Fallen Angel

Sheikh Jalaleddin after preaching¹ the war amongst his Kurdish troops advances to destroy lives and pillage properties of various settlements of Armenians and other giaours. On the other hand, a young man named Sarhat is advancing from Van to Aghbak, with a special motive and is surprised to see the desolated mountains on the way. He shortly learns the atrocities befalling on the people who're being killed by jihadists and confronts the ruins of burned houses and strewn corpses.

1.    “The giaours are vile before God. God will take the possessions, lives, families and everything else belonging to the disbelievers, and put them in your hands. Steal, seize, burn and massacre to the satisfaction of your hearts. God has made the loot and the enemy’s blood Halal for the soldiers of the Holy war."

Unable to revolt the lowly fate and morale—which he believes is self-inflicted²—of Armenians Sarhat had once forsaken his village and family, and now has returned after ten years with a different identity and motivation. He is principally angry with his own people and is self-conscious of what turned him into an outlaw and coldhearted that he is even unable to show love to his dying father.  After meeting with his old friend Město they team up with Sarhat's gang and execute secretive missions, disguised as always, freeing the captives. Soon Sarhat finds himself fighting a bloody war against the Kurdish, and little does it matter to him now about his previous motive, and his rage filled ignorance towards his own homeland and people cannot hold his love for all.

1.    “Fathers and forefathers, I drink of this cup, but I do not dedicate it to your bones. If instead of these monasteries, of which our country is full, you had built forts… if instead of using your wealth to make Holy crosses and chalices, you had bought guns… if instead of the incense that perfumes our temples, you had lit gunpowder… we would now be more fortunate. The Kurds would not be destroying our country, killing our children and stealing our women…”

Raffi talks to the readers and is conscious things must progress with little surprises. His way of introducing the characters, in between plots and timeline, is motivated to make the novella interesting—balancing the craft and weight of the story. The horrendous scenes of blood, burning and corpses depicted with visual accuracy are heartrending, and at times he takes a bird's-eye-view to the Anatolian landscape or even characters, immediately lifting the narrative to historical context. The rich annotations further make the story stand on strong foundations.

Set during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, Jalaleddin is a timeless classic novella depicting the backdrop of Armenian genocide, with all the qualities of adventure, historical and war chronicles. Personal identities shaped due to political and inhuman sect dominance, atrocities inflicted due to blind faith, religious & cultural differences, and brutal and brave limits man can cross—the novella is set in these identifiable messages. The story is also a key text supporting the evidence to a largely ignored crime against humanity.

Author: Raffi (Hakob Melik Hakobian)

Translator: Beyon Miloyan and Kimberley McFarlane

Publisher: SopheneArmeniaca

Page Count: 91

Price: $7.99 (Paperback)