Greek Collective ENEMY OF REALITY Release Video in Tribute to the Greek Pontic Genocide ‣ CVLTARTES

Greek symphonic metal act Enemy of Reality has just released a new music video for the song ‘Tin Patrida M’Ehasa’ (I Lost my Homeland) which is an impressive adaptation of a traditional Pontic Greek song and a tribute to the victims of the Pontic Greek genocide. May 19 is the day of remembrance for the Greek genocide since February 24, 1994, when the Hellenic Parliament voted to recognize it.

The adaptation is based on the title song from the album “Mavrothalassa” (Black Sea) [1999, Nitro Music] by Kostas Siamidis and includes lyrics written by Christos Antoniadis.

The band stated: “We are very excited to present to you our latest work. May 19 marks the remembrance of the Pontic Greek Genocide (1916-1923), one of the darkest moments in Greece’s history. Entire villages and cities were devastated. By 1923, out of 700.000 Pontian Greeks who lived in Asia Minor, as many as 353.000 were killed and almost all the rest were forced to flee to neighboring countries. This was the end of one of the ancient Greek civilizations in Asia Minor. We will never forget it. This video is dedicated to all those who have been violently forced to flee their homes and countries.”

The Greek genocide, including the Pontic genocide, was the systematic killing of the Christian Ottoman Greek population of Anatolia which was carried out during World War I and its aftermath (1914–1922) on the basis of their religion and ethnicity. It was instigated by the government of the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish national movement against the indigenous Greek population of the Empire and included massacres, forced conversion to Islam, forced deportations involving death marches, expulsions, summary execution, and the destruction of Eastern Orthodox cultural, historical, and religious monuments. Several hundred thousand Ottoman Greeks died during this period. Most of the refugees and survivors fled to Greece (adding over a quarter to the prior population of Greece). Some, especially those in Eastern provinces, took refuge in the neighboring Russian Empire.

The Allies of World War I condemned the Ottoman government–sponsored massacres. In 2007, the International Association of Genocide Scholars passed a resolution recognizing the Ottoman campaign against its Christian minorities, including the Greeks, as genocide. Some other organizations have also passed resolutions recognizing the Ottoman campaign against these Christian minorities as genocide, as have the national legislatures of Greece, Cyprus, the United States, Sweden, Armenia, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic.

Enemy of Reality are currently in the recording procedure of their upcoming and yet untitled third full-length album.