Armenia marks anniversary of Musa Ler defense

PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenia marks the 95th anniversary of the Musa Ler defense. Those killed in the heroic battle were traditionally commemorated at the monument situated on the way to Holy Etchmiadzin.

2000 portions of matagh (sacrificial meat) and harisa (Armenian national dish) were distributed, a PanARMENIAN.Net correspondent reported from the site.

Armenian Diaspora Minister Hranush Hakobyan, Ararat region administration head Edik Barseghyan, clergy and public figures attended the ceremony.

Armenian Musa Ler (Musa Dagh), overlooking the Mediterranean Sea some 15 miles to the southwest of the town of Antioch encompassed six main Armenian villages, namely, Bitias, Haji Habibli, Yoghun Oluk, Kheder Beg, Vakef, and Kabusiye, with a total of more than 6,000 inhabitants, who spoke a dialect called Kistinik, meaning, the language of Christians in early 20th century.

Musa Ler was the site of the famed resistance during the Armenian Genocide. Of the hundreds of villages, towns, and cities across the Ottoman Empire whose Armenian population was ordered removed to the Syrian desert, Musa Ler was one of only four sites where Armenians organized a defense of their community against the deportation edicts issued by the Young Turk regime beginning in April 1915. By the time the Armenians of the six villages at the base of Musa Dagh were instructed to evict their homes, the inhabitants had grown suspicious of the government's ultimate intentions and chose instead to retreat up the mountain and to defy the evacuation order.

Franz Werfel immortalized the heroic struggle in his book 40 Days of Musa Dagh, which some scholars claim to have become the "bible" for Jewish Underground movement during World War II.

The Armenians of Musa Ler had endured for fifty three days from July 21 to September 12, 1915. They were disembarked at Port Said in Egypt and remained in Allied refugee camps until the end of World War I when they returned to their homes. As part of the district of Alexandretta, or Hatay, Musa Ler remained under French Mandate until 1939. Musa Ler Armenians abandoned their villages for a second, and final, time when the area was annexed by Turkey.