STREETS WITH NAMES OF HUMANS NOT NAMES OF CRIMINALS
MICHALIS CHARALABIDIS
(From
an event to Stuttgart)
STREETS WITH NAMES OF HUMANS NOT NAMES OF CRIMINALS
ALI ERTEM STREET IN TRAPEZOUNTA, IN KERASOUNTA, IN
AMISOS
While seeking for humans in Asia Minor, about two decades ago, I
met Ali Ertem in a movement of solidarity to the Kurdish people. I
met a human. The first Turkish Democrat who recognized the Pontian genocide.
This is what I write in my book in Turkish which I dedicated to him. "Pontos,
the return of an ancient identity - A book in banishment."* Back then it
was rare to meet humans. In 1984 Yilmaz Güney warned me for that.
Pontian residents
of Trapezounta, Kerasounta, of Amisus, of Tripoli today,
the civil society of these historic cities should give the name of Ali Ertem in
one of the main roads. The roads of these cities cannot be named after
criminals like Topal Osman, Mustafa Kemal, Talaat.
*English Version: "The
Pontian Question in the United Nations", 2nd edition, 2009,
Michalis Charalabidis, International League For The Rights and Liberations Of
Peoples, Stravon Publications
