Turkey is distorting reality when it comes to its past, the Greek Foreign Ministry said this in response to Ankara's hysteria over Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou's statement on the genocide of Pontic Greeks in the Ottoman Empire, Kathimerini reported.

The Greek Foreign Ministry said that the Turkish side, unfortunately, is once again distorting reality and hiding not only what happened in the past, but also its current policies, which violate international law on a daily basis, creating tensions and poisoning the climate between the two countries.

Turkey said Thursday it regretted “baseless claims” by Sakellaropoulou during an event to present the design for the new “Hall for the Global Pontian Greeks of Sourmena.”

“These allegations do not change the very fact that it was Greece that attempted to invade and occupy Anatolia, and that the Greek army committed barbaric crimes against humanity, especially against innocent civilians in the Western Anatolian region,” it said in a statement.

Speaking at the event on Wednesday, Sakellaropoulou said that the “tragic end” of Pontic Greek presence in Anatolia, “with the methodical and systematic genocide with persecutions, massacres, attempts at violent Islamization and unspeakable barbarism, uprooted them from their ancestral homes and brought them to the path of becoming refugees.”