Hye Sharzhoom Armenian Action
Claire Kasaian
Staff Writer
On Friday, April 6, community members and students gathered at Fresno State to hear Dr. Ümit Kurt speak about the new book The Heroic Battle of Aintab, which he translated into English. Dr. Kurt was on a nation-wide speaking tour to introduce the book. His presentation was part of the Spring Lecture series of the Armenian Studies Program.
The Heroic Battle of Aintab, originally written by Kevork Baboian, is an eyewitness account that sheds light on the important events of the period. The Heroic Battle of Aintab was published by the Gomidas Institute of London, and was supported by a grant from the Armenian Studies Program. The book contains first hand testimonial accounts about the Turkish-French battle, 1920-1921, and the impact of that conflict on the Armenians.
Dr. Kurt read passages from The Heroic Battle of Aintab, including excerpts from a poem by Immanım Mennush, called “Saga,” a form of folk-poetry. Mennush participated in the heroic self-defense of the city and fought heroically.
After the Treaty of Mudros, Aintab was occupied by the British forces from December 1918-October 1919. The British facilitated the repatriation of Armenians to the city and also engaged in returning Armenian women who had been taken forcibly into Muslim households. In October of 1919 French forces replaced the British in Aintab. Many local Turks were upset by this new occupation and so resorted to organizing armed opposition. This culminated in the Turkish/Kemalist-French war which began on April 2, 1920. By February of 1921 the French emerged victorious, but in the succeeding months they decided to abandon Cilicia to the Turks. In November of 1921, the French officially began their evacuation, leading the Armenians to also abandon the city.
The Heroic Battle of Aintab gives a detailed day to day description of how the Armenians put aside their political differences, and came together to defend their city during the battle for Aintab. In 1936 Baboian moved to Beirut and even there he continued to interview survivors and write down their experiences and the traumas they had gone through. Baboian stayed in Beirut until he passed away on March 8, 1949.
The Heroic Battle of Aintab is a book that is important to the study of the post-World War I Ottoman Empire, before the Turkish Republic was established.
Dr. Kurt, who is a native of Aintab, wrote his dissertation on the plunder of Aintab by local Turkish elites. He earned his Ph.D. in history at the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Clark University in 2016 and is currently a Polonsky Fellow in the Van Leer Institute in Jerusalem.