Overshadowed by the Armenian genocide that cost the lives of some 1,5 million people, and which is commemorated on 24 April, the experience of other minorities that were targeted by the Ottoman Empire is often forgotten. Yet a smaller group, which was almost wiped out is now trying to gain recognition for its plight.
"A lady, a relative of mine, escaped with her two daughters. Soon after, they were recaptured, and the two girls were carried away to slavery. Their mother died," writes Yonan Shahbaz, a Persian Baptist minister in his harrowing, 1918 diary.
