A small group of approximately ten people calling themselves the “Turkish Fighters Union” entered the display showing photographs depicting the riots staged on September 6 and 7 1955 in Istanbul and elsewhere that targeted non ethnic Turkish businesses and individuals. The group threw eggs at the photographs and then pulled them down from the walls.
Chanting slogans such as, “Turkey is Turkish and will stay Turkish,” members of the group unfurled a Turkish flag before police intervened and detained some of the demonstrators.
The exhibition, staged by the Turkish History Foundation, sheds light onto the controversial incidents of 50 years ago, which resulted in many members of Turkey’s minorities, especially those of Greek origin, migrating. The photographs came from the archive of the Fahri Coker, then the senior judge of the court case opened to investigate the incidents.
The riots of September 1955 were sparked after an attempted bombing of the Turkish consulate in the Greek city of Thesselonika.