Surviving the Forgotten Armenian Genocide: A moving personal story

by Patrick Sookhdeo, Patrick Sookhdeo (Editor)

A gripping eye witness account of the genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Turkish government against its Armenian subjects during World War 1. Smpat Chorbadjian tells his story of the appalling hardships he suffered. It reveals his courage, endurance, and will to survive, also recording his healing and restoration, after years of misery. This book makes a compelling narrative as it sheds light on the frequently forgotten experience of Turkey’s Christians, against a background of global conflict.

92 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 4, 2015

Reviews

[Rayna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story is about a young Armenian man who survived the persecution of Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Turks in the early 20th century. Armenians had been asking for better treatment by the Turkish government, and the Turks, fearing that Armenians would rebel against the empire, responded with brutality. They massacred tens of thousands of Armenians in the 1890s, and in 1915 they brought the massacres to a new level: during the First World War, they slaughtered between 1 million and 1.5 million Armenians. The Armenians are a Christian majority ethnic group, and they resisted efforts by Muslim Turks to coerce them to convert to Islam.

Smpat was deported from Marash, the town where he was born, along with his fellow Armenians. He traveled a long way over the years, from Turkey to the Middle East to Cyprus. Some Armenians settled in cities and towns in Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon. Others immigrated to Western nations like America. New waves of persecution forced some Armenians to stay on the move. Smpat describes the pain and frustration of building a new life in a new place, establishing a business, making new friends, finally being able to relax for a while, only for Turkish soldiers to invade and resume the deportation and killing of Armenians. In order to defend themselves, Smpat and some other young Armenian men joined an Armenian volunteer unit of a French military force during the years that France occupied Turkey during the war.

Interestingly, Smpat himself was not really religious for most of the time that the events in this story happened. Christianity, for him, was just a tradition. It was only after the war, and after years of his brother preaching the gospel, that Smpat finally accepted Jesus Christ as his Saviour. This time his heart was in it.

This book could have used some more editing, as there were quite a lot of place names and people mentioned that lacked clarification. But the book has a simple, straightforward narrative approach that works. It sounds like someone recounting the events of his life as he remembers them, and that necessitates no embellishment or symbolism.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really didn't really know much about what is called the Armenian Genocide by the Turks and this is the first book I've read on the topic. I do know some basic facts and we watched a PBS documentary quite a few years ago. This book is focused on what the author experienced and the details are very interesting. But it doesn't really tell much of what is going on at a macro level until the very end of the book where a quick overview of the history of conflicts between the Armenians/Christians and the Turks/Muslims. Basically it seems to come down to a majority Muslim country telling non-Muslim minorities to convert, leave, or die. It is definitely worth reading but it may be more meaningful if you have some familiarity with the political history of the region first.

[Pip Snort · Rating 2 out of 5]

A little confusing if you don't know the geography of the region and the bigger picture of what was happening at the time, so the overview at the end is helpful and should be read first.

Otherwise, another human tragedy to lay upon all the others, awful in its extent.

[Pauline Stepanian · Rating 5 out of 5]

My family story. My great-grandfathers book❤️

[Elsie McDonald · Rating 5 out of 5]

A story of efforts to wipe out the Christian Armenian people from the Ottoman Empire, taken from the life of Smpat Chorbadjian, a survivor of this genocide. It's really a moving testimony of God at work in Smpat's life.