From: ucer@ee.rochester.edu (Kamil B. Ucer)
Subject: Re: Turkey-Cyprus-Bosnia-Serbia-Greece (Armenia-Azeris)
Organization: University of Rochester Department of Electrical Engineering

In article <1993Apr23.002811.22496@usage.csd.unsw.OZ.AU> 2120788@hydra.maths.unsw.EDU.AU () writes:
>I've heard many Turks say this and it surpises me that they don't read about
>it.Remember the Treaty of Sevres-as a consequence of being in the Axis powers
>in WWI.The Turks UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW were supposed to look after their
>minorities ie. Greeks,Armenians,Kurds(I must say Turk-Kurd relations are 
>improving slightly with time) and not pose a threat to Turkey's neighbours.
>The Turks blatantly rejected this treaty(the Germans grudgingly accepted 
>Versailles which was a million times worse for the health and pride of the 
>German people).The Greeks who had an army there,were there with BRITISH
>and FRENCH backing to enforce Sevres.
>    In possibly the first example of appeasement the Young Turk government
>managed screwed the Treaty of Laussane out of the weak allies,this was after 
>the Greek forces were were destroyed at Smyrna.When this occurred incidently,
>FRENCH warships were in the harbour and many Greeks trying escape swam to the 
>FRENCH warships and climbed aboard only to get their arms cut off by the FRENCH
>as they clawed they're way up the sides of the ships.
>Libertae,egalitae,fraternatae.
It seems to me that you are the one who is supposed to do some reading. I think
that our major difference in opinion is on the legitimacy of Sevres. First, thattreaty was signed by the Ottoman Empire therefore legally it does not bind the 
Republic of Turkey. The new independence movement (which by the way, is not the same as the Young Turks) naturally rejected it out of hand. to say that we 
should accept because the Germans did theirs is absurd. We saw what the cosequences of such harsh treaties were in Hitler. Second, the Sevres treaty was even 
worse than Versailles. It divided the Ottoman Empire in to several influence 
zones, had the capital occupied, the economy under Allied control, the army di
minished to nothing but a police force, in short a country in name only. I'd
wonder if you would like to live under such conditions. And for the record, I donot feel sorry for the soldiers killed in IZMIR harbour. Before evacuating the 
city, the Greek forces burned it down, so it serves them right.
As for being fooled by Allied promises, that too is your fault. You did not come to Anatolia just to enforce Sevres but to take part in the plunder  as well.
K. Burak Ucer
-
