The May 19 example of the brazen thief suppressing the homeowner

HOW IS THE FIRST STEP OF LIBERATION SMEARED?

On May 15, 1919, as they set foot in İzmir, they cast themselves not as modern Hellenic heroes who would reconquer Asia Minor and realize the Megali Idea (Great Ideal), but as the spiritual heirs of Agamemnon, the conqueror of Troy, and Achilles, who defeated the Trojan Hector. They were the soldiers of an invincible Greek Army that would recapture the ancient ancestral homeland!

The Bandırma Ferry, which departed from Istanbul on May 16, 1919, and dropped anchor in the port of Samsun on May 19, was carrying the blessed passenger who would turn the Greek Megali Idea into the Mikrasiatiki Katastrofi (Asia Minor Catastrophe)! He was the leader of the establishment and liberation, the Inspector of the 9th Army, the man of destiny, Mustafa Kemal Pasha!

History will record May 15, 1919, as the first step of the Megali Idea-driven brutality, and May 19, 1919, as the first step of the struggle for freedom and independence. The occupation that began on May 15, 1919, would expand to the banks of the Sakarya River by August 1921. The target was Ankara, the heart and brain of the National Struggle. The Battle of the Field, which lasted 22 days between August 23 and September 13, 1921, would end in the victory of the Turkish Army, and the conqueror's dream of conquest would vanish in the waters of the Sakarya!

The period between September 13, 1921, and August 26, 1922, would be spent in preparation for the Great Offensive of the Turkish Army. The long preparation phase would bring a decisive victory in a short time of 5 days, between August 26 and 30. The final week, which passed in a chase, would end in İzmir on September 9. The brutality of the Greek Army—which Mustafa Kemal called a “horde of murderers devoid of military honor”—against civilians; the sentence in Article 59 of the Treaty of Lausanne: “The Greek Government recognizes its obligation to make reparation for the damage caused in Anatolia by the operations of the Greek army or administration, which are contrary to the laws of war,” means that this brutality is documented by an international treaty.

It is time to address how the brazen occupier has cast aspersions on May 19, the first step of the sacred rebellion of a nation that was intended to be erased from history. On February 24, 1994, the Greek Parliament recognized May 19 as the Pontic Genocide Day. The decision was approved by Greek President Kostas Karamanlis and published in the Greek Official Gazette dated March 8, 1994. With a law enacted in 1998, it became mandatory for the victims of the Pontic Genocide to be commemorated with state ceremonies every May 19 and for the subject to be taught for 2 hours in all levels of Greek schools.

Let us come to another feat of the brazen thief. On September 28, 1998, the Greek Parliament legislated September 14 as the date of the Genocide of the Hellenes of Asia Minor, and with a decision taken on April 2, 2022, it legislated April 6 as the “Day of Remembrance for the Hellenism of Eastern Thrace (within the borders of Turkey)”. Greek Prime Minister Mitsotakis took it a step further and defined “April 6 as the Day of Remembrance for the Genocide of the Hellenes of Eastern Thrace”!

At the beginning of the Nutuk (Speech); the submissive attitude of the person in the position of sultanate and caliphate and his grand vizier, those who chose treason instead of loyalty to the state of which they were subjects, those who engaged in cooperation with the occupiers, and those who dreamed of a Pontic State and an Armenian State are described. This narrative is undeniable proof that it was not a Pontic Genocide, but a Pontic Uprising.

“I landed in Samsun on the 19th day of May 1919. The general situation and appearance of the country are as follows: .... Vahdettin, who sits in the position of sultanate and caliphate, has degenerated and is searching for despicable measures that he imagines will protect his person and his throne. The government under the presidency of Damat Ferit Pasha is incompetent, dishonorable, and cowardly. It only bows to the will of the sultan and is content with any situation in which they can protect themselves along with him. On May 15, 1919, with the approval of the Allied Powers, the Greek army is landed in İzmir. Furthermore, in every part of the country, Christian minorities are trying to realize their own special ambitions and goals, either secretly or openly, to collapse the state as soon as possible. It has been clearly understood from the reliable information and documents obtained later that the Mavri Mira Committee, established in the Istanbul Greek Patriarchate, is busy establishing and managing gangs in the provinces, and organizing protest meetings and propaganda. The Greek Red Cross and the Official Commission of Immigrants are tasked with facilitating the work of the Mavri Mira Committee. The youth organizations of the Greek schools, managed by the Mavri Mira Committee, are completing their organization everywhere, including young people over the age of twenty. Armenian Patriarch Zaven Efendi is also working with the Mavri Mira Committee. The Armenian preparation is progressing just like the Greek preparation. The Pontus Society, which is organized on the coasts of Trabzon, Samsun, and the entire Black Sea and is connected to the center in Istanbul, is working easily and successfully without encountering any obstacles.” (Atatürk)

It should be known that for those who should be held accountable for the ethnic cleansing and inhumane brutality documented by Lausanne, and for those who have still not made a self-criticism of their treason against the state and country of which they were subjects, their rush to cover up their crimes with genocide laws passed one after another—just like the brazen thief suppressing the homeowner—will carry no meaning or weight on the objective scales of history!