Kofidis was elected as a member of the Ottoman parliament for the Trebizond Vilayet in three successive election periods : 1908 &ndash; 1912 , 1912 &ndash; 1914 , and 1914 &ndash; 1918 . Initially , he participated in the Young Turk movement . Kofidis , along with a number of Christian Orthodox citizens of the Ottoman Empire , hoped that this movement would favor the various local ethnoreligious groups . However , they soon realized that the ultimate goal of the Young Turks was the imposition of various policies of ethnic cleansing and genocide , which they launched during the following years
policies of ethnic cleansing and genocide
Greek genocide
Matthaios Kofidis