Re: Armenia Turky news
Turkey giving Armenian Churches to Georgia.
-
Re: Armenia Turky news
Islamized Armenians: Coming to Grips With a New Reality
Hrant Gadarigian
21:50, November 3, 2013
3 Day Istanbul Conference seen as a first step in opening a much
needed discussion
Over the centuries, untold numbers of Christian Armenians have
converted to Islam. The vast majority have done so under various
degrees of pressure and given the exigencies of the time.
While relatively subtle on occasion, the imperative to convert to a
religion mostly regarded as the faith of the `enemy' was often
clear-cut - convert or perish.
Over the past decade or so, a new sub-grouping of Armenians, either
called Islamized of Muslim Armenians, has come to the fore.
While the existence of such Armenians is not new per say, the issue of
who they exactly are in terms of overall Armenian identity has been
gaining greater exposure, both in Armenian circles and in Turkey.
One such attempt to grapple with this issue is the conference now
taking place in Istanbulthat I've been attending.
Entitled, `Islamized (Islamicized) Armenians' and organized by the
Hrant Dink Foundation, the conference began yesterday and will end
tomorrow.
The scope of the conference is immense and has attracted a number of
prominent scholars and heretofore unknown speakers commenting and
analyzing the centuries-old conversion process of Armenians in the
Ottoman Empire, with a special focus on the 1915 Genocide and its
aftermath.
Bogazici University's Albert Long Hall was packed the other day when
the conference kicked off.
I would estimate that there were at least 700 people in the hall to
listen to what speakers like Taner Akcam, Ayse Gul Altinay, Hranush
Kharatyan, Laurence Ritter and Anoush Suni, and Adnan Celik, amongst
others, had to say on the subject.
Rakel Dink, representing the Hrant Dink Foundation, welcomed speakers
and audience alike, stressing that the conference was merely an
initial step in discussing both the history, and more importantly, the
present reality of Islamized Armenians.
Religion, identity, memory, ethnicity, are just a few of the
intertwined topics that the speakers touched in their presentations.
Naturally, I cannot delve into all the subjects that the 30 speakers
will raise over the course of three days, but I can give readers a
concise overview.
After an opening conversation amongst Fethiye Cetin, Nabahat Akkoc and
Sibel Asna, the first day saw three separate panels exploring such
topics as: Burden of History, politics of Naming; The Recent and
Distant History of the Islamization; and Islamized in 1915.
Avedis Hadjian, an independent journalist based in New York, spoke
about Constantinople Patriarch Shnork Kaloustian's `Four categories of
Anatolian Armenians and Today's Muslim Armenians.'
It was interesting to hear that some 40 years ago, Kaloustian had come
up with different classifications of Armenians who had converted based
on when the conversion had taken place, whether it was a conscious
decision or not, and whether they had converted back to Christianity
when conditions allowed them to do so.
Hadjian, who has been touring Western Armenia for the past two years,
is in the process of writing a book entitled `A Secret Nation' that
will present his findings regarding Islamized Armenians he has come
into contact with.
The author, a native of Aleppo who then moved to Argentine at an early
age, says his work is a journalistic investigation into the lives of
these people and will serve as an introduction for a wider audience.
`My purpose is not to proselytize or to make judgmental declarations.
We must first come to recognize one another without preconditions or
preconceived notions. This conference is a step in the right
direction,' Hadjian says, adding that the book should be out in a few
months. The first edition will be in Turkish and then translated into
English.
Hadjian added that tragically, the Armenian diaspora lacks the
facilities to engage this new group of Armenians given that the
Church, as a religious organization, cannot by its nature initiate a
dialogue with individuals who profess another religion.
Another speaker whom I caught up with was Vahe Tachian, an historian
and chief editor of the website Houshamadyan.
Tachjian spoke at this morning's panel entitled `Islamized in 1915:
History and Bearing Witness'.
His focus was on how many Armenian women during the Genocide entered
into mixed marriages and prostitution as a means of survival. Tachjian
talked about attempts to reintegrate these women into post-Ottoman
Armenian communities and how many were ostracized and shunned by the
dominant Armenian society and organizations.
`Many of these women could never return to the larger Armenian fold,
especially if they had children with Muslim men,' Tachjian noted,
adding that the fact that so many `converted' Armenians were present
at the conference underscored the need for a platform on this issue
that has now taken on a greater sense of urgency.
`These individuals, naturally, are interested to hear what the wider
world, especially Armenians, have to say on the subject. We must
approach this issue on a human level and shy away from making snap
judgments as to whether these people are Armenian or not,' Tachjian
stressed.
During our conversation, Rakel Dink walked by and hearing the word
`judgment', noted that identity is a concept that is not merely based
on religion and that all of us have a duty to build bridges between
these newly discovered Armenians and the traditional communities.
I also had the chance to briefly speak with Hilmar Kaiser, a German
historian, whose presentation dealt with the assimilation of Armenian
deportees between 1915 and 1917.
In his presentation, Kaiser noted that the CUP (Committee of Union and
Progress), was split on the issue of converting Armenians to Islam.
One grouping tolerated such conversions, which physically `saved' many
Armenians from certain death, while others in the CUP saw it as
presenting a future danger to the state.
During my conversation with Kaiser, the historian noted that this
conference an earlier one in Diyarbekir has returned the Armenian
debate back to Turkey where it naturally belongs.
`We are witnessing the reemergence of the Armenian community of
Constantinople as the intellectual powerhouse that it once was.
Armenian intellectualism is returning to the very place that it was
cut down in 1915. And the Turkish colleagues are back. Thus the logic
of the killers is denied,' Kaiser argued.
He also pulled no punches in criticizing the academic work carried out
in Armenia for the past twenty years, labeling it as not only
academically inferior but also damaging giving its nationalist, even
racist overtones. Luckily, Kaiser noted, there is a new generation of
academics coming of age in Armenia who are raising the bar when it
comes to academic scholarship, pointing to the presence of two young
scholars from Armenia as panelists.
Kaiser then turned his criticism to Armenian academics in the States
who, he argues, haven't produced anything new in the past forty years.
`Tell me one publication on the extermination, as I call it since I
don't like the term genocide anymore, which has been published in the
last ten years in the U.S. What comes to mind? You really have to
scratch your head. And this is after millions of dollars and
university chairs. It's basically a declaration of intellectual
bankruptcy. They are stuck in their own mental prison,' Kaiser said.
I last spoke with Raymond Kevorkian, the prominent Genocide scholar
based in Paris, who moderated yesterday's `Islamized in 1915' panel.
An old friend, I had no problem convincing Raymond to share his
thoughts on the issue.
`This is an issue that will only grow in significance in the future.
And it is an issue that blows away the Turkish state's decades old
argument of a homogenous populace. As such, the issue of Islamized
Armenians should be seen as an integral part of the overall internal
Turkish process now going on in various ethnic communities regarding a
search for identity, and that there are actually several Turkish
identities,' Kevorkian said.
He stressed that the entire issue demands greater research on a social
level and that the anecdotal studies carried out to date aren't
sufficient.
`The diaspora must come to grips with the fact that the bulk of these
converted Armenians will remain as they are. So how do we relate to
them and, in particular, how shall we relate to those who display a
willingness to come into contact with traditional Armenian communities
and structures,' Kevorkian added.
Summing up the challenge that these converted Armenians now pose to
the greater Armenian community, Kevorkian said, `We face a new reality
today. A significant segment of us had disappeared and are now
resurfacing, but in a new form.'
When I asked my friend, if we are able, and willingly, to come to
grips with this new reality, he responded, `We have to come up with an
answer, better yet, a set of answers. This conference is a preliminary
step in the search for answers, and I have no doubt that the search
will continue.
Leave a comment:
-
Re: Armenia Turky news
TURKEY TO HOLD RETRIAL IN MURDER OF TURK ARMENIAN JOURNALIST
Agence France Presse
September 16, 2013 Monday 6:10 PM GMT
ISTANBUL, Sept 16 2013
The man accused of instigating the 2007 murder of ethnic Armenian
journalist Hrant Dink in Turkey, along with 18 other suspects, will
go back to court on Tuesday after an earlier verdict was overturned.
A hearing on the retrial will take place at a high criminal court in
Istanbul where a large crowd is expected to gather to pay tribute
and demand justice for Dink, who was a leading member of Turkey's
tiny Armenian community, Garo Paylan of the Association of Friends
of Hrant Dink told AFP.
Dink, 52, was shot dead in broad daylight outside the offices of his
bilingual weekly newspaper Agos, sending shock waves across Turkey
and triggering a wider scandal after reports that state security
forces had known of the murder plot, but failed to act.
An Istanbul court in 2011 had sentenced Dink's self-confessed killer
Ogun Samast, who was tried separately as he was juvenile at the time,
to 23 years in jail.
A year later, the court sentenced the so-called mastermind of the
murder, Yasin Hayal, to life imprisonment for inciting the killing
but acquitted 18 other defendants, ruling that there was no conspiracy.
In May, Turkey's appeals court partially overturned the 2012 verdict.
It upheld the conviction for Hayal but ordered a retrial to look into
whether Hayal and the other 18 acquitted defendants belonged to a
criminal network.
>From the onset, Dink's lawyers had demanded a new investigation
and a retrial to determine if there was a conspiracy behind the
journalist's killing.
The appeals court in May acknowledged that there was a conspiracy
behind the murder but stopped short of launching a deeper investigation
into the potential involvement of Turkey's powerful institutions.
Dink's lawyers and human rights defenders believe that those behind
the murder were protected by the state because Dink had received
threats for a long time before he was killed, often writing about
them in his columns published in Agos.
Every year since Dink's murder on January 19, 2007, thousands have
gathered in front of the Agos offices on that date to remember the
journalist, whose life-long campaign for reconciliation between Turks
and Armenians won him as many enemies as admirers.Leave a comment:
-
Re: Armenia Turky news
TURKS REPAIR ERZURUM-ARMENIA RAILWAY
[ Part 2.2: "Attached Text" ]
13:14, 16 August, 2013
YEREVAN, AUGUST 16, ARMENPRESS: The State Railways of Turkey continue
the supervision, care and maintenance works of the railway from
Erzurum to the Republic of Armenia, which have been started since
May. This was reported by the Turkish Haberler News Agency, as reported
by Armenpress.
The director of the Erzurum Department of the Turkish Railways told
the journalists that the works being carried out on the railway with
the length of 1317 kilometers have already reached Kars. "We plan to
finish the renovation works of the railway up to the Armenian border
by the end of the year of 2013", - said the representative of the
Turkish Railways, noting that the works are being implemented on
the highest level.Leave a comment:
-
Re: Armenia Turky news
ANTI-ARMENIAN POLITICIAN REELECTED TURKISH PARLIAMENT LEADER
July 03, 2013 | 13:43
By Artur Hakobyan
ANKARA. - Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) member
Cemil Cicek was reelected Grand National Assembly (parliament) Speaker.
But it was solely during the third-round of voting that Cicek was
reelected to this post, Hurriyet daily of Turkey reports.
To note, Cemil Cicek is known for his anti-Armenian stance. He
was Turkey's justice minister when a lawsuit was filed against
Hrant Dink-the founder and chief editor of Istanbul's Agos Armenian
bilingual weekly, who was gunned down in 2007 in front of his office
building-under the Turkish Criminal Code's infamous Article 301,
that is, for explicitly insulting the Turkish identity.
Also, Cicek had expressed his fear of the Armenians in 2009. As a
result of the local government elections in that year, a Kurd was
elected mayor of Igdir city-which borders Armenia-for the first time
after the rule of Azerbaijani mayors in this city for 85 consecutive
years. In this respect, Cemil Cicek had said: "The Kurds have
established at the border with Armenia."
News from Armenia - NEWS.amLeave a comment:
-
Re: Armenia Turky news
I thought Turkey gave up on the EU membership?
These types of Turkish propaganda seems foolish in their part at this point in time....no wonder Turks are not happy with Erdogan (51 percent Prime Minister).Leave a comment:
-
Re: Armenia Turky news
First-ever prosecution for insulting Armenians in Turkey
16:10 ¢ 29.06.13
The Istanbul Prosecutor's Office is prosecuting two Turks for
`insulting, humiliating and threatening.'
If found guilty, Yusuf Polat, who called Armenians Levon
BalcıoÄ?lu and his son Artun BalcıoÄ?lu
`Armenian Giaours', will be imprisoned as the first Turk legally
punished for using the word `Armenian' in an offensive sense.
Armenian News - Tert.amLeave a comment:
-
Armenia Turky news
TURKEY FACING ILHAM ALIYEV'S "RIGHTEOUS ANGER"?
Azerbaijan is waiting for Turkish explanations on the opening of
Yerevan-Van flights, the latters not matching Ankara's official stance.
A report on the opening of direct Yerevan-Van flights threw Baku
into another fit of hysterics. Azerbaijan seems to believe that any
Armenia-related step initiated by Russia or Turkey must be coordinated
with Baku for fear of the "righteous anger" of Ilham Aliyev.
PanARMENIAN.Net - Current hysterics is the second major one after
Zurich Protocols. The Protocols were doomed to oblivion form the
onset, the Yerevan-Van flights, on the other hand, belonging to a
realm of business, are much more likely to work. Formally, the flights
were initiated by a private Turkish company Bora Jet. Baku, however,
suspects that Ankara might actually be behind the private initiative,
with Turkish President's congratulatory message to Armenian leader
on the latter's reelection further undermining Azeri authorities'
trust towards Turkey's policy line.
The executive secretary of Yeni Azerbaijan ruling party Ali Akhmedov
stated that Baku is waiting for Turkish explanations over the launch of
the flight. He further expressed Baku's reluctance to accept a possible
Turkish-Armenian rapprochement while "Azeri lands remain occupied."
Azeri president's administration expressed a similar stance, with the
officials stressing Baku's "sensitivity" to any contacts with Armenia
or Nagorno Karabakh. "Baku deems such contacts to signal support for
Armenia," the Head of the Presidential Administration's Department
on Social Political Issues Ali Hasanov said.
Turkish Ambassador to Azerbaijan Ismail Alper Coskun reassured Baku,
noting that the launch of the private company's flight shouldn't cause
doubts as to the official position of Ankara. However a political
analyst Mubariz Ahmedoglu, who's known to be close to governmental
circles, refuted the envoy's version of a "private initiative." "No
flights in Turkey can be allowed without the official permission of
the Turkish government, regardless of financials gains. There's no
need trying to trick Azerbaijan," he said.
Baku, however, is the only one to blame for the trap it got caught
into. The flights might well be followed by a resumption of a
Kars-Gyumri railway connection. Also, the change of power in Georgia
may alter the regional position of Azerbaijan, which is the main
cause of concern for he latter. And the "countless oil-brought riches"
which Baku will soon run out of won't affect the situation. It's hard
to believe Ilham Aliyev is unaware of the fact, but the inertia of
thought prompts him to continue dictating conditions.
Turkey is currently facing an unpleasant situation - with the 100th
anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Empire to be marked
in 2 years, Ankara feels constrained to take some steps. Yerevan-Van
flight is the first step which can be followed by Kars-Gyumri railway
opening and even cancellation of visa regime. However, one must say,
Armenian citizens have no problem getting visas at Georgia's Vale or
Sarpi check points. As for Baku, it may continue its demarches till
they actually make Ankara sick.
Karine Ter-Sahakyan / PanARMENIAN News
Leave a comment: