Reports on atrocities in the districts of Yalova and Guemlek and in the Ismid Peninsula

by Inter-Allied Commission of Enquiry into Atrocities in Yalova and Guemlek

During this period it carried out the following tasks:—

(a.) During two days it heard, either at the mayor’s house or at the Turkish headquarters at Guemlek, all Greek, Armenian and Moslem inhabitants who had any statements to make with regard to the events which recently took place in this region. All these statements, even those concerning occurrences which took place a long time ago, or in distant localities, were received. (b.) It visited villages which had been burned within the line of outposts, such as Chengeller (Armenian), and Bazarkeui (Turkish), as also the Turkish villages of Chitelji and Gedelek in the rear of this line, which had also been burned. On the 15th May the commission, having watched from its ship the burning of villages on the northern shore of the Gulf of Mudania, proceeded on the 15th, 16th and 17th May to the Turkish localities known as Narli, Karaja Ali, Kumlar, Kapakli, and Fistikli, and to that of Armudli, inhabited by Greeks and Moslems. It established the fact of the recent passage of armed Greek and Armenian bands, and noted that Kapakli, Narli and Karaja Ali were still burning. In these villages, as also in the neighbourhood of that of Kumlar, the commission found twenty-eight bodies of old men and women who had been recently shot or knocked on the head. An infant was also found alive at Kapakli. (c.) The commission collected all the statements concerning recent events, and more particularly that of the Greek officer commanding a reconnoitring detachment which had operated between Guemlek and Armudli on the 13th, 14th and 15th May, as well as that of the Greek officer in command of the fixed post of Armudli. (d.) The commission assured the embarkation for Constantinople of the inhabitants of Kumlar and the Moslem refugees of Guemlek (some 2,300). (e.) In the region of Yalova the commission visited Yalova, Chinarjik, Inguereh and Koja Dereh. It received the statements of Greek and Turkish inhabitants of Yalova and those of the Greek inhabitants of Chinarjik.

The commission did not consider it advisable to visit the Turkish villages of Ak Keui and Samanli, where there were still some 300 Moslems. As it was not sure of being able to help them immediately, the commission feared that it might be placed in as difficult a position as that in which it found itself a few days before at Kutchuk-Kumlar, when the terror-stricken population spontaneously placed itself under its protection.

The detailed narrative of the work done each day, as well as of the statements collected, are attached to the present report.

6. In consequence of the statements received, of the observations made and facts established on the spot, and of their impressions as a whole, the members of the commission believe that they can set down the following statement:—

(a.) All the Moslem villages of the regions visited—with the exception of Omer Bey, Yalova, Ak Keui and Samanli—are abandoned, and were mostly looted and burned by Christian bands less than two months ago. (b.) The population of these villages is at present scattered. Some of the inhabitants assured their own safety by leaving the district before the destruction of their village. Others were either able to flee to the mountains when the bands attacked, or were, according to statements made, carried off by the assailants. Some have been massacred. The fate of the majority of the population which took refuge in the mountains is unknown. No figures can be given with any accuracy. (c.) It has not been possible actually to verify any of the atrocities properly so-called (men shut up and burned, children thrown on the fire, women violated and disembowelled), mentioned in the reports of the Turkish authorities. It has, however, been definitely established that women and defenceless old men were shot or knocked on the head in the villages of Kapakli and Karaja Ali, sometimes even in their own houses. (d.) The Christian population does not appear to have been disarmed, and it also appears that the Moslem population was able to keep hidden weapons. (e.) In the localities occupied by Greek troops, the Moslem population complains of molestation and threats. These facts should not be regarded as anything else but the application (occasionally somewhat harsh) of police measures connected with the state of occupation. (f.) The Greek authorities who are providing for the maintenance of Armenian and Greek refugees at Guemlek, give no food and no medical assistance to Moslem refugees (about 1,500 after the evacuation of Bazarkeui). (g.) Acts of violence and barbarism, as well as massacres on a large scale, were undoubtedly committed in 1920 by Kemalist bands, or by soldiers of the regular army, against the Christian population of the region not occupied by the Greek army, east of Yalova, north of the lake of Nicea, and in the region of Nicea. Statements dealing more particularly with the atrocities committed in the Greek villages of Elmalik, Fulajik and Nicea, are attached to the present report, as well as statements relating to Kemalist excesses in certain localities of the more distant region of Yeni Shehr. It has been impossible to check the truth of all these statements on the spot. They may be exaggerated, in the same way as the statements made by the Turks, but appear to contain an element of truth.

It was only after the events of the 15th May, and late in the evening, that measures were taken to protect the Moslem population of Kumlar.

One reconnoitring detachment was, it is true, sent to the region between Guemlek and Armudli between the 12th and 15th May, but this detachment, whose task was only “to disarm and to clear,” did not prevent the looting or burnings which took place at the very time of its presence in the localities of Karaja Ali, Narli, and Kutchuk Kumlar.

7. The commission endeavoured to arrive at the causes which, in less than two months, brought about the destruction or evacuation of nearly all the Moslem villages of that part of the kazas of Yalova and Guemlek which is occupied by the Greeks.

If events which took place at the time of the movements of the Greek army towards the end of March can explain why the villages near to the Greek line (Dijan Keui—Reshadie—Soyuljak—Bazar-Keui (Turkish)—Chengeller (Armenian)) were destroyed or abandoned by reason of attack or as reprisals, the case is not parallel on the northern shore of the Gulf of Mudania. These latter villages were burned on the 15th May, when military operations were but few, and without the Greek Commander having reported the particular acts of provocation, although the commission had been at Guemlek since the 12th May.