5 Para Countermarked ΚΘΣ on Turkey KM-728, AH1293

During the Greek occupation of parts of Anatolia following the 1919 Smyrna landing, Ottoman small change circulating in the region was countermarked by Greek authorities to legitimize its use under the new administration. The ΚΘΣ mark — standing for Κεντρική Θεματική Στρατιωτική, the central military administration — effectively repatriated enemy coinage into the Greek monetary supply without the cost of new production. The occupation collapsed catastrophically with the Asia Minor Disaster of 1922, and countermarked pieces that survived the subsequent population exchange carry a compressed history of one of the twentieth century's most violent forced migrations.