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  Selected Secret Documents from Soviet Foreign Policy Documents Archives - 1919 to 1941

Concentrated on 1st and  2nd WW Correspondence and Meetings related to Turkey, Balkans and Iran, with some additions from Afghanistan and India.

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Note from the peopleʹs commissariat of foreign affairs of the RSFSR to the governments of all countries.

October 22, 1921

The brutal, inhuman actions of the Greek troops in Asia minor are forcing the Russian government to raise a question before all governments about their attitude to these actions and to draw their attention to the horrific devastation of the barbaric atrocities to which entire areas of Turkey are subjected by the invading Greek troops. Even neutral observers and telegraph agencies state that all that part of Turkey which was occupied by the Greek troops and which is cleared by them during their retreat is turning into a desert. Everywhere in the area of Greek retreat, Turkish villages are burned down, and the population is completely destroyed or taken prisoner, and women are subjected to the most barbaric violence. Of the entire Turkish population of these areas, only those who take refuge in the forests and mountains are saved. In the orders of the Greek command, there are references to the kingʹs son Andrew, who ordered the Greek troops to burn all Turkish villages on the way. Even the commander‐in‐chief of the Greek army, Papoulas, gave orders for the devastation of Turkish villages.

The official message of the chairman of the Turkish grand national assembly Yusuf Kemal‐bey * dated September 28 to the plenipotentiary of the Russian republic contains a long list of horrific atrocities of the Greek troops. There are quite accurate factual indications of the devastation and atrocities committed by the Greek troops in the villages: Guzelce‐kale, Sherekli, Katranji, Yalrak‐bayir, Yeni‐mehmedli, Kara‐ali, Uzum bailey; all villages in the area between Inler Katranci and Kurd hedger were burnt; the city of Bilejik was plundered and burned, Nazhum gazle, Yuch‐bash, Meti bashi, etc., the city of Kaimaz, the villages of Fakki naushem, Melek were plundered and burned; in the same way, all the villages of the Bolvadin region and others. The same official communication contains excerpts from the testimony of eyewitnesses who were present at the atrocities committed by the Greeks.

The Russian government draws the attention of all governments to the fact that the invading Greek army is thus completely devastating and turning a vast flourishing land into a real desert. The Russian government considers it absolutely necessary to appeal to all governments with a proposal to take steps before the Greek government to put an end to the unacceptable actions of the Greek troops in Turkey.

Peopleʹs commissar for foreign affairs

Chicherin

Publ. Into gas. ʺnewsʺ

No. 239 (1382), October 25, 1921

* Yusuf Kemal‐bey was the commissioner for foreign affairs of the government of the Turkish grand national assembly.

In connection with the published note of the peopleʹs commissariat of foreign affairs of the RSFSR, Turkish ambassador to the RSFSR Ali Fuad sent Chicherin the following note dated October 26, 1921:

ʺMr. Commissioner,

I have received with gratitude a copy of the protest that you have deigned to send to all governments against the atrocities committed by the Greeks in Asia minor, and which is proof of the high humane feelings that inspire the Soviet government. On this occasion, I express my warmest gratitude to the Soviet government on behalf of the people and the government of Turkey, and I ask you to accept, Mr. Commissioner, the assurances of my highest esteem. ʺ