With a highly aggressive announcement, in provocative language, the Turkey re -attempts to counter the story and deconstruct the documented her crimes against the Greeks of Pontuseven challenging the provisions of the Treaty of Lausanne.
On the occasion of the anniversary of Pontian genocideAnkara once again chose to attack Greece with provocative and inaccurate statements. In a statement, the Turkish Foreign Ministry described as “fantastic” the reports of the crimes he committed against the Greeks of Pontus and attempted to reverse historical reality, rejecting every accusation and distorting the events.
Among other things, Turkey claimed that The Greek side It is trying to counter the history, reaching the point of even invoking the Treaty of Lausanne, but ignoring that this text recognizes its atrocities against the Greeks of Asia Minor. In particular, Ankara attempted to present the Pontian claims as an attempt to dismantle the Ottoman Empire, ignoring the systematic extermination of Pontian Hellenism.
With its well -known rhetoric, the Turkish leadership tried to reverse the responsibilities, referring to “Greek atrocities” and attempting to downgrade the mass massacres and displacements that occurred at the expense of Pontian Hellenism.
In detail the announcement of the Turkish Foreign Ministry
We condemn the delusional statements, which are absolutely incompatible with the historical events made by the Greek authorities on the occasion of the anniversary of the unfounded “Pontic” claims. We fully reject these fantastic claims, aimed at defaming our independence struggle, which began under the leadership of great leader Gazi Mustafa Kemal Ataturk on May 19, 1919.
It is a historical reality that the Greek army committed innumerable atrocities in Asia Minor, which it occupied with the support of the imperialist forces of the time. Greece’s current unfounded political efforts to distort history are invalid and unfounded.
The Greek atrocities in Asia Minor, referring to the reports of the Allied Inquiry Committee, were also recorded in Article 59 of the Lausanne Peace Treaty, with Greece being obliged to pay compensation for acts that violated the laws of the war.
The Pontian activities, which emerged in the late 19th century as an extension of Greece’s ambitions for the “Great Idea” in our territories, were condemned to eternal failure through the decisive struggle of our nation. We call on the Greek authorities to abandon the policy of exploiting these historical events for populist purposes and to honor the violent crimes committed against Turkish and other ethnic groups, starting with the slaughter of Tripolitsa in 1821.
Initiatives that draw hostility from history and aim to hurt the relations between our countries, which in recent years have been moving with positive dynamics, must now end.