Pontic Greek genocide

During World War I and its aftermath (1914-1923), the Young Turk government of the Ottoman Empire instigated a violent campaign against the Greek population of Pontus and other regions of the Empire inhabited by Greeks. The campaign included massacres, forced deportations involving death marches, and summary expulsions. According to various sources, the death toll in Pontus ranged from 300,000 to 360,000; the death toll for Ottoman Greeks as a whole was higher. Some of the survivors and expelled took refuge in the neighbouring Russian Empire. All of the Pontic Greeks who remained in Pontus after the end of the 1919-22 Greco-Turkish War were later deported under the terms of the population exchange between Greece and Turkey in 1923. Most went to Greece, but a substantial minority went to the Soviet Union.

The government of Turkey, the successor state to the Ottoman Empire, [Hulse (NYT 2007)] maintains that the large-scale campaign was triggered by the perception that the Greek population was sympathetic to the enemies of the Ottoman state and a potential fifth column. The Allies of World War I took a different view, condemning the Ottoman government-sponsored massacres as crimes against humanity. More recently, the International Association of Genocide Scholars passed a resolution in 2007 affirming that the Ottoman campaign against Christian minorities of the Empire, including the Greeks, was genocide. Some other organisations have also passed resolutions recognising the campaign as a genocide, as have the parliaments of Greece and Cyprus.

Prelude

Pontus is a region on the southern coast of the Black Sea. "Pontos" as a toponym developed after the exploration and the colonization of the Anatolian and other Black Sea cities by the Ionian Greeks beginning about the end of the Greek Dark Ages. The name eventually became more specific to the area of northeast Anatolia in late classical times.

Pontus was an autonomous state under the Imperial rule of Constantinople through most of the history of the Byzantine Empire. Its fall gave rise to the Empire of Trebizond, which existed in the area from 1204 to 15 August 1461. After that, the name Pontus was preserved as a state within the Ottoman Empire.

Among causes for the Turkish campaign against the Pontic Greek population was a fear that the population would aid the Ottoman Empire's enemies, and a belief among some Turks that to become a modern nation state it was necessary to purge from the territories of the state those national groups who could threaten the integrity of a modern Turkish nation state. [Bloxham. [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=TSRkGNoEPFwC&pg=PA150&sig=ACfU3U09_Sjo0a0T4KpiS6QfG-94noUmdg p. 150] ] Levene (1998)]

According to a German military attaché, the Ottoman Turkish minister of war Ismail Enver had declared in October 1915 that he wanted to "solve the Greek problem during the war... in the same way he believe [d] he solved the Armenian problem."Ferguson (2006), p. 180 ]

Events

In the summer of 1914 the Special Organization (Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa), assisted by government and army officials, conscripted Greek men of military age from Thrace and western Anatolia into labor battalions in which hundreds of thousands died. [Hull (2005), p. 273.] Sent hundreds of miles into the Interior of Anatolia, these conscripts were employed in road-making, building, tunnel excavating and other field work but their numbers were heavily reduced through either privations and ill-treatment or by outright massacre by their Turkish guards. [King, William C. (1922), p. 437] This program of forced conscription later expanded to other regions of the Empire including Pontus.

Conscription of Greek men was supplemented by massacres and by deportations involving death marches of the general population. Greek villages and towns would be surrounded by Turks and their inhabitants massacred. Such was the story in Phocaea (Greek: Φώκαια), a town in western Anatolia twenty-five miles northwest of Smyrna, on 12 June 1914 where the slain bodies of men, women and children were thrown down a well. [Staff, The Atlanta Constitution, 17 June 1914, p. 1.]

While deportations of the general Greek population of western Anatolia commenced in 1914, deportations in Pontus began as late as January 1916.Horton pn] According to George W. Rendel of the British Foreign Office, " ... over 500,000 Greeks were deported of whom comparatively few survived."Rendel G. W. (20 March 1922)]

Methods of destruction which caused death indirectly - such as deportations involving death marches, starvation in labour camps, concentration camps etc. - were referred to as "white massacres".

The systematic massacre and deportation of Greeks in Asia Minor, a program which had come into effect in 1914, was a precursor to the atrocities perpetrated by both the Hellenic and Turkish armies during the Greco-Turkish War, a conflict which followed the Hellenic occupation of Smyrna [Arnold J. Toynbee, "Western Question", p. 270.] cite web| url= http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/SOD.CHAP5.HTM |title= Statistics of Democide | work=Chapter 5, Statistics Of Turkey's Democide Estimates, Calculations, And Sources |author=R. J. Rummel | accessmonthday= 4 October | accessyear=2006] in May 1919 and continued until the Great Fire of Smyrna in September 1922.Taner Akcam, "A Shameful Act", p. 322] Limited Massacres of Turks were also carried out by the Hellenic troops.

For the massacres that occurred during the Greco-Turkish War of 1919-1922, British historian Arnold J. Toynbee wrote that it was the Greek landings that created the Turkish National Movement led by Mustafa Kemal:Arnold J. Toynbee, "The Western question in Greece and Turkey: a study in the contact of civilisations", Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1922, pp. 312-313.] "...The Greeks of 'Pontus' and the Turks of the Greek occupied territories, were in some degree victims of Mr. Venizelos's and Mr. Lloyd George's original miscalculations at Paris."

Contemporary accounts

German and Austro-Hungarian diplomats, as well as "The Memorandum by Mr. G.W. Rendel on Turkish Massacres and Persecutions of Minorities since the Armistice", have provided evidence for series of systematic massacres of the Greeks in Asia Minor. [http://www.aihgs.com/Aftermath.htm Australian Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies: the genocide and its aftermath] ] Halo, Thea, "Not Even My Name", New York: Picador USA 2000, pages 26, 27, & 28] The quotes have been attributed to various diplomats, notably the German Ambassadors Hans Freiherr von Wangenheim and Mr. Kuhlman, German consul in Amissos Herr Kuchhoff, Austro-Hungarians Ambassador Pallavicini and consul in Amissos Herr Kwiatkowski, Sir P. Cox, and the Italian unofficial agent in Angora Signor Tuozzi. Other quotes are from clergymen and activists, notably the German Father J. Lepsius, and Mr. Hopkins of the American Committee for Relief in the Near East. It must be noted that Germany and Austria-Hungary were allies of the Ottoman Empire in World War I.

The accounts describe systematic massacres, rapes and burnings of Greek villages, and attribute intent to Turkish officials, namely the Turkish Prime Minister Mahmud Sevket Pasha, Refet Bele (), Talat Pasha and Enver Pasha.

Additionally, "The New York Times" and its correspondents have made extensive references to the events, recording massacres, deportations, individual killings, rapes, burning of entire Greek villages, destruction of Greek Orthodox churches and monasteries, drafts for "Labor Brigades", looting, terrorism and other "atrocities" for Greek, Armenian and also for British and American citizens and government officials. [http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?frow=0&n=10&srcht=s&daterange=period&query=&srchst=p&hdlquery=&bylquery=&mon1=09&day1=18&year1=1851&mon2=12&day2=31&year2=1980&submit.x=0&submit.y=0 The New York Times] Advanced search engine for article and headline archives (subscription necessary for viewing article content).] [http://www.aihgs.com/New%20York%20Times.htm The Australian Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies] "The New York Times".] The newspaper was awarded its first Pulitzer Prize in 1918 "for the most disinterested and meritorious public service rendered by an American newspaper -- complete and accurate coverage of the war". [http://www.nytco.com/company/awards/pulitzer_prizes.html Our Company, Awards] , "New York Times". See also Pulitzer Prizes awarded to the New York Times' staff.] More media of the time reported the events with similar titles.Kateb, Vahe Georges (2003). " [http://www.library.uow.edu.au/adt-NWU/uploads/approved/adt-NWU20050117.121611/public/02Whole.pdf Australian Press Coverage of the Armenian Genocide 1915-1923] ", University of Wollongong, Graduate School of Journalism]

Henry Morgenthau, the United States ambassador to the Ottoman Empire from 1913 to 1916 accused the "Turkish government" of a campaign of "outrageous terrorizing, cruel torturing, driving of women into harems, debauchery of innocent girls, the sale of many of them at 80 cents each, the murdering of hundreds of thousands and the deportation to and starvation in the desert of other hundreds of thousands, [and] the destruction of hundreds of villages and many cities", all part of "the willful execution" of a "scheme to annihilate the Armenian, Greek and Syrian Christians of Turkey."Morgenthau Calls for Check on Turks, "New York Times", 5 September 1922, pg. 3]

United States Consul-General George Horton reports that " [o] ne of the cleverest statements circulated by the Turkish propagandists is to the effect that the massacred Christians were as bad as their executioners, that it was '50-50.' " On this issue he clarifies that " [h] ad the Greeks, after the massacres in the Pon­tus and at Smyrna, massacred all the Turks in Greece, the record would have been 50-50—almost." As an eye-witness, he also praises Greeks for their "conduct [...] toward the thousands of Turks residing in Greece, while the ferocious massacres were going on...", which, according to his opinion, was "one of the most inspiring and beautiful chapters in all that country’s history."Horton pn]

Casualties

According to various sources the Greek death toll in the Pontus region of Anatolia ranges from 300,000 to 360,000. Estimates for the death toll of Anatolian Greeks as a whole are significantly higher.

According to the International League for the Rights and Liberation of Peoples, between 1916 and 1923, up to 350,000 Greek Pontians were reportedly killed in massacres, persecution and death marches. [http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G98/106/67/PDF/G9810667.pdf?OpenElement United Nations document E/CN.4/1998/NGO/24] acknowledging receipt of a letter by the "International League for the Rights and Liberation of Peoples" titled "A people in continued exodus" (i.e., Pontian Greeks) and putting the letter into internal circulation (Dated 1998-02-24)
If above link doesn't work, [http://ap.ohchr.org/search/maine.htm search United Nations documents] for "A people in continued exodus"] Merrill D. Peterson cites the death toll of 360,000 for the Greeks of PontusPeterson, Merrill D. "Starving Armenians: America and the Armenian Genocide, 1915-1930 and After"] . According to G.K. Valavanis "The loss of human life among the Pontian Greeks, since the Great War (World War I) until March 1924, can be estimated at 353,000, as a result of murders, hangings, and from punishment, disease, and other hardships."Valavanis, G.K. Contemporary General History of Pontus" (Σύγχρονος Γενική Ιστορία του Πόντου), Athens, 1925, p.24.]

Edward Hale Bierstadt states that "According to official testimony, the Turks since 1914 have slaughtered in cold blood 1,500,000 Armenians, and 500,000 Greeks, men women and children, without the slightest provocation."Bierstadt pn] In his book "The Killing Trap", Manus I. Mildrasky estimates that approximately 480,000 Anatolian Greeks died during the aforementioned period.Mildrasky, Manus I., "The Killing Trap", pp.342,377]

Aftermath

Article 142 of the Treaty of Sèvres, prepared after the first World War, called the Turkish regime "terrorist" and contained provisions "to repair so far as possible the wrongs inflicted on individuals in the course of the massacres perpetrated in Turkey during the war." [ [http://net.lib.byu.edu/~rdh7/wwi/versa/sevres1.html Treaty of Sevres] ] The Treaty of Sèvres was never ratified by the Turkish government and ultimately was replaced by the Treaty of Lausanne. That treaty was accompanied by a "Declaration of Amnesty", without containing any provision in respect to punishment of war crimes.Bassioun, M. Cherif (1999), [http://books.google.com/books?id=MbiedpEFzbYC&pg=PA63&dq=genocide+%2Bgreek&sig=UX6B8xsC4oasf1GjlxTJrTRhWkQ#PPA63,M1 "Crimes Against Humanity in International Criminal Law"] , The Hague: Kluwer Law International, ISBN 90-411-1222-7, pp. 62-63]

In 1923, a population exchange between Greece and Turkey resulted in a near-complete elimination of the Greek ethnic presence in Anatolia and a similar elimination of the Turkish ethnic presence in much of Greece. According to the Greek census of 1928, 182,169 Greeks from the Pontus region had migrated to Greece during the population exchange between Greece and Turkey. [Geniki Statistiki Ypiresia tis Ellados (Statistical Annual of Greece), "Statistika apotelesmata tis apografis sou plithysmou tis Ellados tis 15-16 Maiou 1928", pg.41. Athens: National Printing Office, 1930. Quoted in cite book
last = Kontogiorgi
first = Elisabeth
title = Population Exchange in Greek Macedonia: The Forced Settlement of Refugees 1922-1930
year = 2006
pages = 96, footnote 56
date = 2006-08-17
isbn = 978-0199278961
publisher = Oxford University Press] It is impossible to know exactly how many Greek inhabitants of Pontus, Smyrna and the rest of Asia Minor died from 1914 to 1923, and how many ethnic Greeks of Anatolia were deported to Greece or fled to the Soviet Union.Ascherson, Neal, "Black Sea", page 185]

Some of the survivors and expelled took refuge in the neighboring Russian Empire (later, Soviet Union). The few Pontic Greeks who had remained in Pontus until the end of the Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922) were exchanged in the frame of the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations in 1922–1923.

Genocide debate

Academic Views

In December 2007 the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS), an organization of the world’s foremost experts on genocide, passed a resolution affirming that the 1914-1923 campaign against Ottoman Greeks constituted genocide. [ [http://genocidescholars.org/images/PRelease16Dec07IAGS_Officially_Recognizes_Assyrian_Greek_Genocides.pdf"Genocide Scholars Association Officially Recognizes Assyrian, Greek Genocides"] ] Although the organization did not endorse the Pontic Greek Genocide thesis in isolation, it affirmed that Pontic Greeks were subject to genocide. The resolution was adopted on 1 December 2007 and the press release issued by the organization on 16 December. [http://www.greek-genocide.org/iags_resolution.html Greek Genocide 1914-23] Resolution from an IAGS press release as issued on 16 December 2007 ] The text of the resolution reads:

quote
:WHEREAS the denial of genocide is widely recognized as the final stage of genocide, enshrining impunity for the perpetrators of genocide, and demonstrably paving the way for future genocides;:WHEREAS the Ottoman genocide against minority populations during and following the First World War is usually depicted as a genocide against Armenians alone, with little recognition of the qualitatively similar genocides against other Christian minorities of the Ottoman Empire;:BE IT RESOLVED that it is the conviction of the International Association of Genocide Scholars that the Ottoman campaign against Christian minorities of the Empire between 1914 and 1923 constituted a genocide against Armenians, Assyrians, and Pontian and Anatolian Greeks.:BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Association calls upon the government of Turkey to acknowledge the genocides against these populations, to issue a formal apology, and to take prompt and meaningful steps toward restitution.
IAGS

Historians and academics worldwide use a variety of terms for describing the events. Before the coining of the term "genocide" in 1943, primary sources used improvised terms, such as "annihilation", "systematic extermination", or "persistent campaign of massacre" and "wholesale massacre".Horton pn] Morgenthau, Henry (1918) " [http://www.antibaro.gr/references/Ambassador_Morgenthau_Story_1918.pdf|Ambassador Morgenthau's Story] ", Garden City New York Doubleday, Page & Company, p.153] Today, the events are described on a par with the Armenian Genocide, [Ferguson (2007) p.182] as a similar phenomenon to the Holocaust,cite book| url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?vid=ISBN0765801515&id=g26NmNNWK1QC&pg=PA210&lpg=PA210&dq=pontian+isbn:0765801515&num=100&sig=D8lv0QCu9iCqIji5nfiYvhBRC_Q&hl=en| title= Pioneers of Genocide Studies (Clt)| author=Totten, Samuel |coauthors=Jacobs, Steven L | year=2002 | pages= 207, 213 | ISBN= 0765801515 | publisher= Transaction Publishers | location=New Brunswick, New Jersey ] as "ethnic cleansing",Norman M. Naimark, "Fires of Hatred: Ethnic Cleansing in Twentieth-Century Europe", Cambridge and London: Harvard University Press, 2001. pn] Benjamin Lieberman, in his "Terrible Fate: Ethnic Cleansing in the Making of Modern Europe". pn] and as "genocide".Fotiadis, pn] Other historians choose milder terminology, such as "organized killing and deportation",Charles King, "The Black Sea: A History". pn] and "carefully planned atrocities [aimed at their] complete destruction".Marianna Koromila, "The Greeks and the Black Sea". pn] Mark Levene, suggests that historians tend to avoid the term genocide to describe the events, possibly in an attempt to prevent their magnification by comparison with those of 1915-16 (Armenian Genocide).

Seminars and courses in western universities still examine the events. [ [http://www.unm.edu/~honors/students/courses/PDFDescription-booklet-SPRING07-UPPER.pdf The Holocaust, Genocide, and Intolerance] University Honors Program, "The University of New Mexico", p.28, Retrieved on 2007-01-29 Dead link|date=August 2008] [ [http://www.cofc.edu/~muellerr/page6.html Managing Diversity Syllabus, Migration Patterns] , New Carolina, "College of Charleston". Retrieved on 2007-02-04.]

Political Recognition

Political recognition of the events as genocide is limited, the only countries officially acknowledging them as such being Greece and Cyprus.

Greece and Cyprus

The Greek Parliament has issued two resolutions on the fate of the Ottoman Greeks; the first in 1994 and the second in 1998. The resolutions were published in the Greek Government Gazette on 8 March 1994 and 13 October 1998 respectively. The 1994 resolution affirmed the genocide in the Pontus region of Asia Minor and designated 19 May a day of commemoration, while the 1998 resolution affirmed the genocide of Greeks in Asia Minor as a whole and designated 14 September a day of commemoration. [Issue 2645/98 & 2193/94, Government Gazette of the Hellenic Republic] The first resolution's passing has been attributed to an initiative centered largely around former PASOK deputy Michalis Charalambidis. [http://www.trapezounta.com/article83.htm Web portal of Pontians] ]

Cyprus also officially recognizes the events as genocide.Cyprus Press Office, New York City]

Turkey

Turkey maintains that the fate of the Ottoman Greek population cannot be considered genocidal in nature.

In response to a resolution issued by the Greek Parliament in 1998 affirming the genocide of Asia Minor Greeks and designating 14 September as a day of commemoration, Ankara issued a statement claiming that describing the events as genocide was "without any historical basis". "We condemn and protest this resolution" a Turkish Foreign Ministry statement said. "With this resolution the Greek Parliament, which in fact has to apologize to the Turkish people for the large-scale destruction and massacres Greece perpetrated in Anatolia, not only sustains the traditional Greek policy of distorting history, but it also displays that the expansionist Greek mentality is still alive" the statement added.Office of the Prime Minister, Directorate General of Press and Information: " [http://www.byegm.gov.tr/YAYINLARIMIZ/CHR/ING98/09/98X09X30.HTM#%2016 Turkey Denounces Greek 'Genocide' Resolution] " (1998-09-30). Retrieved on 2007-02-05]

Moreover, Greece's choice of 19 May as a day of commemoration for the Pontic Greeks, a national holiday in Turkey (the anniversary of 19 May 1919 when Mustafa Kemal Pasha set foot in Samsun to begin the Turkish War of Independence), is viewed in Turkey as futile provocation by some Greek politicians.cite web| url=http://www.greeknewsonline.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=4935&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0 |work=GreekNews |title= Erdoğan Pressures Karamanlis on Pontic Genocide Memorial |accessdate=2006-10-04] cite web | url= http://www.turkishweekly.net/news.php?id=38110 | work= Journal of Turkish Weekly | title= EP's Turkey Report Radically Accuses Turks | accessdate=2006-10-04] Although Greeks view 19 May 1919 as a re-initiation of persecutions in the Pontus region, the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs dismisses this allegation. [ [http://www.mfa.gov.tr/setting-the-record-straight-on-pontus-propaganda-against-turkey.en.mfa Setting The Record Straight On Pontus Propaganda Against Turkey / Rep. of Turkey Ministry of Foreign Affairs] : "On 19 May 1919, Mustafa Kemal landed at Samsun mandated by the Ottoman Government to inspect the situation. Contrary to claims being made in Greece, Mustafa Kemal did no more than prepare reports about the situation and dispatch them to the Ottoman Government."]

Upon the unveiling of two commemorative monuments in Thessaloniki in May 2006, the social-democrat mayor of İzmir, Aziz Kocaoğlu, announced on 12 May 2006 that they were suspending the signing (expected in June 2006) of a sister city agreement between İzmir and Thessaloniki.Fact|date=August 2008

In their book "With Intent to Destroy: Reflections on Genocide", Colin Tatz and Cohn Jatz argue that Turkey denies the genocide so not to jeopardize "its ninety-five-year-old dream of becoming the beacon of democracy in the Near East".cite book| url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?vid=ISBN1859845509&id=khCffgX1NPIC&pg=PR13&lpg=PR13&vq=&sig=VgQBQ4-HVjDy2Kju1RpfDdy3N8E | title= With Intent to Destroy: Reflections on Genocide | first=Colin | last=Jatz | publisher=Verso |year=2003 | isbn=1859845509 | location=Essex. pn]

International Community

The incidents are also recognized as genocide in some states of the USA. The states of South Carolina, [http://www.angelfire.com/folk/pontian_net/News/proclomations.htm South Carolina Recognition] ] New Jersey, [http://www.angelfire.com/folk/pontian_net/News/NEW_JERSEY.htm New Jersey Recognition] ] Florida, [http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Documents/loaddoc.aspx?FileName=_h9161__.doc&DocumentType=Bill&BillNumber=9161&Session=2005 Florida Recognition] : [http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Bills/billsdetail.aspx?BillId=17788& HR 9161 - Pontian Greek Genocide of 1914-1922] ] Massachusetts, [http://www.mass.gov/legis/journal/hj051806.pdf Massachusetts Recognition] ] Pennsylvania, [http://www.legis.state.pa.us/CFDOCS/Legis/PN/Public/btCheck.cfm?txtType=HTM&sessYr=2003&sessInd=0&billBody=S&billTyp=R&billnbr=0188&pn=1327 Pennsylvania Recognition] ] and Illinois [http://www.library.sos.state.il.us/departments/index/register/register_volume30_issue17.pdf Illinois recognition] ] have passed resolutions recognizing it. In addition, George E. Pataki, governor of the New York State issued a proclamation designating 19 May 2002 as "Pontian Greek Genocide Remembrance Day", [http://www.ahiworld.com/061302.html Proclamation by George E. Pataki, governor of the New York State] ] although since states within the United States do not have foreign-policy authority those statements are not legally binding on a federal US level.

Armenia mentions the "Greek Genocide", its commemoration, and a death toll of 600,000 Greeks in Anatolia, in its first report to the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages of the Council of Europe. [http://www.coe.int/t/e/legal_affairs/local_and_regional_democracy/regional_or_minority_languages/2_monitoring/2.2_States_Reports/Armenia_report1.pdf Council of Europe] , European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, "The First Report of the Republic of Armenia According to Paragraph 1 of Article 15 of European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages", Strasbourg, 2003-09-03, p.39. Retrieved on 2007-02-03.] In addition, on 19 May 2004 an event commemorating the Pontian Greek victims of the Greek Genocide was held in Yerevan, Armenia and was attended by "Greek ambassador to Armenia, Antonios Vlavianos, other dignitaries, government officials and ordinary Armenians". [Victims of Pontian Greeks Genocide Commemorated in Armenia, ArmenPress, 19 May 2004 (Reproduction of article can be read [http://www.armeniandiaspora.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4103 here] ]

In Australia, the issue has been raised in the Parliament of Victoria on 4 May 2006, by the Minister for Justice Jenny Mikakos. [http://www.betnahrain.org/bbs/index.pl/read/4177 Speech of Victorian Member of Parliament regarding Armenian, Assyrian and Pontian Genocide] ] [http://www.helleniccomserve.com/australiapontiangenocide06.html Victoria Parliament of Australia Raises the Genocide of the Greeks] ]

On 7 June 2006 Stephen Pound, member of the British House of Commons linked the case of the Ottoman Greeks with the Armenians and Assyrians claiming that "3.5 million of the historic Christian population of Assyrians, Armenians and Greeks then living in the Ottoman empire had been murdered—starved to death or slaughtered—or exiled by 1923." [http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmhansrd/vo060607/halltext/60607h0009.htm#06060755000487 House of Commons Hansard Debates for 7 June 2006] ]

In Serbia, an event commemorating the Pontian Greek victims of the Greek Genocide was held in the Chapel of the Belgrade Theology School in 1998. [ [http://www.serbia-hellas.f2g.net/articles/genocide.html Event Commemorating the Genocide of the Greeks in Pontos Was Held in Belgrade] , Macedonian Press Agency, 26 May 1998. Dead link|date=August 2008 failed retrieval 19 August 2008. ( [http://www.serbia-hellas.com/articles/genocide.html alternative URL] )]

Nongovernmental organizations

In Germany, organizations such as "Verein der Völkermordgegner e.V" [http://www.aga-online.org/downloads/de/document/aga_01.pdf Verein der Völkermordgegner e.V] ] (i.e. "Union against Genocide") or the initiative "Mit einer Stimme sprechen" [http://www.tuday.de/deutsch/veranstaltungen/mit_einer_stimme_sprechen.htm Mit einer Stimme sprechen] ] Dead link|date=August 2008 (i.e. "Speaking with One Voice") aim at the official recognition of the genocide of Christian minorities, such as Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians in the late Ottoman Empire.

On 19 May 2007, the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) issued a press release stating that the organization "joins with Pontian Greeks - and all Hellenes around the world - in commemorating 19 May, the international day of remembrance for the genocide initiated by the Ottoman Empire and continued by Kemalist Turkey against the historic Greek population of Pontus" and reaffirms its "determination to work together with all the victims of Turkey's atrocities to secure full recognition and justice for these crimes". [ [http://www.anca.org/press_releases/press_releases.php?prid=1186 ANCA Marks Pontian Greek Genocide Remembrance Day, 19 May 2007] ]

Reasons for limited recognition

The United Nations, the European Parliament, and the Council of Europe have not made any related statements. According to Constantine Fotiadis, professor of Modern Greek History at the University of Western Macedonia, some of the reasons for the lack of wider recognition and delay in seeking acknowledgment of these events are as follows:Fotiadis, pn]

*The Pontian Greek Genocide was overshadowed by the much larger Armenian Genocide which preceded it, a view also shared by the historian Mark Levene.
*In contrast to the Treaty of Sèvres, the superseding Treaty of Lausanne in 1923 dealt with these events by making no reference or mention, and thus sealed the end of the Asia Minor Catastrophe.
*A subsequent peace treaty (Greco-Turkish Treaty of Friendship in June 1930) between Greece and Turkey. Greece made several concessions to settle all open issues between the two countries in return for peace in the region.
*The Second World War, the Civil War, and the political turmoil in Greece that followed forced Greece to focus on its survival and other problems rather than seek recognition of these events.

One other reason for the lack of recognition of these events can be found in the following statement: "It is necessary to refer to these pre-Armistice persecutions, since there is now a strong tendency to minimize or overlook them, and to regard those that followed the armistice as isolated incidents provoked by the Greek Landing at Smyrna and the general Turkish Policy of the Allies."

It is also believed that the Greek Government has not been very aggressive in genocide recognition for fear of harming efforts at Greek-Turkish rapprochement.Fact|date=August 2008

Monuments

Monuments commemorating the plight of Ottoman Greeks have been erected throughout Greece, as well as in a number of other countries including Germany, Canada, and the United States. [ [http://www.greek-genocide.org/memorials.html The Greek Genocide 1914-23: Memorials] Accessed on 2008-09-18]

There is a monument for the Pontic Greek Genocide in Thessaloniki, Greece (See illustration on right). [A photograph of the monument can be seen [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
] ] There also exists a monument commemorating the Pontic Greeks in Canada. The plaque reads "For All The Pontians We Remember Their Time of Sorrow And Sacrifice" in English and Greek. Below that it reads "19 of May" (which is the official day of commemoration for the Pontic Greek portion of the Greek Genocide) and "1914-1923" (which were the years in which the extermination efforts against the Greeks of Asia Minor were taking place). [A photograph of the monument can be seen [http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/1150/genocidememwz6.jpghere] and a close-up of the plaque can be seen [http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/3491/genocidemem2qa0.jpghere] ]

ee also

*Armenian Genocide
*Assyrian Genocide
*Genocide denial
*Greek refugees
*Istanbul Pogrom
*Human rights in Turkey
*Megali Idea
*Pan-Turkism
*Republic of Pontus
*Topal Osman

Notes

References

*Bierstadt, Edward Hale. "The Great Betrayal; A Survey of the Near East Problem". New York: R. M. McBride & Co., 1924
*Bloxham, Donald . "The Great Game of Genocide: Imperialism, Nationalism, and the Destruction of the Ottoman Armenians"
*Ferguson, Niall (2006). "The War of the World: Twentieth-Century Conflict and the Descent of the West". New York: Penguin Press, ISBN 1-5942-0100-5
*Ferguson, Niall ( 2007). "The War of the Worlds", Penguin,
*Fotiadis Constantinos Emm. (editor), "The Genocide of the Pontus Greeks by the Turks". Volume 13. Herodotus, 2004.
* ( [http://www.antibaro.gr/references/Horton_The_Blight_of_Asia.pdf PDF version] )
*Halo, Thea. "Not Even My Name", New York: Picador USA 2000
*Hull, Isabel V. ( 2005). "Absolute Destruction: Military Culture and the Practices of War in Imperial Germany", Cornell University Press, Ithaca
*Hulse Carl. " [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/26/washington/26cong.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&ref=todayspaper&adxnnlx=1218637709-3ZKHw2PW5e7+L2WSj2ViLg&oref=slogin U.S. and Turkey Thwart Armenian Genocide Bill] , New York Times 26 October 2007
*cite book| url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?vid=ISBN1859845509&id=khCffgX1NPIC&pg=PR13&lpg=PR13&vq=&sig=VgQBQ4-HVjDy2Kju1RpfDdy3N8E | title= With Intent to Destroy: Reflections on Genocide | first=Colin | last=Jatz | publisher=Verso |year=2003 | isbn=1859845509 | location=Essex
*King, Charles. "The Black Sea: A History".
*King, William C. (1922). " [http://www.greek-genocide.org/article_1500000_greek_christians.html King's Complete History of the World War: Visualizing the Great Conflict in all Theaters of Action 1914-1918] ", The History Associates, Massachusetts.
*Koromila, Marianna. "The Greeks and the Black Sea".
*Levene, Mark (1998). "Creating a Modern "Zone of Genocide": The Impact of Nation- and State-Formation on Eastern Anatolia, 1878–1923", Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Volume 12, Number 3 Winter 1998, pp. 393-433. ( [ [http://hgs.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/12/3/393 abstract] ).
*Mildrasky, Manus I., "The Killing Trap"
*Naimark, Norman M. "Fires of Hatred: Ethnic Cleansing in Twentieth-Century Europe", Cambridge and London: Harvard University Press, 2001.
*Rendel G. W. (20 March 1922), "Foreign Office Memorandum on Turkish Massacres and Persecutions of Minorities since the Armistice"
*Staff " [http://www.greek-genocide.org/press/17061914.html Massacre of Greeks Charged to the Turks] ","The Atlanta Constitution", 17 June 1914.
*Stanford J. Shaw, Ezel Kural Shaw "History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey" Cambridge University
*Taner, Akcam, "A Shameful Act"
*Toynbee, Arnold J. "Western Question"

Further reading

;Books
* Akcam, Taner. "From Empire to Republic: Turkish Nationalism and the Armenian Genocide", Zed Books, 4 September 2004, pages 144-149.
* Andreadis, George, Tamama, "The Missing Girl of Pontos". Athens: Gordios, 1993.
* Barton, James L. (James Levi). "The Near East Relief, 1915-1930". New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1943.
* Compton, Carl C. "The Morning Cometh". 1986, Karatzas Publisher, New York
* Dobkin, Marjorie Housepian. "Smyrna 1922: the destruction of a city". New York, NY: Newmark Press, 1998, c1988.
* Karayinnides, Ioannis. "Ο γολγοθάς του Πόντου [The Golgotha of Pontus] ". Salonica, Greece, 1978.
* Henry Morgenthau, Sr.. "The murder of a nation". New York: Armenian General Benevolent Union of America, 1974, 1918.
* ---. [http://www.antibaro.gr/national/morgenthau_athens.pdf "I was sent to Athens"] . Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Doran & Co, 1929.
* ---. An international drama. London: Jarrolds Ltd., 1930
* Murat, Jean De. "The great extirpation of Hellenism and Christianity in Asia Minor: the historic and systematic deception of world opinion concerning the hideous Christianity’s uprooting of 1922". Miami, Fla.: [s.n.] , (Athens [Greece] : A. Triantafillis) 1999.
* Oeconomos, Lysimachos. "The martyrdom of Smyrna and eastern Christendom; a file of overwhelming evidence, denouncing the misdeeds of the Turks in Asia Minor and showing their responsibility for the horrors of Smyrna". London: G. Allen & Unwin, 1922.
* Papadopoulos, Alexander. "Persecutions of the Greeks in Turkey before the European War: on the basis of official documents". New York: Pub. by Oxford University Press, American branch, 1919.
* Pavlides, Ioannis. "Pages of History of Pontus and Asia Minor". Salonica, Greece, 1980.
* Tsirkinidis, Harry. "At last we uprooted them…The Genocide of Greeks of Pontos, Thrace, and Asia Minor, through the French archives". Thessaloniki: Kyriakidis Bros, 1999.
* Ward, Mark H. "The Deportations in Asia Minor 1921-1922". London: Anglo-Hellenic League, 1922.

;Articles
*Bjornlund, Matthias, "The 1914 cleansing of Aegean Greeks as a case of violent Turkification", "Journal of Genocide Research", Volume 10, Issue 1, March 2008, pp. 41-58.
*Hofmann, Tessa, ed. "Verfolgung, Vertreibung und Vernichtung der Christen im Osmanischen Reich 1912-1922". Münster: LIT, 2004. ISBN 3-8258-7823-6. (pp. 177-221 on Greeks)
*Vryonis, Speros, "Greek Labor Battalions in Asia Minor", "The Armenian Genocide: Cultural and Ethical Legacies" (ed. Hovannisian, Richard), Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, N.J, 2007, pp. 275-290.

;Internet Resources
* [http://www.greek-genocide.org/pontus.html Greek Genocide 1914-23: Pontus]
* [http://www.aihgs.com/pontus.htm Information about the genocide on The Australian Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies]