Aristeidis Stergiadis was the Greek high commissioner, or governor-general, of Smyrna during the Greek occupation of the city from 1919 to 1922. Aristidis Stergiadis was appointed the High Commissioner of Smyrna in February and arrived in the city four days after the 15 May 1919 landing. Stergiadis immediately went to work in setting up an administration, easing ethnic violence, and making way for permanent annexation of Smyrna. Stergiadis punished Greek soldiers responsible for the violence on 15–16 May with court martial and created a commission to decide on payment for victims. When the French ceded Cilicia to the Ottomans in 1921 under the terms of the Treaty of Ankara, the French withdrew their protection from the Greek population. It is estimated that 6,500 Rum left Cilicia as a result. Some of the refugees were transported to Cyprus but the British would only accept refugees holding British nationality or those who had relatives on the island. The others were sent to Smyrna, only to find that Stergiadis would not permit the landing of refugees. Stergiadis took a strict stance against discrimination of the Turkish population in Smyrna and opposed church leaders and the local Greek population on a number of occasions. Historians disagree about whether this was a genuine stance against discrimination or whether it was an attempt to present a positive vision of the occupation to the Entente. This stance against discrimination of the Turkish population often pitted Stergiadis against the local Greek population, the church and the army. He reportedly would carry a stick through the town with which he would beat Greeks that were being abusive of Turkish citizens. Troops would disobey his orders to not abuse the Turkish population often putting him in conflict with the military. On 14 July 1919, the acting foreign secretary sent a long critical telegraph to Venizelos suggesting that Stergiadis be removed and writing that "His sick neuroticism has reached a climax." Venizelos stuck with support of Stergiadis despite this opposition, while the latter oversaw a number of projects planning for a permanent Greek administration of Smyrna. At one point, Stergiadis interrupted and ended a sermon by the bishop Chrysostomos that he believed to be incendiary. George Horton writes: He abandoned Smyrna on 25 September 1922 on a British ship, and was transported to Britain. He died 22 June 1949. His Herakleion residence houses the Public Archives and Library of Nicolas Kitsikis, the father ofDimitri Kitsikis. Stergiadis was the stepfather of Beata Kitsikis née Petychakis, Dimitri Kitsikis's mother.
