ARMENIAN - Erevangala500

Minister Henri Franklin-Bouillon rushed to Anatolia, thus
letting it be known that his future negotiating partner was
in Ankara - not in Istanbul where a powerless Ottoman
government was still feigning sovereignty. France thus
accepted the new Turkish "National Pact" and at the same
time made it clear that they considered the dictate o f
Sevres null and void. This was the same France that had
once been the most stubborn and brazen o f all the powers
in goading the Armenians on to terrorism and war. But
back then the goal had been to weaken the Ottoman
Empire. The French quickly changed their tune when it
became apparent that they could not get the better o f the
Turks in this fashion. The "cause o f the Armenians" fell
into oblivion overnight, just like the "Great Greek
Empire", which also self-destructed by overstretching its
opportunities.
In August, 1922, after careful preparation, the Turks
began their assault on the Greek invaders. The Greeks, in
the meantime, had fonned a hedgehog defense in Anatolia
and were putting all their chips on "victory". King
Constantine him self even visited the Anatolian theater of
war on June 13, 1921. In a gesture that was truly pregnant
with symbolic meaning, he set foot on land in the same
spot where the Crusaders had come ashore centuries earlier
(also in vain).
On September 2, 1922, Turkish troops liberated Eskishe-
hir. A week later they were in Manisa, which the Greeks
burned before their departure. They did the same a short
while later to Izmir. The Turks were to be left with nothing
but "scorched earth". Just before Kemal's victoriousforces
marched into Izmir, a devastating fire broke out in the
Armenian quarter o f the city. 25,000 buildings, which
amounted to half o f the entire city, were reduced to ashes.
Fire brigades ran around helplessly, searching in vain for
water supplies. The cisterns were empty, the fire hoses cut,
and the water supplies cut off. This "holokauston" was the
greatest "bumt-offering" ever made in the lands o f the
ancient world. It may well have been the work o f the
Dashnaks. If so, it is second only to the annihilation o f Van
(spring, 1915) on the list o f most appalling Dashnak terrorist
acts ever to plague the world. The arsonists naturally
spread the rumor throughout the world that the Turks had
laid waste to the second largest, second richest, and second
most beautiful city in Anatolia - on the day o f their triumphant
entry!
The world public swallowed this nonsense, just as they
had swallowed the earlier atrocity reports with great satisfaction.
The tale o f the "Terrible Turk" was a sure-fire hit.
On October 11,1922, the victorious Turks and the defeated
Greeks signed the Armistice o f Mudanya. (Mudanya is
a town near Yalova where the Armenian irregulars had
wreaked havoc during the Greek occupation.) This
armistice brought the "Istikal Harbi", the Turkish war o f
independence, to a triumphant close. The government o f
His M ajesty the Sultan - still prisoner o f the Allies in
Istanbul - sent its regards.
The peace negotiations in Lausanne began on November
2 2 ,1 9 2 2 .
Ismet Pasha, the victorious general at Inonu, was leader o f
the Turkish delegation. He now emerged as a talented
diplomat after already having proved him self on the
battlefields o f Anatolia. He succeeded in presenting the
Turkish delegates as negotiating equals. He made it clear that
nationalisms. Consequently, the word "Armenian" is not
even hinted at in the Treaty o f Lausanne.
When Lord Curzon finally brought up the subject o f the
Armenians (apparently because he felt it was his obligation
- they certainly did not interest him anymore, having
served their purpose as useful pawns for the Allies), Ismet
Inonii cut him short:
"As regards the internal political factor, that is to say, the
natural desire o f minorities to free themselves, there is
occasion to observe that the Ottoman Empire, reduced to
essentially Turkish provinces, no longer contains any
minority which can form within it an independent State.
Until the principle o f nationalities receives an equal
application everywhere, separatist movements, designed
to liberate parts o f the Ottoman Empire containing a
considerable number o f non Turkish inhabitants, could
perhaps be justified. The situation is entirely different
today. Just as the Greeks established at Marseilles could
not reasonably think o f creating there an independent
Greek State or o f annexing it to their Mother-Country: in
the same way the Greeks or Armenians in Turkey could
not legitimately desire the same thing in Turkey"
EAAHNIKH ДНМОКРАТІА
ЕАсибіріос; Bc»tCeA