(The events related below took place on or around 24 January 1897. A precise date cannot be given here because, unfortunately, none of the written sources whose provenance is known give an accurate date; the 24 January date comes from an, as yet, unidentified source. )
One of the immediate triggers for the European intervention in Crete was the rioting, looting and arson that broke out in Canea, the then capital, on 6th February 1897. European levels of alarm were further raised when that evening, Cretan Christian insurrectionists cut the Suda/Canea road and occupied the Akrotiri peninsula to the east of the town.
The rioting in Canea, instigated by Cretan Muslims, was, as far as the European Powers were concerned, a further symptom of the breakdown of law-and-order on the island. Such inter-communal unrest had been growing over the previous months as the Cretan Christian insurrection spread, one result of which being the mass movement of Cretan Muslims from the countryside into the towns and the movement of Cretan Christians in the opposite direction. This movement of people, essentially ethnic cleansing, had resulted on more than one occasion in the massacre of civilians.
Sarakina Monument.
On the left-hand side of the road from Paleochora, south west Crete, to Sarakina, about 2.5km before the village of Sarakina itself, is a small marble plaque set on a concrete plinth and set up by the Community of Sarakina in 1986.
Sarakina Monument Closeup.
The English translation of the plaque reads:
‘In January 1897 in this area of Sarakina a major battle was fought between Turks and Christians that resulted in 150 Turks being killed.’ (For a further suggestion on the translation of the wording of the monument, see the comment on the post left in May 2019.)
This brief description however, though superficially accurate, hides the nature of the battle and the events that lead up to it. By early 1897, the collapse of Ottoman authority and the realisation that Ottoman rule of the island was coming to an end resulted in an increase in inter-communal violence between Cretan Muslims and Cretan Christians throughout the Selino District and many Cretan Muslims, including those of Sarakina, then a predominantly Muslim village, sought refuge in the major towns.
According to the account given by the British Consul in Chania, Sir Alfred Biliotti, to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, an account based on his interviews with survivors and eyewitnesses of both religions[1], in late January/early February 1897, the date is unclear in Biliotti’s report, as tensions between the two religious groups in Selinos grew, the inhabitants of the isolates and mainly Muslim village of Sarakina decided to emigrate. However, they were persuaded to remain for a time in their village by the local Christian leaders. A few days later the “…Dimarchi and Notable Christians of their commune,” told the Muslims it would be prudent for them to retire to Paleochora and that they would be convoyed there with a Cretan Christian escort to prevent them from being molested en-route. The Cretan Muslims, numbering 159 according to Biliotti, were placed in between two groups of Christians, each of about 200 men, and started the march to Paleochora. About half an hour out from Sarakina, a shot was fired in the rear of the column, apparently the result of a scuffle breaking out when one of the Muslims refused to surrender his firearm. This shot was immediately followed by “…a general discharge of firearms on the Musselman emigrants.”
Of the 159 Muslims who started, only 44 arrived safely in Paleochora and some of these reported to Biliotti that following the firing, all the wounded men and some of the small children were murdered and four Muslim women from Sarakina had apparently been forcibly taken to a Christian village. Biliotti reports that the massacre was “…deeply deplored by the (Christian) Chiefs and others” but, significantly in the light of his previously highly detailed reports of atrocities committed by both Muslims and Christians throughout the island, makes no mention of any Christian dead or wounded.
Biliotti went on to say that ‘…As soon as the news of the massacre were known at Selinos Castelli (Paleochora), twelve Christians, amongst whom a woman and child, residing there, were murdered.’ What appears to be the memorial to one such Christian is situated in a graveyard in Paleochora.
Paleochora Gravestone 1897.
Here lies Artemios Opsimakis. 27 years old. Murdered in Paleochora by the Turks. 27th January 1897.
(n.b. Assuming that this inscription, or its original, was made at the time, the date in European style would be 8th February.)
Reports of the Sarakina massacre reached England also from the unnamed Times correspondent in Chania. He describes interviewing a survivor on 21st February in a military hospital in Canea, and confirming Biliotti’s report that the Muslims had been offered safe conduct to the sea by the Christians, adding that they did so in exchange for some Christian hostages held in Paleochora.[2] His informant claimed that they were attacked by their guards and by other Christians who appeared from the mountains and that of the 154 Cretan Muslims who started the trek, only 48 escaped of whom 25 were wounded: the informant further alleged that two of his children had been beheaded.
What appears to be a comprehensive Cretan account, written within a few days of the incident, confirms the above:
“SARAKINA.
There were four Turkish villages in Sarakina .1) Beyiana 2) Mesorouma 3) Kefali 4) Karpatsouliana . In these four villages who were near the most fertile and rich of the region only Muslims resided. They originated, as did the ones from Spaniakos, from Islamized Cretans. Many Byzantine churches were saved in the region of these Turkish villages. At the most baren and the more mountainous parts of the valley there were the Christian villages Hondrou, Grigoriana , Deliana and Stavros, at the North and the villages Kondokinigi and Tsaliana at the South, occupied since a few decades ago by families from Sfakia . Only a few families are there from older times.
The Turks of Sarakina were wealthy and progressive as their houses in which they lived during the 1896 Revolution as refugees, show. Spacious houses with upper levels and with plank floors. A small river and many springs made their land fertile, thus irrigated, so fruit bearing trees and vegetables were cultivated.
The olive tree thrives also in Sarakina as does in Kandanos, at the northernmost valleys the chestnut and the walnut. Vast surrounding forest areas provide rich pastures for livestock.
The Muslims of Sarakina, during the revolutions, used to seek refuge, initially in Kandanos, but, after Paleochora became a center of commerce, especially after 1877, they would go to Paleochora, were the Muslims of Spaniakos, Azogyre and Pelekanos used to gather.
THE 1897 EVENTS IN SARAKINA
The day of the battle of Kadros, the Turks of Sarakina prepared to leave for Paleochora. Leaving their settlements, they gathered at the southernmost, Kefali so that they can leave for Paleochora.
The Christians from Sarakina and the ones from Mahies and Pelekano rushed to stop them, until the Christian Sarakinians who were held captive in Paleochora were reunited with them.
But, because the Turks were suspicious of being assaulted anyway, due to the murders they committed against Christians of Sarakina and especially the one of Lakiotakis and two of his comrades and Ksanthakis from Kondokinigi village, who they butchered only a few months before, in August 1896, negotiations began between the chieftains of Sarakina, Andreas Koukoulas and St. Sfinaroli from Hondros. These wise and brave Sarakina men, promised that they will use all their powers to see that the Sarakina Muslims will not be harmed. The same was done by the chieftain of Pelekano, K. Vlondis, who ran to Sarakina for that matter, who, together with the rest of the Pelekanos men had delivered [.. the Pelekanos Turks to the ?, in Paleochora, taking the, Pelekanos Christians captured in Paleochora.]
Sadly, the relatives of our victims did not act in discipline towards their leaders. In the afternoon of January 24, after negotiations they took the Sarakina – Paleochora road and proceeded to the [treeless valley?] of the canyon that runs between Kefali and Kondokinigi villages. The surrounding hills were already guarded from the previous day by our people to prevent the departure of the Sarakinians and at that time to follow them to the entrance of Paleochora, where they would take the captives of Paleochora.
When the rearguard started marching and the most prominent person of the Sarakinians, Moulagadakis, was walking by Vlondis, one of the relatives of the murdered Sarakina Christians, demanded from this Muslim his weapon. Because he refused with audacity to surrender his weapon, he was shot and killed by the relative under loud complaints from the Chieftains of Sarakina. That shot was enough to ignite a full-scale fire against all the length of the road where the fleeing Muslims were taking. The Muslims who were armed, rushed to find shelter in the surrounding rocks and started firing back. But the battle fever of the fighters (the Christians) was such that in a short period of time the whole living Turks, were lying on both sides of the road full of blood. Only the ones from the front-guard who knew the area, managed to run very fast towards the canyon and disappeared under the shadow of the plane trees and hid until the night came and around ten of them, managed to flee from many directions to Paleochora. Around 150 men women and children were killed, offering a bitter spectacle and causing the weak to nauseate. Sadly, there was no mercy at that scene. The maelstrom of this battle was fueled by the death of 4 of ours who rushed to take the weapons from the dead Turks. The Turks were not dead, but wounded and our people were shot by them while approaching. This is where the prominent Andreas Malandrakis from Kseniana and Kouniotakis from Pelekanos were killed. The next morning about 15 wounded women and children were found and we looked after them and then gave them to the Muslims of Kalamos. Also, our people from Pelekanos, kept three Ottoman women and after they recuperated, they got married after they were baptised Christian.
The calamity of Sarakina is one of the things that raise the humane feelings of noble souls. When, two days later, I passed from there, I did not want to face that horrible sight. But the consequent bloody vendettas have bestialised the souls of the relatives of the victims. That event was definitely sad.”
(N.B. I cannot find an original source for this account which appears to be a machine translation of a Greek text. If any reader can provide me with the source, I would be most grateful. Mick McTiernan)
Another view of the incident is given in a book, written about 1996, currently on sale in Paleochora. This states that the ‘famous battle of Sarakina’ was caused when ‘one of the Christians courageously asked for a gun held in quite a provocative way by a Turkish child (and) when the child did not respond to his demand, killed it.’ The book further argues that the reason for the attack “…was not merely revenge but also the gathering of loot in order to meet basic needs.” [3]
In contrast to the punishments handed down after 6th September 1898 for the murder of British servicemen and subjects in Candia, no real effort was made to address the issue of either the massacres perpetrated by Christians immediately prior to the arrival of the Concert forces, or the murders of Christians committed by Muslims on 6th September. The British were ‘…far less concerned with the punishment of those found guilty of crimes against humanity than with retribution upon those who had attacked the British forces which had been performing their duties as instructed’.[4] In the case of atrocities committed against Muslims in the countryside prior to the Admirals taking de facto control of the island, while Biliotti made strenuous efforts to record the victims and to try to start the process of getting justice, albeit within the context of persuading Muslims to return to their homes in the countryside,[5] no enthusiasm was shown by any of the Powers for following the matter up. While legally punishment of these crimes was the responsibility of the Ottoman authorities, unsurprisingly, it is clear that there was no appetite among the Powers to re-open old wounds. In the initial stages of the Intervention, at least up until early 1899 when Christian disarmament became a reality, Christian insurgents, among whom were undoubtedly some, if not all, of the criminals, were in complete charge of the countryside; as a consequence, neither the Ottomans nor the Powers were in a position to enforce their own, or any other, law. With the arrival of Prince George, the Powers were happy to divest themselves of the responsibility; matters were now in the hands of the High Commissioner and the Cretan Assembly and it was up to them to take appropriate action.
Similarly, while not pursuing the murderers of Muslims, the pursuit of Muslims who murdered Christians was quietly dropped; the International Military Commission in Canea had, at the request of the Russian Government, ceased to apply the death penalty after execution of two murderers on 23rd November 1898.[6]
Post Script. In the village of Sarakina itself there is another monument, apparently erected at the same time as the one on the Paleochora road.
Monument in Sarakina village.
The inscription reads: The community of Sarakina, in honor and gratitude to the ones sacrificed for the freedom of our homeland.
[1] House of Commons Command Paper (1897) [C.8437] Turkey #10, Inclosure No.249. Bilotti to Marquis of Salisbury (Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs) 22 February 1897.
[2] The Times Monday 22 February 1897.
[3] Pyrovolakis N. (1996?) Self published. Paleochora (Looking Back on the Past) p.29
[4] Prichard, R. J., ‘International Humanitarian Intervention and Establishment of an International Jurisdiction Over Crimes Against Humanity: The National and International Military Trials on Crete in 1898’, in J. Carey, W. V. Dunlop & R.J. Pritchard (eds.), International Humanitarian Law Vol. 1 (Transnational Publishers: New York, 2003), 1-87, p.43
[5] Ibid. 67-69.
[6] Pritchard, ‘International Humanitarian Intervention’ p. 63.
The British in Crete, 1896 to 1913. 