Global InformationYalova Peninsula massacres information
| Yalova Peninsula Massacres | |
|---|---|
| Part of the Greco-Turkish War (1919–22) | |
 Map of targeted villages and towns on the peninsula | |
| Location |  Ottoman Empire,present-day Yalova and Bursa Province, Turkey |
| Date | 1920–1921 |
| Target | Muslim population (Turkish people, Muslim Georgians, Avar, Circassians and Laz people) |
Attack type | Mass murder |
| Deaths | 27 villages burned,[1] estimates: 300 (April–July 1921)[2] Ottoman inquiry of 177 survivors reported 35 as killed, wounded, beaten, or missing.[1] 1,500 out of 7,000 Muslims remained in the region after the events[3] or 6,000 had disappeared.[4][5] |
| Perpetrators | Hellenic Army[6] Groups of local Greeks, Armenians and Circassians[6][7][8] |
The Yalova Peninsula massacres were a series of massacres during 1920–1921, the majority of which occurred during March – May 1921. They were committed by local Greek and Armenian bands with the invading Hellenic Army,[1][6] against the Turkish Muslim population of the Yalova Peninsula.[6] There were 27 villages burned and in Armutlu.[1] According to journalist Arnold J. Toynbee c. 300 Muslims were killed during April–July 1921.[2] In an Ottoman inquiry of 177 survivors in Constantinople, the number of victims reported was very low (35), which is in line with Toynbee's descriptions that villagers fled after one to two murders.[9] Moreover, approximately 1,500 out of 7,000 Muslims remained in the region after the events[3] or 6,000 had left Yalova where 16 villages had been burned.[4] On the other hand, Ottoman and Turkish documents on massacres claim that at least 9,100 Muslim Turks were killed.[10]
The high death toll in the events convinced Toynbee that the Greeks were unfit to rule over Turks.[11] An Inter-Allied commission, consisting of British, French, American and Italian officers,[a] and headed by Maurice Gehri, the representative of the Geneva International Red Cross, and Arnold Toynbee went to the region to investigate the atrocities. Michael Smith claims that Circassian irregulars also took part in the massacres.[8]
One of the results was that refugees were transported to Allied-controlled Constantinople on ships.[3]
- ^ a b c d Gingeras, Ryan (2009). Sorrowful Shores:Violence, Ethnicity, and the End of the Ottoman Empire 1912-1923. Oxford University Press. p. 28. ISBN 9780191609794.
In total only thirty-five were reported to have been killed, wounded, beaten, or missing. This is in line with the observations of Arnold Toynbee, who declared that one to two murders were sufficient to drive away the population of a village.
- ^ a b Hofmann, Tessa (2016). "Yalova/Nicomedia 1920/1921. Massacres and Inter- Ethnic Conflict in a Failing State". The Displacement, Extinction and Genocide of the Pontic Greeks. 1916-1923. Ruhr University Bochum: 8.
The British journalist and historian Arnold Joseph Toynbee, who was war correspondent for the "Manchester Guardian" on the Yalova Peninsula from April until 3 July 1921, suggests a total of 300 Muslim victims.
- ^ a b c McNeill, William H. (1989). Arnold J. Toynbee: A Life. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199923397.
To protect their flanks from harassment, Greek military authorities then encouraged irregular bands of armed men to attack and destroy Turkish populations of the region they proposed to abandon. By the time the Red Crescent vessel arrived at Yalova from Constantinople in the last week of May, fourteen out of sixteen villages in that town's immediate hinterland had been destroyed, and there were only 1,500 survivors from the 7,000 Moslems who had been living in these communities.
- ^ a b Current history and forum (16 ed.). April–September 1922. p. 478. Retrieved 12 June 2014.
- ^ Publication - Turkey. Dahiliye vekâleti. Department of refugees - Google Books. 1921. Retrieved 7 September 2013.
- ^ a b c d Toynbee, Arnold Joseph (1970). The Western Question in Greece and Turkey:A Study in the Contact of Civilizations (The full version can be found here (Online reports of Arnold Toynbee)). H. Fertig, originally: University of California. pp. 283–284.
'The members of the Commission consider that, in the part of the kazas of Yalova and Guemlek occupied by the Greek army, there is a systematic plan of destruction of Turkish villages and extinction of the Moslem population. This plan is being carried out by Greek and Armenian bands, which appear to operate under Greek instructions and sometimes even with the assistance of detachments of regular troops
{{cite book}}: External link in|format= - ^ Toynbee, Arnold Joseph (1970). The Western Question in Greece and Turkey:A Study in the Contact of Civilizations (The full version can be found here (Online reports of Arnold Toynbee)). H. Fertig, originally: University of California. p. 286.
{{cite book}}: External link in|format= - ^ a b Smith, 1999: 209: "At the same time bands of Christian irregulars, Greek Armenian, and Circassian, looted, burned and murdered in the Yalove-Gemlik peninsula."
- ^ Gingeras, Ryan (2009). Sorrowful Shores:Violence, Ethnicity, and the End of the Ottoman Empire 1912-1923. Oxford University Press. p. 28. ISBN 9780191609794.
In total only thirty-five were reported to have been killed, wounded, beaten, or missing. This is in line with the observations of Arnold Toynbee, who declared that one to two murders were sufficient to drive away the population of a village.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:0was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Doumanis, Nicholas (2012). Before the Nation: Muslim-Christian Coexistence and Its Destruction in Late-Ottoman Anatolia. Oxford University Press. p. 161. ISBN 9780199547043. Retrieved 14 June 2014.
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).