Commemoration and remembrance:
On 19 May 1919, Mustafa Kemal landed in Samsun, marking the beginning of one of the darkest and bloodiest periods for the Pontic Greeks. While officially, his mission was to restore order in the Ottoman Empire, in reality, it initiated a premeditated campaign of extermination- the Pontic Genocide.
More than 350,000 Pontic Greeks were killed through massacres, deportations, torture, death marches, and unbearable hardships. The once-thriving Greek population of the Pontus, deeply rooted along the shores of the Black Sea, where they had lived for centuries, was targeted, with the aim of ethnic cleansing and the creation of a “pure” Turkish state.
From nationalism to barbarism:
The Pontic Genocide was not an isolated event, but part of a broader policy of extermination of Christian populations in Asia Minor, including the Armenians and Assyrians. With the rise of Kemal and the reinforcement of nationalist ideology, the Pontic Greeks were seen as enemies of the new state. Resistance efforts by Pontic guerrilla groups were used as justification for organised atrocities.
Witness accounts revealed chilling scenes: villages burned to the ground, civilians executed, women and children abused and starved in hostile mountains and deserts, and men sent to labour battalions from which few returned.
The sacrifice of Santa – symbol and tragedy:
One of the most heart-wrenching chapters of the Pontic Genocide unfolded in Santa, a cluster of isolated villages that resisted fiercely. In September 1921, besieged residents hid in a cave. When the cries of the infants threatened to reveal their hiding place, the mothers, in a desperate act of self-sacrifice, handed their babies over to the guerrillas to be silenced- seven infants were lost, but 300 people survived. The sight of the slain infants reportedly shook even a Turkish officer, who is said to have declared, “People who kill their own children do not surrender,” and ordered his men to retreat.
A duty to remember:
In 1994, the Greek Parliament officially declared 19 May as the Pontic Genocide Remembrance Day. This is not merely a symbolic anniversary; it is a deep tribute to those who were lost, those who were uprooted but not forgotten, and to those who kept the Pontic identity alive amidst the ashes of destruction.
The fight for international recognition:
Despite historical evidence and alignment with the UN’s 1948 Genocide Convention, the Pontic Genocide remains largely unrecognised internationally. The struggle continues, led by diaspora organisations, historians, and countries that honour historical truth over political interests.
Also read: 110 years since the Armenian Genocide – Turkey’s unpunished crime
