Between the Kordon, the harbor side park that separates Izmir from the harbor, and the neighborhood of Alsancak, lies this amazing starue. Horsemen race along the shore, an artistic mix of balance and exuberance. Arms raised, they gesture toward Izmir's city center, about a kilometer away. Some hold instruments in their hands--they may be riding crops, when I look at them, they look like pens or paint brushes. The sculpture is called Tree of the Republic , and its sculptor, Ferit Özşen, captured a key moment in the founding of the Turkish Republic--and that moment happened exactly 100 years ago. Ten days ago, I wrote about the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Alıören , the moment when Greece was forced back from the gates of Ankara into headlong retreat towards the Aegean Coast. The Greco-Turk War (1919-1922) had begun with the Greek occupation of Smyrna, a city that, at the time, had twice as many Greek residents as Athens. The ten days that followed tha...