On May 19, 2020, in Yerevan in Tsitsernakaberd, an action was held in memory of the victims of the Pontic Greek Genocide by Turkey.
The ceremony was attended by:
- military attache of the Embassy of Greece in Armenia Simaiakis Dimosthenis,
- representatives of the Greek community,
- Armenian freedom fighters and military personnel.
The ceremony was also attended by:
- Prime Minister of the Republic of Western Armenia (Armenia) Tigran Pashabezyan,
Deputies of the National Assembly (Parliament) of Western Armenia:
- Eduard Polatov (Eduardos Polatidis),
- Major General Andreas Hovhannisyan,
- Colonel Aram Torgomyan,
as well as
- Major General Anatoly Arakelyan
- Colonel Dmitry Martirosyan,
and other.
***
The speech was made by Eduard Polatov (Eduardos Polatidis), chairman of the organization of Greeks of Armenia and Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) «Patrida», chairman of the patriotic organization of war veterans «Talish — border settlements», deputy of the National Assembly (Parliament) of Western Armenia.
Below is the full version of the appeal of Eduard Polatov.
They say, killers have no nationality. One can agree with this statement if the crime is committed on a domestic basis. But when there is a systematic, organized at the state level mass extermination of civilians on a national basis, it would be a sacrilege before the memory of the slaughtered Greeks, Armenians and other peoples not to name the nationality of the organizers and performers of the genocide.
According to the UN Convention of 1948 organized mass extermination of one nation by another nation is qualifies as GENOCIDE. Christianity assumes that any killer has the right for sincere remorse and repentance, which will permit him to save his soul in the face of the Almighty. But only provided that the killer does everything necessary to atone for his mortal sin. For more than a century, Turkey had the opportunity to repent and atone for its horrific sins, but it not only denies the monstrous atrocities committed, but it also continues to implement a policy that, in essence, is of no difference from the bloody policy of the Ottoman Empire.
With such an approach to its own history, Turkey, of course, could not do without major falsifications. In order to whitewash itself in the eyes of the international community, in 1931 Kemal Atatürk issued a decree on the creation of the “Turkish Historical Campaign”, which engaged Turkish and biased foreign historians. He issued an order to clean the archives, falsify the old and fabricate a new history of the peoples living under the Ottoman sword. Of course, the archives can be cleaned, but how to explain the disappearance from the territory of Turkey of millions of Greeks, Armenians, Assyrians? Did these peoples voluntarily decide to leave their homeland, their houses and churches/temples, to assimilate themselves? Indeed, their disappearance is the most convincing proof of the fact of the Genocide. The refusal to recognize the Genocide of the peoples inhabiting Ottoman Turkey has already placed the Turkish government and the Turkish people outside the global consensus on crimes against humanity.
It is hard to imagine what today’s Europe would be like if it were not for the crushing defeat of the Turks near Vienna in 1683 — the very one that marked the beginning of the end of the Ottoman Empire.
Today, trying to reanimate the Ottoman Empire, Ankara believes that the time has come for revenge, because it is looking forward to an easy victory over today’s unspiritual and unprincipled Europe with its cosmopolitism, a diverse population that has its own specific interpretation of the defence of human rights, officials mired in corruption, and laws contrary to Christian values to a certain degree. Certainly, the ideologists of pan-Turkism and neo-Ottomanism set their ambitions to capture Western Europe exactly, where once the beginning of the end of the power of the Ottoman Empire was laid. It looks like this time it is Greece that will put an end to the ambitions of the inadequate president of the so-called Turkish Republic.
Not so long ago, Redjep Erdogan spoke again about the Greeks and Armenians, calling them «those surviving the sword.» In one of his recent speeches, he said: «We will not permit these terrorists who survived the sword to rebel again. They still exist, although in our country they have become considerably less in number.» This is not the first time that Greeks and Armenians hear such hints. In this regard, the Armenian deputy of the Turkish parliament Karo Paylan harshly criticized Erdogan. The Greek edition of the “Greek City Times” also spoke up.
Erdogan’s dangerous adventures on the border with Greece, as well as in Libya, Iraq and Syria turned out extremely costly, but absolutely fruitless. Erdogan solves all his problems with hackneyed methods: blames the crypto Greeks and Armenians for all his failures. He is paranoid in his fear that millions of Turkish citizens — Islamized and Turkified crypto-Greeks and Armenians, under the influence of their genetic memory, will embark on the path of struggle for the liberation of their ancient historic lands.
Lately, the Commander of the Armed Forces of Greece, General Konstantinos Floros, at an official meeting with NATO representatives, made it clear to them that the provocations of Turkey in the Aegean Sea and in Evros, the Greek-Turkish land border, namely the escalation of tension caused by the immigration crisis, will lead with mathematical precision to negative consequences. So, summarizing the above, we dare to state that the Greeks and Armenians will always remember the crimes of the Turkish Government and strive to return their stolen Motherland and their spiritual and cultural values.
I should briefly note that the issue of recognition by Armenia of the Greek genocide in Ottoman Turkey was first raised by the organization of the Greeks of Armenia “Patrida” in Nagorno-Karabakh in the hard years of 1990-1993. (at the time the organization was called «Phoenix»). It was methodically promoting this idea in the Armenian diasporas abroad, which, in their turn, in close contact with the Greek diasporas, picked up this initiative and they are now jointly working to achieve recognition of the genocide of Greeks, Armenians and Assyrians. In its patriotic activities, the “Patrida” organization relies on the worldwide Armenian diaspora and for this purpose has created an initiative group in Armenia consisting of prominent scholars, intellectuals, military, social and political parties, etc., and has also published a popular analytical journal “Byzantine Heritage”.
Since 2019, the organization of the Greeks of Armenia and Artsakh “Patrida”, with the support of the government of the Republic of Western Armenia (Armenia), having its representatives in more than sixty countries worldwide, has launched a program to return its ancestral territories. On behalf of the deputies of the National Assembly (Parliament) of Western Armenia and the Organization of Greeks of Armenia “Patrida”, an appeal was voiced and sent to the Member States of the United Nations Security Council, the Member States of the Council of Europe, the European Parliament, as well as to the Greek, Armenian and Assyrian peoples, to their spiritual and national leaders, as well as to the peoples of the Greater Middle East and the Balkans, whose historic rights were also cruelly violated by Turkey. This appeal in seven languages, including Turkish, was published in various mass-media and was timed to coincide with the 45th anniversary of the occupation by the Republic of Turkey of the northern part of the Republic of Cyprus. Like-minded people have already appeared in the Greek and Armenian diaspora organizations, but unfortunately the Pontic organizations did not respond to this appeal.
Many people do not yet realize that we are now witnessing a new type of third world war. Wars of ethical systems and technologies and other components of hybrid wars. Greece, from the very beginning of this war, already had its own problems — demographic, political, economic and ethnic. The cultural expansion of ethnic groups alien to her in all respects began. These alarming migration processes in Greece need to be signaled, because this problem goes far beyond migration itself and is, in essence, a national security problem. Due to the specifics of this problem, in our opinion, it is necessary to work with the initiative part of the diaspora (I repeat — with the initiative part of the diaspora) on self-organization into a unified structure, in close cooperation with all state bodies of Greece in the information and operational term. We are obliged to take part and be the conductors of the policy of our Greek state in the ongoing work on the development of regional policies, and the creation of competent structures joint with the Greek Diaspora, as well as be conductors in events of an organizational, investment, propaganda nature. «Patrida” organization has been engaged in ideological and patriotic spheres of activity for a long time, and even more so now, when the international geopolitical situation is becoming more and more tense. In our deep conviction, the full and diversified use of the remarkable potential of the multimillion Greek diaspora will solve many of the vital problems of our Greek Homeland.
Based on the foregoing, speaking about the role and place of the Greek diaspora, I would like the Greek government to accelerate the process of naturalization, so that the Greeks, scattered around the world, could finally, on the basis of voluntary expression of their will, freely obtain the citizenship of the Republic of Greece. We should also always remember that Cyprus is also our homeland. God is with us and also the remembrance of our ancestors!
Eduardos Polatidis
the chairman of the organization of Greeks of Armenia and Artsakh “Patrida”, the patriotic organization of veterans “Talish” — border settlements»
Republic of Armenia,Yerevan, “Tsitsernakaberd”
May 19, 2020
