Saturday, June 20, 2009

Review: Killing fields

"Killing fields

Alev Adil explores a region still enraged by a 'crime on the sly'

The wild landscapes of eastern Turkey are beautiful and unruly, never entirely tamed by the Ottoman empire or the Turkish republic. They are home to feudal clans of Kurmanji-speaking Kurds and Zaza-speaking Kizilbas, and during the first world war this region was the locus for the mass deportations and massacres of local Armenians. Christopher de Bellaigue sets out to tell the story of the 'strange, enchanting, bloodstained' district of Varto, in the province of Mus - a place where 'modern history has not settled'."

More:Review: Rebel Land by Christopher de Bellaigue | Books | The Guardian