The Karatepe Massacre was a massacre perpetrated by the Greek army on the night of February 18, 1922, in the village of Karatepe in Aydın, with a population of approximately 400, in which more than 200 people, including pregnant women, children, and the elderly, were killed, or possibly 385 people, by shooting people inside their homes and setting fire to mosques. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ]

Background
On May 15, 1919, the Entente-backed Greek army landed in Izmir , and the Western Front of the Turkish War of Independence began. [ 5 ] [ 6 ] During the occupation of Karatepe, which lasted approximately 40 months, many murders were committed by the Greek army with the support of local Greeks in Karatepe. [ 3 ]

The Greek army, forced to retreat as a result of the Great Offensive , employed a scorched-earth tactic during its withdrawal. [ 7 ] Scottish historian Patrick Kinross described the Greek retreat with the words, “Most of the towns that were already in front of it (the Greek army) were in ruins. In the historic holy city of Manisa, only 500 out of 18,000 buildings remained standing.” [ 8 ] The massacre at Karatepe was one of the massacres committed by the Greek army during its scorched-earth tactic. [ 9 ]

Massacre
On the night of February 18, 1922, the Greek army, guided by local Greeks, reached the village of Karatepe. After surrounding the village, they entered the houses one by one. Villagers were shot or burned to death in their homes. During the events, the property of the Turks was looted. The largest mass execution in a house took place in the house of the Kazıklar family in the Sekiyurt neighborhood. Nine people from the household were killed, while three managed to escape. [ 3 ] [ 10 ] [ 11 ]

The surviving inhabitants of the village were crammed into the Sarı Ahmetler Mosque and the Sekiyurt Mosque. After gathering the villagers in the mosques, Greek soldiers opened fire on them with machine guns . Then the mosques were set on fire with gasoline, and the few villagers who managed to escape the fire were shot and killed. Of the 123 people in the Sarı Ahmetler Mosque, 98 were killed and 25 managed to escape wounded. In the Sekiyurt Mosque, 56 people were killed. [ 3 ] [ 9 ] [ 11 ] [ 12 ]

Legacy
In 2012, a monument called the Karatepe Massacre Martyrs’ Monument was opened in Karatepe, the site of the massacre. [ 13 ] [ 14 ]

Sources

Toynbee, Arnold (6 April 1922) [9 March 1922], “Letter”, The Times , Turkey .
Greek Atrocities: Izmir, Aydın, Manisa, Denizli : 1919-1923, Mustafa Turan, University of Michigan-Atatürk Research Center, 2006. He wrote, “In February, he was informed that the mosques were set on fire and that out of 400 people, only 15 men and women had escaped.” ( Archived on August 12, 2020, at the Wayback Machine )
“Archived copy” . Archived from the original on 24 September 2020. Retrieved 7 September 2020 .
BAYRAKTAROĞLU, Necdet (September 5, 2014). “The Greek Atrocities at Köşk-Karatepe – Necdet BAYRAKTAROĞLU” . Aydın 24 Haber . Archived from the original on September 9, 2014. Retrieved September 7, 2020 .
“Stewart, Matthew. ” Catastrophe at Smyrna. ” (PDF) . History Today , 54. 2004. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 March 2016. (English)
Paul C. Helmreich, From Paris to Sèvres: The Paertition of the Ottoman Empire at the Peace Conference of 1919-1920, Ohio University Press 1974.
Sydney Nettleton Fisher , The Middle East: a history , New York: Alfred A. Knopf , 1969, page 386
Lord Kinross, Atatürk: The Rebirth of a Nation , 1960, page 318
Ford, Henry. Dearborn Independent Magazine January 1927–May 1927 , Dearborn Publishing Company, p. 24. Archived 31 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine .
“The Karatepe Massacre Has Not Been Erased from Memories” . Haberler.com . Archived from the original on October 8, 2020. Retrieved September 7, 2020 .
” Humanity will not forget those who perpetrated the Karatepe Massacre” | Aydın News, Aydın Haber” . http://www.aydinparagraf.com/ . Archived from the original on October 8, 2020. Accessed September 7, 2020 .
“Alıcık has not forgotten the Karatepe Massacre . ” Manşet Aydın . Archived from the original on October 8, 2020. Retrieved September 7, 2020 .
“Karatepe Martyrs Remembered with Prayers” . Haberler.com . Archived from the original on October 8, 2020. Retrieved September 7, 2020 .
“The Sole Witness to the Karatepe Massacre Reco”89 Yıl Önce Ne Oldu?” . Haber3 . 4 Nisan 2011. 8 Ekim 2020 tarihinde orijinalinden arşivlendi. 7 Eylül 2020 tarihinde erişildi.