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Dear Governor of New York, Mr. George Patakis,

I would like to congratulate and thank you for the Proclamation about the Hellenic Genocide, issued on October 6, 2002. The people of New York should be very proud of that.

The systematic extermination of millions of Hellenes (Greeks) is one of the greatest offenses against Humanity ever. The Hellenic Genocide remains as an open wound in the human soul that can only be healed when it's officially recognized in all countries, including Turkey.

While many already know the Armenian Genocide, most still don't know that the Hellenes and Assyrians were also victims of the same policy. Justice cannot prevail until all three Genocides are known to all.

Here's a relevant statement by a eyewitness of the Hellenic Genocide, the US Ambassador to Turkey, Henry Morgenthau:

"The Armenians are not the only subject people in Turkey which have suffered from this policy of making Turkey exclusively the country of the Turks. The story which I have told about the Armenians I could also tell with certain modifications about the Greeks and the Syrians. Indeed the Greeks were the first victims of this nationalizing idea."

Ambassador Morgenthau's Story
Henry Morgenthau - 1918
http://www.greece.org/genocide/quotes/q-as-vict-orphans.html

It may take another decade or even longer but the Hellenic Genocide WILL be officially recognized in ALL countries. Millions of children, men and women of all ages who were systematically tortured and massacred by the Turks in Asia Minor, Constantinople, Imvros and Tenedos, Pontos and Thrace must be honoured and remembered. The entire Humanity deserves to remember them. And it will.

Decades from now, when all nations will be already learning the irrefutable facts that prove the Hellenic Genocide, as well as the Armenian Genocide and the Assyrian Genocide, your brave gesture will still be remembered as a very important one. The New York State has taken the an exemplary step, which will certainly be followed.

Many are already learning, for instance, that Smyrna was under total control of the Turkish army for FIVE DAYS when they burned it. George Horton,who was for 30 years Consul and Consul-General of the USA in the Near East and an eyewitness of the Greek Genocide described that:

"4. They set fire to the Armenian quarter on the thirteenth of September 1922. The last Greek soldiers bad passed through Smyrna on the evening of the eighth, that is to say, the Turks had been in full, complete and undisputed possession of the city for five days before the fire broke out and for much of this time they had kept the Armenian quarter cut off by military control while conducting a systematic and thorough massacre. If any Armenians were still living in the localities at the time the fires were lighted they were hiding in cellars too terrified to move, for the whole town was overrun by Turkish soldiers, especially the places where the fires were started.
In general, all the Christians of the city were keeping to their houses in a state of extreme and justifiable terror for themselves and their families, for the Turks had been in possession of the city for five days, during which time they had been looting, raping and killing. It was the burning of the houses of the Christians, which drove them into the streets and caused the fearful scenes of suffering which will be described later. Of this state of affairs, I was an eye-witness."

The Blight of Asia
George Horton - 1926
http://www.greece.org/genocide/quotes/q-he-smyrna-burn-13d17h-start.html

The Turks continue their policy of extermination and persecution until TODAY. We can see it in the occupied areas of Cyprus, in Kurdistan and in Constantinople, Imvros and Tenedos.

For more than a century we have seen efforts to cover up the crimes of the Turkish government. It's about time for the truth to be known. Almost 80 years ago, US Consul General, George Horton, described how the values and principles of the PEOPLE of the USA, shared by all civilized nations, were ignored to protect the interests of a few:

"In the course of this sad history, Christians were armed against their hereditary oppressors and then left to the vengeance of the latter. In general, they were abandoned, as no Christian power desired to offend the Turk, from whom great benefits were expected, to be in turn showered on the subjects of the power that showed itself most Turkophile. The United States did not abstain from this gruesome competition. In the beginning, interest prompted the spread of what came to be a well-nigh universal pro-Turk propaganda in Christian countries. When the fearful death harvest of this sinister sowing began to be reaped, fear of popular indignation and disapproval gave rise to a policy of suppression of the truth and to anti-Christian propaganda."

The Blight of Asia
George Horton - 1926
http://www.greece.org/genocide/quotes/q-he-smyrna-burnt-agiosioannis4.html

"The Turks committed their fearful acts against the Christians and humanity in general in the full conviction that they would meet with no opposition nor even criticism from the United States. They were led to this belief by a loud pro-Turk and anti-Christian propaganda carried on in the American press by certain concession hunters, and other interested writers."

The Blight of Asia
George Horton - 1926
http://www.greece.org/genocide/quotes/q-he-smyrna-burnt-uscons.html

It's inspiring to see that the Governor of one of the most important States of the USA has the courage and honour to stand by the truth. Only when the truth is known Justice can prevail and only Justice will make peace possible to millions of persons of several nations.

Thank you.

Roberto Lopes.
São Paulo, Brazil.
roblopes@uol.com.br

 

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