Marta Sömek 

 

ISTANBUL - 66 years have passed since the 6-7 September 1955 Pogrom, which was systematically implemented against Christians and Jews. Stating that there was no trace of the Greek population in Turkey after the pogrom that took place in 1955, Katrin Nikolao said: ‘’Each pogrom that has taken place is the caller of a new one. We should live by learning lessons from these events, reminding them again and again, feeling the importance of holding on to each other in solidarity, and not forgetting what happened.’’

 

66 years have passed since the systematic pogrom against Christians and Jews, especially Greeks and Armenians, living in many cities of Turkey, including Istanbul and Izmir, on September 6-7, 1955.

On September 6, 1955, after the pro-Democratic Party Istanbul Ekspres newspaper printed with the headline ‘’Our father Atatürk’s house has been bombed’’, the public provoked in Istanbul with the provocation that Mustafa Kemal’s house was bombed. The pogrom started with the attack on Haylayf Patisserie, owned by a Greek citizen, in Pangaltı in the evening hours. The pogrom soon spread all over Istanbul, and then the whole country.

 

15 people were killed, 400 women were subjected to sexual assault

 

According to official sources, during the incidents in Istanbul, in Beyoğlu, Kurtuluş, Şişli, Nişantaşı, Eminönü, Fatih, Eyüp, Bakırköy, Yeşilköy, Ortaköy, Arnavutköy, Bebek, Moda, Kadıköy, Kuzguncuk, Çengelköy and the Islands, 4214 houses, 1004 workplaces, 73 churches, one synagogue, two monasteries, eight holy spring of Orthodox Greeks, 26 schools were burned down and looted. Again, according to the records, 60 women were sexually assaulted, but it is said that this number is actually 400. According to some sources, 12 people, according to others 15 people were killed and 300 people were injured in the pogrom, many cemeteries and 5317 places, including various workplaces, were destroyed.The pogrom did not happen only in Istanbul. Similar attacks took place in Izmir and Ankara. Then, the Syriacs were attacked in Urfa, Mardin and Midyat. Tens of thousands of Greeks, Armenians, Jews and Syriacs were forced to leave Turkey in the face of oppression and threats to their lives after the pogrom went unpunished, such as including many attacks, village evacuations, and unsolved murders since the genocide.

 

Those who embraced pogrom were ‘awarded!’

 

‘’September 6-7 is a Special Warfare job. It was an amazing organization. It has achieved its purpose’’ is the words of Sabri Yirmibeşoğlu, who served in the Mobilization Audit Committee during the September 6-7 Pogrom. Despite his statement that embraced and legitimized the planned pogrom, Sabri Yirmibeşoğlu has risen rapidly in the bureaucracy over the years. He also served as the Secretary General of the National Security Council between 1988-1990. Oktay Engin, a student of Thessaloniki University Faculty of Law, who was alleged to be a National Intelligence Service (MIT) agent, was appointed as the Governor of Nevşehir in 1992-93.

 

The biggest and most mass pogrom in Istanbul in the history of the republic has not yet been confronted. In the 66th year of the pogrom, although a call is made to put the perpetrators on trial, to determine the loss of life and place, to compensate for the material and moral losses, and to confront the past, events such as Sabri Yirmibeşoğlu’s statement are still ‘praised’.

 

Emphasizing that there is no trace of the Greek population in 1955, Greek citizen Katrin Nikolao made evaluations to our ageny about what happened and how she felt from the pogrom to the present.

‘’We were suppressed, expelled, raped on September 6-7, our graves were plundered, churches were burned, all tried,’’ Katrin said. She stated that the genocide policies continue and against this, ‘’We must hold on to each other in solidarity.’’

 

‘It was a premeditated  pogrom that worked against minorities’

 

Expressing that Turkey was built with an ideology based on nation-state and Turkification, Katrin said the following regarding the 6-7 September 1955 pogrom: ‘’I wish it had not happened, but it was a premeditated pogrom that worked against minorities.’’ Stating that the pogrom took place within the framework of fear and oppression, Katrin said: ‘’The attacks caused the migration of the ancient Greek people, and as a result, Turkish society lost its cosmopolit character.’’

 

‘Genocide policies continue!’

 

Last month, racist attacks were carried out against Syrians in Altındağ, Ankara, tens of houses and work places were burned and seized. Pointing out that these attacks are similar to the pogrom that took place on September 6-7, Katrin said: ‘’A small-scale crime against humanity, similar to the pogrom, has been committed against the Syrians, and a terrible policy of racism is being pursued. Racism is a crime against humanity!’’ Katrin also emphasized that history repeats itself in Turkey and that lessons are never learned. Katrin said: ‘’Yes, the genocidal policies continue, history repeats itself in this land.’’ She drew attention to the fact that the versions of the genocide differed, first against the Armenians, then the Greeks, and then the Alevis. Katrin stated that now there is a systematic attack atmosphere against the Syrians.

 

‘There is no trace of the Greek population of 1955!’

 

Stating that there was no trace of the Greek population at that time, Katrin made the following assessments about what has happened since the pogrom: ‘’I live in a small place where the majority of the population is Alevi, we are few. A facing with what happened, more than us, has begun. There is no trace of the Greek population in 1955. On September 6-7, we were suppressed, expelled, raped, our graves plundered, churches burned, all tried. Now, in the low population, schools are closed, Greek education can be given in open ones, churches with community can be kept open, an old society that has adopted and loved the land where she/he was born remained. Some of us have also assimilated, can even deny what happened.’’

 

‘We must hold on to each other in solidarity’

 

Reminding that each pogrom that has taken place is the caller of a new one, Katrin made the following call: ‘’We must live by learning lessons from these events, reminding them again and again, feeling the importance of holding on to each other in solidarity, and not forgetting what happened.’’