Evening star., 1925-08-04
CIVILIZATION STAINED
BY GREEK DEPORTATION
OF BULGARIAN PEASANTS
CONTINUED from First Page.)

Geneva protocol OF 1924 specifying the
exchange shall he voluntary The
treaty OF Lausanne Of 1923 provided
for compulsory emigrst ton between
Greece and Turkey. Any citizen OF
those countries who is not OF the
same racial stock or OF the Sd me relig-
ion as the dominant element in the
country, Is classed as a part of mi.
nority. Families OF those minorities
in Macedonia or western Thrace
which now are Greek territory
though their ancestors have, lived
there for centuries-are being driven
into Bulgaria because they use the
slavic language in their chulches
schools and homes and because they
recognize the Bulga rian instead OF the
Greek patriarch as the head OF their
church.
BY No Means Fair Exchange.
The arithmetic Of the exchange Of
minorities between Greece and Bull.
earia shows at a glance that there is
no exchange. Less than 3 900 Greeks.
mostly shopkeepers. have left Bull
garia for Greece and about 200 o0O
Macedonians and Thracians. mostly
farmers. have emigrated from Greece
10 Bulgaria. The figures for eleven
show that 9.o36 Greeks left Bulgaria
while 20.3b1 Macedonians and 7.47S
Thracisns entered Bulgaria from
Greece
Few Greeks want to leave Bulgaria
and they are not compelled to do so.
At present % 900 are in that country
and have elected to remain. The
Macedonians and Thracians do not
want to leave their homes in Greece
but are forced TO do so.
The difference in the figures of the
so-called exchange is accounted for bv
what is called voluntary" emigration.
The murder Of children. the outraging
OF women, the imprisoning OF fathers
the forcible removal of entire villa ges
to desoiAte Greek lands slow starva-
ton and unendine prosecutions are
incentives TO this emigration Des-
perad does. like the gunman who killed
httlA Radka kurtuva. do the work IL
the murderers are not discovered the
authorities have habit OF accusins g
the villagers OF respon sibilitv and
using the crime as pretext for ex-
pellink hundreds Of families from
their homes and lands
Stream Of PitifuI Victims.
Svilenerad. a little frontier raiIroa d
station on the Martha River is the
gateway through which these emf
grants pass from Greece to Bulgaria
The human stream has been aowing
for more than year, some days a
few hundreds. other DAYS several
thousands. The emigrants bring only
what they can carry--a few household
possessions, a blanket or a straw mat
TO sleep on and clothing In rags. They
have been despoiled of their habita
tions. their live stock. their carts ard
tools, their fields and crops. Their
village communities have been broken
up and many A family leaves mem
bers who have died from hardships
or been imprisoned
Until they became helpless victims
OF the treaties which the great powers
dictated, they were peaceful prosper
Gus, God-fearing peasants. Now the
men are distraught and hopeless. chill
dren are sick or dying from lack OF
food and the women are prefnat turely
aged and broken. In jolting freight
cars. under trees along the road or
under tents, mothers give birth to
children that they cannot nurse Star.
vation and terror have dried their
breasts.
Rarely in the stress end devastation
of war Ia seen such misery as passes
through Svilengrad every day. in the
dust or mud of Summer and the snow
and frost of Winter When the Greeks
were deported from Asia Minor a SYM
pathetic world responded to the ap-
peals for assistance. Christianity was
appalled,.
Religious Difference the Cause.
The emigration Of today is not
forced by wars campaigns. 1t is a
heartless campaign OF peace. merely
sowing the seeds OF future wars in the
Balkans. 1t goes on in the name of
Christia ianity-religion being largely a
political division in this part of the
world. Though victims and persecu-
tors are of the same Orthodox Catholic
Church, there is a rivalry of patri-
archs. 1t is a campaign of spoliation.
The victims are weak and Greece
wants their lands and is strong
enough to take them. The
emigration is not only under the au-
spices of the League OF Nations, but.
according to the leagues reports, Is
speeded up by that organiza tion. 1t
has coloniza ton projects in Greece
and demands more lands for the pur-
pose-regardless OF the inhumanity
by which they are obtained.
Except for few French newspa-
pers. which recently voiced their hor.
ror. little has been said OF the depor-
ia tions from Greece The America n
and British relief organization work
ing in Greece have their hs nds full.
and what they have accomplished
makes a pleasanter story than the re-
cital OF what they cannot prevent.
The deportations now going on in
the Balkans are the darkest stain on
civilization today.
tcopyriEht, 1925. by Chicago Daily News CO..