STAR OF LEVANT - IZMIR / SYNOPSIS Written By: Bülent Şenocak, Translated By: Bengisu Sakarya

In his book “The Star of Levant: İzmir - Levantines, Greeks, Armenians and Jews”, the author gives information about the origin of the name of the city, which has been known by the name of Smyrna until our day and is used in the form of Izmir in Turkish. Later, he mentions the difficulty of finding an adequate and reliable source for the history of ancient Izmir, the beauty of which Aristotle, Strabon and Homeros express with unique words and poems. It is not yet known, at the time of publication, if the history of the city dates back to 8500 before the present as the excavation of the Yesilova Mound had not begun. The author points out that there have been a lot of research publications on the recent history, physical, social, economic and demographic structures of İzmir, including the theatres, printing houses and the social life in İzmir, the Jews of Izmir, the Levantines of the city, the armistice and the occupation era. Yet, the author claims that his research “The Star of Levant: İzmir” is unique in its approach to the subject and aims to reach a different synthesis. The book focuses on what kind of effects the many minorities, foreigners and Levantines of Izmir, which had set the city apart with its hybrid nature, have affected the economic, social and cultural history and the development of the city in the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries. Bülent Şenocak informs us that the word Levant is derived from the word “lever”, derived from the French meaning sunrise, probably pointing to the geographical origin of the city, yet the exact borders of the ‘Levant’ are still a subject of debate. He asserts that İzmir developed much faster than the other Levantine port cities after the seventeenth century and had its prime, especially between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. That is why, for centuries many travellers recorded the beauty of Izmir in their travel notes in words such as: “Levant’s capital”, “Levant’s most brilliant trade city”, “Levant’s most important commercial centre”, “Levant’s pearl”, “Marseilles of the Anatolian coasts”, “Marseilles on the shores of Asia Minor”, while in an old Arab song, it is said that “the eye of Levant, the Pearl of Anatolia” for Izmir. These are some of the examples to the written portraits of Izmir from the travellers’ eyes. According to Bülent Şenocak, the Harbour of Izmir was one of the main factors that made İzmir the “Star of the Levant”. The second factor was the unilateral capitulations that the Ottoman Empire bestowed on foreign states and the Levant companies that were thus established by the French, British and others. The third factor was that İzmir and its environs was rich in exportable agricultural products. Perhaps the most important factor that makes İzmir the “Star of the Levant”, however, was that the Levantines, Greeks, Armenians Jews, who all belonged to different language, religion and national origins, were able practice their cultures freely and the liberty they had in establishing their institutions, such as schools, places of worship, hospitals, theatres and so on, would keep their culture alive under the great tolerance of the Ottoman Empire. They were free to open institutions as they wanted. According to the author, this situation caused İzmir to be called by outsiders as “Infidel İzmir” while also making it a unique city where various cultures could coexist. In the first part of the book, the economic lives, commercial and industrial enterprises, railways, banks, insurance companies, postal and telegraphic companies, newspapers and presses, schools, health institutions, as well as places of worship and charitable institutions, cultural and social life, sport and art activities of the Levantines, the Greeks, the Armenians and the Jews living in İzmir, are respectively presented. In the second part of the book, firstly, the concept of the minority is thoroughly defined. “A minority is a social category. The term minority refers to a social category that is in an outnumbered position in terms of language, religion, race or ethnicity and displays different characteristics”. The term minority is also described as “a national, ethnic, religious or linguistic group that differs from the other groups in an egalitarian state”. After noting the fact that the minorities were often referred to as non-Muslims in the Ottoman Empire, the author underlines that the Greeks, Armenians and Jews are the most numerous and most important congregations that constituted non-Muslims. Then, briefly, the difference between the Levantines and the foreigners is explained. Before examining the Levantines, the Greeks, the Armenians and the Jews each in detail, the demographic structure of Izmir is briefly mentioned so that the subject can be better understood. It is claimed that the population censuses are often deliberately manipulated by different groups in Izmir and hence the population information in the Greek records never fully overlaps with the population information in the Ottoman records. Eye-witness accounts record that the communities which made up the population of Izmir lived in separate districts, and that there was a Turkish neighbourhood, as well as a Greek, Armenian, Jewish and a Frankish neighbourhood in the city, followed by the detailed account of the geographical locations of each community settled in the city. In the second chapter, the Levantines, Greeks, Armenians and the Jews are each presented separately, referring to the families and famous people living in Izmir at the time. In the third and last chapter, the last years of İzmir the Levant’s Star is depicted. The Mondros Armistice, in which the Ottoman Empire signed on October 30th, 1918, in Limni, on the Agamemnon battleship anchored at the port of Mondros, after losing in World War I, the landing of the Greek Army in Izmir on May 15th, 1919 and the retrieval of Izmir by the Turks on September 9th, 1922; all is disclosed based on the eye-witness statements, domestic and foreign newspaper reports. Though it may be inevitable that the author being of Turkish descent may reflect itself as a certain prejudice in that the reader may conclude that the information given may be dominated by a Turkish perspective, the author manages the strike the reader with his elegant determination to preserve objectivity. Hence the author presents a quick travel through time to the past in the beginning of the book. He takes on the character of a Rum living in Izmir in those days and displays the extent of his empathy. This imaginary character leaves the two-story house in the backstreets of Punta to arrive at the Kordon through the narrow roads. Through his way, he walks with the utmost merriness, greeting everyone he sees with “bonsoir, buono sera, kalispera, iyi akşamlar”. Due to his appointment, he needs to be at Café Kraemer in five minutes, so he takes the horsed-carriage. The tram stops in front of Café Kraemer after passing the Izmir Theatre, Alhambra Brewery, Sporting Club, Café de Paris and Club de Chasseurs. He gets off it in a hurry. The Austrian waiter greets him at the door of Café Kraemer with a wide smile. His German guest comes in after a minute or two later than him and sits at his table. Together, they sip the delicious “Prokopp” beer that the waiter served them in a porcelain cup. Then they make their way to the Sporting Club for dinner where they would watch the wonderful sunset of Izmir. They seat themselves right in the corner of the club’s magnificent terrace overlooking the Kordon. The sun covers the sky with a red-hot blush as it sinks behind Karsiyaka. They are watching this spectacular scenery while eating their food and sipping their wines. After dinner, they watch a delicious Italian opera at the Nea Skene Theatre in Bella Vista. However, these beautiful scenes which are passing like a film strip in front of his eyes, are slowly replaced by the terrible scenes of war. There is a Greek colony on the pier. With blue-and-white flags in their hands, a rumbustious group shouts to the soldiers “Zito!” He Is trying to make sense of all that is happening around him. The soldiers order the Turks that they capture to yell “Zito Venizelos!”, those who refuse are punished with death. Suddenly the scene changes. Now, Mustafa Kemal’s armies are entering Izmir. After a while, there is black smoke over Izmir. Many neighbourhoods of Izmir are on fire. He loses his job in the Frankish Quarter during this fire. After that, he has to leave beautiful Izmir and leave his neighbours. When the travel back in time ends with the last few words typed on the keyboard, the author recites the following messages of the Greek writer Illias Venezis for inspiration: “Hristo, Vasil, Mihalis, if you want us to forget about the past, the hundreds of thousands of martyrs, the invasion of our country and the burning down of our city, we cannot do that. But despite all the negativity of the past, we can embrace you with love, tolerance and sincerity for world peace and world camaraderie.”

Views of Ottoman Smyrna sea-front.