I have not read the book but I have read an extensive discussion of it and of the memoirs of some others. I lived in Istanbul for my primary school years and though When I was there I was but a bairn, as I grew older I studied much about Turkiye and Ataturk and the Ottomans and, of course, the Armenian and Greek massacres. I remember well the anti Greek riots of the mid fifties and the departing of the last of the Greek merchants in Istanbul. I have as part of my interest in things Turkish read Turkish and Saudi translations of the Koran. I reached the conclusion by the time I was in college that there is no making peace with Moslems no matter how westernized they have become. There will be no peace in countries that allow them to immigrate once they reach a significant ratio in the population, say 9 or 10% which is inevitable once there are communities of Moslems. They outbreed host populations by 3 or 4 to one.
Interesting-I was just on another thread saying I don’t have any first-hand knowledge of what things are like in Turkey, but I had heard from people stationed over there during the Cold War that it was an interesting place, and the people were more “urbane” and modern than many muslim countries.
But I believe things have changed since then...you would know better than I would.
My grandfather was Armenian, and when we were little kids, I remember him saying things like “You act like that and I’ll let the Turks get you!” (usually said with wide protruding eyes!)
I didn’t understand the reference to the Turks at the time.
I know exactly what you mean, it sounds like you have read Dr. Peter Hammond’s book “Slavery, Terrorism, and Islam: The Historical Roots and Contemporary Threat”.
OTOH, with your life experiences, you probably thought that out on your own.