Today marks the 91st year since the Smyrna Greek Genocide, Great Fire of Smyrna, and the Asia Minor Catastrophe. As with every year, we remember the Greek people of Smyrna who lost their lives, and the other Greek Smyrnaeans who escaped with their lives, and only the clothes on their backs, to establish new lives, and become acquainted with a new way of life in other countries.
As the years pass by, I keep returning to the consensus that this horrific act could have been avoided by all parties involved in this conflict, and that things could have been very different if it never occurred. While it is always easy to reflect on matters in hindsight, it makes me think about how things would have been if these events never occurred.
Would Smyrna still have a burgeoning Greek community to this day, or, would a number of pogroms or other crimes have been committed to force the Greek citizens of Smyrna to leave their place of birth? If things never came to a head in this way, and Greek and Turkish people still lived together in Smyrna, how would Turkish people envision Greek people in the current day?
Unfortunately these are questions that will never be answered, but the current good relations between both countries is heartening, despite their tortured mutual histories. It is always mindful to remember that history cannot be re-written, and denials of what really happened in Smyrna in 1922 are not helpful, and this incident will appear at the most unexpected of times. Any which way, may God rest the souls of those who suffered in Smyrna, and may their relatives long cherish their spirit, and be mindful of the sacrifices they had to make.
