September 1955 – The persecution of the Greeks of Constantinopletranslated

By the term "September" we mean the pogrom unleashed by the Turkish mob, under the guidance of the Menderes government, against the populous and prosperous Greek community of Istanbul on September 6 and 7, 1955. As a result, the 100,000 Greeks living in the city at that time gradually shrunk and today barely exceed 2,000. In 1955 our neighboring country was ruled by Adnan Menderes - an "early Erdogan" - and the Democratic Party. Menderes played the Muslim card quite a bit, causing irritation in the country's Kemalist establishment. This is proven by the thousands of mosques that were built during his prime ministership.

The economic situation in Turkey was not prosperous, while the nationalist fever was rising, as the Greek Cypriots claimed the union of the mega-island with Greece. It was a good occasion for Turkish leaders to distract public opinion from its problems by turning it against the prosperous Greek minority. On 28 August 1955 Menderes publicly claimed that the Greek Cypriots were planning massacres against the Turkish Cypriots.

The occasion for the Pogrom against the Hellenism of the city was given to...