THE CHRISTIAN MINORITIES IN TURKEY
Wilhelm Baum,
Kitab-Verlag Klagenfurt-Wien, 2006.

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The annihilation of Christianity in Asia Minor by the Turks was - among other things - possible, because Christians were at variance among themselves and Catholic, Armenian, Orthodox and Syrian Christians pursued their own interests and occasionally were ready to cooperate with the Muslims against other Christians. Some Turkish politicians were indeed ready to face the past, like Damad Ferid Pasha, who ordered the first war crime trials in Turkey in 1919. The national hero Kemal Pasha Ataturk, too, deserves to become the subject of critical investigation; despite his authoritarian policy, he founded the first secular Muslim state - but at what cost? Turkey, too, must see the annihilation of the autochthon Christian population of Asia Minor as a tremendous loss. The European countries should never forget that Christian Byzantium as the 'New Rome', Armenia and Georgia have always belonged to their cultural sphere and that Europe also lives on their cultural heritage.