The Genocide of the Greeks in Turkey: Survivor Testimonies from the Nicomedia (Izmit) Massacres of 1920-1921
The Genocide of the Greeks in Turkey: Survivor Testimonies from the Nicomedia (Izmit) Massacres of 1920-1921 (Cosmos Publishing 2016), a compilation of testimonies taken from Christian Greeks who survived the massacres perpetrated by Kemalist forces during the final phase of the Greek Genocide, was published in September.
Meticulously compiled by journalist Kostas Faltaits in 1921 and now available for the first time in English, readers will learn more about the methods the Kemalists used to annihilate Turkey’s Christian minorities. This edition includes a prologue by distinguished historian Tessa Hofmann who puts the atrocities into their historical context.
The Izmit Massacres of 1920-1921 were massacres perpetrated by Kemalist forces on Greek communities in the region east of Istanbul historically known as Nicomedia. According to one report, at least 32 Greek villages were looted or burned and more than 12,000 Greeks were massacred. In 1921, while following the movements of the Hellenic Army in Asia Minor (today’s Turkey), Athens based journalist Kostas Faltaits came face to face with the survivors of these massacres and collected their eye-witness accounts. Their stories include the mass burning of civilians in their churches and homes, rape and sexual torture of women, and the burning of children alive. Upon returning to Athens, Faltaits published the testimonies in Greek (1921) and the testimonies were published in French in 1922 & 1923. The book also includes the observations of the Armenian Metropolitan of Nicomedia, Stephan Hovakimian.
Reviews
The accounts by Greek survivors in These are the Turks (original title), of massacres, torture, rape, theft, and the destruction of villages, and the brutalizers’ sheer pleasure in inflicting such suffering on fellow humans, attests to the depths to which humans are capable of descending. -Thea Halo, Author, Activist.
With moving testimonies contextualized with scholarly and journalistic commentary, this book improves immeasurably our understanding of the Anatolian Greek genocide by Kemalist militants. The book helps to correct the omission of the Greek experience from the Armenian genocide literature. -Hannibal Travis, Professor of Law
Kostas Faltaits (1891-1944) was a renowned Greek journalist and author. He was born in Smyrna (today Izmir) but in the same year his family moved to the island of Skyros. He studied Law and Philology at the University of Athens and in 1910 he began a career in journalism.
For more information, visit izmitmassacres.com.
The book is available for purchase on Amazon: http://amzn.to/2diFrMN
Source: Asbarez
Link: Book Released on Massacre of Greeks in Turkey
