The unveiling of a monument to the memory of the Pontian Greek victims of the Greek Genocide took place on Thursday afternoon (October 6) in the Park of Pontic Hellenism in the centre of Kos Town.
During the event, which was organised by the Pontian Kos “Xeniteas” Association, the atmosphere was particularly charged and emotional as speakers flooded their memories and spoke of the 353,000 Pontian victims of the Greek Genocide, reported Directus.
This memorial disturbed the Turks. What they reported:
“Greece took on a new challenge: They erected the so-called “Pontian Genocide Memorial” in Kos.
The Turkish article:
“We had a new challenge from the Greek island of Kos. The so-called Monument to the Genocide of Pontus Hellenism was erected on the island directly opposite Halicarnassus (Ἁλικαρνᾱσσός, Turkish: Bodrum). Speaking at the ceremony, the Greek official hinted that they expect a complaint from Turkey.
“While Greece continues to arm the Aegean islands and Western Thrace with the cooperation of the US, this time it increased the tension with Turkey by erecting the so-called Pontic Hellenic Genocide Memorial on the island of Kos, just opposite the area of Halicarnassus.
“The so-called Monument and Park of the Genocide of Pontic Hellenism, the construction of which began a month ago by the Pontos Association, following a decision by the Kos Municipal Council, was inaugurated with a ceremony on the evening of October 6, 2022.
“The ceremony was attended by the sculptor Kikotis Georgios who built the monument, Charalambos Navrozidis, President of the Pontos Kos Association, the mayor Theodosis Nikitas, municipal officials, citizens, members of the association and military senior commanders.
“In his speech at the ceremony, the President of the Pontos Association, Mr. Charalambos Navrozidis, said: ‘We held this ceremony here to honour the memory of our 353,000 relatives and to keep their memories alive, we are inaugurating the monument. Turkey still does not apologise because it does not want to make peace with its past, and the grandchildren of our compatriots will also protect this monument.’
“The President of the Turkish Solidarity Association of Rhodes-Kos and Dodecanese (ROİSDER) Prof. Dr. Mustafa Kaymakçı said he condemned the inauguration of the monument.
“Kaymakçı said that Greece accepted May 19 as the so-called Pontus Genocide Remembrance Day by a law unanimously approved by the Greek Parliament on February 23, 1994, and that this law was approved by the President of Greece on March 7, 1994 and entered into force.
“Stories built on this historical lie, which are far from reality, are being edited and imposed on the Greek people,” he said.
Kaymakçı also said that he condemned the erection of the statue.”
READ MORE: Magdalini Pavlidou: 107-year-old Pontian survivor of the Greek Genocide recounts her horrors.
