The blight of Asia : $b An account of the systematic extermination of Christian populations by Mohammedans and of the culpability of certain great powers; with the true story of the burning of SmyrnaHorton, George
History
The blight of Asia : $b An account of the systematic extermination of Christian populations by Mohammedans and of the culpability of certain great powers; with the true story of the burning of Smyrna
Horton, George
Christians -- Turkey; Fires -- Turkey -- İzmir; Greeks -- Turkey; Turkey; İzmir (Turkey) -- History
“The treatment of Americans and American property throughout
Turkey was the same as that experienced by the Americans in
Marsovan. The schools and colleges in Sivas, Cæsarea, Harput,
Aintab and other places were closed and for the most part
the American workers were sent out of the country. Since the
Armistice, this same treatment of Americans throughout the
interior has continued. The schools have not been allowed to
open and property to the value of many thousands of dollars has
continually been occupied by Turks.”
In December of 1914, Turkish soldiers seized the American mission
property of Afion Kara Hissar and occupied the church, school and
pastor’s house for a period of four years, leaving the buildings with
doors, windows and roofs wrecked and generally defiled with human offal.
The Turks pulled the Cross down from the church and put the Crescent up
in its place. In 1919, the Turks seized these buildings again and housed
soldiers in them.
The proposition under which our Christian schools may now operate in
Turkey is about as follows: Will you please let us repair our buildings
at our own expense with money raised in America, and reopen them in those
places where enough human beings remain to furnish a few pupils, and
educate Turkish boys in English, arithmetic, etc., if we give our solemn
word that we will not teach them any Christianity?
Much consolation is derived in certain quarters from the fact that no
religious education of any kind is permitted in Turkish schools, and
it is argued that the measure is not aimed particularly at Christian
institutions. People who obtain comfort from this feature of the case are
evidently not aware that the Turk is familiar with all the different ways
of skinning a cat. They do not give him credit for the peculiar brand of
intelligence which he certainly possesses. At any rate, the result is the
same, in so far as the continuation of foreign evangelical work in Turkey
is concerned.
The above is a very moderate and unprejudiced account of what has been
done, in part, to the American educational institutions in Turkey, but
gives no idea of the actual ferocity shown to students and teachers and
the material damage wrought.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
I was talking recently to a prominent clergyman, friend of the one-time
president of one of the greatest missionary colleges in Turkey, who made
the following statement:
“Some time ago, I was talking with the President of one of
the American Colleges in Turkey who told me of the frightful
treatment of the people in the town where he was located. He
told me the college was closed and the professors, their wives
and families driven out and some sixty or seventy of them were
put to death. The tears streamed down his cheeks as he said: ‘I
can see those dear, good people at this moment, as they were
marched away by the heartless Turk.’”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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