International Association of Genocide Scholars

By George Gilson

Athens has called on Turkey to recognise the genocide of the Pontian Greek population by the forces of Kemal Ataturk three days after the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the genocide with mass m death Marches.

Cosmos Philly, a web-site with Greek-American news from Philadelphia, published a small but important analysis that sheds light to the Genocide of the Greeks of Asia Minor by the Ottoman Turks.

It compares it with the Jewish Genocide and it attempts to answer the question, why it is that so few know of the Genocide of the Greeks of Anatolia.

The current Greek population in Turkey is estimated at fewer than 2,000.  But this population decline was not due to natural causes; the Greek community has become nearly extinct due to many state-sponsored attacks and pressure.

The largest attacks took place during the last years of the Ottoman Empire with pogroms and discrimination continuing until the present day.

Greek Education Minister Nikos Filis is a persona non grata following comments made on private STAR TV where he refuted the occurence of the Pontic Genocide that resulted in the slaughter of tens of thousands of Pontic Greeks of the Black Sea region by Turks almost a century ago.