//Ed. note: In mid-July 1919, Ottoman Army
officials in Denizli met with a French officer
who had been tasked with investigating Greek
atrocities in Aydın.//
Battle of Aydın click here for background.
Turkish resistance fighters around Aydın in 1919.
Telegram dated 19-20 July 1919 received from the Denizli Recruiting
Office, which includes a memorandum from the Second Army
Inspector dated 20 July 1919 and bearing number 459:
Major LaBud, who is the Great Powers' commander for Afyonkarahisar
and environs, and who was sent here by French General Franchet
d'Espérey to investigate Greek atrocities in Aydın and the surrounding
area, visited our local governor (Faik Öztrak) and your humble servant.
He remained here for one night before heading for Nazilli.
The visitor was shown a great many urgent documents about the
atrocities, massacres, looting and burning committed by the Greeks in
Izmir and everywhere they have set foot, as well as being shown the
women, children and injured Moslems who fled here from Aydın. He
was quite affected by all that he saw and acknowledged our
righteousness.
Major LaBud said that even though all the Greek men in the area of
Denizli have pledged allegiance to the Greeks, like the local Greeks in
Aydın, he was pleased to see that the hundreds of Greek families who
have come from Aydın to Denizli are being fed and housed and that
peace and public security are being maintained. Major LaBud approved
of operations launched to repel and punish the Greeks for these
atrocities and to rescue the local populace.
Ottoman Denizli Governor Faik (Öztrak)
The governor explained to Major LaBud that "we lost the
Great War to the Great Powers, not Greece. Consequently, we have
surrendered our weapons under certain conditions. Nevertheless, as in
peace and war, the 'Mütareke' (Armistice of Mondros) assigns some
duties that include the victors, who have taken our weapons, protecting
the rights and honor of the losing side, as they would their own, until
those weapons are returned. The atrocities committed by the Greeks
wherever they have gone must be considered by the Great Powers as
if those atrocities had been committed in their own capitals and they
must rid this place of the Greeks."
In response, Major LaBud said that "if the French government had
known that even one percent of these atrocities would be perpetrated,
the Greek occupation would never have been approved. "
occupation day in Izmir click here for a TNT
report about the Ottoman customs chief in
Izmir and his experiences there on 15 May 1919.
The governor then said that "you have said that you were in Izmir
during the atrocities committed by the Greeks there and that you, as
well as the other representatives of the Great Powers, saw the beatings,
imprisonments and murders of our officials and soldiers, including
the Izmir governor, and the looting of official offices, shops and homes."
"On that day, you and your peers personally witnessed the murders of
5,284 innocent Moslems, not to mentions the depredations that
occurred out of sight subsequently in places under Greek occupation.
Certainly, this is contrary to the economic and historic interests that
the French government has cultivated over the centuries in Anatolia."
Major LaBud responded by saying that "the French government will
never sacrifice its interests here after so much sacrifice and the damage
done by the Greeks. It is my sacred duty to report these atrocities and
incidents to the proper authorities. I am astonished to see that while the
occupation was supposed to be confined to Izmir and environs, it has
spread quite far. The majority Moslems here cannot live alongside the
Greeks and I will include this in my report."
Major LaBud also confided that "the Greeks are very good at
propaganda. For world opinion and the peace conference, master
intriguers like Venizelos will try to pass off these atrocities as
isolated incidents committed by rogue gangs and assert that calm
can easily be restored in five to ten days, leaving you (Ottomans)
adrift. You ought to marshall all your Ottoman press and
publications to expose all the Greek atrocities and take every
opportunity to make the Great Powers aware of this."
The governor noted in reply that "despite the fact that we have asked
a number of nations for a peace conference, and have even sent special
representatives, we have been blocked. Trustworthy state
representatives like you must communicate the truth and counter the
disinformation of the Greeks."
Rather than going to Aydın, Major LaBud went to see the refugees
in the villages around Çine.
((signed)) Colonel Tevfik, Chief, 11th Division Recruitment Secretariat
//END//
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