concludes his harrowing account of the early
hours of the Greek occupation of Izmir.//
Greek soldiers in Izmir. Banner with Greek PM Venizelos's
picture is at left.
We experienced the worst of our travails here. The (Greek) sailors took
off their belts and beat all of us right in front of their officers. And no
one was left unscathed by the rocks, coal and bricks they threw at us.
At one point I took out my business card and asserted "Look at my
credentials! I'm not a man who deserves such treatment!" But in
response, the officers blared "quiet you pest!" In fact, some of them
added in Turkish "didn't you scoundrels cut up the Greeks and murder
the Armenians?! Tonight we'll drown all of you like dogs. Get ready
to go to the grave!"
Then they began to board us onto a ship that had approached the pier.
By chance, I encountered a Greek naval officer I had known before in
regard to official business. He was shocked to see me in this situation
and asked what had happened. I told him to ask his friends. In any
case, as we boarded the ship we were punched and beaten with clubs,
before being thrown into the fetid ship's hold. Fortunately for me, the
officer I'd just spoken with arranged for me to be taken out of the hold
ten minutes later.
I proceeded to protest our collective treatment and declared that I would
go nowhere until all my colleagues were released, as well. Our keepers,
though, claimed that only Mr. Mavridis, the commander of one of the
destroyers, could grant such a request. So from there I was taken by
car to the 'Avcılar Kulübü" (Hunters Club), by rowboat to the Averof
Battleship and then to the Leon Torpido (destroyer) which Mavridis
commanded.
Greek 'torpido' (destroyer) 'Leon'.
Mavridis was quite busy but he expressed his concern for me, offered
two glasses of brandy and gave me a thick overcoat. I wrote down all
the names of my colleagues in the hold of the prison ship and he
promised that they would all be freed right away. After that, a Greek
officer took me to shore by rowboat and then to my home. Every part
of me hurt and everyone cried at the sight of me. I couldn't get out of
bed for three days but the following day I learned that my colleagues
had, in fact, been released from the prison ship's hold.
Nevertheless, as they disembarked they were beaten and brought to
the place where we had been stoned and roughed up earlier. My
colleagues were put into a train wagon until ten that night and then
boarded onto the Patris Ferry (prison ship), where they were sprayed
with water, left exposed to the fierce 'poyraz' (northeast) wind for an
hour and thrown in the ship's hold. They spent the night without food
or water before finally being released in the morning.
Izmir Rüsumat (Customs) Chief Director Agah
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