Զմյուռնիայի հայ և հույն բնակչության բնաջնջման սպառնալիքի ժխտման հետևանքները (1922 թ. սեպտեմբեր)

Abstract

Developing the criminal plan of extermination of the Christian population in Smyrna in September 1922, as a guarantee of securing of their actions the Kemalists speculated various psychological factors among which the most common one was taking the Christian population unawares. That is, the Christian population of the city was not to believe in the existence of the threat of forthcoming massacre in the broad sense and what is more expressed a wish to take part in the prevention of the crimes being committed and rapidly spreading at the moment.

The article deals with the attitude the Armenian and the Greek Christian residents took toward the forthcoming crimes. The Armenians and the Greeks of Smyrna ignored all the warnings concerning their extermination, regarding them as fake news and relied on the convincing persuasions of the representatives of the European countries according to which there was no basis for fear, as massacre could occur as all the Christians were protected and so on.

Excluding the possibility of their extermination the Armenian and the Greek Christian residents of the city in fact ‘released’ the criminal’s hands and made easy the realization of the preliminarily planned actions without difficulty. The belief of the Armenians and the Greeks of Smyrna that nothing would happen to them was completely groundless. Thousands innocent Greeks and Armenians became victims of the massacre policy of the Turkish regime. The realization of the aim of the Kemalists to empty the city from the Greek and the Armenian population was facilitated by the intentional and quick developments of the events as well as the incredible violence displayed towards the victims.