19.05.2024


The Greek Parliament, in its sitting of February 24, 1994, designated May 19 as Commemoration Day for the Victims of the Greek Genocide. This date was chosen because it marked the arrival of Mustafa Kemal in Samsun. The Greek Genocide is also remembered on September 14, marking the deliberate extermination of Armenians and Greeks in Smyrna, followed by the city's burning in 1922. Approximately 353,000 Greeks lost their lives in the genocidal campaign against the Pontic Greeks. Many Greeks were forcibly converted to Islam, while those who survived sought refuge in Greece and other countries worldwide.

Testimonies of survivors

Konstantin Skatsiris
My parents were killed. A bandit grabbed my sister Katerina and carried her away on his shoulders. I chased after him while my brother fought hopelessly in the corner of the shop. I looked for her everywhere [….].I later learned from a boatman that she had been rescued by American sailors, but did not know on which steamer she had left.

Philio Heidemenou
We remained on the shore for two days and nights, waiting for a boat. There were thousands of people without hope and in extreme poverty, with eyes that had become indifferent, with hearts bleeding from the pain of the death of their loved ones [.…]. Corpses were being emptied from carts [.…]. the Turks began, in the evening, to rape and commit heinous acts against the women they found.

Tehmine Martoyan, Ph.D. (History)
Senior Researcher, AGMI Department for Armenian Genocide Victims and Survivors Documentation and Research