By Joel Goldenberg
The Suburban

St. Laurent MP Emmanuella Lambropoulos recently marked the 105th anniversary on May 19 of the 1914-1923 genocide of Pontic Greeks, perpetrated because of their ethnicity and Christian religion. She also urged Canadians to sign a petition to have Canada officially recognize the genocide.

“The Pontic genocide, which was part of the Greek genocide, was a deliberate and systematic destruction of the indigenous Greek community in the Pontus region, and was the result of the Ottoman Turkish government decree that led to the systematic annihilation and brutal extermination of over 353,000 Pontic Greek men (Hansard mistakenly says 353), women and children between 1914 and 1923,” the MP told the Commons.

Lambropoulos thanked the Pontian Association of Montreal, the Canadian Hellenic Congress, the Hellenic Congress of Quebec “and all other associations that have been working hard to ensure that we never forget.

“I would like to thank the Canadian Hellenic Congress for initiating the petition to have the Greek genocide officially recognized by the Government of Canada, and I encourage all Greek Canadians to sign it to have their voices heard. Today I rise in the House to pay tribute to the victims, survivors and families of the Pontian genocide. May they live on forever in our memory.”

During a 2022 European Parliament session, MP Lefteris Christoforou asked the European Union to recognize the genocide as well.

The EU “has rightly recognized the Armenian genocide as one of the most horrific crimes against humanity, caused by Young Turks driving the Armenians from their homelands and slaughtering 1.5 million of them in the process,” the MP said. “The Turks have also been guilty of other genocides, targeting the Greeks in the Black Sea area and Asia Minor, as well as the Assyrians. The Pontian homelands have been etched in human memory through this horrific genocide, in the course of which all traces of Christian Greek heritage were uprooted and destroyed.

“It would therefore behoove the EU to recognize the Pontian Greek genocide and accord the highest importance to the timeless principles and values at stake here, in token of its willingness to honour the thousands of victims of Turkish atrocities.” n