Aghiah (1 results)

Soft cover. Condition: Good. Two separately issued volumes offered together. Matching staple bound printed wraps 17 x 25cm. Livre II (dated 1919) 43pp; Livre III (dated 1920) 28 + (1)pp. Covers good, marked, staples rusted, with reference stamps to the fronts. Interiors very good, tanned. Some sections uncut in III. These volumes compile a series of first hand accounts by Ottoman officials and military personnel concerning the atrocities committed by Greek troops during their occupation of Smyrna (Izmir), Aivalik, and surrounding areas. In 1914, the Ottomans began systematically massacring and deporting ethnic Greeks in Asia Minor. To protect those in and around Smyrna during the partition of the Ottoman Empire, the allied powers authorised Greece to enter Smyrna on 15 May 1919. The occupation descended into the kind of violence recorded in these volumes, leading to a rise in Turkish nationalism. Smyrna was a major base for Greek troops in Anatolia during the Greco-Turkish War (1919 - 1922). The Turks, led by Mustapha Kemal Ataturk, retook Smyrna in September 1922. Rare. It is not clear how many volumes were produced, though OCLC refers explicitly to vols II and III only.