A memorial service was held in a Church in Russia for the memories of the victims of the Greek Pontian Genocide that is commemorated every year on May 19. Metropolitan Hilarion Alfayev top Church diplomat of the Russian Orthodox Church was present and said it was “a real genocide”. The presence of Metropolitan Hilarion is an expression of sympathy from the Russian Orthodox Church.
This is proof of the brotherly relations that bind the Greeks and the Russians together. Previous to the anniversary of the Greek War of Independence in March, Metropolitan Hilarion presided over a doxology in memory of the Greeks who died in the fight for Greek independence. Likewise, Patriarch Kyril of Moscow expressed words of praise for the fighters for Greek independence.
The support and good will for the Greeks by the Russians is undeniable. Does the Greek world really believe that it is in the interests of Orthodoxy or Hellenism for the schism of the Churches to continue. I am a longtime sympathizer of the Ecumenical Patriarchate but considering Constantinople’s actions in Ukraine, it is hard to support the Patriarchate.
The Churches of Constantinople and Greece have the ability to end the schism in Orthodoxy. They should do so immediately. It has been more than clear to anyone who has observed the gestures emanating from the Russian Church that Moscow is favorably disposed toward the Greeks. Athens and Constantinople must opent their eyes.
The bodies of deportees from Van who died of typhus and various other diseases, pictured in a forest near the Mother See of Etchmiadzin, about 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the Armenian capital of Yerevan, in the summer of 1915.
(Armenian Genocide Museum/PAN Photo via AP)5/13/2021By Theodore G. Karakostas
Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has begun the process of groveling before Turkish dictator Erdogan. In the aftermath of the Biden administration’s formal recognition of the Armenian Genocide, Blinken has stated that Biden does not blame Turkey for the Ottoman perpetrated Genocide. The reality, however, is that crimes against humanity were not committed by the Ottomans alone.
The Republic of Turkey was born in genocide. The murderous founder of the Turkish Republic Mustafa Kemal (the so called ‘Ataturk’) presided over systematic exterminations of Christians – Armenian, Assyrian, and Greek – throughout the lands of Anatolia. No mercy was extended to any men, women, or children.
The civilian Christian populations in every village and town that Kemal’s Army came across were butchered. In September, 1922, Kemal’s Army conquered the once-liberated Christian City of Smyrna. The Turkish Army under the notorious Noureddin Pasha hunted down all Greek and Armenian Christians and set fire to the City.
There is great historical evidence that affirms that Kemal himself not only approved of the massacres, but praised them. Kemal had previously met with Noureddin Pasha before the massacres at Smyrna. Noureddin Pasha himself handed over Greek Orthodox Archbishop Chrysostom to the jihadist mobs who murdered him. While Constantinople remained under the control of the western powers, fear struck the Christian populations who believed they would suffer the fate of the Christians of Smyrna. Many Greeks fled Constantinople in terror.
The very idea that the Turkish Republic has no complicity in genocide is an obscene lie and all Greeks, Armenians, and Assyrians should be outraged and offended by the Secretary of State and others who are attempting to curry favor with the present Turkish dictator. Mustafa Kemal ordered the ethnic cleansing of over one million Greeks from Asia Minor and Eastern Thrace. It is morally offensive and outright racist to attempt to absolve the Turkish Republic of responsibility for crimes against humanity.
Adding to the outrage is the effort of some members of the Biden administration to curry favor with the Erdogan regime even as the regime threatens Greece with war. Turkey has put forward claims on the Greek islands. There is no question what will happen should the Turks occupy even a single Greek island. The massacre of Smyrna will certainly be repeated in the event of a Turkish occupation of any Greek territory.
Turkey is a sponsor of terrorism which supported Azerbaijani aggression against the Armenians of Artsakh. Turkey purchased oil from the Islamic
State which was perpetrating Genocide against the Yazidis, Christians, and Shi’ite Muslims. Turkey permitted countless volunteers from America and Europe to pass through its border into the territories controlled by the Islamic State. Turkish treachery at the present time has not been enough to convince State Department officials that Turkey is a hot bed of jihadism, international terrorism, and aggression against peaceful countries such as Armenia, Cyprus, and Greece.
President Biden’s recognition of the Armenian Genocide should have been a major step toward rehabilitating American foreign policy. The President was hoping not to offend Turkey. It has been official state policy in Turkey from the time of Kemal to deny the Genocides of all its Christian populations.
There is no possibility of making distinctions between the Young Turks who ruled the Ottoman Empire in its final years and the Turkish Republic, which could not have come into being without the physical extermination of the Christians.
The Turkish Government over time has proceeded to ethnically cleanse the Greek Orthodox populations of Constantinople and the islands of Imbros and Tenedos. Turkey invaded the Republic of Cyprus in 1974 and ethnically cleansed the occupied territories of Greeks. From 1984 until 1999, the Turkish military destroyed over 3,000 Kurdish villages in its dirty war against the Kurds. The history of the Turkish Republic is stained with blood.
Either the administration supports historical truth and human rights in Turkey, or it does not.
When it comes to historical facts and evidence, there is no middle ground.
I hope that the traditional American hypocrisy demonstrated in its brazen support for the murderous Turkish Republic will not remain in effect under President Joseph Biden.
Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has begun the process of groveling before Turkish dictator Erdogan. In the aftermath of the Biden administration’sformal recognition of the Armenian Genocide, Blinken has stated that Biden does not blame Turkey for the Ottoman perpetrated Genocide. The reality is that crimes against humanity were not committed by the Ottomans alone.
The Republic of Turkey was born in Genocide. The murderous founder of the Turkish Republic Mustafa Kemal (the so called “Ataturk”) presided over the systematic extermination of every Christian Armenian, Assyrian, and Greek throughout the lands of Anatolia. No mercy was extended to any men,women, or children. The civilian Christian populations in every village and town that Kemal’s Army came across were butchered. In September 1922, Kemal’s Army conquered the once liberated Christian City of Smyrna. The Turkish Army under the notorious Noureddin Pasha hunted down all Greek and Armenian Christians and set fire to the City.
There is great historical evidence that affirms that Kemal himself not only approved of the massacres, but praised them. Kemal had previously met with Noureddin Pasha before the massacres at Smyrna. Noureddin Pasha himself handed over Greek Orthodox Archbishop Chrysostom to the jihadistmobs who murdered him. While Constantinople remained under the control of the western powers, fear struck the Christian populations who believed they would suffer the fate of the Christians of Smyrna. At least 300,000 Greeks fled Constantinople in terror.
The very idea that the Turkish Republic has no complicity in Genocide is an obscene lie and all Greeks, Armenians, and Assyrians should be outraged and offended by the Secretary of State and others who are attempting to curry favor with the present Turkish dictator. Mustafa Kemal ordered the ethnic cleansing of over one million Greeks from Asia Minor and Eastern Thrace. It is morally offensive and outright racist to attempt to absolve the Turkish Republic of responsibility for crimes against humanity. Adding to the outrage is the effort of the Biden administration to curry favor with the Erdogan regime even as the Erdogan regime threatens Greece withwar. Turkey has put forward claims on the Greek islands. There is no question what will happen should the Turks occupy even a single Greek island. The massacre of Smyrna will certainly be repeated in the event of a Turkish occupation of any Greek territory.
Turkey is a sponsor of terrorism which supported Azerbaijani aggression against the Armenians of Artsakh. Turkey purchased oil from the Islamic State which was perpetrating Genocide against the Yazidis, Christians, and Shi’ite Muslims. Turkey permitted countless volunteers from America and Europe to pass through its border into the territories controlled by the Islamic State. Turkish treachery at the present time has not been enough to convince State Department officials that Turkey is a hot bed of jihadism, international terrorism, and aggression against peaceful countries such as Armenia, Cyprus, and Greece.
President Biden’s recognition of the Armenian Genocide should have been a major step toward rehabilitating American foreign policy. The President was hoping not to offend Turkey. It has been official state policy in Turkey from the time of Kemal to deny the Genocides of all its Christian populations.There is no possibility of making distinctions between the Young Turks who ruled the Ottoman Empire in its final years and the Turkish Republic which could not have come into being without the physical extermination of the Christians.
The Turkish Government over time has proceeded to ethnically cleanse the Greek Orthodox populations of Constantinople and the islands of Imbros and Tenedos. Turkey invaded the Republic of Cyprus in 1974 and ethnically cleansed the occupied territories of Greeks. From 1984 until 1999, the Turkish military destroyed over 3,000 Kurdish villages in its dirty war against the Kurds. The history of the Turkish Republic is stained with blood. Either the administration supports historical truth and human rights in Turkey, or it does not.
When it comes to historical facts and evidence, there is no middle ground. It is apparently clear that the traditional American hypocrisy demonstrated in its brazen support for the murderous Turkish Republic will remain in effect under President Joseph Biden.
The Turkish Government continues provoking. They have now placed an electronic sign between the minarets on Hagia Sophia. This is yet further evidence that promises made by President Erdogan to preserve the Christian iconography will not be kept. The Turkish government continues to make alterations to the building of Hagia Sophia.
It is very clear that the Erdogan government is not done with Hagia Sophia. Furthermore, Ankara knows that no one is paying any more attention to Hagia Sophia. It is only a matter of time before the Christian iconography is gradually destroyed.
Representative Elizabeth Cheney is having a difficult time of it these days with the Republicans attempting to remove her as the third ranking Republican in the House of Representatives. It is impossible to sympathize with her as she shares the views of her father Dick Cheney. If there is anything that can be learned from Greece, it is that political dynasties bring harm to a country. Current Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is an exception considering how well he is running the country.
Donald Trump has managed to maintain a high degree of influence within the Republican Party. That in itself is good. The problem however is he is still promoting conspiracy theories about winning the election which is not the case. In order to build a movement, the former President needs to abandon this immature behavior and begin building a program at the intellectual level.
Despite some misgivings about Trump at the present time, it is delightful to see Elizabeth Cheney squirm. Yes, Donald Trump acted badly in January when he failed to discourage the worst elements in his camp from attacking the capital. The fact is however, that Dick Cheney did much worse than that crowd at the capital.
Dick Cheney brought the neocons into the Bush administration. Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, and others were his guys. The team that conceived the Iraq war was put together by Cheney. It helped that President Bush was a profoundly ignorant man totally unqualified for the Presidency.
The war on Iraq brought havoc and destruction. It brought about a civil war between Sunnis and Shi’ites. It opened the door for “Al Qaida in Mesopotamia” which was the forerunner to the Islamic State. It was this organization that conceived the horrors of beheading innocent people. The rise of the Islamic State proceeded with the practice of genocide against Shi’ites, Christians, and Yazidis.
Syria was the sequel to the Iraq war and is the sole responsibility of President Barack Obama. However, without the destabilization of Iraq there may never have been conflict in Syria and so everything that has come to pass in the Middle East is on Bush and Cheney. It was also Cheney’s neocons who conceived of the torture and abuse at the prison of Abu Ghraib.
The sadistic torture and sexual humiliation of Iraqi prisoners was a moral disgrace and indicative of the psychopathic tendencies of the Bush-Cheney foreign policy team. In addition to the horrors of Abu Ghraib, the subsequent refugee crises (Iraqi and Syrian) that has flooded Europe is the responsibility of the Bush-Cheney administration.
It was under the Bush-Cheney administration that the roots of the conflict with Russia can be laid. The Russians were initially invited to participate in the invasion of Iraq. They declined to do so and were never forgiven by the Bush administration. The Bush-Cheney administration cynically invited other countries to participate in the Iraq invasions. They had no inclination to assign any other country real responsibilities.
The Bush-Cheney administration wanted to pretend that the Iraq war was an international coalition and could deny responsibility if things went badly as they did. The Bush family has no business seeking political power considering the legacy it left in Iraq. The Cheney family needs to be gone as well.
It is irrelevant if Elizabeth Cheney is right or wrong in voting to impeach Trump. What matters more is that she shared her father’s deranged foreign policy views. Granted, the attack on the capital in January was ugly, stupid, and an expression of barbarism. It was criminal activity that is being investigated and the participants will be prosecuted (rightfully so).
The destruction that Dick Cheney left in Iraq and throughout the Middle East and Europe that happened as a result of the 2003 invasion was much more hideous and evil than what took place at the capital. The last thing America needs is a reemergence of the neocons. For this reason, the Cheney crime family needs to be dislodged like the Bush crime family.
The Clinton crime family appears to be gone having been vanquished by Donald Trump in 2016. Donald Trump crushed the Clintons after he had crushed Jeb Bush in the Republican primaries earlier that year. Not too bad as Trump eliminated two crime families. Now it appears the Cheney crime family is being taken care of.
Only the Biden crime family has emerged unscathed. Fortunately, this appears to be a one term Presidency and the Bidens will have no political prospects when this one term is complete. The hypocrisy of the Democrats can be seen by the fact that they never tried to impeach Bush for the invasion of Iraq which was far worse than anything the Trump administration did. They also tried to impeach Trump nearly a year before the events at the capital last January.
If the Democrats were consistent they would be investigating Hunter Biden for his scandals. Consistency does not exist in politics. What distinguishes Donald Trump from the Bush, Cheney, Clinton, and Biden crime families is that he was and remains an outsider that was never part of the establishment.
Despite his flaws and mistakes, Donald Trump remains an alternative to the Democrats and the old Republican establishment. The recent tensions between the Biden administration and Russia indicates why Trump remains preferable to either the Democrats or the old Republicans. Elizabeth Cheney is a remnant of the war party in the Republican Party. Depriving her of any influence in the future of the party is a welcome development.
Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is presently in Ukraine. He is meeting with the unrecognized “bishop” Epithany Dimenko of the so called “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” (OCU). Reports do not indicate that he is planning to meet with Metropolitan Onuphry of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) which enjoys recognition from the free Orthodox Churches which have not been influenced by the State Department.
Here lies the root of the schism in Orthodoxy. The State Department claims to espouse religious freedom. The reasonable position to have taken in Ukraine would be to advocate that all Ukrainians should be free to go to whichever Church that they want to. Before September 2018 there were three choices Ukrainians had (discounting the Uniate Church which is in communion with Rome).
There was of course the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church which until September 2018 was recognized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Church of Greece as the real Church in Ukraine. There were two schismatic Churches of dubious origin consisting of hierarchs and priests who were either anathematized by the real Church or whose ordinations and consecrations could not be considered valid because they were done outside the real Church. The responsible position by Washington would have been to condemn violence or force by all of the above and to respect the rights of Ukrainian citizens to make up their minds as to where they wanted to go.
But, the State Department did not take this position. Their claims to be supporting religious freedom are lies. The canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church has been facing persecution by the Ukrainian government, by the schismatics (who merged into one church after the illegitimate council of December 2018 presided over by one of Patriarch Bartholomew’s hierarchs) and various Neo-Nazi militias. It has been a very ugly affair.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and “Ambassador” to Greece Geoffrey Pyatt openly intervened in ecclesiastical matters. They endorsed the OCU which consists of the merger of the above mentioned schismatic factions. This is not an advocacy of religious freedom. This is taking a position on what constitutes a canonical Orthodox Church.
The American constitution forbids the government from pronouncing on religious matters. But this is what State Department officials have done in Ukraine. They have joined the Ukrainian government of former President Poroshenko in deciding what constitutes an Orthodox Church. This is an outrageous and blasphemous assault on the Church of Christ by secular political interests.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo flew to Greece during the fall of 2019 to ask Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens to recognize the OCU. Now, it must be said that the “bishops” of the OCU are not bishops or priests. They are laypeople because they were never ordained into the authentic Orthodox Church. Dressing like an Orthodox Bishop does not make one a bishop if he has not been ordained and consecrated into the real Church.
American officials have ridiculed Jesus Christ, the Apostles, and the fathers of the Church. The Orthodox Church considers itself to be the true Church of Christ. Orthodox ecclesiology originates the scriptures, canon law, and holy tradition. The Church is led by Christ himself. American officials had no business asking the Ecumenical Patriarch or the Church of Greece to recognize unordained lay people as a “church”.
This is the cause for the schism in the Orthodox Church. The Churches of Constantinople and Greece have been followed by the Patriarchate of Alexandria and the Archbishop of Cyprus in recognizing the OCU. The Church of Cyprus is especially divided as four bishops have publicly condemned the actions of their Archbishop.
The violence being directed at the canonical Orthodox Church whose priests and faithful are being beaten, and whose churches are being seized has not been condemned by the State Department. As a Greek, I am horrified and appalled by the way the Greek speaking Churches have bowed to the secular demands of the State Department.
Anthony Blinken is likely to continue the policies of his predecessor Mike Pompeo. This is disgraceful and dishonorable for the United States which is not supposed to make pronouncements on matters of religious doctrine. This entire affair is likely to destroy the legacy and reputation of Patriarch Bartholomew.
The reputation of the Church of Greece in Orthodoxy has also come to suffer considerably. May the risen Christ grant wisdom so that the Church may come together in an ecumenical council as is customary in Orthodoxy to repair this schism and to expel the enemies of God from his holy Church!
Bishop Irenei of Bakka, a bishop of the Serbian Orthodox Church has suggested that Patriarch Bartholomew could regain the confidence of the Orthodox if he were to concede that he was misled by the Ukrainian government. This statement comes a few weeks after another statement by the Russian Orthodox Church. The Russian statement had to do with the consecration of a bishop at the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople.
The Russians commented that a “bishop” of the schismatic entity in Ukraine participated in the consecration of the new bishop. The Russians expressed regret that in the event that the schism between Constantinople and Moscow is healed, they will not be able to recognize the legitimacy of this new bishop. The Russian statement is a positive one as it suggests they hope for a reconciliation with Constantinople.
The Serbian statement likewise shows that perhaps the schism can be overcome if Patriarch Bartholomew were to listen to the Orthodox Churches. Opportunities for Patriarch Bartholomew to reverse himself may still exist.
My name is Theodore Karakostas and I am a Greek American writing to protest the statements of former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw who advocated the recognition of the occupied territories of Cyprus. The Republic of Cyprus remains the only legitimate authority on the whole of Cyprus. It is generally well known that the Turks invaded Cyprus in 1974 and pursued a policy of ethnic cleansing which resulted in the murders, rapes, and ethnic cleansing of the Greek Cypriots.
It is indicative of how utterly contemptible a man that Mister Straw is. The Turkish government has over the past century been responsible for repeated crimes against humanity against a variety of religious and ethnic groups. The Turkish leaders of both the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish Republic were responsible for the genocide of millions of Christian Armenians, Greeks, andAssyrians and were assisted by unscrupulous statesmen from America and Europe.
In more recent years, Turkey was an ally of the Islamic State even while the latter were actively involved in genocide against the Yazidis, Christians, and Shi’ite Muslims. Turkey purchased oil from the Islamic State and permitted psychopathic volunteers fromAmerica and Europe to pass through its territory to serve this genocidal group. Turkey has also actively supported Syrian jihadist groups actively affiliated with Al Quada.
In response to this, supposed statesmen such as Mr. Straw seek to deliver the Cypriots to the bloody hands of the present day Turkish jihadists. This comes of course after the western world remained indifferent to the murderous and aggressive policies of the psychopathic leaders of Azerbaijan against the Armenians of Artsakh where numerous crimes against humanity were perpetrated by Baku with the assistance of Ankara.
The Republic of Cyprus has sovereignty over the whole of Cyprus. It is the representative of Greek and Turkish Cypriots. Turkish Cypriots of course have been vanishing as most of them have immigrated in response to the large scale settlements in the occupied territories of Turkish citizens. The resources in the Mediterranean around the Republic of Cyprus belong to Cyprus alone and not to the jihadist terror state that is Erdogan’s Turkey.
I object morally to the immoral and criminal statements of Jack Straw who seeks to whitewash the horrors perpetrated against the Greek Cypriots by the ethnic cleansers of Ankara. Mr. Straw has reminded humanity of the past crimes perpetrated by the British in Cyprus between 1955 and 1960, and why Great Britain must have no say or participation in the future of a free and liberated Cyprus.
It appears to me the British are as treacherous and as committed to appeasement of evil dictators today as they were in 1938.
Former British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has endorsed a two state solution for Cyprus which would effectively legitimize the Turkish aggression and ethnic cleansing of the occupied territories. In the mindset of this typical Englishman recognition of the occupied territories would settle the problem. Never mind the Republic of Cyprus and the interests of the Greek Cypriots.
The ex Foreign Secretary presumes that the Greeks on Cyprus are privileged because the Republic of Cyprus remains internationally recognized while the Turkish occupation is not. The typical racist mentality is at work in Straw who does not see the ethnic cleansing of over 200,000 Greek Cypriots and the massacres that were perpetrated by Turkish forces in 1974.
The British have never recognized their crimes against humanity that began in 1955 when George Grivas and the heroes of EOKA began the struggle for the freedom of Cyprus by seeking to achieve union with Greece. It should be remembered that Greek and Turkish Cypriots lived peacefully together at the time. It was the British who invited Turkey to make a claim on Cyprus, and together with Ankara armed the Turkish Cypriots who attacked the Greek Cypriots. The Greek Cypriots were fighting against the British, not the Turkish Cypriots.
The British have left behind misery and misfortune wherever their former Empire reigned. The Middle East is a perfect example. The British had promised Palestine to both the Jews and the Arabs during the First World War. The British left behind misery in India and what later became Pakistan.
The British should have no base in Cyprus. Cyprus should address the issue of the British base. The British legacy in Cyprus is one of evil and misery. Both Greece and Cyprus should ensure that the British will not be permitted to take part in any negotiations that have to do with the future of Cyprus.
Finally, the British are not alone in their hatred of the Greeks. The Germans continue to arm Turkey as Ankara threatens Greece. The traditional blindness that Greeks have had toward Europe has contributed to the present problems that both Athens and Nicosia face. The West is no friend to Greece and Greeks everywhere must accept this reality.
Aside from the British military presence in Cyprus, Nicosia needs to address the unscrupulous English thieves who have settled in the occupied territories of Cyprus over the years and who reside in the homes of Greeks who were forced to flee from their homes. Both Greece and Cyprus should be sending a warning to the British of diplomatic consequences in the event of any recognition of the occupied territories whatsoever.
The Biden administration has broken the President’s campaign promise to maintain an embargo on Azerbaijan. The United States is resuming sending military aid to Baku even after that country’s war of aggression against the Armenians of Artsakh. The recognition of the Armenian Genocide which initially was something to be applauded has been completely undermined as Azerbaijan is going to be receiving American aid.
This indicates that Biden was never serious about changing policies toward Turkey. Once again, the American foreign policy establishment has the upper hand. Azerbaijan is a Turkic Republic with genocidal ambitions and has the unconditional backing of Turkey. The threat to Armenia has increased.
Furthermore, the threat to Greece has also increased. Support for Azerbaijan equals support for Turkey. Biden is proving to be one more Democrat making promises to the Greeks and the Armenians that he does not keep.
