Tarlis incident

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The Tarlis incident is the massive murder of 17 Bulgarian peasants perpetrated by a Greek officer on July 27, 1924 at Tarlis (present-day Vathitopos), a mountainous village of Drama region near Greek-Bulgarian borders.

Tarlis (Τрлис), Loftsa and Karakioi were three Bulgarian village deadlocked inside Greek territory after Greco-Bulgarian borders had drawn in accordance to Bucarest Treaty of 1913. From a total population of 800 only 50 were recently settled Greek refugees from Ottoman empire. Martial law was imposed in Greece by Themistoklis Sophoulis government that took office three day earlier on July 24, 1924.

Official Greek conclusions stated that on Saturday evening of July 26, 1924 residents of Tarlis had been gathered in village’s square discussing the issue of repatriation between Greece and Bulgarian according the 1919 Treaty of Neuilly which provided for the voluntary exchange of populations between Greece and Bulgaria. The deadline of admission for resettlement was ended five days later on August 31, 1924.

Suddenly some shots and explosions were heard from a nearby gorge. Major Kalabalikis, the Greek officer in charge of region, ordered the arrest of 70 Bulgarian peasants from three villages, as suspects for shots.

On next day, Sunday July 27, 1924, Kalabalikis ordered his military aid lieutenant Doksakis, a Greek officer from Crete, to move 27 captured villagers and brought them to the district administration in Serres for interrogation, via Gorno Vrondi village. Doksakis at the head of 10 Greek soldiers leaded bounded captives via a mountain trail bypassing public road between Tarlis and Gorno Vrondi. He returned five hours later to announce that his sqad was attacked by Bulgarian commitadzis. Detainees tried to escape and he forced to kill 17 of them.

The Tarlis incident triggered heavy protests in Bulgaria and international outcry against Greece. The Common Greco-Bulgarian committee for emigration investigated the incident and presented its conclusions to League of Nations in Geneva. As a result a bilateral Bulgarian-Greek agreement was signed in Geneva on September 29, 1925 known as Politis-Kalfov protocol after League of Nations's demand, recognizing Greek slavophones as Bulgarians and guarantying their protection.

Next month a Bulgarian primer textbook in Latin known as Abecedar published by Greek ministry for education, was introduced to Greek schools of Aegean Macedonia.

On February 2, 1925 Greek parliament under pressure from Serbia that reacted revoking the 1913 Greek-Serbian Coalition Treaty, rejected ratification. Agreement lasted 9 months until June 10, 1925 when League of Nations annulled it.