My beloved Smyrna

My beloved Smyrna By George Koumoulli … By George Koumoulli Although the premiere of the film “Smyrna my beloved” — directed by Grigoris Karadinakis and written by Mimis Denisi — was 3–4 months ago, only the other day I found the opportunity to see it. The year of production of the film is no coincidence: this year, 2022, has a special symbolism, since it is 100 years since the climax of the Asia Minor Catastrophe. Undoubtedly, the film is a high-end blockbuster with an international cast that honors the Hellenism of Asia Minor. Already all critics have described it as a great cinematic work with universal messages, which conveys to the big screen with enough persuasiveness the atmosphere of the time through excellent sets and costumes and the dramatic destruction of Smyrna. I would divide the work into two parts: the first has to do with the multicultural city in which not only Turks and Greeks coexisted, but also Jews, Armenians, French, Americans, English, Dutch, Italians, etc. before 1922. Therefore, Smyrna was very different from a city like Athens where almost all its population was Greeks. It was indeed a cosmopolitan city, an example of the harmonious coexistence of the various ethnic groups. The cocktails, parties and receptions of high society and businessmen, with the carefreeness of good manners and the kind exchange of visits to the mansions, “smelled” more elegant Europe than underdeveloped Asia. The second part concerns the destruction of the city. Allow me to criticize the play: first of all, Greek cinema wanted very much to turn the destruction of Smyrna, since it also had a ready audience from the very first generation of refugees who lived then. But he avoided it for economic reasons. At last it has become possible — the production of this work is the most expensive (4 million euros) since the beginning of Greek cinema. Despite the exorbitant budget by Greek standards, some scenes were not properly rendered in the film. For example, when the Greek army landed in Smyrna in May 1919, he was greeted by a sea of people on the waterfront, and not a few tens/hundreds that the film shows us. The same goes for the tragic day that the city was burning and the entire population of Smyrna was crammed into the waterfront in the hope of being saved by securing a place in a boat or ship. In order for this to be achieved in the examples I have mentioned (there are others of course) thousands of extras should be employed for several days / weeks, which for a Greek film production company is a deterrent. Due to the relatively small population of Greece, no Greek company has the robustness of a 20th Century Fox or a Universal Pictures to make the film truly a spectacle. The film also disappointed me that it made no mention of the drama of the refugees who found refuge in Greece. This aspect of the drama should not be ignored. It is a national disgrace that is being hushed up by the Greek establishment. The people of Smyrnio and the other people of Asia Minor could not go to Greece, because in July 1922, by unanimous decision of the Greek Parliament (apparently they predicted the coming disaster), the entry of “illegal immigrants” and foreigners into the country was forbidden. The Greeks of Asia Minor were considered foreigners because they possessed Ottoman passports. It was an inhumane law, because it was intended to prevent the refugees from Asia Minor from going to Greece. And those who were not exterminated by the Turks and managed to go “clandestinely” to Greece, were undesirable and were called “Turkipos” by the natives! The pain of the refugees of 1922 is indescribable and it is not surprising that many committed suicide. It is not enough that they lost everything through no fault of their own, faced, when they went to the “motherland”, the hostility of the “brothers” Greeks! Well! P. Kanellopoulos in his book “The Second Hellenic Republic 1924–1935”, says: “A large part of the population did not view the refugees with sympathy, when the relentless waves of history threw them on the rocks of Greece. There was no sympathy, there was dislike. I remember it and I shudder.” (p.38). To a Cypriot, this film reminds him of the tragic events of 1974. Indeed, Asia Minor and Cyprus were the victims of Greek irredentism. The invasion of Greece (‘campaign’ euphemism) in Asia Minor aimed at the union of Ionia with Greece and resulted in the Asia Minor catastrophe. The invasion of Greece (‘coup’ by euphemism) in Cyprus on July 15, 1974 aimed to “liberate” Cyprus and eventually resulted in an epic destruction of Hellenism, similar, mutatis mutandis, to that of 1922. Studying the history of Greece in the 20th century, some painful associations emerge, unfortunately. How could you not think of Euripides’ Medea who, as we all know, committed an unspeakable crime, the murder of her children? Greece turned out to be another Medea. And when I say “Greece”, I do not mean the Greek people but their leaders. It wiped out the Hellenism of Asia Minor, it wiped out the Hellenism of northern Cyprus, it wiped out the Hellenism of Pontus. https://tinyurl.com/2ys4b9y8 #Cyprus #CyprusProblem #EasternMediterranean #EuropeanUnion #Greece #GreekCypriots #NorthCyprus #Politics #Smyrna #SouthCyprus #TRNC #Turkey #TurkishCypriots #Uk #UnitedNations