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Turkey: Greece

The Greeks also suffered the atrocities at the hands of the Ottoman Empire around the years of 1914-1923. It started with the deportation of thousands of Greeks and boycotting of their businesses, forced labor, which then turned into death marches, burning of villages, and massacres. Many also died from lack of food and diseases. Thousands of Greeks were forced to flee their villages and towns. The death toll of the Greek genocide hasn't been agreed on, but the number varies from 350,000 to 1 million people.

Hellenic Research Center

Survivors from the Greek genocide share their stories of how they escaped death and what they witnessed along their journey. A woman who was wounded avoided poisoned medicine pills that she noticed others dying from while another man survived on eating leaves and nettles for three months. Others saw a girl's ear cut off, people getting burned alive in their homes so bullets wouldn't be wasted, raping of women, men being slaughtered with their heads cut off, children and elderly being murdered; no one was exempt. One remembers hearing that the sea was filled with dead bodies of girls who jumped in so they wouldn't be raped and tortured. Another woman recalls a group trying to escape that had two mothers who killed their own babies to protect themselves and the others because the cries would have been too loud.

YouTube - Greek Genocide Resource Center

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe focuses on security issues such as conflict prevention, arms control, human rights, national minorities, counter-terrorism, etc. Every year they hold a human rights and democracy conference called the Human Dimension Implementation Meeting (HDIM). In the most recent HDIM conference this past September, Greeks in Turkey are still dealing with unresolved issues of basic human rights and religious freedom.

YouTube - OSCE

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