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Great Fire of İzmir is the name commonly given to the fire that ravaged İzmir (or Smyrna) starting 13 September 1922 and lasting for four days till 17 September. It occurred after the Turkish army regained control of the city on 9 September 1922, thus effectively ending the Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922) more than three years after the Greek army had invaded the city on 15 May 1919. The fire started in the largely Armenian Basmane quarter, destroying an important part of the 'inner-city' (there were several) Greek quarter of Alsancak and the business district along the sea front (Kordon). The reason of the fire is not fully determined and is a still widely disputed subject. There has been allegations from both sides, blaming, the Turks, Greeks or Armenians and there is also a theory that it was an accident caused by chaos.

Thousands of civilians (including Greek, Armenian and Turkish) are claimed to have died in the event of the fire. The estimations on the total casualities ranges from 2,000 by impartial sources to 100,000 by Armenian and Greek writers.

Mustafa Kemal's telegram

Even before the Turkish Army entered İzmir, Mustafa Kemal, Commander in Chief of Turkish armies had intel on a possibility of catastrophe. As the fire began to spread in İzmir Mustafa Kemal sent the following telegram:

FROM COMMANDER IN CHIEF GAZI MUSTAFA KEMAL PASHA TO THE MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS YUSUF KEMAL BEY

Tel. 17.9.38 (1922) (Arrived 4.10.38)

To be transmitted with care. Important and urgent.

Find hereunder the instruction I sent to Hamid Bey with Admiral Dumesmil, who left for İstanbul today.

Commander-In-Chief Mustafa KEMAL

Copy To Hamid Bey,

1. It is necessary to comment on the fire in İzmir for future reference.

Our army took all the necessary measures to protect İzmir from accidents, before entering the city. However, the Greeks and the Armenians, with their pre-arranged plans have decided to destroy İzmir. Speeches made by Hrisostomos at the churches have been heard by the Moslems, the burning of İzmir was defined as a religious duty. The destruction was accomplished by this organization. To confirm this, there are many documents and eyewitness accounts. Our soldiers worked with everything that they have to put out the fires. Those who attribute this to our soldiers may come to İzmir personally and see the situation. However, for a job like this, an official investigation is out of the question. The newspaper correspondents of various nationalities presently in İzmir are already executing this duty. The Christian population is treated with good care and the refugees are being returned to their places.

Despite the telegram, the fire was not contained and much of the city was destroyed.

Theory of chaos

Lord Kinross's biography of Atatürk (1964) refers to the deaths as individual and sporadic and places the total at 2,000. According to Kinross, the fire began when Turks, in trying to round up Armenians to confiscate their arms, besieged a group who had taken refuge in a house. They then decided to burn them out by setting the building alight. According to this account, other Armenians in İzmir, meanwhile, started another fire elsewhere to divert Turkish attention, and it is argued a strong wind could then have carried both fires from the outskirts of İzmir inward. Many of the buildings, being of flimsy construction, were reduced to ashes.

Sources claiming Turkish responsibility

Accounts proposed by some Greek an Armenian writers state that the Turks burned the Armenian and Greek quarters, and Nurettin Pasha is accused of starting the fire deliberately in an act of retribution. There exist conflicting eyewitness accounts and evidence over who started the fire.

Accusations against the Turks are largely based on the 1926 account given by George Horton, the U.S. Consul in the city during the three years of the Greco-Turkish War, as well as the content of the 1972 book by Armenian originated writer Marjorie Housepian Dobkin.

In a stinging criticism of the foreign policy of the Western Powers, the US Consul in İzmir, George Horton, published his eyewitness account in 1926. He reported that he saw uniformed Turkish soldiers pouring petroleum near the US consulate. However, according to Turkish sources, Consul Horton had left the city permanently on 11 September 1922, two days before the fire, and is thus not an eyewitness.

Armenian writer Marjorie Houspevian Dobkin's more recent account cites the estimate of Kinross that up to 100,000 people may have perished. She describes the fire as a pre-planned massacre aiming at all the non-Muslims left in the city.

However it should be noted that Consul Horton was transferred from journalism to diplomacy and all his diplomacy career was based on the Greek side (as consul of Athens, Salonica and finally İzmir during the Greek invasion). He was also married to a Greek-American (Catherine Sacopoulo) in addition to Houspevian being an Armenian herself.

These accusations ignore the official report drawn by Paul Grescovich, Chief of the İzmir Fire Department at that time.

Grescovich's official report

One of the documents thought to be neutral on the subject is the official report drawn by the Chief of İzmir Fire Fighting Department Paul Grescovich, an engineer of Serbian origin born and educated in Austria, and the additional information given by Mark O. Prentiss, an American industrial engineer present in İzmir during the time of the events. Their accounts state that the fire was systematically started by the escaping Greeks with the help of the Armenians.

Prentiss set foot in İzmir on 8 September 1922, one day prior to Turkish Army setting foot on İzmir after 3 years of invasion, as a special representative of the Near East Relief (an American charity organization whose sole purpose is to watch over and protect Armenians during the event of the war) along with USS Destroyer Lawrence carrying the commitee, under command of Capt. Wolleson. His superior was Rear Adm. Mark Lambert Bristol, U.S. High Commissioner to Ottoman Empire between 1919-1927, present in İstanbul.

In his report sent in the form of a manuscript to Rear Adm. Bristol he states that Grescovich, who had been fire chief for 12 years at that time, found strong evidence to suggest that Greeks and Armenians were the source of the fire. He states in his report:

"(…)The motive, usually considered of supreme importance in crimes of this sort, does not clearly point to the Turks. They had captured Smyrna. The city, as it stood, was one of the greatest prizes ever taken in Oriental warfare. The Turks had unquestioned title to its foods, its commodities of all sorts, its houses. It was a store house of supplies most urgently needed for its peoples and armies. Why destroy it?

It was a matter of common knowledge, on the other hand, that the Armenians and Greeks were determined not to let this booty fall into the hands of their hated enemies. There was a generally accepted report in Smyrna, for several days before the fire, that an organized group of Armenian young men had sworn to burn the city if it fell to the Turks. Evidence gathered by Paul Grescovich, Chief of the Smyrna Fire Department, and carefully checked by myself, together with information which came to me from other sources, points to the Armenians as authors of the fire.(…)

(…)

While I was there a squad of from fifteen to twenty Turkish soldiers, under the command of the captain, came to take over the hospital for Turkish military purposes. The refugees were searched, as they came from the grounds, and arms of various sorts sufficient to fill a truck were taken from them.(…)

On the following morning, Wednesday, the thirteenth of September, the situation was critical in the extreme. Paul Griscovich, Chief of the Smyrna Fire Department, told me that he had discovered bundles of discarded clothing, rags and bedding, covered with petroleum, in several of the institutions recently deserted by Armenian refugees. Grescovich impressed me as a thoroughly reliable witness(…) Twelve years ago he became chief of the Smyrna fire department, which he continued to conduct in a very efficient manner, for that part of the world, during the Greek occupation. He told me that during the first week of September there had been an average of five fires per day with which his crippled department had to cope. In his opinion most of these fires were caused by carelessness, but some undoubtedly were of incendiary origin. The average number of fires in a normal year, he said, would be one in ten days, and the increase to five a day seemed significant.

(…)Sunday night, Monday and Monday night, and Tuesday, so many fires were reported at such widely separated points that the fire department was absolutely unable to deal with them. They were extinguished by Turkish soldiers.

(…)It was on Wednesday morning that Griscovich himself found evidences of incendiaries. He told me that early that morning had seen two Armenian priests escorting several thousand men, women, children from the Armenian schools and Dominican churches where they had taken refuge down to the quays. When he presently went into these institutions he found petroleum-soaked refuse ready for the torch.

The chief told me, and there is no doubt that he was sure of it, that his own firemen, as well as Turkish guards, had shot down many Armenian young men disguised either as women or as Turkish irregular soldiers, who were caught setting fires Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.

At 11:20 Wednesday morning, at least half a dozen fires were reported almost simultaneously around the freight terminal warehouses and the passenger station of the Aidine Railroad.

It is noteworthy that these fires broke out in buildings which it was greatly to the advantage of Turks to preserve, and to the advantage of enemies to destroy.

(…)

During several weeks after the fire I had an opportunity to talk with many Turkish commanders, and they were all of one mind in leveling either bitter or philosophical accusations at their enemies for destroying the city(…) "Why should we burn the city?" they would ask. "Smyrna, with all its wealth and treasure, was ours. The fleeing Greek army had abandoned huge quantities of military stores and food supplies that were desperately needed by our armies and civilians. These have been destroyed, together with the warehouses and stations where many fires broke out. Besides, the fleeing Greeks and Armenians, many of them wealthy as you know, had abandoned everything in their homes and their stores. We were in absolute and undisputed possession. Do you think that we are such fools as to have destroyed everything?"

My attention has been called to many statements published broadcast in this country (United States) that the Turks were seen pouring petroleum around the American Consulate. I was in the vicinity of the Consulate most of the time and saw no petroleum.

(…)I have been able to find no evidence that either Turkish soldiers or Turkish civilians deliberately fired the city or wished its destruction.

The evidence all points in another direction..."

Greek scorched earth policy

The Greeks have been accused of following a scorched earth policy while fleeing from Anatolia during the ending phase of Turkish War of Independence after each battle they lost. Some sources believe the fire in İzmir to be the continuation of the scorched earth policy of the Greeks.

James Loder Park, the U.S. Vice-Consul in İstanbul at the time, who toured much of the devastated area immediately after the Greek evacuation, described the situation in the surrounding cities and towns of İzmir he has seen, as follows:

Manisa...almost completely wiped out by fire...10,300 houses, 15 mosques, 2 baths, 2,278 shops, 19 hotels, 26 villas…. Cassaba (present day Turgutlu) was a town of 40,000 souls, 3,000 of whom were non-Moslems. Of these 37,000 Turks only 6,000 could be accounted for among the living, while 1,000 Turks were known to have been shot or burned to death. Of the 2,000 buildings that constituted the city, only 200 remained standing. Ample testimony was available to the effect that the city was systematically destroyed by Greek soldiers, assisted by a number of Greek and Armenian civilians. Kerosene and gasoline were freely used to make the destruction more certain, rapid and complete. The destruction of the interior cities visited by our party was carried out by Greeks. The percentages of buildings destroyed in each of the last four cities…were: Manisa 90 percent, Cassaba (Turgutlu) 90 percent, Alaşehir 70 percent, Salihli 65 percent. The burning of these cities was not desultory, nor intermittent, nor accidental, but well planned and thoroughly organized. There were many instances of physical violence, most of which was deliberate and wanton. Without complete figures, which were impossible to obtain, it may safely be surmised that 'atrocities' committed by retiring Greeks numbered well into thousands in the four cities under consideration. These consisted of all three of the usual type of such atrocities, namely murder, torture and rape.

Many of the damaged buildings were warehouses, which might be logical for the Turks to preserve.

British refugees from İzmir

Still another witness is to be found in the person of Mr. H. Lamb, the British Consul General at İzmir who reported to his government that he "had reason to believe that Greeks in concert with Armenians had burned Smyrna" . This was confirmed by the correspondent of the Petit Parisien at İzmir in a dispatch on 20 September 1922.

There were not only Greeks and Armenians but also British taking refuge from İzmir as the invasion ended. While some fleeing to İstanbul, where they think it can still be held in British hands, some fled directly to Britain. There had been no record of missing British nationals during the fire. There were also eyewitnesses to the fire among the British refugees. According to London Times dated 6 October 1922:

Thirty-six refugees from Smyrna arrived at Plymouth to-day, having been sent home from Malta.

(...)

Mr. L. R. Whittall, barrister-at-law, who has been in Smyrna for some years said there was no evidence as to who set fire to the town, but the consensus of opinion was that it was Greek and Armenian incendiaries..

Other sources

While some sources believed the fire to be the continuation of the scorched earth policy of the Greeks, some believed Armenians had received instructions to burn İzmir as a sacred duty and to bring about an international intervention.

Alexander MacLachlan, the missionary president of International College of İzmir who has also been an eyewitness to the fire states that Turkish soldiers seen to have setting the fire were actually disguised Armenians. An article posted on The Times of September 25 1922 about MacLachlan is quoted as follows:

The Turks did not massacre Greeks, as Greeks had done to Turks in May 1919. About the worst the Turkish Army did was force captured Greek soldiers to shout "Long live Mustafa Kemal" (in return to their forcing Turks to shout "Zito Venizelos" when they entered Smyrna) as they marched into detention. Turkish soldiers protected International College during the disruption of the occupation; a Turkish cavalryman rescued MacLachlan from irregulars who nearly beat the missionary to death while trying to loot the agricultural buildings of the college. A three-day Smyrna fire (September 13-15), which Turks made every effort to control, destroyed nearly a square mile in Greek and Armenian areas and made two hundred thousand people homeless. Included in this loss was the American Board's Collegiate Institute for Girls. MacLachlan's investigation of the fire's origin led to the conviction that Armenian terrorists, dressed in Turkish uniforms, fired the city. Apparently the terrorists were attempting to bring Western intervention. Informing Washington of a three million Dollars claim by the American Board against the Ankara government, Barton requested through an aide that the U.S. participate in any conference planned by the Allies to rewrite the Treaty of Sevres. As the West talked of negotiating with the Kemalists, part of the American public began to realize that Armenianism and godliness were not identical. Ever since missionaries in the nineteenth century had become the dominant U.S. concern in the Ottoman Empire, opinion in America increasingly favored Christian minorities.

The Aftermath

It took years before the one of the biggest ports of Anatolia replenished and flourished with its old glory. Not only the Greek and Armenian quarters—from where the fire originated— the city was almost completely devastated by fire. The result was to the disadvantage of whoever left in the city, since it should be rebuilt from the ashes. There still exists a vast park serving as Turkey's greatest open air exhibition center which is preserved in the memory of the great fire which devastated the city as well as its inhabitants.

See also

• Turkish War of Independence
• Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922)
• Greco-Turkish relations

References

1. Bilal Şimşir, 1981. Atatürk ile Yazışmalar (The Correspondence with Atatürk), Kültür Bakanlığı
2. Lord Kinross, 1964. Atatürk: The Rebirth of a Nation, Phoenix Press. ISBN 1842125990.
3. George Horton, 1926. The Blight of Asia, An Account of the Systematic Extermination of Christian Populations by Mohammedans and of the Culpability of Certain Great Powers; with the True Story of the Burning of Smyrna"
4. Marjorie Housepian Dobkin, 1972. Smyrna 1922: The Destruction of a City, ISBN 0966745108.
5. U.S. Vice-Consul James Loder Park to Secretary of State, İzmir, 11 April 1923. US archives US767.68116/34
6. Colonel Rachid Galib, 18 May 1923. Current History, V., "Smyrna During the Greek Occupation" p.319.
7. The Times, 6 October 1922. Firing of the Town, Plymouth
8. The Times, 25 September 1922. A Missionary Eyewitness Lays the Blame on Armenians, London

External links

• İzmir fire
• Report by Mark O. Prentiss

• History of Turkey