Today, May 19, marks the solemn annual Remembrance Day of the Genocide of the Pontian Greeks, a date unanimously enacted by the Greek Parliament in 1994 to honor and remember the victims of the campaign, by the Ottoman Turks and then Kemalist forces, to eradicate Hellenism from the ancient land of Pontus. The latter is located in the southeast part of the Black Sea, modern-day northeast Turkey.
Hundreds of thousands of victims were recorded, while hundreds of thousands of Greek Pontians were forced to flee their ancestral homes.
The Pontian Genocide has also been officially recognized by Cyprus, Armenia, Sweden, Austria, the Netherlands, several federal republics of Russia, nine US states as well as the state parliaments of South Australia and New South Wales.
On the occasion, the Pemptousia television today has posted special programs and features on the Pontian genocide and the millennia-old presence of Hellenism on the Black Sea shores.
In a related development, in marking the somber commemoration, Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou issued a statement noting that “…defending historic knowledge through the recognition of this horrific crime is a self-evident duty of the international community.”