The Forty Days of Musa Dagh

Rating:
Summary: Fictional-but
Review: Yes, the book is fictional, but based on a real incident. The survivors were taken by the French warships to Lebanon and started an Armenian village there. As to one reviewers questions as to what happened to the Turks in Armenia, they are still the majority there, along with Kurds. Turkish Armenia has no Armenians, they are all gone. The modern country of Armenia was part of the Russian empire at the time of the massacres. It was predominately Armenian in population and escaped the massacres. As to the extent of the destruction, we will never know just how many were killed. However, I do feel that Turkey from 1915 through 1922 was one of the first modern examples of ethnic cleansing, with a determined effort to rid the country of all non-Turkish elements. Western Asia Minor had been Greek for better than 3000 years (Symrna, Miletus, Laodicea, Ephesus, etc). It is not today. The land around Mt. Ararat and Lake Van had been mostly Armenian for 3000 years. It is not today. The Black Sea coast had been mostly Greek for 2500 years. It is not today. Yes, the Greeks did invade Turkey in an attempt to take advantage of the country's defeat in WWI. They were thrown back in a great show of courage and patriotism. But the aftermath must also be examined. Yes, there were Armenians who wanted to succeed and form an independent state. But the aftermath must also be examined.
We are talking of things that happened almost 100 years ago. I do not feel that the Turkish people today have guilt for the actions that were taken then. I like Turkey and the Turks I have met. But historical facts do not disappear by denying them.
We all have an obligation to face up to the unpleasant facts of history. Only when all of us say "Never again" to any genocidal action will genocide cease to exist.