>It is one of those black pages of history that just “opening” it hurts. It’s gut-wrenching when you try to put yourself in such a situation, in an unimaginable pogrom of violence where you actually have nowhere to hide and no one to help you. In such situations, terror is not something vague or something metaphysical. It’s in front of you. You see his face. You can smell his breath. You wish for a quick end. This is how the Greeks felt when they broke out in Constantinople the terrible episodes from an enraged and uncontrollable Turkish mob. One day like today the Greeks of the City experienced what went down in history as “September”.
>**The “provocation” that triggered the bloody pogrom**
>At noon on September 6, 1955, an improvised explosive device, of low power, exploded in the Turkish Consulate in Thessaloniki, which was housed in the house where Kemal Atatürk grew up. No one was injured in the explosion, although there was minor damage (mainly to the windows of the building). For the attack on the consulate, a Muslim student from Komotini was arrested by the Greek authorities (who was later honored in his homeland and even appointed governor of a province, while he claimed to have been the victim of a prank by the Greeks). The Turkish newspapers took advantage of the event and, as it turned out later, on government instructions, they spoke of a “terrible explosion that almost demolished Kemal’s house.” The newspaper “Istanbul Express”, in fact, went so far as to publish a series of falsified photos. The media of the neighboring country had assumed the role of preparing the ground. And the “job” they did was…excellent. The provocation had achieved its goal and now all that was left was to implement the last part of the plan. And that was also the easiest. They simply let an angry mob run wild.
>At about 5 pm on September 6th a deified crowd of 50,000 people began to move against Greek property in the Peran district. All of them armed with axes, shovels, clubs, picks, hammers, iron crowbars and petrol cans. For many hours they smashed and burned the properties of the Greeks shouting slogans such as: “Death to the Giaouris”, “Smash, tear down, they are Giaouris”, “Slaughter the Greek traitors”, “Down with Europe” and “Forward march against Athens and of Thessaloniki”. All these hours, until the dawn of September 7, when the mob was destroying everything Greek, the police and the army were absent and did not intervene at any point by order of the government. Only when the Turks had … defended Kemal’s “honor” did Menderes order the army to intervene. The Turkish prime minister himself, in fact, hesitated to declare a few hours later that “the hungry communists” were responsible for the pogrom! A statement that met with the ridicule of Europe…
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>It is one of those black pages of history that just “opening” it hurts. It’s gut-wrenching when you try to put yourself in such a situation, in an unimaginable pogrom of violence where you actually have nowhere to hide and no one to help you. In such situations, terror is not something vague or something metaphysical. It’s in front of you. You see his face. You can smell his breath. You wish for a quick end. This is how the Greeks felt when they broke out in Constantinople the terrible episodes from an enraged and uncontrollable Turkish mob. One day like today the Greeks of the City experienced what went down in history as “September”.
>**The “provocation” that triggered the bloody pogrom**
>At noon on September 6, 1955, an improvised explosive device, of low power, exploded in the Turkish Consulate in Thessaloniki, which was housed in the house where Kemal Atatürk grew up. No one was injured in the explosion, although there was minor damage (mainly to the windows of the building). For the attack on the consulate, a Muslim student from Komotini was arrested by the Greek authorities (who was later honored in his homeland and even appointed governor of a province, while he claimed to have been the victim of a prank by the Greeks). The Turkish newspapers took advantage of the event and, as it turned out later, on government instructions, they spoke of a “terrible explosion that almost demolished Kemal’s house.” The newspaper “Istanbul Express”, in fact, went so far as to publish a series of falsified photos. The media of the neighboring country had assumed the role of preparing the ground. And the “job” they did was…excellent. The provocation had achieved its goal and now all that was left was to implement the last part of the plan. And that was also the easiest. They simply let an angry mob run wild.
>At about 5 pm on September 6th a deified crowd of 50,000 people began to move against Greek property in the Peran district. All of them armed with axes, shovels, clubs, picks, hammers, iron crowbars and petrol cans. For many hours they smashed and burned the properties of the Greeks shouting slogans such as: “Death to the Giaouris”, “Smash, tear down, they are Giaouris”, “Slaughter the Greek traitors”, “Down with Europe” and “Forward march against Athens and of Thessaloniki”. All these hours, until the dawn of September 7, when the mob was destroying everything Greek, the police and the army were absent and did not intervene at any point by order of the government. Only when the Turks had … defended Kemal’s “honor” did Menderes order the army to intervene. The Turkish prime minister himself, in fact, hesitated to declare a few hours later that “the hungry communists” were responsible for the pogrom! A statement that met with the ridicule of Europe…