Op-Ed:
An adjustment has yet to occur of Western Europe's proper place in the context
of Byzantium.
America still grows in her inherited independent role.
Greece's
natural alignment is with America.
Mark A. C. Karras,
Ph.D., March 9, 2003
¤ ¤ ¤ ¤
The reciprocal of the
above is that America's natural alignment in the Balkans rests with Greece.
This
linkage with Hellenism underlies the premise that,
NEW BYZANTIUM
is The AMERICAS.
It is a fallacy to believe that the geopolitical interest of the United States of
America lies with the so-called Turkey (an amorphous, intrusive, and treacherous
entity) that has attached itself to the life energy of the Western World without
meaningful contribution and only on the basis of the self-delusion of the
latter.
Read below how
misconception has affected Europe and has entangled the United States of
America:
BLACK SEPTEMBER
HELLENIC GENOCIDE
________
By
Capt.
Evangelos Rigos
________
The month of September brings with it the end of summer, the beginning of anew
year on the Orthodox calendar, and the anniversaries of dates that have ravaged
Hellenic civilization and culture. On Septembe14, we commemorate the Hellenic
Genocide. We remember once again the Hellions of Asia Minor who were
systematically murdered by the governments of the Young Turks and Mustafa Kemal
Pasha.
The destruction of Asia Minor Hellenism began in 1071 when the Byzantine armies
were defeated by the Seljuk Turks. In this historical event lies the origin of
the Hellenic Holocaust which continues up to the present day. In
1453Constantinopoulis fell to the Turks. The great, honorable, and brave Constantinos Palaiologos led 5,000 brave Greek soldiers against 80,000 Ottoman
Turkish soldiers. The fall of Constantinoupolis, and the fall of the Empire of
Trebizond eight years later extended the Hellenic holocaust to all Hellenic
regions.
The Ottoman Empire brought with it massacres, torture, slavery, the kidnapping
of boys for the Janissaries, the enslavement of women into the harems, and
intolerable political and economic pressure that resulted in the further
decimation of Hellenism. For even when Hellenes were not massacred, the
destruction of Hellenism occurred with the loss of national identity. Conversions to Islam and Turkification contributed to the nightmare of the loss
of independence and national sovereignty.
In May 1919, the armies of a a free and independent Greece entered the glorious
and long suffering city of Smyrna. For a brief time it appeared that the
extermination of the Hellenic race had ceased. During the First World War, the
Young Turks began to murder the Hellenic populations in Asia Minor, along with
the Armenians and the Assyrians.
Ultimately, Mustafa Kemal Pasha became an instrument of western imperialism and
as such Turkish racism earned the unconditional assistance of the United States,
Great Britain, France, and
Italy. The murderous psychopath Mustafa Kemal was aided by the western powers
while the Greek Army in Asia Minor was cut off by an embargo imposed by the
western powers. In September 1922, beautiful Smyrna was conquered by the Kemalists and burned. Over 100,000 Greeks and 30,000 Armenians were slaughtered.
Special mention must be made of Metropolitan Chrysostom of Smyrna. This brave
and noble Greek Orthodox Cleric supported the Greek liberators in 1919, and was
a voice for the aspirations of a nation that had been enslaved, humiliated,
massacred, and denigrated for centuries. When the news broke that the Kemalist
aggressors would retake Smyrna, it became apparent that the Greeks and the
Armenians would not survive.
Metropolitan Chrysostom was offered refuge by the French Consulate. This Saint
refused the offer of safety and chose to share the fate of his flock. Metropolitan Chrysostom was handed over to a fanatical Muslim mob by the crazed
and sadistic Kemalist General Noureddin Pasha. He was humiliated by having his
beard cut off, and then his eyes, ears, nose, and hands were cut off. Metropolitan Chrysostom was canonized as a Saint by the Orthodox Church of
Greece in 1992. (He is very much AXIOS and deserves to be remembered and prayed
for).
When the Kemalist-Young Turks murder machines ceased-over 1,500,000 Armenians,
1,000,000 Greeks, and 800,000 Assyrians had lost their lives. The decimation of
Hellenism continued when the west supported Kemal's plan to ethnically cleanse
Asia Minor and Eastern Thraki of well over 1,000,000 Hellenes. In this day and
age, we are inundated with stories of ethnic cleansing throughout the world, but
there is still no recognition of the horrors that have been perpetrated against
Hellenism.
Over 1,000,000 Hellenes were forced to abandon the land and homes where their
ancestors and descendants had lived for over 3,000 years. This ethnic cleansing
and Genocide was supported by the "civilized" powers in the west and legitimized
by the Treaty of Lausanne. Today the world commemorates Aushwitz and the crimes
of Stalin, but there are no memorials for the dead of Smyrna and Pontus in
those ancient Hellenic lands.
On September 6, 1955 crimes against humanity took place in a country that was a
member of the NATO alliance. The Turkish government of Adnan Menderes (of the so
called "democratic" party) incited terrorism against the Hellenes of
Constantinoupolis and Imbros. First, the Turks bombed their own consulate in Thessaloniki and then blamed
the Greeks. Then they organized the fanatics, the criminals, and the parasites,
and encouraged them to attack the Greek population, the Churches, homes, and
businesses.
In Smyrna, Greek Army officers serving with NATO were assaulted and
their wives violated. Throughout these terrorist attacks, the police did not
interfere. On September 6 we remember the end of Hellenism in Constantinoupolis
and Imbros. In the 1960's, the Turkish authorities proceeded to finish the job
by ethnically cleansing the last remnants of Hellenism.
During these attacks in Constantinoupolis, Imbros, and Smyrna, there were absolutely no
condemnations, protests, or sanctions coming from Washington (that universal
protector of "human rights" and "democracy"). Following the September 6 pogroms,
Secretary of State John Foster Dulles wrote identical letters to Greek Prime
Minister Alexander Papagos and Turkish Prime Minister Adnan Menderes urging the
"allies" to consider NATO. There was no sympathy for Greece expressed, nor was
there any condemnation of Turkey's
blatant aggression.
Hellenism is today being eradicated in Cyprus. Over 200,000 Greeks have been
ethnically cleansed in the occupied territories. In 1996, Turkish death squads
murdered Cypriots Tasos Isaac and Solomos Solomou. As in Asia Minor in 1922, and Constantinopoulis in 1955, there is not a single
protest emanating from the "civilized powers."
Black September, a month to commemorate and recall our losses, and to reevaluate
where Hellenism stands today in Cyprus, Macedonia, the Aegean Sea,
and Northern Epirus. The losses of Hellenism have been numerous in terms of
lives lost, and in terms of territory that has been conquered. Let us remember,
commemorate, and mourn all that has been lost in Asia Minor and Constantinoupolis. Remember Smyrna and
Pontus, and the victims of the Hellenic
Genocide.
________
Documentation of the Hellenic Genocide
Let us remember and honor the memories of those who worked to protect Hellenes,
Armenians, and Assyrians from the Turkish aggressors. Let us honor prominent
American officials such as George Horton and Henry Morgenthau who worked
tirelessly to assist the refugees that fled from Asia Minor. Let us honor them
also because their important work remains alive in their important writings and
texts. George Horton documented the Hellenic Genocide in "The Blight of Asia,"
and Henry Morgenthau documented the ethnic cleansing of Hellenes in his
important, "I was sent to Athens."
Further documentation and texts on the Hellenic Genocide include Edward Hale
Bierstadt's "The Great Betrayal," which was published in 1924, and which Turkish
supporters in America worked to discredit. This is a powerful and moving
document describing the agony of Asia Minor Hellenism. Journalist Edward Herbert
Gibbons has left behind accounts of Turkish Genocide against Hellenism in his
1920 biography of Prime Minister Venizelos.
The American Hellenic Society, an early version of the Greek lobby in America has
left behind an important document, "Persecution of the Greeks in Turkey," which
describes in great detail the atrocities of the Greeks in Asia Minor during the First World War. Specific atrocities, statistics of the
dead in various regions, numbers of
victims deported and ethnically cleansed, and the names of Hellenic villages
where the Turkish exterminations took place during the First World War are all
recounted here.
The American Hellenic Society has also left behind a document submitted by Prime
Minister Venizelos, "Greece Before the Peace Congress of 1919," which was
submitted to the victorious powers of the First World War. The Prime Minister
makes frequent references to the exterminations of Greeks and Armenians in the
case he put forward for the rights of Greece in Asia Minor and Constantinoupolis.
Marjorie Housepian Dobkin's, "Smyrna 1922 the Destruction of a City" is a
brilliantly researched account of the events that led to the final extermination
of Asia Minor Hellenism. Thea Halo's "Not Even my Name" is a memoir recalling
the Genocide that affected Hellenism in Pontus.
"The Miracle" by Leonidas Koumakis is an invaluable contribution to the
documentation of the destruction of Hellenism in Constantinoupolis and Asia Minor. The author recounts the conspiracy against Hellenism during the
1950's and 1960's, and describes the ethnic cleansing of Hellenes by the Turkish
state. "The Crucifixion of Christianity" by Dimitrios Kaloumenos is a recounting
of the September 1955 pogroms in Constantinoupolis and contains numerous
photographs of the destruction that serve as an indictment against the Turkish
state.
"In 1992, Helsinki Watch published, "Denying Human Rights and Ethnic Identity,
The Greeks of Turkey." The document refers to specific harassment against the
Greeks of Constantinoupolis, and Imbros and Tenedos." The document is further
evidence of the ethnic cleansing of Hellenism by the Turkish authorities.
Up to our own day, Hellenism remains under assault. The State Department's
"Country Reports on Human Rights" has documented the terrorist bombings against
the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and the discriminatory closing of the Halki
Seminary.
Cypriot Hellenism suffers under the Turks today. The plight of the Cypriots is
recounted in the Documentary film, "Attila 74 the Rape of Cyprus" by film director
Michael Cacoyannis. Furthermore, the destruction of Cypriot culture is described
in the text, "The Occupied Churches of Cyprus" by a Greek Cypriot priest,
Rev. D. Demosthenous.
Let us remember
the agony of Hellenism.
____________________________________________________________________
You can find most
of the above books at
HEC bookstore
at
HEC-Hellenic
Electronic Center:
www.greece.org
¤ ¤ ¤ ¤
¤ ¤ ¤ ¤
The following article titled Greece and the West is by Theodore
G. Karakostas
Relations between the Greeks and the West have been difficult for the
last thousand years. In 1054, the
Churches of Rome and Constantinople split apart. In 1204, the Crusaders invaded and desecrated Constantinople.
During the final decades of Byzantium, Catholic Europe sought to blackmail the
Greeks into surrendering the Orthodox faith.
In
1833, an independent Greek Kingdom was created with a Belgian of Roman Catholic
faith as its King. The King's
official title was "King of Greece."
He was not allowed to call himself "King of the Greeks" because
that might have implications for the
Hellenic nation still
under the rule of the Turks. The
British intended for the Ottoman Empire to exist as a buffer against Orthodox
Russia, which had designs on Constantinople.
In
1853, Britain and France occupied Piraeus, when Greece sought to help Russia
following the beginning of the Crimean War.
In 1863, following the ouster of Otho, George I of the Danish Glucksberg
family was installed on the Greek throne. During
the latter part of the nineteenth century, as Serbs, Romanians, and Bulgarians
fought off the Ottomans, Greece was not allowed by the British and the French to
intervene in the Balkan struggles.
Under
the various reigns of Eleutherios Venizelos, Greece adopted a more independent
foreign policy. Venizelos formed
alliances with neighboring Christian states and liberated Macedonia, Crete, and
Epirus in the Balkan Wars. The peak
of Greece, solidly allied with the Western powers and free to pursue her
interests, occurred during the first World War. The British offered Greece a portion of Asia Minor in
exchange for entering the war against Germany.
As
Greece proceeded to liberate Asia Minor, the Italians armed Mustafa Kemal's
forces. The French followed the
Italians, and following the fall of Venizelos, both Great Britain and the United
States turned their backs on Greece. The
result was the genocide and mass slaughter of Greeks in Asia Minor from Smyrna
to the region of Pontus. Greeks
were ethnically cleansed from Eastern Thrace as well.
To
this day, the Western powers have committed themselves to the promotion of
Turkey as a regional power in the Middle East, the Balkans, and Central Asia,
despite the fact that Greece has been the more valuable ally.
Greece fought in both World Wars on the side of the west and also in the
Korean conflict. In contrast, the
Turks sided with Germany in WW1 and flirted with the Nazis during the Second
World War.
A decade after Greece helped win the war against
Nazism, the people of Cyprus rose up for their own self-determination under
Archbishop Makarios and EOKA leader George Grivas. The British responded by imposing measures of repression
against EOKA fighters and using Turkey to counter Greek Cypriot aims.
At
the same time, Western governments took no measures to condemn Ankara, following
the government sponsored anti-Greek pogroms that occurred in Constantinople in
September 1955.
In
1974, Turkey launched two invasions of Cyprus.
Overseeing the Turkish invasions, which occurred in the aftermath of the
anti-Makarios coup by the Ioannides Junta in Athens, was Secretary of State
Henry Kissinger. In truth,
partition had been an
American aim in Cyprus
since 1964 when the Acheson Plan had been rejected by Cypriot President Makarios.
Makarios also insisted on keeping Cyprus nonaligned and was viewed by
Washington as the "Castro of the Mediterranean."
Greek grievances have been ignored by the United
States in particular. On Macedonia,
Washington granted FYROM [Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia]
unconditional recognition, and pressure was exerted on Greece to lift the
embargo that Athens imposed in response. Wisely,
Athens defied Washington and eventually forced FYROM to remove the Star of
Vergina from its flag and to renounce claims to Hellenic territory.
Cyprus
remains a victim of the predatory designs of Turkey as well as the hypocrisy of
the United States. When Cyprus
announced plans to install S300 anti aircraft missiles in 1997, American
diplomacy focused on pressuring Cyprus not to install them rather than to focus
on pressuring the Turkish invaders to make concessions.
The last several years have all seen the United States acquiesce to
Turkey: from its failure to support Greece during the Imia incident to the assistance
given to Turkey to capture Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan, despite the fact that
Ocalan and the PKK have never harmed American interests.
Friendly
relations between Greece and the United States and Europe are desirable.
However, it is clear that the long historical favoritism shown by the
Western powers towards Turkey from the old British Empire to the United States
and NATO today is still in effect. This
leaves Greece and Cyprus at a disadvantage and relations between Athens and the
West in an awkward state.
¤ ¤ ¤ ¤
AMERICA
in the
GREEK NATIONAL ANTHEM
and March 25th
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD
Extension of Remarks
March 9, 1982 (E 844-E 845)
THE ORDER OF AHEPA
________
HON. DANTE B. FASCELL
OF
FLORIDA
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Tuesday, March
9, 1982
•
Mr. FASCELL. Mr. Speaker, on the occasion of the American Hellenic Educational
Progressive Association's (AHEPA) 25th biennial national banquet in honor of
the Congress of the United States, I am pleased to have
the opportunity to pay a well-deserved tribute to this fine organization.
The Order of AHEPA is an association
which has grown increasingly influential for more than half a century due to the
many outstanding contributions its members have made on the national and
international level. The objectives of this admirable organization are to
promote loyalty to the
United States and to encourage
members to participate actively in the political, social, and commercial fields.
AHEPA's resources are directed toward the spread of culture and learning
in this country and abroad.
Members of the Order of AHEPA support
such worthwhile causes as worldwide assistance for flood, earthquake, and
hurricane victims, as well as for the victims of war. These notable Greek
Americans have also established shelter homes for the underprivileged, aided
hea1th centers in the
United States and
Greece, and provided national scholarships to worthy students.
I am happy also to salute one of
AHEPA's most active and energetic members who very capably fi1ls the position of
supreme vice president, Mr. Peter Kouchalakos, of
Coral Gables, Fla.
His contributions to AHEPA and to south Florida are manifold. An active
participant in the Miami community, he is known for his work in the educational
system. Peter is a remarkable man to all who know him and to those who have had
the privilege of working with him. He is proud to be an American of Greek
ancestry.
I also take this opportunity to commend
to our colleagues an article on the Greek National Anthem . . . . With a
universal idea of liberty and freedom from oppression, the Greek National
Anthem and the poem on which it is based provide a noteworthy common bond for
international understanding and cooperation.
“ HAIL, OH HAIL,
LIBERTY ! ”
These words are sung by a people whose
existence is the incarnate expression of the ideal, the emotion, and the
realization of liberty.
America is a living part or it. The people who sing these words are the people
of Greece. They praise the land of George Washington and her
Independence from the shackles of oppression.
Is this something new? No, it is not. It first began in May 1823 and has been
going on since!
And, when do Greek people invoke this
praise? Best to ask, "when do they not?” For the words are an integral and
inseparable part of the Greek National "Hymn to Liberty'" that forms the lyrical basis for the Greek National Anthem!
The inspired author of the words is the
National Poet of Greece, Dionysios Solomos, who was born in the Island of Zante
(Zakynthos) in 1798 (baptized on April 8, 1798, two months after his birth) and
who died on the Island of Corfu (Kerkyra) at exactly the hour of noon on
Saturday, February 9, 1857 (re Old Calendar). He was the first of two brothers
born to an aristocratic elderly father and to a young commoner mother. He was
educated in Zante by prominent Greek and Italian scholars of the period, and
likewise later when he studied at the university in Pavia
near Milan, Italy, mastering both the Italian and Latin languages. He produced
several of his works in Italian. His first published poem, written in Italian,
he achieved at the age of seventeen.
Solomos wrote the "Hymn to Liberty”
in Zante in May 1823 during the Greek uprising against Turkish oppression that
had lasted for almost four hundred years. March
25, 1821 is the official designation of
Greek Independence Day and is commemorated with the same fervor,
festiveness, and reverence as is
July 4, 1776 in
America.
Similar to the American’s sensation of
sacredness and respect upon the sound of "The Star Spangled Banner” is the
feeling of the Greek citizen when the "Hymn to
Liberty" is uttered. Think then of the powerful emotion the Greek person
experiences when reciting the Hymn and comes across words exalting American
struggle for freedom. It casts a common cause—a point where both people unite.
And historically, this happened just as the Hymn portrays. America, officially,
and Americans as citizens, reacted most favorably to the cause of Greek
independence and extended great cooperation.
The "Hymn to
Liberty” comprises 158 stanzas! Of these, the twenty-second is dedicated to
America. It is distinctly explicit about the union of the two people in
their common determination to remain free. The entire poem is a product of
excellence, which Solomos' contemporaries, as well as scholars today, rate in
the level of a Homeric epic because of its narrative form, of
Pindaric lyricism because of its dithyrambic form, and of Aeschylean
power because of its tragica1 form. And, it is written, nevertheless, in
the expressive popular 1anguage of the day. The words, the rhyme, the
rhythm, its content captivate the reader and compel him to continue through. It
deals with many subjects—with liberty; with religion of Biblical tone, with
politics, with nations, with history of the revolution, with dissension, with
war, with suffering, and with hope. Each verb, each word, each implication is
charged with meaningful significance electrifying the emotions, sensibilities
and thoughts of the reader. Often, the words are paintings of vivid scenes and
action. Each stanza is a precious contribution to the whole. Tru1y, a
justified selection for a national hymn. It is this level of excellence in
which America
is cradled in the poem.
The construction of the work is as
follows: There are one hundred and fifty-eight stanzas of four verses each. The
first and third verses rhyme, and so do the second and fourth. The first
and third verses consist of eight syllables each, while the second and fourth
have seven each. In all verses, the metrical pattern obtains by the accent on
the first, third, fifth, and seventh syllables. The poet, at times, hyphenates
between verses, and always achieves smoothest transition when changing subject
matter.
Seven unifications underlie the entire poem as major organic parts of the whole.
These are: Stanzas 1-16, where Liberty is hailed as she is envisioned to emerge
from the sacred bones of the Greek dead. Vain efforts for freedom with great
patience, humiliation, slavery, and false promises from others are recounted.
Then, the determination to be free or die, finally crystallizes. And Liberty is
greeted again: Stanzas 17-34, which laud the impassionate spread of insurrection
throughout the land, but which a1so bemoan the political malevolence of
other nations desiring her continued slavery. Here, however, is where
America
is hai1ed for her heartfelt joy in support of the struggle and where her
own abject suffering is remembered.
Spain is also hailed. Stanzas 35-74, which
recount the siege of Tripolis by the Greeks and the ensuing destruction of the
oppressor. Stanzas 75-87, which describe the devastation of the Greek forces of
Dramalis by sickness and starvation at Derbenakia and at Corinth.
Stanzas 88-122, which speak of the enemy’s siege of Mesolongion and the
devastation of the Turkish forces at the river Acheloos. Stanzas 123-138, which
exalt the naval achievements and which tell of the setting on fire of the
Turkish flagship. But, which also passionately lament the hanging of the
Patriarch of the Church, timed by the oppressor to happen on Easter Sunday
(chief religious holiday of Greek or Eastern Orthodoxy). Stanzas 139-158, which
in closing, admonish the patriots to abstain from dissension and to look at the
obligations ahead; and which, once more, accuse the monarchs of Europe of
fostering oppression for political gain.
Personified
Liberty struggles toward her inevitable victory in the ideology of the
poem. Now and then in his fervor, Solomos, affected by the heat of the battle,
slides into describing the events of men. But, never does he lose that
pervasive continuity of the presence of Liberty supreme and aeonian.
First publication of the Hymn occurred
In Paris, France in 1825, and later that same year in Mesolongion, while the
city was still under siege. The French publication prompted translations in
several languages, giving the poem international recognition and also praise.
The citizen, Dionysios Solomos, was decorated with the highest bestowal of
the Greek constitutional government on
February 10, 1849 and became the National Poet of
Greece. He received the Golden Cross of the Knights of the Redeemer. In
1828-30, Nikolaos Mantsaros (1795-1873—Solomos' most intimate friend) had put
the words of the poem into music. His work was officially submitted to the
government in 1844, for which he was decorated with a silver medal. The Greek
government requested him in 1881 to convey the music in the form of a march. By
government directive, in 1864, Mantsaros' music and Solomos’ first three stanzas
of the "Hymn to
Liberty"
(because of the great length of the poem) became what to this date is the
Greek National Anthem.
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Expansion
of Western Civilization: from
Constantine
the Great to Constantinople
and Byzantium and onward to
America |
NEW BYZANTIUM
is The AMERICAS
We are sincerely pleased you have come to visit our Site and we extend
to you our warmest greeting in the highest tradition of
BYZANTIUM. Our Principal goal is to impart to you
heretofore intentionally little known facts about BYZANTIUM as the foundation of
Western Civilization.
We will avoid knowingly withholding the truth as an aim to social
disorientation. Practice of historical deception must cease.
We hope that you will enjoy our
contribution to the fullest. Welcome.
Constantine the Great began his eventful climb in York, England and
reached the apex of his achievement in Constantinople, the City that he founded
and named after himself (Constantine+Polis
[city]=Constantinople).
By means of these pages, our readers travel through time, touching
upon the early periods, including that of Constantine, of historical
Constantinople, and of Hagia Sophia—the nexus of the Christian world—to
arrive at places and events of our present day.
Our readers reach the outermost limit to which both Eastern and
Western Christian groups expanded, bringing forth the flower of Western
Civilization. That limit is the Western Hemisphere as a whole, and in
particular the coast of California near San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge
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