The following is a guest post by Rick Schwertfeger.
You hear that they’re coming after you. You and your neighbors in nearby villages. Who’s coming? The nation’s Army! And why are they coming after you? Because you’re different: a different ethnic group and a different religion than the dominant one of your nation.
They are coming to kill you. All of you.
No, this is not an American “Jade Helm” story bruited about by armed anti-government folks training for when the U.S. Army moves in. This really happened in the Ottoman Empire in 1915.
The dominant Muslim Turks already kept the minority Christian Armenians in a second-class, unequal status. As World War I progressed, Turkey allied with Germany. Turkish leaders feared the Armenians would link up with the Christian nations of the Allies, especially the Russian empire. Aiming to rid themselves of the Armenian “problem,” a campaign to deport or exterminate Armenians was carried out. Some 1.5 million were killed; millions more were deported.
But 4,000 Armenians in six villages had a coastal mountain to retreat up, and 250 armed partisans to fight. And fight they did — holding the top of Musa Dagh for an astonishing 53 days against Turkish attacks. Then: Salvation, in the form of French Navy ships in the Mediterranean Sea, which picked up the Armenian survivors escaping down the back side of Musa Dagh.
That is the historical backdrop to The Promise, which opened in selected U.S. cities on April 21. The story is told around a fictional love triangle played out within the terror and horror of a genocide. American AP reporter Chris Myers and Armenian born Ana fell in love in Paris, and are in Turkey as Chris reports on the rapidly escalating situation. They meet medical student Mikael, he from a rural village, where he chose to become engaged to a young woman in order to collect the dowry to fund his medical studies. (That’s the “promise.”)
Away at medical school in Constantinople, a fellow student — a Turk — introduces him to the couple. During a time when the serious Chris —committed to his reporting mission — is away afield, the sparks fly and love between Mikael and Ana is consummated.
Numerous twists and turns involving Chris, Mikael, and Ana allow the movie to proceed. Chris — frequently in great danger — observes the Turks marching thousands of Armenians into the desert to die. He eventually is arrested and marked for execution as “a spy.” Chris is saved through a heroic — and fatal — act by Mikael’s fellow medical student. Mikael is arrested, assigned to a prisoner work gang building a railroad, and escapes during a huge explosion.
The plot twists are too numerous to recount. But there is much effective action; the horrors of the genocide are revealed; and Mikael, Ana, and 4,000 villagers retreat up Musa Dagh to save themselves or die fighting.
“We won’t walk off into the desert to die,” says the mayor.
The mayor organizes 250 partisan fighters. They have rifles, pistols, and ammunition enough for a stand.
Armenian Fighters on Musa Dagh.
Here’s where the movie and historical time frames diverge. In The Promise the fighters repulse two attacks just a few days apart. In reality, there were four attacks over 53 days. If you ever have to fight off a far more numerous enemy, hold the high ground! The mountain top location made defense possible.
As recounted above, Allied ships, notably French, arrive in the Mediterranean Sea and rescue the Armenian villagers. The retreat under fire in the movie is dramatic. (I can’t find a source to confirm that it actually took place under fire, but it works in the movie.)
History and contemporary international politics surround The Promise. For the Turks never have acknowledged the Armenian genocide. In June 2016 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said:
“Charges that the Ottoman Empire committed a genocide against the Armenians are being used as ‘blackmail’ against Turkey, insisting that Ankara will ‘never’ accept such accusations.” (Aljazeera) And the United States — NATO ally of Turkey — will not use the term genocide. During the Obama Administration the events were termed “atrocities.”
A major motivation for making “The Promise” was to expose events that most historians agree upon to a wider audience.
In addition, there is a large group of Armenian Genocide deniers out there. This has played out in the ratings of The Promise. On web sites where the public can rate a movie, The Promise frequently shows up as a 5/10. Research indicates that almost all the votes are 1s or 10s! There has been a campaign by deniers to pan the film as a 1, and a corresponding effort by supporters to rate it a 10.
Frontier Partisans may have preferred a greater focus on the heroic fighters who held off the Turks on Musa Dagh. But that would have been a different movie with a different plot focus. For a wider audience and for the purposes of the filmmakers, the movie works. A dramatic story based in horrible historical events; beautiful cinematography; lots of action; with a love story among appealing characters; and a respectful presentation of Armenian family and community ties, The Promise succeeds.
Matthew says
It definitely looks interesting.
Off topic, here’s a list of “Highwaymen forgotten by American History” (though because of you I’d heard of the Harpe Bros.)
http://listverse.com/2017/03/13/10-lethal-american-highwaymen-history-forgot-about/
deuce says
Cenk is in his safe space right now. He just needs a little time to process all of this. Meanwhile, we all have to wonder when Ana Kasparian will finally snap and take vengeance for her people.
pirateking says
There ARE actually Turks who acknowledge the genocide or who realize that the turkish penal code is a load of shit (hundreds of thousands condemned the murder of Hrant Dink for instance.)
I don’t see her snapping anytime soon. She was allowed to air a piece on the genocide AND show photos of warcrimes, which is pretty close to acknowledging it. Since Cenk’s the head honcho that kinda means he didn’t see an issue with it. That implies that he has actually changed his stance. He also had no reaction when she casually mentioned it
JimC says
I am not very familiar with The Young Turks (the show) but from what I’ve read, what you say seems to be accurate. I think the “snapping” thing was a bit o’ humor.
deuce says
Obviously, I was being snarky. Kasparian sold out the day she walked on the TYT set. Cenk has as good a chance of being struck by lightning as he does of Ana turning on him.
“Since Cenk’s the head honcho that kinda means…”
It “kinda means” nothing of the sort. Cenk has been battered hard over the years for his denials. Lately, he’s resorted to equivocating because denial has become too damaging and he WILL NOT admit there was a genocide.
Cenk “rescinded” his denial (I know, it should be “retracted”, but English is his second language) almost exactly one year ago. That was TWENTY-FIVE YEARS after he published his first denial of the genocide. He wasn’t living in Yemen for those 2+ decades in some sort of media blackout, he was here in the US with plenty of access to scholars. It’s not like I’m the only one to call out Uygur on his “not an apology”. Jerry Coyne, a PHd who contributes to the New Republic, says pretty much what I would say. He’s very thorough. Maybe you’ll pull your fingers out of your ears long enough to listen to him:
https://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2016/04/26/after-years-of-denying-the-armenian-genocide-cenk-uyguar-now-admits-he-doesnt-know-enough-about-it-to-say-anything/
I can do this all day long. Plenty of people have tracked Cenk’s long history of genocide denial and present-day strategy of equivocation. Here’s what Dave Rubin — a former Young Turk and a good guy — has to say about Uygur’s dishonesty in relation to Sam Harris.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opryNdcBTiI
pirateking says
I read the link; in some ways it’s spot on (Cenk SHOULD have acknowledged it earlier and his apology was weak and insensitive) but in other ways it was drivel (He didn’t actually distort what new atheists believe; by and large they DO think that muslims and middle easterners are subhuman vermin, they do tend to be misognist). Cenk is someone I have mixed feelings on (sometimes he’s right sometimes he’s not.)
Dave Rubin’s actually a pretty awful human being. He championed scumbags like Milo Yianopolous, Steven Crowder and Ben Shapiro even though most are on record as being terrible people (Milo hating gays despite being gay himself, Shapiro doing the same thing that Cenk was called out for in that he advocated forced removal of palestinians and than tried to give a milqtost apology a decade later).
He also only left after he tried to downplay israeli warcrimes during 2014 and the panel quite rightly called him an idiot so it’s more that he got butthurt. Also, having read other atheist’s assessment of Sam Harris I concluded that for his problems Cenk was dead on in calling Harris a genocidal monster (he dresses it up in “thought experiments” but it’s pretty clear he thinks that muslims and middle easterners are subhuman animals unless you’re an uncle tom like Majiid Nawaz). That was Rubin’s other reason for leaving the show, that Cenk criticized his messiah.
You’re right in that Cenk was cowardly about the Armenian genocide denial; However, Cenk’s still dead on in that Sam Harris and New Atheists are scumbags.
deuce says
Ah, PK, nice to see you showing up days later. Nice attempt at deflection with your long, frothing denunciation of Harris and Rubin. Passionately — if ineptly played — good sir.
Bottom line, Cenk “rescinding” his denial is garbage. His reason for it, the he “doesn’t know enough about it,” that he “isn’t a historian”, is transparently disingenuous. Uygur, on a daily basis, weighs in on “historical” subjects. He is no more “qualified” to comment on Stalin, the New Deal or Vietnam than he is “disqualified” from being able to denounce and admit the reality of the Armenian Genocide. It’s a dodge, pure and simple. He’s still denying the genocide. He doesn’t recuse himself from any other historical commentary, just this one issue. I’m sure Cenk will get free kebabs the next time he visits his homeland. A true defender of Turkish honor.
pirateking says
1.) Dude. I AGREED that Cenk’s refusal to actually give a full apology was cowardly and dishonest. It’s a major black mark against him and his refusal to do so is grating. However, I was giving my opinion of the link which was that when the guy talked about Cenk’s denials he was spot on. When he went into “how dare you be mean to Sam Harris” then he was whiney little bitch who deserved to be mocked.
2.) I mocked Rubin because in some ways citing him kinda undermines your position. The guy ALSO denied war crimes committed by those he sees as his people (hell you can call him “a true defender of Israeli honor”), and he’s defended and championed people WORSE than Cenk (Ben Shapiro openly advocated forcibly expelling arabs from their homes in the west bank and gaza and only gave a ridiculously half assed and insincere apology a decade later) and his attacking Cenk wasn’t principles so much as butthurt that Cenk (quite rightfully) condemned Sam Harris as a lunatic and pointed out that Israel shamelessly committed mass murder during the 2014 war (and yes it may be the pot calling the kettle black but it’s still true). Some of my friends lambasted Cenk’s genocide denial, and since they were more consistent than Rubin I was able to heed them far more.
3.) Turkey has made some progress (millions of Turks turned out in the streets to condemn the murder of Hrant Dink and many of the mainstream newspapers denounced it as an act of murder). It may take a few decades but I think Turkey will probably own up to it at some point. It’s a long struggle but they’re getting there.
pirateking says
The guy actually lambasted Erdogan for his hypocrisy in condemning what happens in Myanmar while denying the Armenian genocide (he literally said “there’s no difference between what they Rakhine are doing and what the turks did.”)
Could have happened earlier but it’s still a pretty clear cut acknowledgement the crime happened and that it was evil.
JimC says
People’s perceptions and attitudes do evolve.
pirateking says
As an aside I knew some turks in high school. They were perfectly nice people but when I mentioned the genocide one of them said that it was war related (which the official line is anyway.) I kinda felt a “whaaaaa” when he said that. I think it’s shame because it means admitting that the nation you love could be horrible.
Japan has a lot of problems with it too; many don’t mention the rape of nanking or the “comfort women” either, but they’re getting better. Hopefully Turkey will get better as time passes.
Still it’s good the armenian genocide is getting big budget treatment.
JimC says
Honestly confronting history is hard for everybody. The stories we tell ourselves shape us, and it’s a deep-seated human trait to want to see “our people” in a good light and excuse misdeeds. Witness the neo-Confederate effort to make the ACW about anything but slavery — when slavery is central to the Confederacy’s founding documents, there for everyone to see.
wayne says
While in school, I witnessed a drunken argument between a Texan and an Australian about whether the U.S. or Australia treated native peoples worse. Of course, it was a ridiculous argument since both countries performed unforgivable atrocities, but it went on interminably. It takes a big person to admit the shortcomings of their beloved country, but it’s often necessary in order to make any progress toward better treatment of vulnerable, minority populations.
JimC says
Surprised it was intelligible
pirateking says
And there are times when Cenk is spot on regarding some issues; when Dottie Sandusky was defending her pedophile husband Cenk’s response was “Dottie shut the fuck up.” I don’t think anyone can object to him insulting a delusional old bitch justifying her pedo husband’s crimes.
Ryan says
Also fun fact; Cnk HAS formally acknowledged the genocide recently. Back in September he did a video about the rohiynga genocide and how Erdogan condemned it. He said (without ANY prompting) “what the rakhine are doing to the rohiynga is literally what the turks did to the Armenians, so you’re the LAST person to criticize ANYONE about genocide”.
Pretty clear cut denunciation
JimC says
People’s perceptions and attitudes do evolve.