PRESS RELEASE: INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION OF THE PONTIAN GENOCIDE.
PRESS RELEASE:
INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION OF THE PONTIAN GENOCIDE.
The 19η May has been commemorated since 1994 as a day of remembrance of the genocide of more than 350.000 Pontians by the Turks. This heinous act constitutes an international crime against humanity and creates a national and moral duty of international recognition. The few countries and states of the USA that recognize the genocide testify to the perennial ineffectiveness of the Greek state. This major national issue requires the epigrammatic reminder of historical events.
Hellenism dominated the high geopolitical value northern coast of Asia Minor at least since 800 BC with its uninterrupted presence. During the Ottoman rule a significant part of the Greeks converted to Islam and today constitutes the large community of crypto-Christians. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Greek Christians of Pontus reached 700.000
The Young Turks (from 1908) decided that the "national Turkish state" had to expel non-Muslims and destroy the historical and cultural continuity of the Greeks in the East. The genocide was planned by the Turkish state and implemented from 1913 to 1923. During this time, pogroms, massacres and "labor battalions" were organized, with thousands of male Greeks over 15 years old on "death" marches with hard labor without food, water and supplies. The "labor battalions", the systematic burning of villages, the executions, persecutions, destruction, rapes and hangings until 1917, sparked a guerrilla war in Pontus, as a desperate reaction and a last attempt at self-defense.
On May 19, 1919, Mustafa Kemal arrived in Samsun, rallied the Turkish irregulars and was strengthened by both the Bolsheviks and our former allies of World War I. From the end of 1921 to May 1922, the second great wave of massacres, looting and destruction took place in Pontus. The foreigners knew and kept quiet. In particular, the Germans also took on the role of advisor to Turkey. The remaining Greek Christians came to Greece under the Population Exchange Agreement from 1923 and contributed decisively to the restoration of the Greek state, while they participated and continue to participate in all the national struggles.
National memory is important, but a crime against humanity requires recognition both by the hitherto silent international community and by Turkey. This year's relevant message from the country's Prime Minister, which does not name Turkey as a perpetrator, but also does not clearly articulate the national firm will for international recognition of the genocide, causes concern and a comparative mood with the long-ago successful attempt of the Armenians.
The truth must be firmly supported without concessions, especially when the existing evidence is sufficient. What remains is the political determination and persistence for the systematic information and pressure of the international community, as a minimum tribute to the thousands of souls of our dead and as a minimum reaction to historical oblivion. Those who forget their History relive it. Pontus exists and lives in the costumes, the Greek Pontic dialect, the uprooted icons of saints, the lyre and the Pyrrhic dance. The genocide does not concern the Pontians but the Greek Nation.
Peace is a desirable good, but not at the cost of undermining the native Greeks. From Thucydides to the present day, "calm waters" are not ensured by silence and unilateral avoidance of provocations, but by national deterrence, political deconstruction of every illegal provocation, and preparation (material and moral) of the Greeks to defend the sovereignty and sovereign rights of Greece and Cyprus, even through military conflict.
June 9 2025
The Board of Directors of ELISM