The AHEPAN - Winter 2011-12 - (Page 11)

literAry COrNer Constantinople’s History Captured through Personal Tale CONSTANTINOPLE: the Beautiful City and the Destruction of its Greek, Armenian, and Jewish Ethnic Communities by Fotiu, Foti Jean-Pierre Published by Durham, N.C.: Monograph Publishers, 2011 Reviewed by Brother Lazar “Larry” Odzak Ph.D. Constantinople – the name alone evokes concepts of rich history and grandeur. The author, Foti Jean-Pierre Fotiu, brings the past to life. Chapter by chapter, he describes the historical background of the polis and the region. He draws together the various threads, and brings it all together by weaving a tapestry that depicts the current times. Moreover, Fotiu connects the city – renamed Istanbul in 1930 – to his very personal story. He recounts how as a young man his father migrated and settled in the city, establishing a construction business and eventually marrying and raising a family. Readers will enjoy the writer’s experiences as a youth that include the social and religious life of the Greek ethnic community and the community as a whole. His narrative includes an overview of the political manipulations that lead to deteriorating relations between Turkish authorities and the city’s Greek inhabitants. First-hand accounts of the Pogrom of September 5 and 6, 1955 suffered by the city’s ethnic Greeks, Armenians and Jews, and the aftermath are provided. Fotiu astutely analyzes not only the causes of the catastrophe but also the national and international reactions to the pogrom and the ensuing circumstances that compelled thousands of nonTurkish minorities to leave Istanbul. The author’s own family first flees to Belgium and then finds a permanent haven in the United States. The final chapters of the book deal with Fotiu’s own outlook as well as the global state of affairs he finds, when he re-visits the land of his birth and updates the city’s and region’s chronicles to the present. Especially poignant is the portrayal of the remnant of once p r o s p e r o u s ethnic communities as well as the d i m i n i s h e d circumstances of the Greek O r t h o d o x E c u m e n i c a l P a t r i a r c h a t e . The author is to be highly recommended for his evenhanded, factual examination of the events and his perceptive conclusions. CONSTANTINOPLE is available from the author, at greekauthor1955@yahoo. com, or from the publisher monographpublishers.com (click on “contact us”). In either case, 40% of the net proceeds go to the AHEPA Scholarship Fund. Need AHEPA Merchandise? Visit http://www.awardsunlimited.com/au/default.htm and click the AHEPA logo for all your needs! www.ahepa.org Winter 2011-12 the ahepan 11 http://www.monographpublishers.com http://www.monographpublishers.com http://www.awardsunlimited.com/au/default.htm http://www.ahepa.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The AHEPAN - Winter 2011-12

The AHEPAN - Winter 2011-12
Contents
Supreme President’s Message
Thank You
AHEPA Family News
Mailbag
Literary Corner
AHEPA Continues on Path of Rapprochement
Celebrate AHEPA’s 90th Anniversary
Reading Program Helps Deployed Troops Stay in Touch
Civic Responsibility
PAC Update
The Periclean
Housing
Athletics
AHEPA Family Chapter News
In Memoriam

The AHEPAN - Winter 2011-12