It is an undeniable fact that when the Greek revolt movement started, it was a period of terror for the Muslims and Jews in the region, especially in the Peloponnese peninsula. The city was besieged for a long time and the resources of the people were limited. As the situation in the Ottoman Empire was not very bright, it failed to send support to the region. It was obvious that there was also a love for Greece in Europe during this period. Europeans equated them with Ancient Greece and fully supported them against the Turks, the fathers of modern Europe. In this context, the Greeks, the spoiled child of Europe, rebelled against the Ottoman Empire and intended to expel all non-Greek nationalities in the region without discriminating between methods. Unfortunately, the Turks and Jews living in Tripolitsa became the victims of genocidal actions as a result of these brutal policies. On September 23, 1821, the city could no longer hold out and fell. According to a rumor, a deal was struck with some of the Albanians in the city and they opened the gates to the Greeks. British historian Walter Alison Phillps recounts the event as follows;
“For three days the inhabitants of the city were left to the malice and pleasure of a gang of savages. No distinction was made between age or gender. Women and children were tortured before being killed. The slaughter was so great that Kolokotronis said his horse's feet never touched the ground from the gate to the fortress. After the Greek victory in the city, the roadsides were littered with corpses. Masses of Muslims, including women and children, were slaughtered like cattle in the nearby mountains.”
William St. Claire wrote about what foreign officers who were present during the massacre saw;
"Over 10,000 Turks were killed. Prisoners suspected of hiding money were tortured. Their arms and legs were cut off and slowly roasted over a fire. Pregnant women had their bellies cut open, their heads cut off and dog heads shoved between their legs. From Friday to Sunday the air was filled with the sound of screams.... One Greek boasted that he had killed 90 people. The Jewish community was systematically tortured.... Turkish children, starved for weeks, were thrown to the ground and then shot by the Greeks as they ran helplessly through the ruins.... Water wells were filled with corpses..."
"The Turks in Greece left little trace behind. In the spring of 1821 they suddenly disappeared, unnoticed and unnoticed by the rest of the world. It was hard to believe that Greece once had a large Turkish population scattered all over the country. Among these families lived wealthy farmers, merchants, civil servants, who had lived here for hundreds of years and considered it their homeland... They were deliberately and ruthlessly murdered and there was never any remorse."
On the other hand, the Greek commander Teodoros Kolotokronis mentions in his memoirs that they killed 32,000 Turks. He also claimed that there were so many corpses on the ground that the horseshoes of his horse did not touch the ground until he went from the walls to the palace.
Tripolitsa was only one of the massacres committed against Turks in the Peloponnese. It is possible to mention many more massacres in the region. However, most of these incidents were ignored by the western powers.
REFERENCES
Phillips, Alison W., The war Of Greek Independence, 1821 to 1833. London, 1897, p.61.
William St. Clair. That Greece Might Still Be Free The Philhellenes in the War of Independence,Oxford University Press, London, 1972, p.43.
Kolokotrones, The Klepth and the Warriors, Sixty Years of Peril and Daring. An Authobiography, London, 1892, p.156-159.
https://www.cnnturk.com/video/dunya/tripolice-katliaminin-200-yil-donumu
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