Norwalk, Connecticut, September 26, 2024
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An article on the ancient Panagia Sumela Monastery in Trabzon, Turkey, published by CNN Travel two weeks ago has caused outrage among the Pontian Greek community, which counts the monastery as one of its crown jewels.
“We cannot stand by and allow our history to be falsified. We cannot allow state sanctioned propaganda to rewrite our history,” writes the Connecticut-based Pan-Pontian Federation of the U.S.A. and Canada.
“CNN do better!” the Federation insists, calling on the outlet to retract the article.
The article, which was sponsored by Turkey, as acknowledged by the CNN editor, and seriously distorts the history of the monastery and the Pontic Greek people, was published one day after the 102nd anniversary of when Turkish forces burned tens of thousands of Greek and Armenian Christians alive in Smyrna.
“CNN, please do your research before reporting state sanctioned propaganda in a Wikipedia-soaked travel editorial,” reads an open letter by the Pan-Pontian Federation.
In particular, the CNN article claims that, “Even though they were Muslims, the Ottomans gave their subjects a surprising degree of religious freedom—as long as they were loyal to the emperor… Sometimes they would change a church into a mosque, like Hagia Sofia in Istanbul, but most of the time, they left the Christians to do their religion.”
Also controversial is the article’s description of the tragic 1923 population exchange: “Many of the Greeks living in the Pontic Alps and nearby Black Sea coast chose to relocate to Greece, including the monks of Sümela Monastery.”
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The Pan-Pontian Federation responds:
The Ottomans did not leave the Christians to do their religion. Instead, they forced thousands of Greeks into Crypto-Christianity to avoid persecution. The Ottomans engaged in ethnic cleansing of all non-Ottomans for over 1000 years. The monks of Panagia Soumela and the Pontic Greeks did not choose to relocate from their ancestral homeland, nor did they fear they would be robbed during their journey to Greece. Instead, the Ottomans deceived them and led them to death marches and labor battalions and committed atrocities—murdering over a million Greeks.
The Federation also refutes CNN’s claim that Patriarch Bartholomew has served in the monastery on the feast of the Dormition (August 15) every year since 2010, explaining that, in fact, the service for the feast was banned in 2016–2019 and 2023–2024 [Note that, while Turkey initially denied permission, in the end, Pat. Bartholomew was permitted to serve in the monastery on the feast of the Dormition in 2023—Ed.]. This year, the Liturgy was celebrated on the Leavetaking of the Dormition on August 23.
The mainstream media must stop supporting Turkey’s denial of its historic atrocities the open letter reads. And the Federation concludes:
CNN do better. Retract this disrespectful, half-truth article at once.
Read the Pan-Pontian Federation’s full letter:
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