16.4 The Armenian Genocide and the Fall of Smyrna
In the 7th century BCE invaders occupied areas east of Mt. Ararat which is a volcano in the east of Turkey and according to bible is where Noah's ark landed when the rains receded after the flood.
The invaders are the first historical record we have of the Armenians. They were quickly invaded by one empire after another and eventually became part of the Islamic Ottoman empire (Turkey) where they were forced to become dhimmis. The Armenians began to ask for civil reforms and better treatment by the government in the mid-1860s and early 1870s. When Armenians started demanding equal rights and pushing for autonomy, the Turkish Muslims massacred between 100,000 and 300,000 of them. The chief dragoman (Turkish interpreter) of the British Embassy wrote that the reason the Ottomans committed these atrocities was because they were guided in their general action by the prescriptions of Sharia Law. That law prescribes that if the dhimmi Christian attempts, to free themselves from their bondage, their lives and property are to be forfeited, and are at the mercy of the Muslims. In 1909 the Turks killed another 20,000 Armenians. In World War 1 in 1914, the Turks invaded Russian and Persian territory and massacred local Armenians. Over the next nine years the Muslim Turks continued their massacres putting an end to more than two thousand years of Armenian civilization.
In 1922 Armenians tried to escape the Turks by fleeing to the port of Smyrna hoping that they could get on boats there and escape to Greece or to any country that would save them. Smyrna used to be a Greek City but is now called Izmir by the Turks who conquered it. Here is a map showing where Smyrna is in Turkey.
In 1922, 473 years after conquering Constantinople, the Turks conquered the city of Smyrna. Serge Trifkovic in his book The Sword of the Prophet wrote:
The burning of Smyrna and the massacre and scattering of its 300,000 Christian inhabitants is one of the great crimes of all times. It marked the end of the Greek civilization in Asia Minor, which at its height had also given the world the immortal cities of Pergamus, Philadelphia, and Ephesus. On the eve of its destruction, Smyrna was a bustling port and commercial center. The seafront promenade, next to foreign consulates boasted hotels modeled after Nice and elegant cafes. Yellowing postcards show its main business thoroughfare, the Rue Franque, with the great department and wholesale stores, crowded by the ladies in costumes of the latest fashion...
This postcard of a street in Smyrna was on the internet
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Sporadic killings of Christians, mostly Armenians, started immediately after the Turks conquered it on September 9, 1922, and within days escalated to mass slaughter.
Dr. Esther Lovejoy, chairman of the Executive board of the American Women's Hospitals and President of the Medical Women's International Association spoke about what she saw at Smyrna to the New York Times (October 9, 1922).
There were massed on the quays 250,000 people--wretched, suffering and screaming with women beaten and with their clothes torn off them, families separated and everybody robbed. "Knowing their lives depended on escape before Sept. 30, the crowds remained packed along the water front--so massed that there was no room to lie down. The sanitary conditions were unspeakable. "Three-quarters of the crowd were women and children, and never have I seen so many women carrying children. It seemed that every other woman was an expectant mother. The flight and the conditions brought on many premature births, and on the quay with scarcely room to lie down and without aid most of the children were born. In the five days I was there more than 200 such confinements occurred.
Even more heartrending were the cries of children who had lost their mothers or mothers who had lost their children. They were herded along through the great guarded enclosure, and there was no turning back for lost ones. Mothers in the strength of madness climbed the steel fences fifteen feet high and in the face of blows from the butts of guns sought the children, who ran about screaming like animals. ... The Turkish soldiers searched and robbed every refugee. Even clothing and shoes of any value were stripped from their bodies. "To rob the men another method was used: men of military age were permit to pass through all the barriers till the last by giving bribes. At the last barrier they were turned back to be deported. The robbery was not only committed by soldiers, but also by officers. I witnessed two flagrant cases committed by officers who would be classed as gentlemen. "On September 28, 1922 the Turks drove the crowds from the quay, where the search lights of the allied warships played on them, into the side streets. All that night the screams of women and girls were heard and it was declared next day that many were taken for slaves. The Smyrna horror is beyond the conception of the imagination and the power of words.
The people who fled to Smyrna and any non-Muslim who lived there would have all been killed by the Turkish Muslims if it hadn't been for an American Christian named Asa Jennings. Here is the amazing story of how he saved hundreds of thousands of Armenians from the Turks.
The Muslim Turks in addition to committing genocide against Armenian Christians committed genocide against Assyrian Christians and Greek Christians as well.
Additional Links:
Ottoman's Attempt to Exterminate Armenians
The Unspeakable Things that Happened During the Armenian Genocide (Only for Adults)
Click Here to Take Quiz and Earn Points
Infidels are not treated well in Islamic countries. What about Muslims who engage in infidel behavior? What if a Muslim woman didn't cover her hair? What might happen to her?
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