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{{Short description|Massacre of Turks and Jews in Tripolitsa}}
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{{Infobox civilian attack
| title = Tripolitsa massacre
| partof = [[Morean Massacre]]
| image = Report of Yusuf Aga on the Fall of Tripolitsa and Massacre in October 1821.png|caption=The report presented by Yusuf Agha, arriving from Anaboli (Nafplio), regarding the fall of Tripolitsa on October 5, 1821, and the massacre that took place in the city.
| location =[[Tripolitsa]], [[Morean peninsula]]
| target = [[Muslim]] and [[Jewish]] residents and [[refugees]] in the city
| date = {{Start date|1821|09|23}} – October 1821
| fatalities = 8.000-32.000
| perp = Greek [[rebels]]
}}
{{Morean Massacre}}
The '''Tripolitsa Massacre''' ({{langx|tr|Tripoliçe katliamı}}) was the final and largest in a sequence of massacres against [[Muslims]] in the [[Peloponnese]] during the first months of the revolt.In the three days following the city's capture, the inhabitants of [[Tripolitsa]] were massacred.<ref>Lieberman, Benjamin (2013). ''Terrible Fate: Ethnic Cleansing in the Making of Modern Europe''. [[Rowman & Littlefield]]. p.&#x20;9. [[ISBN (identifier)|ISBN]]&#x20;[[Special:BookSources/978-1-4422-3038-5|<bdi>978-1-4422-3038-5</bdi>]]. <q>The fall of the Turkish fortress of Tripolitsa in the central Morea on October 5, 1821, brought the single worst massacre of the war. ... At least 8,000 Muslims and Jews died at Tripolitsa alone.</q></ref><ref>Katsikas, Stefanos (2021). ''Islam and Nationalism in Modern Greece, 1821–1940''. [[Oxford University Press]]. p.&#x20;23. [[ISBN (identifier)|ISBN]]&#x20;[[Special:BookSources/978-0-19-065200-5|<bdi>978-0-19-065200-5</bdi>]]. <q>One of the worst atrocities, in terms of ferocity and number of victims, took place after the fall of Tripolitsa in September 1821. In the words of Alison Phillips: "the other atrocities of the Greeks paled before the awful scenes which followed the storming of Tripolitsa." In the heart of Morea, home to the Ottoman pasha (governor) of the region, Tripolitsa was estimated to have a population of 15,000 people before the Greek revolution that included 7,000 Muslims and 1,000 Greek-speaking (Romaniote) Jews. With the start of the revolution most of the Orthodox Christians fled the town, and the Muslims of the surrounding regions of Mistras, Bardounia, Leondari and Fanari, along with 9,000 Muslim troops, sought protection inside the walls of the citadel. It is estimated that approximately 25,000 souls were inside the citadel in the summer of 1821. Famine, disease, and fighting had thinned the population, yet it is believed that approximately 8,000 Muslims of every age and sex, but mostly women and children, perished when the Greeks sacked the citadel.</q></ref><ref>Heraclides, Alexis (2011). ''The essence of the Greek–Turkish rivalry: national narrative and identity''. Academic Paper. The London School of Economics and Political Science. p. 15. "On the Greek side, a case in point is the atrocious onslaught of the Greeks and Hellenised Christian Albanians against the city of Tripolitza in October 1821, which is justified by the Greeks ever since as the almost natural and predictable outcome of more than '400 years of slavery and dudgeon'."</ref>Historians estimate that upwards of twenty thousand Muslim men, women and children were killed during this time, often with the exhortation of the local [[clergy]].<ref>William St. Clair (1972) p. 12</ref><ref>Finlay, p. 172</ref><ref>Phillips (1897), pp. 57–61</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Bowman|first=Steven|url=http://www.umass.edu/judaic/anniversaryvolume/articles/30-F3-Bowman.pdf|title=The Jews in Greece|pages=419–435|author-link=Steven Bowman|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050219115941/http://www.umass.edu/judaic/anniversaryvolume/articles/30-F3-Bowman.pdf|archive-date=19 February 2005}}</ref>

== Background ==
Tripolitsa was located in the interior of the Morean peninsula, and there was no direct logistical support possibility to the city by sea; therefore, there was no possibility of evacuating the besieged city.<ref>BOA, HAT, 888/39242, 29 Zilhicce 1237/ 16 Eylül 1822.</ref>When the Ottoman plan to evacuate tens of thousands of Muslims who had taken refuge in Tripolitsa from Nafplion with a force of 3,500 men was abandoned, it was decided that the Ottoman soldiers in Nafplion would be transferred to Tripolitsa to protect the city's population. While this plan was being considered,Because the city of Tripolitsa was surrounded by walls, it was considered safe, so tens of thousands of Muslims from surrounding towns and villages took refuge there.In the centuries following the conquest of the Morean peninsula  by Mehmed the 2nd, a social order prevailed in the peninsula among the Greeks, Turks, and Jews living there,<ref>Christos Loukos, “Some Suggestion for a Bolder Incorporation of Studies of the Greek Re-volution of 1821 into their Ottoman Context”, Ottoman Rule and The Balkans, 1760-1850:Conflict, Transformation, Adaptation, Girit Üniversitesi Yay., Rethymno 2007, s. 197-198.</ref> apart from tensions and loss of life during periods of war.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Miller |first=William |url=https://books.google.com.tr/books?lr=&redir_esc=y&hl=el&id=qUoMAAAAIAAJ |title=The Turkish Restoration in Greece, 1718–1797 |date=1921 |publisher=Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge |pages=21 |language=en}}</ref>(like Russian backed [[Orlov revolt]] and its bloody suppression) However, the Turkish massacres during the rebellion and the [[Constantinople massacre of 1821|Ottoman retaliations against Greek its subjects]] strained relations.<ref name=":5">Flathe, T. (1905). ''Restoration and revolution'' (J. Hunter, J. H. Myers, & others, Trans.; J. H. Wright, Superv.). In: ''[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/A_history_of_all_nations_from_the_earliest_times%3B_being_a_universal_historical_library_%28IA_historyofallnati18wrig%29.pdf? A history of all nations from the earliest times: Being a universal historical library]'' (Vol. 18, p. 368). Lea Brothers & Co. (Original work published 1892)</ref>

Before and during the siege,The population of the city under siege allowed the local Greek community to leave the city.<ref>{{cite book |last=Linner |first=Sture |title=W. H. Humphreys' First "Journal of the Greek War of Independence" (July 1821–February 1822) |publisher=Almqvist & Wiksell |location=Stockholm |year=1967}}</ref> but eight Greek Orthodox [[prelate]]s of [[Peloponnese]] were incarcerated inside the city, and five of them died before the fall, due to "hardships, torture, and illnesses".<ref>{{cite book|editor= Michael Angold|title=The Cambridge history of Christianity|year=2006|publisher=Cambridge Univ. Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=978-0-521-81113-2|pages=230|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vBy7CTYVBeMC&q=orthodoxy%2Bpatriarch%2B1821%2Bgregory&pg=PA230|edition=1. publ.}}</ref> They were imprisoned by the Turks, chained in a cramped underground cell, suffered starvation and disease, and were in extremely poor physical condition by the time of the fall.<ref name=":6">Trikoupis, S. (1888). ''Ιστορία της Ελληνικής Επαναστάσεως'' (3rd ed., Vol. 2). Athens: Τυπογραφείο της «Ώρας».</ref> Two of them died before being released, while three died immediately, the day they were released and a few weeks before the city's fall.<ref name=":6" />Because of these refugees the population of the city reached 30.000-50.000.

After Bayram Pasha's attempt to deliver aid to the city of Tripoli, which had been besieged for 5 months by 50-60 thousand soldiers, was defeated on September 7, 1821, the city began to suffer from a severe food and supply shortage.Severe food shortages and the spread of disease caused heavy casualties among the population of Tripolitsa, prompting the city's defenders to negotiate terms of surrender with the Greek forces. During these negotiations, the Greeks reached a separate agreement with the Albanian mercenary garrison, allowing them safe passage out of the city. On 23 September 1821, as the Albanian mercenaries withdrew through the city gates, Greek forces entered Tripolitsa. While the Albanians were spared, the entry of the Greek forces was followed by a three-day massacre of the Ottoman Muslim and Jewish inhabitants.<ref>Başbakanlık Devlet Arşivleri Genel Müdürlüğü, Osmanlı Arşivi Daire Başkanlığı, Hattı Hümayun Tasnifi (HAT), nr. 37873</ref><ref>Mehmed Esad Efendi. Vak’anüvis Mehmed Es’ad Efendi Tarihi (Bâhir Efendi Zeyl ve İlâveleriyle) 1237-1241/1821-1826. Nşr. Z. Yılmazer, İstanbul: Osmanlı Araştırmaları Vakfı, 2000. </ref>

== Massacre ==
During the massacre, Greek gangs first tortured Halim Efendi, the Qadi of Tripoli, for the morale he had boosted among the city's inhabitants and refugees during the siege. They smeared him with oil and burned him alive. Afterwards, they dug up the bodies and bones from the Muslim cemetery in the city and burned them. After all the property in the city was plundered, the women and children were distributed as spoils of war.
<ref>{{cite document |title=BOA, C. HR, 19/926 |publisher=[[Başbakanlık Osmanlı Arşivi|Prime Ministry Ottoman Archives]] |location=Istanbul |date=23 February 1822 |type=1 Gurre-i Cemaziyelâhir 1237}}</ref><ref>{{cite document |title=BOA, HAT, 841/37873 |publisher=[[Başbakanlık Osmanlı Arşivi|Prime Ministry Ottoman Archives]] |location=Istanbul |date=24 March 1822 |type=1 Gurre-i Receb 1237}}</ref><ref>{{cite document |title=BOA, HAT, 871/38718-A |publisher=[[Başbakanlık Osmanlı Arşivi|Prime Ministry Ottoman Archives]] |location=Istanbul |date=5 May 1823 |type=23 Şaban 1238}}</ref><ref>{{cite document |title=BOA, HAT, 877/38829 |publisher=[[Başbakanlık Osmanlı Arşivi|Prime Ministry Ottoman Archives]] |location=Istanbul |date=19 November 1821 |type=23 Safer 1237}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Gordon |first=Thomas |title=History of the Greek Revolution and the Wars and Campaigns Arising from the Struggle of the Greek Patriots in Emancipating their Country from The Turkish Yoke |volume=1 |publisher=William Blackwood |location=Edinburgh |year=1844}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Mehmed Esad Efendi |editor-last=Yılmazer |editor-first=Ziya |title=Vak’anüvis Mehmed Es’ad Efendi Tarihi (Bâhir Efendi Zeyl ve İlâveleriyle) 1237-1241/1821 1826 |publisher=OSAV Yayınları |location=Istanbul |year=2000 |language=Turkish}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Bass |first=Gary J. |title=Freedom’s Battle: The Origins of Humanitarian Intervention |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |location=New York |year=2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Linner |first=Sture |title=W. H. Humphreys’ First "Journal of the Greek War of Independence" (July 1821–February 1822) |publisher=Almqvist & Wiksell |location=Stockholm |year=1967}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Örenç |first=Ali Fuat |title=Yunanistan’ın Bağımsızlığı Sürecinde Yok Edilen Mora Türkleri |trans-title=The Turks of Morea Exterminated During the Process of Greek Independence |journal=Uluslararası Suçlar ve Tarih Dergisi |volume=11 |issue=1 |year=2011 |pages=5–32 |language=Turkish}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Kurşun |first=Zekeriya |title=Nasuhzâde Ali Paşa ve Rum İsyanı |publisher=Vakıfbank Kültür Yayınları |location=Istanbul |year=2021 |language=Turkish}}</ref>
The Greek general Theodoros Kolokotronis opposed this massacre and slaughter that took place in the city.<ref>Veis, N. A. (1901). ''Ἔγγραφα ἀφορώντα εἰς τὴν πολιορκίαν καὶ ἅλωσιν τῆς Τριπόλεως'' (1821). Ἁρμονία, 2, 227–233.</ref> Ahmed Lûtfî Efendi, a chronicler who lived during the Ottoman period, states that during the rebellion in Morea, the Greeks annihilated the Muslims, executing and burning even the fetuses in the wombs of pregnant women, and that the rebels thus destroyed many women and children, driving the survivors from their homeland, and that in a short time, all the Turks in the entire Morea region were devastated.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lütfi Efendi |first=Ahmed |title=Vak’anüvis Ahmed Lûtfî Efendi Tarihi |volume=1 |pages=38-39 |language=tr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Lütfi Efendi |first=Ahmed |title=Vak’anüvis Ahmed Lûtfî Efendi Tarihi |volume=2-3 |page=543 |language=tr}}</ref>

==Plunder==
As the administrative center of the Peloponnese, Tripolitsa was one of the region's wealthiest cities. Following its fall, widespread plundering occurred, resulting in significant wealth acquisition by the Greek forces and their commanders.<ref>{{cite document |title=BOA, HAT, 862/38442 |publisher=[[Başbakanlık Osmanlı Arşivi|Prime Ministry Ottoman Archives]] |location=Istanbul |date=21 February 1822 |type=29 Cemâziyelevvel 1237}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Ahmed Cevdet |title=Tarih-i Cevdet |volume=11–12 |publisher=Matbaa-i Âmire |location=Istanbul |year=1891 |orig-date=AH 1309 |language=Turkish}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Mehmed Esad Efendi |editor-last=Yılmazer |editor-first=Ziya |title=Vak’anüvis Mehmed Es’ad Efendi Tarihi (Bâhir Efendi Zeyl ve İlâveleriyle) 1237-1241/1821-1826 |publisher=OSAV Yayınları |location=Istanbul |year=2000 |language=Turkish}}</ref>  Contemporary accounts and historical sources note that prominent leaders, including Petrobey Mavromichalis and Theodoros Kolokotronis, acquired substantial spoils during the plunder of the city.<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Peker |first=Gürkan |title=Yunan Tarih Yazıcılığında Mora İsyanı ve Yunanistan’ın Bağımsızlığı (1821-1829) |trans-title=The Morea Rebellion and the Independence of Greece in Greek Historiography (1821-1829) |type=Master's thesis |publisher=Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University |location=Çanakkale |year=2018 |language=Turkish}}</ref>

== Jews ==
In addition to the Muslim population of the Morea, Morean Jews were also targeted during the massacre. In many instances, they were subjected to even greater torture and killed in larger numbers than the Muslims.

==Death toll==
The total number of people killed during massacre differs by narattive.
*Theodoros Kolokotronis, the ringleader of the massacre, states that the number of people slaughtered was 32,000.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kolokotrones |first=Theodoros |editor-last=Edmonds |editor-first=Mrs. |title=Kolokotrones: The Klepht and the Warrior; Sixty Years of Peril and Daring: An Autobiography |publisher=T. Fisher Unwin |location=London |year=1892 |pages=135–156, 157–161}}</ref>
*{{Interlanguage link|Edward Blaquière|el|Έντουαρντ Μπλακιέρ}}, who arrived in Greece two years later, estimated around 6,000 dead.<ref>Blaquière, E. (1824). ''The Greek Revolution: Its origin and progress, together with some remarks on the religion, national character, &c. in Greece''. London: G. & W. B. Whittaker, p.{{nbsp}}146</ref>[[Josiah Conder (editor and author)|Josiah Conder]] and Thomas Curtis agreed with that number.<ref>Curtis, T. (1839). "Tripolizza". In ''The London Encyclopaedia, or Universal Dictionary of Science, Art, Literature and Practical Mechanics'' (Vol. 17, p.{{nbsp}}646). London. </ref><ref>Conder, J. (1830). ''The modern traveller: A description, geographical, historical, and topographical, of the various countries of the globe. Vol. XV: Greece, Vol. I''. London: James Duncan, p.{{nbsp}}142.</ref>
*The French cavalry officer Maurice Persat, who came to the Morea, states in his memoirs published in 1910 that the death toll was 40,000.<ref>{{cite book |last=Persat |first=Maurice |editor-last=Schlumberger |editor-first=Gustave |title=Mémoires du Commandant Persat, 1806 à 1844 |publisher=Librairie Plon |location=Paris |year=1910 |language=French}}</ref>
*Greek Historian Dimitris Stathakopulos estimates number of people killed as 10.000<ref>{{cite book |last=Kolokotrones |first=Theodoros |editor-last=Edmonds |editor-first=Mrs. |title=Kolokotrones: The Klepht and the Warrior; Sixty Years of Peril and Daring: An Autobiography |publisher=T. Fisher Unwin |location=London |year=1892 |pages=135–156, 157–161}}</ref>
* [[Thomas Gordon (British Army officer)|Thomas Gordon]], who arrived in the city shortly after its fall, estimated it at 8,000.<ref>Finlay, p. 269.</ref> Scholar Aristides N. Hatzis believes this to be the most realistic estimate.<ref name=":3">Hatzis, A. N. (2023). "The absolute barbarians as victims: Moral blame, historical disappointment and Orientalist double standards in rationalizing the Tripolitsa massacre". In N. Christofis, A. Lamprou, & L. Moiras (Eds.), ''The Greek War of Independence and the Ottomans''. Berghahn Books.</ref>
*The Romanian Ottoman historian Nicolae Iorga estimated the death toll at 32,000.<ref>{{cite book |last=Iorga |first=Nicolae |translator-last=Epçeli |translator-first=Nilüfer |translator2-last=Beydilli |translator2-first=Kemal |title=Osmanlı İmparatorluğu Tarihi |trans-title=History of the Ottoman Empire |volume=5 |publisher=Yeditepe Yayınları |location=Istanbul |year=2005 |orig-year=1908–1913 |language=Turkish}}</ref>
* Greek historians [[Spyridon Trikoupis]] and [[Ioannis Filimon]], both disavowing the atrocity, estimated the number at 10,000, including former combatants and non-combatants. This number is considered close to the truth by historian Kyriakos Simopoulos.<ref>Σιμόπουλος, Κ. (1979). ''Πώς είδαν οι ξένοι την Ελλάδα του '21: 1821–1822 (Τόμ. Α')''. Αθήνα: Στάχυ. pp.{{nbsp}}278–279, n.{{nbsp}}145</ref>
*The European Philhellene William Henry Humphreys stated that the death toll was 10,000, including women and children.<ref>{{cite book |last=Linner |first=Sture |title=W. H. Humphreys' First "Journal of the Greek War of Independence" (July 1821–February 1822) |publisher=Almqvist & Wiksell |location=Stockholm |year=1967}}</ref>
*Historian Theophilus C. Prousis, citing David Brewer, reports that: "Flight, disease, starvation, and death in battle reduced the town’s population by almost one-half (from 30,000 to 15,000 residents). Nearly 8,000 Turks 

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{coord missing|Greece}}

[[Category:1821 conflicts]]
[[Category:Massacres in the Greek War of Independence]]
[[Category:Tripoli, Greece]]
[[Category:Ottoman Peloponnese]]
[[Category:History of Arcadia, Peloponnese]]
[[Category:1821 in the Ottoman Empire]]
[[Category:Jewish Greek history]]
[[Category:Persecution of Ottoman Muslims]]
[[Category:Peloponnese in the Greek War of Independence]]
[[Category:Massacres of Muslims]]
[[Category:Military history of the Peloponnese]]
[[Category:Massacres of Jews]]