While the frantic efforts of the rich Armenian lobbies are continuing to get the parliaments of the Western countries to accept the horrific events of the WWI in Anatolia, where more Turks suffered than the Armenians, as so-called Armenian genocide with the help of unscrupulous journalist, who do not mind distorting historical facts, a new act by the Greek parliament has rendered the word genocide meaningless.

In fact, the efforts of the Armenians and the Greeks who often work hand in hand made the word genocide a cheap word that has become very common. Almost all the suffering of the people of the world is named as genocide, with the exception of the suffering of the Turks, which includes the suffering of the Azerbaijani Turks at the hands of the Armenians only a decade ago.

What happened to the Armenians and the Greeks because they took part in the attacks against Ottoman Empire, their own country, cannot be compared with what happened to the Jewish people, who were completely innocent. While most of the Armenian and Greek populations of the Ottoman Empire survived, almost all the Jewish population of Europe was wiped out.

Greek genocide?

Encouraged by the distortion of the history by the French parliament concerning the so-called Armenian genocide, the Greek Minister of Culture Evangelos Venizelos and the Interior Minister Panos Kaiserlis issued a decree on February 9, which announced the September 15, as "the day of the genocide by Turkish forces against 'Greeks' in Asia Minor."

In fact the Greek Parliament had approved the decree in 1998 but it was not formalised, it needed the signature of President Costas Stephanopoulos to become law.

However, Greek premier Costas Simitis, with a timely intervention, which saved Greece from a certain embarrassment, asked ministers to remove the word "genocide" from the presidential decree concerning the allegation of genocide committed by Turkey against Christians living in Anatolia in 1920s.

Reporting on the decision of the two ministries, on 10 February 20001, AFP said: "Ironically, the day marks the recapture of Turkish troops in 1922 of the Aegean city of Izmir, which Greeks occupied along with several neighboring provinces after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I and its subsequent collapse."

AFP further reported that "Greek historian Angelos Elefantis told AFP in Athens that he was shocked by the term "genocide," never used in official Greek history. 'This is stupidity,' he said."

Also the official Greek institute, the Asia Minor Historical Research Institute, for historical studies concerning Asia Minor, announced on February 18, that the events that took place during the 1920s "can never be termed as genocide. The incidents that took place at that time were due to the war."

The Asia Minor Historical Research Institute is an official state institute known for its studies concerning the Christians, who lived in the Ottoman Empire. The institute comes under the Greek Culture Ministry. The announcement by this institute and the fact that this institute is a part of the Greek Culture Ministry, who prepared the decree, shows how ridiculous the decree is.

In addition to some Greek historians, some sections of the Greek media also ridiculed the idea that the Turks committed genocide on the Christians during the 1920s. Avgi, a Greek newspaper called on the Greek parliament to change the decree.

Amongst the people who criticised the action of the Greek government was also Dr. Georgios Nakracas, an out spoken critic of the Greek policy towards Turkey, who is already named as a traitor by the fanatic Greek circles because of his previous criticism of the Greek policy.

In a letter sent via e-mail to many international organisations, Nakracas clearly blaming the Greeks for what happened during the 1920s in Anatolia said: "As a Psychologist I feel, I have to say that the people who prepared this decree are clinical cases who are showing symptoms of weak historical knowledge," thus implying that the ministers, who prepared this decree had psychological problems.

Quoting Greek historians in his letter, Nakracas said that the Greeks were never a majority in Western Anatolia area of the Ottoman Empire and their numbers were around 450,000 not 1.5 million as the decree claimed. He also said that these people were not Greeks but Orthodox Christians later named as Romans only made up the 30% of the population of the area.

"This fascistic decree, which was proposed by three deputies, shows the lack of knowledge of these deputies concerning the ethnic identity of the people, who were Greek speaking, that lived in Western Anatolia during the East Roman Empire and the Ottoman Empire," Nakracas said.

Nakracas also stressed that the wording of the decree, which claims that the 'Greeks' who lived in the area were forced to leave their homes after the dramatic events of the 1922, does not reflect the reality.

"The Christians, who were living in the area supported the Greek invasion of the Anatolia in 1919 and many of them joined the Greek army to fight against the Turks, when they realise that the Turks were wining the war they fled the country," Nakracas said.

Nakracas, referring to a study carried out by the Selanico Macedonian Studies Institute, also pointed out that it was not the Turkish government but it was Eleftherios Venizelos who insisted on a forced population exchange between the two countries.

Indeed the decision of Costas Simitis to remove the word genocide from the decree prepared by Evangelos Venizelos, saved the Greeks from a certain embarrassment because it is recorded in the 1923 Laussane Treaty how the Greeks paid compensation to Turkey for the horrific atrocities committed against the Turks by the Greek army during its invasion of Western Anatolia.

Taking advantage of the devastation that the Turkish nation was in, with the support of Britain, Greeks invaded Western Turkey. They pillaged and burned the villages in their path, thousands of Turkish civilians were massacred; burning people their homes and rape was a common practice.

As Dr. Nakracas said, the Christians living in the area joined the Greek army and took part in the fighting against the Turkish army defending its own country and took part in the untold atrocities committed during the Greek invasion. When, under the leadership of Ataturk, the Turkish army started to win the war against the Greek army, these Christians fled the country together with the Greek invaders, burning Izmir, the most westerly Turkish city, on their way out.

During the Lausanne negotiations, the atrocities by the Greek forces against the Turkish people and the damages caused were registered in international law. Compensation for the actions of the Greek army and troops were discussed in Lausanne for months. The Allies also agreed that Greece had to pay compensation to Turkey.

Greek negotiator Eleftherios Venizelos, claiming that his country did not have any money, requested this condition to be rejected. He discussed the issue over and over again with Ismet Pasha and even threatened the allies, led by Britain, by signing a separate peace agreement with Turkey. The issue of compensation was a cause for tough negotiations. For a while, reaching an agreement in Lausanne was in jeopardy due to the arguments concerning the compensation.

Greece penniless because of the war she caused left the Karaagac region in Edirne to Turkey. Karaagac is the compensation for the war. The protocol consisting of only one article is among the additional Lausanne protocols. Greece was pleased to exchange the high burden of compensation for Karaagac at the time.

What makes the whole thing even more ridiculous is that Evangelos Venizelos, who prepared this decree, is the grand son of Eleftheiros Venizelos, the Greek Prime Minister who agreed to pay compensation to Turkey for the atrocities of the Greek army.

Removing the word genocide out of the decree does not change anything. Apart from distorting the historical facts surrounding the Greek invasion of Western Turkey and the atrocities committed by the Greek army, it makes a mockery out of the so-called rapprochement between the two countries.

This latest Greek action shows that the Greeks have not changed their bad intentions and enemy like policy towards Turkey.

The so-called rapprochement between the two countries is nothing but a show by the Greeks. Realising that their policy of keeping the tension high between the two countries was back firing and the fact that their co-operation with the PKK terrorists was exposed two years ago, they had to embark on the so-called rapprochement policy, in order to divert strong criticism from the other EU countries and the USA.

While some sensible Greeks spoke against this ridiculous decree, some of the Greek fanatics called the Greek Premier Simitis a pimp and a traitor. They asked for his removal from the office and asked for his punishment.

Evangelos Venizelos and the rest of the fanatic Greeks, who demonise Turks and Ataturk through their fabricated allegations should remember that even after loosing the war against the Turks, it was Eleftherios Venizelos, who proposed Ataturk as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize?