10 Temmuz 2019 Çarşamba

TNT POW Reports: Turks in Greek Hands (1920-1923)/Part XIX

//Ed. Note: In this long and well-written report, the POW
relates his tale as almost an historical narrative.  He was
taken prisoner at Sapanca, east of Izmit, in March 1921
and transported to Izmir, Athens, Crete and back to Athens 
before being returned to Turkey in the first part of 1923.//

izmit sapanca haritası ile ilgili görsel sonucu



The Interesting Adventure of a Prisoner from Sapanca

Herewith I am venturing to present and express in brief the Greek 
degradations and calamaties I witnessed and observed while being 
subjected to them during my two years in captivity.  I request that 
you publish them if you deem it suitable through your resources (*)

(*) addressed to the Adapazarı District Chief

I was taken prisoner by the Greeks on 28 March 1921.  I have yet to 
encounter a statement-giver who fell prisoner to the Greeks and who 
was not subjected to countless beatings and tortures.  Since our region 
was on the front where the Greeks had militarily occupied our country, 
35 of us were  taken and subjected to beatings, cruelty and torture, as 
we were all seized at night, our arms bound tightly with rope.  

We were linked together in a line of sergeants and soldiers and forced 
to march to İzmit till we were ready to drop, absorbing the blows of rifle 
butts inflicted by Greek gangs along the way.  In Izmit, the insults the 
local Greeks rained down on us were indescribable.  En route the gangs 
stole our clothes, boots and money.  I was put barefooted into the İzmit 
jail and 11 days later I was in the first convoy of 11 convicts from Izmit 
sent to Izmir and from there to Athens.  

athens piraeus map ile ilgili görsel sonucu

We were displayed to the public at various location as we were 
transported to Lucia prison camp, near Athens, where there were about 
400 civilian prisoners from Asia Minor.  Twice in 1.5 months we were 
attacked by the local populace and soldiers so after we complained about 
this to the command and to the prisoners supervisory office, we, together 
with Moslems from Salonica and from east and west, based on the 
likelihood that more civilians would be coming to the already cramped 
camp, were transported to Crete where we continued our captivity at a 
civilian prison camp under military supervision for two years.  

After staying in the city of Hanya for 1.5 months, we were transported 
1.5 hours away to the port of Souda, where the late Sultan Abdülaziz had 
built a big naval barracks.  There was a large wall associated with the 
shipyard and all that remained of the mosque was a minaret.  A wide area 
of about 100 dönüm (about 25 acres), surrounded by a wall, was watered 
by a fresh and pure source Sultan Abdülaziz had had brought down from 
the mountain there.  

crete souda bay map ile ilgili görsel sonucu
                    Souda is just east of Hanya (Chania).

When the Greeks were defeated at Sakarya and had to retreat, the Cretian 
Greeks, who were mostly supporters of Venizelos, published a letter that 
Venizelos wrote to Gounaris from Paris, in which he said that if the Greek 
army didn’t take the offensive all would be lost and defeat certain.  A 
rebellion on Crete began, as the people wondered why Venizelos’s 
recommendation had not been followed and bemoaned the loss of over 
50,000 Greek soldiers.  We saw this rebellion with our own eyes and it 
was more serious than the newspapers wrote.  In fact, all of Crete fell 
into the hands of the Venizelos supporters and as the result of a 4-day 
battle, during which naval guns were fired from offshore, the 
government realized that it could only maintain Hanya and accepted the 
proposal of the Venizelos supporters, joining that group, at least
temporarily.  

During the 4-day battle, when everything was under the occupation of 
the Venizelos supporters, we were left hungry and faced with being 
massacred at any time.  In fact, a gang detachment was designated to 
annihilate us but the Greek women of Souda Bay warned the detachment 
commander that their own sons were being held prisoner in Ankara and 
they didn’t want the same fate to befall their sons.  

Consequently, our annihilation was deferred.  Similarly, on 26 August 
1922, the newspaper ‘Patris’ in Hanya published a note from the English 
general staff, which said that “if the Turks bombard Afyonkarahisar for 
5 months, the city may fall.”   With the start of  this attack in August, 
the Greeks lost hope and, thank God, within 14 days our nation scored a 
great victory, with the Greek army both totally defeated and forced to 
confess that the Greeks had to flee to their homelands.  


Greeks fleeing from Izmir in September 1922.

When desperation and disorder arose because of the Turks’ great attack, 
rebellions resumed in Greece and on Crete.  So we were transferred 
from Souda to Hanya at 3 in the morning and put into the Mevlevi lodge 
there. This time, the government realized that it could not stem the 
rebellion and governor and all naval troops fled the island.  As soon as 
the Venizelos rebels entered the city they killed 12 of the local Moslems, 
stole property and money, bringing the city to a state of disorder with 
their gunfire and prompting the French and Italian consuls to alert 
government officials.   

The matter was made known to the Turkish governments in Istanbul 
and Ankara, as well as to the Entente Powers, with the result that order 
was restored, for the most part.   Consequently, about 35,000 Cretian 
Moslems and prisoners were saved from a massacre, which was, 
however, quite openly discussed at a meeting were Venizelos’s nephew 
was in attendance.  At the meeting, Venizelos’s nephew said that Greek
prisoners in Ankara would be massacred in kind if such an event were 
to occur on Crete.   

As a result, for a week we had no guards and set up patrols to defend 
ourselves with bats and iron bars, to the extent possible.  After staying 
at the Mevlevi Lodge for 5 months the prisoner exchange agreed upon 
at Lausanne were set to begin through the good offices of the Red Cross.  
We were able to secretly read about this news in the Yeni Asır newspaper 
from Salonica and in Istanbul newspapers that the zealous and self-
sacrificing Hanya Moslems gave to us.  In the event that a Moslem 
obtained a Turkish newspaper from a Greek subject there would be a 
5-year jail sentence.  

Nevertheless, we were able to read them secretly through the efforts of 
the Cretian Moslem notables and the consulates.  We, too, were aware of 
the situation there and I cannot help but mention that the the Cretian 
Moslems were in dire straits.  Many mosques had been turned into 
churches, foundations were attacked, and their honor and chastity were 
molested, as the Moslems were being gradually annihilated.  The Greek 
migrants increased and all the Moslem real estate and property in the 
villages was seized so the Moslems had to seek refuge in the provincial 
capital to save their lives.  They waited with great patience for the 
population exchange to begin.  Thankfully, they are deeply religious 
Moslems.  

paşalimanı greece map ile ilgili görsel sonucu
Pashalimanı is at the small circular body of water opposite
Pireaus port.

In accordance with the Lausanne Agreement’s prisoner exchange 
provisions, we were transported from Crete to Paşalimanı and from there 
to Athens.  At this time, Ali Mustafa Bey, the head of the prisoners 
commission for the Turkish Red Crescent, came to Athens, as well.   
We were able to freely tour around the various sections of Athens for 
15 days and talk with our other prisoners at the cavalry barracks, and at 
the POW camps at Paşalımanı, Piraeus and Lucia.   

While I was walking around Umumliya (Omonia?) Square in Athens I 
encountered a 12-year-old Anatolian boy and two covered Moslem 
women who perceived that I was a civilian prisoner.  The child told me 
that “I work in the poor house with 6 friends but they don’t consider us 
to be prisoners so we cannot be sent back to our homeland.”  Similarly, 
the women said that “from what we have heard, there are 32 women and 
17 children at your camp and understand that you will be leaving this 
week.  There are 4 of us women but they don’t consider us to be 
prisoners.  We are in a very difficult situation.”   


türk esirleri yunanistan 1923 ile ilgili görsel sonucu
Turkish POWs in Athens in late February 1923, preparing for
return to Turkey and visiting the graves of fallen Turkish 
POWs.


I recommended that they go to see Ali Mustafa Bey but they countered 
that “we went to see him but we couldn’t find him.”  Again and again 
they asked me to intercede for them.  I explained that we would be 
leaving on Monday and I told the child to flee to Piraeus and, in fact, he 
showed up at the pier on that day.  Ali Mustafa took the child by the hand 
and put him on the ship himself.  The child said that the priests had gave 
him some lessons for conversion to Christianity.  

When we were supposed to depart, the Pontus incidents were raised as a 
problem so we were delayed a week.  Finally, we were among 397 people 
in the first convoy who returned to the homeland and we kissed the 
ground upon our arrival, thanking God for our safe return.  We said 
prayers for a week with the Moslem clergy from Istanbul, Bursa and Izmit 
for our army’s victory and for the devastation of the enemy.  I am very sad 
that there are many of our fellow Moslems who remain in Greece, 
sentenced to 100-year prison terms.  There are thousands of Moslems in 
fortresses and dungeons who have not yet returned.  I saw Greece as a 
country of hungry people who are unable to live properly.  I personally 
saw 400 Moslems in the İzeddin Fortress.  I appeal to our government 
for their deliverance.

29 July 1923   

Hâfız Ahmed Hamdi from the Cami-i cedid quarter of Sapanca

izzeddin fortress crete ile ilgili görsel sonucu
                     İzeddin Fortress, Souda Bay, Crete

//END of PART XIX//


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