Not Even My Name

Not Even My Name: A True Story by Thea Halo tells the all too common tale of dislocation, genocide, and upheaval in the twentieth century. Halo’s mother was a Pontic Greek – an ethnic Greek person living in Turkey in a village along the Black Sea. These communities probably existed in remote antiquity as Greek trading communities. The form of Greek spoken there had more in common with certain ancient dialects of Greek than modern varieties.Halo’s mother and her family were caught in the destruction of the Ottoman Empire, the rise of Turkish nationalism, and its narrow definition of who is a Turk. Like the Armenians and other ethnic Christian groups, the Pontic Greeks were ethnically cleansed, murdered, and deported. Halo's mother spends a lifetime rebuilding a new home through extraordinary courage and love.In the end, mother and daughter find the old Greek village and her mother's homestead, and of course, it is heartbreaking. A people make a land – and what is left when they are gone seems unreal. Something is missing – the soul of the land and a people who will never return.

Its truly telling that Turks are trying to enter the European Union and be part of the West and not finally sit down like an adult nation and admit to the horrorific acts that were committed during the Ottoman times against the Armenians, the Kurds, the Greeks, the Cypriots and most of their Arab neighbors (even though they were muslim).It is unfortunate to still see misguided defenders of the Turkish points refuting the Genocides of the Pontus people, Assyrians, Kurds, and Armenians by reviewers obviously educated and grown up in Turkey and subjected to the overt propaganda of a regime that is still not truly democratic, overtly nationalistic through history, where the press is still not free, and where abuses of basic human rights still make their entry into the European Union being questioned by 20+ members of the Union.Oh yeah, its not the Ottoman Empires' fault, it is not modern Turkey's fault, the Armenian Genocide was a lie, the Greek massacres in Izmir (Smyrna) were a lie despite live news footage of the atrocities, the systematic aggression against the Kurds still going on a lie, the Turkish aggression and invasion of Cyprus a fictitious "wag the dog" event...This is an example of a backwards mentality and approach to issues that Turks will have to accept responsibilty for if they are to ever truly be part of the European Union, or part of the Arab world that they alianated also by ill-treating them during the Ottoman times. One word for our Turkish brethren, accountability is often liberating...This book is powerful. It is obvious that some of its detractors haven't even read it. They were sent here to Amazon to debunk it with the same deniability that has gone on for years. As I said elsewhere, the world has numbers, we have documentation, we have pictures, we have stories and books written about these attrocities, and campaigns of missinformation cannot alter the truth. Whatever the Christians may have "done" to the Turks in the Ottoman empire, the Christians were still the Turkish-subjects and second class citizens in Turkey...Even if they did try to revolt (which they didn't really), just like the Americans and the French did during those times, killing 3/4 of the Christian rebells would be inexcusable, and it is.Different times, yes. Moving populations, yes. Different cultures, yes. Different religions, yes. Slaughter on the Greeks of Smyrna, yes. Genocide of the Pontus people, yes. Genocide on the Assyrians, yes. Genocide of the Armenians, yes. Invasion of the tiny Island on Cyprus and mass-forced exodus of its populations barely 30 years ago, yes. Continued and organized persecutions of Kurds and systemic efforts against any efforts of Kurdish state, yes. Continued Human Rights abuses, yes. YOU JUST CAN'T HIDE AND OBFUSCATE THESE MANY INFRACTIONS...PERIOD! However, I do believe that accountability will lead to acceptance and reconcilliation for Turkey with all its neighbors.God Bless Everyone in the Eastern Mediterranean and Asia Minor...

I purchased this book several years ago with the intentions of reading it sometime in the near future. Well, it’s nearing the end of 2019 and I finally got around to reading it… Let me just say, this is a must read for anybody that is interested in culture, history (forgotten history), and true, gut-wrenching stories. I regret not reading it sooner.The story revolves around the life of Themia (later called Sano) and the journey that life brought forth to her. Sano is a Pontic Greek who was born and partially grew up in their native lands (which is now called Turkey). Her family and people, alongside the Armenians and Assyrians were evicted from that native land and systematically wiped out, one by one, from existence for being Christian.As I continued to read through this book, I found it much harder because of my unique relation to it. It brought forth a feeling of both anger and depression knowing what my family had to go through. My parents are both Assyrian and my Great-Grandmother died on their death-march out from their homeland which is modern day Hakkari (Turkey). I grew up to the stories that my grandfather and grandmother used to tell me regarding the great forgotten genocide that the Turks and Kurds inflicted on upon not only our people, but the Armenians and Pontic Greeks as well.Thea Halo did an unbelievable job collecting her mother’s stories and compiling them together for us to read in this unforgettable book. I recommend this book to anybody and everybody to wants to know the truth about the “Forgotten Genocide” and the life of Themia “Sano” Halo.

What a book!!! What a life story!! Thank you so much Thea Halo for sharing your mum's story with the world!! What an amazing and emotional read!!My grandparents came from Pontus (from Sourmena) and while reading this book I was feeling the story to my bone and tears came out at times. A future plan of mine is to go and visit my grandparents' town as well!!

An excellent purchase, I bought this book used from a US saler, in a very low price.Although is was slightly used, the item arrived in an excellent condition on time by US. I would recommend it to anybody.The book is a heartbreaking story for the untold history of modern Turkey and a story of survival from minor Asia to United States.

Very important and interesting book especially for those of Greek Pontian descent and for all others also. It is the story of a woman's life told by her daughter and deals with her childhood during the death marches of the Greek population in Turkey at the early part of the 20th Century. Tells the ordeal of these people and their suffering. The story continues into her adulthood and old age and how that period of her life affected her as she was the only one of her extended family to survive. It is a personal story of a period in history which we must all learn about and remember. For Greek Pontians it is a story that touches close to home because somewhere in our personal histories we have ancestors who experienced that period of time and either survived or perished. A must read for all.

Very interesting, heart-wrenching story but the author's style needs a little polishing. She prefaces some of the chapters with some factual information but needs to expunge sentimentality and personal opinion from these. Also tries a little too hard sometimes to paint a wonderful picture of life before the round-ups - these shouldn't necessarily be got rid of but need a little re-writing to remove the sugar-coating.

This is a harrowing account of a child, and her family, Pontic Greeks in Turkey in the post first world war period and expelled from their homes in Turkey by the forces of Kemal Ataturk. Thea lost her family, and even her name, but made a life for herself in the US. It is a revealing, and moving, piece of personal history.