Izmir (Symrna) arsons, Greeks and Turks

Denis O’Callaghan’s letter (April 9th) condemning President McAleese’s laying of a wreath at the tomb of Ataturk because he was “responsible for the ethnic cleansing of Smyrna in Asia Minor” is a very partial view of history.The Turkish capture of Smyrna occurred as the culmination of a Greek attempt to conquer Anatolia, which led to large scale ethnic cleansing of Muslims, starting in Smyrna itself and reaching to where it was stopped by Ataturk, at the gates of Ankara.The Greeks were victims of their own irredentist dreams of a new Byzantium and their misplaced faith in Lloyd George, in attempting to impose the punitive Treaty of Sèvres on Turkey.In any other context, such as that applied to the second World War, the recapture of Smyrna would be seen as an act of liberation and the blame for the unfortunate events of September 1922 placed at the hands of the original aggressors. – Yours, etc,Dr PAT WALSH,Leyland Crescent,Ballycastle, Co Antrim.
From The Author of
Forgotten Aspects Of Ireland’s Great War on Turkey1919–1924(Unutulan Yönleriyle İrlanda’nın Türkiye’ye Karşı Büyük Savaşı: 1914–1924) Dr. Pat Walsh.  ATHOL BOOKS, Belfast 2009

Contributed by Mr Yusuf Cinar, Mr Nizam Bulut, Galway, Ireland