“Actually, this was a problem between France and Venice.
However, the situation changed in 1798,
when France invaded Egypt, which was part of the Ottoman Empire…”
Following this development, Sultan Mahmut II sent a significant part of the troops from the Peloponnese to suppress the revolt in the Danubian Principalities. The plan was successful and few troops remained in the Peloponnese. Taking advantage of this situation, the separatist Greeks also involved other regions in the revolt. To deliver the final blow, Muslim civilians, namely the Turks, were now targeted. Finlay writes the following about the revolt and the events of 1861: “The revolt of the Greeks against the Ottoman Empire began in March 1821 with the killing of some Ottoman officials, especially tax collectors.In April there followed a general attack on the Turks in the Peloponnese, in southern Greece, in which Greek bandits and peasants killed outright all the Turks they could find.Ottoman soldiers, whether Turkish or Albanian, were attacked and killed.Some of the Muslims, such as those of Kalavrita and Kalamata, surrendered to the Greeks on the promise that they would not be killed.But they were also killed.Many of those who fled, such as the Turks from the region of Lakonia, were slaughtered on the roads.”
The reasons why violence it was used so extensively in the Balkansand the region turned into a blood bathmust actually be searched in the decisions of the Congress of Vienna FROM 1815. Because at this congress, the solution to the problem of nationalities was sought in numerical superiority or, in other words, “compartmental nationalism” and was the main cause of bloody conflicts. (In the National System of the Ottoman State each nationality constituted a closed compartment and all their relations and affairs with the Ottoman State were managed by the administrators of these ethnic groups. The distinction was therefore made according to faith and religion. For example, Gregorian and Catholic speaking of Armenian formed two separate nations (separate compartments)). Because in a geographical area where they live together, coexist, different societies, the search sovereignty in numerical superiority it is nothing but a incitement to conflictt. Especially if such a movement is not based on a broad social base.
Actually, none of the independence movements that emerged in the Balkans had national identity.
Rather, it would be more accurate to assess them as a top-down nation-building project of a small group. In relation to this topic, Fikret Adanır states the following: “We can call the project a nationalist, national project. But the people, neither Serbs nor Greeks, that is, the peasants, have no idea of nationality. So much so that the greatest heroes of the Greek uprising were of Albanian origin. They do not speak Greek or are of Wallachian origin. The project of creating a nation, which they have in mind, is based on German philosophy, political romanticism. That is, to create an ethnically homogeneous nation… This is a started project after the establishment of the state. In the process, of course, they first adopted a position towards Muslims, which until then they called the ruling class. For example, they put a clause in treaties made in Serbia and they said that from now on no muslim he will no longer be allowed to live in these territories.”
The Greek Church has made a significant contribution to all the suffering, all the crimes against humanity and the revival of racism. Especially the words Archbishop Germanos, “Peace to the Christians! Respect to the consuls! Death to the Turks!” had a great impact on mass participation in protests and at killing tens of thousands of people. It was as if people had lost their reason and emotions. Even people who until recently were as innocent as a newborn baby have now become sinners. Only a very small number of people who could take refuge in the castles survived the attacks and massacres caused by this racist speech. As the revolt of the Greeks continued, new areas were attacked and the massacre of the Turks it’s repeating. In the meantime, the Jews were massacred in the same way as the Muslims. The racist and bloody method adopted during the Greek revolt was to be a decisive model for all subsequent revolts. From now on, in every uprising, terror and massacres will be used as a tool by the rebels to make it impossible for the peoples to live together and to achieve success.
Justin McCarthy reports the following about what happened: “The massacre of the Turks in Greece was no ordinary wartime loss.All Turks, including women and children, were taken and killed by Greek gangs, the only exception being the enslavement of a small number of women and children.Sometimes the Turks were killed immediately (in the heat of events, without premeditation), in the euphoria of the revolt, by the people delighted to see their former masters now defeated, but more often the murders were premeditated and committed in cold blood.In the cities, Turkish populations were gathered, led to a place deemed suitable and slaughtered there.”
