"A few months after the Great Armistice was signed, a few weeks
after our Near East Relief party reached Constantinople, on
May 15th, 1919, the Greek army had occupied Smyrna. That city
had been prevailingly Greek from its foundation. It was the
traditional birthplace of Homer. The Turks called it "Giaour
Izmir", "Infidel Smyrna",--that is, alien, not Moslem. Its
military occupation while the Peace Conference was in session
was supposed to be due to rivalries among the allied powers,
who thought the Turkish Government was down and out. But the
Turks were angered and embittered exceedingly by the sight of
Greek troops in Smyrna and that neighborhood. They had lost
two-thirds or more of their territories in Europe, Asia and
Africa with the people dwelling therein, but they had not
lost Anatolia, as they called Asia Minor, the heartland of
the Turkish people."
[From: George E. White's "Adventuring With Anatolia College", p. 103
(Herald-Register Publishing Company, Grinnell, Iowa, March 1940)]
*********************************************************************************
"Eight hundred and fifty-nine new villages were reckoned to
have been established and occupied by about 1,000,000 refugees
and other citizens located in Macedonia and Thrace, which was
adjacent on the east. It was interesting on any journey to
observe that practically the first important building in every
village was a school, beside which was usually a new church.
Visiting foreigners remarked on the absence of beggars and
criminals. There was tree planting "almost everywhere". Some
carpet and rug weaving had been brought by the refugees from
Asia Minor. Improvements in agriculture, stock-breeding, and
considerable silk production were in evidence. There were said
to be some two thousand cooperative societies among the people."
[From: George E. White's "Adventuring With Anatolia College", p. 135
(Herald-Register Publishing Company, Grinnell, Iowa, March 1940)]