Last Sunday the steps of Victoria’s parliament house were the site of a candlelight vigil held to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Asia Minor catastrophe.
The bloody conflict waged from 1919 to 1922 between the Kingdom of Greece and the emergent Turkish National Movement left an indelible mark on the psyche of our paternal nation.
But perhaps even more scarring for the people of that region, in that time, was the forced population exchange which took place during and in the immediate aftermath of the Greco-Turkish war.
In all nearly 1,500,000 Christians both ethnic Greeks and Turks were expelled from their homelands in Asia Minor, uprooted without recourse. So too were approximately 500,000 Greek and Turkish Muslims forced from their homes and lands in the then Kingdom of Greece.
Members and representatives from Greek organisations stood watch at parliament for the tribute, in solemn recognition of the tragedy which befell their ancestors, the Australian Federation of Pontian Associations alongside countless others.
Litsa Athanasiadou, President of the Pontian Ladies of Oceania ‘Merimna’ recalled “The uprooting of Hellenic communities that were thousands of years old, stretching back to Ancient times. They had seen Empires come and go and yet they remained.”
“Christian charity was an essential part of the beliefs of the people. They were no doubt imbued by the stories from the Bible, of the Good Samaritan, of Christ’s Sermon on the Mount, delivered in their Churches and recounted in their homes,” she said.
From feelings such as these the ideals of Merimna solidified, she told those assembled.
“In response to the need to care for young women who had found themselves without support, some of the more established women of the cities of Pontus came together to help.”
“All this work nearly came to an end with the Asia Minor Catastrophe. The crushing of the Pontian community in its homeland and the expulsion of the survivors who had to make their way to safe harbour in Greece is well known to all of us,” Mrs. Athanasiadou said.
But the drive that created Merimna persisted, as did the cause. From their arrival in Thessaloniki and spread across northern Greece their principles endured, now finding themselves as core tenets of the Pontian diaspora of Australia.
Antony Tsoudalakis, President of the Victorian National Anniversary Committee welcomed attendees to the vigil, calling it an “opportunity to honour and remember the souls who were so unjustly and brutally lost during the Asia Minor Catastrophe”.
“It’s been 100 years since the events of ’22 left a traumatic imprint on the collective consciousness, not only of the Asia Minors who were uprooted from their native land, but also of all Greeks,” he said.
Mr Tsoudalakis recounted the trials and tribulations faced by those who lived through the catastrophe.
“The greatest evil they experienced was humiliation that surpasses all human dignity. Moral suffering under the climate of terror and the threat of death… but also martyrdom, tortures and endless marches of prisoners, rapes, massacres and executions.”
“With the Treaty of Lausanne and the mandatory exchange of populations, Hellenism disappeared after two thousand years of presence in the Near East. The Greeks of Asia Minor were uprooted from their ancestral homes to arrive as refugees in Greece,” said Mr Tsoudalakis.
To conclude, he left listeners with an affirmation that the memory of the fallen would endure.
“From here on the steps of the State Parliament of Victoria, from the Greek city of Melbourne, we send our own message, to the whole world, to all Greeks and non-Greeks everywhere on Earth, that we do not forget the sad tragedy of Asia Minor Disaster and we will forever remember and commemorate the innocent souls that were lost, persecuted and destroyed.”