which was occupied by the Greek army from April 1921
until August 1922, and spent most of his captivity on
Lefkada Island - see previous installments from this TNT
series for more on Lefkada.//
This POW was taken from Afyonkarahisar to Kütahya and
from there to Izmir, before being transported to Athens and
Lefkada Island.
The Statement of Lieutenant Kadir, son of Şükrüof the
Hamzaoğullar
from Yeni Cami Quarter in Izmir, who has returned from captivity:
I was taken prisoner while injured, along with two soldiers
whose names
I do not know, on 15 July 1921 in the vicinity of Nahuçalı, east of
Afyonkarahisar. Subsequently, we were transported to Piraeus, Athens
and the
fortress on Lefkada Island, where there were about 270 prisoner
officers.
During our transport from Greece, I became aware that there were about
600
civilian prisoners on Corfu Island and that their situation was quite
deplorable. I do not know who they are
or where they are from. Each
day 50-60 of them die from illness. In Izmir I heard that a ship is being
sent to
return them to their hometowns. I have
no information about how
many prisoners there may be on other islands.
The only person who died in the fortress where we stayed was
a
pharmacist captain. His particulars
have been provided to the POW office
in Izmir by Major Ali, who was the senior
officer at Lefkada Island. He
died from
bleeding hemorrhoids.
Corfu and Lefkad Islands on Greece's west coast.
Officers were given just 450 francs for food and
salary. Clothing was
included in this
amount. The soldiers’ food was not
good. The treatment
we received was very
bad. We were subject to all kinks of
torture and
insult. We complained about
the food and to have our salary increased
but these complaints fell on deaf ears.
I fell into the hands of the Greeks while wounded in the
vicinity of
Nahuçalı. They dragged me to
the rear and while I was there they
subjected me to every kind of torture,
including insults and beatings.
They did
not bring me to a hospital. I learned that there were many others
like me who
suffered the same treatment on the road.
They killed a
majority of the prisoners, the wounded in particular, and
I personally
witnessed this. We waited
at Kütahya for many days in this atmosphere
of filth and degradation. Finally I was taken to Izmir and from there,
together with 30 officers, to Piraeus. I
do not know their names.
The same
degradation and torture continued. In
fact, at Yazapikmaz
Prison in Athens we were purposely left hungry for 3
days. We stayed
in this prison for 15
days and were then transported to Lefkada Island,
where we spent 20 months in
the fortress. Here, as well, the Greeks
inflicted every kind of degradation and
torture on us. We weren’t the
Greek
government’s prisoners, but rather, a sergeant’s. From time to
time the local Greeks would come
to the fortress and, thinking that the
Greeks were going too easy on us, would
incite our captors to be even
more brutal.
Finally, two months ago, because
of the prisoner
exchange, we were rescued from this misery.
//END of PART XII//
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