19 MAIOY ΗμέραμνήμηςτηςΓενοκτονίαςτουΠοντιακούEλληνισμού

1. Mrs Sophia Zachariou
Principal: SAHETI Primary School
19 MAIOY/19 May
ΗμέραμνήμηςτηςΓενοκτονίαςτουΠοντιακούEλληνισμού/CommemorationDayofPont
ian-GreekGenocide
(1914-1923)
‘Never Again’ is the rallying cry for all who believe that mankind
must speak out against genocide. Jon Corzine.
Genocide is the most powerful and potent of all crimes against humanity.
It is a conscious, thought out plan to systematically wipe out people and
their culture as well as individual lives.
What is compelling about the Pontian – Greek Genocide is how it has
been forgotten. In 1994, the Greek Parliament announced May 19, as the
day of Commemoration of the Pontian – Greek Genocide by the Turks.On
the 23
rd
of May 2016 over 1000 Greeks of Pontian descent marched to
Syntagma Square, to commemorate the genocide of the 353 000 Pontian
– Greekscommitted, by the Ottoman Empire from 1914 to 1923.
From 1914-1923a total of more than 3,5 million Greeks, Armenians and
Assyrians were killed and of this, as many as 1,5 million Greeks died either
from massacre or exposure to the harsh conditions that they were forced
to endure.
Euxinos Pontus, (ΕύξεινοςΠόντος) or just Pontus (Πόντος), is how the
Greeks called The Black Sea from times immemorial. The first Greek
settlements appeared on the southern coast, modern Turkey, and the
Caucasus as early as 800BC. They were founded by Ionian Greeks, natives
of Attica, Anatolia and the islands of the Aegean. The first city Sinop was
built in 785BC andboth the northern and southern Black Sea coast was
completely Hellenized.
Renowed Greek men of antiquity, such as Diogenes and Strabo were born
and raised in Southern Pontos.Beginning in the spring of 1913, the
Ottomans, implemented a programme of expulsion and forced removal,
focusing on the Greeks of the Aegean region and eastern Thrace. On the
eve of World War 1, The Young Turk administration exerted a policy of
assimilation and ethnic cleansing of the Orthodox Christians in the Empire,
which affected Pontian-Greeks, as well as Armenians, Assyrians and
Maranites.
The Pontian-Greek deportations were carried out by the Special
Organization (Teskilat-Mahsusen), the same government organization that
carried out the Armenian massacres.
Between May 19, 1914 to the end of 1923 the Pontian-Greek population
was decimated by 353 000 in the following cities:
Amasya, Giresun, Samsun 134 078
Tokat 64 502
Trabzan 38 434
Niksar 27 216
Sebinkarahisar 21 448
Macka 17 478
We read of the significant number of Pontians who were sent on a
deportation march to the village of Pirk. According to reports of the
survivals, out of the 13 000 Pontianswho had been sent to Pirk, only 800
survived.The Pontian – Greeks tried to fight back and resist and some fled
high into the mountains and organized themselves in small guerrilla
groups.
By 1921, historical records show that the Pontian fighters numbered some
12 000. However, the Greek Politics of the time failed to focus on the
issue and the last hopes of the establishment of a joint Ponto-Armenian
country allowed Kemal Ataturk to proceed with the final phase of his plan,
and of course the rise of the Bolsheviks in neighbouring Russia, deprived
the Greek Pontians of help against the Ottomans.
Kemal kept the Greeks busy with guerrilla attacks and simultaneously
carried on the massacre in Pontus. By the time of the Asia Minor
catastrophe more than 300 000 Pontian – Greeks had lost their lives.
The Greek Genocide, part of which is known as the Pontian-Greek Genocide,
was the systematic ethnic cleansing of the Christian Orthodox. The
systematic genocide destroyed the Greek population from their ‘homeland’
and almost all historical and religious monuments. The survivors of the
extended slaughters migrated to nearby Russian grounds or were included
in the population exchanges that followed the end of the Greek – Turkish
War (1919-1922).
The Pontian – Greeks who moved into Greece, brought with them their
surviving culture, language, customs and traditions, enriching the social
structures of Greece by adding their unique, characteristic features. Pontian
linguistic lineage stems from Ionic Greek via Koine and Byzantine Greek with
many archaisms and contains words from Turkish and to a larger extent,
Persian and various Caucasian languages.
ΣτέλιοςΚαζαντζίδηςsong; ‘Πατρίδαμ’ αραέυωσε… αμόνκαταραμένος’
deeply captures the pain and anguish of the Pontians.
At present, the Pontian Genocide is officially recognized only by Greece,
Cyprus, Armenia, Sweden and the American State of New York. Toronto
City,Canada, recently (2016), passed a Pontian Genocide Motion: that the
City Council recognize the Pontian Genocide and honour the memory of the
men, women and children who died.
Why one asks, why,are so many people unaware of the Pontian-Greek
Genocide? This is mainly due, to the insufficient awareness and sadly the
insufficient interest from the international community.
By teaching, exposing and making our children aware of the destruction,
futility and horror of the atrocities,where hundreds of Pontian-Greeks were
amassed and barricaded into churches, schoolshalls, caves and burnt to
death,during the ‘ethnic cleansing,’ we hope, that ‘Never Again’ do we
allow genocide to prevail.
It is said, that if people forget about the pain of other people, if they pass
it by with indifference, they kill within their souls a part of their humanity.
Sources:
• The Pontian-Greek Genocide: Dr Taner Akcon (Professor of History at
Clark University Holocaust and Genocide Centre).
• http://www.greek-genocide.org/
• http://www.greece.org/main/index.php?option=
comcontent&view=article&id=438&itemid=392
• http://www.kms.org.gr (Centre for Asia Minor Studies)
• www.stbasiltroy.org/pontos/pontoshistory
• Raffi Bedrosyan: The Genocide of the Pontic Greeks 2 July 2014
• Chris George@catacommunications:
• http://www.pavmir.com/article978.html
• The Concise History of the Genocide of the Greeks of Anatolia – Haris
Tsirkimidis
• https://www.ncas.rutgers.edu/center-study-genocide-conflict-
resolution-and-human-rights/genocide-ottoman-greeks-1914-1923

2. ΟΠΟΝΤΟΣΖΕΙ!