Central Macedonia Calls For International Recognition of Asia Minor Greek Genocide

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The Region of Central Macedonia will continue to support efforts to preserve the memory of the Asia Minor Greek Genocide and seek its international recognition, Deputy Regional Governor and Thessaloniki Deputy Regional Governor Kostas Gioutikas said.

Gioutikas made the remarks during events organised by the Region of Central Macedonia in Thessaloniki to mark the National Day of Remembrance for the Genocide of Greeks of Asia Minor.

He attended the memorial service at the Holy Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist in Neapolis, Thessaloniki, led by the Metropolitan of Thessaloniki, Philotheos. He also delivered the keynote address and laid a wreath at the Monument to Refugee Hellenism in the church grounds.

“The Day of Remembrance for the Genocide of Greeks of Asia Minor and Eastern Thrace is not treated as a routine anniversary by the Region of Central Macedonia,” Gioutikas said.

He said the deliberate and systematic persecution and destruction of Greek populations in Asia Minor up to 1923, particularly in Ionia, Cappadocia, Pontus and Bithynia, continues to live on through family accounts passed down by older generations.

“History does not expire and the truth does not disappear,” Gioutikas said, stressing the need to protect historical memory from attempts to distort, diminish or consign it to oblivion.

He described this as a duty to those who died, those who were displaced and the thousands who became refugees, as well as a responsibility to future generations.

In his keynote address, Gioutikas described the genocide of the Greeks of Asia Minor as a crime against humanity that requires recognition and justice. He also spoke of the need for what he called “double justice” — both for those who lost their lives and for the thousands of Greeks who were uprooted from their homes and became refugees in Greece.

The Deputy Regional Governor also highlighted the Region’s efforts to preserve the memory of the refugees through the planned Museum of Refugee Hellenism at the former Pavlos Melas military camp.

He said the Region of Central Macedonia is funding the museum’s operation, which will feature modern, accessible exhibition spaces in preserved buildings of the former camp.

According to the planning by the Ministry of Culture, the museum will create two symbolic “places” representing the refugees’ experience of “here” and “there”: their former neighbourhoods in Asia Minor and the districts they established in Thessaloniki.

Gioutikas described the project as the Region’s contribution to honouring the thousands who died and recognising the suffering of the Asia Minor Greeks who arrived in Greece as refugees.

He also highlighted the contribution of the refugees to the development of Thessaloniki and Macedonia, saying they rebuilt their lives and brought new vitality to the region’s cities and villages.

“The Region of Central Macedonia keeps the torch of historical truth burning,” Gioutikas said. “We do not forget. We seek international recognition of the Genocide and pass on to younger generations the message that peace can be built only on the foundations of truth.”

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