Entitled “60 YEARS WITHOUT MINORITY” in 1982, the Greek monopoly released a series of 10 paper matchboxes with photos of Greek philosophers, important events, places, etc. It is one of the rare matchboxes of the Greek monopoly because the circulation of this series was relatively small. This series refers to the most dramatic moment in modern Greek history, the destruction of Smyrna and the exile for 1.5 million persecuted Greeks.
In August 1922 the Turkish army began to arrive in Smyrna. The front had collapsed a few days earlier and many Greek army men were seeking refuge on the coast, wounded and frustrated.
Of the Turks, the Chets, the naughty corps that followed Kemal’s army, were the first to enter the city. Immediately the atrocities began. They executed all the men they found in front of them, looted the houses and snatched from the women gold and valuables. They went so far as to cut off their fingers or ears to get rings and earrings.
In addition, the fire, set by the Turks, burned the whole city, except the Muslim and Jewish quarters, and lasted from August 31 to September 4 (according to the old calendar). Today this anniversary is actually September 13, as the new calendar was introduced in Greece the following year. The fire marked the final end of the long presence of Hellenism in Asia Minor. Until the destruction of Izmir, 270,000 people lived in the city, of which 140,000 were Greeks, 80,000 Muslim Turks, 20,000 Jews and 12,000 Armenians. Giaour Izmir, the “infidel” Izmir, as the Turks called it, was lost in the flames. At the time when the fire destroys houses and properties, the Turks kill and abuse the Greeks. Those who manage to escape from the hands of the persecutors, run to the port and leave the city. Many even fall into the sea to be saved. The toll is tragic.
The prospect of a more permanent settlement of refugees in our country had caused great concern to many natives, who feared that the so-called “Asians” would pose a threat to public health, extract a share of their survival from the deforested public resources and with their customs and traditions will test the traditional culture of the place; day by day, more and more people decided that the bankrupt Greece “does not fit” other foreigners.
The above did not concern today’s Syrian or Afghan refugees, but our compatriots from Asia Minor almost a century ago.
The gates of Greek territory are institutionally sealed with an extraordinary, draconian legislation.
On July 20, 1922, by unanimous decision of the Greek Parliament, Law 2870 “On the illegal transportation of persons coming en masse to Greek ports from abroad” was published in the Government Gazette – the first legislative text in Greek history banning the entry of “illegals” and refugees in the country.
Despite its general wording, the law aimed to close the borders especially for the Greeks of Asia Minor and Pontus – the only category of people who were willing to be “transported as a group” to the war-torn and indebted Greek kingdom.
The arrival in Greece of the largest refugee current was a dramatic situation, first of all for the refugees. And although integration was then an unknown word and encountered many obstacles it gradually became a reality when everyone realized that there was no going back.