It was September 26, 1916 when Eleftherios Venizelos formed the well-known Government of Thessaloniki. A government that was maintained until June 14, 1917 when Eleftherios Venizelos officially becomes the Prime Minister of whole Greece with the government of Eleftherios Venizelos which was maintained until November 4, 1920 when Eleftherios Venizelos leaves Greece on the ship Narkissos of Empirikos.
But we should look closer this Government of Thessaloniki as it is well known that the Greeks of Thessaloniki were just a minority back then.
The Jews and their Muslim element, the Donme, which were Muslim Jews, flourished in the city. The Donme were followers of Sabbateanism and they had in their hands a large portion of the economic and political power of the city. After all, the Young Turks and Mustafa Kemal were created from their circles. At least 30% of the Muslim population were Donme Jews and we could say that they dominated the city since the mayor of Thessaloniki was a Donme Jew.
The Sabbateans were as a rule inbred and recognized their bastards. Of which they had, we might say, enough.
This is due to the religious traditions of the Donme we could say. During the celebration of the Sabbatean Easter married couples, at least two, used to celebrate together and after the typical feast followed the extinguishing of the candles, and everything happened between the couples in the dark. The fruits of the Donme Easter celebrations were considered as blessed children of the community. Vladimiros Mirmiroglou in his book “The Dervishes” of 1940 describes in detail the tradition of extinguishing the candles. There is even a report from a Turkish newspaper about an incident in Kemalist Turkey with this particular tradition, although for some strange reason it mentions it as a tradition of the Alevis while it is a tradition of the Donme. The Turkish newspaper article that Mirmiroglou cites in his book was spotted by a twitter friend from Turkey recently, after my request to find it so we can be sure about the source of Mirmiroglou.
In generall, in the anti-Kemalism circles of Turkey, evidence is being circulated to prove that Mustafa Kemal was the son of the son-in-law of Mustafa Kemal’s teacher due to their similarity. Mustafa Kemal’s teacher is not a random person, he had created the most famous school for Donme in Thessaloniki.
The origin, the date of birth and the real facts about Mustafa Kemal early life are hidden in some way for years. The possibility that it was a blessed fruit of the Donme Easter celebrations I dare to say that it is quite high.
But let’s return to Venizelos, who is making a coup government in Thessaloniki of the Donme and he probably had clearly their support so that the devil doesn’t take his father as you can imagine. The government of Athens is against him, so theoretically someone should have been with him in Jewish-occupied Thessaloniki. At least that’s what logic says. He was in their city with the official Greek Gov against him.
A few years later the fresh-married Venizelos with the rich member of the British aristocracy Elena Skylitsis would celebrate the peace agreement with their friends Mustafa Kemal and Inonu.
It will probably be some Turkish etiquette to exchange women for the official photos, the Greek press will write back then. Since it is generally known to the general public that the Turks used to photograph their wives arm-in-arm with infidels instead of locking them up in a harem so that no outsider could see them.
But you will rightly tell me that things have changed. It is no longer a backward Ottoman empire but a progressive Kemal’s republic of Turkey. The only thing that is certain is that the message was transmitted to every Donme and Jew around the world.
Easter was celebrated with all solemnity. I believe the sacrifice were the people of Anatolia and Pontus which still blow it and it doesn’t get cold as we use to say in Greece. There are many candles of dirty politics everywhere I suppose.
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