For the first time, the European Parliament debated international recognition of the Pontic Greek Genocide during a plenary session on May 19, the date observed annually as a day of remembrance in Greece since 1994.
The roughly 15-minute debate drew MEPs from nearly all Greek political parties. The initiative was led by the European People’s Party and Greek MEP Eliza Vozemberg, who called on EU member-states to “recognize the genocide of the Greeks of Pontus and Asia Minor.”
PASOK MEP Nikos Papandreou warned that Turkey’s “deliberate distortion of history” continues affecting Greek-Turkish relations, while SYRIZA MEP Kostas Arvanitis called the debate “a beginning.”
