Izmir

Izmir (Turkish spelling İzmir. Contraction of the previous name Smyrna) is the second-largest port (after İstanbul) and the third most populous city of Turkey is located on the Aegean Sea near the Gulf of Izmir. It is the capital of the Izmir Province.

History

The city was settled before 3000 BC and was an important city of Ionians. It was an important center for traders and merchants throughout the Byzantine, Seljuk, and Ottoman periods.

Izmir, ancient Smyrna, was the capital of the historic province of Ionia in the 7th Century BC. The city is commonly accepted as the birth place of the famous poet Homer, author of the epic poems Iliad and Odyssey. Smyrna was also the birth place of the famous Rebetika and Smyrneika music.

After the fall of the Roman Empire it became part of the Byzantine Empire, until it was conquered by the Seljuks. In AD 1079 the Byzantines reconquered the city, but in 1415 it became a part of the Ottoman Empire.

The city earned its fame as one of the most important port-cities of the world during the 17th–19th centuries, while merchants from a variety of origins (especially French, Italian, Dutch, Armenian, Jewish, and Greek) transformed the city into a cosmopolitan portal of trade. During this period, the city was famous for its own brand of music (Smyrneika) as well as its wide range of products it exported to Europe (Smyrna/Sultana grapes, carpets, etc.)

The 5000 year-old city, contemporary to ancient Troy (also in modern-day Turkey), is one of the oldest cities of the Mediterranean basin. According to the famous Greek historian Herodotus (from Halicarnassus, modern-day Turkey) the city was first established by the Aeolians, but shortly thereafter seized by the Ionians who developed it into one of the world's largest cultural and commercial centers of that period. Smyrna later became known as one of the Seven Churches of Asia, where the Book of Revelation was sent to John the Apostle.

Until recently, Izmir/Smyrna (like Istanbul) was one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world, with a large population of Turks, Greeks, Jews, Armenians and Levantines (Genoese Italians, Venetian Italians and Frenchmen).

After World War I, while the Paris Peace Conference was going on, the Greek army along with other Allied forces occupied the city in May 15th 1919. This lead to a great turmoil and an eventual state of war within city and the surrounding region. According to the report of the commission investigating the claims of the Greek atrocities at Smyrna, which was completed on October 13 and presented to the Supreme Council on November 8 (from Helmreich 1974, "From Paris to Sevres", Ohio State University Press, Columbus, p.169):

Fears of the massacres of Christians were not justified.... The conditions of security in the Vilayet of Aidin and at Smyrna, in particular, did not at all justify the occupation of the Smyrna forts.... The internal situation in the Vilayet did not call for the landing of Allied troops at Smyrna. On the contrary, since the Greek landing, the situation is troubled because of the state of war existing between the Greek troops and the Turkish irregulars.

This landing highly stimulated the nationalist movement lead by Mustafa Kemal.

Treaty of SÃÂÃÂ¨vres, signed on August 10th 1920, gave the administration of Symrna and its hitherland to Greece. This treaty although signed by a representative of the Ottoman Sultan, was never ratified by the Ottoman parliament, and was also rejected by Turkish nationalist movement in Ankara. According to Hughes and Seligman (2002, in "Does Peace Lead to War?", Sutton Publishing, Phoenix Mill, p.72)

Greek control of Symrna ran counter to the notion of self-determination embodied in the Fourteen Points of America's President Woodrow Wilson. While Eleutherios Venizelos, the articulate Greek leader, based his claim to expand Greek territory around Smyrna on the principle of self determination, his population statistics for western Anatolia are contestable and open to the charge of manipulation. Venizelos established a marginal Greek majority by using pre-war statistics, and by including the Greek population on neighbouring Aegean islands.

In the final phase of the Greco-Turkish War Turkish nationalist troops captured Izmir on September 9th 1922. As a result of the hatred that built up in the last years, many Greeks left behind by the escaping Greek army were killed. On September 13th, a fire that started in Punta (a part of Izmir which was predominantly non-muslim, current name Alsancak) destroyed 70% of the city. The source of the fire is in dispute. The Turks blame the Greeks, and the Greeks blame the Turks. Treaty of Lausanne signed on [[July 24th]] 1923, gave Izmir to newly founded Republic of Turkey. Following this treaty a population exchange convention was signed between Turkey and Greece, on January 30th 1923. By this convention, the Greeks living in Turkey went to Greece (with the exception of Greeks in İstanbul) and the Turks living in Greece (with the exception of Turks living in Western Thrace) went to Turkey and were largely settled in the areas around Izmir. In 1923 the name Izmir became official. After World War II (and the famous "Wealth Tax" of the 1940s) most Levantines went to Italy and France (with large numbers of Armenians also following the same route), while most of the Jews went to Israel after the foundation of this state in 1948. Even though members of these communities still exist, their numbers have fallen sharply since the late 1940s.

Today Izmir is Turkey's third largest city and its most important port after Istanbul. Nicknamed "Occidental Izmir", it is widely regarded as the most Westernized city of Turkey in terms of values, ideology and lifestyle.

Modern Izmir also incorporates world-famous ancient cities like Ephesus, Pergamon, and Sardis. Turkish Internet phenomenon Mahir Cagri is a resident.

External link

http://www.izmirturizm.gov.tr

Science Daily article about İzmir