On May 19, the Greek people celebrate the tragic date in their history — Day of Remembrance of the Genocide of the Greeks of Asia Minor. On this day, the Greeks mourn and mourn their compatriots who were victims of the merciless extermination committed by the Ottoman Turks in 1916-1923.
At the beginning of the first millennium BC, the standard of living and culture of the Greeks was developed so much that there was a natural need to expand their influence. The Greeks willingly began to travel around the world, and the first Greek city, — Sinop, soon appeared on the southern coast of the Black Sea. Next, Trebizond, Cromna, Pterius, Kitor were founded... Soon the entire southern and northern Black Sea region became almost completely Greek (the territory of modern Turkey and the Caucasus, from the city of Batumi in the east to Inepoli in the west, that is, approximately 140 thousand square kilometers).
Trade, science and culture began to flourish. The Greek population carefully preserved traditions, morals and customs. One city helped another, thereby contributing to the growth of new colonies, created not only in the coastal strip, but also in the depths of the mainland. Over time, the Pontic state began to develop independently of the rest of the Greek lands. I minted my own coin, my tongue became loose…
In 1461, the state was captured by the Ottoman Turks. During the difficult years of the Turkish yoke, the Pontic Greeks tried their best to preserve their faith, their language and culture, and opened Greek schools and even higher educational institutions in their cities.
Thus, by the beginning of the 20th century, the history of the Pontic Greeks already went back about 3 thousand years. Greeks made up the vast majority of the population in the northern (Ponte) and western (Anatolia) regions of Asia Minor, as well as in the province of Cappadocia. Being, like the Armenians, the indigenous inhabitants of these territories, the Greeks did not succumb to Islamization. The Turkish government seriously feared the withdrawal of Anatolia and Pontus from Turkish rule, as had already happened with Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria; Moreover, among the Greek subjects of Turkey (especially the Pontic) there were many highly educated intellectuals and successful entrepreneurs who occupied a prominent position in society and had a significant influence on the Turkish economy.
Therefore, Turkey prepared «decisive measures» to eradicate the Greek element, which came to life after 1908, when the «young Turks» party came to power, proclaiming the slogan: «Turkey — for the Turks!». In September 1911, the issue of exterminating Turkey's ethnic (especially Christian) minorities, which primarily included Greeks and Armenians, was openly discussed.
The history of repression against the Greek population in Turkey, which began in 1453 with the fall of the Byzantine Empire, goes back five hundred years. Before the outbreak of the Greek War of Liberation in 1821, brutal measures against civilians were used mainly for punitive purposes (for example, the suppression of the Peloponnesian Revolt of 1770). But, as the political and economic crisis in the Ottoman Empire intensified, pogroms and mass extermination of Christians became increasingly large-scale and characteristic.
The Young Turk Revolution of 1908 introduced the ideology of «-Panturkism» into use by the Turkish political elite, which created the basis for the total extermination of the Christian peoples of Turkey. Hunger and cold, illness and death, years of wandering and deprivation — all this fell to the lot of the Greek people.
The number of killed and tortured is estimated at the official figure of 353 thousand people, which is more than 50% of the total population before the start of executions and forced resettlement, the purpose of which was not to move people from one point to another, but to die on the way.
On February 24, 1994, by a unanimous decision, the Greek Parliament decided to consider May 19 as the Day of Remembrance of the Genocide of Asia Minor Greeks by the Turks.