In a climate of excitement the events took place at Constitutionwith the Evzones making a change of guard wearing Pontian costume for today’s (19.05.2025) Day of memory Pontian genocide from which 106 years have passed.
Crowds gathered in the Constitution to commemorate the Pontian Genocide Day. The Presidential Guard on the commemoration of the genocide of Pontian Hellenism made three changes of guard wearing traditional Pontian costumes. The “present” was given by Pontian associations and unions, and a wreath will be laid and a march to the Turkish embassy.
With memory events culminating in every corner of the country, Pontian associations and bodies have spoken of the constant struggle for international recognition of genocide and the justification of historical memory.
May 19th has been established as a day of remembrance of the Genocide of the Greeks of Pontus. Today in 1919, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk landed in Samsun, triggering the start of the second and more murderous wave of genocide, which had begun in previous years and lasted until 1923.
At that time it is estimated that about 353,000 Greeks of Pontus – men, women and children – were killed.
The president of the Pan -Hellenic Federation of Pontic Associations, Christina Sachinidou, said: “We honor our dead. I am proud of those who talk about forgotten homelands. We ask justification, not revenge. “