Occupation of Smyrna - Administration of The Smyrna Zone (1919-1922)

Administration of The Smyrna Zone (1919-1922)

Aristidis Stergiadis was appointed the High Commissioner of Smyrna in February and arrived in the city four days after the May 15 landing. Stergiadis immediately went to work in setting up an administration, easing ethnic violence, and making way for permanent annexation of Smyrna. Stergiadis immediately punished the Greek soldiers responsible for violence on May 15-16 with court martial and created a commission to decide on payment for victims (made up of representatives from Great Britain, France, Italy and other allies). Stergiadis took a strict stance against discrimination of the Turkish population and opposed church leaders and the local Greek population on a number of occasions. Historians disagree about whether this was a genuine stance against discrimination or whether it was an attempt to present a positive vision of the occupation to the allies.

This stance against discrimination of the Turkish population often pit Stergiadis against the local Greek population, the church and the army. He reportedly would carry a stick through the town with which he would beat Greeks that were being abusive of Turkish citizens. At one point, Stergiadis interrupted and ended a sermon by the bishop Chrysostomos that he believed to be incendiary. Troops would disobey his orders to not abuse the Turkish population often putting him in conflict with the military. On July 14, 1919, the acting foreign secretary sent a long critical telegraph to Venizelos suggesting that Stergiadis be removed and writing that "His sick neuroticism has reached a climax." Venizelos stuck with support of Stergiadis despite this opposition.

The Greek consulate building became the center of government. Since Ottoman sovereignty was not replaced with the occupation, their administrative structure continued to exist but Steriadis simply replaced the high ranking positions with Greeks (except for the post for Muslim Affairs) while Turkish functionaries remained in low positions.

Steriadis oversaw a number of projects planning for a permanent Greek administration of Smyrna. This included the founding of Ionian University of Smyrna in 1919 and getting the German-Greek mathematician Constantin Carathéodory to head the University. He founded a microbiology laboratory and a Pasteur institute in the city and the department of health was the first field of instruction at the new university. In addition, 100,000 Greeks who had lost their land during World War I, many a result of Ottoman discrimination, were resettled under Steriadis, given generous credit, and access to farm tools.

However, nationalist sentiments and suspicion continued to limit the impacts of Steriadis' administration. The resettlement of Greeks and harsh treatment by the army and local Greek population lead many Turkish residents to leave creating in a refugee problem. Discrimination by low-level Greek administrators and military members further contributed to Turkish hostility in the Smyrna zone.