YEREVAN. – Armenian parliament observed a minute of silence to commemorate the Pontian Greeks who died during the genocide in the Ottoman Empire.

Deputy Speaker Eduard Sharmazanov offered to honor memory of the Pontian Greeks. The initiative was supported by Parliament Speaker Sahakyan, the Armenian News-NEWS.am correspondent reports.

Genocide of the Pontian Greeks, the native population of the Black Sea coast of modern Turkey, was started by the government of  Young Turks in 1915 an was continued by the government of Kemal Ataturk till 1923. According to various estimates, from 350,000 up to over 1 million people died.

A Greek community, most of them Pontian Greeks, has been living in Armenia for centuries.