Author: Media Watch

The Greek invasion of Turkey, according to archival documents
Mehmet Perinçek

Today is the 98th anniversary of the beginning of the Great Offensive (Büyük Taarruz), which ended the Greek occupation in Anatolia and brought Turkey’s War of Independence to a final victory. In current times as tension between Turkey and Greece gains momentum in the Eastern Mediterranean and Aegean Seas, the propaganda that the Turks committed ethnic cleansing against the Greeks during their War of Independence has picked up in the Western press.

How did one of the important witnesses of the period, Soviet Russia, evaluate the events that took place in Anatolia at that time? How did the Soviet authorities who came to Turkey then report their observations? What did the Soviet orientalists of the time write about this issue?

Let us look for answers to these questions with archival documents.

MOSCOW PROTESTS

The most important of the examples on this subject is the protest sent by G. V. Chicherin, the Soviet People’s Commissariat (Minister) of Foreign Affairs, to the governments of all countries on October 26, 1921. In his protest, Chicherin drew attention to the massacres committed against Turkish civilian population by the Greek armed forces during their withdrawal from Sakarya and demanded that these inhumane actions to be stopped as shown below:

“The savage and inhumane actions undertaken by the Greek Armies on the lands of Asia Minor (Anatolia – MP), obligated the Government of Russia, to bring in front of all governments the issue of the attitude that needs to be taken against these actions and forced to draw their attention on the terrible destruction and barbaric atrocities the local people suffered from the Greek Army in all Turkish regions under the Greek occupation. Even neutral observers and telegraph (news – MP) agencies emphasize that all Turkish regions occupied by the Greek armies have been converted into wilderness during the Greek withdrawal.

In all places where Greeks have retreated, Turkish villages are being burned and the population is completely destroyed or taken as prisoner while women are subjected to the most brutal rape. Among the Turkish population, only those who could hide in forests and mountains are able to stay alive.

In the orders of the Greek command, reference is made to Prince Andrey, who ordered the Greek armies to burn down all Turkish villages on their way. In fact, Papulas, the Commander-in-Chief of the Greek armies, ordered the destruction of Turkish villages. Bloodcurdling acts of brutality that makes people rebel have been proven in the villages listed below: (…)

The Government of Russia draws the attention of all governments, to the invading Greek army’s conversion of this immensely flourished vast Turkish region into a real desert by causing its demolition. The Russian Government sees it unconditionally necessary to apply to all the governments by suggesting to take necessary steps against the Greek Government in order to stop the intolerable actions of the Greek armies in Turkey.” [1]

Turkey’s Ambassador to Moscow, Ali Fuat Pasha, responded with a thank you letter to this initiative of Russia on the same day. Ali Fuat Pasha stated in his letter that Moscow’s protest is proof of the high sense of humanity that the Soviet Government mobilized. [2]

MILITARY ARCHIVE DOCUMENTS

Documents in the Russian State Military Archive (RGVA), which is the archive of the Soviet Red Army, also shed light on this issue. In a 16-page report titled: “Anatolian Turkey”, it is expressed that the Greeks started wild massacres upon their occupation of the Izmir Region. According to this report, the Greeks also sent their agents to the Black Sea region to provoke revolt in order to create a suitable ground for the Greeks to land. The intellectuals and bourgeois Greeks in this region were invested in the idea of an independent Pontus Republic.

For this reason, in order to secure the coastal areas, the Turkish government had to evacuate the Greeks in these areas. In response to this, Greek gangs were established which raided Turkish villages, where they massacred entire populations including women or children. Thus, the mutual slaughter in the region was ignited and revenge attacks against Greeks also took place. [3]

Under the “Military Summary” subheading of a document titled “A Brief Report on the Military-Political and Economic Situation in Anatolia”, it is stated regarding the events of September – October 1921, that while withdrawing, the Greek armies burned down all villages and cities; thus it is stated that they left a complete empty land behind Mustafa Kemal’s front-line. [4]

In another report in the Military Archive, dated November 1, 1921, the following was recorded while dealing with the policies of the Greek occupation in the Thrace Region and the reaction of the local population to this:

“The status of the Greeks in Turkey mainly depends on the success of their armies in the Asia Minor front line. Bulgarians and Turks make up about two third of the Thracian population and they approach hostile invaders. The Greek government is relentlessly terrorizing other peoples, trying to crush all resistance from the people.

The Greek language has been declared a mandatory language in state and public institutions. Bulgarian and Turkish schools are closed. The ever-increasing expropriation policy, carried out arbitrarily by the use of force by the special Greek commissions, creates discomfort among the villagers.

The stated reasons gave birth to the formation of gangs in the Thrace. The gangs are made up of local Bulgarians and Turkish populations. The armed gangs procure their weapons from the stocks that were left behind Tahir Pasha’s (Turkish) army. The centers of the rebellion are the Bulgarian and Turkish villages in the Rhodope and Strandja Mountains, along the Bulgarian border. (…) The rebels have recently changed tactics and are avoiding clashes with Greek troops; they are attacking warehouses, government agencies, they are destroying supply routes and are applying terror to the representatives of the occupation administration.”

While discussing the economic situation of Thrace, the report also mentions the pillage policy of the Greeks and their seizure of grains and cattle for the needs of the Greek occupying army in Anatolia. [5]

In a military intelligence report in the archives dated September 2, 1920, with the title “Life in Turkey”, information is given that, relying on the strong support of the Entente States, Greeks behaved with conceit and arrogance toward the Turks. This is particularly evident in Istanbul, where European bigotry has made it a base for itself against the Near-East. [6]

The Red Army’s military intelligence reports sometimes convey Ankara’s statements as well. In a report conveying a news report of the Anatolian Agency dated November 3, 1920, it is stated that during their withdrawal from Inegöl towards Bursa, the Greeks burned down almost all of the villages and Yenişehir. There were even incidents in which people were burned. [7]

TESTIMONIES OF FRUNZE AND ARALOV

In a speech to the Parliament during his visit to Turkey, Soviet commander Frunze said: “exposure of the Turkish people to the rabid enemy’s brutality” evokes “great hatred” in Ukraine and Russia. [8] In addition, Fruze mentions in his memoirs regarding Turkey, that the Greeks had destroyed the Muslims in Western Anatolia, and that they also looted their property and other valuables. [9]

Soviet Ambassador Aralov wrote in his memoirs about the Greek persecution that “The fleeing enemy, in a wild rage, was burning down everything that they encountered on the road. The cities: Uşak, Aydın, Manisa and most of the villages were burned.” [10] In a telegram that he sent from Ankara to Moscow on September 2, 1922, Aralov reported that most of the Turkish villages were burned with their residents. [11]

During the days he was in Izmir for the Economic Congress, Aralov gave a statement to the reporters: “(…) our journey was very long, very beautiful, and at the same time very painful due to the destruction of the Greek cruelty. We saw the destructiveness of the Greeks with our own eyes. (…) The miserable Greeks are the tenants of foreign capitalism.” [12]

Anatoly Glebov, who was the first secretary of the embassy during Aralov’s period, also states in his memoirs that Turkish women and children shed a lot of blood in the regions occupied by the Greeks; and in return, pressure was exerted on the Greeks, in the regions under Ankara’s rule. [13]

The Soviet artist Lansere, who came to Turkey upon Aralov’s invitation during the War of Liberation years and drew many pictures there, also refers in his memoirs to the massacres carried out against the Muslims upon invasion of Izmir by the Greeks. [14]

WRITINGS OF SOVIET ORIENTALISTS

Irandust, whose articles were frequently published among the official publications of the Soviet State such as Pravda and Izvestia, also touched on Greek atrocities in his works. Osetrov, using the name Irandust, writes in his work titled “The Driving Forces of the Kemalist Revolution” published in 1928:

“The program of physical extermination of the Turkish population was implemented consciously under the rule of the invaders, so much so that the fertile lands of Anatolia were reserved for Italian and Greek immigrants. This policy has taken a very sharp turn in Izmir. Here, an openly armed war was started by Greek immigrants to destroy the Turkish population and seize their assets. Disarmament of the Turkish peasants was often just an excuse for the destruction of all their villages. In the occupied areas, the survivors of the Turkish population were pushed into complete poverty.”

In his work, Irandust also states that the Greeks of the Black Sea Region committed massacres against the local Turkish population in order to revive the Pontus State. [15]

1. Pavlovich, one of the most important experts of the Soviet State, also talks about the “terrible massacre” committed by the Greeks in Izmir. [16]

Bagirov, one of the prominent Soviet historians, wrote “The Greek occupation of Izmir and its surroundings, brought with it massacres and murder against the people, children, the elderly; it also brought tyranny to women.” [17]

The Belarusian historian I. G. Drogovoz described the occupation of Izmir in his book with the following lines:

“The Greeks that came ashore, started from the very first moment, continuous massacres, looting, rape, humiliation and murder against the Turkish civilian population. On the first day alone, they killed 400 Turks: men-women, adults-children. On the following three days, the number of Turkish deaths reached four thousand in Izmir.”

Drogovoz also states that in the days of the liberation of Izmir, Turkish troops were in a legitimate defense effort to protect the Turkish population of Izmir from looting and massacres. In response, the Greeks set many houses on fire. In addition, a Greek submarine sank a ship containing Turkish prisoners of war. [18]

FROM THE ARCHIVES IN AZERBAIJAN

Soviet Azerbaijan did not remain indifferent to the massacres of the Turkish population in Anatolia. The protest text sent by Hüseyin Rauf Bey to all governments on behalf of the Turkish Grand National Assembly on August 31, 1922, also reached Baku:

“The Greeks are committing murder in the places where they are forced to evacuate in the current battle, similar to the atrocities and disasters they committed in the regions where they were forced to evacuate in the Inönü and Sakarya wars that they lost before. After evacuating Afyonkarahisar and its environs, they set fire to a large part of the Muslim neighborhood within the holy city and destroyed many villages in the vicinity, massacring their residents. They also committed similar crimes during the combat period of Dumlupınar War, in the Olucuk area around Altuntaş, filling the people, women and children included, into mosques and prayer houses, they burned them alive.

The Greeks completely burned down the towns of Umurbey and Çalköy and partially massacred the people living there, burning some people alive. They also burned down Dumlupınar.” [19]

Azerbaijan’s People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs M. D. Huseynov attached a note on this document saying: “The ‘Rabochiy’, ‘Trud’ and ‘Communist’ newspapers should publish this article, specifying the anger and protest of the Soviet State. They should also show the ingenuity of Greece, the sister of the Allies that protect it.”

In addition, on October 2, 1922, Azerbaijan Communist Party decided to establish an aid committee for helping the Anatolian Turks that were harmed by the Greeks and opened up a special fund for it. [20]

FROM THE ARCHIVES OF WESTERN EUROPE

Even though they did not voice it at that time, the Western European States which supported the Greek invasion included in their secret reports that Greek atrocities were carried out in Western Anatolia. Striking examples can be found in the works of Salahi Sonyel, who has been working in the European archives for many years; for example, in the reports of the officials of countries such as England, America, Italy and Sweden on this subject together with archive registration numbers. [21]

Although very rare, there have been writers who touched this point among Greek historians. Georgios Nakracas, in his work which he expresses to have written in order to enlighten the fictitious historical myths and to contribute to the correction of mistakes, acknowledges that the Greeks committed massacres a few hours after their arrival in Izmir, followed by more slaughters that took place in cities like Aydın, Menemen and Bergama. [22]

THE TURKISH POPULATION WAS SAVED FROM ANNIHILATION

The documents cited above are just some examples of what is to be found in the archives, there are much more sources available. If an ethnic cleansing took place in the Aegean Region, it was done against the Turkish population during the Greek occupation.

The Turkish War of Independence, which attained victory with the Great Offensive (Büyük Taarruz), not only saved the lands occupied by the imperialist forces, it also saved the Turkish population in the region from being exterminated.

[1]From the The Foreign Policy Archive of the Russian Federation (AVPRF) f. 132, op. 4, p. 4, d. 2, l. 89.

[2]For the French original, French copy and Russian translation of the letter, pls see: AVPRF f. 132, op. 4, p. 4, d. 6, l. 62-64.

[3]For the full report pls see: RGVA f. 25899, op. 3, d. 319, l. 36-43, 36 ob.-43 ob.

[4]RGVA f. 25899, op. 3, d. 498, l. 198.

[5]RGVA f. 25899, op 3, d. 482, l. 60 and 60 ob.

[6]RGVA f. 109, op. 3, d. 278 or 279, l. 31.

[7]RGVA f. 109, op. 3, d. 302, l. 20 ob.

[8]Rasih Nuri İleri, Atatürk ve Komünizm, Scala Printing House, 5^thed., Istanbul, May 1999, p. 314.

[9]Frunze’nin Türkiye Anıları, Cem Printing House, Istanbul, 1978, pp. 8, 108.

[10]S. I. Aralov, Bir Sovyet Diplomatının Türkiye Hatıraları, Burçak Printing House, Istanbul, 1967, p. 142.

[11]Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History (RGASPI) f. 544, op. 3, d. 117, l. 150.

[12]Newspapers Vakitdated February 26, 1923 and Tanindated February 26, 1923.

[13]Anatoly Glebov, Liniya Druzhby, Sovyetsky Pisatel, Moscow, 1960, p. 34.

[14]Y. Y. Lansere, Ankara Yazı, Kaynak Publishing, Istanbul, October 2004, p. 91.

[15]Irandust, Dvizhushie Sily Kemalistskoy Revolyutsii, Gosudarstvennoe Izdatelstvo, Moscow-Leningrad, 1928, pp. 67, 70.

[16]M. P. Pavlovich, “Revolyutsionnaya Turtsiya”, Turtsiya v Borbe Za Nezavisimost, Nauchnaya Assotsiatsiya Vostokovedeniya Pri TsIK SSSR, Moscow, 1925, pp. 49, 63.

[17]Y. A. Bagirov, Kurtuluş Savaşı Yıllarında Azerbaycan-Türkiye İlişkileri, Bilim Publishing, Istanbul, February 1979, p. 108.

[18]Pls see I. G. Drogovoz, Turetskiy Marsh. Turtsiya v Ogne Srazheniy, Harvest, Minsk, 2007, pp. 319, 340.

[19]State Archive of Political Parties and Social Movements of the Azerbaijan Republic, f 281, op. 1, d. 27, l. 116-117 (in Turkish). The Russian translation is in f. 28, op. 1, d. 68, l. 115b, 118.

[20]For details pls see Betül Arslan, Türkiye Azerbaycan İlişkileri ve İbrahim Abilov (1920-1923),Kaynak Publishing, Istanbul, October 2004, p. 108 ff.

[21]Pls see, Salahi Sonyel, Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk) ve Kurtuluş Savaşı, vol .1, TTK Publishing, Ankara, 2008, p. 171 ff; Salahi R. Sonyel, Kaygılı Yıllar, Remzi Publishing, November 2012, pp. 253 ff, 264 ff.

[22]Pls see. Georgios Nakracas, Anadolu ve Rum Göçmenlerin Kökeni, Kitabevi Publishing, Istanbul, 2005, p. 70.

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August 26, 2020
Bringing Color into the Lives of the Ottoman Armenians
- Maps
- Vilayet of Sivas
- Sandjak of Sivas
Colorized Photographs from Sivas/Sepasdia

Bringing Color into the Lives of the Ottoman Armenians

Author: Azad Balabanian, 18/08/20 (Last modified: 18/08/20)

Introduction

As we progress into the 21st century, the tools at our disposal to document, describe, and relive our history progress alongside us. The tools help us shape the narrative about ourselves that we live by, that we tell our children, and pass on to generations.

The 20th century brought forward a new form of artistry, Photography, adopted and mastered by Armenian craftsmen in the Ottoman Empire like Abdullah Brothers, Yessai Garabedian, and Zorapapel Krikor Donatossian. Their work left us with mementos of the lives of the Ottoman Armenians, be it their family photographs, weddings, graduating scholars, or purely, still life.

For the next century, Photography continued to develop and become more widespread. It transitioned from a chemical process into a digital one, taking advantage of the advancements in software and silicon. Not only did the cameras change, but the medium in which photographs were viewed did as well. Instead of images having to be printed and varnished, today a photograph can now be shared to billions of people with smartphones instantly.

The Holy Virgin Cathedral of Sivas/Sepasdia. Photograph by Aroutyoun Encababian, Sivas (Source: Mekhitarist Order, San Lazzaro, Venice)

Just in the last decade, another large leap in imaging and computer science has been driven by something called Machine Learning, commonly referred to as Artificial Intelligence. As a result of the endless amount of data generated and shared on the Internet, computer scientists can create and “train” machine learning models to be able to “understand” the underlying principles between certain data to extrapolate and generate information in places where there are none.

One area of interest is the ability to colorize black-and-white photographs, which is a profound use of machine learning technology. Given the depth, variety, and extent of the Houshamadyan archives, we decided to give the best colorizing machine learning model, DeOldify, a try to determine how well a generalized model can work on any photograph.

It should be noted however, that attempting to colorize a black-and-white photograph, the intent is not to “improve” or “change” the original image but to offer a new perspective into the world that it captures.

Typically, Photography archives focus on preserving and presenting the original data in its most original and authentic state. It should be noted that the purpose of the Houshamadyan Archives is to “reconstruct” Ottoman Armenian town and village life, rather than simply putting forward the raw photographs, objects, and materials. Colorizing photographs certainly falls within that definition.

The images of this article are entirely colorized using the open-sourced DeOldify machine learning model.

The Der Garabedian family, Sivas/Sepasdia (Source: Andréassian collection, Paris).

1) Sivas, the Kltian family. Hagop Kltian is seated, to his left is his wife Takouhi Kltian. The others are their daughters – Baydzar, Shnorhig and Dirouhi (Source: Arousyag Mgrdichian collection, Istanbul).

2) Sivas, the Kltian family. Hagop Kltian is seated on the right. Hagop’s wife, Takouhi, is standing in the middle. The others are Hagop’s daughters, Baydzar and Lousig. After his first wife’s (Dirouhi) death, Hagop remarried with Takouhi, who was a widower and had a son named Missak (Source: Arousyag Mgrdichian collection, Istanbul).

3) The wedding photograph of Avedis Ghazarian and Parantsem Ghazarian (née Shahinian) taken on 12/23 October 1909, in Sivas by the Enkababian Bros. (Source: Avo Gazal collection, New York).

4) The Didizian family from Gürün (located in Sivas province), ca. 1910. Standing (from left): Mania Didizian, Dikranuhie Didizian (née Nahabedian), Setrag Didizian, Hagop Haig Didizian. Seated: Haigag Hagop Didizian. Photograph by Encababian Bros. (Sivas/Sepasdia) (Source: Didizian family collection, London).

5) An Armenian family of the city of Sivas/Sepasdia (Source: Nubarian Library collection, Paris).

6) Haroutyoun Efendi Kasabashian, photographed on his horse in Sivas/Sepasdia (Source: Kasabach/Getoor collection, Southfield, MI).

The Technical Details of How DeOldify Works

DeOldify is a “deep learning” model that has been “trained” on millions of photographs to be able to predict the colors of a color-less photograph.

How does it work? We shall attempt to explain the underlying technical principles of DeOldify as well as discuss our results in an attempt to demonstrate the limitations of machine learning and understand the areas that we hope to see improved in the near future.

Training Phase

A deep learning model works by first being trained with data that includes both the questions and the correctanswers, so that the model can learn and infer the steps going from a “question” to its correct answer.

In fact, this is very similar to we as humans learn: when studying a subject like math or science, it’s useful to have both the question and its answer, so that you can work out the steps to reach the desired answer (otherwise, you’d be running blind).

DeOldify combines advancements in machine learning, namely Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), where the model is first trained on a set of data with both the question and its answer, and with that knowledge, tries to answer questions that it hasn’t encountered before.

In the training phase, the model needs a lot of data to first learn the underlying principles that we want it to understand, which in this case is the difference between a colored photograph and its black-and-white counterpart.

The model consists of two main components: the Image Generator and the Image Critic. In the following steps, you will see how these two components interact to create the deep learning model.

First, the Image Generator needs to learn how to colorize an image.
- The software downloads images with color from the ImageNet database (which is an open-sourced database with millions of images scientists use to train various machine learning models with).
- The images’ colors are removed so that they are now black-and-white.
- The Image Generator attempts to re-color those images, with a random set of colors.
- It then compares its attempted colorizations with the images’ original colors to determine how close its prediction was.
- Given its last attempt, the Image Generator tries to color the image again and again, until it reaches a result that is good enough.
At this stage, the model’s second component is introduced: the Image Critic, which is trained to be able to detect whether an image is real or fake, as in, whether the colors of the image it is critiquing is its true colors or colorized by the Image Generator.

To be able to achieve accurate image colorization, the colorization result needs to be good enough to trick the Critic into thinking that the image’s colors are not colorized, but are in fact, real.

If the Critic is not very good at detecting colorizations, the results that pass its test will not look very realistic. For that reason, the Critic itself needs to be trained to be able to have a very high standard of what image can pass its test.

The Image Critic is trained with the following steps.
- The Image Generator colorizes a number of images.
- The Image Critic is given a set of images, some that are colorized by the Generator (fake), and some that are colored images from ImageNet (real).
- It attempts to critique whether each image’s colorization is real or fake. It is then given a score on whether its critiques were accurate or not.
- Given the results of its previous critiques, it tries again and again until its critiques are accurate.
Now that both the Image Generator and Image Critic are trained to be good at generating colorized images and being able to detect whether the colorizations are real or generated, the final stage of training is reached.

The Image Generator and the Image Critic have to train against one another, with one trying to out-learn and out-perform the other and be able to generate the best colored result. They iteratively go back-and-forth, generating new colorizations, critiquing them, and trying to pass the real-or-fake test.

This is why this method is called a Generative Adversarial Network, as the Generator and Critic are adversaries, working against each other and trying to fool one another.

The images in the article are the results that have come out of the DeOldify model, meaning that their colors were generated by the Image Generator, critiqued by the Image Critic, and passed its real-or-fake test.

The Andreassians’ cousins, Sivas, before 1915. A family of drapers. The men in the photograph are Nchan Andreassian’s and Nazareth Andreassian’s sons: Levon, Mardiros, Hratch, Dikran, Mihran, Mgrditch (Source: Andréassian collection, Paris).

The Armenian community orphanage in the town of Sivas/Sepastia in 1902. Seated exactly in the centre is Mihran Effendi Ispirian (the director) (Source: Nubarian Library collection, Paris).

Looking Forward

The results we show in this article are some of the best results we’ve been able to achieve.

As you can most likely see, however, the colorization attempts are not 100% accurate. There are patches where the image is still grey, or colors in the image aren’t particularly accurate.

Determining why certain results are better than others is not particularly an easy thing to do with machine learning models, as the underlying principles that the model learns during training are abstract and partially inaccessible to the scientists that create them.

Of course, the quality of the original black-and-white photograph makes a large difference in the colorization results. We’ve found that photographs with high contrast produce better results than photographs that are “washed-out”.

Other reasons for inaccuracies could be based on the images that the model was trained from, biasing the model towards the things, people, and places in the images found in the training data.

The potential, however, to use ever-improving software to bring our people and history clearer is very exciting.

As the Houshamadyan motto is to “reconstruct the life of the Armenians in the Ottomon Empire”, this colorization attempt is a literal way to bring our history from the Ottoman times into full color.

Sivas (or Adana), 1923. The deceased is Sivas born Meridjan Ansourian (Source: Andréassian collection, Paris).

Funeral in Sivas (before 1913). The dead woman is Vartouhi Andreassian (née Achbayan) (Source: Andréassian collection, Paris).

Try DeOldify With Your Own Photos!

The benefit of the Internet and open-source software is its accessibility to anyone!

If you’d like to colorize your own black-and-white photographs, the website MyHeritage has built the latest version of DeOldify into its website, allowing you to colorize up to 10 photographs for free (it will require you to create a free MyHeritage account).

For people that are more technically savvy and are using a modern computer, you can access the open-source version of DeOldify on GitHub to colorize as many photographs as you’d like. You can use its “stable” version to get more consistent colors or its “artistic” version to get more colorful results. They even have a version for colorizing video!

1) The graduates of the Armenian school in Sivas/Sepasdia, around 1912 – Hrant Shahabian should be in this photo (Source: Kasabach/Getoor collection, Southfield, MI).

2) A unique photo. From the presence of musical instruments, books, and newspapers we can assume that the photographer and the men in the photograph had the desire to produce an artistic photograph impregnated by their intellectual life. The location is unknown, but we assume that the photo was taken either in Sivas/Sepasdia or in Marsovan/Merzifon sometime after 1908. Mihran Toumajan is sitting second from the right, he’s in a white shirt and holds what appears to be a newspaper on his lap. Right next to the feet of the young man sitting in the center we can see the ARF Dashnaktsutyun’s “Droshak” «Դրօշակ» official newspaper, with the image of the revolutianary Sevkaretsi Sako, on the cover (Source: Turnamian collection, USA).

About the Author

Azad Balabanian is a Cinematographer and Photogrammetry Artist specializing in 3D scanning and Virtual Reality.

His work has been featured by DJI, Oculus Medium, and the Institute for the Future, as a creative technologist pushing the medium in a new direction.

His work is largely based around a 3D mapping technique called Photogrammetry, which produces photorealistic 3D reconstruction of places from around the world. His love for Aerial Cinematography has taken him from Iceland to Armenia, creating cinematic short films, and documenting a vast amount of history.

He is the Dir. of Photogrammetry at Realities.io and is the host of the Research VR Podcast, hosting discussions about the Science and Design of Virtual Reality and Spatial Computing.

houshamadyan
August 20, 2020
US Kurdish policy

August 20, 2020
Taking Hard Line, Greece Turns Back Migrants by Abandoning Them at Sea

Many Greeks have grown frustrated as tens of thousands of asylum seekers languished on Greek islands. Now, evidence shows, a new conservative government has a new method of keeping them out.

Migrants aboard an inflatable boat heading to the Greek island of Lesbos.Credit…Aris Messinis/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

By Patrick Kingsley and Karam Shoumali

RHODES, Greece — The Greek government has secretly expelled more than 1,000 refugees from Europe’s borders in recent months, sailing many of them to the edge of Greek territorial waters and then abandoning them in inflatable and sometimes overburdened life rafts.

Since March, at least 1,072 asylum seekers have been dropped at sea by Greek officials in at least 31 separate expulsions, according to an analysis of evidence by The New York Times from three independent watchdogs, two academic researchers and the Turkish Coast Guard. The Times interviewed survivors from five of those episodes and reviewed photographic or video evidence from all 31.

“It was very inhumane,” said Najma al-Khatib, a 50-year-old Syrian teacher, who says masked Greek officials took her and 22 others, including two babies, under cover of darkness from a detention center on the island of Rhodes on July 26 and abandoned them in a rudderless, motorless life raft before they were rescued by the Turkish Coast Guard.

“I left Syria for fear of bombing — but when this happened, I wished I’d died under a bomb,” she told The Times.

Illegal under international law, the expulsions are the mostdirect and sustained attempt by a European country to block maritime migration using its own forces since the height of the migration crisis in 2015, when Greece was the main thoroughfare for migrants and refugees seeking to enter Europe.

The Greek government denied any illegality.

“Greek authorities do not engage in clandestine activities,’’ said a government spokesman, Stelios Petsas. “Greece has a proven track record when it comes to observing international law, conventions and protocols. This includes the treatment of refugees and migrants.”

Migrants landing in Lesbos after crossing the Aegean Sea in February. During the pandemic, hundreds of migrants have been denied the right to seek asylum even after they have landed on Greek soil.Credit…Aris Messinis/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Since 2015, European countries like Greece and Italy have mainly relied on proxies, like the Turkish and Libyan governments, to head off maritime migration. What is different now is that the Greek government is increasingly taking matters into its own hands, watchdog groups and researchers say.

For example, migrants have been forced onto sometimes leaky life rafts and left to drift at the border between Turkish and Greek waters, while others have been left to drift in their own boats after Greek officials disabled their engines.

“These pushbacks are totally illegal in all their aspects, in international law and in European law,” said Prof. François Crépeau, an expert on international law and a former United Nations special rapporteur on the human rights of migrants.

“It is a human rights and humanitarian disaster,” Professor Crépeau added.

Greeks were once far more understanding of the plight of migrants. But many have grown frustrated and hostile after a half-decade in which other European countries offered Greece only modest assistance as tens of thousands of asylum seekers languished in squalid camps on overburdened Greek islands.

Since the election last year of a new conservative government under Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Greece has taken a far harder line against the migrants — often refugees from the war in Syria — who push off Turkish shores for Europe.

The harsher approach comes as tensions have mounted with Turkey, itself burdened with 3.6 million refugees from the Syrian war, far more than any other nation.

Greece believes that Turkey has tried to weaponize the migrants to increase pressure on Europe for aid and assistance in the Syrian War. But it has also added pressure on Greece at a time when the two nations and others spar over contested gas fields in the eastern Mediterranean.

For several days in late February and early March, the Turkish authorities openly bused thousands of migrants to the Greek land border in a bid to set off a confrontation, leading to the shooting of at least one Syrian refugee and the immediate extrajudicial expulsions of hundreds of migrants who made it to Greek territory.

Migrants clashing with Greek border guards at the Pazarkule border crossing with Turkey in March.Credit…Mauricio Lima for The New York Times

For years, Greek officials have been accused of intercepting and expelling migrants, on a sporadic and infrequent basis, usually before the migrants manage to land their boats on Greek soil.

But experts say Greece’s behavior during the pandemic has been far more systematic and coordinated. Hundreds of migrants have been denied the right to seek asylum even after they have landed on Greek soil, and they’ve been forbidden to appeal their expulsion through the legal system.

“They’ve seized the moment,” Professor Crépeau said of the Greeks. “The coronavirus has provided a window of opportunity to close national borders to whoever they’ve wanted.”

Emboldened by the lack of sustained criticism from the European Union, where the migration issue has roiled politics, Greece has hardened its approach in the eastern Mediterranean in recent months.

Migrants landing on the Greek islands from Turkey have frequently been forced onto sometimes leaky, inflatable life rafts, dropped at the boundary between Turkish and Greek waters, and left to drift until being spotted and rescued by the Turkish Coast Guard.

“This practice is totally unprecedented in Greece,” said Niamh Keady-Tabbal, a doctoral researcher at the Irish Center for Human Rights, and one of the first to document the phenomenon.

“Greek authorities are now weaponizing rescue equipment to illegally expel asylum seekers in a new, violent and highly visible pattern of pushbacks spanning several Aegean Islands,” Ms. Keady-Tabbal said.

Ms. al-Khatib, who recounted her ordeal for The Times, said she entered Turkey last November with her two sons, 14 and 12, fleeing the advance of the Syrian Army. Her husband, who had entered several weeks earlier, soon died of cancer, Ms. al-Khatib said.

With few prospects in Turkey, the family tried to reach Greece by boat three times this summer, failing once in May because their smuggler did not show up, and a second time in June after being intercepted in Greek waters and towed back to the Turkish sea border, she said.

Najma al-Khatib after being rescued on July 27 in Turkish territorial waters, in a photograph made available by the Turkish Coast Guard.Credit…Turkish Coast Guard Command

On their third attempt, on July 23 at around 7 a.m., they landed on the Greek island of Rhodes, Ms. al-Khatib said, an account corroborated by four other passengers interviewed by The Times. They were detained by Greek police officers and taken to a small makeshift detention facility after handing over their identification documents.

Using footage filmed at this site by two passengers, a Times reporter was able to identify the facility’s location beside the island’s main ferry port and visit the camp.

A Coast Guard officer and an official at the island’s mayoralty both said the site falls under the jurisdiction of the Port Police, an arm of the Hellenic Coast Guard.

A Palestinian refugee, living in a disused slaughterhouse beside the camp, confirmed that Ms. al-Khatib had been there, recounting how he had spoken to her through the camp’s fence and bought her tablets to treat her hypertension, which Greek officials had refused to supply her.

On the evening of July 26, Ms. al-Khatib and the other detainees said that police officers had loaded them onto a bus, telling them they were being taken to a camp on another island, and then to Athens.

Instead, masked Greek officials transferred them to two vessels that ferried them out to sea before dropping them on rafts at the Turkish maritime border, she and other survivors said.

Amid choppy waves, the group, which included two babies, was forced to drain the raft using their hands as water slopped over the side, they said.

The group was rescued at 4:30 a.m. by the Turkish Coast Guard, according to a report by the Coast Guard that included a photograph of Ms. al-Khatib as she left the life raft.

Ms. al-Khatib tried to reach Greece for a fourth time, on Aug. 6, but said her boat was stopped off the island of Lesbos by Greek officials, who removed its fuel and towed it back to Turkish waters.

Some groups of migrants have been transferred to the life rafts even before landing on Greek soil.

The makeshift detention facility beside the main ferry port in Rhodes.Credit…Patrick Kingsley/The New York Times

On May 13, Amjad Naim, a 24-year-old Palestinian law student, was among a group of 30 migrants intercepted by Greek officials as they approached the shores of Samos, a Greek island close to Turkey.

The migrants were quickly transferred to two small life rafts that began to deflate under the weight of so many people, Mr. Naim said. Transferred to two other rafts, they were then towed back toward Turkey.

Videos captured by Mr. Naim on his phone show the two rafts being tugged across the sea by a large white vessel. Footage subsequently published by the Turkish Coast Guard shows the same two rafts being rescued by Turkish officials later in the day.

Migrants have also been left to drift in the boats they arrived on, after Greek officials disabled their engines, survivors and researchers say. And on at least two occasions, migrants have been abandoned on Ciplak, an uninhabited island within Turkish waters, instead of being placed on life rafts.

“Eventually the Turkish Coast Guard came to fetch us,” said one Palestinian survivor who was among a group abandoned on Ciplak in early July, and who sent videos of their time on the island. A report from the Turkish Coast Guard corroborated his account.

In parallel, several rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch, have documented how the Greek authorities have rounded up migrants living legally in Greece and secretly expelled them without legal recourse across the Evros River, which divides mainland Greece from Turkey.

Feras Fattouh, a 30-year-old Syrian X-ray technician, said he was arrested by the Greek police on July 24 in Igoumenitsa, a port in western Greece. Mr. Fattouh had been living legally in Greece since November 2019 with his wife and son, and showed The Times documents to prove it.

But after being detained by the police in Igoumenitsa, Mr. Fattouh said, he was robbed and driven about 400 miles east to the Turkish border, before being secretly put on a dinghy with 18 others and sent across the river to Turkey. His wife and son remain in Greece.

The Evros River, which divides Greece and Turkey.Credit…Mauricio Lima for The New York Times

“Syrians are suffering in Turkey,” Mr. Fattouh said. “We’re suffering in Greece. Where are we supposed to go?”

Ylva Johansson, who oversees migration policy at the European Commission, the civil service for the European Union, said she was concerned by the accusations but had no power to investigate them.

“We cannot protect our European border by violating European values and by breaching people’s rights,” Ms. Johansson said in an email. “Border control can and must go hand in hand with respect for fundamental rights.”

Patrick Kingsley reported from Rhodes, Greece, and Karam Shoumali from Berlin.Greece, Turkey and MigrationVigilantes in Greece Say ‘No More’ to MigrantsMarch 7, 2020Turkey, Pressing E.U. for Help in Syria, Threatens to Open Borders to RefugeesFeb. 28, 2020‘We Are Like Animals’: Inside Greece’s Secret Site for MigrantsMarch 10, 2020Turkish Aggression Is NATO’s ‘Elephant in the Room’Aug. 3, 2020

Patrick Kingsley is an international correspondent, focusing on long-term reporting projects. He has reported from more than 40 countries, written two books, and previously covered migration and the Middle East for The Guardian. @PatrickKingsley A version of this article appears in print on Aug. 15, 2020, Section A, Page 1 of the New York edition with the headline: Quietly, Greece Casts Refugees Adrift in Rafts. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

August 18, 2020
Turkey to suspend research in waters disputed with Greece

In this photo taken Monday, July 27, 2020, Turkey’s research vessel, Oruc Reis, anchored off the coast of Antalya on the Mediterranean, Turkey. A top Turkish official said Tuesday that Turkey will suspend research for oil and gas exploration in disputed waters in the Eastern Mediterranean. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told his aides to “be constructive and put this on hold for some time,” presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin told Turkish broadcaster CNN Turk. (Burhan Ozbilici/Associated Press)

By Zeynep Bilginsoy | APJuly 28, 2020 at 5:55 a.m. EDT

ISTANBUL — Turkey will suspend research for oil and gas exploration in disputed waters in the Eastern Mediterranean that abruptly raised military tensions with neighboring Greece, a top Turkish official said Tuesday.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told his aides to “put this on hold for some time,” presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin told Turkish broadcaster CNN Turk.

Last week, Turkey announced plans to dispatch research vessel Oruc Reis and two support ships to carry out operations through Aug. 2 south of the Greek islands of Rhodes, Karpathos, and Kastellorizo. The islands are close to Turkey’s coastline.

The declaration on Navtex, the international maritime safety system, angered Greece and prompted criticism by the United States, France, and other European countries.

“Greece gave an extreme reaction after our Navtex as if we will go occupy Meis Island (Kastellorizo),” Kalin said on CNN Turk. He said the planned area of exploration stood about 180 kilometers away from the small island.

“Nevertheless, our president said ’since these negotiations are continuing, let’s see what happens and put this on hold for some time,” Kalin was quoted as saying.

NATO allies Greece and Turkey are at odds over drilling rights in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Turkey has accused Greece of trying to exclude it from the benefits of potential oil and gas finds in the Aegean Sea and Eastern Mediterranean, arguing that sea boundaries for commercial exploitation should be divided between the Greek and Turkish mainlands and not include the Greek islands on an equal basis. Athens counters that Turkey’s position is a violation of international law.

Serhat Guvenc, professor of international relations at Kadir Has University in Istanbul, said the presence of elements of the U.S. Sixth Fleet for naval exercises in the area contributed to Turkey’s decision to suspend the exploration — which he called a “strategic retreat” by Turkey.AD

The Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group participated in surface exercises with the Greek navy between July 24-28.

“This was the direct result of the U.S. involvement, although the message was subtle and there was never an overt threat either against Turkey or Greece. But the presence of such a formidable and sizable U.S. naval force gives a clear message that Washington cannot afford to see a crisis between two of its allies turning into a hot conflict,” Guvenc said.

Kalin emphasized the need for negotiations, saying bilateral issues with Greece should be solved through dialogue rather than through threats on Turkey’s bid for European Union membership.

He also suggested: “Everyone should continue working on their own continental shelves and conduct joint work in contested areas.”

In Athens, Greek government spokesman Stelios Petsas welcomed Turkey’s decision. He described the latest research mission as “illegal” but added that he hoped the two countries could have substantive talks.AD

“This is a positive development,” Petsas told private Skai television. “We want to have open channels of communication with Turkey and to discuss the issue that has been plaguing the two sides for many decades now: The demarcation of maritime zones. This is the issue, which of course needs the proper framework to move forward.”

The two historic regional rivals have come close to war three times since the early 1970s, including over offshore exploitation rights, ownership of an uninhabited Aegean Sea islet. The most serious confrontation was in 1974, when Turkey invaded the Eastern Mediterranean island nation of Cyprus, following an abortive coup by supporters of union with Greece.

Germany has led a diplomatic effort between the two sides, and earlier this month hosted a meeting that included Kalin and the head of the Greek prime minister’s diplomatic office. The meeting, held in Berlin, was revealed several days later by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.AD

“The game changer was the US policy of using the proverbial big stick in dealing with Turkey and Greece,” Guvenc said, adding that “Germany had little means to stop a naval confrontation between the two countries.”

___ Derek Gatopoulos in Athens contributed.

___ Follow Bilginsoy at

Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

July 29, 2020
Is the Greek Coast Guard attacking migrant boats?

Video has emerged of masked men attacking the boats of migrants trying to reach Greece. The identity of the attackers remains unclear, but a DW investigations unit and Bellingcat have uncovered information that may link them to the Greek Coast Guard.

July 8, 2020