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

//Ed. Note: This POW's report tracks with many other 
about the horrors of Liosia (also written as 'Lucia' and
'Losyo') camp, 11 kilometers north of downtown Athens.//


Liosia is located just north of central Athens, along the rail
line - written in small letters 'Ano Liosia'.

A village chief’s statements:

I was taken prisoner by the Greeks for no reason on 19 December 1921, 

transported by train to Karaköy and from there overland to Bursa and 

Mudanya, amid all sorts of insults, beatings and torture.  After staying 

out in the open and in the rain at Mudanya for 24 hours, 40 of us 

Moslem prisoners were put into a filthy ship’s hold.  We were taken by 

ship over 2 days and 2 nights to Izmir without any food or water.  In 

Izmir, we were paraded in front of the local Greeks and Greek soldiers 

through the market and bazar, where they spat in our faces and threw 

eggplants, tomatos and rotten eggs at us, ruining our clothes.  

Then, under a thousand degradations were taken to Tepecik Prisoners 

Camp, where we stayed for 12 days.  Next, suffering the same 

degradations and beatings, we were taken to the Punta pier, where 44 

of us were put onto a ship for a 2-day voyage, without food or water, 

to Piraeus.  We were forced to march from Pireaus to Athens, paraded 

through Amutya (Omonia?) Square and subjected to taunts and 

degradation there before being put into Liosia Prison Camp.

I returned to Turkey after 19.5 months in captivity.  My friends 

Ken’anzade Süleyman of Eskişehir, an Eskişehir judge, printer Mustafa 

Hocazade Ali Osman, Hacı Adil, Hoca Ali Nazmi, scribe Hasan, 

Karapazarlı İsmail Hakkı, Hacı Hafızzade Hakkı, lawyer Osman Cudi, 

his brother Süfyan and İtam director Hacı Nuri, along with İbrahım the 

son of Veli Ağa, also returned.  There were 22 Turkish officers at the 

prison camp we stayed at but I don’t know whether they returned or not.

There were more than 400 civilian prisoners from the Moslem populace 

of İzmit and Adapazarı at Liosia.  

//Ed.  Note: a detailed report about the POWs from Izmit 

will be shared by TNT at the conclusion of this series.//

They were taken prisoner before we were and I heard that the Greeks 

killed 100 people on the ship, as they came without food and water, 

and threw another 100 into the sea.  Some of the prisoners at Liosia 

became ill after two years of beatings and torture and were brought to 

a hospital but died for lack of treatment.

           The 'Punta' (now 'Alsancak') esplanade in Izmir.

Five months after the date of my capture, my friend Veli Ağa died 

while being brought to Izmir and his body was left at the Punta 

railway station.  I know that  many prisoners at Lucia were brought 

to the hospital, although they were not ill, and poisoned.  The day 

after, the Moslem clergymen among us were brought to the camp 

to give these poor souls the Islamic burial rights.  The Greeks often 

happily threatened us with poisoning.

Our food amounted to a loaf of bread for 8 people, a meager amount of 

bean soup full of worms and bitter, rotten olives.  There were foreign and 

harmful elements mixed into the bread we got, which was made from 

black scurfy wheat.  As for water, the supply was erratic because the 

company wasn’t paid.  When this happened we were sometimes given 

permission to get water from wells 1.5 hours distance away.  Most of 

the time, though, this permission was not given and we had no water.  

There were many of our prisoners who died from thirst.  We prisoners 

were subjected to beatings and torture for no reason and suffered 

degradation and unimaginable inhumane treatment, as the Greeks saw 

fit.

Hafız Ahmed, Chief of Dede Village, Eskişehir

//END of PART XXIII//