When the Armenians had been driven out . . .

More from Yashar Kemal's MEMED, MY HAWK, Chapter 18:

The village of Kardut is situated on the banks of the River Jeyhan.  Before the village, the river spreads out in the plain . . . Wherever it goes it deposits silt, and that is why the Chukurova is more fertile here than in other places.  The soil around Karadut village is worth a fortune.

The last farm Ali Safa Bey had wrested from its owner was on the border of Karadut.  More than half the land of the farm had already come to him when the Armenians had been driven out.  The rest he had obtained from the villagers of Karadut by force or by guile. . . .


"When the Armenians had been driven out . . . ",  not to put too fine a point on it!