Musa Dagh

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Musa Dagh (Turkish: Musa Dağı, Arabic: Jebel Musa, Armenian: Musa Ler, Մուսա Լեռ, meaning "Moses Mountain") was the site of resistance by the Armenians during the Armenian Genocide. The denizens of that region were violently expelled from their six villages (Kaboussieh, Yogohonoluk, Bitias, Wakef, Khodr Bey, Hedj Habibli) by the Ottomans in 1915. 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. Allied warships, most notably French, in the Mediterranean responded to distress signals and rescued the remaining survivors just as ammunition and food provisions were being exhausted. The warships then transported them to Port Said, Egypt. A tomb exists in the city of Port Said of some martyrs of Musa Dagh.

Contents

[edit] Genocide survivors

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.
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, seven Armenian villages returned to their homes. On June 29, 1939, following an agreement between France and Turkey the province was given to Turkey. Afterwards Armenians in those six villages emigrated from Hatay, while the residents of Vakıflı village chose to stay.[1] Vakıflı is the only remaining ethnic Armenian village in Turkey,[2][3] with a population only 130 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.

[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. There is now a movie based on the novel.

Armenian Genocide
Background
Armenians in the Ottoman Empire · Armenian Question · Hamidian Massacres · Zeitun Resistance (1895) · 1896 Ottoman Bank Takeover · Yıldız Attempt · Adana Massacre · Young Turk Revolution
The Genocide

Armenian notables deported from the Ottoman capital · Tehcir Law · Armenian casualties of deportations · Ottoman Armenian casualties  · Labour battalion

Major extermination centers:
Bitlis · Deir ez-Zor · Diyarbakır · Erzurum · Kharput · Muş · Sivas · Trabzon

Resistance:
Zeitun  · Van · Musa Dagh · Urfa · Shabin-Karahisar  · Armenian militia  · Operation Nemesis

Foreign aid and relief:
American Committee for Relief in the Near East · National Armenian Relief Committee
Responsible parties

Young Turks:
Talat · Enver · Djemal · Behaeddin Shakir · Committee of Union and Progress · Teskilati Mahsusa · The Special Organization · Ottoman Army · Kurdish Irregulars · Reşit Bey · Cevdet Bey · Topal Osman
Trials
Courts-Martial  · Malta Tribunals  · Trial of Soghomon Tehlirian
Aftermath
Partitioning of the Ottoman Empire · Denial of the Genocide · Post-Genocide timeline
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[edit] References

  1. ^ Başlangıç, Celal. "Musa'dan notlar", Radikal, 2002-07-29. Retrieved on 2007-02-22.  (Turkish)
  2. ^ Kalkan, Ersin. "Türkiye'nin tek Ermeni köyü Vakıflı", Hürriyet, 2005-07-31. Retrieved on 2007-02-22.  (Turkish)
  3. ^ Campbell, Verity (2007). Turkey. Lonely Planet. ISBN 1741045568. 

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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Coordinates: 36°15′30″N, 35°54′13″E