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Pontian Genocide

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  • #61
    Re: Pontian Genocide


    Vahram Karabent of Merzifon


    FEATURED ITEM OF THE MONTH

    Pontian Greek History - Oral Histories

    Vahram Karabent of Merzifon, was an Armenian citizen from the Ottoman Empire born in the city of Merzifon in 1905.

    At the age of 10, Karabent witnessed the Ottoman Turkish deportation of the Armenians - four of his uncles, along with his Father and Grandfather were deported from their homes and never heard from again. Karabent along with his mother and brother, were the only members of his family to survive.

    In addition to the suffering of the Armenian community, Karabent also witnessed similar measures taken by the Turks against the Greek community of Merzifon, and tells of the Greek resistance to the expulsions – below are excerpts from his story:

    “At that time the Sultan was still the ruler.The Sultan issued an imperial decree saying, 'Those who become Muslims will remain!' Whether you were Armenian or Greek Orthodox, if you were willing to change your religion and become a Muslim, you would be saved. Those who refused to do so were rounded up and moved.... The government encouraged artisans and tradesmen who had necessary skills to adopt Islam and be saved. There were those who were saved in that way.”

    Excerpts from the book You Rejoice My Heart by Kemal Yalcin
    ISBN 978-1-903656-72-3
    Printed by Gopsons Papers Ltd, Distributed by Garod books Ltd.
    Permission has been obtained by Garod books to use and post excerpts from the true story of Vahram Karabent of Merzifon

    “The calamity didn't spare the Greeks, either...

    Even as they were saying that things would be getting back to normal, the war began again.This time they began to attack the Greeks and subject them to things similar to what had been done to us. Ultimately, the calamity that had befallen us also befell the Greeks some five years later.

    Here, take a look at the scar on my arm! Do you know where and how I received this wound? I'll tell you!

    The year was 1920. I was fifteen years old. The calamity that had come upon the Armenians had passed, they said, but now Topal Osman's gangs of brigands made their appearance in the regions around the Black Sea.They struck against the Greeks and murdered them.

    I remember it exactly how it happened. It was a Saturday. The Topal Osman gang came to Merzifon with the intention of carrying out a raid against the Greeks. But there weren't that many Greeks left in Merzifon. And those who were there weren't rich.

    During that time they started to deport the Greeks. After the raids and attacks by Topal Osman's gangs, the Greeks who lived in the area began to disappear.

    The expulsion of the Greeks wasn't exactly like the Armenian Deportation, but still, expulsion is expulsion. May no one ever have to go through it! We couldn't do a thing to help the Greeks. We had no means with which to do anything for them. And we were scared. We were hopeless and alone. It was like the whole world was against us.

    There were a lot of Greeks in the region of Amasya, in Samsun and on the Black Sea coast. And the Greeks didn't submit meekly like the Armenians had. They also formed armed bands. They armed themselves and fled to the mountains. They defended themselves up there.If they hadn't taken up arms to defend themselves, not a single one of them would have survived. It wasn't like in 1915. The Greeks were strong. They fought.

    Some of the Greeks died, others were killed. Those who had caiques or boats fled to Russia. Others fled to Greece or were sent there.

    But the enormity of the disaster that befell the Armenians can't be compared to that of the Greeks. Only a very few of the Armenians managed to survive... no more than one or two from any family or line. But those things that happened to the Greeks can still be seen as comparable in some ways to the calamity that befell the Armenians. During their dark days, most Greek families or lines lost one or two members.”


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    • #62
      Re: Pontian Genocide

      The Genocide of the Greeks of Pontus

      By Kemal Farzli. A Muslim Pomak from Xanthi, Thrace.Greece

      From the Newspaper Zagalisa (Sep 2009).

      Translated from Greek to English by pontosworld.com

      Masculinity doesn't just come from strength in one's arms. Instead it comes from the heart and the soul of a person. It appears Turks have yet to understand this, neither have certain janissaries and ‘paid out' Pomaks who declare that they are Turkish. Those who therefore speak about human rights in Thrace, should be embarrassed for a number of reasons. What I would like to say is the following: if these people are indeed men and if they wear trousers, they should recognise the genocide of the Greeks of Pontus, 400.000 of whom were massacred by Turkish murderers, murderers who later went on to become national heroes.

      Those of us who are Muslim - know that the souls of these murderers are being tortured in hell. Allah has certainly sent them there. It is also there that many Thraciotes will end up, at least those who are trying to harm Greece, a country in which they live in more peacefully than in their own motherland, Turkey. It's for this reason also that they are not leaving Greece....simply because in Greece they live like kings. If they were to live in Turkey, they would have no value and they would be abandoned to their own fate, as is the case with the living conditions of so many millions of poor Turks today.

      I'd like to ask: has anybody ever seen or heard a Muslim politician in the prefecture of Xanthi and Rodopi, a Muslim advisor of the prefecture, a municipal adviser, a Muslim mayor, ever attempt to mention or acknowledge the 400.000 massacred Pontic Greeks? Have you ever seen a Muslim journalist express sympathy for the genocide of the Greeks of Pontus? You have not and neither will you, simply because they are fascists and admirers of the murderers and deep down in their souls they are celebrating it and are happy about it.

      Ever since Thrace was freed, not only has nobody dared to make mention of this, but on the contrary some of these people who can only be described as low lives, attend commemoration ceremonies which Pontic Greek organisations hold, merely as spies, taking photographs of attendees to send back to their bosses, those who command them to do such things. These people are purely descendants of the above mentioned Turkish murderers and it amazes me that Pontic Greeks actually give them the democratic right to enter these gatherings. Would the victims of the genocide approve of such... democratic behaviour towards the admirers of the murderers? Fortunately, we Pomaks know quite well who these people are, and we refuse to allow them entry into our events...

      Original article: http://malkidis.blogspot.com/2009/09...post_1468.html

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      • #63
        Re: Pontian Genocide

        I still feel guilty about the time I insulted my paternal grandma, calling her a "dirty Greek'.
        I was quite young you see, even so, I started reading newspapers when I was 5 and was under the ether, reading Hurriyet newspaper day after day.Them making Turks enemies to the Greeks because of their Cypress aspirations.
        She didn't live with us so when I met her at a family gathering, my hatred was loaded in me, thinking, her being Greek (Pontus) endangered our lives.I remembered she said something kind or offered some food , and I just exploded; then, she did something i didn't expect, my yaya she started sobbing quietly, I immediately started to cry also (I don't know why) the whole table was quiet.I still can't believe I did that.
        Last edited by Gavur; 09-23-2009, 04:00 PM. Reason: spelling
        "All truth passes through three stages:
        First, it is ridiculed;
        Second, it is violently opposed; and
        Third, it is accepted as self-evident."

        Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

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        • #64
          Re: Pontian Genocide

          One of the weaknesses of Armenians is their focus soley on the Armenian aspect of what was essentially a genocide of all Christians in the Ottoman Empire that continued into the Turkish Republic. In addition to Armenians, there were also hundreds of thousands of Assyrians, Nestorians, and Pontic Greeks who were slaughtered. There was also a significant inter-marriage amongst them.
          General Antranik (1865-1927): “I am not a nationalist. I recognize only one nation, the nation of the oppressed.”

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          • #65
            Re: Pontian Genocide

            Originally posted by Joseph View Post
            There was also a significant inter-marriage amongst them.
            Are you referring to before, or after the genocide, or both periods?

            Comment


            • #66
              Re: Pontian Genocide

              I leave aside the issue of the Armenian government officially recognizing the Pontic Greek genocide. But it would be wise for all Armenians to include the genocide of the Pontic Greeks and Assyrians and the general genocide of all the Christians of Anatolia in their efforts to bring Turkey to justice for its crimes. That
              is probably why Turkey is so desperately clinging to its denialist position on the Armenian Genocide: because it is afraid that recognizing it would be the "camel's nose
              under the tent" for the rest of its enormous crimes to be brought to light. For that very reason, Armenians should make common cause with the Greeks and Assyrians.

              Comment


              • #67
                Re: Pontian Genocide

                Originally posted by Diranakir View Post
                I leave aside the issue of the Armenian government officially recognizing the Pontic Greek genocide. But it would be wise for all Armenians to include the genocide of the Pontic Greeks and Assyrians and the general genocide of all the Christians of Anatolia in their efforts to bring Turkey to justice for its crimes. That
                is probably why Turkey is so desperately clinging to its denialist position on the Armenian Genocide: because it is afraid that recognizing it would be the "camel's nose
                under the tent" for the rest of its enormous crimes to be brought to light. For that very reason, Armenians should make common cause with the Greeks and Assyrians.
                The one and only Assyrian church in Los Angeles was just burned down by some muslim suspects according to LAPD..........I have been there before for a friends parent funural services.

                I hold common cause with our Greek and Assyrian friends.
                B0zkurt Hunter

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                • #68
                  Re: Pontian Genocide

                  Originally posted by Eddo211 View Post
                  The one and only Assyrian church in Los Angeles was just burned down by some muslim suspects according to LAPD..........I have been there before for a friends parent funural services.

                  I hold common cause with our Greek and Assyrian friends.
                  I thought there was more than one...but I might be mixing up Chaldean and Syrian with Assyrian.
                  kurtçul kangal

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                  • #70
                    Re: Pontian Genocide

                    Music and Politics Color Greek Pilgrimage to Trebizond



                    My grandparents in Trabzon with my aunt before 1915 :


                    Nil
                    #3449

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