Trabzon
Aslen Rum diyari olan Trabzon Giresun, Gümüshâne, Lâzistan sancaklarindan kurulmustur. Dogu siniri Kopmus burnundan baslar. Bati siniri Vonanin bati yaninda biter. Önü Karadenizdir. Arkasi Trabzon daglari , Vavuk boynu, Pulur sirtlari, Akdag, Sipikör dagi, Çimen dagi, Kozveren, Kelkit suyu, Çataltepe, Yorga Baba, Cankurtaran, Abdal Musa, Sari Baba tepeleri, Kurt beli, Erimez, Egribel, Karaat Obasi, Armut alan, Kulakkaya, Bektas yaylasi, Karagöl, Çambasi batiya dogru uzanan sirtlar, tepelerdir. Trabzon sancagi ile Lâzistan sancagini Kalopotamos arik (nehir)i ayirir. Trabzon sancagi ile Gümüshâne sancagini Trabzon daglari ayirir. Trabzon Ilinde Kaç Kisi Vardir?Trabzon sancagi 385.119 erkek, 384.774 disi olmak üzere 769.893 kisidir. 410.533 kisi Hiristiyan Rum, Ermenidir. Gerisi Muslumandir.Gümüshâne sancagi 79.093 erkek, 80.150 disi olmak üzere 159.243 kisidir. 67.259 kisi: Hiristiyan Rumdur. Lâzistan sancagi 400.100 kisidir. Bu sancakta Hiristiyan daha azdir. Lâzistan Sancagi
Lâzistan sancagi Rize, Atina, Hopa kazâlarinda kurulmustur. Sancak yurdu Rize kentindedir. Rize KazasiRize kentinde sancak beyi oturur. Sancak beyi kazanin isine de bakar. Bu kaza Oba (mahalle)lariyla köyleri, Mapavri, Kura-yi seba, Karadere nahiyelerinden kurulmustur. Dogu siniri Kemerden baslar. Bati siniri Kalopotamos arik (nehir)inda biter. Önü Karadeniz, arkasi Trabzon daglaridir. Bu kazadaki oba (mahalle) ile köy 213 dür. Bu kazada 60.000 erkek, 61.300 disi vardir. Topu 121.300 kisidir.
Atina Kazâsi
Atinanin kazâ yurdu Atina kendindedir. Kaza beyi bu yerde oturur. Bu kaza Atina ile Hemsin nahiyesi, Ardesen nahiyesinden kurulmustur. Kazanin dogu siniri Pishala deresi batisindaki sirtlardir. Bati siniri Kemerde biter. Bu kazadaki 102 köyden 33 ü Hemsin köyüdür. Biri de Dervis köyüdür. Oca, Salinköy, Ortaköy, Bogina, Haçabit adli köyde Lâzlar ile Hemsinliler karisiktir. Eski Trabzon?da Gürcüler oturur. Bu tigrenin evleri de daginiktir. Atina kazasinda 17.000 erkek, 25.400 disi vardir. Topu 42.500 kisidir. Bunun 34.000i Hemsinli ile Dervis olup geri kalan Lâz., Gürcüdür. Hemsinliler dag eteginde, Lâzlar oldukça deniz kiyisinda oturur. Agalar Atina?da oturur.
Lâzlar Türkçe ile Lâzca, Gürcüler Türkçe ile Gürcüce konusurlar. Lâzca Kemerden baslar. Kopmus burnuna kadar bes alti agiz (lehçe)a ayrilir. Atinada deniz kiyisinda bir küc (saat)lük yerde Lâzca üç agiz (lehçe) vardir.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
www.pontiangreeks.org
Dear compatriots,
We thank you for the promotion of the web page of our association ([Pontian Society of Chicago "Xeniteas"), in the “links” section of your web pages for all these years.
We would like to ask that you please change the link to our new address:
www.pontiangreeks.org
which has replaced the old address (xeniteas.net) that is no longer in use.
Please send me an e-mail if you have any questions and/or concerns.
Thank you for keeping alive our culture and traditions!
Thomas MantzakidesSecretaryPontian Society of Chicago “Xeniteas"
Publish this comment.
We thank you for the promotion of the web page of our association ([Pontian Society of Chicago "Xeniteas"), in the “links” section of your web pages for all these years.
We would like to ask that you please change the link to our new address:
www.pontiangreeks.org
which has replaced the old address (xeniteas.net) that is no longer in use.
Please send me an e-mail if you have any questions and/or concerns.
Thank you for keeping alive our culture and traditions!
Thomas MantzakidesSecretaryPontian Society of Chicago “Xeniteas"
Publish this comment.
JOSEP
If the European Union want a be a Democratic Club, the Kemalistic Turkey (or the Islamic Trukey) may not be admissed.
Justice and Freedom.
Nice blog.
Justice and Freedom.
Nice blog.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
19 May 1919
September 14th has been designated as a day of remembrance for all victims of the Greek Genocide. Many Pontic Greeks, however, choose to commemorate the plight of the Greeks in the Pontus region of Asia Minor on May 19th. Theofanis Malkidis writes that “the 19 May 1919 is the date of the landing of Mustafa Kemal in Samsun, it is the beginning of the second and more severe phase of the Pontian Genocide” (Η 19η Μαΐου 1919 ημερομηνία την αποβίβασης του Μουσταφά Κεμάλ στη Σαμψούντα, είναι η αρχή για τη δεύτερη και πιο σκληρή φάση της Ποντιακής Γενοκτονίας). However, such accounts fail to provide an accurate or detailed description of Mustafa Kemal’s conduct in Samsun or any explanation as to why May 19th should be of particular significance to Greeks of that region.
On Tuesday morning 19 May 1919 Mustafa Kemal arrived at Samsun on the British-built steamer Bandirma which had departed from Constantinople’s Galata Bridge on the evening of May 16th. Kemal, accompanied by military personnel and administrative staff, had recently been appointed Inspector General of the newly organized Ninth Army. Bülent Gökay writes that “Kemal’s appointment was in fact prompted by the Allies’ demand to the Ottoman government to stop the harassment of the Christian villages in the province of Samsun by local Muslim bands. … The inspector general was to be basically responsible for peacekeeping and demobilisation.” However, as all sources agree, Kemal disregarded these orders and began organizing a resistance movement that eventually would rid Turkey of foreign occupation; including, the Hellenic troops at Smyrna/Izmir; the French in Adana; the Italians in Antalya and Konya; the British in Urfa, Marash, Antep, Marsivan and Samsun.
One report speculated in advance that a renewal of atrocities against the Christian population in Samsun might accompany the initial stages of Kemal's movement:
“I consider that an outbreak directed probably in the main against native Christians is very probable, and I am to-day in receipt of very disquieting reports from Mr. Hurst, the officer in the Levant Consular Service, who is now at Samsoun. Mr. Hurst states that Mustapha Kemal, who was sent there, with the best intentions, by his Highness Ferid Pasha, is organising a movement which is only too likely to find an outlet for its energies in massacres.”
So far as atrocities, the accounts available describe a far less eventful landing in Samsun. For example, a telegram sent from Samsun on May 21st 1919 by the aforementioned Captain Hurst of the British navy to Vice-Admiral Sir A. Calthorpe reads:
“The general situation has been calmer for the last few days. There has been a lull as regards brigandage, except perhaps round Alacham.”
At that time British troops were stationed in Samsun and Kemal was being carefully observed by the British. In fact, Kemal's movements and operations were so heavily restricted in Samsoun that he moved promptly inland to Amasya, via Havza, where he could operate more freely.
On 25 May 1919 Kemal traveled to the town of Havza, a town 50 miles inland on the road from Samsun to Amasya. His residence at Havza was the Mesudiye Hotel. According to some sources, it was in Havza where he met a Bolshevik delegation. On 12 June 1919 Kemal went to Amasya, a further 50 miles inland. While in Amasya, Kemal met with other regional nationalist commanders – including Ali Fuat Cebesoy and Huseyin Rauf Orbay – and together they drafted the first declaration of resistance against the foreign powers. The declaration was forwarded to all civil and military authorities in Anatolia. The declaration claimed the country was in great danger and it also undermined the government in Constantinople claiming it was incapable of saving Turkey.
Although it is widely documented that Kemalist authorities continued the genocidal practices of the Young Turks (or CUP) towards the Greeks and other Christians in the Empire on a systematic scale, there is no evidence to suggest that this particular dimension of the Kemalist movement developed at the time of Kemal’s landing in Samsun or the days immediately following it. For this region and at this time, the literature and documentation available confirms that Mustafa Kemal was far more concerned with achieving an independent Turkey than with the annihilation of Ottoman Greeks. In any case, the British presence at Samsun prevented any attack on the Greek communities in that region. In light of this, we might ask whether 19 May 1919 really makes for a fitting day for remembrance; in that, does it accurately symbolize the sufferings of Pontic Greeks during the Genocide?
The opening line of Mustafa Kemal’s famous October 1927 speech giving his account of the Turkish Nationalist Movement was “I landed at Samsun on the 19th May, 1919” and, as such, the day is viewed by Turks as the beginning of a victorious ‘war of independence’. During his presidency of the Republic of Turkey, Kemal himself designated May 19th as a national holiday, a Youth and Sports Day. To this day, May 19th continues to be a national holiday in Turkey celebrated by Turkish school children and students across the country. It is now more commonly known as the Atatürk'ü Anma, Gençlik ve Spor Bayramı [Remembrance of Ataturk, Youth and Sports Day].
However, it was only in the early 1990s that certain Pontic Greek groups began calling for 19 May to be a day of remembrance for Greeks of the Pontus region and on 4 February 1994 following intense lobbying led by Pontian politician Michalis Charalambidis, a Greek parliamentary decree designated May 19th as a day of remembrance. In an interview Konstantinos Fotiadis revealed that it was politician Mihalis Charalambidis who decided on the date of May 19th (Αυτός είναι που προτείνει την καθιέρωση της 19ης Μαΐου ως μέρα μνήμης της Ποντιακής γενοκτονίας και την υιοθετεί το Ελληνικό Κοινοβούλιο). In other words, the decision was not based on any historical study but merely on a politician's whim. Fotiadis has also identified Charalambidis as the "ideological protagonist" (ιδεολογικό πρωταγωνιστή) of the so-called "Pontian Genocide" thesis.
Given that May 19th had been celebrated and commemorated for several decades in Turkey, unsurprisingly Turks viewed this as an act of provocation. Ironically, it is not unknown for Pontic Greeks to criticize the Turks for celebrating May 19th on 'their' day of commemoration, suggesting a reordering of the marking of this day by Greeks and Turks. Moreover, a number of prominent Pontic Greeks have commented that the designation of separate dates for remembrance of the Greek Genocide causes considerable confusion and serves only to divide diasporic Ottoman Greek communities. In some cases, it has even led people to believe that the genocide began in 1919.
On Tuesday morning 19 May 1919 Mustafa Kemal arrived at Samsun on the British-built steamer Bandirma which had departed from Constantinople’s Galata Bridge on the evening of May 16th. Kemal, accompanied by military personnel and administrative staff, had recently been appointed Inspector General of the newly organized Ninth Army. Bülent Gökay writes that “Kemal’s appointment was in fact prompted by the Allies’ demand to the Ottoman government to stop the harassment of the Christian villages in the province of Samsun by local Muslim bands. … The inspector general was to be basically responsible for peacekeeping and demobilisation.” However, as all sources agree, Kemal disregarded these orders and began organizing a resistance movement that eventually would rid Turkey of foreign occupation; including, the Hellenic troops at Smyrna/Izmir; the French in Adana; the Italians in Antalya and Konya; the British in Urfa, Marash, Antep, Marsivan and Samsun.
One report speculated in advance that a renewal of atrocities against the Christian population in Samsun might accompany the initial stages of Kemal's movement:
“I consider that an outbreak directed probably in the main against native Christians is very probable, and I am to-day in receipt of very disquieting reports from Mr. Hurst, the officer in the Levant Consular Service, who is now at Samsoun. Mr. Hurst states that Mustapha Kemal, who was sent there, with the best intentions, by his Highness Ferid Pasha, is organising a movement which is only too likely to find an outlet for its energies in massacres.”
So far as atrocities, the accounts available describe a far less eventful landing in Samsun. For example, a telegram sent from Samsun on May 21st 1919 by the aforementioned Captain Hurst of the British navy to Vice-Admiral Sir A. Calthorpe reads:
“The general situation has been calmer for the last few days. There has been a lull as regards brigandage, except perhaps round Alacham.”
At that time British troops were stationed in Samsun and Kemal was being carefully observed by the British. In fact, Kemal's movements and operations were so heavily restricted in Samsoun that he moved promptly inland to Amasya, via Havza, where he could operate more freely.
On 25 May 1919 Kemal traveled to the town of Havza, a town 50 miles inland on the road from Samsun to Amasya. His residence at Havza was the Mesudiye Hotel. According to some sources, it was in Havza where he met a Bolshevik delegation. On 12 June 1919 Kemal went to Amasya, a further 50 miles inland. While in Amasya, Kemal met with other regional nationalist commanders – including Ali Fuat Cebesoy and Huseyin Rauf Orbay – and together they drafted the first declaration of resistance against the foreign powers. The declaration was forwarded to all civil and military authorities in Anatolia. The declaration claimed the country was in great danger and it also undermined the government in Constantinople claiming it was incapable of saving Turkey.
Although it is widely documented that Kemalist authorities continued the genocidal practices of the Young Turks (or CUP) towards the Greeks and other Christians in the Empire on a systematic scale, there is no evidence to suggest that this particular dimension of the Kemalist movement developed at the time of Kemal’s landing in Samsun or the days immediately following it. For this region and at this time, the literature and documentation available confirms that Mustafa Kemal was far more concerned with achieving an independent Turkey than with the annihilation of Ottoman Greeks. In any case, the British presence at Samsun prevented any attack on the Greek communities in that region. In light of this, we might ask whether 19 May 1919 really makes for a fitting day for remembrance; in that, does it accurately symbolize the sufferings of Pontic Greeks during the Genocide?
The opening line of Mustafa Kemal’s famous October 1927 speech giving his account of the Turkish Nationalist Movement was “I landed at Samsun on the 19th May, 1919” and, as such, the day is viewed by Turks as the beginning of a victorious ‘war of independence’. During his presidency of the Republic of Turkey, Kemal himself designated May 19th as a national holiday, a Youth and Sports Day. To this day, May 19th continues to be a national holiday in Turkey celebrated by Turkish school children and students across the country. It is now more commonly known as the Atatürk'ü Anma, Gençlik ve Spor Bayramı [Remembrance of Ataturk, Youth and Sports Day].
However, it was only in the early 1990s that certain Pontic Greek groups began calling for 19 May to be a day of remembrance for Greeks of the Pontus region and on 4 February 1994 following intense lobbying led by Pontian politician Michalis Charalambidis, a Greek parliamentary decree designated May 19th as a day of remembrance. In an interview Konstantinos Fotiadis revealed that it was politician Mihalis Charalambidis who decided on the date of May 19th (Αυτός είναι που προτείνει την καθιέρωση της 19ης Μαΐου ως μέρα μνήμης της Ποντιακής γενοκτονίας και την υιοθετεί το Ελληνικό Κοινοβούλιο). In other words, the decision was not based on any historical study but merely on a politician's whim. Fotiadis has also identified Charalambidis as the "ideological protagonist" (ιδεολογικό πρωταγωνιστή) of the so-called "Pontian Genocide" thesis.
Given that May 19th had been celebrated and commemorated for several decades in Turkey, unsurprisingly Turks viewed this as an act of provocation. Ironically, it is not unknown for Pontic Greeks to criticize the Turks for celebrating May 19th on 'their' day of commemoration, suggesting a reordering of the marking of this day by Greeks and Turks. Moreover, a number of prominent Pontic Greeks have commented that the designation of separate dates for remembrance of the Greek Genocide causes considerable confusion and serves only to divide diasporic Ottoman Greek communities. In some cases, it has even led people to believe that the genocide began in 1919.
the Pontian Genocide
The Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater New York and the Pan-Pontian Federation of USA and Canada cordially invite you to the 89th anniversary of the Pontian Genocide that will take place at Bowling Green in Manhattan on May 19th, 2008 at noon.
Every year the ancestors of Pontian Greeks along with all Hellenes and philhellenes across the United States and Canada commemorate and honor the victims of the Pontian Greek Genocide by the Ottomans, New Turks and Kemalists in 1914-1924.
As you know, the Greek Parliament in February of 1994 dedicated the 19th of May as A DAY OF REMEMBRANCE of the victims of the ferocious Genocide.
All Hellenic organizations and primarily the Pan-Pontian Federation of USA & CANADA are actively involved in an all out effort to pursue the Recognition of the Pontian Greek Genocide from the International Community. We have Recognitions, thus far from several Governors, State Senates, State Assemblies and Mayors. In addition this last December, the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) recognized this genocide stating:
"BE IT RESOLVED 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.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Association 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."
Monday May 19, 2008 at 12:00 PM
Bowling Green Park
New York, NY 10004
Subway:
Bowling Green Station (4 & 5 trains)
Whitehall Street - South Ferry Station (R & W trains)
For additional information please contact Dimitri Molohides (917) 302-4086.
www.panpontian.org
2)
http://globalpolitician.com/24697-turkey
GLOBAL POLITICIAN
May 11, 2008
Turkish Denial and The Forgotten Genocides
Ioannis Fidanakis
Throughout time man has associated certain images with events, images that shock the human mind so much they are permanently engrained in our memories. The Holocaust, the mere mention of the word fills people with images of horrible persecution. Mountains of shoes and gas chambers are all quickly associated with the horrible events which took place in the Second World War. In the United States, whippings and lynchings are seen as trade marks of African-American Slavery in the South. Today’s society identifies these images with crimes against Humanity. We are taught to no longer tolerate such acts of hatred, and instead commemorate and study these important lessons of the past to honour the many innocent who lost their lives. Yet the most disturbing imagery, that of mountains upon mountains of human skulls and long marches of women, children and elderly in the desert, are lost on society. Our ‘civilized’ society turns a blind eye to such images and the events in which they are identified with, the forgotten Hellenic, Armenian, and Assyrian Genocides initiated during the First World War. How can the international community allow the suffering and persecution endured by the Christian subjects of the Ottoman Empire and Republic of Turkey to just be left to fade away into history? Why are these millions of innocent men, women and children that perished not given the same respect of commemoration, study, and remembrance?
The lack of recognition, dealing with the Hellenic Genocide, which is known by scholars as the Greek and Pontic Greek Genocide, is in and of itself a crime against Humanity. To simply surpass the importance of such a terrible part of History is a disservice to all those who lost their lives during those years of fear and terror. How can Western Civilization, who owe the Hellenic people so much for its very birth and continued survival. Not feel as if their own ancestors perished under years of oppression and atrocities.
There are many excuses behind the lack of international recognition, mainly based around the historical events that took place shortly after the Genocide. The Treaty of Lausanne, which was signed in 1923, and brought an end to the Hellenic population living in Anatolia, makes no mention of the persecutions and troubles suffered by the Christian subjects at the time, and hence sealing the issues fate. The Greco-Turkish Treaty of Friendship signed in 1930, is also used by many as a reason behind the Genocide’s omission from history books, because of the concessions that were made for peace in the region. Lastly, and what appears to be the most logical, is that fact that Hellas suffered political and social turmoil, with the Nazi Occupation and Civil War, which took place shortly afterwards. The mere survival of the Hellenic people took precedence over the recognition for these events.
The tragedy that befell those Hellenes living in Anatoliki Thraki (Eastern Thrace) and all of Anatolia can be divided into two separate phases. The first falling between 1914 and the closing days of the First World War, at the hands of the Ottoman Government , and the second from 1919 till the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923 by Mustapha Kemal and his Kemalist followers, who were the old guard of the Young Turk movement, that had previously ruled the Ottoman Empire. It is during these years that the rivers of Anatoliki Thraki and Anatolia ran red with Hellenic blood.
“The first step in the persecutions of the Greeks was the attack on the ecclesiastical, legal, and educational rights which had always been possessed within the Turkish Empire by the Greek ecclesiastical authorities and which had gone far toward mitigating the distress of the Turkish regime. The Turkish language was introduced into Greek schools; geography and history had to be taught in Turkish. Greek priests were arrested and imprisoned without warning or reason and without notification of the ecclesiastical authorities. Forcible conversions to Mohammedanism, long forbidden by law, began to appear again, particularly in the case of Greek girls carried off to Turkish harems without the usual right of intervention which the Greek Patriarch and Metropolitans had always possessed. “(1)
The persecutions of old rightfully echoed loudly in the hearts and minds of the population with the return of those once forgotten practices and a new form of the janissary system, disguised in the form of charitable Orphan Asylums. The ingenious method of masking these charitable institutions for devious purposes was second nature for the Turkish Government. The Orphan asylums sprung up under the disguise of relief, and yet were used as tools of the Government’s planned extermination of the Hellenic population still living within the Empire.
“These orphan institutions have in appearance a charitable object, but if one considers that their inmates are Greek boys who became orphans because their parents were murdered, or who were snatched away from their mothers, or left in the streets for want of nourishment, (of which, they were deprived by the Turks.), and that these Greek children receive there a purely Turkish education, it will be at once seen that the cloak of charity there lurks the ‘child collecting’ system instituted in the past by the Turkish conquerors and a new effort to revive the janissary system. The Greek boys were treated in this manner. What happens to the Greek girls? If we review the Consular reports about the persecutions from the year 1916 to 1917 we shall find hardly one of them which does not speak of forcible abductions and conversions to Mohammedanism. And it could not have been otherwise, since it is well known that this action, as has been stated above, was decided upon in June 1915, in order to effect the Turkification of the Hellenic element. This plan was carried out methodically and in a diabolical manner, through the ‘mixed settlements’ of Greeks and Turks, always with a predominance of Mohammedan males and of Greek females in order to compel mixed marriages.”(2)
Other methods used by the Turkish government during both phases were Work battalions, Concentration camps, death marches, and straight-out massacres to put an end to the Hellenic Question. The famous work battalions, known as ‘Ameles tabour’, were created “on the plea that the Christians could not be trusted to bear arms against their coreligionists they were drafted into labor battalions and set into the interior of Asia Minor to do work for the Turks.”(3)
The conditions, in which, they were forced to live in were terrible. “A piece of unsuitable bread made from tare (animal food) and a watery soup daily, under the rain and snow, with insults, humiliations, and beatings, sicknesses of dysentery, diarrhea, typhus, did not leave much margin for survival. The number of those who survived these notorious ameles tabour, ‘the death battalions’ as called by Christians, was minimal.” (4)
Anatoliki Thraki and the Genocide
One of the most overlooked regions, in which the Genocide accrued, is Anatoliki Thraki. A place, which suffered systematic plans of genocide, under both the Bulgarians and Turks, seeing double the carnage of other Hellenic lands during those years. During the years of persecution in Vorio Thraki (Northern Thrace) by the Bulgarians, the Turkish policy towards the Hellenes was one of friendship, because of the Slavic threat against the Ottoman Empire. Thus, generally speaking, the position of the Greeks of Thrace was a good one in this period. With the revolution of the Young Turks, the Greeks of Thrace, as all the Greeks of the Empire, hoped for the amelioration of their position believing in the declarations of equality and brotherhood. They were soon disillusioned, however, since the measures of the Young Turks against the Greek communities affected many of their privileges. (5)
An eerie sense of doom must have been felt creeping in, with the Turkish reoccupation of Thraki, which would bring an era of brutality not soon forgotten with the return of atrocities, looting and massacres against the Hellenes. Whole villages being destroyed by the Turkish military in the most sadistic ways, at the time, a wireless dispatch to the Daily Chronicle from Constanza says: ‘Turkey has been running an ‘atrocious campaign’ most unscrupulously to cover her own misdeeds and distract attention from the appalling facts of the Thracian massacres by the Turkish army of reoccupation. (6) The death and destruction seen in Thraki during the Balkan Wars would be surpassed only with the coming First World War.
“When the European war broke out, the Turks, with German connivance, began a policy of extermination of the Greek population which parallels in almost every detail the terrible outrages against the Armenians.” The Turkish Government used the outbreak of the War to its full advantage to begin the removal of the Hellenic Population from their ancestral homeland, under the pretext of the 'military security' of the Turkish cities, a large part of the population of eastern Thrace was deported towards the hinterland of Asia Minor hinterland (as was the case with the population of western Asia Minor and Pontos). Many were forced to convert to Islam, and they were distanced from the Patriarchate and had no access to Greek schools. A large part of the male population was exterminated in amele taburu or labour battalions. (7)
The Terror and destruction decimated the countryside, turning the once beautiful crossroads between Europe and Asia, into Hell on earth, with Turkish hordes descending upon the local peasantry leaving nothing in their wake. Life in the countryside changed from one of children playing and parents working, to silence, as Hellenes dared not to tend to their fields, while Turkish bands roamed freely in the open countryside.
Reports from the Ecumenical Patriarchate tell us of the anarchy and terror, which reigned over Anatoliki Thraki, where these Turkish bands were free to, committed the oldest crimes in the newest ways. Turkish civilians aided the Ottoman Government in their plans of extermination, in whatever manner they could. Turkish peasants would execute orders given to them by local officials mainly during the cover of darkness, to hide their identity from their neighbors. Individual incidents like that from the Diocese of Heracles, show the pure horror that Hellenes living in Thraki had to deal with on a daily bases, “At the end of May, 1919, three Albanian-Turks, guarding the Tsikili Farm, on the Tsads-Tyroloe road, killed two young Christian men from Tsads, whose clothes and ears they sent to this town, to frighten the peasantry and whose corpses they gave to the dogs of the farm for food”. (8)
In the Diocese of Ganos and Chora, “The Turkish peasants’ fanaticism, provocations and threatening attitude toward the Greeks had grown so violent, that they openly declared, even in presence of Government officials, that they would quite soon annihilate them. This state of things paralyzed the will of the Greeks and prevented them from attending to their business” (9). A perfect example of their fanaticism comes from one report in December of 1919. “Periclis Prodromou from Avdini, was slaughtered like a lamb, near Atelthini”(10), as if the Hellenic people were livestock, this just goes to show the mentality held by the Turkish people at the time.
In the Diocese of Didymotechon, which lies on the border of Anatoliki Thraki and Western Thraki, we see, “On May 21st, a double murder of two Greeks took place in the village Tchanakli. These two farmers coming to Ouzoum Kioprou, were on the way attacked by four soldiers. The head of one victim, Athanassius, was cut off, while the other victim, though seriously wounded, was able to creep as far as Eski-keuyto. The wounded reported the crime to the authorities and after a few hours succumbed to his wounds.”(11)
In the end Hellenism in Anatoliki Thraki would face the same fate as that of Anatolian and Pontian Hellenism. With the evacuation of the Hellenic Army in 1922, the surviving 300,000 Hellenes living in Anatoliki Thraki, excluding those living in Constantinople were forced to leave the homeland of their ancestors, which had been theirs for thousands of years.
A Call for Justice and Recognition
In the same spirit that brought recognition and restitution for the victims of the Holocaust, so should Turkey be held accountable for the crimes of its past. How else can it truly be seen as a partner for peace, ready for entrance inside the European community? Those seeking justice are not looking for War or dismantlement of the Turkish state, but rather for the wrongs of the past to be recognized and set straight. The Turkish people should not fear international recognition, but should welcome it, as a means to finally write an end to this ugly chapter of history so all people involved can look to the future instead of the past.
Far too much time has past since those terrible events during the early 20th century, without an international declaration memorializing these atrocities as Genocide. Hellas is politically and socially stable enough to final push for international recognition of the Genocide suffered by its people during those long years of oppression and persecution. It is time that the movement for justice and recognition finally take center stage inside the many important National Issues facing Hellas today. In 2007, an important step was realized, when the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) recognized the crimes suffered by the Assyrian, Hellenic, and Armenian populations between 1914 and 1923 as Genocide. “The resolution 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.’(12)
It is my firm belief that the only honorable and logical way to handle recognition and restitution of the Genocide committed against the Hellenes of Anatoliki Thraki is with a solution deemed acceptable for both parties involved. This mutual understanding must benefit both Christian and Muslim Thracians still living inside Turkey, as well as those descendants living outside the region. The first step towards justice would be the Genocide’s recognition inside Turkey, as well as internationally. Something that has already slowly come about with the recent declarations from International Associations, as well as limited recognition by some in the International Community and locally in the United States.
The second step would be the creation of a Genocide Memorial in Constantinople to commemorate all those lost during those bloodily years of turmoil. This memorial could also run as a research center and academic hub for Hellenic and Turkish scholars studying these and other similar events.
Third and perhaps most radical part of the process of restitution is the question of monetary compensation and land claims. As stated before, those of us seeking justice do not wish to be seen as war enthusiasts bent on the destruction of the Turkish state.
Instead such radical parts of this process can be answered, while still protecting Turkish sovereignty. At this point and time it would be impossible to have monetary compensation given to the families of the survivors, just as it would be wrong to reward the Hellenic state with such compensation. Unlike the state of Israel, which was founded after the Holocaust, by survivors of the tragedy, the Hellenic state was already in existence and the victims were not Hellenic citizens, but rather Turkish. With this in mind it seems to me that a third option must be presented. This being the creation of an autonomist Anatoliki Thraki, which would receive monetary compensation directly from the Turkish state, keeping the funds within the borders of Turkey, to aid one region economically. This process could be seen as a reconstruction or renovation of the region for the betterment of its local population. This autonomist region would be governed by local Christians and Muslims, as well as returning individuals whose family roots are from Anatoliki Thraki. The returning descendants of refugees expelled from the area would be reintroduced via settlements, much like those created by the state of Israel. Finally its capital should be seated in Constantinople, and a special relationship with the European Union must be established. This seems to be the most reasonable and appropriate solution for justice for Thraki and the Thrakiotes.
Every year the ancestors of Pontian Greeks along with all Hellenes and philhellenes across the United States and Canada commemorate and honor the victims of the Pontian Greek Genocide by the Ottomans, New Turks and Kemalists in 1914-1924.
As you know, the Greek Parliament in February of 1994 dedicated the 19th of May as A DAY OF REMEMBRANCE of the victims of the ferocious Genocide.
All Hellenic organizations and primarily the Pan-Pontian Federation of USA & CANADA are actively involved in an all out effort to pursue the Recognition of the Pontian Greek Genocide from the International Community. We have Recognitions, thus far from several Governors, State Senates, State Assemblies and Mayors. In addition this last December, the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) recognized this genocide stating:
"BE IT RESOLVED 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.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Association 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."
Monday May 19, 2008 at 12:00 PM
Bowling Green Park
New York, NY 10004
Subway:
Bowling Green Station (4 & 5 trains)
Whitehall Street - South Ferry Station (R & W trains)
For additional information please contact Dimitri Molohides (917) 302-4086.
www.panpontian.org
2)
http://globalpolitician.com/24697-turkey
GLOBAL POLITICIAN
May 11, 2008
Turkish Denial and The Forgotten Genocides
Ioannis Fidanakis
Throughout time man has associated certain images with events, images that shock the human mind so much they are permanently engrained in our memories. The Holocaust, the mere mention of the word fills people with images of horrible persecution. Mountains of shoes and gas chambers are all quickly associated with the horrible events which took place in the Second World War. In the United States, whippings and lynchings are seen as trade marks of African-American Slavery in the South. Today’s society identifies these images with crimes against Humanity. We are taught to no longer tolerate such acts of hatred, and instead commemorate and study these important lessons of the past to honour the many innocent who lost their lives. Yet the most disturbing imagery, that of mountains upon mountains of human skulls and long marches of women, children and elderly in the desert, are lost on society. Our ‘civilized’ society turns a blind eye to such images and the events in which they are identified with, the forgotten Hellenic, Armenian, and Assyrian Genocides initiated during the First World War. How can the international community allow the suffering and persecution endured by the Christian subjects of the Ottoman Empire and Republic of Turkey to just be left to fade away into history? Why are these millions of innocent men, women and children that perished not given the same respect of commemoration, study, and remembrance?
The lack of recognition, dealing with the Hellenic Genocide, which is known by scholars as the Greek and Pontic Greek Genocide, is in and of itself a crime against Humanity. To simply surpass the importance of such a terrible part of History is a disservice to all those who lost their lives during those years of fear and terror. How can Western Civilization, who owe the Hellenic people so much for its very birth and continued survival. Not feel as if their own ancestors perished under years of oppression and atrocities.
There are many excuses behind the lack of international recognition, mainly based around the historical events that took place shortly after the Genocide. The Treaty of Lausanne, which was signed in 1923, and brought an end to the Hellenic population living in Anatolia, makes no mention of the persecutions and troubles suffered by the Christian subjects at the time, and hence sealing the issues fate. The Greco-Turkish Treaty of Friendship signed in 1930, is also used by many as a reason behind the Genocide’s omission from history books, because of the concessions that were made for peace in the region. Lastly, and what appears to be the most logical, is that fact that Hellas suffered political and social turmoil, with the Nazi Occupation and Civil War, which took place shortly afterwards. The mere survival of the Hellenic people took precedence over the recognition for these events.
The tragedy that befell those Hellenes living in Anatoliki Thraki (Eastern Thrace) and all of Anatolia can be divided into two separate phases. The first falling between 1914 and the closing days of the First World War, at the hands of the Ottoman Government , and the second from 1919 till the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923 by Mustapha Kemal and his Kemalist followers, who were the old guard of the Young Turk movement, that had previously ruled the Ottoman Empire. It is during these years that the rivers of Anatoliki Thraki and Anatolia ran red with Hellenic blood.
“The first step in the persecutions of the Greeks was the attack on the ecclesiastical, legal, and educational rights which had always been possessed within the Turkish Empire by the Greek ecclesiastical authorities and which had gone far toward mitigating the distress of the Turkish regime. The Turkish language was introduced into Greek schools; geography and history had to be taught in Turkish. Greek priests were arrested and imprisoned without warning or reason and without notification of the ecclesiastical authorities. Forcible conversions to Mohammedanism, long forbidden by law, began to appear again, particularly in the case of Greek girls carried off to Turkish harems without the usual right of intervention which the Greek Patriarch and Metropolitans had always possessed. “(1)
The persecutions of old rightfully echoed loudly in the hearts and minds of the population with the return of those once forgotten practices and a new form of the janissary system, disguised in the form of charitable Orphan Asylums. The ingenious method of masking these charitable institutions for devious purposes was second nature for the Turkish Government. The Orphan asylums sprung up under the disguise of relief, and yet were used as tools of the Government’s planned extermination of the Hellenic population still living within the Empire.
“These orphan institutions have in appearance a charitable object, but if one considers that their inmates are Greek boys who became orphans because their parents were murdered, or who were snatched away from their mothers, or left in the streets for want of nourishment, (of which, they were deprived by the Turks.), and that these Greek children receive there a purely Turkish education, it will be at once seen that the cloak of charity there lurks the ‘child collecting’ system instituted in the past by the Turkish conquerors and a new effort to revive the janissary system. The Greek boys were treated in this manner. What happens to the Greek girls? If we review the Consular reports about the persecutions from the year 1916 to 1917 we shall find hardly one of them which does not speak of forcible abductions and conversions to Mohammedanism. And it could not have been otherwise, since it is well known that this action, as has been stated above, was decided upon in June 1915, in order to effect the Turkification of the Hellenic element. This plan was carried out methodically and in a diabolical manner, through the ‘mixed settlements’ of Greeks and Turks, always with a predominance of Mohammedan males and of Greek females in order to compel mixed marriages.”(2)
Other methods used by the Turkish government during both phases were Work battalions, Concentration camps, death marches, and straight-out massacres to put an end to the Hellenic Question. The famous work battalions, known as ‘Ameles tabour’, were created “on the plea that the Christians could not be trusted to bear arms against their coreligionists they were drafted into labor battalions and set into the interior of Asia Minor to do work for the Turks.”(3)
The conditions, in which, they were forced to live in were terrible. “A piece of unsuitable bread made from tare (animal food) and a watery soup daily, under the rain and snow, with insults, humiliations, and beatings, sicknesses of dysentery, diarrhea, typhus, did not leave much margin for survival. The number of those who survived these notorious ameles tabour, ‘the death battalions’ as called by Christians, was minimal.” (4)
Anatoliki Thraki and the Genocide
One of the most overlooked regions, in which the Genocide accrued, is Anatoliki Thraki. A place, which suffered systematic plans of genocide, under both the Bulgarians and Turks, seeing double the carnage of other Hellenic lands during those years. During the years of persecution in Vorio Thraki (Northern Thrace) by the Bulgarians, the Turkish policy towards the Hellenes was one of friendship, because of the Slavic threat against the Ottoman Empire. Thus, generally speaking, the position of the Greeks of Thrace was a good one in this period. With the revolution of the Young Turks, the Greeks of Thrace, as all the Greeks of the Empire, hoped for the amelioration of their position believing in the declarations of equality and brotherhood. They were soon disillusioned, however, since the measures of the Young Turks against the Greek communities affected many of their privileges. (5)
An eerie sense of doom must have been felt creeping in, with the Turkish reoccupation of Thraki, which would bring an era of brutality not soon forgotten with the return of atrocities, looting and massacres against the Hellenes. Whole villages being destroyed by the Turkish military in the most sadistic ways, at the time, a wireless dispatch to the Daily Chronicle from Constanza says: ‘Turkey has been running an ‘atrocious campaign’ most unscrupulously to cover her own misdeeds and distract attention from the appalling facts of the Thracian massacres by the Turkish army of reoccupation. (6) The death and destruction seen in Thraki during the Balkan Wars would be surpassed only with the coming First World War.
“When the European war broke out, the Turks, with German connivance, began a policy of extermination of the Greek population which parallels in almost every detail the terrible outrages against the Armenians.” The Turkish Government used the outbreak of the War to its full advantage to begin the removal of the Hellenic Population from their ancestral homeland, under the pretext of the 'military security' of the Turkish cities, a large part of the population of eastern Thrace was deported towards the hinterland of Asia Minor hinterland (as was the case with the population of western Asia Minor and Pontos). Many were forced to convert to Islam, and they were distanced from the Patriarchate and had no access to Greek schools. A large part of the male population was exterminated in amele taburu or labour battalions. (7)
The Terror and destruction decimated the countryside, turning the once beautiful crossroads between Europe and Asia, into Hell on earth, with Turkish hordes descending upon the local peasantry leaving nothing in their wake. Life in the countryside changed from one of children playing and parents working, to silence, as Hellenes dared not to tend to their fields, while Turkish bands roamed freely in the open countryside.
Reports from the Ecumenical Patriarchate tell us of the anarchy and terror, which reigned over Anatoliki Thraki, where these Turkish bands were free to, committed the oldest crimes in the newest ways. Turkish civilians aided the Ottoman Government in their plans of extermination, in whatever manner they could. Turkish peasants would execute orders given to them by local officials mainly during the cover of darkness, to hide their identity from their neighbors. Individual incidents like that from the Diocese of Heracles, show the pure horror that Hellenes living in Thraki had to deal with on a daily bases, “At the end of May, 1919, three Albanian-Turks, guarding the Tsikili Farm, on the Tsads-Tyroloe road, killed two young Christian men from Tsads, whose clothes and ears they sent to this town, to frighten the peasantry and whose corpses they gave to the dogs of the farm for food”. (8)
In the Diocese of Ganos and Chora, “The Turkish peasants’ fanaticism, provocations and threatening attitude toward the Greeks had grown so violent, that they openly declared, even in presence of Government officials, that they would quite soon annihilate them. This state of things paralyzed the will of the Greeks and prevented them from attending to their business” (9). A perfect example of their fanaticism comes from one report in December of 1919. “Periclis Prodromou from Avdini, was slaughtered like a lamb, near Atelthini”(10), as if the Hellenic people were livestock, this just goes to show the mentality held by the Turkish people at the time.
In the Diocese of Didymotechon, which lies on the border of Anatoliki Thraki and Western Thraki, we see, “On May 21st, a double murder of two Greeks took place in the village Tchanakli. These two farmers coming to Ouzoum Kioprou, were on the way attacked by four soldiers. The head of one victim, Athanassius, was cut off, while the other victim, though seriously wounded, was able to creep as far as Eski-keuyto. The wounded reported the crime to the authorities and after a few hours succumbed to his wounds.”(11)
In the end Hellenism in Anatoliki Thraki would face the same fate as that of Anatolian and Pontian Hellenism. With the evacuation of the Hellenic Army in 1922, the surviving 300,000 Hellenes living in Anatoliki Thraki, excluding those living in Constantinople were forced to leave the homeland of their ancestors, which had been theirs for thousands of years.
A Call for Justice and Recognition
In the same spirit that brought recognition and restitution for the victims of the Holocaust, so should Turkey be held accountable for the crimes of its past. How else can it truly be seen as a partner for peace, ready for entrance inside the European community? Those seeking justice are not looking for War or dismantlement of the Turkish state, but rather for the wrongs of the past to be recognized and set straight. The Turkish people should not fear international recognition, but should welcome it, as a means to finally write an end to this ugly chapter of history so all people involved can look to the future instead of the past.
Far too much time has past since those terrible events during the early 20th century, without an international declaration memorializing these atrocities as Genocide. Hellas is politically and socially stable enough to final push for international recognition of the Genocide suffered by its people during those long years of oppression and persecution. It is time that the movement for justice and recognition finally take center stage inside the many important National Issues facing Hellas today. In 2007, an important step was realized, when the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) recognized the crimes suffered by the Assyrian, Hellenic, and Armenian populations between 1914 and 1923 as Genocide. “The resolution 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.’(12)
It is my firm belief that the only honorable and logical way to handle recognition and restitution of the Genocide committed against the Hellenes of Anatoliki Thraki is with a solution deemed acceptable for both parties involved. This mutual understanding must benefit both Christian and Muslim Thracians still living inside Turkey, as well as those descendants living outside the region. The first step towards justice would be the Genocide’s recognition inside Turkey, as well as internationally. Something that has already slowly come about with the recent declarations from International Associations, as well as limited recognition by some in the International Community and locally in the United States.
The second step would be the creation of a Genocide Memorial in Constantinople to commemorate all those lost during those bloodily years of turmoil. This memorial could also run as a research center and academic hub for Hellenic and Turkish scholars studying these and other similar events.
Third and perhaps most radical part of the process of restitution is the question of monetary compensation and land claims. As stated before, those of us seeking justice do not wish to be seen as war enthusiasts bent on the destruction of the Turkish state.
Instead such radical parts of this process can be answered, while still protecting Turkish sovereignty. At this point and time it would be impossible to have monetary compensation given to the families of the survivors, just as it would be wrong to reward the Hellenic state with such compensation. Unlike the state of Israel, which was founded after the Holocaust, by survivors of the tragedy, the Hellenic state was already in existence and the victims were not Hellenic citizens, but rather Turkish. With this in mind it seems to me that a third option must be presented. This being the creation of an autonomist Anatoliki Thraki, which would receive monetary compensation directly from the Turkish state, keeping the funds within the borders of Turkey, to aid one region economically. This process could be seen as a reconstruction or renovation of the region for the betterment of its local population. This autonomist region would be governed by local Christians and Muslims, as well as returning individuals whose family roots are from Anatoliki Thraki. The returning descendants of refugees expelled from the area would be reintroduced via settlements, much like those created by the state of Israel. Finally its capital should be seated in Constantinople, and a special relationship with the European Union must be established. This seems to be the most reasonable and appropriate solution for justice for Thraki and the Thrakiotes.
Pontus
“PONTUS” is a Hellenic word for “SEA”. It refers to the shores of the Euxinos Pontus (the Friendly Sea), or in English, the Black Sea. In particular, “Pontus” is a reference to its south-eastern shores, the Black Sea coast of Asia Minor.
Hellenic ties to this region go back to prehistoric times; to the days of Jason and the Argonauts in their quest for the Golden Fleece. {Mountain tribes in the Caucasus have, for centuries, used sheep skins, stretched across river-beds, to catch tiny particles of alluvial gold.}
In historic times, Sinope was the first city founded by colonists from Miletus (one of the Ionian cities) in 785 BC. Later, colonists from Sinope founded Trapezous (Trapezounta/Trebizond/ Trabzon) in 756 BC and many other cities including Amissos (Sampsounta), Kotyora (Ordu), Kerasus (Giresun) and Diskourias (Sukhumi, Georgia). Hellenic cities mushroomed all around the Black and Azov Seas. After settling the coastline, the hinterland, too, became completely Hellenised, a process completed with the conquest of Asia Minor by Alexander the Great in the late 4th century BC.
Diogenes (famous for wandering the streets of Athens with his lamp, looking for an honest man) was from Sinope. Strabo, the great historian and geographer, was from Amaseia. It was at Trapezous that Xenophon and his 10 000 soldiers found safe haven in 400 BC, following their nearly eighteen-month retreat from Mesopotamia.
Following the death of Alexander the Great in June 323 BC, his generals began fighting amongst themselves over the empire he had created. Mithridates the Builder exploited this infighting to establish Pontus as an independent kingdom in 301 BC. Under the dynasty Mithridates founded, Pontus flourished as a great commercial and educational centre. Mithridates was the last Hellenic ruler to succumb to Roman rule in 1 BC.
It was in Roman times that the Apostle Andreas (Andrew) brought Christianity to Pontus in 35 AD. With the division of the Roman Empire in 395 AD, Pontus became part of the Eastern Roman Empire, later to become known as the Byzantine Empire. When Constantinople fell to the knights of the Fourth Crusade in 1204, Alexius the Great Comnenus established the Trapezounta Empire, a bastion of Hellenism that lasted for 257 years. The deposed Byzantine Imperial Court moved to Nicaea and waited for the opportunity to return to Constantinople, which they did in 1204. The dynasty Alexius founded (amongst them Manuel A’ and Anna Komneni), were great patrons of the arts and of commerce for centuries. The centre of Pontian Christianity, the Monastery of Panayia Soumela (Our Lady of Mount Melas), in the mountains of Trapezounta district. Founded in 386 AD, it reached its peak under the Komnenus Dynasty in the 1200s. The still magnificent ruins of the Monastery remain a place of pilgrimage to this day for Christian and Moslem Pontians alike.
Cardinal Bessarion (Vissarion 1403-1472), who created a scandal by defecting from the Orthodox Church to the Roman Catholic Church, also hailed from Pontus, as did the Hypsilandis family (centuries later to become rulers of the Danubian Provinces of Wallachia and Moldavia). Bessarion saw the union of the Eastern and Western churches as the only hope of preventing the fall of the Byzantine Empire to the Turks. In 1439, he was made a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, abandoning the post he had held since 1437, that of Metropolitan of Nicaea. He died in Ravenna, Italy.
The Seljuk Turks attempted to invade Pontus, following their sweep through the Caucasus Mountains region, but were rebuffed in the early part of the 11th century. They proceeded into Kappadokia and, following their victory over the Byzantine Army in the Battle of Mantzikert in 1071, established the Sultanate of Iconium (modern-day Konya). This victory, plus their defeat of the Byzantine Army at Myriokephalo (outside Philadelpheia, Asia Minor) in 1176 gave the nomadic Turks control of most of the Anatolian plateau.
Pontus was the last fragment of the Byzantine Empire to fall to the Ottoman Turks. On August 15 1461, Sultan Mehmet II, conqueror of Constantinople, besieged Trapezounta. Forty days later, the city fell. This conquest did not de-Hellenise Pontus, despite regular waves of forced Islamization (using a range of measures including wholesale massacres and mass kidnappings of male children). Testimony to this fact are the numerous churches, cathedrals, monasteries and schools established between 1461 and 1914. ‘De-Hellenization’ of Pontus and Asia Minor was not accomplished until 1922-23 ...or so the ‘Young Turk’ regime thought.
More than thirty centuries of cultural and political development lay behind Pontian Hellenism in 1914. Genocide and Diaspora lay ahead. Pontian Hellenes are a distinct and unique branch of Hellenism. They today retain their own Hellenic dialect, folk-dances, folk music, literature and theatre.
Hellenic ties to this region go back to prehistoric times; to the days of Jason and the Argonauts in their quest for the Golden Fleece. {Mountain tribes in the Caucasus have, for centuries, used sheep skins, stretched across river-beds, to catch tiny particles of alluvial gold.}
In historic times, Sinope was the first city founded by colonists from Miletus (one of the Ionian cities) in 785 BC. Later, colonists from Sinope founded Trapezous (Trapezounta/Trebizond/ Trabzon) in 756 BC and many other cities including Amissos (Sampsounta), Kotyora (Ordu), Kerasus (Giresun) and Diskourias (Sukhumi, Georgia). Hellenic cities mushroomed all around the Black and Azov Seas. After settling the coastline, the hinterland, too, became completely Hellenised, a process completed with the conquest of Asia Minor by Alexander the Great in the late 4th century BC.
Diogenes (famous for wandering the streets of Athens with his lamp, looking for an honest man) was from Sinope. Strabo, the great historian and geographer, was from Amaseia. It was at Trapezous that Xenophon and his 10 000 soldiers found safe haven in 400 BC, following their nearly eighteen-month retreat from Mesopotamia.
Following the death of Alexander the Great in June 323 BC, his generals began fighting amongst themselves over the empire he had created. Mithridates the Builder exploited this infighting to establish Pontus as an independent kingdom in 301 BC. Under the dynasty Mithridates founded, Pontus flourished as a great commercial and educational centre. Mithridates was the last Hellenic ruler to succumb to Roman rule in 1 BC.
It was in Roman times that the Apostle Andreas (Andrew) brought Christianity to Pontus in 35 AD. With the division of the Roman Empire in 395 AD, Pontus became part of the Eastern Roman Empire, later to become known as the Byzantine Empire. When Constantinople fell to the knights of the Fourth Crusade in 1204, Alexius the Great Comnenus established the Trapezounta Empire, a bastion of Hellenism that lasted for 257 years. The deposed Byzantine Imperial Court moved to Nicaea and waited for the opportunity to return to Constantinople, which they did in 1204. The dynasty Alexius founded (amongst them Manuel A’ and Anna Komneni), were great patrons of the arts and of commerce for centuries. The centre of Pontian Christianity, the Monastery of Panayia Soumela (Our Lady of Mount Melas), in the mountains of Trapezounta district. Founded in 386 AD, it reached its peak under the Komnenus Dynasty in the 1200s. The still magnificent ruins of the Monastery remain a place of pilgrimage to this day for Christian and Moslem Pontians alike.
Cardinal Bessarion (Vissarion 1403-1472), who created a scandal by defecting from the Orthodox Church to the Roman Catholic Church, also hailed from Pontus, as did the Hypsilandis family (centuries later to become rulers of the Danubian Provinces of Wallachia and Moldavia). Bessarion saw the union of the Eastern and Western churches as the only hope of preventing the fall of the Byzantine Empire to the Turks. In 1439, he was made a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, abandoning the post he had held since 1437, that of Metropolitan of Nicaea. He died in Ravenna, Italy.
The Seljuk Turks attempted to invade Pontus, following their sweep through the Caucasus Mountains region, but were rebuffed in the early part of the 11th century. They proceeded into Kappadokia and, following their victory over the Byzantine Army in the Battle of Mantzikert in 1071, established the Sultanate of Iconium (modern-day Konya). This victory, plus their defeat of the Byzantine Army at Myriokephalo (outside Philadelpheia, Asia Minor) in 1176 gave the nomadic Turks control of most of the Anatolian plateau.
Pontus was the last fragment of the Byzantine Empire to fall to the Ottoman Turks. On August 15 1461, Sultan Mehmet II, conqueror of Constantinople, besieged Trapezounta. Forty days later, the city fell. This conquest did not de-Hellenise Pontus, despite regular waves of forced Islamization (using a range of measures including wholesale massacres and mass kidnappings of male children). Testimony to this fact are the numerous churches, cathedrals, monasteries and schools established between 1461 and 1914. ‘De-Hellenization’ of Pontus and Asia Minor was not accomplished until 1922-23 ...or so the ‘Young Turk’ regime thought.
More than thirty centuries of cultural and political development lay behind Pontian Hellenism in 1914. Genocide and Diaspora lay ahead. Pontian Hellenes are a distinct and unique branch of Hellenism. They today retain their own Hellenic dialect, folk-dances, folk music, literature and theatre.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Massive assimilation pressures and anti-Greek discrimination.
Turkey is tottaly un-democratic multiethnic statethese people survive 100 years now under very touph poltical and social circumstancesdont forget that Turkey is the number 1 country to pogroms and genocides against Christians of course, but these people consider themselves as Pontian firstthat already feel pressure from Turkish authorities after the latest articles and interviews.The Pontian Muslims estimate theirs number in 900.000.
The Pontians, or Pontic Greeks, are a Greek people living in the Black Sea coastal region of Pontus, currently in Turkey. They converted to Islam in the 18th century and have largely retained their unique language, culture and identity in the face of massive assimilation pressures and anti-Greek discrimination. At a population of around 300,000, Pontic Greeks are concentrated in five or six villages in the regions of Tonya and Trabzon and in nearly 50 villages at the Yukarύ Solaklύ valley, south of Of. There are also at least two villages founded by Pontian emmigrants at Sakarya, near Istanbul. Although Pontians are Sunni Muslims, many Turks denounce them to be crypto-Christians. Not that there exists any evidence to suggest insincerity in the Pontians' Islam. Their allegience to the Muslim faith is called into question merely on account of their clinging on to their Greek idenitity which, according to the ultra-nationalist Turkish mindset, is proof of anti-Turkishness and, therefore, hypocricy and treason against Islam! Not surprisingly, Pontic Greeks will generally refuse to refer to themselves as such due to the ever-pervasive Turkish supremacism which engenders inferiority complexes in the republic's many supressed minority groups. Instead, most Pontic Greeks prefer to be called "Turkoi" or "Turkos" - a rather silly and nonsensical ethonymn which is actually the Greek noun for "Turk"! The correct Pontian self-designation, "Romioi" or "Romios", the Pontian Muslims reserve for Greek-speaking Christians. The Pontian language itself, called "Romaika" by its speakers, is a dialect of archaic Cappadocian Greek and has its origins in Attic Greek. Because Pontic and standard Greek developed independently for almost two thousand years, the two tongues are, for the most part, mutually unintelligable. During its development, Pontian was also heavily influenced by Byzantine Greek and Caucasian languages. The fact that Greek has no officially recognised status in Turkey, along with other assimilation pressures, means that today, the Pontian languge is facing extinction.
The Pontians, or Pontic Greeks, are a Greek people living in the Black Sea coastal region of Pontus, currently in Turkey. They converted to Islam in the 18th century and have largely retained their unique language, culture and identity in the face of massive assimilation pressures and anti-Greek discrimination. At a population of around 300,000, Pontic Greeks are concentrated in five or six villages in the regions of Tonya and Trabzon and in nearly 50 villages at the Yukarύ Solaklύ valley, south of Of. There are also at least two villages founded by Pontian emmigrants at Sakarya, near Istanbul. Although Pontians are Sunni Muslims, many Turks denounce them to be crypto-Christians. Not that there exists any evidence to suggest insincerity in the Pontians' Islam. Their allegience to the Muslim faith is called into question merely on account of their clinging on to their Greek idenitity which, according to the ultra-nationalist Turkish mindset, is proof of anti-Turkishness and, therefore, hypocricy and treason against Islam! Not surprisingly, Pontic Greeks will generally refuse to refer to themselves as such due to the ever-pervasive Turkish supremacism which engenders inferiority complexes in the republic's many supressed minority groups. Instead, most Pontic Greeks prefer to be called "Turkoi" or "Turkos" - a rather silly and nonsensical ethonymn which is actually the Greek noun for "Turk"! The correct Pontian self-designation, "Romioi" or "Romios", the Pontian Muslims reserve for Greek-speaking Christians. The Pontian language itself, called "Romaika" by its speakers, is a dialect of archaic Cappadocian Greek and has its origins in Attic Greek. Because Pontic and standard Greek developed independently for almost two thousand years, the two tongues are, for the most part, mutually unintelligable. During its development, Pontian was also heavily influenced by Byzantine Greek and Caucasian languages. The fact that Greek has no officially recognised status in Turkey, along with other assimilation pressures, means that today, the Pontian languge is facing extinction.
South Australia State Parliament recognizes Pontian Genocide
South Australia State Parliament recognizes Pontian Genocide
The South Australia State Parliament approved a resolution recognizing the genocide of the Pontians committed by the Turks in the period 1915-1922.
The resolution was tabled in parliament by philhellene Justice Minister Michael Atkinson.
The South Australia Parliament recognized that the genocide committed between 1915 and 1922 by the Ottoman State against the Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians and other minorities in Asia Minor is among the biggest crimes ever against humanity and is being condemned by the people and the state of South Australia.
The resolution maintains that the genocide cannot be erased because of the time that has passed since then and calls on the Australian federal government to formally recognize the genocide.
Photo: philhellene Justice Minister of South Australia Michael Atkinson (dressed in a Pontian costume) in an event of Greek expatriates in Adelaide.
Source: ANA-MPA
The South Australia State Parliament approved a resolution recognizing the genocide of the Pontians committed by the Turks in the period 1915-1922.
The resolution was tabled in parliament by philhellene Justice Minister Michael Atkinson.
The South Australia Parliament recognized that the genocide committed between 1915 and 1922 by the Ottoman State against the Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians and other minorities in Asia Minor is among the biggest crimes ever against humanity and is being condemned by the people and the state of South Australia.
The resolution maintains that the genocide cannot be erased because of the time that has passed since then and calls on the Australian federal government to formally recognize the genocide.
Photo: philhellene Justice Minister of South Australia Michael Atkinson (dressed in a Pontian costume) in an event of Greek expatriates in Adelaide.
Source: ANA-MPA
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
GREEK GENOCIDE
Pontus (in Greek, Πόντος) is a historic region on the Turkish Black Sea coast that was home to a large Greek population, known as Pontic Greeks or Pontians, before the Greek Genocide took place. Pontus is a region of Asia Minor.
Greek Population
At the start of the Twentieth Century the Greek population of Pontus numbered several hundred thousand. Many Greeks lived in the coastal towns, such as Trebizond, Samsoun, Ordou and Kerassund, while others lived inland. American sources place the 1914 pre-genocide population at 457,000 while the 1912 Greek Patriarchate statistics record a population of at most 478,000. Ottoman Turkish statistics record the population as 363,000. Other sources, such as those of the Central Council of Pontus, claim there were as many as 700,000 Greeks in Pontus. In a February 1919 memorandum calling for their self-determination, the National League of the Euxine Pontus described the Pontus Greek population as follows:
"According to the most recent information received from the different dioceses, the orthodox Greek population can be evaluated at about 700,000 souls, without counting the 350,000 who, fleeing from Turkish persecution, took refugee several years ago in foreign countries, there are about 250,000 in the Caucasia and the remainder are in other countries."
However, as the League was making territorial claims in the region these figures cannot be judged reliable especially given how they conflict with most other accounts. Thus, the pre-genocide Greek population of the Pontus region of Asia Minor can be estimated as not exceeding 500,000.
Pontus during the Greek Genocide
As with all Greek-inhabited regions of Ottoman Turkey, the Greeks of Pontus were subject to a genocidal campaign. The Austrian Ambassador of Constantinople, Markgraf Johann Pallavicini, described the events in and around Samsoun in December 1916:
“11 December 1916. Five Greek villages were pillaged and then burnt. Their inhabitants were deported. 12 December 1916. In the outskirts of the city more villages are burnt. 14 December 1916. Entire villages including schools and the churches are set on fire. 17 December 1916. In the district of Samsoun they burnt eleven villages. The pillaging continues. The village inhabitants are ill-treated. 31 December 1916. Approximately 18 villages were completely burnt down, 15 partially. Around 60 women were raped. Even churches are plundered.”
On 29 December 1918, the Archbishop of Amassia and Samsoun, Germanos, wrote:
"Towards the middle of December, 1916, began the deportations from Amissos (Samsoun). First of all the army reduced to ashes all the region round about. ... A large number of women and children were killed, the young girls of the nation outraged, and immediately driven into the Interior. ... The majority of course died on the road and none of the dead at all being buried, vultures and dogs feasted on human flesh. ... Believe me ... that out of 160,000 people of Pontus deported, only a tenth and in some places a twentieth have survived. In a village, for example, that counted 100 inhabitants, five only will ever return; the others are dead. Rare indeed are those happy villages where a tenth of the deported population has been saved."
According to figures compiled by the Greek Patriarchate in Constantinople by 1918 257,019 Greeks from the Pontus region of Asia Minor had been deported to the Interior. At the end of 1921 some Greek sources placed the Pontus death toll at 303,238. In 1922 the Central Council of Pontus stated:
"Since the year 1914 the Ottoman Government, on the lines of a plan organised and premeditated has caused more than 1,500,000 Greeks and Armenians of Asia Minor to be massacred by its local agents. The infortunate Greek populations of Pontus have been decimated by murder and privation, have witnessed their churches profaned, their daughters violated, their wives dishonoured, babies snatched from the arms of their mothers and hurled against the walls, old men and children burned within the churches and priests massacred under the portals."
Statistics on Pontus, Central Council of Pontus, 1922
District
Communities
Churches
Schools
Population Exterminated
Amasia (Greek: Αμάσεια, Turkish: Amasya)
400
603
518
134,078
Neocaesarea (Greek: Νεοκαισάρεια, Turkish: Niksar)
95
135
106
27,216
Trebizond (Greek: Τραπεζούς, Turkish: Trabzon)
70
127
84
38,434
Chaldia (Greek: Χαλδία)
145
182
152
64,582
Rodopolis (Greek: Ροδόπολη)
41
53
45
17,479
Colonia (Greek: Κολωνία)
64
74
55
21,448
Total:
815
1,174
960
303,237
Unlike elsewhere in the Empire, there were times when the Greeks of Pontus took up arms in an act of self defense to resist the massacres being perpetrated against them. In this respect Pontus makes an interesting case study of the Greek Genocide, much like the resistance demonstrated at Van by Armenians during the Armenian Genocide.
Only 182,169 Greeks of Pontus were ever recorded as having reached Greece. In 1925 George K. Balabanis wrote: "... the total human loss of Pontians from the [beginning] of the General [Great] War until March 1924 can be estimated at three hundred and fifty three thousand [353,000] [persons], murdered, hanged and dead through punishment, illness and privations." However, if one gives careful consideration to the various estimates for the region's pre-war population and the migration of Pontians into both Russian territory and Greece, it is clear that Pontian deaths are unlikely to have ever reached such a figure. A more reasonable estimate might be 250,000 which indicates that approximately 50% of the total population was killed.
Regional Isolation in Greek Genocide Historiography
In recent years a number of historians of Pontic Greek descent have marginalized the genocidal plight of other Ottoman Greeks by promoting the thesis of an exclusive and distinct genocide against the Greeks of Pontus, a “Pontic Greek Genocide” or “Pontian Genocide” (in Greek, Η Γενοκτονία των Ελλήνων του Πόντου) - a thesis which is not historically viable as a solitary event when treated in absolute isolation from the fate of all other Ottoman Greeks. For example, Konstantinos Photiades (in Greek, Κωνσταντίνος Φωτιάδης), an academic at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, has produced a fourteen volume publication titled The Genocide of the Greeks of Pontus [Η Γενοκτονία των Ελλήνων του Πόντου] (Thessaloniki: Ηρόδοτος, 2004) which largely consists of transcribed archival documentation sourced from more than half a dozen countries. Photiades' publication is undoubtedly an immense contribution to scholarship of the Greek Genocide which embodies years of research. However, despite the title of his work, Photiades systematically uses documentation extrinsic to Pontus to support the so-called “Pontian Genocide” thesis.
Defining the Pontian experience as an exclusive, isolated and distinct event is a relatively contemporary thesis which emerged in the mid 1980s at earliest. The exact set of circumstances which triggered a change to an established sixty-year-old discourse in the historiography of the Greek Genocide is unclear and open to much speculation but many believe that a set of 1986 articles authored by Michalis Charalambidis (in Greek, Μιχάλης Χαραλαμπίδης) was the starting point of a new era where the Pontian plight would take precedence over all other Ottoman Greeks or at least in some circles. This distorted approach to the fate of Ottoman Greeks has mislead a great number of western scholars. As a result, grave mistakes are widespread in the writings of those attempting to address the fate of Ottoman Greeks, with many under the impression that Ottoman Greeks were all Pontians. For example, in his entry on genocide assignments for students in Encyclopedia of Genocide (ed. Israel Charny) Colin Tatz mentions the "fate of the Pontian Greeks in Smyrna in 1923"; Merrill D. Peterson in "Starving Armenians" writes "Kemal's army had driven one and a half million Greeks from the Pontus, killing 360,000 in the process"; Mark Levene's paper Creating a Modern "Zone of Genocide" implies that the Greeks of Eastern Anatolia were all Pontic Greeks; Peter Balakian in The Burning Tigris is under the impression that by the summer of 1915 deaths among Ottoman Greeks were principally Pontians when in actual fact the deportations and massacres in the Pontus region began in earnest in 1916; and similar inaccuracies can be found in Samuel Totten and Paul R. Bartrop's Dictionary of Genocide. All these errors can be largely attributed to the vast amount of misinformation widely circulated by Pontian community organizations in the last few years.
It should be noted that not all Pontic Greek scholars restrict themselves to this spurious and fallacious view. For example, Harry Tsirkinidis is one historian of Pontic Greek ancestry who has demonstrated, relying heavily on archival material, that the Greek Genocide encompassed the Greeks of Thrace and Asia Minor, as well as Pontus. See, for instance, his work At last we uprooted them... The genocide of Greeks of Pontus, Thrace and Asia Minor, through the French archives. Likewise, Polihronis Enepekides, a university professor in Vienna, has conducted lectures on the Greek Genocide such as The Holocaust of the Greek Asia Minor Civilization as described in the secret documents of Vienna, Berlin and Vern. Moreover, western historians that have examined the fate of the Ottoman Greek minorities have also concluded that the genocidal campaign encompassed Greeks throughout the Empire and was by no way restricted to Pontus. This is the view of the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS), an organization of the world’s foremost experts on genocide, as well as many other leading specialists in the field of genocide studies.
More importantly, archival documentation consistently details a program of extermination implemented throughout Ottoman Turkey and which commenced not in Pontus but first in Thrace and Western Anatolia and then later expanded to other regions. For example, Stanley E. Hopkins, an American relief worker and an eyewitness to the Greek Genocide, wrote:
"The deportation of the Greeks is not limited to the Black Sea Coast but is being carried out throughout the whole country governed by the Nationalists."
Sir Horace Rumbold, the British High Commissioner in Constantinople, informed the British Foreign Office by telegram of the widespread destruction of the Greeks:
"At present fresh deportations and outrages are starting in all parts of Asia Minor, from the Northern Seaports to South Eastern district."
In a 1918 article titled "Massacre of the Greeks in Turkey", the special correspondent of The London Morning Post in Constantinople wrote:
"The populations who were the first to suffer were the Greek colonies of Thrace, of the coast of the Sea of Marmora, and of the coast of Asia Minor."
It is not unknown for other chapters in the history of the Greek Genocide to be examined in isolation; for example, the September 1922 events in Smyrna. Examining aspects and regions of the Greek Genocide as case studies is a legitimate approach to scholarship but defining these events as distinct genocidal campaigns in their own right is bordering revisionism.
In their study, Late Ottoman genocides (2008), Dominik J. Schaller and Jürgen Zimmerer claim:
"... the isolated study and emphasis of a single group’s victimhood during the collapse of the Ottoman Empire fails to really understand Young Turks’ motives and aims or its grand design. As part of memory politics, the diverse victim groups’ fates are still dealt with mainly in the context of their own national histories. And since Armenian, Assyrian, Greek and Kurdish national histories are mainly concerned with their own groups’ fate, the wider context is largely ignored, i.e. the interrelations and links between different murderous campaigns led by the Young Turks remain undiscovered. Moreover, the insights won from the concentration on particular groups are lost for a wider historical scholarship as most Kurds won’t study the Greek’s national history and vice versa, to name just one example."
Needless to say, to elevate the regional Pontian plight above and beyond that of all other Ottoman Greeks, contrary to archival material and the reports available, is tantamount to establishing a hierarchy of genocide victims, a practice which should arouse indignation and condemnation. The Greeks of Pontus were indeed subject to a ferocious murderous campaign of genocidal quality but throughout the Empire other Ottoman Greeks were subject to the same campaign and, as such, their plight should be duly acknowledged.
Suggested Reading
Black Book: The Tragedy of Pontus 1914-1922, Edition of the Central Council of Pontus, Athens, 1922.
The Turkish Atrocities in the Black Sea Territories: Copy of Letter of His Grace Germanos, Lord Archbishop of Amassia and Samsoun, Delegation of the Pan-Pontic Congress, Norbury, Natzio & Co. Ltd, 1919.
Γεώργιος Κ. Βαλαβάνης, Σύγχρονος γενική ιστορία του Πόντου, Αθήνα, 1925.
Αντώνιος Γαβριηλίδης, Η Μαύρη Εθνική συμφορά του Πόντου 1914-1922, Αθήνα, 1924.
© 2006-2008 Greek-Genocide.org
http://www.greek-genocide.org/
Greek Population
At the start of the Twentieth Century the Greek population of Pontus numbered several hundred thousand. Many Greeks lived in the coastal towns, such as Trebizond, Samsoun, Ordou and Kerassund, while others lived inland. American sources place the 1914 pre-genocide population at 457,000 while the 1912 Greek Patriarchate statistics record a population of at most 478,000. Ottoman Turkish statistics record the population as 363,000. Other sources, such as those of the Central Council of Pontus, claim there were as many as 700,000 Greeks in Pontus. In a February 1919 memorandum calling for their self-determination, the National League of the Euxine Pontus described the Pontus Greek population as follows:
"According to the most recent information received from the different dioceses, the orthodox Greek population can be evaluated at about 700,000 souls, without counting the 350,000 who, fleeing from Turkish persecution, took refugee several years ago in foreign countries, there are about 250,000 in the Caucasia and the remainder are in other countries."
However, as the League was making territorial claims in the region these figures cannot be judged reliable especially given how they conflict with most other accounts. Thus, the pre-genocide Greek population of the Pontus region of Asia Minor can be estimated as not exceeding 500,000.
Pontus during the Greek Genocide
As with all Greek-inhabited regions of Ottoman Turkey, the Greeks of Pontus were subject to a genocidal campaign. The Austrian Ambassador of Constantinople, Markgraf Johann Pallavicini, described the events in and around Samsoun in December 1916:
“11 December 1916. Five Greek villages were pillaged and then burnt. Their inhabitants were deported. 12 December 1916. In the outskirts of the city more villages are burnt. 14 December 1916. Entire villages including schools and the churches are set on fire. 17 December 1916. In the district of Samsoun they burnt eleven villages. The pillaging continues. The village inhabitants are ill-treated. 31 December 1916. Approximately 18 villages were completely burnt down, 15 partially. Around 60 women were raped. Even churches are plundered.”
On 29 December 1918, the Archbishop of Amassia and Samsoun, Germanos, wrote:
"Towards the middle of December, 1916, began the deportations from Amissos (Samsoun). First of all the army reduced to ashes all the region round about. ... A large number of women and children were killed, the young girls of the nation outraged, and immediately driven into the Interior. ... The majority of course died on the road and none of the dead at all being buried, vultures and dogs feasted on human flesh. ... Believe me ... that out of 160,000 people of Pontus deported, only a tenth and in some places a twentieth have survived. In a village, for example, that counted 100 inhabitants, five only will ever return; the others are dead. Rare indeed are those happy villages where a tenth of the deported population has been saved."
According to figures compiled by the Greek Patriarchate in Constantinople by 1918 257,019 Greeks from the Pontus region of Asia Minor had been deported to the Interior. At the end of 1921 some Greek sources placed the Pontus death toll at 303,238. In 1922 the Central Council of Pontus stated:
"Since the year 1914 the Ottoman Government, on the lines of a plan organised and premeditated has caused more than 1,500,000 Greeks and Armenians of Asia Minor to be massacred by its local agents. The infortunate Greek populations of Pontus have been decimated by murder and privation, have witnessed their churches profaned, their daughters violated, their wives dishonoured, babies snatched from the arms of their mothers and hurled against the walls, old men and children burned within the churches and priests massacred under the portals."
Statistics on Pontus, Central Council of Pontus, 1922
District
Communities
Churches
Schools
Population Exterminated
Amasia (Greek: Αμάσεια, Turkish: Amasya)
400
603
518
134,078
Neocaesarea (Greek: Νεοκαισάρεια, Turkish: Niksar)
95
135
106
27,216
Trebizond (Greek: Τραπεζούς, Turkish: Trabzon)
70
127
84
38,434
Chaldia (Greek: Χαλδία)
145
182
152
64,582
Rodopolis (Greek: Ροδόπολη)
41
53
45
17,479
Colonia (Greek: Κολωνία)
64
74
55
21,448
Total:
815
1,174
960
303,237
Unlike elsewhere in the Empire, there were times when the Greeks of Pontus took up arms in an act of self defense to resist the massacres being perpetrated against them. In this respect Pontus makes an interesting case study of the Greek Genocide, much like the resistance demonstrated at Van by Armenians during the Armenian Genocide.
Only 182,169 Greeks of Pontus were ever recorded as having reached Greece. In 1925 George K. Balabanis wrote: "... the total human loss of Pontians from the [beginning] of the General [Great] War until March 1924 can be estimated at three hundred and fifty three thousand [353,000] [persons], murdered, hanged and dead through punishment, illness and privations." However, if one gives careful consideration to the various estimates for the region's pre-war population and the migration of Pontians into both Russian territory and Greece, it is clear that Pontian deaths are unlikely to have ever reached such a figure. A more reasonable estimate might be 250,000 which indicates that approximately 50% of the total population was killed.
Regional Isolation in Greek Genocide Historiography
In recent years a number of historians of Pontic Greek descent have marginalized the genocidal plight of other Ottoman Greeks by promoting the thesis of an exclusive and distinct genocide against the Greeks of Pontus, a “Pontic Greek Genocide” or “Pontian Genocide” (in Greek, Η Γενοκτονία των Ελλήνων του Πόντου) - a thesis which is not historically viable as a solitary event when treated in absolute isolation from the fate of all other Ottoman Greeks. For example, Konstantinos Photiades (in Greek, Κωνσταντίνος Φωτιάδης), an academic at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, has produced a fourteen volume publication titled The Genocide of the Greeks of Pontus [Η Γενοκτονία των Ελλήνων του Πόντου] (Thessaloniki: Ηρόδοτος, 2004) which largely consists of transcribed archival documentation sourced from more than half a dozen countries. Photiades' publication is undoubtedly an immense contribution to scholarship of the Greek Genocide which embodies years of research. However, despite the title of his work, Photiades systematically uses documentation extrinsic to Pontus to support the so-called “Pontian Genocide” thesis.
Defining the Pontian experience as an exclusive, isolated and distinct event is a relatively contemporary thesis which emerged in the mid 1980s at earliest. The exact set of circumstances which triggered a change to an established sixty-year-old discourse in the historiography of the Greek Genocide is unclear and open to much speculation but many believe that a set of 1986 articles authored by Michalis Charalambidis (in Greek, Μιχάλης Χαραλαμπίδης) was the starting point of a new era where the Pontian plight would take precedence over all other Ottoman Greeks or at least in some circles. This distorted approach to the fate of Ottoman Greeks has mislead a great number of western scholars. As a result, grave mistakes are widespread in the writings of those attempting to address the fate of Ottoman Greeks, with many under the impression that Ottoman Greeks were all Pontians. For example, in his entry on genocide assignments for students in Encyclopedia of Genocide (ed. Israel Charny) Colin Tatz mentions the "fate of the Pontian Greeks in Smyrna in 1923"; Merrill D. Peterson in "Starving Armenians" writes "Kemal's army had driven one and a half million Greeks from the Pontus, killing 360,000 in the process"; Mark Levene's paper Creating a Modern "Zone of Genocide" implies that the Greeks of Eastern Anatolia were all Pontic Greeks; Peter Balakian in The Burning Tigris is under the impression that by the summer of 1915 deaths among Ottoman Greeks were principally Pontians when in actual fact the deportations and massacres in the Pontus region began in earnest in 1916; and similar inaccuracies can be found in Samuel Totten and Paul R. Bartrop's Dictionary of Genocide. All these errors can be largely attributed to the vast amount of misinformation widely circulated by Pontian community organizations in the last few years.
It should be noted that not all Pontic Greek scholars restrict themselves to this spurious and fallacious view. For example, Harry Tsirkinidis is one historian of Pontic Greek ancestry who has demonstrated, relying heavily on archival material, that the Greek Genocide encompassed the Greeks of Thrace and Asia Minor, as well as Pontus. See, for instance, his work At last we uprooted them... The genocide of Greeks of Pontus, Thrace and Asia Minor, through the French archives. Likewise, Polihronis Enepekides, a university professor in Vienna, has conducted lectures on the Greek Genocide such as The Holocaust of the Greek Asia Minor Civilization as described in the secret documents of Vienna, Berlin and Vern. Moreover, western historians that have examined the fate of the Ottoman Greek minorities have also concluded that the genocidal campaign encompassed Greeks throughout the Empire and was by no way restricted to Pontus. This is the view of the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS), an organization of the world’s foremost experts on genocide, as well as many other leading specialists in the field of genocide studies.
More importantly, archival documentation consistently details a program of extermination implemented throughout Ottoman Turkey and which commenced not in Pontus but first in Thrace and Western Anatolia and then later expanded to other regions. For example, Stanley E. Hopkins, an American relief worker and an eyewitness to the Greek Genocide, wrote:
"The deportation of the Greeks is not limited to the Black Sea Coast but is being carried out throughout the whole country governed by the Nationalists."
Sir Horace Rumbold, the British High Commissioner in Constantinople, informed the British Foreign Office by telegram of the widespread destruction of the Greeks:
"At present fresh deportations and outrages are starting in all parts of Asia Minor, from the Northern Seaports to South Eastern district."
In a 1918 article titled "Massacre of the Greeks in Turkey", the special correspondent of The London Morning Post in Constantinople wrote:
"The populations who were the first to suffer were the Greek colonies of Thrace, of the coast of the Sea of Marmora, and of the coast of Asia Minor."
It is not unknown for other chapters in the history of the Greek Genocide to be examined in isolation; for example, the September 1922 events in Smyrna. Examining aspects and regions of the Greek Genocide as case studies is a legitimate approach to scholarship but defining these events as distinct genocidal campaigns in their own right is bordering revisionism.
In their study, Late Ottoman genocides (2008), Dominik J. Schaller and Jürgen Zimmerer claim:
"... the isolated study and emphasis of a single group’s victimhood during the collapse of the Ottoman Empire fails to really understand Young Turks’ motives and aims or its grand design. As part of memory politics, the diverse victim groups’ fates are still dealt with mainly in the context of their own national histories. And since Armenian, Assyrian, Greek and Kurdish national histories are mainly concerned with their own groups’ fate, the wider context is largely ignored, i.e. the interrelations and links between different murderous campaigns led by the Young Turks remain undiscovered. Moreover, the insights won from the concentration on particular groups are lost for a wider historical scholarship as most Kurds won’t study the Greek’s national history and vice versa, to name just one example."
Needless to say, to elevate the regional Pontian plight above and beyond that of all other Ottoman Greeks, contrary to archival material and the reports available, is tantamount to establishing a hierarchy of genocide victims, a practice which should arouse indignation and condemnation. The Greeks of Pontus were indeed subject to a ferocious murderous campaign of genocidal quality but throughout the Empire other Ottoman Greeks were subject to the same campaign and, as such, their plight should be duly acknowledged.
Suggested Reading
Black Book: The Tragedy of Pontus 1914-1922, Edition of the Central Council of Pontus, Athens, 1922.
The Turkish Atrocities in the Black Sea Territories: Copy of Letter of His Grace Germanos, Lord Archbishop of Amassia and Samsoun, Delegation of the Pan-Pontic Congress, Norbury, Natzio & Co. Ltd, 1919.
Γεώργιος Κ. Βαλαβάνης, Σύγχρονος γενική ιστορία του Πόντου, Αθήνα, 1925.
Αντώνιος Γαβριηλίδης, Η Μαύρη Εθνική συμφορά του Πόντου 1914-1922, Αθήνα, 1924.
© 2006-2008 Greek-Genocide.org
http://www.greek-genocide.org/
Historical Background
“PONTUS” is a Hellenic word for “SEA”. It refers to the shores of the Euxinos Pontus (the Friendly Sea), or in English, the Black Sea. In particular, “Pontus” is a reference to its south-eastern shores, the Black Sea coast of Asia Minor.
Hellenic ties to this region go back to prehistoric times; to the days of Jason and the Argonauts in their quest for the Golden Fleece. {Mountain tribes in the Caucasus have, for centuries, used sheep skins, stretched across river-beds, to catch tiny particles of alluvial gold.}
In historic times, Sinope was the first city founded by colonists from Miletus (one of the Ionian cities) in 785 BC. Later, colonists from Sinope founded Trapezous (Trapezounta/Trebizond/ Trabzon) in 756 BC and many other cities including Amissos (Sampsounta), Kotyora (Ordu), Kerasus (Giresun) and Diskourias (Sukhumi, Georgia). Hellenic cities mushroomed all around the Black and Azov Seas. After settling the coastline, the hinterland, too, became completely Hellenised, a process completed with the conquest of Asia Minor by Alexander the Great in the late 4th century BC.
Diogenes (famous for wandering the streets of Athens with his lamp, looking for an honest man) was from Sinope. Strabo, the great historian and geographer, was from Amaseia. It was at Trapezous that Xenophon and his 10 000 soldiers found safe haven in 400 BC, following their nearly eighteen-month retreat from Mesopotamia.
Following the death of Alexander the Great in June 323 BC, his generals began fighting amongst themselves over the empire he had created. Mithridates the Builder exploited this infighting to establish Pontus as an independent kingdom in 301 BC. Under the dynasty Mithridates founded, Pontus flourished as a great commercial and educational centre. Mithridates was the last Hellenic ruler to succumb to Roman rule in 1 BC.
It was in Roman times that the Apostle Andreas (Andrew) brought Christianity to Pontus in 35 AD. With the division of the Roman Empire in 395 AD, Pontus became part of the Eastern Roman Empire, later to become known as the Byzantine Empire. When Constantinople fell to the knights of the Fourth Crusade in 1204, Alexius the Great Comnenus established the Trapezounta Empire, a bastion of Hellenism that lasted for 257 years. The deposed Byzantine Imperial Court moved to Nicaea and waited for the opportunity to return to Constantinople, which they did in 1204. The dynasty Alexius founded (amongst them Manuel A’ and Anna Komneni), were great patrons of the arts and of commerce for centuries. The centre of Pontian Christianity, the Monastery of Panayia Soumela (Our Lady of Mount Melas), in the mountains of Trapezounta district. Founded in 386 AD, it reached its peak under the Komnenus Dynasty in the 1200s. The still magnificent ruins of the Monastery remain a place of pilgrimage to this day for Christian and Moslem Pontians alike.
Cardinal Bessarion (Vissarion 1403-1472), who created a scandal by defecting from the Orthodox Church to the Roman Catholic Church, also hailed from Pontus, as did the Hypsilandis family (centuries later to become rulers of the Danubian Provinces of Wallachia and Moldavia). Bessarion saw the union of the Eastern and Western churches as the only hope of preventing the fall of the Byzantine Empire to the Turks. In 1439, he was made a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, abandoning the post he had held since 1437, that of Metropolitan of Nicaea. He died in Ravenna, Italy.
The Seljuk Turks attempted to invade Pontus, following their sweep through the Caucasus Mountains region, but were rebuffed in the early part of the 11th century. They proceeded into Kappadokia and, following their victory over the Byzantine Army in the Battle of Mantzikert in 1071, established the Sultanate of Iconium (modern-day Konya). This victory, plus their defeat of the Byzantine Army at Myriokephalo (outside Philadelpheia, Asia Minor) in 1176 gave the nomadic Turks control of most of the Anatolian plateau.
Pontus was the last fragment of the Byzantine Empire to fall to the Ottoman Turks. On August 15 1461, Sultan Mehmet II, conqueror of Constantinople, besieged Trapezounta. Forty days later, the city fell. This conquest did not de-Hellenise Pontus, despite regular waves of forced Islamization (using a range of measures including wholesale massacres and mass kidnappings of male children). Testimony to this fact are the numerous churches, cathedrals, monasteries and schools established between 1461 and 1914. ‘De-Hellenization’ of Pontus and Asia Minor was not accomplished until 1922-23 ...or so the ‘Young Turk’ regime thought.
More than thirty centuries of cultural and political development lay behind Pontian Hellenism in 1914. Genocide and Diaspora lay ahead. Pontian Hellenes are a distinct and unique branch of Hellenism. They today retain their own Hellenic dialect, folk-dances, folk music, literature and theatre.
http://www.aihgs.com/pontushi.htm
The Genocide and its Aftermath
Pontian Genocide Bibliography
Literary and Religious Figures of Pontus and Asia Minor
Back to Pontian Homepage
Back to CCGS Homepage
Hellenic ties to this region go back to prehistoric times; to the days of Jason and the Argonauts in their quest for the Golden Fleece. {Mountain tribes in the Caucasus have, for centuries, used sheep skins, stretched across river-beds, to catch tiny particles of alluvial gold.}
In historic times, Sinope was the first city founded by colonists from Miletus (one of the Ionian cities) in 785 BC. Later, colonists from Sinope founded Trapezous (Trapezounta/Trebizond/ Trabzon) in 756 BC and many other cities including Amissos (Sampsounta), Kotyora (Ordu), Kerasus (Giresun) and Diskourias (Sukhumi, Georgia). Hellenic cities mushroomed all around the Black and Azov Seas. After settling the coastline, the hinterland, too, became completely Hellenised, a process completed with the conquest of Asia Minor by Alexander the Great in the late 4th century BC.
Diogenes (famous for wandering the streets of Athens with his lamp, looking for an honest man) was from Sinope. Strabo, the great historian and geographer, was from Amaseia. It was at Trapezous that Xenophon and his 10 000 soldiers found safe haven in 400 BC, following their nearly eighteen-month retreat from Mesopotamia.
Following the death of Alexander the Great in June 323 BC, his generals began fighting amongst themselves over the empire he had created. Mithridates the Builder exploited this infighting to establish Pontus as an independent kingdom in 301 BC. Under the dynasty Mithridates founded, Pontus flourished as a great commercial and educational centre. Mithridates was the last Hellenic ruler to succumb to Roman rule in 1 BC.
It was in Roman times that the Apostle Andreas (Andrew) brought Christianity to Pontus in 35 AD. With the division of the Roman Empire in 395 AD, Pontus became part of the Eastern Roman Empire, later to become known as the Byzantine Empire. When Constantinople fell to the knights of the Fourth Crusade in 1204, Alexius the Great Comnenus established the Trapezounta Empire, a bastion of Hellenism that lasted for 257 years. The deposed Byzantine Imperial Court moved to Nicaea and waited for the opportunity to return to Constantinople, which they did in 1204. The dynasty Alexius founded (amongst them Manuel A’ and Anna Komneni), were great patrons of the arts and of commerce for centuries. The centre of Pontian Christianity, the Monastery of Panayia Soumela (Our Lady of Mount Melas), in the mountains of Trapezounta district. Founded in 386 AD, it reached its peak under the Komnenus Dynasty in the 1200s. The still magnificent ruins of the Monastery remain a place of pilgrimage to this day for Christian and Moslem Pontians alike.
Cardinal Bessarion (Vissarion 1403-1472), who created a scandal by defecting from the Orthodox Church to the Roman Catholic Church, also hailed from Pontus, as did the Hypsilandis family (centuries later to become rulers of the Danubian Provinces of Wallachia and Moldavia). Bessarion saw the union of the Eastern and Western churches as the only hope of preventing the fall of the Byzantine Empire to the Turks. In 1439, he was made a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, abandoning the post he had held since 1437, that of Metropolitan of Nicaea. He died in Ravenna, Italy.
The Seljuk Turks attempted to invade Pontus, following their sweep through the Caucasus Mountains region, but were rebuffed in the early part of the 11th century. They proceeded into Kappadokia and, following their victory over the Byzantine Army in the Battle of Mantzikert in 1071, established the Sultanate of Iconium (modern-day Konya). This victory, plus their defeat of the Byzantine Army at Myriokephalo (outside Philadelpheia, Asia Minor) in 1176 gave the nomadic Turks control of most of the Anatolian plateau.
Pontus was the last fragment of the Byzantine Empire to fall to the Ottoman Turks. On August 15 1461, Sultan Mehmet II, conqueror of Constantinople, besieged Trapezounta. Forty days later, the city fell. This conquest did not de-Hellenise Pontus, despite regular waves of forced Islamization (using a range of measures including wholesale massacres and mass kidnappings of male children). Testimony to this fact are the numerous churches, cathedrals, monasteries and schools established between 1461 and 1914. ‘De-Hellenization’ of Pontus and Asia Minor was not accomplished until 1922-23 ...or so the ‘Young Turk’ regime thought.
More than thirty centuries of cultural and political development lay behind Pontian Hellenism in 1914. Genocide and Diaspora lay ahead. Pontian Hellenes are a distinct and unique branch of Hellenism. They today retain their own Hellenic dialect, folk-dances, folk music, literature and theatre.
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The Pontian Muslims estimate theirs number in 500.000.
Turkey is tottaly un-democratic multiethnic statethese people survive 100 years now under very touph poltical and social circumstancesdont forget that Turkey is the number 1 country to pogroms and genocides against Christians of course, but these people consider themselves as Pontian firstthat already feel pressure from Turkish authorities after the latest articles and interviews.The Pontian Muslims estimate theirs number in 500.000.
The Pontians, or Pontic Greeks, are a Greek people living in the Black Sea coastal region of Pontus, currently in Turkey. They converted to Islam in the 18th century and have largely retained their unique language, culture and identity in the face of massive assimilation pressures and anti-Greek discrimination. At a population of around 300,000, Pontic Greeks are concentrated in five or six villages in the regions of Tonya and Trabzon and in nearly 50 villages at the Yukarύ Solaklύ valley, south of Of. There are also at least two villages founded by Pontian emmigrants at Sakarya, near Istanbul. Although Pontians are Sunni Muslims, many Turks denounce them to be crypto-Christians. Not that there exists any evidence to suggest insincerity in the Pontians' Islam. Their allegience to the Muslim faith is called into question merely on account of their clinging on to their Greek idenitity which, according to the ultra-nationalist Turkish mindset, is proof of anti-Turkishness and, therefore, hypocricy and treason against Islam! Not surprisingly, Pontic Greeks will generally refuse to refer to themselves as such due to the ever-pervasive Turkish supremacism which engenders inferiority complexes in the republic's many supressed minority groups. Instead, most Pontic Greeks prefer to be called "Turkoi" or "Turkos" - a rather silly and nonsensical ethonymn which is actually the Greek noun for "Turk"! The correct Pontian self-designation, "Romioi" or "Romios", the Pontian Muslims reserve for Greek-speaking Christians. The Pontian language itself, called "Romaika" by its speakers, is a dialect of archaic Cappadocian Greek and has its origins in Attic Greek. Because Pontic and standard Greek developed independently for almost two thousand years, the two tongues are, for the most part, mutually unintelligable. During its development, Pontian was also heavily influenced by Byzantine Greek and Caucasian languages. The fact that Greek has no officially recognised status in Turkey, along with other assimilation pressures, means that today, the Pontian languge is facing extinction.
The Pontians, or Pontic Greeks, are a Greek people living in the Black Sea coastal region of Pontus, currently in Turkey. They converted to Islam in the 18th century and have largely retained their unique language, culture and identity in the face of massive assimilation pressures and anti-Greek discrimination. At a population of around 300,000, Pontic Greeks are concentrated in five or six villages in the regions of Tonya and Trabzon and in nearly 50 villages at the Yukarύ Solaklύ valley, south of Of. There are also at least two villages founded by Pontian emmigrants at Sakarya, near Istanbul. Although Pontians are Sunni Muslims, many Turks denounce them to be crypto-Christians. Not that there exists any evidence to suggest insincerity in the Pontians' Islam. Their allegience to the Muslim faith is called into question merely on account of their clinging on to their Greek idenitity which, according to the ultra-nationalist Turkish mindset, is proof of anti-Turkishness and, therefore, hypocricy and treason against Islam! Not surprisingly, Pontic Greeks will generally refuse to refer to themselves as such due to the ever-pervasive Turkish supremacism which engenders inferiority complexes in the republic's many supressed minority groups. Instead, most Pontic Greeks prefer to be called "Turkoi" or "Turkos" - a rather silly and nonsensical ethonymn which is actually the Greek noun for "Turk"! The correct Pontian self-designation, "Romioi" or "Romios", the Pontian Muslims reserve for Greek-speaking Christians. The Pontian language itself, called "Romaika" by its speakers, is a dialect of archaic Cappadocian Greek and has its origins in Attic Greek. Because Pontic and standard Greek developed independently for almost two thousand years, the two tongues are, for the most part, mutually unintelligable. During its development, Pontian was also heavily influenced by Byzantine Greek and Caucasian languages. The fact that Greek has no officially recognised status in Turkey, along with other assimilation pressures, means that today, the Pontian languge is facing extinction.
DOĞU KARADENİZ’DE TÜRKÇE, RUMCA/PONTOSÇA, LAZCA HALK ŞARKILARI VE BİR ÖLÜM DESTANI, aktari. Ömer Asan
DOĞU KARADENİZ’DE TÜRKÇE, RUMCA/PONTOSÇA, LAZCA HALK ŞARKILARI VE BİR ÖLÜM DESTANI
[Toplumbilim Dergisi, Mayıs 2001, 12. sayıda yayımlanmıştır.]
Ömer Asan
Bugün dünyanın her yerinde halk şarkıları söylendiğini biliyoruz. Yine de biliyoruz ki, farklı coğrafyalarda farklı şarkılar söylene gelmektedir. Yani her bölgenin kendine özgü gelenekleri, tavırları, gelenekleri var. Aynı etnik gruptan olduğu varsayılan ancak farklı coğrafyalarda yaşayan topluluklarda da böylesi farklılıklara rastlanmaktadır. Tersi bir durum da zaman zaman gözlenebilir; yani aynı coğrafyada farklı kültür gruplarına rastlayabiliyoruz. Doğu Karadeniz, bu açıdan incelenmeye değer bir alandır.
Bugün Karadeniz’de söylenen şarkıların belli bir ölçüsü vardır. Genellikle dörtlü mısra halinde ve her mısrası yedi heceden oluşmaktadırlar. İkinci mısra ile dördüncü mısranın son hecelerinin kafiyeli olmasına dikkat edilir. İlk iki mısra, son iki mısradan anlam bakımından bağımsız olabilir. Anlam bakımından bütünlük taşıyan dörtlü türkülerse çok daha duygulu ve etkileyicidirler. Örneğin:
E patsi nto nistazis E kız ne uyuklarsın
Mel ce vutero stazis Bal ve yağ damlarsınEla as horevume Gel horon oynayalımİse ti manas patsis Sen ananın kızısın(Of-Erenköy, Fuat Keskin)
Bu türkü, kız-erkek karışık veya karşılıklı yapılan horon esnasında bir kıza atılmıştır ve ilk iki mısra ile son iki mısra anlam bakımından birbirinden bağımsızdır. İlk iki mısra, son iki mısraya lirik ve etkileyici bir ayak oluşturmak, son iki dizeyi söylemeden önce dinleyicilerin dikkatini çekmek amacını taşımaktadır.Ey gidi Kazankıran Ey gidi KazankıranTa şonasis lömena Hep karların erimiş
Erthe i pşim eş eğven Geldi canım çıkıyor
Ta tsaruşa’m demena Çarıklar çözülmemiş(Of-Erenköy, Saliha Eroğlu)
Bu türkü ise, ilkyazın yaylaya çıkmakta olan köylülerin dik ve sarp bir yolu olan Kazankıran geçidi için söyledikleri bir dörtlüktür. Burada bütün mısralar anlam bakımından bütünlük taşımakta ve geleneksel kafiyeye/lirizme uymaktadırlar.
Genellikle her halk şarkısının/türküsünün kendi şiiri ve bestesi vardır. Oysa Trabzon ve civarında bir beste/hava üzerine binlerce dörtlük okunabilir. Burada türkünün ezgisi iki mısralık bir kalıptır ve her iki mısrada bir tekrarlanır. Bu tarzda okunan ve bugüne kadar söylene gelen türkülerin çoğu anonimdir.
Trabzon’da atma/çatma denen türkü geleneği bugün yalnızca Of ilçesinde sürdürülmektedir. Rumca ve Türkçe olarak sürdürülen bu gelenek genellikle oyun havası türündeki ezgiler eşliğinde söylenir. Kız-erkek karışık ve karşılıklı olarak veya erkek erkeğe, kız kıza oynanan oyunlarda da atışmalar yapılmaktadır. Rize ve çevresinde de atma/çatma türkü geleneğinin Lazca, Türkçe olarak halen sürdürüldüğünü biliyoruz.
Atma türküler tek yanlı olarak söylenir. Belli bir ezgi üzerinde grup halinde horon oynarken kendine güvenen bir kişi ritme uyarak karşısına aldığı bir başka kişiye doğaçlamadan kurduğu türküyü atar. Karşısındaki kişi de çalmakta olan ezginin ritmine uyarak kendisine türkü atanı yine doğaçlama yaparak yanıtlar. Burada yanıt değeri taşıyan kafiyeli/lirik dörtlükler kurmak önemlidir. Böyle bir yeteneği olmayan kişi, eğer kendisine türkü atılmışsa genellikle oyunu terk eder ya da sessiz kalarak horona devam eder.
Atışmalar kimi zaman dörtlü kimi zamansa ikili mısralar halinde yapılır. Horon halindeyken dörtlü, yarıştırma içinse daha çok iki mısralı atışmalar yaygındır. Atışmalara ezgi ve ritim organı olarak kemençe kullanılır. Bazen ayaklarla ritim tutulduğu da olur. Kemençe eşliğinde yapılan horonlar ve atışmaların süresi yoktur. Bir taraf pes edene kadar oyun devam eder. O nedenle bu konuda usta olmayanlar ya horona girmez ya da atılan türkülere yanıt vermez.
Atışmalarda genellikle bir konu tespit edilir. O konu üzerinde atışanlar mutlaka önceden birbirlerini iyi tanıyan veya teşhis eden kişilerdir. Bu tip atışmalarda bazen edep dışı söylemler kullanılsa da herhangi bir söz için sonradan kavga edilmesi gelenek dışıdır. Ortam gerginleşse de köyün büyükleri kavgaya izin vermezler. Bazen köyün yaşlıları atışmalarda kimin üstün olduğunu saptamak için hakem olurlar. O nedenle atışmalara giren kişiler atışma kuralları dâhilinde söylenecek her sözü veya hakareti hoş görmek zorundadırlar. Ancak her şeye rağmen bazı atışmalı oyunların sonunda silahların da işe karıştığına tanık olunmuştur.
Kız : Haçan horom ederumTitrer edep yerlerum
Erkek : Korkma duşerum deyiBen oni direklerum
Kız : Ben sana varmam derumOlan gağurun oğli
Erkek : Niçun varmazsın banaBi kariştur anderum(Of, Anonim)
Seyrek de olsa böyle edepsizce atışmalar olmuştur. Bu yüzden işin silahlı çatışmalara kadar gittiği söylene gelir. Ancak bugün böylesi atışmaların olması mümkün değildir.
Trabzon ve çevresi türküleri/halk şarkılarında sevgili ve cinsellik neredeyse ana konudur. Hem normal hem de atma türkülerinde bu iki konu çok sık kullanılır. Öyle ki, dağlar, yaylalar, köyler, yollar gibi yerler için söylenen türkülerin içeriğinde yine bu iki konu hakimdir. Trabzonlu bir ozan gördüğü her şeyde sevgilisini ve cinselliği anımsar dersek pek de abartmış olmayız. Ela as pame ela Gel gidelim gidelim
Na ftağumes mamulas Mamula toplayalım
Na inete stromatam Kırmızı yanaklarınKocino ta mağula’s Olsun benim yatağım(Trabzon, Anonim)
Son yıllarda Rize’de atma türkü dalında yarışmalar düzenlenmektedir. Yarışmalar Türkçe yapılmakta olup puanlama sistemiyle dereceler belirlenmektedir. Puanlamadaki ölçüler şöyle:
Konuyu işleme ve anlatabilmeKafiye uyumuTürküler arası zamanı iyi kullanmaSöz sanatı yapma (edebiyat)Hece ölçüsünü doğru kullanmaAyak değiştirmeSöylenen türküyü anlamlı yanıtlamaSerbest türkü söyleme
25 puan10 “10 “10 “10 “10 “20 “5 “
Önceden belirlenen seçici kurul toplam 100 puan üzerinden değerlendirme yaparak yarışma sonunda dereceye girenleri ilan etmektedir.
Araştırmacı Osman Naci Ak, atma türküleri Karşı Beri Atma Türkü başlığı altında inceler. Yaptığı incelemede atma türkü geleneğinin üç şekilde uygulandığını belirtir.
a) Şairlerden biri 7+7 li bir yarım türkü ile anlamlı bir söz söyler. Yani iki mısralı bir türkü atar, diğer şair aynı kafiye ve ikili mısra ile ona cevap verir.
60-70 yıl önce Gündoğdu’lu Topal Osman ile Güzelköylü Refik Tüylüoğlu’nun karşılaşması buna bir örnektir.
Refik : O Osman gözünü aç Ya ba karşında kim varOsman: Ben Kandemir oğluyum Karşımda Tüyloğlu varRefik : Tanır mısın onları Eskilerden kimler var
Osman: Baban Tüyloğlu Osman Deden Sarı Bayraktar
Refik : Onlar için olmadı Kapılara anahtar
Osman: Onlar tartardı ama Değildi iyi kantar
Refik : Zaten bizim pazara Kalmadı iyi dostlar
b) İkinci tür karşıberi atma türkü yarışma şekli. Şairlerden biri ikinci ve dördüncü mısraları kafiyeli bir türkü söyler. Diğer şair başka bir türkü ile ona cevap verir.
Buna ait örnek İkizdere ilçesinden alınmıştır. Kızı, anne ve babası sevdiği erkeğe vermez. Erkek başkası ile evlenir. Eski iki sevgili bir düğünde karşılaşır ve kurulan horonda karşılıklı atışırlar.
Kız : Dertlerimi bilema Türkilen diyeceğum Yemin ettum içümden Kimseyi sevmiceğum
Erkek: Kimse kandıramadı Anan ilan babanı Ben eşümden razıyım Sen kes benden gümanı
Kız : Ettüğüme pişmanım Hep saçımı kazıyım Biraz he desen bağa Kumaya da razıyımErkek: Hiç eyi gitmeyecek Habu işlerun soni Öyle bir şey olamaz Aklundan çıkar oni
c) Üçüncü tür karşıberi yarışma şekli Kesme Türkü denilen şekildir. Bu tarz türkü söylemeye Çayelinde bu ad verilir. Yarışma iki kişi değil, iki grup arasında yapılır. Taraf olan gruplardan biri birbiri ardına ikili mısralar halinde kafiyeli peş peşe türküler söyler. Her iki mısra karşı tarafça aynen tekrarlanır. Bu tekrar birinci gruba türkü düzme zamanı kazandırır. Bir müddet böyle devam eder. Beş on türküden sonra karşı taraf türküyü keser ve birinci grubun türkülerine cevap vermeye başlar. Bu cevaplar da karşı tarafça nakarat halinde tekrarlanır.Kesme türküye Çamlıhemşin’den örnek:
I. Grup : 1) Bir dert var yüreğimde Bilmem anlatsam nası
2) Pirik Ali sevdanın Gitmez yürekten pası
3) Yaşar Çalığa sorsan Sevdaluk olur nası
II. Grup: 1) Derler ki samanlıktır Sevenin sermayesi
2) İnan ki harap olur Eğer yoksa parası
3) Verip de alacağım Nedir başlık parası
4) Çok dolaştın peşine Havanı aldın nası
Rumca ve Lazca’da Atma Türkü
Bugün Rumca ve Lazca atma türkü geleneği neredeyse unutulmuş durumdadır. Bunun başlıca nedeni Rumca ve Lazca’nın artık yalnızca yaşlılar tarafından konuşuluyor olmasıdır. O nedenle derleme çalışmalarında yine halen Rumca ve Lazca konuşan yaşlı insanların anılarını, anımsamalarını kaynak olarak kullanmaktayız.
Hopa, Orta Mahalle'den Nuri Küçükler (Koçumişi Nuri), sevdiği kızı geçeceği yolda beklemeye koyulur. Biraz sonra önünden geçecek olan Latife’ye önceden kurduğu iki dörtlük türküyü atar (1943-Hopa):
Mele Mole golas ohoroskani Karşıda beride orta sırada evin Mig gegodu kaybana cohoskani Kim koydu o kaybana ismini senin
Megiğuras hısım ekrabaskani Bütün hısım akrabaların ölsünler
Domçvi do domhali guliçkimi Yaktın da kül ettin sevgilim beni
Kuledibis kogelagidgi ragi Kuledibinde sana tuzağı kurdum
Ma ek vare emyeris kogevagi Ben ordayım hep oraya alıştım
Skani sevdaluğis solen gevagi Senin sevdalığına nerden alıştım
Domavi do domhali guliçkimi Yaktın da kül ettin sevgilim beni (Nuray Küçüker, Maltepe/İstanbul)
Of- Çoruk köyünde eskiden köyün imamı ile hafızı horona girerler. Girmeleriyle atışmaları bir olmuş:
Tsano Hafız : Ey gidi Haci İmam Ey gidi Hacı İmam
Toz kadar u lepo se Toz kadar görmem seni
Hacı İmam : To cefalis tsepreya Kafan kel parlak
Ep’opan elepose Yukardan gördüm seni (Of-Erenköy, Ali Çakmak) Bir Destan
Çok eski değil, bundan 25 yıl öncesine kadar Trabzon'da ve Türkiye'nin birçok bölgesinde destan söylemek ve yazmak yaşayan bir gelenekti. Bugün de halen İstanbul'un bazı semtlerinde (Örneğin, Maltepe ilçesinde kör bir adam ve yanında yaşlı bir kadın sırayla ve sesli sesli destanlarını okuyarak para dilendiklerine tanık oldum.) bu gelenek sürdürülmektedir. Destan okurken belli bir kaide ve lirizme önem verildiği için şiire ve müziğe yakın bir dal olarak değerlendirilebilir. Ancak Trabzon’da kemençe eşliğinde destan okunduğunu bilmekteyiz. Örneğin, köyünü anlatan destanlar, gurbeti anlatan destanlar, aşkını anlatan destanlar gibi.
Şimdi örneğini vereceğimiz destan Sürmene'nin Okhşoho köyünden 150 sene evvel ölen Kirahmet'in kendisi için yazdığı ölüm destanıdır.
1) ey kiti Kazankıran ta şona s' in lömena
2) eşerte c' eğven ibşim ta tsaruşa m' δemena
3) yedi tane yastuka si raşam tüzemena
4) inekam ta ğarδela m' ula ine klömena
5) ta proğata si borda permenune emena
6) beşyuz tane koδona so tavan kremağmena
7) o şkilo miroloğay harde elep emena
8) ta kavrana si yoda ine efçeromena
9) erzailis pal bermen harte eper emena
10)günah uc işleyepsa o repis me t' emena
11)o horiyos as erte as lepune emena12) altiyuz baş proğata so kervan tüzemena
13) kukula to kabalak si yoda kremağmena
14) otuz tane anepsa hakleğune emena
15) i mana m' ce o ciri m' bermenune emena
16) so parhar ta staliya m' stekone kliδomena
17) elepune to hali m' ul kleğune emena
18) i mezare’m komeno ta perdeδas pizmena19)si raşam ta ilaçliya δemena yeraδas
20) to repi parakalo ela ebar emena
21) u boro na cimume t'ebana m' bonemena
22) ağu ta hastaluka o repis δi emena
Yüzelli sene evvel Okhşoholi Kırahmet'in ölüm beytini herges okusun ta ona göre gentine hazirluk yabsun, allahi bilsun. Fehirlenma insanoğlu, tema var mi ben kibin. Eser bir hafif rozgar savurur harman kibin.
Naklen yazan: Trabzon/Of'un Erenköy'ünden şair Mevlut Uzunlar, yaşı 82, tarih:20.12.1999
Destanın Tükçesi:
1) Ey gidi Kazankıran Hep karların erimiş
2) Geldi canım çıkıyor Çarıklar çözülmemiş
3) Yedi tane yastık Sırtımda dizilmiş
4) Karım ve çocuklarım Hepsi ağlamaklı
5) Koyunlarım kapıda Beni bekliyorlar
6) Beşyüz tane koyun çanı Tavanda asılıyor7) Köpeğim ağlıyor Beni görmek istiyor
8) Yağ teknesi odada İçleri boşaltılmış
9) Azrail de bekliyor Gelip alacak beni
10) Hiç günah işledim Allah da benimle
11) Bütün köy gelsin Görsünler beni
12) Altı yüz baş koyunum Kervan için dizilmiş
13) Kabalaktan kukulam Odamda asılıyor
14) Otuz tane torunum Hep ağlayacaklar bana
15) Annem ile babam Beni bekliyorlar
16) Yayladaki evlerim Kilitli duruyorlar
17) Halimi görmüyorlar Ağlamıyorlar bana
18) Mezarım kazılmış Perdeleri yapılmış
19) Arkamdaki yaralar İlaçlarla sarılı
20) Allaha yalvarırım Gel de al bu canımı
21) Uyuyamıyorum Vucudum ağrıyor
22) Bu hastalıkları Allah veriyor bana
Kaynaklar:
Ak, O. Naci, Rize Karşı Beri Atma türkü Yarışması, Rize Halk. Eğt. Yay., Rize, 1994Asan, Ömer, Pontos Kültürü, Belge Yayınları, 2. Baskı, İstanbul, 2000Küçüker, Nuray, Maltepe/İstanbulUzunlar, Mevlut, Trabzon/Of-ErenköyYanıkoğlu, B. Aziz, Trabzon ve Havalisinde Toplanmış Folklor Malzemesi, Kenan Matbaası, İstanbul, 1043
[Toplumbilim Dergisi, Mayıs 2001, 12. sayıda yayımlanmıştır.]
Ömer Asan
Bugün dünyanın her yerinde halk şarkıları söylendiğini biliyoruz. Yine de biliyoruz ki, farklı coğrafyalarda farklı şarkılar söylene gelmektedir. Yani her bölgenin kendine özgü gelenekleri, tavırları, gelenekleri var. Aynı etnik gruptan olduğu varsayılan ancak farklı coğrafyalarda yaşayan topluluklarda da böylesi farklılıklara rastlanmaktadır. Tersi bir durum da zaman zaman gözlenebilir; yani aynı coğrafyada farklı kültür gruplarına rastlayabiliyoruz. Doğu Karadeniz, bu açıdan incelenmeye değer bir alandır.
Bugün Karadeniz’de söylenen şarkıların belli bir ölçüsü vardır. Genellikle dörtlü mısra halinde ve her mısrası yedi heceden oluşmaktadırlar. İkinci mısra ile dördüncü mısranın son hecelerinin kafiyeli olmasına dikkat edilir. İlk iki mısra, son iki mısradan anlam bakımından bağımsız olabilir. Anlam bakımından bütünlük taşıyan dörtlü türkülerse çok daha duygulu ve etkileyicidirler. Örneğin:
E patsi nto nistazis E kız ne uyuklarsın
Mel ce vutero stazis Bal ve yağ damlarsınEla as horevume Gel horon oynayalımİse ti manas patsis Sen ananın kızısın(Of-Erenköy, Fuat Keskin)
Bu türkü, kız-erkek karışık veya karşılıklı yapılan horon esnasında bir kıza atılmıştır ve ilk iki mısra ile son iki mısra anlam bakımından birbirinden bağımsızdır. İlk iki mısra, son iki mısraya lirik ve etkileyici bir ayak oluşturmak, son iki dizeyi söylemeden önce dinleyicilerin dikkatini çekmek amacını taşımaktadır.Ey gidi Kazankıran Ey gidi KazankıranTa şonasis lömena Hep karların erimiş
Erthe i pşim eş eğven Geldi canım çıkıyor
Ta tsaruşa’m demena Çarıklar çözülmemiş(Of-Erenköy, Saliha Eroğlu)
Bu türkü ise, ilkyazın yaylaya çıkmakta olan köylülerin dik ve sarp bir yolu olan Kazankıran geçidi için söyledikleri bir dörtlüktür. Burada bütün mısralar anlam bakımından bütünlük taşımakta ve geleneksel kafiyeye/lirizme uymaktadırlar.
Genellikle her halk şarkısının/türküsünün kendi şiiri ve bestesi vardır. Oysa Trabzon ve civarında bir beste/hava üzerine binlerce dörtlük okunabilir. Burada türkünün ezgisi iki mısralık bir kalıptır ve her iki mısrada bir tekrarlanır. Bu tarzda okunan ve bugüne kadar söylene gelen türkülerin çoğu anonimdir.
Trabzon’da atma/çatma denen türkü geleneği bugün yalnızca Of ilçesinde sürdürülmektedir. Rumca ve Türkçe olarak sürdürülen bu gelenek genellikle oyun havası türündeki ezgiler eşliğinde söylenir. Kız-erkek karışık ve karşılıklı olarak veya erkek erkeğe, kız kıza oynanan oyunlarda da atışmalar yapılmaktadır. Rize ve çevresinde de atma/çatma türkü geleneğinin Lazca, Türkçe olarak halen sürdürüldüğünü biliyoruz.
Atma türküler tek yanlı olarak söylenir. Belli bir ezgi üzerinde grup halinde horon oynarken kendine güvenen bir kişi ritme uyarak karşısına aldığı bir başka kişiye doğaçlamadan kurduğu türküyü atar. Karşısındaki kişi de çalmakta olan ezginin ritmine uyarak kendisine türkü atanı yine doğaçlama yaparak yanıtlar. Burada yanıt değeri taşıyan kafiyeli/lirik dörtlükler kurmak önemlidir. Böyle bir yeteneği olmayan kişi, eğer kendisine türkü atılmışsa genellikle oyunu terk eder ya da sessiz kalarak horona devam eder.
Atışmalar kimi zaman dörtlü kimi zamansa ikili mısralar halinde yapılır. Horon halindeyken dörtlü, yarıştırma içinse daha çok iki mısralı atışmalar yaygındır. Atışmalara ezgi ve ritim organı olarak kemençe kullanılır. Bazen ayaklarla ritim tutulduğu da olur. Kemençe eşliğinde yapılan horonlar ve atışmaların süresi yoktur. Bir taraf pes edene kadar oyun devam eder. O nedenle bu konuda usta olmayanlar ya horona girmez ya da atılan türkülere yanıt vermez.
Atışmalarda genellikle bir konu tespit edilir. O konu üzerinde atışanlar mutlaka önceden birbirlerini iyi tanıyan veya teşhis eden kişilerdir. Bu tip atışmalarda bazen edep dışı söylemler kullanılsa da herhangi bir söz için sonradan kavga edilmesi gelenek dışıdır. Ortam gerginleşse de köyün büyükleri kavgaya izin vermezler. Bazen köyün yaşlıları atışmalarda kimin üstün olduğunu saptamak için hakem olurlar. O nedenle atışmalara giren kişiler atışma kuralları dâhilinde söylenecek her sözü veya hakareti hoş görmek zorundadırlar. Ancak her şeye rağmen bazı atışmalı oyunların sonunda silahların da işe karıştığına tanık olunmuştur.
Kız : Haçan horom ederumTitrer edep yerlerum
Erkek : Korkma duşerum deyiBen oni direklerum
Kız : Ben sana varmam derumOlan gağurun oğli
Erkek : Niçun varmazsın banaBi kariştur anderum(Of, Anonim)
Seyrek de olsa böyle edepsizce atışmalar olmuştur. Bu yüzden işin silahlı çatışmalara kadar gittiği söylene gelir. Ancak bugün böylesi atışmaların olması mümkün değildir.
Trabzon ve çevresi türküleri/halk şarkılarında sevgili ve cinsellik neredeyse ana konudur. Hem normal hem de atma türkülerinde bu iki konu çok sık kullanılır. Öyle ki, dağlar, yaylalar, köyler, yollar gibi yerler için söylenen türkülerin içeriğinde yine bu iki konu hakimdir. Trabzonlu bir ozan gördüğü her şeyde sevgilisini ve cinselliği anımsar dersek pek de abartmış olmayız. Ela as pame ela Gel gidelim gidelim
Na ftağumes mamulas Mamula toplayalım
Na inete stromatam Kırmızı yanaklarınKocino ta mağula’s Olsun benim yatağım(Trabzon, Anonim)
Son yıllarda Rize’de atma türkü dalında yarışmalar düzenlenmektedir. Yarışmalar Türkçe yapılmakta olup puanlama sistemiyle dereceler belirlenmektedir. Puanlamadaki ölçüler şöyle:
Konuyu işleme ve anlatabilmeKafiye uyumuTürküler arası zamanı iyi kullanmaSöz sanatı yapma (edebiyat)Hece ölçüsünü doğru kullanmaAyak değiştirmeSöylenen türküyü anlamlı yanıtlamaSerbest türkü söyleme
25 puan10 “10 “10 “10 “10 “20 “5 “
Önceden belirlenen seçici kurul toplam 100 puan üzerinden değerlendirme yaparak yarışma sonunda dereceye girenleri ilan etmektedir.
Araştırmacı Osman Naci Ak, atma türküleri Karşı Beri Atma Türkü başlığı altında inceler. Yaptığı incelemede atma türkü geleneğinin üç şekilde uygulandığını belirtir.
a) Şairlerden biri 7+7 li bir yarım türkü ile anlamlı bir söz söyler. Yani iki mısralı bir türkü atar, diğer şair aynı kafiye ve ikili mısra ile ona cevap verir.
60-70 yıl önce Gündoğdu’lu Topal Osman ile Güzelköylü Refik Tüylüoğlu’nun karşılaşması buna bir örnektir.
Refik : O Osman gözünü aç Ya ba karşında kim varOsman: Ben Kandemir oğluyum Karşımda Tüyloğlu varRefik : Tanır mısın onları Eskilerden kimler var
Osman: Baban Tüyloğlu Osman Deden Sarı Bayraktar
Refik : Onlar için olmadı Kapılara anahtar
Osman: Onlar tartardı ama Değildi iyi kantar
Refik : Zaten bizim pazara Kalmadı iyi dostlar
b) İkinci tür karşıberi atma türkü yarışma şekli. Şairlerden biri ikinci ve dördüncü mısraları kafiyeli bir türkü söyler. Diğer şair başka bir türkü ile ona cevap verir.
Buna ait örnek İkizdere ilçesinden alınmıştır. Kızı, anne ve babası sevdiği erkeğe vermez. Erkek başkası ile evlenir. Eski iki sevgili bir düğünde karşılaşır ve kurulan horonda karşılıklı atışırlar.
Kız : Dertlerimi bilema Türkilen diyeceğum Yemin ettum içümden Kimseyi sevmiceğum
Erkek: Kimse kandıramadı Anan ilan babanı Ben eşümden razıyım Sen kes benden gümanı
Kız : Ettüğüme pişmanım Hep saçımı kazıyım Biraz he desen bağa Kumaya da razıyımErkek: Hiç eyi gitmeyecek Habu işlerun soni Öyle bir şey olamaz Aklundan çıkar oni
c) Üçüncü tür karşıberi yarışma şekli Kesme Türkü denilen şekildir. Bu tarz türkü söylemeye Çayelinde bu ad verilir. Yarışma iki kişi değil, iki grup arasında yapılır. Taraf olan gruplardan biri birbiri ardına ikili mısralar halinde kafiyeli peş peşe türküler söyler. Her iki mısra karşı tarafça aynen tekrarlanır. Bu tekrar birinci gruba türkü düzme zamanı kazandırır. Bir müddet böyle devam eder. Beş on türküden sonra karşı taraf türküyü keser ve birinci grubun türkülerine cevap vermeye başlar. Bu cevaplar da karşı tarafça nakarat halinde tekrarlanır.Kesme türküye Çamlıhemşin’den örnek:
I. Grup : 1) Bir dert var yüreğimde Bilmem anlatsam nası
2) Pirik Ali sevdanın Gitmez yürekten pası
3) Yaşar Çalığa sorsan Sevdaluk olur nası
II. Grup: 1) Derler ki samanlıktır Sevenin sermayesi
2) İnan ki harap olur Eğer yoksa parası
3) Verip de alacağım Nedir başlık parası
4) Çok dolaştın peşine Havanı aldın nası
Rumca ve Lazca’da Atma Türkü
Bugün Rumca ve Lazca atma türkü geleneği neredeyse unutulmuş durumdadır. Bunun başlıca nedeni Rumca ve Lazca’nın artık yalnızca yaşlılar tarafından konuşuluyor olmasıdır. O nedenle derleme çalışmalarında yine halen Rumca ve Lazca konuşan yaşlı insanların anılarını, anımsamalarını kaynak olarak kullanmaktayız.
Hopa, Orta Mahalle'den Nuri Küçükler (Koçumişi Nuri), sevdiği kızı geçeceği yolda beklemeye koyulur. Biraz sonra önünden geçecek olan Latife’ye önceden kurduğu iki dörtlük türküyü atar (1943-Hopa):
Mele Mole golas ohoroskani Karşıda beride orta sırada evin Mig gegodu kaybana cohoskani Kim koydu o kaybana ismini senin
Megiğuras hısım ekrabaskani Bütün hısım akrabaların ölsünler
Domçvi do domhali guliçkimi Yaktın da kül ettin sevgilim beni
Kuledibis kogelagidgi ragi Kuledibinde sana tuzağı kurdum
Ma ek vare emyeris kogevagi Ben ordayım hep oraya alıştım
Skani sevdaluğis solen gevagi Senin sevdalığına nerden alıştım
Domavi do domhali guliçkimi Yaktın da kül ettin sevgilim beni (Nuray Küçüker, Maltepe/İstanbul)
Of- Çoruk köyünde eskiden köyün imamı ile hafızı horona girerler. Girmeleriyle atışmaları bir olmuş:
Tsano Hafız : Ey gidi Haci İmam Ey gidi Hacı İmam
Toz kadar u lepo se Toz kadar görmem seni
Hacı İmam : To cefalis tsepreya Kafan kel parlak
Ep’opan elepose Yukardan gördüm seni (Of-Erenköy, Ali Çakmak) Bir Destan
Çok eski değil, bundan 25 yıl öncesine kadar Trabzon'da ve Türkiye'nin birçok bölgesinde destan söylemek ve yazmak yaşayan bir gelenekti. Bugün de halen İstanbul'un bazı semtlerinde (Örneğin, Maltepe ilçesinde kör bir adam ve yanında yaşlı bir kadın sırayla ve sesli sesli destanlarını okuyarak para dilendiklerine tanık oldum.) bu gelenek sürdürülmektedir. Destan okurken belli bir kaide ve lirizme önem verildiği için şiire ve müziğe yakın bir dal olarak değerlendirilebilir. Ancak Trabzon’da kemençe eşliğinde destan okunduğunu bilmekteyiz. Örneğin, köyünü anlatan destanlar, gurbeti anlatan destanlar, aşkını anlatan destanlar gibi.
Şimdi örneğini vereceğimiz destan Sürmene'nin Okhşoho köyünden 150 sene evvel ölen Kirahmet'in kendisi için yazdığı ölüm destanıdır.
1) ey kiti Kazankıran ta şona s' in lömena
2) eşerte c' eğven ibşim ta tsaruşa m' δemena
3) yedi tane yastuka si raşam tüzemena
4) inekam ta ğarδela m' ula ine klömena
5) ta proğata si borda permenune emena
6) beşyuz tane koδona so tavan kremağmena
7) o şkilo miroloğay harde elep emena
8) ta kavrana si yoda ine efçeromena
9) erzailis pal bermen harte eper emena
10)günah uc işleyepsa o repis me t' emena
11)o horiyos as erte as lepune emena12) altiyuz baş proğata so kervan tüzemena
13) kukula to kabalak si yoda kremağmena
14) otuz tane anepsa hakleğune emena
15) i mana m' ce o ciri m' bermenune emena
16) so parhar ta staliya m' stekone kliδomena
17) elepune to hali m' ul kleğune emena
18) i mezare’m komeno ta perdeδas pizmena19)si raşam ta ilaçliya δemena yeraδas
20) to repi parakalo ela ebar emena
21) u boro na cimume t'ebana m' bonemena
22) ağu ta hastaluka o repis δi emena
Yüzelli sene evvel Okhşoholi Kırahmet'in ölüm beytini herges okusun ta ona göre gentine hazirluk yabsun, allahi bilsun. Fehirlenma insanoğlu, tema var mi ben kibin. Eser bir hafif rozgar savurur harman kibin.
Naklen yazan: Trabzon/Of'un Erenköy'ünden şair Mevlut Uzunlar, yaşı 82, tarih:20.12.1999
Destanın Tükçesi:
1) Ey gidi Kazankıran Hep karların erimiş
2) Geldi canım çıkıyor Çarıklar çözülmemiş
3) Yedi tane yastık Sırtımda dizilmiş
4) Karım ve çocuklarım Hepsi ağlamaklı
5) Koyunlarım kapıda Beni bekliyorlar
6) Beşyüz tane koyun çanı Tavanda asılıyor7) Köpeğim ağlıyor Beni görmek istiyor
8) Yağ teknesi odada İçleri boşaltılmış
9) Azrail de bekliyor Gelip alacak beni
10) Hiç günah işledim Allah da benimle
11) Bütün köy gelsin Görsünler beni
12) Altı yüz baş koyunum Kervan için dizilmiş
13) Kabalaktan kukulam Odamda asılıyor
14) Otuz tane torunum Hep ağlayacaklar bana
15) Annem ile babam Beni bekliyorlar
16) Yayladaki evlerim Kilitli duruyorlar
17) Halimi görmüyorlar Ağlamıyorlar bana
18) Mezarım kazılmış Perdeleri yapılmış
19) Arkamdaki yaralar İlaçlarla sarılı
20) Allaha yalvarırım Gel de al bu canımı
21) Uyuyamıyorum Vucudum ağrıyor
22) Bu hastalıkları Allah veriyor bana
Kaynaklar:
Ak, O. Naci, Rize Karşı Beri Atma türkü Yarışması, Rize Halk. Eğt. Yay., Rize, 1994Asan, Ömer, Pontos Kültürü, Belge Yayınları, 2. Baskı, İstanbul, 2000Küçüker, Nuray, Maltepe/İstanbulUzunlar, Mevlut, Trabzon/Of-ErenköyYanıkoğlu, B. Aziz, Trabzon ve Havalisinde Toplanmış Folklor Malzemesi, Kenan Matbaası, İstanbul, 1043
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Genocide op Armeniërs, Suryoyo, Chaldeeërs en andere volkeren
Genocide op Armeniërs, Suryoyo, Chaldeeërs en andere volkeren
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Na de machtsovername van Sultan Abdulhamid II, vooral tussen 1892 en 1896,hebben de Ottomaanse autoriteiten Armeniërs, Grieken, Suryoyo (sommigen noemendeze Assyrisch-Syriaqua-Chaldeers) en Koerden massaal vermoord.De 2de massale slachting op deze volkeren gebeurde in de jaren 1915 en 1916.Men heeft deze keer gemikt vooral op Armeniërs en andere Christelijke volkeren.Naast massale moorden moesten ook evenveel massaal en gedwongen verhuizen naarde bestemmingen die ze niet eens kenden... waardoor ook honderdenduizendje hunleven verloren door honger, dorst en oververmoeidheid en vervolgingen door hetleger. Drie keer meer dan de vermoordde slachtoffers hebben hun leven moetenredden door te vluchten naar het buitenland. De rest heeft zijn redding gezochtvluchteling te worden in het land zelf en ook vele Christinnen, ongeacht hunetnische afkomst hebben de redding gezien in het veranderen van hun Godsdienst.Het begin van het eindeIn 1856 en 1862 komen de Koerden in opstand. Ook de Armeniërs hebbengerevolteerd in 1863 tegen de onhoudbare situatie. Tegen de Ottomanen nemen deKoerden en Armeniërs. Tegen het immens militaire macht van de Ottomanenmislukten ze. Na elke opstand werden niet alleen de opstandelingen maar degehele bevolking zwaar gestraft. In 1876 wordt de Ottomaans Grondwet "hervormt".Maar de toenmalige Sultan Abdulhamit II stelde de grondwet van 1876 binnenenkele jaren buitenwerking. Hij benadrukte het islamitische karakter van destaat en riep zich uit tot kalief en verdediger van moslims over de gehelewereld. Door met de Jihad te dreigen, dacht hij de westerse invloed in Azië teondermijnen.De onderdrukking op de niet Islamitische volkeren in het Ottomaans Rijk begintstilaan zich te ontwikkelen op alle vlakken. De "sociale en economischemodernisme" eist veel slachtoffers bij deze vooral Christelijke volkeren. Zeworden als lastposten beschouwd. Alles wat fout loopt wordt hen toegeschreven.De autoriteiten beginnen ook te proberen een volk tegen het andere tegebruiken. Bepaalde stammen, vooral aan de kant van de Koerden trappen in dezevalluik. Ze beloven heel wat rechten toe te kennen aan deze stammen maar vragenhen de anderen samen met het centraal leger het zwijgen op te leggen. Deze"collaborateurs stammen" keren zich tegen de Armeense, Suryoyo en de opstandigeKoerden. Deze collaborateurs worden dik beloond door allerlei dingen, o.a.wapens voor alle stamleden, en functies die ze kregen bij de overheid.Van de Armeense kant waren er heel wat figuren die in hoge staatsdienstengeplaatst waren en dienden de autoriteiten op intellectueel vlak. Ook deArmeense succesrijke handelaars leverden hun hoge bijdragen onafgebroken.Tegelijkertijd groeide er ook een Turks nationalisme dat zich concentreerde opde Turks sprekende bevolking in het schiereiland Anotolië. Het wilde antwoordvinden op de identiteitscrisis van de moslims als gevolg van de verpletterendeovermacht van het Westen.Een van de belangrijkste Turkse theoretici was Ziya Gokalp (1876-1924, dezepersoon is afkomstig uit Diyarbekir. Sommigen beweren dat hij geen Turkseafkomst heeft). Hij wilde weliswaar hervormingen naar het westers voorbeeldinvoeren, maar dan wel met een nationalistische (Panturkistische) kleur. Hijvond dat Turken "zichzelf niet kenden"; zij waren zich "niet bewust van hunnationale verantwoordelijkheden". Gökalp keerde zich af van het multi-etnischeen multireligieuze karakter van de Ottomaanse staat. Hij riep de Turkssprekendeintellectuelen op het voortouw te nemen in de ontdekking van het eigen volk eneen nieuwe Turkse natie. Hij pleitte met andere woorden voor een proces vanturkificatie.De sociaal economische zwakheid begint zich te voelen en de repressie op debevolking wordt heviger. Hoe langer hoe meer men begint te zoeken naar deslachtoffers.Armenië maakte toen deel uit van het Ottomaans Rijk, dat begon langzaam uiteente vallen. De christelijke Armeniërs kwamen in opstand (door ophitsing van desituatie door Rusland) met de islamitische Ottomanen. Op bevel van de SultanAbdulhamit II werden massa's Armeniërs en andere Christenen tussen 1892 en 1896vermoord.De onrusten op alle vlakken en in heel het rijk blijven duren. De macht van desultan wordt kleiner. De Organisaties zoals "Genç Turkler - de Jonge Turken",krijgen meer en meer macht binnen de samenleving. Groot Turkse droomverwezenlijken Anatolië tot westen van China was de droom. En dat moest eenland, een natie, een taal en islamitische zijn. De "Gunes ve Dil Teorisi - deZon en Taal Theorie" is afkomstig van deze organisatie.1In 1908 vond er in Turkije een machtsovername2 plaats door de Jonge Turken3.Deze machtsovername werd door de Armeniërs aanvankelijk gesteund. TijdensEerste Wereldoorlog koos het Ottomaanse Rijk partij voor Duitsland. Hierdoorraakte het in oorlog met Rusland. Rondom de frontlinie (in huidige Oost-Turkijeof met name West Armenië) woonden veel Armeniërs. Uit angst dat de Armeniërszich bij de Russen zouden aansluiten, besloot de Turkse regering tot deportatievan de massa's Armeniërs, weg bij de frontlinie. Vooral de intellectuelen envooraanstaande mensen, 1000 tal personen, werden het mikpunt van het regime. Delegalisatie van de jacht op de niet islamieten in het Ottomaans Rijk is weerbegonnen.De Armeniërs wensten onafhankelijk te blijven tijdens de Eerste Wereldoorlog.Om de Duitsers en hun bondgenoten, o.a. Het Ottomaans Rijk, niet te dienen in zoeen wereld oorlog wilden de mannen niet naar het legerdienst.Evengoed als de koerden zochten ze de westerse mogendheden om de nodige steunte vinden voor en eigen vrije staat. Vooral met Engelsen, Russen en Fransenhadden ze contacten. De beloftes hielden in dat de oostelijke Ottomaanseprovincies aan een onafhankelijk Armenië (de huidige Armeense Republiek)toegevoegd zouden worden.De westerse mogendheden hielden hun beloftes niet en zowel de Armeniërs als deKoerden werden aan hun lot overgelaten.De genocideDe Ottomanen zagen de samenwerking van de Armeniërs met de buitenlandsemachten op Ottomaans grondgebied als verraad, temeer omdat ze eerst haddenverklaard onafhankelijk te blijven in de oorlog. Ook zouden er door Armeensegroepen terreurdaden tegen Turkije worden gepleegd.Na het vermeende 'verraad', besloot het Ottomaans regime officieel alleArmeniërs te deporteren naar zuidelijke provincies Syrië, dat toen nog deeluitmaakte van het Ottomaanse Rijk. De deportatie had echter in wezen geenbestemming. Volgens ooggetuigen en historische documenten bezweken Armeniërs opde doodsmarsen naar het hedendaagse Syrië aan dorst, honger of werdendoodgeranseld of -geschoten door de soldaten van het Rijk. Voorts werdenArmeense vrouwen en meisjes onderweg vrij algemeen verkracht, alvorens te wordenvermoord. Volgens algemeen geaccepteerde wetenschappelijke bronnen zijn tijdensde genocide op de Armeniërs tussen 1915 en 1918 anderhalf van de twee miljoenArmeniërs vermoord.De techniek en de vrijwel geheel ontbrekende internationale aandacht en reactieop de genocide, die bekend was bij brede diplomatieke en journalistieke kringen,zouden later inspireren tot andere genociden wereldwijd en met name voor deHolocaust op de Joden door Duitsland en bondgenoten in Centraal Europa.Uitzonderingen op de geringe aandacht die toentertijd aan de genocide werdbesteed, waren de behandeling van de Amerikaanse krant New York Times en detoenmalige Amerikaanse ambassadeur in Istanbul.In mei 1918 wordt onafhankelijk Armenië uitgeroepen dat vocht aan de zijdenvan de Geallieerden. Deze eerste Armeense Republiek duurde 2,5 jaar. De Armeenseverzetsmacht raakt in oorlog in een front met de Russen tegen de Turkse. DeNoordoostelijke provincies van het Ottomaanse Rijk werden aan Armeniëtoegevoegd. Met de overgave van de Ottomaanse werden de grenzen van het nieuweArmenië bekrachtigd in Het Verdrag Van Sèvres in 1920. Maar enkele jaren lateris de westelijke Armenië weer in handen van de Turkse staat, die zich zelfofficieel de ware erfgenaam van het Ottomaanse Rijk noemt.In 1920 heeft de Republiek van Armenië zich aangesloten bij de Sovjetunie.Deze situatie heeft geduurd tot 1990. Vanaf dan is Armenië weer eenonafhankelijke republiek die wel omringd is door aartsvijanden, nl. Turkije enAzerbeidjaan. Aan de noordelijke kant is Georgië die omwille van haar goederelaties met Turkije en Azerbeidjaan ook niet gemakkelijk maakt voor Armenië..Turkse ontkenningVolgens de Turkse regering zouden er 300.000 tot 500.000 slachtoffers zijn,tegen 1,5 miljoen (uit een totaal van 3 miljoen) volgens sommige wetenschappersen historici. Ook verklaart Turkije dat er geen sprake was van genocide, maardat de doden het slachtoffer zijn geworden hongersnood en dergelijke dietoentertijd in het gebied heersten. Turkije oefent - of oefende tot kort - ookdruk uit op andere landen om het bestaan van de genocide te ontkennen, of in elkgeval niet officieel te bevestigen.Tijdens de Eerste Wereldoorlog hebben de Turken de kant gekozen van de Duitsersen Japan. De Armeniërs die de gewoonte hadden veel meer bvb. dan de Koerden ofde Grieken, in Staatsdienst te werken werden gevraagd het leger in oorlog tedienen. In de oorlog tegen de toenmalige Rusland van de Tsaars werden veleArmeniërs in dienst zodanig gebruikt dat de overgrote meerderheid van henstierf.4 Dat was ook een van de tactieken van de staat op de Armeniërs enandere Christenen. Eerst voldoende gebruiken en langzamerhand vernietigen.De slachtingen, gedwongen massale verhuizingen, massale plunderingen zijngebeurd ¨vooral in 1915 en 1916. Men spreekt van meer dan 1,5 miljoenArmeniërs (75 % van de totaal aantal Armenirs), 700.000 Suryoyo5 (Assyriërs,Syrische Orthodoxen, Chaldeeërs), 700.000 Koerden6 en duizenden Grieken.Drie keer meer dan de totaliteit van deze getallen heeft moeten vluchten. DeArmeniërs kozen richting Syrië, Iran, Armenië, Europa, Canada, verenigdeStaten van Amerika, Rusland, enz... De Koerden en Suryoyo hebben gekozen voorbuurlanden, nl. huidige Armenië, Georgië, Syrië, Iran en Irak. De Griekenhebben gekozen voor Griekenland en Cyprius...Om die redenen zijn de Armeniërs in diaspora drie keer meer dan de Armeniërsin huidige Armenië7.De genocide wordt tot op de dag van vandaag ontkend door de Turkseautoriteiten. Bijvoorbeeld heeft de Turks eerste minister R. Tayip Erdogan naaraanleiding van een bezoek van een groep parlementeren uit Frankrijk het volgendegezegd: "ik wist niet dat 400 000 Armeniërs in Frankrijk zou lukken eenreferendum te laten houden rond over vraag lidmaatschap Turkije bij EU."Deze uitlatingen van de Turkse eerste minister hebben voor velle reactiesgezorgd bij de Armeniërs in het buitenland. De Franse minister van Armeenseafkomst Patrick Devedjian reageerde op volgende manier "Blijkbaar vind Erdoganerg dat de 400 000 Armeniërs die ontsnapten aan de genocide nog in leven zijn."Aan deze ontkenning van de genocide en vervalsing van de geschiedenis nemeneigenaardig genoeg ook de Turkse "wetenschappers". Door hen worden op nationaalen internationaal vlak "conferenties", "studies" georganiseerd om hun eigenversie doen geloven. Soms gaan zowel de Turkse autoriteiten als de "Turksewetenschappers" zover dat ze zelfs in staat zijn om te beweren dat de genocideniet door de Ottomanen-Turken op de Armeniërs en andere volkeren gepleegd ismaar dat in feite de Armeniërs genocide gepleegd hebben op de Turken.Hoe dan ook wordt de genocide op de Armeniërs en andere christelijke volkerenen de Koerden door de meeste buitenlandse wetenschappers en historiciaangenomen. en vragen de Turkse autoriteiten hetzelfde te doen. De vervalsing enontkenning van de genocide op de volkeren vorige eeuw, de blijvende culturelegenocide nu is niet meer te tolereren.Een van de voorwaarden van het Europees Parlement voor de volwaardigelidmaatschap van Turkije bij de EU is o.a. de erkenning hiervan door Turkije. DeV.S.A, Rusland, Verenigd Koninkrijk, Frankrijk, België in 1997 en onlangsNederland en andere landen erkennen dat er genocide is gepleegd op deArmeniërs. 8 Ze vragen de Turkse autoriteiten de realiteit van de geschiedeniste accepteren en de genocide te erkennen.In België zijn Turken ook heel actief om de geschiedenis te vervalsen. Op hetHenri-Michaux plein in Elsene (Brussel) staat sinds 1997 een monument ternagedachtenis van deze volkerenmoord. De Turkse gemeenschap in België is zeerongerust over dit monument. De Turkse lobbyisten, op de kop de Turkse ambassadeen consulaat, de politici van Turkse oorsprong, de Turkse leerkrachten,journalisten, vertegenwoordigers van de Turkse verenigingen, Turkse studenten ende moskeevertegenwoordigers vormen een blok en leveren een hevige strijde om ditmonument te doen verdwijnen uit Elsene.Niet alleen de Brussels staatssecretaris Emir Kir maar ook devolksvertegenwoordiger Emin Ozkara van Turks oorsprong (PS) maar ook FatmaPahlivan en Cemal Cavdarli (SP&A), Nebahat Acar (CD&V), Meryem Kaçar (Groen!)ontkennen en vervalsen de genocide gepleegd door de Ottomaanse en Turkseautoriteiten begin vorige eeuw. Emir Kir is in opspraak gekomen, omdat hij devolkerenmoord door de Turken op de Christelijke Armeniërs ontkende, en opriepom een Brussels monument ter nagedachtenis van de slachtoffers van die genocidete vernielen.Op de in Turkse kringen populaire webstek van Beltürk verklaarde mevrouw Acardat men zich beter zou bezighouden met de integratie van Turkse jongeren dan methet oprichten van monumenten voor de ZOGENAAMDE Armeense genocide.Met deze uitspraak geconfronteerd verduidelijkte ze nogmaals dat "met hetoprichten van monumenten die verdeling zaaien de wereld er niet op vooruitgaat".Blijkbaar is het momenteel bon-ton om in de Brusselse meerderheidskringen devolkerenmoord van de Turken op de Armeniërs te ontkennen. Toch een bijzondereigenaardig gedrag, aangezien het net die partijen zijn die zichzelf maar al tegraag omschrijven als verdraagzaam en democratisch.Voordat die zelfverklaarde democratische partijen er ook maar aan zouden denkenom te raken aan de overheidssubsidies van zogenaamde "ondemocratische" partijenzouden ze beter eens de hand in eigen boezem steken. De PS op kop !1 Volgens deze theorie is de Turkse natie superieur, alle talen zijn afkomstigvan het Turks, alle andere volkeren zijn afstammelingen van de Turken en dehuidige wereldse beschaving komt oorspronkelijk ook van de Turkse.2 In 1908 pleegde een groep Turkse officieren een staatsgreep. Zij stelden zichten doel: modernisering van de staat; een parlementaire democratie; afschaffingvan allerlei voorrechten voor groepen buitenlanders (zoals Engelsen, Fransen enDuitsers). Ze werden geïnspireerd door het voorbeeld Japan, dat zich eindnegentiende eeuw in hoog tempo had gemoderniseerd. Het waren nationalistischeofficieren, die de Europese opdringerigheid en overheersing haatten en tegelijkde westerse techniek en vooruitgang bewonderden.Sultan Abdul Hamid II beschikte niet over loyale troepen en capituleerde voorde opstandige Jong-Turken. Hij moest akkoord gaan met het kortwieken van zijnmacht. Binnen een jaar werd hij vervangen door zijn kleurloze broer Mehmet V,die geen enkele invloed had. Hierna liep het snel mis. De Jong-Turken pleegdenverraad aan hun eigen idealen. In plaats van een gemoderniseerde staat,creëerden zij een militaire dictatuur. Op arrogante, chauvinistische wijzeonderdrukten zij de opstanden van andere volkeren voor vrijheid, zoals vanAlbanezen, Arabieren, Koerden en Armeniërs..3 De Jonge Turken is een bijnaam voor een groep Turkse officieren die in 1908een staatsgreep pleegden. Zij hadden zich uit ergernis over het afkalven van hetOttomaanse Rijk en de decadentie aan het hof verenigd in deze geheimevereniging, het "Comité voor Eenheid en Vooruitgang", bijgenaamd de Jong Turken4 Robert Melson, On the uniqueness and comparability of the holocaust: acomparison with the Armenian Genocide, p. 11.5 Evgil Türker, European Syriac Union, Brussels6 George Shamoev, Keremê Anqosî, Aslan Beg, Rapport of the Yezidi-Kurds foorUN, International Fund of Protection of the Rights and Religions - CulturalHeritage of Kurds, 2003, Tbilisi, Georgië7 Armenië was een regionaal rijk met een rijke cultuur die naar jaren van deeerst Eeuw leiden, in een periode waar het alle landen tussen Zwarte Zee en deKaspische zee omvatte. In 301 was Armenië de eerste formele staat die hetChristendom aannam als zijn officiële staatsgodsdienst, twaalf jaar voor Rome.Het veranderde ook tussen verschillende dynastieën. Maar na veroverd te zijndoor Byzantijnen, Arabieren, Turken en Mongolen, was Armenië wezenlijkverzwakt. In 1454 verdeelde het Ottomaanse Rijk en Perzische Armenië onderzichzelf.In 1828 werd Perzisch Armenië in het Russische Rijk gefuseerd. Dit werd met deUSSR in 1920 herhaald, nadat Armenië kort bestaan had als een onafhankelijkestaat. De Armeniërs die in het westelijke deel van Armenië (OttomaansArmenië) leefden werden onderworpen aan de Armeense Genocide in 1915 waar 1,5miljoen Armeniërs gedood werden en velen anderen gedeporteerd werden.8 Tot nu toe alleen op de Armeniërs. Sinds jaren vragen ook de Suryoyo, deKoerden en anderen ook de erkenning van de genocide op hun identiteit.Brussel, 08.02.2005, verschenen in de Tijdschrift De Koerden. Nr. 22
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Na de machtsovername van Sultan Abdulhamid II, vooral tussen 1892 en 1896,hebben de Ottomaanse autoriteiten Armeniërs, Grieken, Suryoyo (sommigen noemendeze Assyrisch-Syriaqua-Chaldeers) en Koerden massaal vermoord.De 2de massale slachting op deze volkeren gebeurde in de jaren 1915 en 1916.Men heeft deze keer gemikt vooral op Armeniërs en andere Christelijke volkeren.Naast massale moorden moesten ook evenveel massaal en gedwongen verhuizen naarde bestemmingen die ze niet eens kenden... waardoor ook honderdenduizendje hunleven verloren door honger, dorst en oververmoeidheid en vervolgingen door hetleger. Drie keer meer dan de vermoordde slachtoffers hebben hun leven moetenredden door te vluchten naar het buitenland. De rest heeft zijn redding gezochtvluchteling te worden in het land zelf en ook vele Christinnen, ongeacht hunetnische afkomst hebben de redding gezien in het veranderen van hun Godsdienst.Het begin van het eindeIn 1856 en 1862 komen de Koerden in opstand. Ook de Armeniërs hebbengerevolteerd in 1863 tegen de onhoudbare situatie. Tegen de Ottomanen nemen deKoerden en Armeniërs. Tegen het immens militaire macht van de Ottomanenmislukten ze. Na elke opstand werden niet alleen de opstandelingen maar degehele bevolking zwaar gestraft. In 1876 wordt de Ottomaans Grondwet "hervormt".Maar de toenmalige Sultan Abdulhamit II stelde de grondwet van 1876 binnenenkele jaren buitenwerking. Hij benadrukte het islamitische karakter van destaat en riep zich uit tot kalief en verdediger van moslims over de gehelewereld. Door met de Jihad te dreigen, dacht hij de westerse invloed in Azië teondermijnen.De onderdrukking op de niet Islamitische volkeren in het Ottomaans Rijk begintstilaan zich te ontwikkelen op alle vlakken. De "sociale en economischemodernisme" eist veel slachtoffers bij deze vooral Christelijke volkeren. Zeworden als lastposten beschouwd. Alles wat fout loopt wordt hen toegeschreven.De autoriteiten beginnen ook te proberen een volk tegen het andere tegebruiken. Bepaalde stammen, vooral aan de kant van de Koerden trappen in dezevalluik. Ze beloven heel wat rechten toe te kennen aan deze stammen maar vragenhen de anderen samen met het centraal leger het zwijgen op te leggen. Deze"collaborateurs stammen" keren zich tegen de Armeense, Suryoyo en de opstandigeKoerden. Deze collaborateurs worden dik beloond door allerlei dingen, o.a.wapens voor alle stamleden, en functies die ze kregen bij de overheid.Van de Armeense kant waren er heel wat figuren die in hoge staatsdienstengeplaatst waren en dienden de autoriteiten op intellectueel vlak. Ook deArmeense succesrijke handelaars leverden hun hoge bijdragen onafgebroken.Tegelijkertijd groeide er ook een Turks nationalisme dat zich concentreerde opde Turks sprekende bevolking in het schiereiland Anotolië. Het wilde antwoordvinden op de identiteitscrisis van de moslims als gevolg van de verpletterendeovermacht van het Westen.Een van de belangrijkste Turkse theoretici was Ziya Gokalp (1876-1924, dezepersoon is afkomstig uit Diyarbekir. Sommigen beweren dat hij geen Turkseafkomst heeft). Hij wilde weliswaar hervormingen naar het westers voorbeeldinvoeren, maar dan wel met een nationalistische (Panturkistische) kleur. Hijvond dat Turken "zichzelf niet kenden"; zij waren zich "niet bewust van hunnationale verantwoordelijkheden". Gökalp keerde zich af van het multi-etnischeen multireligieuze karakter van de Ottomaanse staat. Hij riep de Turkssprekendeintellectuelen op het voortouw te nemen in de ontdekking van het eigen volk eneen nieuwe Turkse natie. Hij pleitte met andere woorden voor een proces vanturkificatie.De sociaal economische zwakheid begint zich te voelen en de repressie op debevolking wordt heviger. Hoe langer hoe meer men begint te zoeken naar deslachtoffers.Armenië maakte toen deel uit van het Ottomaans Rijk, dat begon langzaam uiteente vallen. De christelijke Armeniërs kwamen in opstand (door ophitsing van desituatie door Rusland) met de islamitische Ottomanen. Op bevel van de SultanAbdulhamit II werden massa's Armeniërs en andere Christenen tussen 1892 en 1896vermoord.De onrusten op alle vlakken en in heel het rijk blijven duren. De macht van desultan wordt kleiner. De Organisaties zoals "Genç Turkler - de Jonge Turken",krijgen meer en meer macht binnen de samenleving. Groot Turkse droomverwezenlijken Anatolië tot westen van China was de droom. En dat moest eenland, een natie, een taal en islamitische zijn. De "Gunes ve Dil Teorisi - deZon en Taal Theorie" is afkomstig van deze organisatie.1In 1908 vond er in Turkije een machtsovername2 plaats door de Jonge Turken3.Deze machtsovername werd door de Armeniërs aanvankelijk gesteund. TijdensEerste Wereldoorlog koos het Ottomaanse Rijk partij voor Duitsland. Hierdoorraakte het in oorlog met Rusland. Rondom de frontlinie (in huidige Oost-Turkijeof met name West Armenië) woonden veel Armeniërs. Uit angst dat de Armeniërszich bij de Russen zouden aansluiten, besloot de Turkse regering tot deportatievan de massa's Armeniërs, weg bij de frontlinie. Vooral de intellectuelen envooraanstaande mensen, 1000 tal personen, werden het mikpunt van het regime. Delegalisatie van de jacht op de niet islamieten in het Ottomaans Rijk is weerbegonnen.De Armeniërs wensten onafhankelijk te blijven tijdens de Eerste Wereldoorlog.Om de Duitsers en hun bondgenoten, o.a. Het Ottomaans Rijk, niet te dienen in zoeen wereld oorlog wilden de mannen niet naar het legerdienst.Evengoed als de koerden zochten ze de westerse mogendheden om de nodige steunte vinden voor en eigen vrije staat. Vooral met Engelsen, Russen en Fransenhadden ze contacten. De beloftes hielden in dat de oostelijke Ottomaanseprovincies aan een onafhankelijk Armenië (de huidige Armeense Republiek)toegevoegd zouden worden.De westerse mogendheden hielden hun beloftes niet en zowel de Armeniërs als deKoerden werden aan hun lot overgelaten.De genocideDe Ottomanen zagen de samenwerking van de Armeniërs met de buitenlandsemachten op Ottomaans grondgebied als verraad, temeer omdat ze eerst haddenverklaard onafhankelijk te blijven in de oorlog. Ook zouden er door Armeensegroepen terreurdaden tegen Turkije worden gepleegd.Na het vermeende 'verraad', besloot het Ottomaans regime officieel alleArmeniërs te deporteren naar zuidelijke provincies Syrië, dat toen nog deeluitmaakte van het Ottomaanse Rijk. De deportatie had echter in wezen geenbestemming. Volgens ooggetuigen en historische documenten bezweken Armeniërs opde doodsmarsen naar het hedendaagse Syrië aan dorst, honger of werdendoodgeranseld of -geschoten door de soldaten van het Rijk. Voorts werdenArmeense vrouwen en meisjes onderweg vrij algemeen verkracht, alvorens te wordenvermoord. Volgens algemeen geaccepteerde wetenschappelijke bronnen zijn tijdensde genocide op de Armeniërs tussen 1915 en 1918 anderhalf van de twee miljoenArmeniërs vermoord.De techniek en de vrijwel geheel ontbrekende internationale aandacht en reactieop de genocide, die bekend was bij brede diplomatieke en journalistieke kringen,zouden later inspireren tot andere genociden wereldwijd en met name voor deHolocaust op de Joden door Duitsland en bondgenoten in Centraal Europa.Uitzonderingen op de geringe aandacht die toentertijd aan de genocide werdbesteed, waren de behandeling van de Amerikaanse krant New York Times en detoenmalige Amerikaanse ambassadeur in Istanbul.In mei 1918 wordt onafhankelijk Armenië uitgeroepen dat vocht aan de zijdenvan de Geallieerden. Deze eerste Armeense Republiek duurde 2,5 jaar. De Armeenseverzetsmacht raakt in oorlog in een front met de Russen tegen de Turkse. DeNoordoostelijke provincies van het Ottomaanse Rijk werden aan Armeniëtoegevoegd. Met de overgave van de Ottomaanse werden de grenzen van het nieuweArmenië bekrachtigd in Het Verdrag Van Sèvres in 1920. Maar enkele jaren lateris de westelijke Armenië weer in handen van de Turkse staat, die zich zelfofficieel de ware erfgenaam van het Ottomaanse Rijk noemt.In 1920 heeft de Republiek van Armenië zich aangesloten bij de Sovjetunie.Deze situatie heeft geduurd tot 1990. Vanaf dan is Armenië weer eenonafhankelijke republiek die wel omringd is door aartsvijanden, nl. Turkije enAzerbeidjaan. Aan de noordelijke kant is Georgië die omwille van haar goederelaties met Turkije en Azerbeidjaan ook niet gemakkelijk maakt voor Armenië..Turkse ontkenningVolgens de Turkse regering zouden er 300.000 tot 500.000 slachtoffers zijn,tegen 1,5 miljoen (uit een totaal van 3 miljoen) volgens sommige wetenschappersen historici. Ook verklaart Turkije dat er geen sprake was van genocide, maardat de doden het slachtoffer zijn geworden hongersnood en dergelijke dietoentertijd in het gebied heersten. Turkije oefent - of oefende tot kort - ookdruk uit op andere landen om het bestaan van de genocide te ontkennen, of in elkgeval niet officieel te bevestigen.Tijdens de Eerste Wereldoorlog hebben de Turken de kant gekozen van de Duitsersen Japan. De Armeniërs die de gewoonte hadden veel meer bvb. dan de Koerden ofde Grieken, in Staatsdienst te werken werden gevraagd het leger in oorlog tedienen. In de oorlog tegen de toenmalige Rusland van de Tsaars werden veleArmeniërs in dienst zodanig gebruikt dat de overgrote meerderheid van henstierf.4 Dat was ook een van de tactieken van de staat op de Armeniërs enandere Christenen. Eerst voldoende gebruiken en langzamerhand vernietigen.De slachtingen, gedwongen massale verhuizingen, massale plunderingen zijngebeurd ¨vooral in 1915 en 1916. Men spreekt van meer dan 1,5 miljoenArmeniërs (75 % van de totaal aantal Armenirs), 700.000 Suryoyo5 (Assyriërs,Syrische Orthodoxen, Chaldeeërs), 700.000 Koerden6 en duizenden Grieken.Drie keer meer dan de totaliteit van deze getallen heeft moeten vluchten. DeArmeniërs kozen richting Syrië, Iran, Armenië, Europa, Canada, verenigdeStaten van Amerika, Rusland, enz... De Koerden en Suryoyo hebben gekozen voorbuurlanden, nl. huidige Armenië, Georgië, Syrië, Iran en Irak. De Griekenhebben gekozen voor Griekenland en Cyprius...Om die redenen zijn de Armeniërs in diaspora drie keer meer dan de Armeniërsin huidige Armenië7.De genocide wordt tot op de dag van vandaag ontkend door de Turkseautoriteiten. Bijvoorbeeld heeft de Turks eerste minister R. Tayip Erdogan naaraanleiding van een bezoek van een groep parlementeren uit Frankrijk het volgendegezegd: "ik wist niet dat 400 000 Armeniërs in Frankrijk zou lukken eenreferendum te laten houden rond over vraag lidmaatschap Turkije bij EU."Deze uitlatingen van de Turkse eerste minister hebben voor velle reactiesgezorgd bij de Armeniërs in het buitenland. De Franse minister van Armeenseafkomst Patrick Devedjian reageerde op volgende manier "Blijkbaar vind Erdoganerg dat de 400 000 Armeniërs die ontsnapten aan de genocide nog in leven zijn."Aan deze ontkenning van de genocide en vervalsing van de geschiedenis nemeneigenaardig genoeg ook de Turkse "wetenschappers". Door hen worden op nationaalen internationaal vlak "conferenties", "studies" georganiseerd om hun eigenversie doen geloven. Soms gaan zowel de Turkse autoriteiten als de "Turksewetenschappers" zover dat ze zelfs in staat zijn om te beweren dat de genocideniet door de Ottomanen-Turken op de Armeniërs en andere volkeren gepleegd ismaar dat in feite de Armeniërs genocide gepleegd hebben op de Turken.Hoe dan ook wordt de genocide op de Armeniërs en andere christelijke volkerenen de Koerden door de meeste buitenlandse wetenschappers en historiciaangenomen. en vragen de Turkse autoriteiten hetzelfde te doen. De vervalsing enontkenning van de genocide op de volkeren vorige eeuw, de blijvende culturelegenocide nu is niet meer te tolereren.Een van de voorwaarden van het Europees Parlement voor de volwaardigelidmaatschap van Turkije bij de EU is o.a. de erkenning hiervan door Turkije. DeV.S.A, Rusland, Verenigd Koninkrijk, Frankrijk, België in 1997 en onlangsNederland en andere landen erkennen dat er genocide is gepleegd op deArmeniërs. 8 Ze vragen de Turkse autoriteiten de realiteit van de geschiedeniste accepteren en de genocide te erkennen.In België zijn Turken ook heel actief om de geschiedenis te vervalsen. Op hetHenri-Michaux plein in Elsene (Brussel) staat sinds 1997 een monument ternagedachtenis van deze volkerenmoord. De Turkse gemeenschap in België is zeerongerust over dit monument. De Turkse lobbyisten, op de kop de Turkse ambassadeen consulaat, de politici van Turkse oorsprong, de Turkse leerkrachten,journalisten, vertegenwoordigers van de Turkse verenigingen, Turkse studenten ende moskeevertegenwoordigers vormen een blok en leveren een hevige strijde om ditmonument te doen verdwijnen uit Elsene.Niet alleen de Brussels staatssecretaris Emir Kir maar ook devolksvertegenwoordiger Emin Ozkara van Turks oorsprong (PS) maar ook FatmaPahlivan en Cemal Cavdarli (SP&A), Nebahat Acar (CD&V), Meryem Kaçar (Groen!)ontkennen en vervalsen de genocide gepleegd door de Ottomaanse en Turkseautoriteiten begin vorige eeuw. Emir Kir is in opspraak gekomen, omdat hij devolkerenmoord door de Turken op de Christelijke Armeniërs ontkende, en opriepom een Brussels monument ter nagedachtenis van de slachtoffers van die genocidete vernielen.Op de in Turkse kringen populaire webstek van Beltürk verklaarde mevrouw Acardat men zich beter zou bezighouden met de integratie van Turkse jongeren dan methet oprichten van monumenten voor de ZOGENAAMDE Armeense genocide.Met deze uitspraak geconfronteerd verduidelijkte ze nogmaals dat "met hetoprichten van monumenten die verdeling zaaien de wereld er niet op vooruitgaat".Blijkbaar is het momenteel bon-ton om in de Brusselse meerderheidskringen devolkerenmoord van de Turken op de Armeniërs te ontkennen. Toch een bijzondereigenaardig gedrag, aangezien het net die partijen zijn die zichzelf maar al tegraag omschrijven als verdraagzaam en democratisch.Voordat die zelfverklaarde democratische partijen er ook maar aan zouden denkenom te raken aan de overheidssubsidies van zogenaamde "ondemocratische" partijenzouden ze beter eens de hand in eigen boezem steken. De PS op kop !1 Volgens deze theorie is de Turkse natie superieur, alle talen zijn afkomstigvan het Turks, alle andere volkeren zijn afstammelingen van de Turken en dehuidige wereldse beschaving komt oorspronkelijk ook van de Turkse.2 In 1908 pleegde een groep Turkse officieren een staatsgreep. Zij stelden zichten doel: modernisering van de staat; een parlementaire democratie; afschaffingvan allerlei voorrechten voor groepen buitenlanders (zoals Engelsen, Fransen enDuitsers). Ze werden geïnspireerd door het voorbeeld Japan, dat zich eindnegentiende eeuw in hoog tempo had gemoderniseerd. Het waren nationalistischeofficieren, die de Europese opdringerigheid en overheersing haatten en tegelijkde westerse techniek en vooruitgang bewonderden.Sultan Abdul Hamid II beschikte niet over loyale troepen en capituleerde voorde opstandige Jong-Turken. Hij moest akkoord gaan met het kortwieken van zijnmacht. Binnen een jaar werd hij vervangen door zijn kleurloze broer Mehmet V,die geen enkele invloed had. Hierna liep het snel mis. De Jong-Turken pleegdenverraad aan hun eigen idealen. In plaats van een gemoderniseerde staat,creëerden zij een militaire dictatuur. Op arrogante, chauvinistische wijzeonderdrukten zij de opstanden van andere volkeren voor vrijheid, zoals vanAlbanezen, Arabieren, Koerden en Armeniërs..3 De Jonge Turken is een bijnaam voor een groep Turkse officieren die in 1908een staatsgreep pleegden. Zij hadden zich uit ergernis over het afkalven van hetOttomaanse Rijk en de decadentie aan het hof verenigd in deze geheimevereniging, het "Comité voor Eenheid en Vooruitgang", bijgenaamd de Jong Turken4 Robert Melson, On the uniqueness and comparability of the holocaust: acomparison with the Armenian Genocide, p. 11.5 Evgil Türker, European Syriac Union, Brussels6 George Shamoev, Keremê Anqosî, Aslan Beg, Rapport of the Yezidi-Kurds foorUN, International Fund of Protection of the Rights and Religions - CulturalHeritage of Kurds, 2003, Tbilisi, Georgië7 Armenië was een regionaal rijk met een rijke cultuur die naar jaren van deeerst Eeuw leiden, in een periode waar het alle landen tussen Zwarte Zee en deKaspische zee omvatte. In 301 was Armenië de eerste formele staat die hetChristendom aannam als zijn officiële staatsgodsdienst, twaalf jaar voor Rome.Het veranderde ook tussen verschillende dynastieën. Maar na veroverd te zijndoor Byzantijnen, Arabieren, Turken en Mongolen, was Armenië wezenlijkverzwakt. In 1454 verdeelde het Ottomaanse Rijk en Perzische Armenië onderzichzelf.In 1828 werd Perzisch Armenië in het Russische Rijk gefuseerd. Dit werd met deUSSR in 1920 herhaald, nadat Armenië kort bestaan had als een onafhankelijkestaat. De Armeniërs die in het westelijke deel van Armenië (OttomaansArmenië) leefden werden onderworpen aan de Armeense Genocide in 1915 waar 1,5miljoen Armeniërs gedood werden en velen anderen gedeporteerd werden.8 Tot nu toe alleen op de Armeniërs. Sinds jaren vragen ook de Suryoyo, deKoerden en anderen ook de erkenning van de genocide op hun identiteit.Brussel, 08.02.2005, verschenen in de Tijdschrift De Koerden. Nr. 22
pontische
Door de geschiedenis heen, veel van de meest verlichte geest hebben de glorieuze tijd van het oude Griekenland en de bijdragen van de oude Griekse filosofen, wetenschappers, kunstenaars en staatslieden. Less is known, however, about the history culture and contributions of the Greeks of the Pontus. Minder bekend is echter over de geschiedenis en cultuur bijdragen van de Grieken van de Pontus. The History section will familiarize you with our unique background and provide resources for further study. De geschiedenis gedeelte maakt u kennis met onze unieke achtergrond en middelen voor verdere studie. Following the advent of Christianity during late Roman and early Byzantine times, the Greeks of Pontus preserved their orthodox religious traditions and distinctive culture for over one thousand years - even after the Ottoman conquest in 1461 relegated them to the role of a religious minority of the Empire for over four hundred years. Na de komst van het christendom tijdens de laat-Romeinse en vroeg-Byzantijnse tijd, de Grieken van Pontus behouden hun orthodoxe religieuze tradities en onderscheidende cultuur voor meer dan duizend jaar - zelfs na de Ottomaanse verovering in 1461 verbannen naar de rol van een religieuze minderheid van het Rijk voor meer dan vierhonderd jaar. Having endured centuries of pressure by the Ottoman authorities to convert to Islam, the persecutions of Christians intensified in the 17th and 18th Centuries then eased in the 19th Century due to a series of internal reforms meant to modernize the Ottoman Empire along Western European lines. Na eeuwen doorstaan van druk door de Ottomaanse overheid om tot de islam, de vervolgingen van christenen geïntensiveerd in de 17e en 18e eeuw dan verlicht in de 19e eeuw als gevolg van een reeks interne hervormingen bedoeld om de modernisering van het Ottomaanse Rijk langs de West-Europese lijnen. Hopes of better living conditions in the empire, however, were brutally dashed by the early 20th century eventually leading to the systematic eradication of the empire's Christian minorities. Hoopt op betere leefomstandigheden in het rijk werden echter brutaal streeplijnen door het begin van de 20e eeuw uiteindelijk leidt tot de systematische uitroeiing van het rijk van de christelijke minderheden. Starting with the rise to power of Turkish Nationalists (or "Young Turks") in 1908 and ending with the mass killings of Pontian Greeks and the forced exchange of populations in 1923, the Turkish nationalists achieved one of the first genocides of the 20th Century. Te beginnen met de opkomst van de Turkse nationalisten (of "Jonge Turken") in 1908 en eindigend met de massa-executies van Pontian Grieken en de gedwongen uitwisseling van de bevolking in 1923, het Turkse nationalisten bereikt een van de eerste genociden van de 20ste eeuw. Since 1923, genocide has continued to take place around the world and continues to this very day. Sinds 1923, genocide is blijven plaatsvinden in de hele wereld en blijft op de dag van vandaag. The importance of learning about causes and consequences of genocide is an essential lesson for the civilized world. Het belang van leren over de oorzaken en gevolgen van de genocide is een essentiële les voor de beschaafde wereld. To this end, the Pontian Greek Society of Chicago has gathered and is making available documents on the events that pertain to the Pontian Greek Genocide. Daartoe heeft de Pontian Griekse Vereniging van Chicago heeft verzameld en ter beschikking documenten over de gebeurtenissen die betrekking hebben op de Pontian Griekse Genocide. Resources for the Pontian Greek Genocide History (1908-1923) have been consolidated on the PanPontian Federation website, which will become available soon. Middelen voor de Pontian Griekse Genocide Geschiedenis (1908-1923) zijn op de geconsolideerde PanPontian Federatie website, die zal binnenkort beschikbaar.
Akis Haralabopoulos
Background Paper on the Pontian Genocide
akis@pronet.net.au
Pontus means "sea" in Greek and is located in the south-eastern littoral of
the Black Sea. Its connection with Hellenism stretches back to pre-historic
times to the legends of Jason and the Argonauts quest for the Golden Fleece
and to Heracles obtaining the Amazon Queen's girdle. The coastal region was
colonised by the Ionians, especially the city of Miletus which founded Sinope
(785 BC), Trapezunta (756 BC) and the numerous other cities along the coast
from Heracleia to Discurias in the Caucasus. The Hinterland was gradually
Hellenised and this was completed after Alexander's conquests. Its
contribution to Hellenism in those 2800 years has been enormous: Diogenes
hailed from Sinope and Strabo from Amaseia, it was here that Xenophon found a
safe haven, that the great Comneni dynasty reigned, the home of Cardinal
Bessarion and the Hypsilandis family; it was also the last Greek territory to
fall to the Turks (in 1461). Many famous churches, monasteries and schools
are a testament to the resilience of Hellenism. The Pontians are a distinct
Greek people with their own dialect, dances, songs and theatre.
For the Pontian Greeks all ended in tragedy in the years 1914-22. Of the
700,000 Greeks living in Pontus in 1914, 300,000 were killed as a result of
Turkish government policy and the remainder became refugees. Three millenia of
the Greek presence was wiped out by a deliberate policy of creating a Turkey
for the Turks. The Pontian people were denied the right to exist, the right of
respect for their national and cultural identity, and the right to remain on
land they had lived on for countless generations.
The turning point in the treatment of Greeks in Turkey was the alliance
between Germany and the Sultan that commenced after the Treaty of Berlin
1878. Germany regarded Anglo French protection of Christians as an obstacle
to its interests and convinced the Turkish authorities that the Greeks were
working for the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Germany opened the Berlin
Academy to Turkish military officers and General Gotz was appointed to
restructure the Ottoman armed forces. The successful national movements in
the Balkans posed a threat that the same would occur in Asia Minor. After the
Balkan Wars the Young Turks decided that Asia Minor would be a homeland for
Turks alone and that the Greeks and Armenians had to be eliminated. The
outbreak of World War I made this possible and Germany willingly sacrificed
the Christian minorities to achieve its aim in the Middle East. However, it
is the German and Austrian diplomats reports that confirm that what took
place was a systematic and deliberate extermination of the Christian
population. Genocide. Not security or defence measures, not relocations of
population (why forcibly relocate populations?) not war, not retaliation in
response to the activities of Pontian guerillas or Russian invasion but
GENOCIDE.
Terrorism, labour battalions, exiles, forced marches, rapes, hangings, fires,
murders, planned, directed and executed by the Turkish authorities. This can
be corroborated by the German and Austrian archives now made public:
24 July 1909 German Ambassador in Athens Wangenheim to Chancellor Bulow
quoting Turkish Prime Minister Sefker Pasha: "The Turks have decided upon a
war of extermination against their Christian subjects."
26 July 1909 Sefker Pasha visited Patriarch Ioakeim III and tells him: "we
will cut off your heads, we will make you disappear. It is either you or us
who will survive."
14 May 1914 Official document from Talaat Bey Minister of the Interior to
Prefect of Smyrna: The Greeks, who are Ottoman subjects, and form the
majority of inhabitants in your district, take advantage of the circumstances
in order to provoke a revolutionary current, favourable to the intervention
of the Great Powers. Consequently, it is urgently necessary that the Greeks
occupying the coast-line of Asia Minor be compelled to evacuate their
villages and install themselves in the vilayets of Erzerum and Chaldea. If
they should refuse to be transported to the appointed places, kindly give
instructions to our Moslem brothers, so that they shall induce the Greeks,
through excesses of all sorts, to leave their native places of their own
accord. Do not forget to obtain, in such cases, from the emigrants
certificates stating that they leave their homes on their own initiative, so
that we shall not have political complications ensuing from their
displacement.
31 July 1915 German priest J. Lepsius: "The anti-Greek and anti-Armenian
persecutions are two phases of one programme - the extermination of the
Christian element from Turkey.
16 July 1916 German Consul Kuchhoff from Amisos to Berlin: "The entire Greek
population of Sinope and the coastal region of the county of Kastanome has
been exiled. Exile and extermination in Turkish are the same, for whoever is
not murdered, will die from hunger or illness."
30 November 1916 Austrian consul at Amisos Kwiatkowski to Austria Foreign
Minister Baron Burian: "on 26 November Rafet Bey told me: "we must finish off
the Greeks as we did with the Armenians . . . on 28 November. Rafet Bey told
me: "today I sent squads to the interior to kill every Greek on sight." I fear
for the elimination of the entire Greek population and a repeat of what
occurred last year" (meaning the Armenian genocide).
13 December 1916 German Ambassador Kuhlman to Chancellor Hollweg in Berlin:
"Consuls Bergfeld in Samsun and Schede in Kerasun report of displacement of
local population and murders. Prisoners are not kept. Villages reduced to
ashes. Greek refugee families consisting mostly of women and children being
marched from the coasts to Sebasteia. The need is great."
19 December 1916 Austrian Ambassador to Turkey Pallavicini to Vienna lists the
villages in the region of Amisos that were being burnt to the ground and their
inhabitants raped, murdered or dispersed.
20 January 1917 Austrian Ambassador Pallavicini: "the situation for the
displaced is desperate. Death awaits them all. I spoke to the Grand Vizier and
told him that it would be sad if the persecution of the Greek element took the
same scope and dimension as the Armenia persecution. The Grand Vizier promised
that he would influence Talaat Bey and Emver Pasha."
31 January 1917 Austrian Chancellor Hollweg's report: ". . . the indications
are that the Turks plan to eliminate the Greek element as enemies of the
state, as they did earlier with the Armenians. The strategy implemented by
the Turks is of displacing people to the interior without taking measures for
their survival by exposing them to death, hunger and illness. The abandoned
homes are then looted and burnt or destroyed. Whatever was done to the
Armenians is being repeated with the Greeks.
Thus, by government decree 1,500,000 Armenians and 300,000 Pontian Greeks were
annihilated through exile, starvation, cold, illness, slaughter, murder,
gallows, axe, and fire. Those who survived fled never to return. The Pontians
now lie scattered all over the world as a result of the genocide and their
unique history, language (the dialect is a valuable link between ancient and
modern Greek), and culture are endangered and face extinction.
A double crime was committed - genocide and the uprooting of a people from
their ancestral homelands of three millenia. The Christian nations were not
only witnesses to this horrible and monstrous crime, which remains
unpunished, but for reasons of political expediency and self interest have,
by their silence, pardoned the criminal. The Ottoman and Kemalist Turks were
responsible for the genocide of the Pontian people, the most heinous of all
crimes according to international law. The international community must
recognise this crime.
akis@pronet.net.au
Pontus means "sea" in Greek and is located in the south-eastern littoral of
the Black Sea. Its connection with Hellenism stretches back to pre-historic
times to the legends of Jason and the Argonauts quest for the Golden Fleece
and to Heracles obtaining the Amazon Queen's girdle. The coastal region was
colonised by the Ionians, especially the city of Miletus which founded Sinope
(785 BC), Trapezunta (756 BC) and the numerous other cities along the coast
from Heracleia to Discurias in the Caucasus. The Hinterland was gradually
Hellenised and this was completed after Alexander's conquests. Its
contribution to Hellenism in those 2800 years has been enormous: Diogenes
hailed from Sinope and Strabo from Amaseia, it was here that Xenophon found a
safe haven, that the great Comneni dynasty reigned, the home of Cardinal
Bessarion and the Hypsilandis family; it was also the last Greek territory to
fall to the Turks (in 1461). Many famous churches, monasteries and schools
are a testament to the resilience of Hellenism. The Pontians are a distinct
Greek people with their own dialect, dances, songs and theatre.
For the Pontian Greeks all ended in tragedy in the years 1914-22. Of the
700,000 Greeks living in Pontus in 1914, 300,000 were killed as a result of
Turkish government policy and the remainder became refugees. Three millenia of
the Greek presence was wiped out by a deliberate policy of creating a Turkey
for the Turks. The Pontian people were denied the right to exist, the right of
respect for their national and cultural identity, and the right to remain on
land they had lived on for countless generations.
The turning point in the treatment of Greeks in Turkey was the alliance
between Germany and the Sultan that commenced after the Treaty of Berlin
1878. Germany regarded Anglo French protection of Christians as an obstacle
to its interests and convinced the Turkish authorities that the Greeks were
working for the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Germany opened the Berlin
Academy to Turkish military officers and General Gotz was appointed to
restructure the Ottoman armed forces. The successful national movements in
the Balkans posed a threat that the same would occur in Asia Minor. After the
Balkan Wars the Young Turks decided that Asia Minor would be a homeland for
Turks alone and that the Greeks and Armenians had to be eliminated. The
outbreak of World War I made this possible and Germany willingly sacrificed
the Christian minorities to achieve its aim in the Middle East. However, it
is the German and Austrian diplomats reports that confirm that what took
place was a systematic and deliberate extermination of the Christian
population. Genocide. Not security or defence measures, not relocations of
population (why forcibly relocate populations?) not war, not retaliation in
response to the activities of Pontian guerillas or Russian invasion but
GENOCIDE.
Terrorism, labour battalions, exiles, forced marches, rapes, hangings, fires,
murders, planned, directed and executed by the Turkish authorities. This can
be corroborated by the German and Austrian archives now made public:
24 July 1909 German Ambassador in Athens Wangenheim to Chancellor Bulow
quoting Turkish Prime Minister Sefker Pasha: "The Turks have decided upon a
war of extermination against their Christian subjects."
26 July 1909 Sefker Pasha visited Patriarch Ioakeim III and tells him: "we
will cut off your heads, we will make you disappear. It is either you or us
who will survive."
14 May 1914 Official document from Talaat Bey Minister of the Interior to
Prefect of Smyrna: The Greeks, who are Ottoman subjects, and form the
majority of inhabitants in your district, take advantage of the circumstances
in order to provoke a revolutionary current, favourable to the intervention
of the Great Powers. Consequently, it is urgently necessary that the Greeks
occupying the coast-line of Asia Minor be compelled to evacuate their
villages and install themselves in the vilayets of Erzerum and Chaldea. If
they should refuse to be transported to the appointed places, kindly give
instructions to our Moslem brothers, so that they shall induce the Greeks,
through excesses of all sorts, to leave their native places of their own
accord. Do not forget to obtain, in such cases, from the emigrants
certificates stating that they leave their homes on their own initiative, so
that we shall not have political complications ensuing from their
displacement.
31 July 1915 German priest J. Lepsius: "The anti-Greek and anti-Armenian
persecutions are two phases of one programme - the extermination of the
Christian element from Turkey.
16 July 1916 German Consul Kuchhoff from Amisos to Berlin: "The entire Greek
population of Sinope and the coastal region of the county of Kastanome has
been exiled. Exile and extermination in Turkish are the same, for whoever is
not murdered, will die from hunger or illness."
30 November 1916 Austrian consul at Amisos Kwiatkowski to Austria Foreign
Minister Baron Burian: "on 26 November Rafet Bey told me: "we must finish off
the Greeks as we did with the Armenians . . . on 28 November. Rafet Bey told
me: "today I sent squads to the interior to kill every Greek on sight." I fear
for the elimination of the entire Greek population and a repeat of what
occurred last year" (meaning the Armenian genocide).
13 December 1916 German Ambassador Kuhlman to Chancellor Hollweg in Berlin:
"Consuls Bergfeld in Samsun and Schede in Kerasun report of displacement of
local population and murders. Prisoners are not kept. Villages reduced to
ashes. Greek refugee families consisting mostly of women and children being
marched from the coasts to Sebasteia. The need is great."
19 December 1916 Austrian Ambassador to Turkey Pallavicini to Vienna lists the
villages in the region of Amisos that were being burnt to the ground and their
inhabitants raped, murdered or dispersed.
20 January 1917 Austrian Ambassador Pallavicini: "the situation for the
displaced is desperate. Death awaits them all. I spoke to the Grand Vizier and
told him that it would be sad if the persecution of the Greek element took the
same scope and dimension as the Armenia persecution. The Grand Vizier promised
that he would influence Talaat Bey and Emver Pasha."
31 January 1917 Austrian Chancellor Hollweg's report: ". . . the indications
are that the Turks plan to eliminate the Greek element as enemies of the
state, as they did earlier with the Armenians. The strategy implemented by
the Turks is of displacing people to the interior without taking measures for
their survival by exposing them to death, hunger and illness. The abandoned
homes are then looted and burnt or destroyed. Whatever was done to the
Armenians is being repeated with the Greeks.
Thus, by government decree 1,500,000 Armenians and 300,000 Pontian Greeks were
annihilated through exile, starvation, cold, illness, slaughter, murder,
gallows, axe, and fire. Those who survived fled never to return. The Pontians
now lie scattered all over the world as a result of the genocide and their
unique history, language (the dialect is a valuable link between ancient and
modern Greek), and culture are endangered and face extinction.
A double crime was committed - genocide and the uprooting of a people from
their ancestral homelands of three millenia. The Christian nations were not
only witnesses to this horrible and monstrous crime, which remains
unpunished, but for reasons of political expediency and self interest have,
by their silence, pardoned the criminal. The Ottoman and Kemalist Turks were
responsible for the genocide of the Pontian people, the most heinous of all
crimes according to international law. The international community must
recognise this crime.
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