Editing Trabzon (section)

===Modern era===
{{multiple image
| direction         = vertical
| align             = right
| width1            = 240
| width2            = 240
| width3            = 240
| image1            = Scene in a theatre in Trebizond.jpg
| caption1          = A theater performance in Trebizond<!--Use old name until circa 1930--> c. 1900
| image2            = Philharmonic orchestra of Trebizond (cropped).jpg
| caption2          = The Philharmonic orchestra of Trebizond
| image3            = Acriteon Hospital Trebizond.jpg
| caption3          = Operating room of the Acriteon Hospital
}}

In 1901 the harbour was equipped with cranes by [[Stothert & Pitt]] of [[Bath, Somerset|Bath]] in England. In 1912 the Sümer Opera House was opened on the central Meydan square, being one of the first in the empire. The start of the [[First World War]] brought an abrupt end to the relatively peaceful and prosperous period the city had seen during the previous century. First Trebizond would lose many of its young male citizens at the [[Battle of Sarikamish]] in the winter of 1914–15, while during those same months the Russian navy bombarded the city a total of five times, taking 1300<ref>Daniel Maldonado in 'Historic Cities of the Islamic World', 2007, p. 525, C. Edmund Bosworth (ed)</ref>  lives. Especially the port quarter Çömlekçi and surrounding neighborhoods were targeted.

In July 1915 most of the adult male Armenians of the city were marched off south in five convoys, towards the mines of Gümüşhane, never to be seen again. Other victims of the [[Armenian genocide]] were reportedly taken out to sea in boats which were then capsized.<ref>''Toronto Globe'', August 26, 1915.</ref><ref>''Takvimi Vekdyi'', No. 3616, August 6, 1919, p. 2.</ref> In some areas of Trebizond province - such as the Karadere river valley in modern-day [[Araklı]], 25 kilometers east of the city - the local Muslim population tried to protect the Christian Armenians.<ref>[https://virtual-genocide-memorial.de/region/the-black-sea-marmara-and-aegean-littorals-eastern-thrace-and-central-anatolia/trabzon-trapezounta-trebizond-vilayet-province/sancak-lazistan-rizounta-%CF%81%CE%B9%CE%B6%CE%BF%CF%8D%CE%BD%CF%84%CE%B1-rize/kaza-hemsin-hamshen/ KAZA HEMŞIN / ՀԱՄՇԷՆ – HAMSHEN] Virtual genocide memorial</ref>

The coastal region between the city and the Russian frontier became the site of key battles between the Ottoman and [[Russian Empire|Russian]] armies during the [[Trebizond Campaign]], as part of the [[Caucasus Campaign]] of World War I. The Russian army landed at [[Pazar, Rize|Atina]], east of Rize on March 4, 1916. [[Lazistan Sanjak]] fell within two days. However, due to heavy guerrilla resistance around Of and Çaykara some 50&nbsp;km to the east of Trabzon, it took a further 40 days for the Russian army to advance west.<ref>Infographic by the newspaper ''[[The Sphere (newspaper)|The Sphere]]'' showing the advance of the Russian front on Trebizond, The Sphere, April 29, 1916</ref> The Ottoman administration of Trabzon foresaw the fall of the city and called for a meeting with community leaders, where they handed control of the city to Greek metropolitan bishop [[Archbishop Chrysanthus of Athens|Chrysantos Philippidis]]. 

Chrysantos promised to protect the Muslim population of the city. Ottoman forces retreated from Trabzon, and on April 15 the city was taken without a fight by the [[Russian Caucasus Army (World War I)|Russian Caucasus Army]] under command of [[Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich of Russia (1856–1929)|Grand Duke Nicholas]] and [[Nikolai Nikolaevich Yudenich|Nikolai Yudenich]]. There was also a massacre of Armenians and Greeks in Trabzon just before the Russian takeover of the city.<ref>{{cite news |title=Massacre of Christians before Evacuation of Trebizond |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/124874666 |publisher=The Daily Herald |date=April 21, 1916 |location=Adelaide, Australia |page=5 |quote="Frightful scenes were witnessed in the Christian quarter...hundreds of civilians were killed."}}</ref> 

In early 1917 Chrysantos tried to broker a peace between the Russians and the Ottomans, to no avail. During the [[Russian Revolution of 1917]] Russian soldiers in the city turned to rioting and looting, with officers commandeering Trebizonian ships to flee the scene. Governor Chrysantos was able to calm the Russian soldiers down, and the Russian Army ultimately retreated from the city and the rest of eastern and northeastern [[Anatolia]]. In March and April of 1918 the city hosted the [[Trebizond Peace Conference]], where the Ottomans agreed to give up their military gains in the Caucasus in return for recognition of the eastern borders of the empire in Anatolia by the [[Transcaucasian Seim]] (a short-lived transcaucasian government). 

In December 1918 Trabzon deputy governor [[Hafız Mehmet]] gave a speech at the [[Ottoman parliament]] in which he blamed the former governor of [[Trebizond Vilayet|Trebizond province]] [[Cemal Azmi]] – a non-native appointee who had fled to Germany after the Russian invasion – for orchestrating the Armenian genocide in the city in 1915, by means of drowning. Subsequently, a series of war crimes trials were held in Trebizond in early 1919 (see [[Trebizond during the Armenian genocide]]). Among others, Cemal Azmi was sentenced to death in absentia.

{{multiple image
| align             = left
| total_width       = 330
| image1            = Chrysanthos.jpg
| caption1          = Chrysanthos Philippidis, metropolitan and governor of Trabzon during part of the First World War. He protected the local population, regardless of religion or ethnicity.
| image2            = Ali Shukri Bey.jpg
| caption2          = Ali Şükrü Bey, publisher and politician from Trabzon who opposed violence against ethnic minorities and paid the ultimate price for his criticism of Mustafa Kemal
}}

During the [[Turkish War of Independence]] several Christian [[Pontic Greeks|Pontic Greek]] communities in the Trebizond province rebelled against the new army of [[Mustafa Kemal]] (notably in [[Bafra]] and [[Dumanlı|Santa]]), but when nationalist Greeks came to Trabzon to proclaim revolution, they were not received with open arms by the local Pontic Greek population of the city. At the same time the Muslim population of the city, remembering their protection under Greek governor Chrysantos, protested the arrest of prominent Christians. Liberal delegates of Trebizond opposed the election of Mustafa Kemal as the leader of the Turkish revolution at the [[Erzurum Congress]]. 

The governor and mayor of Trebizond were appalled by the violence against Ottoman Greek subjects,<ref>[https://www.thenationalherald.com/176214/seattle-city-council-asia-minor Seattle City Council and Asia Minor – The articles of Herbert Adams Gibbons in the Christian Science Monitor] Stavros T. Stavridis in ''[[The National Herald]]'', September 26, 2017</ref> and the government of Trabzon thus refused arms to Mustafa Kemal's henchman [[Topal Osman]], who was responsible for mass murders in the western Pontus which were part of the [[Greek genocide]]. Osman was forced out of the city by armed Turkish port-workers.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kVZ3sLBEPEcC&q=1921&pg=PA112|title=Twice a Stranger: The Mass Expulsions that Forged Modern Greece and Turkey|pages=112–116|first=Bruce|last=Clark|date=2006|publisher=Harvard University Press|access-date=15 January 2018|via=Google Books|isbn=9780674023680}}</ref> Governor Chrysantos travelled to the [[Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920)|Paris Peace Conference]], where he proposed the establishment of the [[Republic of Pontus]], which would protect its different ethnic groups. For this he was condemned to death by the Turkish Nationalist forces, and he could not return to his post in Trebizond. Instead, the city was to be handed to '[[Wilsonian Armenia]]', which likewise never materialized. Following the war, the [[Treaty of Sèvres]] was annulled and replaced with the [[Treaty of Lausanne]] (1923). As part of this new treaty, Trebizond became part of the new [[Turkey|Turkish Republic]]. The efforts of the pro-[[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]], anti-nationalist population of Trebizond only postponed the inevitable, because the national governments of Turkey and Greece agreed to a mutual [[Population exchange between Greece and Turkey|forced population exchange]]. This exchange included well over 100,000 [[Pontic Greeks|Greeks]] from Trebizond and the vicinity, who moved to Greece (founding the new towns of [[Nea Trapezounta, Pieria]] and [[Nea Trapezounta, Grevena]] amongst others).<ref>Baum, Wilhelm (2006). ''The Christian minorities in Turkey''. Kitab. p. 162. {{ISBN|978-3-902005-62-5}}. "On October 11, 1922, Turkey concluded an armistice with the allied forces, but not with the Greeks. The Greeks in the other settlement areas of Asia Minor were also expelled at that time, like e.g. the Kappadocian Greeks in the Goreme area and the other Greeks in Pontus, in the Trebizond area and on the west coast."</ref> 

During the war Trebizond parliamentarian [[Ali Şükrü Bey]] had been one of the leading figures of the [[Second Group (Turkey)|first Turkish opposition party]]. In his newspaper ''Tan'', Şükrü and colleagues publicized critiques of the Kemalist government, such as towards the violence perpetrated against Greeks during the population exchange. Şükrü argued that recognition of ethnic diversity was not a threat to the Turkish nation.

{{multiple image
| direction         = vertical
| align             = right
| width1            = 240
| width2            = 240
| image1            = Uzun Sokak at night.JPG
| caption1          = Uzun Sokak, a pedestrianized shopping street
| image2            = Trabzon,AtatürkAlani.jpg
| caption2          = Atatürk Alani at Meydan square in Taksim (central Trabzon)
}}

Topal Osman's men would eventually murder parliamentarian Şükrü for his criticism of the nationalist government of Mustafa Kemal in March 1923. Topal Osman was later sentenced to death and killed while resisting arrest. After pressure from the opposition, his headless body was hanged by his foot in front of the Turkish parliament. Ali Şükrü Bey, who had studied in [[Deniz Harp Okulu]] (Turkish Naval Academy) and worked as a journalist in the United Kingdom, is seen as a hero by the people of Trabzon, while in neighboring Giresun there is a statue of his murderer Topal Osman. Three years later Trabzon deputy Hafız Mehmet – who had testified to his knowledge of, and opposition to, the Armenian Ggenocide – was also executed, for his alleged involvement in the [[İzmir plot]] to assassinate Mustafa Kemal. The literal decapitation of the Turkish political opposition – which was in large part based in the Trabzon region – decreased the city's national influence, and led to a long-standing animosity between the Kemalists and the population of Trabzon. A political and cultural divide between the Eastern Black Sea Region and the rest of Anatolia continued to exist throughout the 20th century, and still influences Turkish politics today. Even in the 21st century, politicians who hail from Trabzon are often faced with xenophobic attacks from both nationalist and conservative circles.{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}}

During World War II shipping activity was limited because the Black Sea had again become a war zone. Hence, the most important export products, [[tobacco]] and [[hazelnuts]], could not be sold and living standards degraded.

As a result of the general development of the country, Trabzon has developed its economic and commercial life. The coastal highway and a new harbour have increased commercial relations with central Anatolia, which has led to some growth. However, progress has been slow in comparison to the western and the southwestern parts of Turkey.

Trabzon is famous throughout Turkey for its [[anchovies]] called ''hamsi'', which are the main meal in many restaurants in the city. Major exports from Trabzon include [[hazelnuts]] and [[tea]].

The city still has a sizable community of [[Greek Muslims#Greek Muslims of Pontus and the Caucasus|Greek-speaking Muslims]], most of whom are originally from the vicinities of [[Tonya, Turkey|Tonya]], [[Sürmene]] and [[Çaykara]]. However, the variety of the [[Pontic Greek|Pontic Greek language]] - known as "''Romeika''" in the local vernacular, ''Pontiaka'' in Greek, and ''Rumca'' in Turkish - is spoken mostly by the older generations.<ref>[[Özhan Öztürk]]: [http://www.yeniansiklopedi.com/pontus-anticag%e2%80%99dan-gunumuze-karadeniz%e2%80%99in-etnik-ve-siyasi-tarihi/ ''Pontus: Antik Çağ’dan Günümüze Karadeniz’in Etnik ve Siyasi Tarihi'', Genesis Yayınları, Ankara, 2011], pp. 417–421, {{ISBN|978-605-54-1017-9}}; Peter Mackridge: ''Greek-Speaking Muslims of North-East Turkey: Prolegomena to a study of the Ophitic sub-dialect of Pontic'', Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, Oxford University Press, 1987, pp. 115–137; [[Ömer Asan]]: ''Pontus Kültürü'', Belge Yayınları, Istanbul, 1996.</ref>