Smyrna 1922: The Destruction of a City

In September 1922 Mustapha Kemal Ataturk the victorious revolutionary ruler of Turkey led his troops into Smyrna (now Izmir) a predominantly Christian city as a flotilla of 27 Allied warships-- including three American destroyers-- looked on. The Turks soon proceeded to indulge in an orgy of pillage rape and slaughter that the Western powers anxious to protect their oil and trade interests in Turkey condoned by their silence and refusal to intervene. Turkish forces then set fire to the legendary city and totally destroyed it. There followed a massive cover-up by tacit agreement of the Western Allies who had defeated Turkey and Germany during World War I. By 1923 Smyrnas demise was all but expunged from historical memory.