PHOTO: Memorial for the Pontian Genocide in Thessaloniki
By Nick Stamatakis
Yesterday, August 5, 2025, the Efxinos Club of European Citizens, a Pontian Greek advocacy group, issued a formal statement calling on Israel to recognize the Pontian Greek Genocide (the news at the bottom of this post). They specifically urged Israel’s ambassador to Greece, Noam Katz, to use his diplomatic role to press the Israeli government and Knesset for parliamentary recognition of the atrocities committed against Pontic Greeks, Eastern Thrace Hellenism, and other Greek communities in Asia Minor between 1914 and 1923. The group emphasized that a nation formed after its own genocide should not shy away from affirming historical truth and justice. Israeli ambassador Noam Katz had made headlines recently when he angrily demanded for Israeli tourists (primarily IDF soldiers and their families on cruises to the Greek Islands) to be protected from demonstartors, only to receive the proper answer from Athens Mayor Doukas: “We have proved our strong opposition to violence and racism and we do not take lessons in democracy from those who kill civilians.” And he added: “It is revolting that the ambassador concentrates on graffiti (which is obviously being erased) while an unprecedented genocide is being carried out in Gaza.”
Historical Context: The Pontian Greek Genocide
The Pontian Greek Genocide was the systematic persecution and mass killing of ethnic Greeks living along the southern coast of the Black Sea, perpetrated by the Young Turk regime and later the Kemalist government between 1914 and 1923. Estimates place the death toll at approximately 350,000 – 360,000 Pontic Greeks, many of whom died in forced labor battalions, death marches—such as the Samsun deportations—and summary executions, including in Amasya tribunals targeting community leaders.
Historians of genocide, including Israeli scholars, see the Pontian Greek genocide as part of the broader series of atrocities that also included the Armenian and Assyrian genocides—a continuum of ethnic cleansing and religious persecution carried out by successive Turkish authorities. Daily Sabah+151Lurer+15Wikipedia+15. We should remind everyone that the term Genocide in its legal significance was formed under the facts of the Armenian Genocide!!
PHOTO: Memorial for the Pontian Genocide in Piraeus (donated by Capital Ship Management owned by Vangelis Marinakis – of Pontian descent via his mother)
Broader Recognition: Greece, the EU & Scholars
In 1994, the Hellenic Parliament officially recognized the Pontic Greek Genocide and declared May 19 the national day of remembrance.
In 2007, the International Association of Genocide Scholars formally acknowledged the genocide of Pontic Greeks, alongside those of Armenians and Assyrians Orthodox Times (en)+15Wikipedia+151Lurer+15.
EU-level motions, such as in 2018 and 2022, asked the European Parliament and Commission to formally recognize the genocide and encourage Turkey to do so as well European Parliament.
- In 2019, in an effort where Helleniscope and yours truly were protagonists, among many Greek-American organizations, the US Congress recognized the Armenian Genocide and in the first paragraph of H. Resolution 296, the Hellenic Genocides were recognized (link here). Congressman Michael Billirakis took the lead in this effort, now the head of the Hellenic Caucus. The Jewish-American organizations, to their credit, were a part of this effort.
In May 2025, the World Council of Churches publicly referenced the Pontic Greek Genocide in a joint communiqué for the first time—drawing attention to it alongside other atrocities and calling for sustained international memory and justice Orthodox Times (en).
Israel’s Silence on Genocide Recognition
Despite this global momentum, Israel has not formally recognized the Pontic Greek Genocide—mirroring its avoidance of labeling the Armenian Genocide as well. For decades, the Israeli government and Knesset have refrained from genocide recognition—citing geopolitical concerns, particularly maintaining relations with Turkey and Azerbaijan. Attempts to legislate such recognition have been blocked in full parliamentary votes, even when supported at committee levels. Knesset, the Israeli parliament, to this date, has failed to recognize the Armenian and the Greek Genocides.
Conclusion
Israel’s continued refusal to recognize the genocide of the Pontic Greeks—alongside its long-standing denial of the Armenian Genocide—is not merely a diplomatic oversight; it is a profound moral failure. For a nation born from the ashes of the Holocaust, built on the principle of “never again,” to turn away from acknowledging crimes of similar magnitude committed against other peoples is not just inconsistent—it is reprehensible.
Such denial reflects not caution, but hubris—in the classical Greek sense: an overreach born of arrogance and moral blindness. In ancient Hellenic thought, hubris inevitably brings about nemesis, the divine retribution that punishes prideful injustice. And today, as Israel’s political class clings to realpolitik and strategic alliances at the expense of truth, they tread the same fateful path.
History teaches us that those who deny justice to others ultimately undermine the moral foundations of their own claims to it. Recognition is not a concession—it is the minimum owed to victims and to the conscience of humanity. The longer Israel delays, the louder the warning echoes: hubris always invites nemesis.
August 6, 2025, n.stamatakis@aol.com www.helleniscope.com
DISCLAIMER: The views and statements expressed in this article constitute constitutionally protected opinions of this author.
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Citations
Pontic Greek organization’s demand: Greek City Times+15Greek City Times+151Lurer+15NEWS.am+15eKathimerini+15Facebook+15
Pontic genocide history and victim estimates: Wikipedia+2Wikipedia+21Lurer
Recognition by Greece, EU, genocide scholars: JSTOREuropean Parliament+1Wikipedia
WCC communiqué acknowledgment: Orthodox Times (en)
Israel’s non-recognition pattern and geopolitical context:
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Pontic Greek organization calls on Israel to recognize the Pontic genocide
In an announcement, the organization urged Israel’s ambassador to Greece, Noam Katz, to press his government to recognize the Pontic Genocide, citing the importance of historical justice, especially among people who have endured mass atrocities.
“We would have expected Ambassador Noam Katz, a representative of a nation that has suffered genocide, instead of attempting to instrumentalize this tragic history as a constant alibi, to take the initiative and urge his government, which consistently avoids taking a clear position, to recognize, through its National Parliament, that the atrocities committed against the Hellenism of Asia Minor, Eastern Thrace, and Pontus between 1914 and 1923 by the Young Turks and Kemalists constitute acts of genocide,” stated the announcement.
Recently, the ambassador to Greece, Noam Katz, had criticized Athens Mayor Haris Doukas for allegedly failing to address antisemitic graffiti in the city.
Israel is sinking. Just a matter time.