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European Witness
ASIA MINOR, THE GRAVEYARD OF GREEK CITIES
Page 3
He goes on to say that the term "Anatolia," as here used, covers all of Asia Minor lying west of a line running north from Alexandretta to the Black Sea, and a list of ancient cities and towns having mints of their own in the fourteen classical districts included within that area, works out as follows:
Lycia, Pamphylia and Pisidia 95 towns
Lycaonia, Isauria and Cilicia 82 towns
Phrygia and Galatia 61 towns
Bithynia, Paphlagonia and Pontus 34 towns
Ionia, Lydia and Caria 84 towns
Total 356 towns
Among the sites already excavated, or earmarked for excavation, he mentions Pergamon, Miletus, Sardis, Colophon, Priene, Cnidus; and among those partly spoiled for excavation by their mere existence as modern towns, are Smyrna, Halicarnassus, Adalia, Philadelphia, Thyatira and Ankyra. The last named is now the Turkish capital, Angora. The most, if not all, of the cities mentioned by Doctor Buckler were centers of Greek or Christian culture, or both.
It is natural that the archeologists, in their anxiety to obtain permission to work in Asia Minor with safety should be very careful to say nothing that might offend the sensibilities of the Turk. They must use all their diplomacy in dealing with him in order that as much as possible may be unearthed of the treasures of Greek art and wisdom that lie buried beneath the land now in the hands of the Khemalists, still wet with the blood of the last survivors of an ancient civilization.
We have then, the following classes who find themselves in the same situation with regard to the Turk, that is to say, who are prevented from saying anything that might offend him: Certain missionaries; the business men with interests still in Turkey; the concession hunters; the diplomats; the archeologists. I believe that many of these are sincere in their admiration of the Turk, founded on the supposition that his crimes have been greatly exaggerated and were more or less justified.
This conviction I do not share and I am convinced that it would have been better for the whole Western world and the Turks as well, if the non-Moslem minorities had been protected, and Christian civilization given a chance to develop in the Ottoman Empire.
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