EVENT OF THE YEAR 6755

THE CRIMSON FIELD

Historic Novel by Rosie Malek-Yonan

These days, the Jewish lobby in America, Armenian scholars lecturing around the world, and the government in Ankara have a tendency to trivialize almost everything that touches the subject of the extermination of two out of every three Assyrian in 1915. The year 2005 was the 90th anniversary of the most horrific episode in the modern history of the Assyrian people. Ninety years before, the Young Turks ordered the killing and deportation of millions of Christians ­ Assyrians, Armenians, and Greeks. The rest of the world neither knew or cared about the commemoration of the Seyfo Genocide ­ until the publication of “The Crimson Field”. Acknowledging the worldwide significance of its educational impact and the remarkably creative method by which it conveyed the unspoken facts about the most momentous years in our recent history, Zinda Magazine names the publication of Rosie Malek-Yonan’s “The Crimson Field” as the “Event of the Year 6755”.

What makes “The Crimson Field” so riveting, so unorthodox, is its uncommon portrayal of the heinous acts committed against the Assyrians. Malek-Yonan leaves no stones unturned. She loads every page of her book with the horrors of the Turkish and Kurdish murderers and rapists who savored the torment of their Christian neighbors. Before September 2005 we only spoke of the Sword of Islam in 1915; after the release of “The Crimson Fields” we experienced the carnage and butchery first hand.

This literary masterpiece is a chronicle of Assyrians’ struggle for hope and recognition emerging ever so slowly from heaps of despondency. It awakens its readers’ conscience to the most fundamental factor in the survival of the Assyrian nationalism and heritage, the Assyrian strength of character and resolve to excel under any condition.

“The Crimson Fields” made the Seyfo Genocide, unquestionably a very difficult material to analyze and comprehend, accessible to mass audiences ­ both Assyrian and non-Assyrian. Hopefully, Malek-Yonan’s grisly interpretation of those dreaded real events would soon be exhibited on stage and in movies, where even larger audiences will become aware.

The mass killing and deportations of the Assyrians between 1915 and 1923 is a story pleading admission. Rosie Malek-Yonan’s book, through its sophisticated approach to history, was the most unsurpassed manner of shamelessly scolding nine decades of silence and omission. “The Crimson Field” was our finest answer to history.

Published: A Zinda Magazine Special (Issue 8, Vol. XII, 22 April 2006)

A FEW LETTERS FROM READERS

Dear Rosie, I was greatly delighted to know the news that Zinda names your Crimson Field as The Event of the Year 6755 (2005). I wish to express my sincere congratulations to your achievement and win recognition. Your excellent novel really is the best event in Assyrian community. Also,...Your rapturous tale about Beverly Hills Festival was splendid...I finished my book “Assyrians in Tbilisi"...I hope that you are keeping well. Please accept my best wishes. God bless you. Yours sincerely, Professor Sergey G. Osipov, M.D., Ph.D., D.Sc. - Moscow, Russia

I...am incredibly proud of...my dear friend, Rosie Malek-Yonan! So very gratifying to see her honored for her remarkable "entry" into the world of books...With love and a huge "Congrats!" Brian Patrick Clarke - FL

Dear Rosie, shlamalakh again...Congratulations for winning the "Event of the Year." Truly Yours, Joseph Saroukhanoff - Turlock, CA

Dearest Rosie, Congratulations on your “The Crimson Field” Event of the Year 6755. Very well-deserved recognition. On behalf of the Assyrian Aid Society of America, Los Angeles Chapter and all our supporters, we are so proud of you for this accomplishment and wishing you all the best, and much success in your new venture of serving our Beloved Nation with your outstanding contributions. Pierre Toulakany, President, AAS-A Los Angeles Chapter - Los Angeles, CA

Subject: Rosie Malek-Yonan's The Crimson Field "Assyrian Event of the Year 6755". Congratualtions Michael Askaro - Sydney, Australia

Thank you Rosie...my sister and I really enjoyed your lecture. Andres Solomonoff - Berkeley, CA

Congratulations Rosie, Love Michael Papo, Photographer - Los Angeles, CA

Hey Rosie, This calls for a party (congratulations). Sincerely, John Yonan - WI

Rosie! Way to go, Rosie...Jessica and I are so excited. I knew this was going to happen to you. I am very honored to have met you and had Jessica work with you! Congratulations again, Rosie! Love, Jessica, Eva & Nicole Terzian - CA

How exciting that your book [was] selected 'Event of the Year'. I am so proud of you Rosie. Keep up the good work. Jeanette T Wood - Turlock, CA

...We are so proud. Angie Toulakany - Los Angeles, CA

Hi Rosie, Congratulations, to quote Clint Eastwood "You made my Day" what wonderful news to top up all your achievements with this award. I am so happy for you and if it is the last thing that I will strive to, is definitely meeting you in person one day and shake those hands that have given so much to this weak and tiny nation.. Congratulations again and God bless. Regards. Youel Veshay - Australia

Overjoyed with Zinda's Choices. What an apt choice it was for [Zinda Magazine] to select the famed Assyrian journalist...as your Assyrian of the Year 6755. Moreover Ms. Rosie Malek-Yonan’s brilliant portrayal of the shocking persecution endured by Assyrians was like nothing I had ever read before. You, as a publication, deserve commendation on these choices. Indeed the year 6755 brought trials and tribulations to our feeble Nation. But nevertheless, I am overjoyed that you have chosen two people who are artists in every sense of the word...[A]s I sat reading Ms. Malek-Yonan’s book, with tears running down my face and my heart breaking at the injustice my people have suffered, I was gripped by a sense of patriotism and a sense of intense pride at the notion that perhaps, just perhaps, our cause would be heard. I wanted to stand and shout from the rooftops that Rosie Malek-Yonan’s literary achievement (because that is what it is) should be in every bookstore in the world and in every language. I wanted for people to know the story of my Nation. I wanted my fellow citizens of this ever synergized world to understand the suffering of my people. And now I can rest assured that we have moved that one inch closer to Assyria. No, we haven’t acquired tracts of land or raised our flag, but true Nationalism and Patriotism must first start in the hearts of Assyrians. And these two giants of Assyria have helped us as human beings to fill our hearts with Assyrianism. Joseph Haweil - Australia

...my congratulations for Rosie Malek-Yonan...It is really very nice. And I am so proud...Our Assyrian nation is need the more people like Rosie Malek-Yonan...CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!! BRAVO!!!!!!!!!!!!!...With the best regards. Dr. Anahit Khosroeva - Yerevan, Armenia