The Turkish version of the diary of memories of Armenian priest Nerses Babayan, who was miraculously saved during the Armenian Genocide, has been published in Istanbul. The diary has been released in the form of a book by Turkish historian Umit Kurt, who studies the history of the Armenians of Aintab, and Yurt Publishing House of the History Foundation, writes Agos Weekly.

In the book “Aintab 1915-1922”, Priest Babayan talks about the groundless apprehensions of the Armenians, the group attacks in Armenian districts, as well as the massacres and forceful exile of the local Armenians.

Another major feature of the book is that the Armenian priest, who lived in Aintab until 1922, sheds light on the struggle that the Armenians returning to Aintab in 1918 led against the Turkish army by self-organizing themselves after French troops had seized the city.

Umit Kurt draws attention to the fact that even though the Armenians had tried to maintain a relatively neutral position in the war after the French troops seized Aintab, they eventually provided great support to the Frenchmen, and it was thanks to the Armenians that the French army managed to take over a large part of Aintab, even though the local Armenians’ expectations of the Frenchmen were never met in Aintab.