TNT History Archives: Greek Occupation of Izmir - Ottoman Customs Chief's Travail (May 1919)/Part I

//Ed. note: This is the first of a number of reports

sent by Ottoman Turkish officials to Istanbul in

1919 regarding the Greek occupation of Izmir

and western Anatolia.//  

Report from Izmir Customs Chief Agah

It was said on Wednesday, 14 May, that the following day Izmir would

be occupied by the Greek military.  Others, though, claimed that this 

would not happen and even if it did the Great Powers would be the 

occupiers and confine themselves to a fortified position.  There was no

word from the (Ottoman) government in the city to either the populace

or to chief bureaucrats, although there was an article in the evening

edition of Islahat Newspaper quoting the Governor as saying that the

occupation would be insignificant.  Consequently, without any 

precautions being taken, we headed off to work as we normally would

on Thursday, 15 May. 

At nine in the morning on the 15th, about ten Greek transport ships 

under the protection of the battleship 'Kilkis' (formerly the USS 

Mississippi), along with two Greek 'torpido' (destroyers), arrived at 

the port and the Greek soldiers began to disembark onto the pier.  The

civilian populace began to walk toward our office and shortly

afterwards the Greek soldiers, with trumpets blaring, began to march

toward the (Ottoman Army) barracks.  We watched this scene with

indescribable sadness but we remained cool and calm, nevertheless.

   The rear of the Izmir Customs Office in the late  1800s.

After quite a few soldiers had passed by, and following the sound of a

gun firing from afar, there was a chaotic scene with both soldiers and 

civilians running here and there, as the gunfire increased.  As a result

of the tumult, we closed the doors and windows of our office and 

awaited developments.  Machine gun firing gradually increased and

even if it stopped briefly, it resumed again.  

Half an hour later, there was a knock on our office door and the

knocker shouted "Open!".  Of course, we opened the door to a Greek

officer with a revolver in his hand, who was accompanied by an 

interpreter and three or four soldiers.   First off, the interpreter said

there was nothing to worry about but in the same breath he said that

there were many dead bodies outside, that Ottoman government 

officials were being arrested and that we had to surrender any 

weapons we had.

Naturally, we complied and a number of my 20-25 employees handed

over small-caliber revolvers.  We proposed that they search the 

premises, which they did and they found nothing else of interest to 

them.  At the time, though, I was in my own office where I had a 

small safe with 200 lira in an envelope in it, which two of the Greek

soldiers shared between themselves, warning me to keep quiet. 

In the end, we were told to leave our office and go outside but

there was a terrible rainstorm raging and the gunfire continued. We

asked that they let us remain in our office to avoid the dangers

outside and in response the Greek officer said: "You don't appear to

be suspicious and we'll release you in a hour.  I will leave these two

soldiers (the ones who had robbed me) here to keep an eye on you

all.  With regard to your lives, you have my word as a soldier.  And

the one saying these words to you is not a Bulgarian officer but a

Greek officer!"

//END of PART ONE//