[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 64 (Monday, May 10, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E797]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     IN HONOR OF THE SURVIVORS AND VICTIMS OF THE PONTIAN GENOCIDE

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. CAROLYN B. MALONEY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                          Monday, May 10, 2004

  Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to the survivors and 
victims of the Pontian Genocide of 1915-1923.
  Few Americans are aware of the Pontian Genocide, a bloody period of 
ethnic cleansing that erased a community of Hellenes that had lived in 
Pontus, along the southern coast of the Black Sea in what is now 
northern Turkey, for more than 3 millennia. In addition to overt acts 
of murder, the Turkish Government employed a deliberate strategy of 
displacing people, without taking measures for their survival, by 
exposing them to death, hunger, and illness.
  During a bloody 8-year reign of terror, the Turkish Government 
orchestrated the killing or displacement of 353,000 Greeks, Armenians, 
and Assyrians who had been living in Pontus. Thousands of people were 
murdered outright. The rest were uprooted and forcibly marched across 
the Anatolian border, without food or other provisions, to the Syrian 
border. Roughly half of the people who were taken from their homes died 
or were murdered. Many women were raped. The survivors suffered 
extraordinary hardship as they made their way to Hellas and the Soviet 
Union. Today, they and their descendants live throughout the Greek 
diaspora.
  Despite the huge number of people who died or were displaced, most of 
the world paid no attention to their suffering. The fact that so many 
people could be murdered or removed from their homes without facing any 
consequences empowered future genocidal regimes to take similar 
actions.
  The suffering of the victims of the Pontian Genocide must never be 
forgotten. Only by remembering the horrors of the past can we hope to 
prevent a recurrence. On May 16, 2004, members of the Pan-Pontian 
Federation will pay solemn homage to the victims in the hope that 
acknowledgment and awareness of these shameful events will not only 
teach future generations, but also will help mankind prevent such 
crimes from being repeated.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring the Pan-
Pontian Federation as they honor the sacrifices and memory of their 
noble ancestors. May the victims of the Pontian Genocide rest in peace.

                          ____________________