Fire of Manisa

Fire of Manisa
Part of Greek retreat during the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922)
Map of the town and its neighborhoods before the fire.
Date5–8 September 1922[1]
LocationManisa, Greek Zone of Smyrna (now Republic of Turkey)
ParticipantsHellenic Army[2]
Greek and Armenian irregulars (per Turkish sources)[3]
OutcomeDestruction of 90% of the town (~10,000 buildings)[4]
DeathsExact number unknown
Thousands according to US consul James Loder Park[note 1]
4,355 according to Turkish sources[note 2]

The Fire of Manisa (Turkish: Manisa yangını) refers to the burning of the town of Manisa, Turkey, which started on the night of Tuesday, 5 September 1922 and continued until 8 September.[1] The fire was started and organized by the retreating Hellenic Army[2][4][6] during the Greco-Turkish War of 1919-1922, and as a result 90 percent of the buildings in the town were destroyed.[7][8] The number of victims in the town and adjacent region was estimated to be several thousand by US Consul James Loder Park.[4] Turkish sources say that 4,355 people died in the town of Manisa.[3][5]

  1. ^ a b Emecen, Feridun Mustafa (2006). Tarihin içinde Manisa. Manisa Belediyesi. p. 6. ISBN 9789759550608. Yunan kuvvetleri çekilirken 5 Eylül Salı günü şehri ateşe verdiler, akşam söndürülen yangın sabah çarşı kesiminde tekrar başladı ve 8 Eylül'de kendiliğinden söndü. Yangın sırasında halk dağlara kaçtı, bu büyük yangın neredeyse şehrin tamamını etkiledi, 10.700 ev, on üç cami, 2728 dükkân, on dokuz han yandı, Manisa tam bir harabeye dönüştü. 8 Eylül'de Türk birlikleri Manisa yakınlarındaki küçük bir çarpışmanın ardından şehre girdi. Cumhuriyet döneminde bu tahribatın izleri kapandı ve şehir yeniden gelişmeye başladı. (English) "The Greek forces, while retreating, set the city on fire on 5 Tuesday, September it was extinguished in the evening but began again the following morning in the market sector and on 8 September was extinguished by itself. During the fire the people fled to the mountains, this great fire affected almost the entire city, 10,700 houses, thirteen mosques, 2,728 shops and nineteen inn were burned, Manisa became a complete ruin. On 8 September after a minor collision near Manisa, the Turkish troops entered the city. In the Republican period, the traces of this destruction disappeared, and the city began to flourish again. "
  2. ^ a b Freely, John (2010). Children of Achilles: The Greeks in Asia Minor Since the Days of Troy. .B.Tauris. p. 212. ISBN 9781845119416. Manisa, which was burned to the ground by the Greeks when they evacuated the town.
  3. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference Kamil Su was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference U.S. Vice-Consul James Loder Park 1923 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Ergül1991 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Kinross 1960, p. 318.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Ayliffe Turkey was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ U.S. Vice-Consul James Loder Park to Secretary of State, Smyrna, 11 April 1923. US archives US767.68116/34

    Consul Park concluded:
    "1. The destruction of the interior cities visited by our party was carried out by Greeks."
    "2. The percentages of buildings destroyed in each of the last four cities referred to were: Manisa 90 percent, Cassaba (Turgutlu) 90 percent, Alaşehir 70 percent, Salihli 65 percent."
    "3. The burning of these cities was not desultory, nor intermittent, nor accidental, but well planned and thoroughly organized."
    "4. There were many instances of physical violence, most of which was deliberate and wanton. Without complete figures, which were impossible to obtain, it may safely be surmised that 'atrocities' committed by retiring Greeks numbered well into thousands in the four cities under consideration. These consisted of all three of the usual type of such atrocities, namely murder, torture and rape."
    "Cassaba (present day Turgutlu) was a town of 40,000 souls, 3,000 of whom were non-Muslims. Of these 37,000 Turks only 6,000 could be accounted for among the living, while 1,000 Turks were known to have been shot or burned to death."


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