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IAGS Resolution: Greek Genocide affirmed

In a groundbreaking move, the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) has voted overwhelmingly to recognize the genocides inflicted on Assyrian and Greek populations of the Ottoman Empire between 1914 and 1923. The resolution passed with the support of fully 83 percent of IAGS members who voted. The resolution (text below) declares that "it is the conviction of the International Association of Genocide Scholars that the Ottoman campaign against Christian minorities of the Empire between 1914 and 1923 constituted a genocide against Armenians, Assyrians, and Pontian and Anatolian Greeks." It "calls upon the government of Turkey to acknowledge the genocides against these populations, to issue a formal apology, and to take prompt and meaningful steps toward restitution."

Relief for Greeks of Asia Minor

The wording accompanying the following photograph describes in great detail the condition of the Greeks of Asia Minor following the deportations they were forced to endure. With deadly intent, the Turks deported countless thousands of Greeks into the interior of Asia Minor without food or water. The world had already learnt how deadly these marches were, since the same method was used by the Turks only years earlier in the extermination of the Armenians. The Relief Committee for Greeks of Asia Minor sent messages to the American public appealling for monetary help in the care of the Greek survivors who had now become refugees.

Osman Agha (1883-1923)

Also known as "Topal Osman", he served for the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) in the Balkans. It was there that he received an injury to his foot which resulted in him being referred to as ‘Lame' or ‘Crippled' Osman. He roamed the Black Sea (Pontus) region with his band and was responsible for numerous massacres and deportations of Greeks. He was a brigand and a Kemalist Military Commander. He had a fanatical loyalty to Mustafa Kemal to whom he served as a bodyguard. He was made Mayor of Giresun (Kerasus/Kerasund) in 1919 as a reward for his murderous deeds.

Courts of Independence: Amaseia 1921

The first part of the 20th century has been stigmatised by three major genocides: the Jewish, the Armenian and that of the Greeks of Pontus, Asia Minor and Thrace. However the genocide of the Greeks of Pontus has the following particularities. As opposed to the genocide of the Jews, the genocide of the Greeks of Asia Minor and in particular the genocide of Pontus, a vast array of extermination methods were employed.(1) Also, the genocide in Pontus became a holocaust, in other words, this minority knowing full well the cruelty and satanism of the Turk, didn't transpire into an ‘easy' genocide. The Pontus Greeks resisted vigourously, and therefore the genocide eventuated into a holocaust. (2)

New York Life to Reach out to Heirs of Greek Policies

New York Life Insurance Company announced an outreach program to locate and compensate heirs of approximately 1,000 life insurance policies issued to Greeks in the Ottoman Empire prior to 1915. As part of the Greek Life Insurance Policy Program, New York Life will publish notices in national and international newspapers about the claims review process so that heirs can submit claims relating to these policies. The company said it will also contribute $1 million to the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, since descendants of many of those displaced from their ancestral homelands are now members of the Archdiocese. The total value of the voluntary program is $12-15 million, including administrative and other costs.
Download the list of Greek Policies here

Vural: Turkey should apologise to Armenians, Greeks and others

Below is an interview with Volkan Vural, former Turkish Ambassador to the USSR, Spain, Germany and the European Union, to daily Taraf, in which Vural says that Turkey should apologize to Armenians, Greeks and other ethnic minorities for the deadly incidents of the past, especially those marking the transition from the Ottoman empire to the Kemalist Republic. Though Ambassador Vural does not use the term 'genocide' to qualify the mass killings of Ottoman Armenian, Greek and Assyrian Christians, he admits the massive and deadly deportations which these minorities suffered.

Ankara urges Greece to cancel Genocide Remembrance Day

PanARMENIAN.Net - JUNE 2008: While the chief of Greek and Turkish general staffs exchanged civilities on disputable historical issues, official Ankara urged Greece to cancel Pontian Greek Genocide Remembrance Day. The Turkish Foreign Ministry "accused" Greece of holding events dedicated to the memory of the genocide victims. "This fact hampers the dialog and cooperation between the two countries," the MFA statement said.