ATAA: Pataki Proclamation Whips Up Unnecessary Hatred
between Turkish and Greek Americans
Dr. Kaymakcalan Demands an Apology from Gov. Pataki
The Turkish Times-Assembly of Turkish American Associations President Dr. Orhan Kaymakcalan has reacted firmly to New York Governor George Pataki's declaration of October 6 as the commemoration of the 80th Anniversary of the Asia Minor Catastrophe." In his October 11 letter to Pataki, Kaymakcalan made it clear that the aim of such a declaration "can only be to conjure up unnecessary hatred between the Turkish and Greek American communities in New York and around the nation."

"We cannot explain how such a proclamation can be issued by any public official," Kaymakcalan added. The ATAA President demanded an immediate retraction of the proclamation and apology to the Turkish-American community from the Governor.

The text of ATAA's official letter is as follows:

"The Honorable George E. Pataki Governor of the State of New York Executive chamber State Capital Albany, NY 12224

October 11, 2002

Dear Governor Pataki,

I am writing to you on behalf of the members of the Assembly of Turkish American Associations under whose umbrella are many Turkish American Associations from New York. Our community is appalled and angered at a recent proclamation that you issued "in commemoration of the 80th Anniversary of the Asia Minor Catastrophe". This proclamation is racially and ethnically inflammatory and filled with factual inaccuracies. Its aim can only be to conjure up unnecessary hatred between the Turkish and Greek American communities in New York and around the nation.

We cannot explain how such a proclamation can be issued by any public official. But when it comes from the Governor of a State that is home to many ethnic communities, that include the largest Turkish American community in the nation, it is particularly unexplainable.

While the inappropriate language of your proclamation is reason enough for a formal retraction, we would like to point out a number of discrepancies in your Proclamation and urge you to direct your staff to thoroughly investigate the statements being made and the sources being offered to substantiate them.

Firstly, the name of the city in question is Izmir. Calling it Smyrna will not change the fact that it is now, and has for a very long time been part of both sovereign Ottoman and Turkish territory. We don't recall you ever calling New York by its even more recent historic names. In fact this deliberate use of its old Greek name by a senior US official is not only irresponsible but, is a cheap catering toward Greek extremists who never have given up their scheming for a "Greater Hellenic Empire."

Secondly, it was the Greek Army who occupied Western Anatolia as of 15 May 1919. Although the initial instructions of the Council of the Paris Peace Conference restricted the occupation zone to the borders of Izmir province, the Greek Army started to advance into Anatolia from the first day of their landing in Izmir. During this invasion and occupation the Greek forces committed so many atrocities that the Paris Peace Conference was forced to establish a commission to investigate claims against Greeks. A Special Commission of Judicial Inquiry, established following the atrocity reports, reached the Turkish town of Menemen on 17 June 1919. The Commission was composed of Turkish administrative and military officers, the British officers, Captain Charns and Lieutenant Lorimer, and medical delegates from the British and Italian consulates in Izmir. They presented a report to the commanders of the Allied Powers in Izmir. Some of the horrible details that were stated in this report are as follows: "...From the unanimous declaration of (persons) questioned separately by the Commission, it stands out clearly that the Mussulman population of Menemen gave a perfectly correct reception to the Hellenic occupying corps and that far from provoking them to the excesses, which would have been reprehensible in any case, it remained absolutely calm and tranquil. The Greek commandant's allegation regarding the shots fired on the Hellenic soldiers was denied upon oath by all the witnesses without exception. The non-existence of Greeks wounded, either civilian or military, as against a thousand Turkish victims, confirms the veracity of the evidence. The massacre, the destruction and the extortion committed at Menemen by the Hellenic soldiers and the native Greeks can only be imputed to a vile spirit of vengeance and cupidity..." "The Greeks, to hide the proof of their guilt, wanted to destroy the corpses. But the number of the latter being too great, for lack of time they piled them by tens into hastily dug trenches, insufficiently covered with earth...The massacres were not confined to the town. They extended also to the surroundings, to the fields, the mills, the farms where another thousand victims may be counted. All the buildings outside the town, as well as several hundreds of houses in the town itself, were pillaged, sacked or destroyed"1 In the end, the Commission concluded that atrocities were indeed committed and Premier Venizelos and Greek officials were warned by the Allied Powers. During the debate on the report Premier Clemenceau of France noted: "It was necessary to remind the Greeks that the Turkish question was not settled and to ask Venizelos to state definitely if they could maintain themselves in Smyrna (Izmir) with their own efforts." He also said, "The information received indicated that in many respects the conduct of the Greeks had been abominable and that the Turks would never accept the Greek occupation unless obliged to by force." Clemenceau frankly affirmed, "The Council would be more and more led to respecting the integrity of the Turkish territory. Under the above mentioned circumstances, it would be well to warn the Greeks that they should not behave as the conquerors of Asia Minor."2

The Commission concluded its report with some of the following comments

"The Council agrees that the incidents, which took place after the debarkation of the Greek troops at Smyrna (Izmir), appear to indicate an almost total absence of the precautionary measures on the part of the Greek civil and military authorities, which the circumstances required: this omission was the principal cause of the unfortunate incidents reported by the Commission."

"It is our opinion that on the whole, the responsibility for the excesses committed and for measures the severity of which were not justified by the actual circumstances, rests upon the Greek military authorities. You(Prime Minister Venizelos) yourself, moreover, with the loftiness and sincerity of your character, have recognised these faults and these abuses, and have ordered the punishment of the guilty."

Secondly, it is inconceivable that a victorious army would enter its own city it has just re-captured and proceed to raze it to the ground. From a military standpoint it is always the retreating forces that employ a slash and burn policy. During the Greek retreat, one city, town and village after another was set on fire. The American Consul at Izmir, Loder Park, who toured much of the devastated area immediately after the Greek evacuation, described the situation in the cities and towns he has seen, as follows:

"[Manisa] almost completely wiped out by fire…10,300 houses, 15 mosques, 2 baths, 2,278 shops, 19 hotels, 26 villas…[destroyed]. Kasaba [present day Turgutlu] was a city of 40,000 souls, 3,000 of whom were non-Moslems. Of these 37,000 Turks only 6,000 could be accounted for among the living, while 1,000 Turks were known to have been shot or burned to death. Of the 2,000 buildings that constituted the city, only 200 remained standing. Ample testimony was available to the effect that the city was systematically destroyed by Greek soldiers, assisted by a number of Greek and Armenian civilians. Kerosene and Gasoline were freely used to make the destruction more certain, rapid and complete." And "The US Vice-Consul Maynard B. Barnes, no friend of the Turks, admitted that it did not seem logical for the Turks to destroy Izmir. On the morning of 15 September the Vice-consul called with Captain Hepburn on the Vali (Governor) Abdul Halik Bey, and upon Kazim Pasha, the Military Governor of the city. Captain Hepburn stated in his diary: "The Turks had been so proud to have preserved Izmir intact throughout all the devastation caused by the Greeks, but the Armenians and Greeks have defeated us in the end" Thirdly, the Proclamation claims that: "Greeks of Asia Minor endured immeasurable cruelty during a Turkish Government-sanctioned systematic campaign to displace them". Yet history shows that this displacement refers to the compulsory exchange of Muslim and Christian populations between Greece and Turkey imposed by the 1923 Lausanne Convention. Thus many innocent civilians, Greek and Turkish alike, suffered as a result of Greek aggression and territorial ambitions in 1919.

Fourthly, in 1934, Greek Prime Minister Venizelos, nominated Ataturk for the Nobel Peace Prize, observing "in the life of a nation it is very seldom that changes to such a radical degree were carried out in such a short period of time ... these extraordinary activities have earned him fame as 'a great man', in the full sense of the term.". These are indeed grand statements from a Greek leader about a Turkish leader whom this Proclamation claims lead the armies that 12 years earlier had allegedly committed wholesale massacres of Greeks. I believe that as Governor of an ethnically diverse State such as New York, it is your sworn duty to foster goodwill amongst everyone and that you should not be playing policies on the graves of their ancestors long dead. You should not give in to pressures by a small group of fanatics in some communities to attack another. Americans of all ethnic backgrounds should be encouraged to take pride in their heritage, but not at the expense of wrongfully slandering another group or carrying old hatreds onto our shores.

We as for an immediate retraction of this Proclamation and hope that an apology to the Turkish American community will be forthcoming.

Your Sincerely,
Dr. Orhan Kaymakçalan
President ATAA"