The Federation of Pontian Associations of Australia has issued an open letter to Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, expressing deep concern over his recent statements relating to the historical legacy of Mustafa Kemal and the treatment of Pontian Greek activist Giannis Vasilis Yaylalí.
The letter highlights what the signatories describe as a moral and historical contradiction in Greece’s foreign policy, while calling for respect for historical truth and the immediate protection of Yaylalí.
Full open letter in English:
To the Prime Minister of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis
The moral and historical contradiction in Greece’s foreign policy regarding the “legacy” of Mustafa Kemal and the imminent deportation of Giannis Vasilis Yaylalí.
With the present letter, we, the Greeks of Pontus living in Australia, wish to express our concern and disappointment regarding your recent statements relating to historical memory.
It is striking that, in your recent meeting with the President of Turkey, you referred to the “legacy” of Mustafa Kemal. It is historically indisputable and internationally recognised that Kemal was the moral and physical perpetrator of the final stages of the Genocide of the Greeks, as well as of the Genocide of the Armenians and the Assyrians.
The use of such terminology by the leadership of the Greek state insults the memory of the hundreds of thousands of victims, undermines our struggles for the international recognition of the Genocide, equates the perpetrator with the victim, and ignores the persecutions, destruction, the Genocide and all the acts of violence upon which this “legacy” you referred to was built.
It is self-evident to us, as well as to every person who respects history, that it is inconceivable for Greece, which has suffered the mass crime, to refer in this manner to the moral and physical perpetrator of the Genocide of our ancestors.
At the same time that these statements are being made, the Greek state is displaying a harsh and unjust face towards one of our compatriots from Pontus, Giannis Vasilis Yaylalí.
Yaylalí, a man who discovered his Greek origin and fought courageously within Turkey to bring the truth of the Genocide to light, is now facing the prospect of deportation. The refusal to grant asylum or legalising documents to a person who is persecuted precisely because he defended Greek history constitutes a moral transgression and an act that exposes the country internationally.
We demand the immediate reconsideration of the government’s decision, respect for historical truth, and the provision of protection to Giannis Vasilis Yaylalí, as a minimum demonstration of national and moral dignity.
Federation of Pontian Associations of Australia
- PONTIAN BROTHERHOOD OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA • UNITED PONTIAN BENEVOLENT BROTHERHOOD PONTOXENITEAS NSW • PAN-PONTIAN UNITED OF THE VIRGIN SOUMELA NSW
- PONTIC FOUNDATION OF AUSTRALIA “PANAGIA SOUMELA”. • GREEK PONTIAN SOCIETY OF WOLLONGONG NSW • CANBERRA PONTIAN SOCIETY ACT
- PONTIC EDUCATIONAL AND CULTURAL ASSOCIATION OF VICTORIA “AKRITES TOU PONTOU” • CENTRAL PONTIAN ASSOCIATION OF MELBOURNE VICTORIA “PONTIAKI ESTIA”
- PONTIAN BROTHERHOOD OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA “ST GEORGE”
