HDP Amed MP Garo Paylan submitted an investigation inquiry to the Parliament to unearth the perpetrators of the September 6-7, 1955 Pogrom, to determine the loss of life and property and thus take a step towards reconciling with the past.

WHAT HAPPENED?

“It has been 63 years since the September 6-7, 1955 Pogrom which caused yet another devastation for minorities but the Turkish Republic hasn’t officially condemned the incident, nor have they taken any steps towards reparations or an apology,” said Paylan and added the following as the reason for the inquiry:

“The September 6-7, 1955 Pogrom is one of the dire incidents in the history of the Turkish Republic that hasn’t been confronted yet. According to official data, 73 churches, 8 holy springs, 2 monasteries, 5.538 homes and shops (3.584 of them belonging to Anatolian Greeks) were burned, destroyed and looted in Istanbul alone. Also according to official records, 60 women were raped and several people were murdered. All these numbers have been proven to be much higher than listed in official records through various research projects on the matter. And tens of thousands of our fellow citizens were forced to leave the country due to threats and oppression.

The September 6-7, 1955 Pogrom went down in Turkey’s history of shame with the looting of Anatolian Greeks’, Armenians’, other Christians’ and Jews’ property, rape of women, battery of religious leaders and pillaging of cemeteries in Istanbul, Izmir and other provinces. The perpetrators of this pogrom never received any sentences, like in several other negative incidents in the Republic’s history. On the contrary, the perpetrators received promotions instead of punishment.

Sabri Yirmibesoglu who said, ‘September 6-7 was done by the Special War Division. It was a great organization. And it achieved its goals,’ was serving in the Mobilization Enquiry Group during the Pogrom. Throughout the years, he climbed the ladder of bureaucracy and ended up as the National Security Council Secretary General between 1988 and 1990. Oktay Engin, the man who set up the bomb in Atatürk’s family home in Thessaloniki that sparked the pogrom, started his career as a law student in the Thessaloniki University and ended up as high as the Nevşehir Governor between 1992 and 1993.”

“NO PUNISHMENT”

Paylan stressed that perpetrators are not punished in Turkey and continuously received rewards: “The promotions the people involved in the murder of Agos newspaper founder and editor in chief Hrant Dink in 2007 and the shield of impunity they have was the freshest example of this continuity.”