This is a list of massacres against ethnic Turks.
Name | Date | Present location | Perpetrators | Deaths |
---|---|---|---|---|
Persecution of Muslims during the Ottoman contraction | 19th and early 20th centuries | Former Ottoman territories | Russian Empire, Tsardom of Bulgaria, France, Kingdom of Serbia, Kingdom of Greece, Kingdom of Montenegro | At least 2 million, [1] [2] up to 5.5 million [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] |
Massacres of the Turkish population during the Russo-Turkish War | April 1877–March 1878 | Balkans and Caucasus | Armies of the Russian Coalition, mainly Russian Army | 250,000–600,000 [8] [9] |
Deportation of the Meskhetian Turks | 14–15 November 1944 | Meskheti, Georgia | NKVD | 12,589–50,000 |
Buda massacre | September 1686 | Buda, Hungary | Armies of the Holy League | +3,000 [10] |
Navarino massacre [11] | 19 August 1821 | Pylos, Greece | Greek revolutionaries | 3,000 |
Tripolitsa massacre [12] | 23 September 1821 | Tripoli, Greece | Greek revolutionaries | 6,000–30,000 [13] [14] |
Galați massacre | 20 February 1821 | Galați, Romania | Greek revolutionaries | 50–300 [15] |
Massacres of the Turkish population during the April Uprising | April–May 1876 | Bulgaria | Bulgarian revolutionaries | 200–1,000 [16] [17] [18] |
Harmanli massacre | 16–17 January 1878 | Harmanli, Bulgaria | Russian Army | 2,000-5,000 [19] |
Kızanlık massacres | 1877-78 | Kazanlak, Bulgaria | Russian Army, Bulgarians | 1,751 [20] |
Lasithi massacres | 1897 | Crete, Greece | Christian mobs | 850–1,000 [21] [22] |
Sarakina massacre | February 1897 | Crete, Greece | Christian mobs | 104 (61 children, 23 women and 20 men) [23] |
Sitia massacre | February 1897 | Sitia, Crete, Greece | Christian mob | 300 [24] |
Kissamos massacre | February 1897 | Kissamos, Crete, Greece | Christian mob | 23 [24] |
Kirchova massacre | August 1903 | Kichevo, North Macedonia | Bulgarian revolutionaries | 8 [25] |
Raionovo, Planitsa and Kukurtevo massacres | Autumn 1912 | Raionovo, Planitsa and Kukurtevo, Macedonia | Bulgarian irregulars | +700 [26] [27] |
Cisr-i Mustafapaşa massacre | October 1912 | Svilengrad, Bulgaria | Bulgarians | 200 [28] |
Edeköy massacre | 1912 | Edeköy, Edirne, Turkey | Greeks | 1,659 [29] |
Serres massacre | 1912 | Serres, Greece | Bulgarians | 600 [30] |
Dedeagac massacre | 1912 | Alexandroupolis, Greece | Armenians | 20 [30] |
Bulgarian school massacre | 1912 | Chair quarter of Uskub, North Macedonia | Serbians | 18 [30] |
Ohrid massacre | 1912 | Ohrid, North Macedonia | Serbians | 500 [31] |
Strumica massacre | 1912 | Strumitsa, North Macedonia | Greeks | 3,000 [30] |
Petrovo massacre | 1912 | Petrovo | Bulgarians | "every living Turkish thing" [32] |
Yaylacık massacre | 1912 | Yaylacık, close to Salonica | Greeks | 15 [30] |
Salonica massacre | 1912 | Salonica | Greeks | 27 [32] |
Derin Çatak massacre | 1912 | Malkara | Bulgarians | 11 [33] |
Avrethisar villages massacre | 1912-1913 | Kilkis | Bulgarians | 451 [34] |
Pravishte massacres | 1912-1913 | Eleftheroupoli | Greeks | 195 [30] |
Kaz massacre | March 1913 | Yukarı Kılıçlı | Bulgarians | 43 [35] |
Karasatı massacre | June 1913 | Karasatı, Keşan | Bulgarians and Greeks | 29 [36] |
Uzunköprü massacre | July 1913 | Uzunköprü | Bulgarians | 42 [37] [38] |
Habibçe massacre | July 1913 | Lyubimets | Bulgarians | 20 [38] |
Greek landing at Smyrna | 15 May 1919 | İzmir | Hellenic Army and local Greeks | 400–600 [39] |
Yeşiloba massacre | 11 June 1920 | Yeşiloba, Adana | French Armenian Legion | 64–200 [40] |
Menemen massacre | 17 June 1919 | Menemen, İzmir | Hellenic Army and local Greeks | 200 |
Massacre in Erbeyli | 20–21 June 1919 | Erbeyli, Aydın | Hellenic Army | 72 |
Birecik massacre | 11–24 February 1920 | Birecik, Şanlıurfa | French Army | 280 [41] |
Massacre in Marash | 1920 | Marash | French Army and French Armenian Legion | 4,500 [42] [43] |
Massacre in Aintab | 1920-1921 | Aintab | French Army and French Armenian Legion | 6,000-7,000 [41] [44] |
Yalova Peninsula massacres [45] | 1920–1921 | Armutlu Peninsula | Hellenic Army, local Christians and Circassians [46] | 5,500–9,100 [47] [48] |
Bilecik massacre [49] | March–April 1921 | Bilecik, Sögüt, Bozüyük | Hellenic Army and local Greeks | 208 [50] |
İzmit massacre [51] | 24 June 1921 | İzmit | Hellenic Army | 300 [52] [53] |
Karatepe village massacre | 14 February 1922 | Karatepe, Köşk | Hellenic Army | 385 [54] |
Uşak massacre | 1 September 1922 | Uşak | Hellenic Army and local Greeks | 200 [55] |
Alaşehir massacre [56] | 3–4 September 1922 | Alaşehir, Manisa | Hellenic Army | 3,000 [57] |
Turgutlu massacre | 4–6 September 1922 | Turgutlu, Manisa | Hellenic Army | 1,000 [57] |
Salihli massacre | 5 September 1922 | Salihli, Manisa | Hellenic Army | +76 [58] |
Manisa massacre [59] [ circular reference ] | 6–7 September 1922 | Manisa | Hellenic Army and local Christians | 4,355 [60] [57] |
1924 Kirkuk massacre | 4 May 1924 | Kirkuk, Iraq | Iraq Levies | +200 [61] |
Suşiçe massacre | April 1941 | Sušica | Kingdom of Bulgaria | 7 [62] |
Blatec executions | September 1944 | Blatec | Kingdom of Bulgaria | 15 [62] |
Istibanje-Teranci massacres | October 1944 | Istibanja and Teranci | Nazi Germany | 17 [62] |
Gavurbağı massacre | 12 July 1946 | Kirkuk, Iraq | Iraqi Police | 20 |
1959 Kirkuk massacre | 15 July 1959 | Kirkuk, Iraq | Kurdish soldiers | 31-79 [61] |
Limassol massacre | 13 February 1963 | Limassol, Cyprus | Greek Cypriots | 16 [63] |
Bloody Christmas [64] [65] | 21–31 December 1963 | Nicosia, Cyprus | Greek Cypriots | 364 [66] |
Massacre in Famagusta | 11 May 1964 | Famagusta, Cyprus | Cypriot Police | 10–17 [67] [68] |
Massacre in Akrotiri and Dhekelia | 13 May 1964 | Akrotiri and Dhekelia | Cypriot Police and local Cypriots | 11 [67] [68] |
Massacre in Kofinou | 14–15 November 1967 | Kofinou, Cyprus | Greek Cypriots | 26 [69] [63] |
Massacre in Alaminos [70] | 20 July 1974 | Alaminos, Cyprus | Cypriot National Guard | 13–14 [71] [72] |
Maratha, Santalaris and Aloda massacre | 14 August 1974 | Maratha, Santalaris and Aloda, Cyprus | EOKA B | 126 [73] [74] |
Tochni massacre | 15 August 1974 | Taşkent, Cyprus | EOKA B | 84 [67] |
Fergana massacre | 3–12 June 1989 | Fergana valley, Uzbekistan | Uzbek mobs | 97 [75] |
Bulgarization of Turks in People's Republic of Bulgaria | 1984-1989 | Bulgaria | Bulgarian army | 300 to 1,500 (according to HRW) [76] |
Altun Kupri massacre | 28 March 1991 | Altun Kupri, Iraq | Iraqi Army | 135 [77] |
Çewlik massacre | 24 May 1993 | Bingöl, Turkey | Kurdistan Workers' Party | 38 |
Başbağlar massacre | 5 July 1993 | Başbağlar, Turkey | Kurdistan Workers' Party | 33 |
Yavi massacre | 25 October 1993 | Erzurum, Turkey | Kurdistan Workers' Party | 33 [78] |
Erbil massacre | 31 August 1996 | Erbil | Iraqi Armed Forces | 48 |
Blue market massacre | 13 March 1999 | Istanbul, Turkey | Kurdistan Workers' Party | 13 |
Turkmen genocide by ISIL | 2014-2017 | Kirkuk, Saladin, Diyala, Erbil and Nineveh, Iraq | ISIL | 3,500 [79] |
The Turkish Armed Forces are the military forces of the Republic of Turkey. The Turkish Armed Forces consist of the Land Forces, the Naval Forces and the Air Forces. The Chief of the General Staff is the Commander of the Armed Forces. In wartime, the Chief of the General Staff acts as the Commander-in-Chief on behalf of the President, who represents the Supreme Military Command of the TAF on behalf of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. Coordinating the military relations of the TAF with other NATO member states and friendly states is the responsibility of the General Staff.
The Treaty of Lausanne is a peace treaty negotiated during the Lausanne Conference of 1922–1923 and signed in the Palais de Rumine in Lausanne, Switzerland, on 24 July 1923. The treaty officially resolved the conflict that had initially arisen between the Ottoman Empire and the Allied French Republic, British Empire, Kingdom of Italy, Empire of Japan, Kingdom of Greece, Kingdom of Serbia, and the Kingdom of Romania since the outset of World War I. The original text of the treaty is in English and French. It emerged as a second attempt at peace after the failed and unratified Treaty of Sèvres, which had sought to partition Ottoman territories. The earlier treaty, signed in 1920, was later rejected by the Turkish National Movement which actively opposed its terms. As a result of Greek defeat in the Greco-Turkish War, Turkish forces recaptured İzmir, and the Armistice of Mudanya was signed in October 1922. This armistice provided for the exchange of Greek-Turkish populations and allowed unrestricted civilian, non-military passage through the Turkish Straits.
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The Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922 was fought between Greece and the Turkish National Movement during the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire in the aftermath of World War I, between 15 May 1919 and 14 October 1922. This conflict was a part of the Turkish War of Independence.
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, also known as Mustafa Kemal Pasha until 1921, and Ghazi Mustafa Kemal from 1921 until the Surname Law of 1934, was a Turkish field marshal, revolutionary statesman, author, and the founding father of the Republic of Turkey, serving as its first president from 1923 until his death in 1938. He undertook sweeping progressive reforms, which modernized Turkey into a secular, industrializing nation. Ideologically a secularist and nationalist, his policies and socio-political theories became known as Kemalism (Atatürkism).
Mustafa Fevzi Çakmak was a Turkish field marshal (Mareşal) and politician. He served as the Chief of General Staff from 1918 and 1919 and later the Minister of War of the Ottoman Empire in 1920. He later joined the provisional Government of the Grand National Assembly and became the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of National Defense and later as the Prime Minister of Turkey from 1921 to 1922. He was the second Chief of the General Staff of the provisional Ankara Government and the first Chief of the General Staff of the Republic of Turkey.
Nureddin Ibrahim Pasha, known as Nureddin İbrahim Konyar from 1934, was a Turkish military officer who served in the Ottoman Army during World War I and in the Turkish Army during the Western Front of the Turkish War of Independence. He was called Bearded Nureddin because being the only high-ranking Turkish officer during the Turkish War of Independence sporting a beard. He is known as one of the most important commanders of the war. He ordered several murders and massacres.
Turkish people or Turks are the largest Turkic people who speak various dialects of the Turkish language and form a majority in Turkey and Northern Cyprus. In addition, centuries-old ethnic Turkish communities still live across other former territories of the Ottoman Empire. Article 66 of the Constitution of Turkey defines a Turk as anyone who is a citizen of Turkey. While the legal use of the term Turkish as it pertains to a citizen of Turkey is different from the term's ethnic definition, the majority of the Turkish population are of Turkish ethnicity. The vast majority of Turks are Muslims and follow the Sunni faith.
Musa Kâzım Karabekir was a Turkish general and politician. He was the commander of the Eastern Army of the Ottoman Empire during the Turkish War of Independence, and fought a successful military campaign against the Armenian Democratic Republic. He was the a founder and leader of the Progressive Republican Party, the Turkish Republic's first opposition party to Atatürk, though he and his party would be purged following the Sheikh Said revolt. He was rehabilitated with İsmet İnönü's ascension to the presidency in 1938 and served as Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey before his death.
Yalova is a market-gardening town located in northwestern Turkey on the eastern coast of the Sea of Marmara. It is the seat of Yalova Province and Yalova District. Its population is 133,109 (2022). A largely modern town, it is best known for the spa resort at nearby Termal, a popular summer retreat for residents of Istanbul.
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The Greek genocide, which included the Pontic genocide, was the systematic killing of the Christian Ottoman Greek population of Anatolia, which was carried out mainly during World War I and its aftermath (1914–1922) – including the Turkish War of Independence (1919–1923) – on the basis of their religion and ethnicity. It was perpetrated by the government of the Ottoman Empire led by the Three Pashas and by the Government of the Grand National Assembly led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, against the indigenous Greek population of the Empire. The genocide included massacres, forced deportations involving death marches through the Syrian Desert, expulsions, summary executions, and the destruction of Eastern Orthodox cultural, historical, and religious monuments. Several hundred thousand Ottoman Greeks died during this period. Most of the refugees and survivors fled to Greece. Some, especially those in Eastern provinces, took refuge in the neighbouring Russian Empire.
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The Yalova Peninsula massacres were a series of massacres during 1920–1921, the majority of which occurred during March – May 1921. They were committed by local Greek and Armenian bands with the invading Hellenic Army, against the Turkish Muslim population of the Yalova Peninsula. There were 27 villages burned and in Armutlu. According to journalist Arnold J. Toynbee c. 300 Muslims were killed during April–July 1921. In an Ottoman inquiry of 177 survivors in Constantinople, the number of victims reported was very low (35), which is in line with Toynbee's descriptions that villagers fled after one to two murders. Moreover, approximately 1,500 out of 7,000 Muslims remained in the region after the events or 6,000 had left Yalova where 16 villages had been burned. On the other hand, Ottoman and Turkish documents on massacres claim that at least 9,100 Muslim Turks were killed.
The Ottoman Committee of Union and Progress was a revolutionary group, secret society, and political party, active between 1889 and 1926 in the Ottoman Empire and in the Republic of Turkey. The foremost faction of the Young Turks, the CUP instigated the 1908 Young Turk Revolution, which ended absolute monarchy and began the Second Constitutional Era. After an ideological transformation, from 1913 to 1918, the CUP ruled the empire as a dictatorship and committed genocides against the Armenian, Greek, and Assyrian peoples as part of a broader policy of ethnic erasure during the late Ottoman period. The CUP and its members have often been referred to as "Young Turks", although the Young Turk movement produced other Ottoman political parties as well. Within the Ottoman Empire its members were known as İttihadcılar ('Unionists') or Komiteciler ('Committeemen').
During the decline and dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, Muslim inhabitants living in Muslim-minority territories previously under Ottoman control often found themselves persecuted after borders were re-drawn. These populations were subject to genocide, expropriation, massacres, religious persecution, mass rape, and ethnic cleansing.
The question of who was responsible for starting the burning of Smyrna continues to be debated, with Turkish sources mostly attributing responsibility to Greeks or Armenians, and vice versa. Other sources, on the other hand, suggest that at the very least, Turkish inactivity played a significant part on the event. However, the majority of non-Turkish researchers agree that the fire was caused by Turkish soldiers in order to completely eradicate the Christian presence in Anatolia.
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)At the same time bands of Christian irregulars, Greek Armenian, and Circassian, looted, burned and murdered in the Yalove-Gemlik peninsula.
To protect their flanks from harassment, Greek military authorities then encouraged irregular bands of armed men to attack and destroy Turkish populations of the region they proposed to abandon. By the time the Red Crescent vessel arrived at Yalova from Constantinople in the last week of May, fourteen out of sixteen villages in that town's immediate hinterland had been destroyed, and there were only 1500 survivors from the 7000 Moslems who had been living in these communities.
' But at 1 P.M. on Friday the 24th June, three and a half days before the Greek evacuation, the male inhabitants of the two Turkish quarters of Baghcheshmé and Tepekhané, in the highest part of the town, away from the sea, had been dragged out to the cemetery and shot in batches. On Wednesday the 29th I was present when two of the graves were opened, and ascertained for myself that the corpses were those of Moslems and that their arms had been pinioned behind their backs. There were thought to be about sixty corpses in that group of graves, and there were several others. In all, over 300 people were missing—a death-roll probably exceeding that at Smyrna on the 15th and 16th May 1919.
Two thirds of Salihli, with a population of 10,000, only a tenth of whom were Greeks, had been burned over, seventy-six people were known to have burned to death, and a hundred young girls were said to have been taken away by Greek
The trade of the Turkish community had considerably declined during the period, due to the existing situation, and unemployment reached a very high level as approximately 25,000 Turkish Cypriots had become refugees.