[...] I went out to buy something. It was about five o’clock in the afternoon. Near Taksim Square I saw a large crowd of furious Turks screaming slogans like “Cyprus is Turkish, down with the infidels” and more. I was very scared and I decided to go back home quickly and report it to Mr. Theophilos. He was very upset when he heard. He tried to reach Christos or Vassilis in Athens on the phone, but he could not get a connection. In the meantime there were very loud screams and a sound of people running and screaming near our house. Mr. Theophilos became even more excited, he was trembling all over; I have never seen him like that before. Suddenly he turned to me and told me to hide in the attic. Pull up the stairs and do not come out, he told me. At that moment there were loud beatings and wild voices at the front door. Mr. Theophilos went to the living room, stumbled and suddenly fell to the ground. I went to him immediately and tried to help him, but he was dead, his heart couldn’t stand it. The beatings and the screams became louder. I climbed up into the attic and pulled up the ladder, as Mr. Theophilos had told me to do. Then I heard voices and wild screams in the house and I realised that they had broken down the door and that they were inside. It was awful, some of them came upstairs. I heard one saying they should hurry, because there was a dead man downstairs. It sounded like they didn’t want to have anything to do with the dead person, so I prayed to God not to find me [...]

The Istanbul Pogrom of 6–7 September 1955 in the Light of International Law Alfred de Zayas- Geneva School of Diplomacy

The Istanbul pogrom (sometimes referred to as Septemvriana) was a government instigated series of riots against the Greek minority of Istanbul in September 1955. It can be characterized as a ‘‘crime against humanity,’’ comparable in scope to the November 1938 Kristallnacht in Germany, perpetrated by the Nazi authorities against Jewish civilians.

Few words about the author...