The American Consul General in Smyrna at the time, George Horton, wrote that before the fire there were 400,000 people living in the city of Smyrna, of whom 165,000 were Turks, 150,000 were Greeks, 25,000 were Jews, 25,000 were Armenians, and 20,000 were foreigners-10,000 Italians, 3,000 French, 2,000 British, and 300 Americans. Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire at the time, Henry Morgenthau, more than half of Smyrna's population was Greek. Īccording to the Ottoman census of 1906/7, there were 341,436 Muslims, 193,280 Greek Orthodox Christians, 12,273 Armenian Gregorian Christians, 24,633 Jews, 55,952 Foreigners totalling to 630,124 people in İzmir Sanjak (13 Kazas including the central Kaza) the updated figures for 1914 gave 100,356 Muslims, 73.676 Greek Orthodox Christians, 10,061 Armenian Gregorians, 813 Armenian Catholics, 24,069 Jews for the central kaza of İzmir. According to Trudy Ring, before World War I the Greeks alone numbered 130,000 out of a population of 250,000, excluding Armenians and other Christians. Alongside Turks and Greeks, there were sizeable Armenian, Jewish, and Levantine communities in the city. According to Katherine Elizabeth Flemming, in 1919–1922 the Greeks in Smyrna numbered 150,000, forming just under half of the population, outnumbering the Turks by a ratio of two to one. Different sources claim either Greeks or Turks as constituting the majority in the city. The ratio of the Christian population to the Muslim population remains a matter of dispute, but the city was both a multicultural and cosmopolitan center until September 1922. Winston Churchill called it an "infernal orgy" and stated that: "For a deliberately planned and methodically executed atrocity, Smyrna must.find few parallels in the history of human crime". The event is considered one of the most catastrophic urban fires in history and it is widely regarded as an act of genocide and a war crime the event is still a source of tension between Greece and Turkey. Testimonies from Western eyewitnesses were printed in many Western newspapers. There are different accounts and eyewitness reports about who was responsible for the fire most contemporary sources and modern scholars attribute it to Turkish soldiers setting fire to Greek and Armenian homes and businesses to eradicate the last traces of Christian presence in Anatolia, while a few, Turkish or pro-Turkish, sources hold that the Greeks and/or Armenians started the fire either to tarnish the Turks' reputation or deny them access to their former homes and businesses. The fire completely destroyed the Greek and Armenian quarters of the city the Muslim and Jewish quarters escaped damage. Tens of thousands of Greek and Armenian men were subsequently deported into the interior of Anatolia, where most of them died in harsh conditions. Turkish troops and irregulars had started committing massacres and atrocities against the Greek and Armenian population in the city before the outbreak of the fire. They were forced to remain there under harsh conditions for nearly two weeks. Īpproximately 80,000 to 400,000 Greek and Armenian refugees crammed the waterfront to escape from the fire. Estimated Greek and Armenian deaths resulting from the fire range from 10,000 to 125,000. It began four days after the Turkish military captured the city on 9 September, effectively ending the Greco-Turkish War, more than three years after the Greek landing of troops at Smyrna. Eyewitness reports state that the fire began on 13 September 1922 and lasted until it was largely extinguished on 22 September. The burning of Smyrna ( Greek: Καταστροφή της Σμύρνης, " Smyrna Catastrophe" Turkish: 1922 İzmir Yangını, "1922 İzmir Fire" Armenian: Զմիւռնիոյ Մեծ Հրդեհ, Zmyuṙnio Mets Hrdeh) destroyed much of the port city of Smyrna (modern İzmir, Turkey) in September 1922. See Responsibility for the burning of Smyrnaĭestruction of the Greek and Armenian quarters Smyrna, Greek Zone of Smyrna (today İzmir, Turkey) Plumes of smoke rising from Smyrna on 14 September 1922
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