25981 - Hellenism of Pontus as an indigenous peoples
N. Lygeros
Translated from the Greek by Vicky Baklessi
An element that we have not made use of to the magnitude that we should is the fact that Hellenism of Pontus is an indigenous peoples. Because this element not only is it indisputable, but it exists prior to the genocide. Many factors in the field of the Pontian struggle simply don’t know what the 46 articles of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples provide, the ones which the United Nation declared in 2007, thanks to the incredible work that the Aborigines did through Australia. With this notion we promote on a practical level the rights of the Greeks of Pontus. Hellenism of Pontus was not genocided. They had been submitted to genocide and in the end survived. And if they survived it is because they lived even before the genocide. So the point of reference of the Hellenism of Pontus is the civilization of an indigenous peoples. Therefore this fact must become understood by all the fighters of Pontus and to not only be confined within the issue of recognition since we have overcome even the stage of penalization. The goal is not simply to patch up a wound, which others want to forget as if it has never occurred. And those who have understood that Pontus is still occupied territory, just as Armenia and Kurdistan are, know that they don’t need the Greeks to convince them, the attitude of the turkish regime which goes against everyone in order to save its skin, is sufficient.