The deportation orders of the Armenian population of modern-day Turkey, issued by the Ottoman government, in July 1915 reached the six Armenian villages of the Musa Dagh region: Kabusia (Kaboussieh), Yoghunoluk, Bitias,
Vakef, Kheter Bey (Khodr Bey) and Haji Habibli.[3] As
Ottoman Turkish forces converged upon the town, the populace, aware of the impending danger, refused deportation and fell back upon Musa mountain, thwarting assaults for fifty-three days, from July to September 1915.[4][5] One of the leaders of the revolt was Movses Der Kalousdian, whose Armenian first name was the same as that of the mountain. French warships of the 3rd Squadron in the
Mediterranean under command of Vice Admiral
Louis Dartige du Fournet, sighted the survivors just as ammunition and food provisions were running out.[6] Five French ships, beginning with the
protected cruiserGuichen, under the command of Captain
Jean-Joseph Brisson, evacuated 3,004 women and children and over 1,000 men from Musa Dagh to safety in
Port Said.[7][8][9] The other French ships were the
seaplane carrierFoudre, the protected cruiser
D'Estrées, and the
armored cruisersAmiral Charner and
Dupleix.[10]
Starting in 1918, when the
Sanjak of Alexandretta came under French control, the population of the six Armenian villages returned to their homes. In 1932, a monument was erected at the top of the mountain to commemorate the event.[11]
On 29 June 1939, following an agreement between France and
Turkey, the province was given to Turkey. Afterwards Armenians from six of the villages emigrated from
Hatay Province, while some of the residents of
Vakıflı village chose to stay.[12] Vakıflı is the only remaining ethnic Armenian village in Turkey,[13][14] with a population of 140
Turkish-Armenians. Most who left Hatay in 1939 emigrated to
Lebanon where they resettled in the town of
Anjar. Today, the town of Anjar is divided into six districts, each commemorating one of the villages 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 his detailed research of historical sources.[16] Werfel told reporters: "The struggle of 5,000 people on Musa Dagh had so fascinated me that I wished to aid the Armenian people by writing about it and bringing it to the world".[17]A movie of the same name was released in 1982.[18] Six years after the novel was published, when
Nazi Germany started conquering Europe, the copies of “The Forty Days of Musa Dagh” spread widely among young adults, some of whom found themselves in circumstances similar to those faced by Armenians. The book was popular in
Warsaw ghetto and
Vilna ghetto and when the Jewish resisters decided to fight back in the
Bialystok ghetto, they spoke of the ghetto’s “Musa Dagh” moment at the planning meeting.[19]
An eyewitness account from the
Deir-az-Zur Region in Syria was provided by a Turkish officer, a Jewish Ashkenazy settler from the
First Aliya, born in
Rishon Letzion, Eitan Belkind.[20]
Gallery
Armenian combatants in Musa Dagh
A French warship embarks
Armenianrefugees from Musa Dagh in September 1915.
Location of the Armenian camp during the resistance.
The remains of the monument near the top of Musa Dagh in memory of the French warships that rescued the Armenian people on 12 September 1915. Picture taken on 12 September 2015, the 100th anniversary of the rescue.
French newspaper « Le Miroir », 24 October 1915
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.
^"La Reconnaissance Armenienne" in "l'Illustration" page XXII, 29 October 1932.
^Başlangıç, Celal (29 July 2002).
"Musa'dan notlar" (in Turkish). Radikal. Archived from
the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 22 February 2007.
Cohen, Raya (2017).
"Musa Dagh". In
Dan Diner (ed.). Encyclopedia of Jewish History and Culture Online. Brill Online.
Sensenig-Dabbous, Eugene (2016). "The Musa Dagh History Hike: Truth-Telling, Dialogue and Thanatourism". The Armenian Genocide Legacy. Palgrave Macmillan UK. pp. 229–242.
ISBN978-1-137-56163-3.