Distortion of Photographic Material 

As part of efforts to advance the spurious thesis that the Pontic Greeks were subjected to an isolated and exclusive genocidal campaign, a great number of photographs from the period have been deliberately misrepresented and distorted.  In order to set the record straight we will examine a series of pictorial documents commonly (yet falsely) attributed to Pontic Greeks.

Image 1.

Fotiades, a Pontic Greek academic, reproduces this photograph with the caption "Document from the deportation and exile of the Greeks of Pontus” (Ντοκουμέντο από τις εκτοπίσεις και εξορίες των Ελλήνων του Πόντου) and it also features as a cover photo on one of his books titled The Genocide of the Greeks of Pontus (Η Γενοκτονία των Ελλήνων του Πόντου). Giles Milton in Paradise Lost, following Pontian authors before him, reproduces this photograph with caption "Hundreds of thousands of Christians – Armenians and Greeks – were deported into the interior of Turkey. Most died of exhaustion or starvation".

Contrary to these claims, this photograph does not represent a “deportation” or an “exile”, but a peaceful evacuation of orphan children by the American Near East Relief organization sometime between 1922 and 1923.  As early as 1992, German scholar Dr. Tessa Hofmann provided a corrective by pointing out that the photograph in fact “show[s] a lifesaving effort”.  The photographer, Major Charles Dexter Morris (1883-1954), was a member of the Near East Relief in Turkey.  There is no evidence to suggest the subjects are Greeks from Pontus.  The evacuation movement began from Near East Relief stations in Kharput, central Turkey.  The subjects pictured are either Greek or Armenian or both, from various regions of the Empire.

Image 2.

Fotiades reproduces this photograph with the caption “Deportation of the Greeks of Pontus” (Εκτοπισμός των Ελλήνων του Πόντου). In another publication, he contradicts himself somewhat by reproducing the photograph with the caption "On the road to Greece" (Στο δρόμο για την Ελλάδα).  The photograph even appears on the cover of his book "The Ethnic-cleansing of the Greeks of Pontus" (Η εθνοκάθαρση των Ελλήνων του Πόντου)!

Contrary to his claims, this photograph has no connection with Pontus or the Greeks of Pontus and the subjects are not on their way to Greece either.  In fact, the photograph was taken in September 1922 by Major Charles Dexter Morris in the Aegean port city of Smyrna, hundreds of kilometers from Pontus, and depicts Greek men of Smyrna being separated from the rest of the population for purposes of enforced conscription into labor battalions or deportation into the Turkish Interior.

Image 3.

Photiades reproduces this photograph with the caption “The massacre of Greeks and Armenians in Trebizond (28 February 1919)” (Η σφαγή των Ελλήνων και Αρμενίων στην Τραπεζούντα (28 Φεβρουαρίου 1919)). 

Contrary to the claim that the location was Trebizond of Pontus, the photograph was actually taken in Aleppo, Syria at an American Relief Hospital – again, several hundred kilometers from Trebizond.  Contrary to the claim that Greeks are amongst the bodies, those pictured are in fact all Armenian, victims of a massacre perpetrated by Arabs in Aleppo on the same day as the photograph was taken, namely Friday 28 February 1919.  The date was the only correct particular Photiades relayed.

Image 4. 

In a 2009 publication titled The Massacre of Pontians published by Eleftherotypia this photograph is printed with caption “Hanged Pontian woman after her mutilation and decapitation” (Κρεμασμένη Πόντια γυναίκα μετά τον ακρωτηριασμό και αποκεφαλισμό της).  The photograph also features on the cover of a recent reprint of Gabrielides’ 1924 book Pages from the Black National Disaster of Pontus with the caption “Photo document of the Genocide of Pontus.  The ‘civilized’ Turkish soldiers pose proudly for they have hanged a Greek woman of Pontus. Date 17-6-1920.” (Φωτογραφία ντοκουμέντο της Γενοκτονίας του Πόντου. Οι «πολιτισμένοι» Τούρκοι στρατιώτες ποζάρουν περήφανοι γιατί κρέμασαν την Ελληνίδα του Πόντου. Ημερομηνία 17-6-1920.)  Pontian societies in Greece have also widely misrepresented this photo in their publications; most notably the Pan-Pontian Society ‘the Argo”.

The photograph does indeed picture Turkish troops standing beside a hanged, decapitated and mutilated female in June 1920.  However, she is not Pontian.  The Greek victim is from the town of Nazilli in the Aydin region – again, hundreds of kilometers from Pontus.  The bold inscription "Nazilli" present on the photograph seems to have alluded or have been intentionally ignored by those wishing to advance the idea of a so-called "Pontic Greek Genocide".

Image 5.

The above photograph, which depicts the deportation of Armenians from Kharput in 1915, regrettably is also frequently subjected to a policy of photo falsification and distortion.

In his book Greeks of Pontus: the Genocide by Turkish Nationalism (Έλληνες του Πόντου: Η Γενοκτονία από τον τουρκικό εθνικισμό) Vlases Agtzides reproduces the photograph with caption “Christians, Greeks or Armenians on the road of exile” (Χριστιανοί, Έλληνες ή Αρμένιοι στον δρόμο της εξορίας). Kostantinos Fotiades reproduces the photograph with caption "The deportations of Christians to the depths of Anatolia" (Οι εκτοπίσεις των Χριστιανών στα βάθη της Ανατολής). Others have reproduced it with more inaccurate captions such as "Greeks trail along the roads of exile, on the roads of death" (Οι Έλληνες σέρνονται στους δρόμους της εξορίας, στους δρόμους θανάτου).

Various other photographs depicting scenes in locations hundreds of kilometers from Pontus have also been subject to this practice of distortion and manipulation.  In Greek publications many photographs of Armenians, such as those taken by Armen Wegner, are also incorrectly claimed to depict Pontic Greeks.