Hürriyetim
20.05.2005
Remembrance ceremony in Greece for the ‘Pontus genocide’

Greek Foreign Minister Assistant Panayotis Skandalakis

A remembrance ceremony and march took place in Thessaloniki, Greece
yesterday evening for the victims of the so-called Greek ‘Pontus
genocide.’ A group of people gathered in one of the city’s central
squares shouting anti-Turkish slogans, and then marched to the Turkish
Consulate in Thessaloniki. The marchers then left a written notice
of protest in front of the Consulate.

Nikos Chiarchionis, Greek Minister representing Macendonia and
Thrace, spoke at the gathering, saying “the Potus genocide should
be remembered by the world on the same level as the Armenian and
Jewish genocides.” Mayor of Thessaloniki, Vasilis Papayorgopulos,
announced at the meeting that the local parliament had decided
that a monument would be built in Thessaloniki to the victims of
the so-called ‘Pontus genocide.’ A message from Foreign Minister
Assistant Panayotis Skandalakis read at the meeting explained that
for Greeks, May 19 was an historical turning point, and that the
day was “to remember those who were expelled from their homelands,
and the struggles which followed.”

Greek government spokesman Teodoros Rusopulos said that Greek Prime
Minister Kostas Karamanlis had sent a supportive message regarding
the May 19 so-called Greek ‘Pontus genocide’ to the Pontus Greek
Organization.

–Boundary_(ID_86kvH3znr/5o3TjFzIC0uA)–