PERSECUTIONS OF THE GREEKS IN TURKEY SINCE THE ...

INTRODUCTION xv
struction of this bulwark of Hellenism and its supplanting
in this fertile country, in commerce and other activities,
by Germans and Austrians.
The scheme of the Young Turks, completed and perfected,
was adopted by the Germans and so the blind
passion of the Turks and the egotistical aims of the
Germans were satisfied.
Thus those morally guilty and those actually guilty
were united in their common struggle to deal a deadly
blow to-Hellenism in Turkey, the annihilation of which
they had vowed to complete.
And, in truth, the diabolical nature of the scheme
through which they sought the destruction of the Greek
element in Turkey and its total uprooting, at this period
in particular, is astounding.
In order to understand the vastness of the destruction
so satanically conceived, we must investigate as closely
as possible all the means that were used. They are the
following: First, abolishment of the special privileges;
second, drafting Christians into the army; third, taxation
and commandeering of Greek property; fourth, Turkification;
fifth, assassination and violence against individuals.
In all these ways the preparatory work for the extermination
of Hellenism on a broad scale was undertaken.
The examination of these various methods will be the
object of the first part of the present study. In the
second part there will be treated a sixth means of totally
exterminating Hellenism, i.e., the extensive deportations
of the Greek population on the feigned ground of military
necessity.