User blog:4th of Augustball/Anniversary of the Great Fire of Smyrna

I have created this blog post to honour those who had perished in the flames of Smyrna on September the 13th, 1922. I am honestly too tired and sad to start an argument with anyone so I am not going to delve into the history of the Greco Turkish War or the fire.

The fact of the matter is that atrocities were committed by both sides during the Greco Turkish War which in turn caused a lot of divisions and hatred amongst Greeks and Armenians against their Turkish counterparts. The cause of the fire is a mystery (I can have my biased opinions but I shall remain silent) but due to the fire, thousands of Greeks and Armenians died in the process. On top of that, Turkish troops and Irregulars began a massive campaign of raiding, massacreing and raping the Greek and Armenian civillians of Smyrna.

Without this disaster we possibly wouldn't have had the population exchange between Greece and Turkey. We probably would've had a prominant Greek minority in there traditional homes and lands they grew up in. Finally, without this disaster, we probably wouldn't have inflammed the hatred between Greeks and Armenians against Turks to this day. It's fun to theorize of what would've happened if such a disaster of this scale had never occurred.

But the facts state that hundreds of thousands of Greeks and Armenians (and possibly a few Turks) died on this day. Instead of rekindling hatred against our counterparts, we should honour those who had perished in the flames or under the brutallity of these soldiers so that this atrocious act is not forgotten and repeated.