Turkey has condemned official Greek statements made on May 19, Remembrance Day for the Genocide of the Pontic Greeks, labelling them as “delusional” and rejecting what it called “unfounded” historical claims.
In a statement issued on Monday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry criticised remarks by Greek leaders, including Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who commemorated the 353,000 Pontic Greeks killed or displaced during the early 20th century.
“We condemn the delusional statements, which are completely incompatible with historical facts, made by Greek authorities on the pretext of the anniversary of unfounded ‘Pontic’ allegations,” the Ministry said, asserting that such claims aim to “defame” Turkey’s War of Independence.
The statement went further to accuse Greece of committing atrocities in Anatolia and engaging in historical revisionism, describing Pontic remembrance efforts as part of the “Megali Idea” and criticising Greece for drawing “hostility from history” and undermining recent diplomatic progress.
Earlier that day, Prime Minister Mitsotakis had posted: “We honour once again the memory of the thousands of Greeks of Pontus who were uprooted from their homes, exterminated, and tortured,” in tribute to the victims of the genocide, which Greece officially recognises as beginning on 19 May 1919, the day Mustafa Kemal Atatürk landed in Samsun.
Source: Ekathimerini
