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 following typical incident illustrates the perfect harmony prevailing
in naval circles in the Harbor of Smyrna resulting from international
discords and how punctiliously the amenities were observed: Am admiral
of a battle-ship had been invited to dine with one of his colleagues. He
arrived some minutes late and apologized for the delay, which had been
caused by the dead body of a woman getting tangled up in the propellor of
his launch.
That lucid and well-informed writer, Doctor Herbert Adams Gibbons, in
an article in the _Century Magazine_ for October, 1921, gives the best
analysis of the French and Italian attitude with regard to the Turks that
I have seen anywhere. It can not, of course, be reproduced _in extenso_
here, but a few quotations will be sufficient to show that French support
of the Turks was due to fear and jealousy of the British. Says Doctor
Gibbons:
“The British regarded Greece as a sort of protectorate,
financially and militarily under the control of Great Britain.
The scheme was spoiled by the fall of Venizelos and the
subsequent defeat of the Greek armies in Asia Minor.
“The Near East had been culturally French since the Crusades.
From Saloniki to Beirut, France was determined to reign
supreme. Palestine represented the very last concession that
it was possible for the French to make. Of course the French
did not hope to possess Constantinople, but they were not going
to let the British settle themselves on the Bosphorus, as they
had done at Gibraltar and Port Said, in Malta and Cyprus. For
this would mean British domination of the Mediterranean and
the Black Seas, and for British capital and British goods the
priority in markets which had been traditionally French.
“I am not conjecturing. The trend of the French press, inspired
by the government, leaves no room for doubt as to what is
prompting France to send arms and money to Khemal Pasha.
“During the war one of the telling indictments against Germany
was her friendship for and alliance with Turkey when the
Armenians were being massacred. Germany was held responsible
for the massacres on the ground that she could have stopped
them had she used her influence with her ally. This was
true; but is it not equally true now that France must bear
the opprobrium and in a measure the responsibility, of the
Armenian and Greek massacres of 1920 and 1921? A French
general negotiated with the Nationalists in Cilicia without
stipulating that the massacres should cease. French diplomats
have negotiated with the Angora Government of Khemal Pasha,
conniving at the massacres of Armenians and Greeks. The sole
thought of the Germans during the war was to use the Turks and
not run any risk of offending them by protesting against the
massacres. This is exactly what the French are doing now.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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