Το κίνημα ανεξαρτησίας του Πόντου και οι αυτόνομες Ελληνικές περιοχές στη Σοβιετική Ένωση του μεσοπολέμου

Abstract

Economic circumstances since the mid-nineteenth century, favoured therapid development of Pontic Greek society and culture on the Northern littoralof Asia Minor and its immediate hinterland. The Pontic Greek merchantsmanaged to achieve a leading role in the economic life of the Black Sea region.This development ran parallel to similar phenomena in the Greek communitieson the Russian coast of the Black Sea and in the interior of Transcaucasia.The end of the period of Pontic development coincides with the First WorldWar. As a reaction to Ottoman policies threatening their security and survival,the Pontic Greeks resorted to the formation of an organisation for dynamicresistance. In every region of Pontos, secret resistance groups were established.The same phenomenon is observable among the Greek communities of SouthernRussia. The main objective of these groups was the creation of an independentrepublic based on the Pontic territories of the Ottoman Empire.The October Revolution in Russia changed completely the scene by bringingto power a government friendly towards Turkish interests.Following the defeat of the Central Powers in World War I, the hopes ofthe Pontic Greeks were rekindled. The two interdependent objectives, the creationof an independent republic in the Pontos and the achievement of autonomyin the territory of the former Russian Empire for local Greek populations,set in motion a large scale Pontic political movement.The defeat of the Greek army in Asia Minor in 1922 however and theLausanne Treaty of 1923 sealed the fate of the Pontic movement in Turkey.Greek rebels nevertheless continued to fight for their cause on the Ponticmountains for a year after Lausanne. Those who survived sought refuge in thenew Soviet Union.In the multinational Soviet Union the Pontic movement focused on the