In reality, the Turks burned the Christian quarters of Smyrna as part of their efforts to eradicate the Christian presence in Asia Minor. Ernst Otto Jacob, the General Secretary to the Smyrna Y.M.C.A said in late 1922:
The Turkish policy of the elimination of the Christian minorities in Asia Minor has been determinedly carried into effect. The Christian quarters of Smyrna have been practically wiped out.
Winston Churchill wrote:
Mustapha Kemal’s Army … celebrated their triumph by the burning of Smyrna to ashes and by a vast massacre of its Christian population.
Now Erdogan, with the characteristic Islamic supremacist evasion of responsibility, blames the Greek Army for this atrocity.
“Erdogan claims Greek soldiers burnt Izmir in 1922,” Ekatherimi, April 29, 2018 (thanks to Peter):
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed Greek soldiers burned down the coastal city of Izmir as they were retreating in 1922, at the end of the Greek-Turkish War, as he kicked off his general and presidential election campaign rally in the city on Saturday.
“The biggest blow suffered by this beautiful city was by the Greek soldiers who burned Izmir as they retreated,” he reportedly told a crowd during a speech at Izmir’s Chamber of Commerce, according to broadcaster SKAI.
Erdogan claimed Turkish soldiers “did not want to destroy or burn – they always wanted to build and create,” which is evident by the rapid development of the city after the war….