Today is a day of remembrance for the fateful day of May 19, 1911, the black day when the nationalist plan for the final extermination of the Greeks of Pontus was put into action.
The human mind pales before the barbarity systematically displayed by the Young Turks: 353,000 Greek Christians of Pontus were exterminated, 815 villages were destroyed, 1,134 churches were destroyed, 960 schools were demolished and 400.000 other Greeks were forced to leave their land and arrive in persecution in various regions of Greece, leaving behind a civilization of almost three millennia with their memories and the pain in their hearts as their only baggage. But not their souls. Despite the hardships, the Greeks of Pontus demonstrated an indomitable spirit and managed not only to survive, but also to prosper in the new homes they settled in.
The same brutality was demonstrated in the years that followed against the Armenians, as well as the other Greek populations of Asia Minor. With the same despicable mask, Turkey turned in 1974 against the Greeks of Cyprus.
We must never forget. We must resist oblivion by keeping the sacred flame of memory and national conscience unquenched. Together with all Hellenism we keep our history unadulterated and fight for the vindication of the truth.
(RM/MG/SX)
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