Pontus, Venizelos and the politics of abandonment in focus at Melbourne seminar

The representation of the Pontian Genocide and the governmental decisions that shaped the destiny of Pontic Hellenism will beryllium explored astatine a large seminar, Pontus and Venizelos: The Politics of Abandonment, astatine the Greek Community of Melbourne’s Greek Cultural Centre.

Between 1914 and 1923, an estimated 353,000 Pontian Greeks perished successful a run of persecution and displacement orchestrated archetypal by Ottoman authorities and aboriginal by Turkish Nationalist forces. Entire communities were uprooted done forced marches into the Anatolian interior, while massacres, starvation, illness and vulnerability to brutal winter conditions claimed countless lives.

This year’s Pontian Genocide Memorial seminar is jointly presented by the Greek Community of Melbourne and Pontiaki Estia, continuing a longstanding tradition of humanities reflection and commemorative dialogue.

On Tuesday, May 19 astatine 7pm, nationalist intellectual, author, and lawyer Dean Kalimniou will present Pontus and Venizelos: The Politics of Abandonment.

Kalimniou will analyse the analyzable narration betwixt Pontic Hellenism and Greek statesman Eleftherios Venizelos, moving beyond simplistic narratives to research the realities of diplomacy, subject limitations and planetary authorities successful the aftermath of the First World War.

The lecture will see whether Venizelos “abandoned” Pontus oregon whether his decisions were shaped by geopolitical constraints and competing nationalist priorities confronting Greece during the aboriginal 1920s. Kalimniou will sermon Venizelos’s rejection of an autarkic Pontic republic, his penchant for incorporating Trebizond within an Armenian governmental framework, and the strategic prioritisation of Smyrna implicit the Black Sea region. The presumption will besides analyse the aftermath of the demolition of Smyrna and the consequences of the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne.

Central to the lecture is the question of why galore Pontians came to respect Venizelos arsenic the person who turned his backmost connected them. Kalimniou besides raises broader questions astir the tension betwixt nationalist ideals and governmental pragmatism.

A lawyer, columnist, writer and abbreviated story writer, Kalimniou is simply a regular contributor to Neos Kosmos done his long-running Diatribe column, where helium has built a estimation for humanities reflection and commentary connected modern Hellenic individuality and diaspora life.

He has published poesy collections successful Greek and translated works by Greek Australian authors into English. He has besides authored children’s books including Simela and the Magic Kemenche and The Librarian from Cappadocia.

The seminar forms portion of broader commemorations marking the day of the Pontian Genocide, a tragedy that remains profoundly important for Pontian communities successful Australia and crossed the world.

*Pontus and Venizelos: The Politics of Abandonment, May 19 astatine 7pm astatine the Greek Cultural Centre Lonsdale St, Melbourne.