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ISTANBUL NON-MUSLIMS REMEMBER SEPT 1956 POGROMS, HOPING FOR POSITIVE CHANGES
Tert.am
09:52 07.09.11
Fifty-six years after the Sept 6-7, 1955 pogroms in Istanbul,
minorities still remember the tragic events, but with the Turkish
government's recent move to return properties seized from the
country's non-Muslim groups, there is a hope for future, Hurriyet
Daily News reported.
"The Sept. 6-7 [events] were definitely a traumatic time for Turkey
and many people still remember that day but the government's recent
decisions regarding the return of properties and help for minority
newspapers are good signs," Ivo Molinas, the editor-in-chief of the
Shalom, a weekly publication of Turkey's Jewish community, was quoted
as saying the 56th anniversary of the events.
"After September 6-7, we started looking at each other with different
eyes. We learned what revenge meant," said Mihail Vasiliadis, the
operator of daily Apoyevmatini, a four-page Greek newspaper printed
in Istanbul.
"The government's recent step to return the minority properties is a
good sign. First they took our properties from us and now they return
it. But who is going to own those? There is no one left," he said.
There are now only 2,500 Greeks left in Turkey, Vasiliadis said,
adding that more were leaving every day.
The 1955 events were triggered by reports that the house where modern
Turkey's founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, was born in present-day
Thessaloniki, Greece, had been bombed the previous day. The news,
which was later proven to be fabricated, resulted in pogroms throughout
Istanbul against the city's Jewish, Greek and Armenian residents.
Thousands of people fled Turkey afterwards, especially the Greek
minority in Istanbul. Before the pogroms, there had been 119,822
Greeks in Turkey; by 1978, however, there were just 7,000.
From: Baghdasarian
Tert.am
09:52 07.09.11
Fifty-six years after the Sept 6-7, 1955 pogroms in Istanbul,
minorities still remember the tragic events, but with the Turkish
government's recent move to return properties seized from the
country's non-Muslim groups, there is a hope for future, Hurriyet
Daily News reported.
"The Sept. 6-7 [events] were definitely a traumatic time for Turkey
and many people still remember that day but the government's recent
decisions regarding the return of properties and help for minority
newspapers are good signs," Ivo Molinas, the editor-in-chief of the
Shalom, a weekly publication of Turkey's Jewish community, was quoted
as saying the 56th anniversary of the events.
"After September 6-7, we started looking at each other with different
eyes. We learned what revenge meant," said Mihail Vasiliadis, the
operator of daily Apoyevmatini, a four-page Greek newspaper printed
in Istanbul.
"The government's recent step to return the minority properties is a
good sign. First they took our properties from us and now they return
it. But who is going to own those? There is no one left," he said.
There are now only 2,500 Greeks left in Turkey, Vasiliadis said,
adding that more were leaving every day.
The 1955 events were triggered by reports that the house where modern
Turkey's founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, was born in present-day
Thessaloniki, Greece, had been bombed the previous day. The news,
which was later proven to be fabricated, resulted in pogroms throughout
Istanbul against the city's Jewish, Greek and Armenian residents.
Thousands of people fled Turkey afterwards, especially the Greek
minority in Istanbul. Before the pogroms, there had been 119,822
Greeks in Turkey; by 1978, however, there were just 7,000.
From: Baghdasarian