The following article is an excerpt from the one volume synopsis of a fourteen-volume set entitled The Genocide of the Greeks of Pontus by Dr. Constantine Fotiadis, Professor of History at Aristotle University in Thessaloniki Greece.
Members of the Pontian Greek Society of Chicago have translated the following article from Chapter E’, that is posted here with the permission of Dr .C. Fotiadis.
Members of the Pontian Greek Society of Chicago have translated the following article from Chapter E’, that is posted here with the permission of Dr .C. Fotiadis.
Due to disagreement over the policy of pogroms implemented by the military command of their country, it has been established that certain German diplomats made successive appeals to the civilian administration aiming to free themselves of any liability regarding the Young Turks’ genocidal measures, especially after the world-wide protest over the Armenian Genocide. On July 16 1916, Kückhoff, the German consul in Samsun, informed the German Ministry of Internal Affairs in Berlin that he had: “valid information that the entire Greek population of Sinope and the coast of Kastamoni province have been sent into exile. According to the Turks, exile equals extermination, because even those who escape being murdered will die, mostly of disease and starvation.”558Kwiatkowski, the Austrian vice-consul in Samsun, was also anxious about the new measures imposed by the Young Turks, initially against the male population, as this was certain to facilitate the realization of their goals. He therefore informed Buriàn, the Austrian Minister of Foreign Affairs, of the decisions taken by the mutesharif of Samsun, Rafet Bey: “On November 26, Rafet Bey told me: ‘We must finish off the Greeks, just like we did with the Armenians…’. On November 28 1916, Rafet Bey told me: ‘Now is the time to be done with the Greeks. Today I sent forces into the province to kill any Greeks they encounter’. I fear that all Greeks will be deported or exiled, much as I fear the repetition of last year’s actions.”559
However, these objective views bore no fruit, as the German government did not pay heed. It is now generally accepted that the Young Turks would never have dared to instigate the murder of three million people—Armenians, Greeks, Syrians and several other Christian minorities in Asia Minor—without the political and military assistance of Germany, which had provided for the reorganization of the Ottoman army in 1913. In support of this view, Assyrian refugee G. Yonan stated that the massacre of Christians would have been impossible to accomplish, at least to this extent, had it not been for the support of Germany’s military force in Turkey, which, during World War I, had been reinforced with over 800 German Army officers, fully equipped and financially supported by the German Government.560
Death in its most horrible form was now omnipresent on the Black Sea coast. The Greek embassy in St. Petersburg informed the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the plight of Greeks living in the area around Trebizond:
…On April 15, the Greek inhabitants of 16 villages in the Vazelon area, Trebizond province, were ordered to relocate to the interior of Argyroupolis by the Turkish authorities. Fearing that they might be slaughtered on the way, as happened to the Armenians, they abandoned their households and entered the forest, hoping to be saved by a quick Russian advance. Of this population, which amounted to some 6,000 people, 650 sought refuge in the Monastery of Vazelon, in which there were already another 1,500 refugees from Trebizond; 1,200 crept into a cave close to the village of Kounaka, and the rest scattered around various hiding places in the surrounding forest. All the houses in these villages were plundered and all property found was looted by the Turkish army. Those who had hidden in the cave were forced to surrender due to starvation. In order to avoid being ravaged, 26 girls and women threw themselves into the river which lies close to the village Gefyra and drowned, despite all efforts to save them… After the Russian army had advanced to Argyroupolis, Dr. K. Fotiadis and I were the first to reach the Monastery of Vazelon. I have to admit that it is impossible for me to describe what I witnessed. Everything was torn to pieces, both in the villages and in the Monastery… Five Greek corpses lay unburied and decomposing in the yard of the monastery… Inside the Monastery, with a gaping lance wound in the chest, lay the naked, decapitated body of Kyriaki, a 20-year-old young woman from the village of Thersa in a position indicating how she had been violated.561
On September 7 1916, Mithrinek, who had been appointed German ambassador after the recall of von Metternich, informed Berlin about the clearing actions undertaken by the vali of Kastamonu against the Greeks: “In Sinope, the operation lasted four hours. The Greek population, amounting to 4,500 people, was transferred partly to Boyabat and Kastamonu and partly to Turkish villages in the vilayet. The same measures were applied in Inepolis, as well as some other villages.”562
Having learnt of the atrocities being committed by their allies, the Austrian consuls changed tack and started to send explicit telegrams to the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs containing specific references to the great danger threatening the Greeks. To some extent, their German colleagues followed the same method, albeit within the bounds of diplomatic decorum, in partial proof of their nation’s liability.
In December 1916 and January 1917, Pallavicini, the Austrian ambassador to Istanbul, informed his government of the latest events on the Black Sea coast, and specifically the fate of Samsun:
“December 11 1916. Five Greek villages were plundered and burned. The inhabitants were sent away.
December 12 1916. Villages around the city are on fire.
December 14 1916. Whole villages are burning, including school buildings and churches.
December 17 1916. Eleven villages were burned in the Samsun province. The plundering continues.The villagers are being abused.
December 31 1916. About eighteen villages have been burnt to the ground. Fifteen were partly burned. About sixty women were raped. Even churches were plundered.”563
At the same time, German ambassador Kühlmann informed Chancellor Hollweg in Berlin, that: “The consuls in Samsun (Bergfeld) and Kerasun (Schede) have submitted reports concerning the immediate threat of the relocation of the coastal Greek population… Up to now, 250 guerrillas have been murdered. No prisoners are taken. Five villages have been reduced to ashes”. According to another report by Kühlmann, dated December 16: “…A great number of Greek refugee families, mostly women and children, are being marched from the coast to Sivas. The situation is desperate.”564
The German consuls were fully aware that mass relocation as the most modest means of extermination, was unjustifiable even within the context of standard warfare. Being mindful of the burden of guilt borne by both the Young Turks and their own nation, the consuls were desperately trying to warn their headquarters, namely the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Berlin, about the consequences of their decisions. In one of his letters, dated September 14 1916, Bergfeld indirectly accepted his personal moral responsibility, as well as that of Turkey and its ally, Germany, against neutral nations: “Attacks on human life and property, which were observed during the transportation of Armenians, will be repeated. Those sent into exile will die in the thousands of disease, starvation and mistreatment. This would greatly harm Turkey’s image in the eyes of neutral states. Any survivors would live in poverty, thus leaving commerce in the hands of people who would inflict problems on the Muslim population worse than those ever caused by the locals. For all the above reasons, the mass relocation of Greeks should be considered a highly perilous undertaking.”565 In the same document, it is stated that Muslims who had become affluent after the removal of the Armenians, were now making efforts to send all Greeks into exile, thus providing themselves with a new opportunity to increase their wealth.
Undoubtedly, the ‘experience’ gained during the relocation of the Armenians rendered the Young Turks capable of acting more methodically and systematically in the case of the Greeks. In order to keep criminal acts secret, so as not to arouse the indignation of neutral countries and international humanistic organizations, Cemal Pasha strictly prohibited photographs to be taken either of the displaced,566 their endless death marches, or of crimes being committed against them thus explaining the lack of documentation. However, Cemal Pasha did not succeed in covering up these crimes; concrete evidence is provided by consular and ambassadorial reports by Turkey’s allies, in which one may find detailed accounts not only of Young Turk and Kemalist crimes, but also of European hypocrisy.
The reports and complaints of clerical, political and intellectual representatives of the Greek population all point to Germany’s role in carrying out criminal acts. There were many reports that never made it to their destination, due to censorship and strict surveillance of the Greek authorities. In one of his reports, German vice-consul Schulenberg admitted that everyone was under surveillance and that the secure transfer of news on the events to individuals or various official quarters was impossible. In September 1916, after his meeting with the metropolitan of Samsun, Germanos Karavangelis, Schulenberg wrote: “Soon after I arrived in Samsun (in early May, almost two months after the legation), I was visited by the metropolitan bishop, who drew my attention to the particularly difficult situation faced by the Greeks. The metropolitan requested that I take a letter to the Patriarch, because none of his recent letters had reached their destination. It is true that all provincial administrators of Anatolia, from the vali to the most insignificant kaimakam, censor letters in the most shameless manner, in order to prevent protests or accounts of their deeds.”
Germanos Karavangelis’ letter of May 1916 never reached its destination; instead of delivering it to the Ecumenical Patriarch, the pro-Turkish German embassy forwarded it to Berlin. The envelope containing the letter referring to the persecutions of Christians is still kept in the archives of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Its concealment testifies once again to Germany’s role as an accomplice. Senior German public servants decided to bury the danger signals and desperate cries for help inside the dark archives of Berlin and then Bonn. Brought to light for the first time, the letter in which the metropolitan gives an account of rape, murder and lawless acts by the local Muslim population and irregular forces of Laz Chetes is presented as written: “Your All Holiness: The plight of the Greek population in the Samsun province has been indescribable since the arrival of the newly-appointed Turkish-Cretan mutesharif of Samsun (named Canik) this past November. Claiming to be going after deserters, he has sent gendarmes together with an irregular army of Laz throughout the area, having ordered them to torment and afflict villages so that not a spark of life, honour or property is left in the villagers.”
Due to the dreadful news that arrived daily at the Orthodox Metropolis of Samsun, metropolitan Germanos was frequently compelled to complain to the German consulate and especially to the consul himself, who appreciated the metropolitan’s morals, culture and work.567 For the first time, the metropolitan raised the point that all Greeks should be transferred to Romania, so that they would not meet the fate of the Armenians. He considered armed or unarmed struggle the last solution when no other could be found.568 Such a state of desperation supports the view that armed struggle, which commenced mainly after the mass relocation of Pontian Greeks in the winter of 1916, was the only way out of the grim deadlock brought about by the Young Turks.
During his trip to Istanbul, the US consul in Trebizond had also described the life of Greeks on the western Black Sea coast in the bleakest terms. Part of his report, warning of the imminent danger of the extermination of all Greeks, was forwarded to the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs through the Greek Embassy in St. Petersburg on May 7 1916: “Having been notified yesterday, I advise you that, according to my information, the Greeks beyond Trebizond are being displaced by the Turks under the pretext of saving them, but with the intention of destroying them. It is feared that the situation will become generalized as the Russian army advances, leading to the total annihilation of the already-suffering Greek population. Please forward this information to Istanbul, so that action can be taken to order the Turkish authorities to protect the Greeks. The US Consul has been instructed to forward this appeal to the Ambassador in Constantinople.”569
Owing to the arbitrary and groundless accusation that the Greeks were receiving weapons from the Russians, all the Greeks from Sinope to Alacam were displaced; the coast of the Kerasun vilayet was destroyed; and, according to metropolitan Germanos, the 100,000 Greeks in the coastal areas between Alacam and Kerasun were threatened with the same fate.570