An important new book about an atrocity that is little-known in the West and obscured by charges of “Islamophobia.” Order it here.
“Turkey’s destruction of its Christians: Benny Morris unravels the ‘Thirty-Year Genocide,'” by Daniel Campos, i24News, June 11, 2019:
World renowned Israeli historian Benny Morris sat down with i24NEWS to discuss his new body of work which seeks to unravel the systematic genocide of Christian subjects of the Ottoman Empire before and after its collapse.
As found in The Thirty-Year Genocide: Turkey’s Destruction of its Christian Minorities, between 1894 and 1924, 1.5 million to 2.5 million Christians were murdered in Asia Minor.
Many of Morris and co-author Dror Zeevi’s findings are not new, but their impeccably-researched tome aims to show that three distinct waves of massacres and religious persecution were all part of a single overarching effort to wipe out Anatolia’s Christian population.
Written with the help of historical archives, the book makes use of testimonies from missionaries and diplomats of the time, as well as accounts from perpetrators and victims.
According to demographic research, before the three waves of violence that swept across Anatolia during this period, the region’s Christian minority accounted for 20 percent of the population. By the end of the thirty-year period, the population had been reduced to 2 percent.
Benny Morris book looks at unknown Christian genocideSeeking to unravel why the Turks tried to rid Christians from their empire, Morris said there is no simple answer.
On one hand, according to Morris and Zeevi, Islam did played a major role in the three waves of violence: “The perpetrator– those who went out to invade and plunder Christian homes, killing the inhabitants with axes and knives and raping women– were motivated by the Islamic belief that they were killing infidels deemed dangerous to Islam and the empire.”
Asked if he believed the driving force behind the campaigns was nationalism rather than religion, Morris conceded that nationalism did play significant driving role in the persecutions, especially during the Ataturk period where “making a uniform Turkish society meant getting rid of diversity; in other words, the Christians.”…
mortimer says
Robert Spencer correctly includes the ‘Hamidian Massacres’ (1894-1897 … during which time as many as 300,000 Christian Turks were murdered) as part of the Great Armenian Genocide conducted by the Turkish government. The total number of Armenians killed were as high as 2,500,000 and 750,000 Assyrian Christians and 300,000 Turkish Orthodox Christians. The Armenian Genocide is often used as a short-hand term to cover the massacres of other Christians. This anti-Christian animus still lives and is fanned up by Erdogan and his cronies, even though the constitution of Turkey prohibits discrimination on religious grounds.
Sunnite religious teaching is compulsory in primary and secondary schools in Turkey, thus negating the constitution.
Turkey has one of the most racially mixed populations in the world due to the influx of foreign slaves from every country during the last 7 centuries. Thus, there is no ‘Turkish race’ per se, but only a culture based on Islamic supremacism and Sunnite backwardness. The Secularists in Turkey will remain in the back seat until the voters of Turkey have had enough financial disasters and decide to vote for a fiscally responsible and business-promoting, SECULAR political party.
Turkey would be a fabulously rich county if it had any religion but Islam.
SAFI says
There was no such thing as “Christian Turks” in the Ottoman empire. At most there were a few Chistians who spoke turkish as their first language. But even they were not regarded as Turks by anyone. A “Turk” was by definition a Muslim, so much so that a Muslim was also by definition a “Turk”. The word Turk was widely used to describe all Ottoman Muslims including those who spoke no turkish at all or who had converted to Islam just recently. In fact there was the verb to “turn turk” which was used for a person, family, town that converted to Islam/ became Muslim(under any circumstances, violent or not.) The word probably originated amont Ottoman dhimmis but soon spread to other european languages including English. A second more metaphorical meaning was added later (on top of its original of conversion to Islam) that of “joining the dark side”/ becoming a traitor.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/turn_Turk
Inside the Ottoman system a “Turk” was a religion and sometimes maybe a profession but rarely an ethnicity and never a nationality/citizenship(the Sultans subjects were at best called “Ottomans”, not “Turks”) in order for the term “Christian Turks” or “Turkish Christians” to make sense.
Juerg Bangerter says
same with Maghreb, Persia, Pakistand and Afghanistan…
Kepha says
Karamanli people spoke Turkish, and were Eastern Orthodox Christians. Before conversion to Islam, many Turks in Central Asia adhered to the Church of the East.
This being said, the anti-Christian genocide in Turkey should be examined by historians, and should be made known.
SAFI says
There’s also the “Gagauz” in Romania who are turkish speaking Christians but they don’t identify as Turks either. Turkish identity is a fairly recent thing. The Ottoman state devided it’s subjects only according to religion but to the extend that the Muslims had another name that was Ottomans not “Turks”. Western Europeans used the term Turk casually, primarily to refer to Anatolian Muslims but inside the Empire “turk” was a mildly derogatory term used mostly by the Christians to refer to the Muslims though some of the Muslims thought it to be offensive.
J D.S says
The U S needs to use a “shook up adjuster” on Turkey and they have no business being a part of NATO as does any Muslim country .The free world, what’s left if it, needs to crack down on Muslim incursion Into civil nations., what’s left of them that is .Make them civil instead. The U N is a joke we need a new alliance but not the U N.
Paul N Silas says
Estimated murdered Souls by Islam since dirty Mo vomited it up, 250-300 million! That’s the current population of the U.S.
JS says
Outstanding book, must read. Important, proves that history repeats. The content is so intense that its hard to breathe.
Anjuli Pandavar says
Mortimer,
“1894-1897 … during which time as many as 300,000 Christian Turks were murdered”
—
Well pointed out. Thank you. It’s a detail we would do well not to forget, especially as Islam is supposed to be a race, which, of course, also recalls all the Arab Muslims murdering Arab Christians, Indian Muslims murdering Indian Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists and Christians, Nigerian Muslims murdering Nigerian Christians, Persian Muslims murdering Persian Christians… some race these Muslims are. Why interrupt the killing spree just because they haven’t yet worked out what colour their race is? Or did I miss the nuance: Islam is a race, but Muslims aren’t?
SAFI says
That’s actually false. There was no such thing as “christian Turk” under the ottoman system. I don’t know where mortimer got that. But they did target all Christians primarilly for their religion. That is proven by the fact that some Christians were spared from the genocide by converting to islam on the spot.
Anjuli Pandavar says
“New book brings to light Turkey’s thirty-year genocide of Greek, Armenian, and Assyrian Christians”
—
Go for it, Robert. This is going to seriously piss off Erdogan, especially because the more he reacts, the more he’ll spread this information.
Tony Naim says
At long last, the highest authority on Islam in the west brings to light the struggles and trials of Eastern Christians.
I had wished Mr Spencer would not have forgotten the systemic and deliberate murder of 200,000 Maronites and Greek Orthodox Christians in Mount Lebanon during the First World War by the same Turks.
I also hope his next effort will focus on the return of Hagia Sophia to its rightful owners.
Nothing, nothing, no political , diplomatic , nor military effort will have an impact on the demise of Islamist jihad than to return of the Hagia Sophia to Christians and the Temple of Jerusalem to the Jews.
GreekEmpress says
Tony,
+1
My family got out of Constantinople. We will not return until the Hagia Sophia is ours again.
This new book will be my next read.
gravenimage says
Glad your family escaped, GreekEmpress.
So did Robert Spencer’s.
GreekEmpress says
Thanks GI,
So many Greek families have stories of the genocide era. I also had an Armenian great grandfather who surrendered to the Turks and was then murdered by them.
We’te very grateful to have made it to the USA. First thing a lot of the men in the family did was join the armed services to show their gratitude, and to this day they still do.
gravenimage says
Greek Empress, so sorry to hear about your great grandfather–but this grimly does not surprise.
One of the tallest crosses in the United States–that on top of Mt. Davidson, which can be seen from almost everywhere in San Francisco–is dedicated to the victims and survivors of the Armenian Genocide.
https://cdn.funcheap.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/maxresdefault-1-563×317.jpg
Edmund says
So even jizya is a temporary solution. Nobody cared about this, so they moved with “final solution”.
If Hitler won the war, any sign about German&other Axis atrocities would be erased from history too. Soviets won, so they managed to keep it hidden through many years.
Humans are barbaric species, but totalitarian ideologies like ex. Islam are making them even more blood thirsty. It’s so sad.
We can only speak about this to others, to make it well known. I personally said to myself, that my feet will never stand in any muslim country. Why anybody even what to go to place, when natvies are hating You becouse system of belief ? It’s like beeing Jude and travel to visit Nazi Germany for holiday …
Eric Jones says
A Greek women I worked with told me how her grand mother had to escape Turkey in 1947 as a result of Turks attacking Greek residents of Turkey.
Eric
GreekEmpresd says
Most Greek families have a similar story. My family had a long history of fighting the Turks. I also had an Armenian ancestor who was murdered by the Turks after he surrendered.
gravenimage says
Greeks were mostly oppressed during the 1940s,. but there was another full-on pogrom against surviving Greeks in Turkey in the mid 1950s.
SAFI says
There actually was persecution everytime Turkey felt the international environment allowed for it. WW2 was seen by Turkey as a great opportunity to go after both Greeks and Jews.
D’mitr says
Islam has killed about 700 million people since its inception…
400 million alone was against the people of India…
The rest all over Africa, Middle East and into Europe..
Muslim historian Firistha (b. 1570) wrote (in either Tarikh-i Firishta or the Gulshan-i Ibrahim) that Muslims slaughtered over 400 million Hindus up to the peak of Islamic rule of India, bringing the Hindu population down from 600 mil to 200 million at the time.
All by swords and knives…
Very barbaric when someone is willing to kill people with a sword apparently they seem to love the blood lust…
gravenimage says
New book brings to light Turkey’s thirty-year genocide of Greek, Armenian, and Assyrian Christians
…………………….
I’ll be getting this book. It also rightly points out that the Armenian Genocide–really, a genocide that also targeted Greek, Assyrian, and “Levantine” Christians–did not just take place in 1915, as is often believed, but happened in waves from the late 19th century through 1922 and the destruction of Smyrna.
It also continued through the Ottoman Empire, the “Young Turks”, and Attaturk’s regime.
Other good books are Giles Milton’s “Paradise Lost: Smyrna, 1922” about the last, and Peter Balakian’s “The Burning Tigris”, which covers the entire horrifying period.
GreekEmpress says
Thanks for posting those titles Graven Image. I haven’t read “The Burning Tigris “ yet. It’s now on my list as well.
gravenimage says
It’s an excellent but very harrowing book, GreekEmpress.
You can find it here:
https://www.amazon.com/Burning-Tigris-Armenian-Genocide-Americas/dp/0060558709
commonsense says
Also recommended as a source recounting the 1922 mass murder of the Greeks (and, as I recall, Armenians) of Smyrna is the book The Sword of the Prophet by Serge Trifkovic. One learns that the European and American governments instructed their ships’ crews docked at the Port of Smyrna to do nothing to save the defenseless victims as they were thrown into the sea by the murderous Turks. Hundreds of drowning Christians cried for help, their dying pleas ignored. Some attempted to climb into the ships and were prevented from doing so by the ships’ crews. The narrative horrifies, especially because some of those who refused to help the drowning victims were members of the U.S. Navy, following orders to stand down. A truly shameful episode in U.S. history.
gravenimage says
This is grimly true. It was an American, though, who was responsible for saving almost all the Christians who survived Smyrna–missionary and charity worker Asa Kent Jennings. He organized the ships and convinced them to ferry Turkish Christians to safety in Greece:
“The American who saved 250,000 from death during the Armenian genocide”
https://www.pri.org/stories/2015-04-24/american-who-saved-250000-death-during-armenian-genocide
commonsense says
GI:
Very interesting and inspiring – I knew nothing of this heroic Jennings, whose obscurity is scandalous and undeserved. Thank you for this information.
gravenimage says
Thank you, commonsense. I agree–this man should be known and honored as a hero.
Mo says
Thank you for this recommendation. Definitely a topic of interest to me.
SAFI says
I would argue that the Ottomans’ first attempts at genocide went back to the early 1800s if not earlier. What always held them back was fear of European(and especially Russian) reaction. But whenever opportunity presented itself they went on a rampage. Every time they found themselves in a favorable international environment where they felt they could get away with it they renewed the persecution(for example during WW2 against both Christians and Jews and even later in the 50s and 60s everytime there was some political crisis in Greece, Greeks in Turkey would face persecution). In 1924 there were still about 150,000 Greeks still living in Constantinople and on the islands of Imvros and Tenedos. Today this number has been reduced to less than 2,500 nonagenarians surviving.
Agha Ali Arkhan says
The buggers started a pogrom at a Greek restaurant on Danforth Avenue in Toronto recently.
gravenimage says
Here’s that horrifying story
“10-year-old girl, 18-year-old woman killed in Toronto mass shooting”
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/toronto/article-one-dead-13-injured-gunman-killed-in-toronto-mass-shooting/
Kepha says
You mean, the perp didn[t respect Canada’s enlightened gun control laws ? sarc.
gravenimage says
‘Fraid not…
Relic says
new
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5UK40sSo8I
patriotliz says
Muslims have been committing multiple genocides for the past 1400 years. Estimates are as high as 700 non-Muslims murdered due to the imperialistic jihads to establish world-wide caliphate and it is still ongoing with current genocide of Christians. There’s no difference between “nationalism” and “religion” when it comes to an Islamic conquest by an Islamic dominated state or caliphate.
SAFI says
Exactly.
Marigold says
I remember reading a book in my early teens which my father had acquired about the Armenian holocaust . I remember being horrified about the cruelty of the Turks.A few years later in 1954 as a young nurse I actually discovered that one of my colleagues was from an Armenian Christian family who had survived it .She was so pleased to hear that someone had heard about it and said the Turks had never admitted that it had happened.As far as I know they still haven’t so I want to know what makes one holocaust worth more than another?
gravenimage says
Hitler was inspired by the Armenian Genocide and used it as a model for the Holocaust. He said. “who today remembers the Armenians”? Let’s prove Hitler wrong again.
Peter says
It was a chicken and egg thing. During the First World War the Ottoman Turks had a great deal of assistance from the Germans in organizing the Armenian Genocide, particularly logistical assistance. An excellent account of the genocide can be found in “Ambassador Morganthau’s Story”. Henry Morganthau was the US Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire during World War 1. The genocide was at its most intense during 1915, when the British were fighting the Ottoman Turks on the Gallipoli Peninsula. The Turks chose this moment in time to prosecute the genocide because they felt they were least subject to international scrutiny and condemnation. This was all before the US has entered the war. Henry Morgantau was even given a tour of the Gallipoli Peninsula by the Turks and was able to view the battlefield from the Turkish side. After the War the British Secret Service helped an Armenian Assassination Squad assassinate Talaat Pasha and Djamal Pasha, two of the three Young Turks who ruled the Ottoman Empire during the war.
gravenimage says
!915 was an especially bad year, but the Armenian Genocide both predated and outlasted the First World War.
gravenimage says
1915
CTTV15@Hotmail.com says
This has been going on for a very long time. A long time indeed..
CRUSADER says
“The Promise” (recently produced), is a movie about this story….
gravenimage says
Yes.