The Asia Minor disaster
Alexander, and Venizelos emerged triumphant. However, Venizelos’s victory was only temporary. In a shock result, Venizelos was defeated in the 1920 election, placing the royalists, headed by the Populist Party, in control. Additionally, Constantine returned to the throne soon after the election due to the accidental death of King Alexander. In 1922 came Greece’s disastrous defeat in Asia Minor, which was followed by a Venizelist military coup and the proclamation of a revolutionary government. The struggle between the Venizelists and royalists ‘ spawned a deep political fracture ’ 3 in Greek society, which would only be aggravated after the arrival of the Asia Minor refugees. The influx of the Asia Minor Greeks, involving the addition of around 300,000 men to the electorate, ‘ created almost automatically a new state of affairs ’ . 4 Refugee communities quickly held local congresses to determine a common political position, with the refugees devoting their overwhelming support to Venizelos. This enabled the complete dominance of the Liberal Party from 1922 to 1932. Venizelos was seen as a liberator for the Asia Minor Greeks, with the royalists conversely being viewed as responsible for the catastrophe. Anticipating demands by the refugees for the punishment of the royalists, the revolutionary government organized the trial of five Anti-Venizelist politicians alongside the commander of the Asia Minor Forces. These men were charged with treason and executed on 28 November 1922. The act was condemned across Europe, with Britain severing diplomatic relations with Greece and the Greek delegation at Lausanne facing bitter criticism. Within Greece, many shared ‘ an atmosphere of mourning ’ , 5 as few believed the executed were truly responsible for Greece’s defeat. Following the ‘ Trial of the Six ’ ( Díki ton Éxi ), Anti-Venizelist parties abstained from participation in the 1923 elections, claiming intimidation by the Liberals. This enabled the Venizelists to propose a plebiscite for the abolition of the monarchy in 1924, in which 69.98 percent of the electorate voted in favour of a republic. The refugees, as an anti-monarchist bloc, were ‘ the determinant factor that swayed the election ’ , 6 demonstrating their vital importance to Greek politics as early as 1924. While refugee communities were too sparsely distributed to form an independent political force, their settlement in areas which had previously contained slight majorities for the Populists often led to these regions switching to the Liberals. 7 Consequently, the Liberal Party secured another strong majority in 1928, and Venizelos returned to power. Eager to end Greece’s diplomatic isolation, Venizelos pursued a rapprochement with Turkey and so concluded the Ankara Convention in 1930. This agreement cancelled the compensation of Greek refugees for their lost properties in Asia Minor, causing a major shift away from traditional party politics among refugee communities as many felt deceived by the Liberals. For example, in Thessaloniki, where refugees represented 47.8 percent of the city’s population, the Liberal candidate’s share of the vote decreased from 68.67 percent to 37.5 percent, and the number of votes for the Populist Party also dropped. Simultaneously, the Greek Communist Party (KKE) doubled its gains. 8 The alienation of refugee communities from parliamentary politics continued throughout the 1930s: by
3 Kalyvas, S. (2015) Modern Greece: What Everyone Needs to Know . Oxford: p. 43. 4 Pentzopoulos, D. (2002 2 ) The Balkan Exchange of Minorities and its Impact on Greece . London: p. 173.
5 Ibid ., p. 179. 6 Ibid ., p. 181. 7 Ibid ., p. 182. 8 Pentzopoulos op . cit .: p. 192.
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