On the occasion of the National Day of Remembrance for the Genocide of the Greeks of Asia Minor, Antonis Klapsis, associate professor of modern history and international politics at the University of the Peloponnese, spoke about the reasons that led Greece to send troops to Asia Minor in 1919, the geopolitical balance of the time and the role of the Great Powers. He also discussed the National Schism, other domestic factors and the international developments behind the scenes that led to the collapse of the front in 1922. He spoke on Voice of Greece radio and the program “Our Global Voice,” hosted by Dimitris Kontogiannis.
Klapsis discussed the organized campaign of ethnic cleansing launched during World War I against the Christian populations of the Ottoman Empire, including the Armenians, and later continued by Kemal and the Young Turks against the Greek populations of Asia Minor.
Asked about the most important lesson to be drawn from the Asia Minor Catastrophe, he stressed that the goals we set must be commensurate with our capabilities and that we must be extremely careful in assessing the international distribution of power and the global balance of power.