Echoes of Balkan Wars to Izmir: 1912-1913

The Balkan states were ruled by the Ottoman Empire for almost 500 years. During this period of time, there was a presence of Turkish existance in the Balkans and a visible influence of Turkish culture over the local ethnic groups of Balkan states. However with the beginning of regression period, Ottoman Empire started to lose its domination over the Balkans region.The nationalism movement that started with Russo-Ottoman Wars and the French Revolution left negative impacts on Ottoman Empire. Countries such as Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria and Montenegro which became independent with the uprisings, started a coalition against Ottoman Empire in the year of 1912 and they shared the whatever land left in the hands of the Ottoman Empire in Balkan region. The Ottoman Empire fought against an alliance of Greek, Serbian, Bulgarian and Montenegrin forces in 1912-1913 and with the power of this coalation they put a stop to Ottoman domination in the Balkans. The city of İzmir was directly and indirecly affected by the Balkan Wars. İzmir was a city of shelter for civil servants and immigrants who fled to the city from some of the other cities which were under siege at the time and the soldiers who were fighting front and ended up injured. On the other hand, cholera outbreak rapidly spread by the immigrants who came to İzmir, caused fear in the city. The Greeks who lived in and around İzmir as Ottoman citizens, sabotaged the city's railways, they financially supported the Greek army, they performed bandit activities against the turkish citizens of the city, some of them fled to Greece to join the Greek army and some Greeks spied for the greek military ships in the Agean sea. As a result of this, there was an internal disorder and commotion in city of İzmir. Martial law was shortly declared in the city. The reasons mentioned above clearly identifies the affects of the Balkan Wars. The fleet attack on Urla, show of force in the gulf of İzmir by the Greek fleet, and the military attacks affected the the city and its residents directly by the Balkan Wars.