Day of mourning, day of mourning: May 19 – a memorial date for the genocide of the Greeks of Pontus

This year marks the 104th anniversary of the genocide of Pontic Hellenism. May 19 is the day that was officially recognized by the Greek state in 1994 and named the Day of Remembrance of the Greek Genocide of Pontus.

More than 300,000 deaths are officially reported, while the Central Council of the Pontians (Κεντρικό Συμβούλιο Ποντίων) mentions 353,000 victims of the genocide in the Black Book (Μαύρη Βίβλο).

The genocide of the Pontic Greeks is the massacre and deportation of the Greek population in the region of Pontus, committed by the Young Turks in the period from 1914 to 1923. The survivors of the unprecedented massacre fled to Ano Pontos (in the USSR), and after the Asia Minor disaster in 1922, to Greece. International literature and the state archives of many countries contain numerous testimonies of genocide committed against the Pontic inhabitants of the Ottoman Empire. It took place in parallel with the genocide against other peoples, Armenians and Assyrians, as a result of which some researchers consider individual persecutions as part of a unified policy of genocide against the Greeks or the Christians of Asia Minor in general.

On the day of the memorable date, the Greek government organizes relevant events.

For the genocide of the Pontic Greeks, much more needs to be done than its formal legal recognition, as the Greek state has done so far, historians and experts on the issue say. “As we have seen in many cases related to national, economic and social problems, the existence of some laws does not mean anything important, especially in Greece, where some institutional functions begin and end on paper. If there is no political will, laws are just paper, – writes newsbreak.gr. – Official state recognition of the genocide of the Pontic Greeks by the Turkish side should be essential. This means that the state education should pay due attention to this great event that caused irreparable damage to our people. In addition, the Greek diplomatic machine should take advantage of the favorable international situation , carefully and quickly promote the issue of international recognition of the genocide of the Pontic Greeks by the Turks. The best tribute to our invincible ancestors is action!”.

“On May 19, 1919, Mustafa Kemal arrived in Kerasund to meet with the governor of the city of Topal Osman. During this meeting, Kemal called on Topal Osman to “cleanse Turkey of the Hellenes”, and then, through local Turkish newspapers, addressed the same appeal to the entire Turkish people.

This was the signal for the second phase of the extermination of the Hellenes of Pontus. Since the Turkish army could not cope with the partisans, all the fury of the Turks fell upon the civilian population. Unheard-of atrocities began all over Pontus: robberies, murders, rapes… Whole families of Hellenes were locked up in churches and schools and burned alive – for example, in the city of Pafra, about 6,000 people were burned in this way, mostly women and children. Of those residents of Pafra who escaped death in the fire, approximately 90% were shot or stabbed to death, all women, girls and even little girls were raped before death, and Turkish soldiers smashed their heads against the walls of houses for infants.
In the city of Amasia and the nearby villages, out of 180,000 Hellenes, 134,000 perished;
in the city of Mergifund, all the inhabitants without exception were massacred;
in Tripoli, Kerasunda, Ordu and many other cities, almost all male residents were destroyed;

The capture of Smyrna by the Turks was also bloody: Kemalists and local Turks set fire to the Hellenic, Armenian and Jewish quarters of the city and massacred Christians. The death toll during the seven-day pogrom was approximately 100,000.
It is noteworthy that the allies of the Hellenes, in particular the British, who had orders not to interfere in what was happening, watched the massacre and arson from their warships. Later, an eyewitness to the pogrom, American Consul George Horton, wrote: “One of my strongest impressions was the feeling of shame that I belong to the human race.”…

And this is only a small part of what was happening then throughout the entire territory of Pontus. There is no final data on the number of victims of the genocide. To date, it is believed that for the period 1914 – 1923. in Turkey, in total, from 900,000 to 1,400,000 Hellenes were destroyed.

A great loss for mankind is also the destruction of the cultural identity of Pontic Hellenism. The Pontic dialect of the Hellenic language was the link that connected the ancient and modern Hellenic languages. Today, the Pontic dialect and its accompanying culture are on the verge of extinction.

In modern Hellenic literature, those events are called the Hellenic Holocaust or the Pontic genocide.

For a whole century after those terrible events, and to this day, all Turkish governments, including the current one, refuse to recognize the fact of the terrible atrocities committed by Ottoman Turkey.
However, the governments of many states have already recognized the Genocide against the Hellenic people.”

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