The Extermination of the Greeks of Pontus
By Dr. Jordan Tsolakides

By the end of 1913 the committee of Union and Progress headed by Enver now a Pasha was in complete control over the empire. Jewal Pasha and Talaad Pasha were the other two members of the triumvirate. This is the group that planned and carried to execution a horrendous program of complete elimination of Christian population, especially the prosperous Hellenic population. They are called internationally "Young Turks" and are responsible for the genocide of more than 300,000 Pontians and numerous other Greeks, the "Giaours" in Asia Minor. The resistance of Pontians is legendary, fighting against an empire. Read entire article.

Battle Royal Over History Book

When the education ministry issued a new sixth-grade textbook on modern Greek history (1453 to the present) in September, few expected that an unprecedented intellectual and ideological war would break loose.Asia Minor Greeks charge that the burning of Smyrna and the killing and expulsion of the Greek population is silenced for the sake of political correctness. And Pontic Greeks complain that the massacre of their forebears by the Turks is omitted. Read more.

Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Marks Pontian Greek Genocide Remembrance Day

The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) joins with Pontian Greeks - and all Hellenes around the world - in commemorating May 19th, 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 along the southeastern coast of the Black Sea. Read more.
Hellene-Australians ask for Pontian Genocide Recognition

An expatriate Hellene delegation has submitted a request to Victoria Prime Minister Steve Bracks asking from his government to recognize the Pontian Genocide.

The delegation consisted of the President of the Federation of Pontian Associations in Australia Panagiotis Iassonidis; SAE Oceania Coordinator Costas Vertzayias; the President of the Pan-Macedonian Association of Melbourne & Victoria Dimitris Minas; representatives of the Hellenic Community in Melbourne &Victoria; and the President of the Victoria Coordinating Committee of Cypriot Struggle Costas Prokopiou. Read more

Victoria Parliament of Australia Raises the Genocide of the Greeks
by Stavros Stavridis

On May 5, 2006, the Parliament of Victoria in Australia raised the issue of the Genocide of the Pontic Greeks. Senator Jenny Mikakos was the first to raise this issue in the Parliament ever on the occasion of 87th anniversary of the genocide and due to the relevant commemorative events that were scheduled to be held in Australia. Read more.


HANC Commemorates the Genocide of Pontian Greeks in Asia Minor [in Greek]

Μήνυμα του Ελληνο-Αμερικανικού Εθνικού Συμβουλίου
Για την Ημέρα Μνήμης της Γενοκτονίας των Ελλήνων
στον Μικρασιατικό Πόντο- 19 Μαϊου

Μία από τις έντονες αισθήσεις που διατηρώ από τη Σμύρνη είναι ντροπή

γιατί ανήκω στο ανθρώπινο γένος»
--
George Horton, Consul General of the United States in the Near East. Η γενοκτονία των Ποντίων, αποτελεί μία από τις μεγαλύτερες γενοκτονίες του 20ου αιώνα, κατά την οποία πάνω από 353.000 Πόντιοι εξοντώθηκαν με απεχθείς μεθόδους από την Τουρκία. Ο αγώνας για τη διεθνοποίηση και τη διεθνή αναγνώριση της γενοκτονίας αυτής αποτελεί ιστορική και εθνική υποχρέωση των απανταχού Ελλήνων. Το Ελληνο-Αμερικανικό Εθνικό Συμβούλιο έμπρακτα στηρίζει κάθε προσπάθεια της Παν-Ποντιακής Ομοσπονδίας Αμερικής και Καναδά προς αυτή την κατεύθυνση. Read more.

A Trip to Faraway Pontus: Pilgrimage to Panagia Soumela Monastery
By Christos An. Stavrakoglou. Translation by Joanna Michalakelli

Attempting a trip to Pontus, which is almost 3500 kilometres away, and with limited tourist infrastructure, definitely requires determination. However, our desire to become familiar with another piece of the land of Asia Minor, where Hellenism flourished for many centuries, led us to overcome every reservation. And in this enchanting place, the Greek visitor’s historical consciousness starts its own journey to the distant past. The legends and tales, the works and days of this shrewd race, the glorious states from one end to the other of the coast of the inhospitable Black Sea. Sinopi, Amisos, Thermiskyra, Oinoi, Polemonion, Kotyora, Kerasous, Tripolis, Ermonassa, Trapezous, Ofis, Kallisti, Rizous, Athina, and Vathys Limin--all a string of precious stones on the seagod’s chest. In this really secluded spot, you feel that you are at the centre of history, at the centre of a Greek world which left its traces alive. Click here to read more.

Black Book: The Tragedy of Pontus, 1914-1922

The Black Book: The Tragedy of Pontus is invaluable for its historical and genealogical information. This pamphlet details the numbers of Pontic Greeks killed in each village by the Turks, with some lists of actual names, and eyewitness accounts of massacres and genocide. Compiled in Athens in 1922, it serves as valuable testimony to the crimes committed. Although copies of this pamphlet are rare, there are about a dozen in the U.S. and Europe. Printed bilingually (English and French) in Athens in 1922 for the Central Council of Pontus, the aim of the pamphlet was to disseminate publicly the details of an irreparable loss of culture, history, and human life. Click here to view the pamphlet [large pdf file--16.2 Mb--Adobe Acrobat needed to view].

Petros Tatanis: Concern for the "Patrida"
By Stavros T. Stavridis

Petros P. Tatanis, the publisher of the Greek American newspaper National Herald (Ethnikos Kyrix), sent an interesting telegram to US President Warren Harding on October 7, 1922 regarding the plight of the Christian population in Eastern Thrace. This telegram is best understood within the context of the Mudania conference taking place in early October 1922 between Allied Generals and Kemalists establishing armistice terms between the Greek and Turkish armies. The Mudania convention eventually paved the way for the Lausanne peace conference held in late November 1922 – February 1923 and resuming again in April – July 1923
Click here for entire article.

Proclamation on Genocides Issued by New York Governor George Pataki

Gov. Pataki issued a formal proclamation on Sunday, October 6, 2002 in commemoration of the 80th Anniversary of the Asia Minor Catastrophe and presented it to the Holocaust Memorial Observance Committee of Asia Minor. Click here to read the full text of the proclamation.

AΠONTOΣ: ΔIKAIΩMA ΣTH MNHMH. H ΓENOKTONIA TΩN EΛΛHNΩN TOY ΠONTOY

By Konstantinos Fotiadis, Professor of History at the University of Western Macedonia
Click here to read the full Greek text of this article.

The Ten Demands: A Fight for Justice
By Stavros T. Stavridis

When the news of the Ward/Yowell eyewitness testimony became known in Constantinople, the Pontian Greeks demanded the intervention of the United States to get the Kemalists to stop the deportations and massacres of their fellow country people who lived along the shores of the Black Sea. The Central Committee of the Greek Dioceses of Pontus demanded justice for its people. Click here to read more.


An Unforgettable Story of Survival
Book Review by Prof. Nina Gatzoulis of Thea Halo's Not Even My Name

From a death march in Turkey to a new home in America, Not Even My Name is a young girl's true story of genocide and survival. It is Sano Halo's story told by her daughter Thea, an account of the Pontic genocide that took place in the early part of the century. Halo captivates her readers as she describes Themia's (Sano's) idyllic, pastoral life with her family set against the Pontic Mountains of northern Turkey. But the three-thousand-year history of the Pontic Greeks in Turkey slowly approaches its end. Halo masterfully builds up these events one after the other, reaching their peak with the forcible eviction of the Greek populace from their homes by Turkish soldiers. Halo describes her survival of unspeakable tragedy and pain, stripped as a ten-year-old of everything that she loved as she accompanied her relatives and friends on the Death March through the desert. Left with Assyrians by her dying mother, Sano is eventually sold into marriage to a man much older than she was. He brings her to America, where Sano lovingly raises ten children. The innocent village girl becomes a determined twentieth century woman. Her strength, and her ability to endure great pain without becoming destructive and hateful, stem from the environment of her formative years. Like the ancient Phoenix, the principal character emerges out of heartbreaking tragedy with her capacity to love intact: she has the strength to nurture and lovingly raise ten children of her own. Click here to entire review by Prof. Gatzoulis.

The Geography of Kotyora (Ordou) Along the Southern Shore of the Black Sea
 By Pantelis M. Kontogianni
English translation and adaptation by Mary Papoutsy

Kontogianni succeeds in describing in detail the topography, demography, and economy of Kotyora (Ordu) in this one section of his voluminous text on the Greek cities of Asia Minor. Few texts manage to offer such an overview of these cities and villages prior to the Catastrophe. The vibrant productivity of the lands and all of her peoples, whom the author depicts, underscores the terrible tragedy which would befall the Mikrasiates in a few months. Each chapter breaks down the statistics of local ethnic groups, describes the land itself, the natural resources of the area, the infrastructure and buildings of the city or town, as well as its history and the bases for its local economy. Click here to read more.

Links and Informational Resources

Pontos & Asia Minor Holocaust Research Center (Macquarie University, Australia)
http://www.aihgs.com/pontus.htm


HCS maintains a permanent, extensive archives of articles which readers are invited to browse. For more information about Smyrna or Asia Minor Greeks, see the webpage located at the URL http://www.helleniccomserve.com/contents.html#Smyrna.

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