In February 2016, the Institute for Diaspora and Genocide Studies held a conference, in the senate hall of the Humboldt University of Berlin, on the theme of “The Displacement, Extinction and Genocide of the Pontic Greeks. 1914-1923” (the conference program can be accessed under the following link: http://www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/pontic/program.html).
Based on the presentations made at the conference, we are now planning to publish an extended volume on this important theme, which will look in depth at the questions and suggestions for research which became apparent during the conference.

Over the last years, the genocide committed against the Armenians has received an increasing amount of scientific and popular attention. Thanks to a growing number of international scientists devoted to the elucidation and reappraisal of the Armenian-Ottoman past, the historical processes leading to the extinction of the majority of the Armenian population within the Ottoman Empire have been traced and investigated. However, as recent international research has emphasized, the Armenian genocide by the Young-Turkish government has to be understood as only one chapter of an overall campaign of the Young-Turkish and Kemalist government against the non-Muslim (and later non-Turkish) communities. Besides the Armenians, particularly Greek communities in Asia Minor were most affected in terms of forced migration and atrocities, committed in the interests of specific Young-Turkish and Kemalist visions of the Ottoman space between 1914 and 1923. In this regard, the governmental campaign reached its violent climax in the genocide of the Greek communities in the Pontic area at the shores of the Black Sea. Although the killing of the Pontic Greeks has become increasingly prominent in Anglo-American historical research, it continues to be a desideratum within the European field of research.

The aim of the upcoming publication is thus both to raise awareness of what happened to the Pontic-Greek community during the Young-Turkish and Kemalist regime and to promote international and interdisciplinary research on this topic. As the displacement and extinction of the Pontic-Greek community has to be contextualized as part of the complex socio-political relations between Muslim/Turkish hegemony and Non-Muslim/Non-Turkish communities, the publication intends to bring together the expert knowledge of international scholars working within the fields of the late Ottoman, Young-Turkish and Kemalist period, Greco-Turkish relations and the Greek Diaspora.

Multidisciplinary papers on the “Displacement, Extinction and genocide of the Pontic Greeks” are most welcome. Possible topics include but are not limited to:
- Greek communities in the late Ottoman period – history, culture, social structure
- The Balkan Wars and first exchanges of population
- Young-Turkish nationalism and anti-Greek actions around World War I
- Greek interests in the Balkans and Anatolia (megali idea)
- Kemalist socio-political visions and the Eastern Question
- The Greco-Turkish War 1919-1922
- The Treaty of Lausanne 1923 and the Greco-Turkish exchange of population
- The displacement and extinction of the Pontic Greeks – structures, systems and processes of implementation
- Politics of violence on the local level – micro-analyses and regional studies
- Actors, organizations, and perpetrator profiles
- Aftermath, representation and denial of the genocide

Applicants for the publication are requested to send a manuscript (in English) of no more than 9000 words and a short CV indicating their academic affiliation. We welcome researchers from all related disciplines (e.g. history, sociology, political science) working on the topic to apply.
Applications should be sent to idg@ruhr-uni-bochum.de by September 30th, 2017. An answer will be given before October 31st, 2017.