THE CATASTROPHE OF SMYRNA.

 Today marks 99 years since the catastrophe of Smyrna on the Turkish coast of the Aegean Sea. when Greeks were forced to flee the city due to the fire set by the Turkish forces. 

It was a cataclysmic event of such enormous importance for modern Greek history that it shaped generation upon generation, after 1922, adding yet another unforgettable and tragic milestone to Greece's long history. 

A terrifying blaze called the Great Fire, destroyed much of the city, causing the majority of Greeks in Asia Minor to flee their homes and seek shelter in Greece and other countries. 

Historians of the time have agreed, after talking to eyewitnesses that Turkish mobs set the Greek section of the city on fire.   

Turkey continues to deny this, claiming it was the Armenians even the Greeks themselves, who set the city ablaze.

Smyrna was undoubtedly one of the wealthiest cities not only in the Ottoman Empire but anywhere in Europe. It was home to one of the largest populations of Greeks and Armenians in the Empire. Together they instituted the Christian community of the city which lived peacefully, side by side, with the Muslim and Jewish communities for centuries.

However, the politics and competitive interests of the main global powers. along with the rising tide of nationalism and the outbreak of the First World War were the factors that determined the fate of Smyrna and its citizens for the rest of the 20th century and beyond. 

As part of the Greko-Turkish war which raged from 1919 to 1922 Greece's armed forces went to Smyrna on the 15th of May 1919

The future of Christian populations, Greek, and Arminians was perilous. After a series of catastrophic events, the majority of them ended up dead as part of the Greek genocide, which began with a series of confrontations in 1914 and lasted until 1923. 

Eyewitnesses report that the Great Fire of Smyrna began on the 13th of September and lasted for nine full days on the 22nd of September 1922.  

The fire's results were catastrophic, the entire Greek and Armenian quarters of the city were wiped off the map.    

Churches, ornate villas, and mansions of Greek architectural importance,  as well as schools and market areas, had gone forever without a trace.

Experts believe that the victims of the Greek genocide were innumerable and the number of refugees that had to leave Asia Minor numbered in millions. 

The city suffered such enormous damage to its infrastructure that it had to be rebuilt from the ashes. But the Greek neighborhood which had the most beautiful homes, churches, and other buildings, and the entire 40 hectares of what was once the most elegant part of Smyrna became a hellish inferno and has no buildings left.  

Today, the area is an enormous park that serves as Tukey's exhibition center.  

There are no reminders of the glory which was once Smyrna!