Chios Massacre

{{for|the Delacroix painting|The Massacre at Chios}} [[Image:Eugène Delacroix - Le Massacre de Scio.jpg|thumb|''[[The Massacre at Chios]]'' (1824) by [[Eugène Delacroix]].]] The '''Chios Massacre''' refers to the slaughter of tens of thousands of [[Greeks]] on the island of [[Chios]] by [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] troops during the [[Greek War of Independence]] in 1822. Greeks from neighbouring islands arrived on Chios and encouraged the Chians to join the struggle for independence. In response, Ottoman troops landed on the island and slaughtered thousands. The massacre provoked international outrage, and led to an increasing support for the Greek cause worldwide. ==Background== For over 2,000 years, Chios merchants and shipowners had been prominent in trade and diplomacy throughout the [[Black Sea]], the [[Aegean Sea|Aegean]], and the [[Mediterranean]]. The [[Ottoman Dynasty|Ottoman Empire]] allowed Chios almost complete control over its own affairs as Chian trade and the very highly-valued [[Mastic (plant resin)|mastic plant]] harvested only on Chios were of great value to it. The cosmopolitan Chians were also very prominent in [[Constantinople]]. Following the [[massacre]], however, the island never regained its commercial prominence. Historians have noted that the island's ruling classes were reluctant to join the [[Greek War of Independence|Greek revolt]], fearing the loss of their security and prosperity. Furthermore, they were aware that they were situated far too close to the Turkish heartland in Asia Minor to be safe. At some points, Chios is only {{convert|2|mi}} from the Anatolian mainland. ==Massacre== [[Image:Khazdadar.JPG|thumb|thumb|150px|[[Georgios Stravelakis]], a survivor of the Massacre of Chios, was sold into slavery. He eventually became [[Prime Minister of Tunisia|Prime Minister]] of [[Tunis]], from 1837 to 1873.]] In March 1822, as the Greek revolt gathered strength on the mainland, several hundred armed Greeks from the neighbouring island of [[Samos Island|Samos]] landed in Chios. They began the fight for independence from foreign rule and started attacking the Turks, who retreated to the [[citadel]]. Many islanders also decided to join the revolution. However, the vast majority of the population had by all accounts done nothing to provoke the massacre,{{clarify|of Turks which this paragraph is about? Or later, of Greeks?|date=April 2011}} and had not joined other Greeks in their revolt against the Ottoman Empire. Reinforcements in the form of a Turkish fleet under the [[Kapudan Pasha]] Nasuhzade Ali Pasha arrived on the island on 22 March. They quickly pillaged and looted the town. On 31 March, orders were given to burn down the town, and over the next four months, an estimated 40,000 Turkish troops, including convicts,{{clarify|are convicts part of the Turkish Army? Or should this read "troops, plus convicts"|date=April 2011}} arrived. In addition to setting fires, the troops were ordered to kill all infants under three years old, all males 12 years and older, and all females 40 and older, except those willing to convert to [[Islam]]. Approximately 20,000 Chians were killed or starved to death and 23,000 were exiled. The Greek word ''sfaghi'' ({{lang-en|butchery or massacre}}) is commonly used to describe these events since the island itself was devastated{{clarify|what does "butchery" have to do with property "devastation". Getting sidetracked in sentence|date=April 2011}} and the few survivors that dispersed throughout Europe became part of the Chian Diaspora.{{clarify| They are "few" but yet are numerous enough to earn their own, separate name "Diaspora"? Why? or How? If they were all wiped out and exiled to Turkey, how did this happen?|date=April 2011}} Some young Greeks enslaved during the massacre were [[adoption|adopted]] by wealthy Ottomans and converted to Islam. Some even managed to rise to levels of prominence in the Ottoman Empire, such as Georgios Stravelakis (later renamed [[Mustapha Khaznadar]]) and [[İbrahim Edhem Pasha]]. There was outrage when the events were reported in Europe. French painter [[Eugène Delacroix]] created a painting depicting the events that occurred; his painting was named ''[[The Massacre at Chios|Scenes from the Massacres of Chios]]''. In 2009, a copy of the painting was displayed in the local Byzantine museum on Chios, but was withdrawn from the museum on November 2009. While the withdrawal was meant to be a "good faith initiative" for the improvement of [[Greek-Turkish relations]], the Greek press protested its removal. ==See also== *[[Tripolitsa Massacre]] *[[Massacres during the Greek Revolution]] *[[Ottoman wars in Europe]] *[[List of massacres in Greece]] ==Further reading== *[http://www.christopherlong.co.uk/per/chiosmass2.html Christopher A. Long - The Series of Events] * ''The Massacres of Chios Described in Contemporary Diplomatic Reports'', edited and with an introduction by Philip P. Argenti (London: John Lane the Bodley Head Ltd., 1932). {{commonscat|Scène des massacres de Scio}} {{Greek War of Independence|state=collapsed}} {{coord missing|Greece}}