They were not called Greeks until the twentieth century
For centuries, the people of the Black Sea coast identified as Romans, not Greeks. Driven by shifting empires and the rise of nationalism, this indigenous group underwent a profound transformation in identity, language, and faith, surviving through waves of conquest, migration, and even religious conversion.
The Pontic Greeks, an ethnic group indigenous to the Pontus region of northeastern Anatolia, possess a history rooted in the 8th century BC, when Ionian settlers established colonies like Sinope. For much of the Ottoman era, these inhabitants did not view themselves as 'Greek' in the modern nationalist sense. Instead, they identified as 'Rom' or 'Rum'—citizens of the Roman Empire defined by their Orthodox Christian faith. As historian Anthony Bryer notes, a person in the nineteenth century might have first described themselves by their specific village, then as a Roman subject of the Sultan, only adopting the 'Greek' label after the 1923 population exchange.
The region's identity was shaped by a complex mosaic of cultures. While the Greek presence was ancient, the population was genetically and culturally diverse, including intermarriage with Caucasian peoples, Armenians, and Laz. This complexity is reflected in their language, Pontic Greek (or Romeika), and even their cuisine, which shares elements like 'havítz' with Turkish traditions. Even the political landscape was fluid; the Empire of Trebizond, established by the Komnenos dynasty following the 1204 Fourth Crusade, stood as a significant power until the Ottoman conquest in the 15th century.
The 19th century brought the spread of Greek nationalism, fueled by educational ties to Athens and the 'Megali Idea.' However, this movement was not universally embraced. Many Pontians, fearing the economic or physical consequences of political upheaval, remained distanced from irredentist movements. The 20th century brought the most radical shifts: the Pontic Greek genocide and the 1923 population exchange forced massive migrations to Greece and the Caucasus. Today, while most Pontians identify strongly as Greek, a unique community of Greek-speaking Muslims remains in northeastern Turkey, descendants of those who converted to Islam during the Ottoman period.
Source: Pontic Greeks
