Greece Marks Pontic Greek Genocide Remembrance Day

The news in Greek

1. τιμώ
   δείχνω σεβασμό και αναγνώριση σε κάποιο πρόσωπο ή γεγονός ↩︎
2. γενοκτονία  (f.)
   σκόπιμη και οργανωμένη εξόντωση μιας μεγάλης ομάδας ανθρώπων, συνήθως για την καταγωγή ή τη θρησκεία τους ↩︎
3. τελετή  (f.)
   επίσημες πράξεις ή εκδηλώσεις με συγκεκριμένους κανόνες, συχνά για να τιμήσουν ένα γεγονός ↩︎
4. ομιλία  (f.)
   λόγοι που λέγονται μπροστά σε κόσμο για κάποιο θέμα ↩︎
5. εκδήλωση  (f.)
   δημόσιες δραστηριότητες ή γεγονότα που οργανώνονται για έναν σκοπό ↩︎
6. πολιτισμός  (m.)
   ο τρόπος ζωής ενός λαού, όπως η τέχνη, η ιστορία, τα έθιμα και οι ιδέες του ↩︎

Translation

Text comprehension

Question 1: Who are the people that Greece remembers on May 19 in this text?

Question 2: What kinds of activities take place today to honor the Pontic Greeks?

Vocabulary

Greek	English
τιμώ	to honour
γενοκτονία  (f.)	genocide
τελετή  (f.)	ceremony
ομιλία  (f.)	speech
εκδήλωση  (f.)	event
πολιτισμός  (m.)	culture

Read the full story

On 19 May Greece observes the Day of Remembrance of the Genocide of the Pontic Greeks, a national commemoration dedicated to the fate of Greek communities that once lived on the southern coast of the Black Sea, in the historical region known as Pontos (Pontus) in today’s Turkey.

The remembrance day was officially established in 1994 by a unanimous vote of the Hellenic Parliament. According to the law, 19 May is set aside every year to honour the hundreds of thousands of Pontic Greeks who, Greek and several foreign scholars argue, were systematically persecuted and killed in the final years of the Ottoman Empire and the creation of the modern Turkish state.

Greek historical accounts describe a series of mass killings, forced deportations and death marches that took place mainly between 1913 and 1923. These events affected not only Pontic Greeks but also other Christian populations of the Ottoman Empire. For Pontic Greeks, the violence is commonly divided into phases. The first is linked to the rise of the Young Turks after 1908 and, especially, the period of the First World War (1914–1918), when many Greek men were taken into “labour battalions” (Amelé Taburu) under extremely harsh conditions that led to very high death rates.

A second, more intense phase is associated by Greek sources with the arrival of Mustafa Kemal (later Atatürk) in the city of Samsun on 19 May 1919. Greek historians say that from this point, persecution in the Pontus region became more organised. They refer to arrests and executions of community leaders such as journalists, clergy, teachers and local officials, as well as village burnings, mass shootings and widespread looting. Women, children and older people were reportedly forced to march for weeks into the interior of Anatolia or towards the Syrian desert, often without adequate food, water or shelter. Many are said to have died from hunger, illness, exhaustion or direct violence along the way.

The total number of victims remains a matter of historical debate. Many Greek and some foreign researchers, as well as Pontic organisations, estimate that more than 300,000 Pontic Greeks lost their lives, with some Greek sources giving the figure of 353,000. Other, more conservative academic estimates put the number significantly lower, at around 100,000 to 150,000 deaths. The difficulty of reliable statistics from that turbulent period of war, revolution and population movements contributes to these differing figures.

Those who survived often fled north to areas that later became part of the Soviet Union, or arrived as refugees in Greece especially after the wider Asia Minor Catastrophe of 1922. Their arrival transformed Greek society and culture: they brought with them religious relics, musical traditions, dialects of Greek, and local customs, which are still visible in modern Greek cultural life.

In Greek public discourse, these events are commonly referred to as the Genocide of the Pontic Greeks. The term “genocide” itself was developed later, particularly during the Nuremberg Trials in 1945, and is defined in international law as the deliberate, systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. Greek commentators and several international scholars argue that the policies against Pontic Greeks fit this definition because the population was targeted for who they were – ethnically Greek and Christian – rather than for specific actions.

The choice of 19 May as the national remembrance day reflects its symbolic status in Greek narratives as a turning point in the Pontic tragedy. It is the date when Mustafa Kemal landed in Samsun, an event which in Turkish national history marks the beginning of the War of Independence, but which in Greek memory is associated with the escalation of repression against the Pontic Greek minority. This difference illustrates how the same historical moment can have contrasting meanings for different communities.

In 1991, Pontic Greek members of parliament from the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) proposed that the Greek state officially recognise the genocide and establish a remembrance day. After PASOK returned to power in 1993, the proposal was reintroduced and finally passed unanimously in February 1994. The resulting Law 2193/1994 formally recognises the genocide of the Pontic Greeks and designates 19 May as the official day of commemoration.

Outside Greece, a number of states and local authorities have also issued declarations or resolutions using the term genocide for the Pontic Greek experience. These include Cyprus, Armenia, Sweden, several federal entities of Russia, certain U.S. states such as New York and California, and regional parliaments in Australia and Canada. The International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) has likewise recognised the events as genocide in its statements. At the same time, international recognition is not universal, and some governments and historians either use different terminology or focus more broadly on the shared suffering of many groups in the late Ottoman period.

Modern-day commemorations in Greece include memorial services, educational events, exhibitions and marches in cities across the country. In Athens, one of the most visible symbols is the appearance of the Presidential Guard (Evzones) in traditional black Pontic costume at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Syntagma Square. Pontic associations emphasise that, for them, remembrance is linked not only to mourning but also to the preservation of language, music and cultural identity.

For many Pontic Greeks and their descendants, the continuing campaign for international recognition is presented as an effort to defend historical memory and to contribute to the wider discussion on crimes against humanity. Greek commentators often stress that, in their view, recognition is not about revenge, but about acknowledging the past in order to prevent similar atrocities in the future. The debate around terminology, numbers and legal definitions is likely to remain part of wider discussions on how societies remember and interpret the often-violent transformation of the Ottoman Empire into modern nation-states.

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