Learning about Greece's vilification of Turks from the Eurovision Song Contest

The Eurovision Song Contest, organized by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, was held in Basel, Switzerland, from May 13-17, 2025. As is known, Turkey has not been participating in this contest for some time.

The issue concerning Turkey is that Greece participated in the contest with the song "Asteromata".

We learned from the media that TRT has launched an investigation into the composition after it was alleged in the Greek press that the song was inspired by the Pontus Incident.

Klavdia, who performed the song, said in a program she attended on the Greek state channel ERT: "My family is of Pontic origin, they are refugees, and that is why I connect with the song. My grandmother told me their stories, talked about her family, and recounted how they were exiled and went to the Soviet Union during that period."

The first lines of the song are as follows:

"Sweet mother, don't cry for me/ Even if they wear black/ I tore my body apart/ The flames cannot defeat it/ The swallows of fire/ Even if they cross the seas/ I take root for it."

If you allow me, I would like to briefly recall the Pontus Incident.

WHAT IS THE PONTUS INCIDENT?

The Pontus Incident was an uprising aimed at establishing an independent Pontic Greek State in Northern Anatolia. The Pontic Greek Society, founded in 1904, and the Sacred Anatolian Greek Society began activities at the end of World War I to establish a Greek state on some of the lands stretching from Batumi to Inebolu, including parts of Kastamonu, Çankırı, Yozgat, Sivas, Tokat, Amasya, Çorum, Gümüşhane, and Erzincan.(*)

The Pontists were equipped with weapons left behind by the Russian armies during World War I and received arms aid from the British Empire and the Greek State. With the participation of volunteers from Greece, the number of Pontic gangs reached 25 thousand.

During the years of the War of Independence, the TBMM (Grand National Assembly of Turkey) government, led by Mustafa Kemal Pasha (Atatürk), also had to take measures against Pontist activities. Following the acts of the Pontic gangs, particularly in the Eastern Black Sea Region, such as extortion, wounding, arson, rape of women and girls, and murder, the TBMM tasked the Central Army with fighting the gangs. The Central Army fought against the Greek gangs for over two years, and the rebellion was completely suppressed in February 1923.

HOW DOES GREECE VIEW THE PONTUS INCIDENT TODAY?

In Greece, the Pontus Incident is a tool of internal and foreign policy under the guise of the "Pontic Genocide Claim."

In September 2010, various events were organized under the name "Anniversary of the Genocide of Anatolian Greeks by the Turkish State." The then-Speaker of the Greek Parliament, Filippos Petsalnikos, made a statement saying, "The genocide was the result of a systematic effort to erase the Greek presence, which peaked in 1922."

Not content with the Pontic Genocide claims, Greece also created an artificial agenda by referring to 1922 as the "Genocide of Anatolian Hellenism."

In this way, it aimed to strengthen its theses that Turkey committed not only a regional but a holistic genocide against the Greeks. It is being attempted to show as if a systematic genocide was carried out against Greeks in Pontus, Anatolia, and Thrace, and to attribute this to Turkey.

Greek politicians, regardless of whether they are left or right, continue the Pontic Genocide claim.

For example, the then-Prime Minister of Greece, Alexis Tsipras, said on "May 19 Pontic Genocide Remembrance Day," which the Greek Parliament legislated in 1994: "It is our duty to honor our victims; in addition, it is our duty to turn historical knowledge and memories into a driving force... This is a shocking human tragedy, and today the Greek government is not seeking revenge, but justice."

The current Prime Minister of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, also stated at the 'International Genocide Crime Conference' held between December 6-8, 2019, that they would bring the Pontic Genocide claims to the international public agenda.

Greece does not refrain from using the Pontus Incident as a threat material, especially during times of tension. The idea of using the Pontus Incident as material to discredit, or rather to vilify, Turkey by bringing it to the agenda is, unfortunately, a chronic situation in Greece.

The Turkish public may not be sufficiently aware of this.

There are currently 55 "So-called Pontic Genocide Monuments" in Greece. A monument has also been added to these in Kos.

"PONTUS INCIDENT" IS AN EXCUSE; THE BASIS OF TROUBLED TURKISH RELATIONS IS THE IDEA OF MEGALI IDEA!

It can be said that the basis of the negative Turkish Image in the Greek perception, formed by problems and traumas from the past in Turkish-Greek relations, stems from their inability to realize the "Megali Idea" to the extent they desired.

As is known, the Megali Idea is a political, social, and cultural approach passed down from generation to generation in Greece, initially to ensure unity within the country, but later by its leaders to "expand its territory" and "save the brothers under the yoke."(**)

In this context; places such as the Seven Islands, Thessaly, Epirus, Macedonia, Thrace, Western Anatolia, the Aegean Islands, the Dodecanese, Crete, and the Eastern Black Sea region, defined as Pontus, were the regions considered to be annexed to Greece.

Today, one of the most prominent issues of the Greek State's expansion policy against Turkey is related to the sharing of the Aegean Sea. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, in a statement he gave to Greek SKAI Radio on May 22, 2025, announced that Greece would demand from Turkey the extension of its territorial waters in the Aegean Sea beyond 6 nautical miles. As is known, the TBMM unanimously decided in 1995 that it would accept this expansion as a cause for war (casus belli).

As a result, it is observed that the traumas formed in the Greeks have been brought to the stage by Greek politicians as tools to provoke the West against Turkey and to vilify it.

This provocation and vilification also serve the interests of imperial powers. Imperial powers also feed the tension, and sometimes the fighting, between Turks and Greeks as much as possible.

This is one of the important points that should be taken into consideration.

Because imperial powers are arms manufacturers. For their arms industries to survive, tension must be maintained, and for this, they market weapons to both countries.

The essence of the matter; the question of how Turkish-Greek Friendship can be permanent has many interconnected answers. The state of friendship being continuous and permanent depends heavily on the Greek people and the approaches of their state. Friendship rhetoric that does not stand on solid ground should not mislead anyone.

Peace can be permanent with the acceptance of a fundamental truth by Greece. That is that peace must be built on mutual interest relations.

It is not an easy process to transform Turkish-Greek relations into a permanent friendship by achieving all of these.

However, there is no other choice.

It is clear that great duties fall primarily on the intellectuals of both peoples in building friendship.

It is observed that there are two groups of intellectuals in Greece in terms of their view of Turks. It can be said that one of these intellectual groups looks positively at Turks and the other negatively, but the second group is more crowded and powerful.

The bridge of friendship to be built by the intellectuals of both peoples can serve the societies, or rather the minorities, who have suffered and are suffering from the tension between the two states, on the one hand to protect and develop their own cultures, and on the other hand to allocate the resources they are forced to spend on weapons to the public works of their countries.

One last word.

Greece is implementing a cultural destruction policy against Turks living in Western Thrace, as well as on the islands of Rhodes and Kos.

Contrary to the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, Western Thracian Turks cannot use their Turkish identities, and increasing restrictions are being placed on their schools. They cannot freely choose their own religious leaders.

The situation of the Turks living on the islands of Rhodes and Kos is even more dire. Since 1972, schools providing education on the basis of bilingualism have been closed. They even refrain from saying they are Turkish; fear has become dominant.

In addition to these, architectural works remaining from the Ottoman Turks, which are symbols of belonging to the Turkish identity in Western Thrace, Rhodes, and Kos, are being subjected to brutal destruction.

I would like those who go to Greece as tourists to also know about these issues.

(*) See: Cin, T., “Greece’s “Pontic Genocide” Claims and Turkey”. https://Dergipark.Org.Tr/Tr/Download/Article-File/754143. pp., 27-73;

Tağmat, Ç.D, 2021 “Greek Theses on the “Pontic Genocide Claim” and Reality”, Kaymakçı, M., C. Özgün, N. Erdem (Ed.,) "Turkish Image in Greek Perception (Origins and Cultural Ways Out for Friendship)" Rhodes, Kos and Dodecanese Turks Culture and Solidarity Association Publications. pp., 296-314

(**) See: Erdem, N., 2021 “The Dream of Megali Idea”. Kaymakçı, M., C. Özgün, N. Erdem (Ed.,). "Turkish Image in Greek Perception (Origins and Cultural Ways Out for Friendship)" Rhodes, Kos and Dodecanese Turks Culture and Solidarity Association Publications. pp., 241-273