Originally published in GPN, Genocide Prevention Now, Special Issue 5, Winter 2011

Publisher’s Description:
Karavasilis, Niki (2010). The Whispering Voices of Smyrna: The Destruction and Genocide of a Christian City.  Pittsburgh, PA: Red Lead Press.

Smyrna, one of the wealthiest cities and the most advanced civilizations in the Middle East (present-day Turkey) with a unique mixture of many nationalities-Greek, Armenian, Jewish, Turkish, European, and American-perished into ashes in September 1922. The Smyrniots (inhabitants of Smyrna) became victims through the orders of Mustafa Atatürk, who was responsible for one of the largest purges of humanity known to man. This eradication led to the loss of 3.5 million Greek and Armenian Orthodox Christians who had occupied Asia Minor since the time of Alexander the Great. In September 1922, Atatürk led his troops into Smyrna (now Izmir), a predominantly Greek Christian City that was known as the City of Infidels to the Turks. The Turks then proceeded to indulge in an orgy of pillage, rape, and slaughter. This City of Infidels was cleansed and destroyed and with it the last hub of Christians in Turkey.

The Whispering Voices of Smyrna  is proof of the horrible atrocities the Turks, whether private citizens or government officials, committed by plundering, torturing, mutilating, burning alive, and massacring women, children, and aged people. The book details these brutal acts that were decided, planned, and directed by the Turkish central authorities and were aimed at cleansing lands under Turkish control of non-Muslim citizens.
The Whispering Voices of Smyrna  combines history and storytelling so that readers understand how the decision by government and military leaders of the victorious Allied powers affected the people of Smyrna. Through the eyes of the Samithakis family, one lives the cataclysmic events that determined the fate of Asia Minor following World War I. The Samithakis family lived a life of luxury among the different nationalities in Smyrna, until the Turks forced them to flee with other Greek, Armenian and European residents of Smyrna. In the course of their struggle to save themselves from the fire, the massacres, rapes, mutilations and plundering, they lost one another and became refugees, beggars and exiles. The reader also lives through the stages of destruction of a civilization centered on the once-thriving and beloved city of Smyrna.

Dr. Niki Karavasilis is a professor of foreign languages, was born in Greece and educated in the United States. Fluent in many languages, she taught for thirty-five years at high school and college levels in Athens, Greece, and at several universities in New England.

Dr. Karavasilis was the founder of the workshops in New Hampshire: In Search of Excellence in Teaching Foreign Languages. A member of numerous honor societies, she was selected for Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who in the East for her outstanding achievements in the teaching profession. She was commended for her efforts in promoting the study of foreign languages by the Consul General of Spain in Boston, Andres Drake, and also by President Reagan.

Dr. Karavasilis is the author of Scattered Leaves, The Abducted Greek Children of the Communists: Paidomazoma (book of the month of May 2004) and other books.

Source: Publisher.  Note the book is available for download as an e-book in Adobe Acrobat (pdf) format at http://redleadbooks.com/whvoofsm.html

13 Sept 1922: The Burning of Smyrna and the Destruction of Eastern Christianity

The Great Fire of Smyrna was a fire that destroyed much of the port city of Smyrna in September 1922. Eye-witness reports state that the fire began on 13 September 1922 and lasted for several days. It occurred four days after the Turkish forces under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Pasha (“Ataturk”) regained control of the city on 9 September 1922. The Burning of Smyrna marked the last chapter in the destruction and Genocide of Anatolian Greeks and of Eastern Christianity in Asia Minor.

“The last act in the fearful drama of the extermination of Christianity in the Byzantine Empire was the burning of Smyrna by the troops of Mustapha Khemal. The murder of the Armenian race had been practically consummated during the years 1915-1916, and the prosperous and populous Greek colonies, with the exception of Smyrna itself, had been ferociously destroyed. The idea has been widely circulated, and seems to be gaining credence, that the Turk has changed his nature overnight”  (The Blight of Asia by US Smyrna Counsel George Horton).

“In September of 1922, Mustapha Kemal (Ataturk), the victorious revolutionary leader of Turkey, led his troops into Smyrna (now Izmir) a predominantly Christian city, as a flotilla of 27 Allied warships -including 3 American destroyers- looked on. The Turks soon proceeded to indulge in an orgy of pillage, rape and slaughter that the western powers anxious to protect their oil and trade interests in Turkey, condoned by their silence and refusal to intervene. Turkish forces then set fire to the legendary city and totally destroyed it. There followed a massive cover-up by tacit agreement of the Western Allies. By 1923 Smyrna’s demise was all but expunged from historical memory.”  (The Destruction of a City by Marjorie Housepian Dobkin).

Additional References:
See Youtube original videos:
The Destruction of Smyrna 1922 [with English subtitles]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eR712sef51

“The Blight of Asia” : The Destruction of Smyrna (September 1922) by US Consul George Horton
http://www.ellopos.net/politics/turkey-blight/smyrna-destruction.asp

“The Destruction of a City,” by Marjorie Housepian Dobkin
http://www.greecetravel.com/smyrna/

“American Accounts Documenting the Destruction of Smyrna by the Kemalist Turkish Forces, September 1922″ by Dr. Constantine Hatzidimitriou. http://www.amazon.com/American-Accounts-Documenting-Destruction-September/dp/0892415924

“Who Burned Down Izmir?” Orhan Kemal Cengiz. Retrieved September 13, 2010 from http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/columnists-210540-who-burned-down-izmir.html

Source: Submitted by Dr. Vasilios Meichanetsidis
http://vatopaidi.wordpress.com/2010/09/14/13sept-1922-the-burning-of-smyrna-and-the-destruction-of-eastern-christianity/