3695) Book Review by Jeremy Salt Armenian Events of Adana in 1909 Cemal Pasa and Beyond by Yücel Güçlü

Book Review by Jeremy Salt,
Former Associate Professor Of Middle Eastern Studies
At Bilkent University

The Armenian Events of Adana in 1909: Cemal Pasa and Beyond by Yücel Güçlü, Hamilton Books, 2018. 499 pages. $32.99.

In the contested and controversial historical issue known as “the Armenian Question,” the 1909 communal upheaval in Adana stands between the breakdown of order in the eastern Anatolian provinces in the 1890s and the catastrophe that overwhelmed the civilian population of the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Those affected were Muslims as well as Christians, although it is almost entirely the suffering of the latter that has captured the attention of the “western” cultural mainstream.

The Adana “events” have been the subject of numerous works. The titles that quickly come to mind are Raymond Kevorkian’s studies in French and English; Kemal Çiçek’s collection of essays, Adana 1909 Olaylareli: Makaleler (Ankara Events of 1909: Articles); and Tetsuya Sahara’s short but meticulously researched monograph, What Happened in Adana in 1909? . . .

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