A Million Greeks Wiped Out.
"In other words" said the British Foreign Minister "a million
Greeks have been killed, deported or have died."
Lord Curzon said that there had been 300,000 Greeks in Constantipole, most
of whom were still there, 320,000 Greeks in Eastern Thrace, some of whose
families had been there for a thousand years and more, all had fled before
the dread of the Turks, leaving desert areas behind them.
Turning to the issue of the prisoners of war, Lord Curzon said that the
Greeks held 10,000 Turkish soldiers and about 3,800 Turkish civilians. The
Turks hold about 30,000 Greek soldiers. He further pointed out that there
were in Greece proper, in the Greek islands and Western Thrace 480,000
Moslems. He further mentioned 120,000 Greeks who have been deported by the
Turks into inner Anatolia. He recommended that immediate steps be taken to
solve the tragic problem.
Ismet demanded that the Greeks free at once the Turkish civilians whom they
held, whom he called hostages. He said that some of Lord Curzon's figures
were too high, but he did not deny that the Turks had decreed that all
Greeks must leave their territory. The outcome of the discussion was the
appointment of a subcommittee to consider means for getting the Greeks out
of Turkish territory.
This story of the fate of 2,000,000 Greeks who were in Turkey takes no
account of the wiping out of an almost equal number of Armenians of whom the
Turks wished to be rid. After the massacres of war times only about 300,000
Armenians remain in Turkey. There is almost an equal number in
Constantinople and Thrace. They must go somewhere else or be killed, in all
probability.
Source: The article can be found in its' entirety,
along with more articles at: hellas.org
Directly Related:
Elefterios
Venizelos · Possibly the greatest
Greek politician of the 20th century. He was Prime Minister of
Greece during the most trying of times.