who made a supreme effort to perform
a superhuman task and who is suffering from the obloquy that always
attaches to failure.
Here are some of the civilizing reforms which the Hellenic administration
introduced into the Smyrna region: 1. During the war, under Turkish rule,
the morality of the Christian inhabitants of all nationalities had
greatly deteriorated. The Turk had no respect or regard for non-Mussulman
women, whom he regards as his legitimate prey. All the American residents
of Smyrna during this epoch will remember the orgies indulged in by a
certain high Turkish official and his friends and the example set the
European colony by a prominent Anglo-Levantine lady who became his
acknowledged and public mistress. The lady in question was proud of her
position and afterward explained it by saying that she had accepted it to
use her influence to prevent persecutions and that a monument should be
set up in her honor.
In one of the first conversations which I had with Mr. Sterghiades after
his arrival, the governor-general told me that the Christian people had
been debauched by the Turks and had lost their self-respect and their
morality, and that they needed an awakening of their pride of race and
religious instincts.
One of his first acts was to suppress the disorderly houses located in
the central portions of the town, and in this he met with determined
opposition from various of the foreign consuls whose subjects owned
these houses and conducted them. Helpless to enforce an edict against a
European subject, he stationed gendarmes in front of the establishments
in question who took down the names and addresses of all frequenters and
thus caused their patronage so to dwindle that they were obliged to close.
Playing of baccarat and other forms of gambling for high stakes had also
become a crying evil in Smyrna, resulting in the ruin of several people
and even in suicides. Mr. Sterghiades suppressed gambling in the clubs,
and private houses, wherever it came to his notice.
2. The Hellenic Administration supported and aided in every way possible
educational institutions. Its support and encouragement of American
educational and philanthropic institutions will be taken up later. It is
chiefly to be praised, however, for the measures which it took, paid for
out of the Greek Treasury, for the maintenance and improvement of Turkish
schools. It continued the Moslem secondary schools at its own expense,
the taxes for their support having been taken over by the Ottoman public
debt as security for a loan contracted by the Ottoman Government.
The Greek administration supported by funds from its treasury, two Moslem
high schools in Smyrna, two at Magnesia and Odemish, and two seminaries
in the provinces, paying therefor yearly seventy thousand Turkish pounds.
It kept in vigor the Turkish system of primary education, appointing
prominent Mussulmans in the various villages to superintend the same.
It maintained a Polytechnic school at Smyrna at which two hundred and
ten poor Mussulman children were educated and supported, paying therefor
thirty-six thousand Turkish pounds yearly.
[Illustration: White Tower at Saloniki, formerly seaward terminal of
ancient wall.]
In addition to this, it was especially helpful to those American
institutions and schools which operated in the Turkish quarter and among
Turkish children.
3. The Greek administration made a serious and intelligent effort
to organize a sanitary service for the compiling of statistics, the
betterment of sanitary conditions and the suppression of epidemics and
contagious diseases, such as malaria, syphilis, etc.
A microbiological laboratory was established for the diagnosis of
infectious diseases with an equipment of sanitary motor cars for bringing
in the sick from distant points, small wagons for the transportation of
infected articles and portable outfits for disinfection on the spot. To
describe the work of this service alone, which was organized on a large
scale and abundantly supplied with means, material and money, would
require a good-sized pamphlet. As a result of these measures, plague,
exanthematic fever and smallpox were got so under control that they
disappeared as epidemic diseases in the occupied zone. Needless to say
that systematic war was waged against lice and rats.
A Pasteur institute was opened at Smyrna by the Greeks on the eighteenth
of August, 1919, under the direction of a specialist working in
conjunction with a staff of experts. Out of over one thousand five
hundred patients treated during the first two months of its existence who
had been bitten by dogs, jackals or wolves, only four died. Treatment
was free in this institute. Previously sufferers had been obliged to go
to Constantinople or Athens and those who could not raise the funds were
left to die. I have myself assisted poor Turks, frantic with fear, to
make the trip to Constantinople for treatment.
One section of the University of Smyrna, founded by the Greek
administration, was that of the Institute of Hygiene, divided into two
sections, hygiene and bacteriology. It was all ready for business when
the Turks burned Smyrna, possessing an installation similar to that of
the great universities of Europe, including a good library and complete
equipment of appliances. It would never have lacked money or support, and
would have been at the service of all classes, irrespective of creed or
race.
Here is the program which it was about to put in operation:
Gratuitous bacteriological, hygienic and industrial
examinations for all classes of the community.
The preparation and gratuitous distribution of all healing and
diagnostic inoculations, serums, antitoxins, antigonococcus,
etc.
The sanitation of the town on an extensive scale, sewerage,
water-supply, streets, etc.
Sanitary works for the combatting of malaria, the draining of
marshes, etc.
The combatting of trachoma.
The combatting of phthisis on a large scale, (dispensaries,
asylums, convalescent homes, special hospitals, sanitation of
houses, etc.)
For infants: dispensaries, _gouttes de lait_, _crèches_,
foundling homes, etc.
For children: various philanthropic institutions.
For mothers: pre-natal puericulture.
Education and training of doctors to compose the service of
public health.
Training for midwives and nurses.
Organization of a registry office of births and deaths.
Organization of special medical statistical service.
4. Financial aid on a large scale was furnished, as was the distribution
of flour, clothing, etc., to refugees caused by the Khemalist raids in
the interior and the destruction in 1919 of the cities of Aidin and
Nazli. Among those so succored were thousands of Turks.
5. All American missionaries, as well as educational and charitable
workers in Smyrna and its hinterland during the Greek occupation, will
verify the statement that the Hellenic administration showed itself most
helpful and cooperative in many ways, aiding their labors among Turks as
well as Christians.
Here is a list of certain benevolent acts toward these institutions:
The high-commissioner granted to the Y. M. C. A. a large house on the
quay, one of the biggest and finest in Smyrna, for use as a “Soldiers’
Home.” He also helped its management in many ways by detaching Greek
soldiers for its service.
An adequate building was also given to be used as a “Soldiers’ Home” at
Magnesia, where many facilities were afforded.
The civil department of the Y. M. C. A. was in need of an adequate
building for its installation. The Greek authorities requisitioned a café
belonging to a Greek for that purpose. It was still in operation at the
time of the burning of the city.
The same Y. M. C. A. organized on a large estate near Smyrna an
installation for the study of agriculture by young men. The Greek
administration helped this organization by furnishing tents, blankets and
other requisites from the quartermaster’s department and a motor-car for
transportation.
The Y. M. C. A. had also organized at Phocea, near Smyrna, a summer camp
for boys. The Greek administration helped by furnishing lumber, a boat
and other materials, and allowed the importation of a motor-car free of
duty.
The Y. W. C. A., which was managed by Miss Nancy McFarland, was helped in
many ways by the Greek administration in the form of considerable sums of
money, lumber and supplies.
A branch of the girls’ school, known as the Intercollegiate Institute,
was started at Guez Tepe by Miss Minnie Mills for Mussulman women. The
high-commissioner furnished a part of the equipment for this.
For the N. E. R. at Smyrna the high-commissioner gave Miss Harvey five
hundred pounds Turkish to be used in favor of poor Mussulman women.
The American College near Smyrna is situated in a place contiguous to
a marsh formerly flooded by stagnant water causing malaria. The Greek
administration drained the swamp and repaired the road passing by the
college.
All the agricultural implements which were imported for the use of the
returning Greek refugees or for resale at cost price or on credit for
the purpose of restoring the destroyed areas were purchased by the high
commission exclusively from American factories at my request. Thus
thousands of plows were brought in to be distributed among Turks as well
as Christians.
A farm of thirty thousand acres situated at Tepekeuy, used by the
Greek administration for the study of motor-culture, was bought and
made exclusive use of American motor-plows. As a result, students
completing the course recommended to the landowners the use of American
motor-plows.[5]
During the Greek administration, I traveled frequently over a large part
of the occupied territory and visited many of the interior villages.
I found perfect security everywhere, native Greeks and Turks living
together on friendly terms. In general there would be in each village
a small administrative office in charge of a petty officer and two or
three aides. I noticed the persistent effort which these people made
to fraternize with the Turks and to placate them. Very often have I
taken my coffee in the public square of some small town with the Greek
officials, the Turkish hodja,[6] and various of the Mohammedan notables.
I remember particularly shortly before the Greek defeat sitting thus with
a venerable hodja and a Greek surgeon under a plane-tree, helping to
celebrate the marriage of the hodja to his fourth wife, which had taken
place the day before.
The dark side of this seemingly idyllic picture is that quite frequently
the two or three Greek officials would be found some morning with their
throats cut, whereupon an order would be sent to the village that the
names of the assassins must be revealed or the town would be burned.
This, if I remember correctly, was modeled upon our so-called “punitive
expeditions” in the Philippines, which the Greek authorities often cited
to me in speaking of the matter. In no case did the Turks reveal the
names of the offenders and at least twice my office has been invaded by
the notables of some town who complained that their village had been
burned. On each occasion, I asked: “Were the Greek officials in your town
murdered last night?” And the answer on both these occasions was, “Yes,
but we could not tell the names of the offenders because we did not know
who they were.”
There were also sporadic acts of great ferocity committed against
the peaceful Christian inhabitants of the country which were always
attributed by the Turks to roving bands of Chetas. Who these Chetas
were, I do not know, but it is my opinion that they did not come
from far. I remember one particularly atrocious case—the massacre and
disemboweling of a Greek miller and his wife and their two children.