Musa Dagh (Turkish: Musa Dağı, Ottoman Turkish: موسى داغ, Arabic: جبل موسى Jebel Musa, Armenian: Մուսա Լեռ, Musa Leṛ, meaning "Moses Mountain") was the site of resistance by the Armenians during the Armenian Genocide. The denizens of that region had been given a official order from the Turkish government where they became violently expelled from their six villages (Kabusia (Kaboussieh), Yoghunoluk, Bitias, Vakef, Kheter Bey (Khodr Bey), Haji Habibli) by the Ottomans in 1915.[3] As Ottoman Turkish forces converged upon the town, the populace aware of the impending danger fell back upon Musa mountain and repeatedly thwarted assaults for fifty-three days.[4][5] Allied warships, most notably French, in the Mediterranean sighted the survivors, as Werfel was told that just as ammunition and food provisions were being run out.[6] The warships then transported them to safety in Port Said, Egypt.[7] [8] British and French ships had successfully helped evacuate 4200 men, women and children from Musa Dagh.[9]
A view of Musa Dagh in the summer of 2008.
[edit] History
The French warship
Guichen, pictured above, participated along with several cruisers in the rescue of some 4,000 Armenians who had taken shelter on Musa Dagh.
Starting in 1918, when Hatay province became under French control, six Armenian villages returned to their homes. On June 29, 1939, following an agreement between France and Turkey the province was given to Turkey. Nearly 250 men had took part in the defense, fighting off Turkish armies in June of 1915.[2] The Armenians had refused deportation and fled to the highest mountain in the town, and through July to September of 1915 they put on defenses until French ships had rescued them.[2] Afterwards Armenians from six of the villages emigrated from Hatay, while some of the residents of Vakıflı village chose to stay.[10] Vakıflı is the only remaining ethnic Armenian village in Turkey,[11][12] with a population only 140 Turkish-Armenians. Those who left the Hatay in 1939 immigrated to Lebanon where they founded the town of Anjar. Today, the town of Anjar is divided into six districts, each commemorating one of the villages of Musa Dagh.
As the French squads came to the rescue of the remaining survivors, the Chief priest had been quoted saying, "The evil only happened... to enable God to show us His goodness."[13]
[edit] The Forty Days of Musa Dagh
These historical events later inspired Franz Werfel to write his novel The Forty Days of Musa Dagh (1933), a fictionalized account based on Werfel's detailed research of historical sources. A movie of the same name was released in 1982.[14]
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Background
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The Genocide
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Armenian population
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See also
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[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Weimar on the Pacific: German Exile Culture in Los Angeles and the Crisis of Modernism By Ehrhard Bahr, page 176
- ^ a b c The Burning Tigris: The Armenian Genocide and America's Response By Peter Balakian, p.210
- ^ New Outlook, Volume 111 edited by Alfred Emanuel Smith, page.800
- ^ Remembrance and denial: the case of the Armenian genocide by Richard G. Hovannisian - Page 161
- ^ Resistance and revenge: the Armenian assassination of the Turkish leaders ... By Jacques Derogy p.22
- ^ Franz Werfel: an Austrian writer reassessed - by Lothar Huber, page 176
- ^ The great war for civilisation: the conquest of the Middle East By Robert Fisk
- ^ The Christian minorities in Turkey - Wilhelm Baum, page.92
- ^ The new presence by Nadace M.J. Stránského, p.14
- ^ Başlangıç, Celal (2002-07-29). "Musa'dan notlar". Radikal. http://www.radikal.com.tr/haber.php?haberno=44839. Retrieved 2007-02-22. (Turkish)
- ^ Kalkan, Ersin (2005-07-31). "Türkiye'nin tek Ermeni köyü Vakıflı". Hürriyet. http://hurarsiv.hurriyet.com.tr/goster/haber.aspx?id=338656. Retrieved 2007-02-22. (Turkish)
- ^ Campbell, Verity (2007). Turkey. Lonely Planet. ISBN 1741045568. http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN1741045568&id=jstw7Sxkp4gC&pg=PA438&lpg=PA438&ots=h2MnJY-Y7o&dq=Vakifli&ie=ISO-8859-1&sig=16sl9nbp31DXLM94aGshObqiPX0.
- ^ Franz Werfel, the faith of an exile: from Prague to Beverly Hills By Lionel Bradley Steiman, page 86
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0138989/
[edit] External links
Coordinates: 36°15′30″N 35°54′13″E / 36.25833°N 35.90361°E / 36.25833; 35.90361
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Armenian Resistance
(late 19th century - early 20th century)
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| 1880s - 1900s |
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| World War I |
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| 1920s |
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Ottoman Empire
