GREAT BETRAYAL, THE: Economic Imperialism & Destruction of Christian Communities in Asia Minor

By Edward Hale Bierstadt with preface by George N. Shirinian

First published in 1924, The Great Betrayal exposes the rivalries and competing economic interests of the Allied Powers in the aftermath of World War I, how the Allied Powers failed to demand from Turkey the protection of its Christian minorities, and how they chose to negotiate economic treaties with her rather than hold her accountable for the destruction of its Christian communities.

Edward Hale Bierstadt was Executive Secretary of the Emergency Committee for Near East Refugees in 1923, one of the main groups that assisted the survivor-refugees of the massacres and expulsions. In this book (a reprint of the 1924 edition) Bierstadt chronicles aspects of the destruction and extermination of the Christian populations of Asia Minor, the Greeks, the Armenians and the Assyrians, first by the Union and Progress cabal under the Ottomans, and the by the forces of Kemal Ataturk.

Pontian Greek Society of Chicago (2008)