- Trial of the Six
"See also:"
1922 in Greece OnAugust 27 ,1922 the Turkish forces entered the city of Smyrni in Asia Minor, which was previously annexed to Greece. The retreating Greek Army and the Greek residents of Asia Minor had fled to Smyrni seeking transportation to Athens in order to escape the approaching Turkish army. However, transportation arrived late and in too small numbers relative to the number of people trying to flee. This resulted in chaos and violent loss of life by the Greek refugees. The loss of the Asia minor land by Greece to Turkey and the chaotic and bloody evacuation of Greeks previously living in the area, who spent the rest of their lives as refugees, is known as the Asia Minor catastrophe (Μικρασιατική καταστροφή in Greek).During this time a coup d'état was being carried out in Athens, partly as an angry civil response to the Asia Minor catastrophe. The army was also trying to prove its relevance after its defeat in attempting a revolution movement in which
Nikolaos Plastiras ,Stylianos Gonatas and Dimitrios Fokas had taken part.The junta formed a court martial and carried out a hastened procedure in which the six most senior members of the government (
Dimitrios Gounaris , G.Baltatzis,Nikolaos Stratos , N.Theotokis,Petros Protopapadakis and GeneralGeorgios Hatzianestis ) were accused of high treason and sentenced to execution. They were accused of willingly causing Greece to lose the war with Turkey. They were executed a few hours after the court martial decision and before its announcement, at dawn of 15 November 1922. Admiral M.Goudas and General K.Stratigos were sentenced to jail, while the ex-king's brother Prince Andrew was sentenced to banishment for life from Greece. The prince and his family left Greece on December 4 for London.European states strongly objected to the execution; in response to it the United Kingdom withdrew its ambassador to Greece.
The Trial of the Six was never legalized by the Greek state.
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.