Petition by the citizens of Castellorizo, 1920

[Administrator]

In April 1920, in an atmosphere of increasing uncertainty, and aware of the possible transfer of their island to Italy, 105 of the male citizens of Castellorizo took the bold step of directing a signed petition to the French admiral in charge of the Syrian Division of the French Navy, Rear Admiral Mornet, during one of his passing visits.

View the original petition at www.castellorizohistory.com/history.htm

The document may be translated to read as follows:

Castellorizo, 15 April 1920

Petition of the Inhabitants of Castellorizo

To His Excellency the Rear Admiral of the Syrian Division,

Your Excellency,

The Castellorizians who have signed below have the honour to beseech you, if you please, to be kind enough to grant an audience to a deputation of the people of Castellorizo, which, as the only fit representation, seeks to convey to you the real situation of our island both from an internal point of view and from an economic perspective. For this purpose we appoint a committee comprising Messrs Evangelos Stamatoglou, Evangelos Kondylios, Nikolaos Kailis, Kyriakos Kiosoglou, Paraskevas Kakulas, Ioannis Konstantinides, Vasilios Loukas, Vasilios Tsakalakis, Apostolos Voyiatzis and Stamatis Stamatoglou.

Hoping that this request is well received by you,

We remain, obediently

1. Ilias Kondylios
2. Anastasios Astinomos
3. Panagiotis Hatziyiannakis
4. Mihail I Koutsoukos
5. Ioannis N Pitsonis
6. Nikolaos Kambouris
7. Stavros Hatzidiamandas
8. Mihail Kiosoglou
9. N A Moraitis
10. Mihail K Mihalakis
11. Paraskevas A Kakas
12. Ioannis Hatzistavrianos
13. ? ?
14. Spyros Papalazaros
15. Pitsonis N Pitsonis
16. Yeorgios N Boyiatzis
17. ? Efthimiou
18. Ioannis Atzemis
19. ? ?
20. Mihail Komninos
21. Paraskevas Economou
22. Yeorgios N Pitsonis
23. Yeorgios Berberis
24. K Mayiafis
25. ? ?
26. ? Nikolaou
27. I Sehopoulos
28. ? ?
29. A Vallianos
30. Andreas P Andreou
31. Vasilios Christou
32. ? ?
33. ? Komninos
34. ? ?
35. Yeorgios K Palassis
36. Savvas Pantelis
37. P Kailis
38. Emmanuel Y Pissas
39. Antonios Kondylios
40. Stavros Antonas
41. Emmanuel V Xanthis
42. Kyriakos N Symeon
43. Pantelis A Papaioannou
44. Yeorgios Yianardasis
45. Ant Nikandros
46. Panagiotis K Pitpazaris
47. Paraskevas Efstathiou
48. Vasilios Fitos
49. ? Kotzas
50. ? ?
51. Dimitrios Koutoupes
52. Kostas Liondis
53. Mihail Petrakis
54. Eleftherios Eleftheriou
55. Pantazis Mavrokordatos
56. Konstandinos Kouttelakis
57. Andreas D Savvas
58. Christofis Liondis
59. Christodoulos Papioannou
60. Pavlos A Tsolakis
61. Kostas Vallianos
62. Mihail Theofilou
63. Nikolaos Hatzifanis
64. M Bollos
65. Kostas Hatziantonas
66. Yeorgios Exintaris
67. Kostas ?
68. Andreas Magriplis
69. ? ?
70. Mihail Emm. Kailis
71. Markos Panagiotou
72. Kostas Iliou Hatziargyrou
73. Yeorgios Christofis
74. Stavrianos Y Moschos
75. Dimitrios ?
76. Andreas Marakas
77. Kostas Hatziyeorgiou
78. N Tsopanis
79. S Lakerdis
80. K Y Palassis
81. K M Voyiatzis
82. K Y Mandalis
83. Ch P Christofis
84. ? Gregoriou
85. N Iakovou
86. ? Finikiotis
87. Stavros P Kratsis
88. Mihail Th Atherinou
89. Stavros Voyiatzis
90. A Voyiatzis
91. Kyriakos Galettis
92. Stavros Y Zorbas
93. Ioannis M Passaris
94. K M Passaris
95. Nikolaos Karipis
96. ? ?
97. Nikolaos Karayiannis
98. K Pitpazaris
99. Yeorgios An Kakas
100. Haralambos Iliou
101. Nikos Themistoklis
102. Evangelos Sehopoulos
103. Dimitrios Papioannou
104. Nikos Papanastasiou
105. Vlasios K Antonas


Besides conveying the unease of the local population in the face of a possible French withdrawal, the document betrays the concerns felt by the Castellorizians as the island's small economy had failed to revive in the immediate aftermath of WWI and a steady stream of emigration abroad continued.

Nicholas

[G.M.B.]

Nicholas,

Well done with the petition translation, a lot of work,
just a note of appreciation for the work that you are doing for the benefit of the members and for Castellorizians everywhere.

Regards,
George.

[malcolm]

Great work! Found several relatives among the signatories. Thank you.