It is not meant to have a real relationship of friendship and good neighborliness with Turkey, without recognizing the genocide against Pontic Hellenism by modern Turkey, pointed out the president of SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance, Stefanos Kasselakis, in a statement after laying a wreath at the Memorial for the victims of the Genocide, in Agia Sophia Square.

“The recognition of the Genocide at the expense of Pontic Hellenism by the entire international community and especially by our neighboring country has come too late. In my opinion, it is not meant to have a real, substantial, deep relationship of friendship and good neighborliness, without recognizing this crime from modern Turkey,” said Mr. Kasselakis.

He pledged to raise the issue in all his international contacts and noted: “Just as I have committed to German reparations, I pledge that in my international presence, as leader of the official opposition and with the trust of the Greek people as future prime minister, this the issue of the recognition of the Genocide will be an issue that I will highlight, I will claim for all Greeks until the end. Because it’s a Greek issue, it’s not just an issue for the Pontic Greeks.”

He then raised the issue of the protection of Christian monuments in Turkey, saying: “We must all respect Christian monuments, and especially in the neighboring country, and they should also respect them.”

He expressed his emotion about today’s National Remembrance Day and emphasized: “I am deeply moved about today. On the Left, the injustice touches us very deeply. This Genocide, which took place before, during and after the First World War, cannot be forgotten.

We have a responsibility as a State to keep the memory alive for the hundreds of thousands of Pontus Greeks who were murdered, for the families who were displaced. And the main thing is how we will become a better country. How do we become a country that brings out our best in the memory of these people.

And when I saw little Arsenis Orphanidis today, who sang with the Pontic lyre, I want to tell you that this child has the right and deserves to grow up and excel in a modern Greece and to have with him a government that will keep the memory of ancestors alive. Immortals.”

The president of SYRIZA-PS accepted the proposal to visit the 15th of August, the holy Monastery of Panagia Sumela on the slopes of Vermio.