Speech #780176808

During the nineteenth century. in spite of poverty and lack of natural resources. the Greek people with untold sacrifice rebuilt their national culture. while. bit by bit. new areas of the Greek homeland. on the mainland and in the islands of the Aegean. came under the blue and white flag of the kingdom of the Hellenes. In the last war. despite dynastic .difficulties. the Greek people ranged themselves on the side of the Allies. and Greek troops shared in the Balkan campaigns. After the enforced withdrawal of the Greek troops from Asia Minor in 1922. there followed one of the most remarkable exchanges of population in history. in which this little nation found itself faced with the problem of absorbing a million and a half of refugees from Turkey. Much help was needed. and freely given. chiefly from American sources. but the success of the undertaking was principally due to the able planning and generous sacrifices of the Greek people themselves. The coming of a new spirit in nationalist Turkey was welcomed by their Hellenic neighbors: and the beginnings of better times for the troubled Balkan regions seemed within sight.