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AN ENVOY REMEMBERED
Washington Times
Oct 31 2012
Embassy Row
The Greek ambassador and leading Greek-Americans held a graveside
service to honor the memory of an American diplomat who saved thousands
of Greeks 90 years ago during the Turkish invasion of the ancient
city of Smyrna after World War I.
Ambassador Christos Panagopoulos joined Nick Larigakis, president of
the American Hellenic Institute in Georgetown's Oak Hill Cemetery on
Oct. 22 at the grave of George Horton, who served as the consul-general
in Smyrna when the port city went up in flames after Turkish troops
invaded. Horton wrote about the burning of Smyrna in his 1926 book,
"The Blight of Asia."
Most historians blame Turkish forces for torching the city and killing
tens of thousands of Greeks and Armenians, beginning Sept. 9, 1922,
at the end of the Greco-Turkish War. Hundreds of thousands of Smyrna's
residents crowded the city's waterfront, desperate for evacuation as
U.S. and other allied warships lay at anchor. Some historians say the
allies had orders not to interfere with the destruction of the city.
Horton wrote that the final episode of the elimination of the
Christians from the old Byzantine Empire was the razing of Smyrna,
located on Turkey's Aegean coast and now within the boundaries of
the Turkish city of Izmir,
In his book, he cited his own eyewitness accounts as well as the
findings of contemporary scholars.
Horton quoted Valentine Chirol of the University of Chicago, who
said, "After the Turks had smashed the Greek armies, they turned the
essentially Greek city into an ash heap as proof of their victory."
Washington Times
Oct 31 2012
Embassy Row
The Greek ambassador and leading Greek-Americans held a graveside
service to honor the memory of an American diplomat who saved thousands
of Greeks 90 years ago during the Turkish invasion of the ancient
city of Smyrna after World War I.
Ambassador Christos Panagopoulos joined Nick Larigakis, president of
the American Hellenic Institute in Georgetown's Oak Hill Cemetery on
Oct. 22 at the grave of George Horton, who served as the consul-general
in Smyrna when the port city went up in flames after Turkish troops
invaded. Horton wrote about the burning of Smyrna in his 1926 book,
"The Blight of Asia."
Most historians blame Turkish forces for torching the city and killing
tens of thousands of Greeks and Armenians, beginning Sept. 9, 1922,
at the end of the Greco-Turkish War. Hundreds of thousands of Smyrna's
residents crowded the city's waterfront, desperate for evacuation as
U.S. and other allied warships lay at anchor. Some historians say the
allies had orders not to interfere with the destruction of the city.
Horton wrote that the final episode of the elimination of the
Christians from the old Byzantine Empire was the razing of Smyrna,
located on Turkey's Aegean coast and now within the boundaries of
the Turkish city of Izmir,
In his book, he cited his own eyewitness accounts as well as the
findings of contemporary scholars.
Horton quoted Valentine Chirol of the University of Chicago, who
said, "After the Turks had smashed the Greek armies, they turned the
essentially Greek city into an ash heap as proof of their victory."