It was the spring of 1919 when Lefteris’s father promised him a bicycle. Those were the days when Greek flags filled the map and adorned the balconies. “The Greeks are here!” Time went by, and Lefteris, together with his friend Aslan, would wander along the quay, dreaming of faraway journeys and a bright future. But by September 1922, the Greek flags had come down, the dreams had turned to nightmares, and the journeys were now without return. “Goodbye, Smyrna…”
The radio program “Narratives – Stories and Fairy Tales for All Ages” presents on Saturday, May 17, 2025, from 17:00 to 18:00 on Voice of Greece the book “Goodbye, Smyrna” by Ioanna Babeta, published by Minoas Editions.
Through the moving story of young Lefteris and his beloved friend Aslan, and with the evocative illustrations by Artemis Probou, the book brings to life the events of Smyrna in 1922 as seen through the eyes of two children and their families — a story that honors the values of friendship, compassion, and solidarity.
This special broadcast is part of a tribute marking the anniversary of the Genocide of the Greeks, including the Pontic Greek Genocide, as internationally recognized: the deliberate and systematic extermination of Greek populations in Eastern Thrace and Asia Minor (especially in Ionia, Cappadocia, Pontus, and Bithynia), carried out between 1913 and 1923 by the Ottoman nationalist Young Turk regime and the nationalist movement of Mustafa Kemal.
Produced and presented by Maria Karagiannaki Iona
Broadcast: Saturday, May 17, 2025, 17:00–18:00 Athens time
