Western Armenians

[Vrej1915]

Re: Western Armenians

DOCUMENTARY FILM EXPOSES TURKISH STATE POLICY OF ERASING WESTERN ARMENIAN CULTURAL TRACES

http://hetq.am/eng/news/22681/documentary-film-exposes-turkish-state-policy-of-erasing-western-armenian-cultural-traces.html

14:19, January 25, 2013

January 24 saw the premier of the documentary film "Crime after the
Great Crime", exposing the ongoing Turkish state policy of destroying
all traces of Armenian culture in Western Armenia.

Prepared by the Research on Armenian Architecture Foundation, the
film chronicles the situation of Western Armenian cultural monuments
before and after the 1915 Genocide.

The film states that pre-1915 there were approximately 170,000 cultural
monuments in Western Armenia of which a mere 2-3% remain intact today.

The video, in eastern Armenian, is narrated by Samvel Karapetyan.

[Vrej1915]

Re: Western Armenians

FETHIYE CETIN: "THESE ATTACKS HAVE CREATED FEAR AND ANXIETY FOR ARMENIANS AND CHRISTIANS LIVING IN TURKEY" HRANT GADARIGIAN

http://hetq.am/eng/interviews/22756/fethiye-%C3%A7etin-%E2%80%9Cthese-attacks-have-created-fear-and-anxiety-for-armenians-and-christians-living-in-turkey%E2%80%9D.html

00:31, January 29, 2013

To get a better insight into the recent attacks against elderly
Armenian women in Istanbul, Hetq contacted Fethiye Cetin, a prominent
lawyer and human rights advocate working in Turkey.

Cetin has served as an attorney for the family of Hrant Dink and
is the author of My Grandmother, a book describing how and when she
found out about her Armenian roots.

Recently, former Agos editor Aris Nalcı told Today's Zaman that he
believed these attacks were organized and called on Turkish officials
to launch a comprehensive investigation. Would you agree with his
assessment?

I would also agree that these actions are organized and planned. At
first, the police promoted the line that they were violent robberies,
however no such evidence was to be found in the homes of the victims.

In addition, witnesses claim that the attackers always had an
accomplice or two nearby. We have been focusing our attention on
Samatya of late, but it must be said that attacks directed against
Christians have been occurring all over the country as well. The
latest was the exposure of an organized gang that attempted to murder
a Christian priest in Kocaeli. All this attests to the fact that the
events are systematic in nature and not random.

Being close to certain segments of the Istanbul Armenian community,
how would you describe the emotional state within the community in
light of these incidents?

These attacks have created fear and anxiety for Armenians and
Christians living in Turkey. An Armenian woman living in the Samatya
neighbourhood responded to a Milliyet reporter by stating, "Let us
die in our beds". These few words clearly describe the emotional
state of Armenians.

If the attacks are indeed premeditated and organized - by whom and
for what aim?

To date, not one of the criminals has been discovered. I believe that
these incidents must be connected to the words uttered by the Minister
of Internal Affairs at last year's Khojaly Meeting. For this reason,
I fear that similar incidents will only increase and worsen in the
lead up to 2015.

All the victims have been elderly Armenian women who live alone. Does
this factor have any particular significance?

I think they have chosen elderly women who live alone because they
don't want any eyewitnesses. Also, they want to create an even larger
climate of fear in the Armenian community.

What must Turkish authorities do, which they aren't now, to prevent
the reoccurrence of such attacks in the future and to prove that they
are truly concerned with the safety of Armenian citizens of Turkey?

It is vital to expose the culprits as soon as possible and the
forces pulling the strings. The authorities must publicly address the
community and state that those responsible will be severely punished.

The authorities must keep this issue on their agenda. Through various
events and pronouncements, the public at large must be made aware
that mentality causing these attacks is bankrupt.

[Vrej1915]

Re: Western Armenians

ATTACKS LAUNCHED AGAINST ARMENIANS IN TURKEY ARE PLANNED: TURK COLUMNIST

12:38, 29 January, 2013

YEREVAN, JANUARY 29, ARMENPRESS: If several things as I mentioned in a
country like Turkey happens in a matter of weeks, we should have every
reason to believe that they are organized and somehow connected to
each other. Columnist Orhan Kemal Cengiz came forth with a statement,
Armenpress reports citing Today's Zaman.

Columnist rejects Armenian women attacked in the Samatya neighborhood
of Istanbul recently were due to robbery. All of whom were over 80 and
living alone. Even if the intent of the attackers was robbery, this
does not change the fact that there is an obvious racial hatred behind
these assaults. If their only purpose was to steal a few items from
these old ladies they could easily incapacitate the women without the
brutality. But instead they brutally beat and stabbed these women. An
Armenian intellectual, who does not want to reveal his identity, told
me that he barely managed to escape unscathed from a planned attack
by two youngsters who were sent by an ultranationalist who was angry
with some of the words that this Armenian intellectual had made on TV.

Some circles are frantically trying to create an atmosphere of
terror for non-Muslims in Turkey. When there was a comparable level
of activities against non-Muslims in 2006 and 2007, they ended up
in disaster with a string of murders of Christians: Father Andrea
Santoro in Trabzon, Hrant Dink in Istanbul and three Christians in
Malatya were killed.

Since the beginning of the Ergenekon investigation in 2007, we have
not witnessed such kinds of attacks against non-Muslims. Some cells
seemed to have been reactivated to give Christians a hard time once
again. I really hope that officials will grasp the severity and
gravity of the situation soon and act quickly in order to bring the
attackers and the people behind them to justice. This situation is
quite serious and alarming.

[Vrej1915]

Re: Western Armenians

DOCUMENTARY FILM EXPOSES TURKISH STATE POLICY OF ERASING WESTERN
ARMENIAN CULTURAL TRACES

http://hetq.am/eng/news/22681/documentary-film-exposes-turkish-state-policy-of-erasing-western-armenian-cultural-traces.html

14:19, January 25, 2013


January 24 saw the premier of the documentary film "Crime after the
Great Crime", exposing the ongoing Turkish state policy of destroying
all traces of Armenian culture in Western Armenia.

Prepared by the Research on Armenian Architecture Foundation, the
film chronicles the situation of Western Armenian cultural monuments
before and after the 1915 Genocide.

The film states that pre-1915 there were approximately 170,000 cultural
monuments in Western Armenia of which a mere 2-3% remain intact today.

The video, in eastern Armenian, is narrated by Samvel Karapetyan.

[Vrej1915]

Re: Western Armenians

For a decade now, every April, just days before April 24, Turkey organises a Bulchit propaganda operation, with implicit complicity of Armenians...
Once it was "reconciliation" meetings like TARC (the infamous Mr Ross Vartian on AAA & Mr Antranig Mihranian from Russia if I still do remember their infamous names... ), then it was Akhtamar church 'renovation', then Serjik's capitulation protocols + Namaz in Ani Cathedral as sign of good gesture, .... this year, just on time, it is the Van-Yerevan direct flight.... what a sign of good gesture...!; (specially no harm if it will bring in Armenian $.. to turkish pockets....)
------------

New Armenia-Turkey Flights Set For Launch





Hovannes Movsisian
Հրապարակված է՝ 05.03.2013

An Armenian travel agency announced on Tuesday the imminent launch of landmark direct flights from Yerevan to the southeastern Turkish city of Van that used to be mostly populated by Armenians.

Ashot Soghomonian, head of Narekavank Tour, said his private firm and its business partners in Turkey have already secured all necessary permissions from the aviation authorities in both countries and tentatively scheduled the first flight for April 3. BoraJet, a private Turkish airline, has been contracted to fly between Yerevan and Van twice a week, he said.

Located on the eastern shore of an eponymous lake, Van is an ancient city with an estimated 500,000 mainly Kurdish residents. The city and surrounding areas had a sizable Armenian population until the World War One-era mass killings and deportations of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.

Unlike the Armenian communities in virtually all other parts of the crumbling empire, many Armenians of Van survived what historians consider the first genocide of the 20th century after putting up an armed resistance to Ottoman troops and being evacuated by the Russian army in 1915-1918. Hundreds of thousands of their descendants live in modern-day Armenia.

Soghomonian confirmed that the flight service will primarily cater to Armenians curious to see Van and other historic sites in eastern Turkey that had for centuries been part of Armenian kingdoms and principalities.

Soghomonian’s travel agency specializes in taking tourists to the areas which Armenians still commonly refer to as “Western Armenia” by land, via neighboring Georgia.

“There are quite a lot of people willing to go to Van and see the [10th century] Surp Khach church on [the island of] Akhtamar or Ani or Kars or Mush but don’t go there because the journey by land is long,” said the Narekavank Tour director.

Surp Khach (Holy Cross) is the most famous and well-preserved Armenian monument remaining in eastern Turkey. The Istanbul Patriarchate of the Armenian Apostolic Church was allowed to hold religious services there once a year after the church’s $1.5 million renovation financed by the Turkish government and completed in 2007.

According to Soghomonian, the flight organizers also expect many Turks and Kurds to make use of the service. “We think that there will also be a quite serious inflow of tourists into Armenia from the other side and that will be very good,” he told reporters.

Plans for Yerevan-Van flights were already announced by a business association operating in the Turkish city about two years ago. The Turkish government reportedly blocked their launch slated for September 2011, however. Some Van-based businessmen openly criticized that move.

Arsen Ghazarian, head of Armenia’s largest business association promoting closer commercial ties with Turkey, said in November 2012 that the plans are back on track and should come to fruition soon.

Turkish-Armenian commercial flights have until now been carried out only between Yerevan and Istanbul.

[Vrej1915]

Re: Western Armenians

ARMENIANS OF SASSOUN FILED A LAWSUIT AGAINST TURKISH AUTHORITIES

19:25, 6 March, 2013

YEREVAN, MARCH 6, ARMENPRESS: Union of Sassoun Armenians operating
in Istanbul has filed a lawsuit against Regional Directorate of
Culture and Tourism of Batman and Beshir on charges of not maintaining
churches and historical monuments of ethnic minorities. President of
the Union Aziz Dagcı has substantiated the claim with the fact that
local authorities don't maintain Armenian Church of 14th century in
Yenipınar village. He also noted that in a result the church has
turned into a landfill, walls have been damaged and stones have been
stolen by villagers.

As reports Armenpress, referring to Turkish batmancagdas.com, leader
of Armenians of Sassoun noted in the interview with the web site that
"authorities should protect the stones of some village houses, stolen
from the historical church".

"Armenian Church in that village has turned into a landfill. The door
has been stolen and the decorated stoned were stolen and used in the
construction of nearby houses. We have filed a lawsuit in accordance
with Article 63 of Turkish Constitution," Dagcı said.

[Vrej1915]

Re: Western Armenians

06.03.2013
ԹՈՒՐՔԻՈՅ ԹԱՔՈՒՆ ՀԱՅԵՐԸ





Վերջերս Արժանթինի մամուլը լայնօրէն կ՚անդրադառնայ Անատոլուի (Արևմտյան Հայաստանի-Ակունքի խմբ.) «գաղտնի» հայերուն մասին։ ‘The Footprints of Secret Armenians in Turkey’ խորագրեալ յօդուածին մէջ, Արժանթինահայ լրագրող Աւետիս Հաճեան կը գրէ հազարաւոր ծագումով հայերու մասին, որոնք կը շարունակեն ապրիլ Անատոլուի եւ Իսթամպուլի մէջ՝ ծածկելով իրենց հայկական ինքնութիւնը։ Ան իր հաստատումները կը կատարէ հիմնուելով իր կատարած ուսումնասիրութեանց վրայ, որոնք կ՚ընդգրկեն Իսթամպուլի Kurtuluş շրջանի, ինչպէս նաեւ Ամասիոյ, Տիգրանակերտի, Թունչելի (Դերսիմ-Ակունքի խմբ.), Մուշի եւ Բաթման շրջաններու բնաչկութիւնը։

Թրքական կամ քրտական ինքնութիւնը

Յօդուածին համաձայն, դար մը ամբողջ իրենց ինքնութիւնը թաքուն պահած հայերը կ՚ապրին Թուրքիոյ արեւելեան շրջանին մէջ։ Անոնք ընդունելով Սուննի եւ Ալաուիթ դաւանանքները՝ ստանձնած են թրքական եւ քրտական ինքնութիւններ։

Սակայն, Բաթման նահանգի Սասնոյ շրջանի գիւղերուն մէջ կայ փոքր համայնք մը, որ տակաւին քրիստոնեայ է։ Շեշտելով հանդերձ թէ ոչ ոք կրնայ ճշգրտօրէն իմանալ «ծածուկ հայերու» թիւը, Հաճեան կը գրէ թէ անոնցմէ շատերը կը վախնան բացայայտել իրենց հայկական ինքնութիւնը։ «Թուրքիան տակաւին վտանգաւոր բնակավայր մըն է հայերուն համար», կը մէջբերէ Հաճեան անոնցմէ մէկուն հաստատումը։

«Ծածուկ հայեր»ը, որոնք զգոյշօրէն կը պահեն իրենց ինքնութիւնը, չեն յարաբերիր իրենց հայկական ինքնութիւնը բացայայտօրէն ստանձնած հայերուն հետ եւ կը խուսափին անծանօթներէ։ Հաճեան կ՚ըսէ թէ անոնցմէ շատերը, որոնք նոյնիսկ կ՚ընդունին իրենց ծնողներուն եւ մեծ ծնողներուն հայկական ծագումը կամ իրենց թուրք եւ քիւրտ դրացիներէն «հայեր« եւ «անհաւատարիմ» կ՚անուանուին, կը մերժեն իրենց հայկական ինքնութիւնը։ Ուրիշներ սակայն կ՚ընդունին իրենց հայ ըլլալը, սակայն զայն գաղտնի կը պահեն իրենց զաւակներէն։

Ձմեռը՝ եկեղեցի, ամառը՝ մզկիթ

Հաճեան կը գրէ թէ դժուար է յայտնաբերել «ծածուկ հայեր»ը եւ կու տայ բազմաթիւ օրինակներ։ Օրինակ, Ամասիոյ վերջին հայը՝ Ռաֆէլ Ալթընճի, մեծցած է որպէս հայ եւ յաճախած է այն դպրոցը ուր Հրանդ Տինք նաեւ յաճախած է։ Յետագային ան ընդունած է իսլամութիւնը, ամուսնացած է թուրք կնոջ մը հետ եւ իր աղջիկը դաստիարակած է որպէս իսլամ։ Միայն վերջերս ան ընդունած է իր հայկական ինքնութիւնը։ Ճազի Ուզալ, Մուշի շրջանէն գիւղացի մը, ձմրան Իսթամպուլ կեցութեան ընթացքին եկեղեցի կը յաճախէ, իսկ ամրան երբ գիւղ կը վերդառնայ կ՚ապրի իսլամ կրօնքի բոլոր օրէնքներուն համաձայն։

Տիգրանակերտի մէջ, փաստաբան Մեհմէտ Արգան կ՚ըսէ թէ միայն եօթը տարեկանին տեղեկացած է իր ընտանիքին հայկական ծագման մասին։ «Մինչեւ տասը տարի առաջ, մենք մեր հայկական ինքնութիւնը կը պահէինք բոլորէն, սակայն ներկայիս, Տիգրանակերտի մէջ հայերուն վտանգ չի սպառնար», կ՚ըսէ ան եւ կ՚անդրադառնայ Սուրբ Կիրակոս եկեղցւոյ վերականգման աշխատանքներուն։ Ան նաեւ կ՚աւելցնէ թէ Սուննի ըլլալով հանդերձ ինք նուազ հայ չի զգար ինքզինք։

Կարգ մը պարագաներու, ծածուկ հայերը զարմանալիօրէն փոխակերպուած են։ Օրինակ, Բալուի շրջանի Օկասեան գերթաստանը վերապրած է 1915-ի Ցեղասպանութենէն, գաղթած է Ամերիկայի Միացեալ Նահանգներ եւ հաստատուած Rhode Island. Սակայն նախքան անոնց մեկնումը, քրտական ցեղախումբի մը առաջնորդը առեւանգած է ընտանիքին ամենակրտսեր զաւակը՝ Գրիգորը։ Քիւրտ առաջնորդը յետագային ամուսնացուցած է Գրիգորը Զերման անունով որբուհիի մը հետ։ Զոյգը բնակութիւն հաստատած է Բալուի գիւղերէն մէկուն մէջ, ընդունած է իսլամութիւնը եւ որդեգրած թրքական անուններ։

Տարիներ ետք, ԱՄՆ-ի մէջ ապրող անոնց հարազատները կը վերագտնեն Գրիգորն ու Զերմանը։ Այսօր զոյգին թոռնիկը իմամ է, մինչ անոնց երկրորդ սերունդի քեռորդին՝ Նոր Եորքի մէջ Կիլիկիոյ արեւելեան թեմի առաջնորդ Օշական Արք. Չոլոյեանն է։

Ռամանի լեռներու փոքր աղջիկը

Հաճեան կ՚արձանագրէ նաեւ «ծածուկ հայերու» գոյութիւնը Թունճելի շրջանին մէջ եւ կը պատմէ Սասնոյ շրջանին մէջ անոնց հետ իր հանդիպումներուն մասին։ Լրագրողը կը նկարագրէ վեցէն եօթ տարեկան աղջնակ մը, որ խումբ մը հայ ուխտաւորներու հետ կ՚ուղղուէր Ռաման լեռները։ Զօրաւոր քամին պատճառ կը հանդիսանայ որ աղջկան ճերմակ ուսապարկը շրջի ու կը յայտնաբերէ հայկական խաչը։ Հաճեան երբ կը մօտենայ լուսանկարելու համար փոքրիկ աղջիկը, ան անմիջապէս կը պահէ իր դէմքը իր քօղին ետին։ Երբ կը հարցնեն իրեն թէ՝ հա՞յ է կամ հայ հարազատներ ունի՞, ան կը պատասխանէ . «Մենք իսլամ ենք»։

http://akunq.net

[Vrej1915]

Re: Western Armenians

Turkey’s Islamized Armenians
Grapple With Tragic Roots

An Armenian bishop attends a wreath-laying ceremony after a special prayer marking the anniversary of mass killings of Armenians in Ottoman Empire in 1915, outside the Armenian Church in Bucharest, April 24, 2012. (photo by REUTERS/Bogdan Cristel)

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By: Sibel Utku Bila for Al-Monitor Turkey Pulse. Posted on March 27.
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey — Abdurrahim Zorarslan’s world turned upside down at age 25 when his Kurdish clan revealed to him he was Armenian. His father, a survivor of the Ottoman massacres, saved and Islamized by a Kurdish couple, had already died — without uttering a word about his real self. After much soul-searching, Zorarslan “listened to something inside” and “secretly” embraced his Armenian identity. Aged 53 today, he boldly speaks out and introduces himself as a Christian with the typical Armenian name, Armen.
About This Article
Summary :
The descendants of Islamized Armenians who survived the Ottoman massacres during World War I have begun to “come out” in Turkey, braving century-old prejudices and fears to embrace their Armenian roots, reports Sibel Utku Bila from Diyarbakir.
Author: Sibel Utku Bila
Posted on : March 27 2013
Categories : Originals Turkey
The self-rediscovery, however, has come with a cost. The retired driver is now at odds with his children and Kurdish wife, a devout Muslim wearing the black chador, but still believes that “one can reach nowhere with fear of his roots.”
Zorarslan is among a small but growing number of brave souls in Turkey’s mainly Kurdish southeast who have come to openly embrace their Armenian origins, emboldened by the breaking of the Armenian taboo in Turkey over the past several years and the message of pluralism spread by the Kurdish political movement in the region.
The re-connection is a painful process — not only because of deep-rooted fears over the 1915-17 massacres, but also the distinct fabric of the impoverished, rural southeast, where strict patriarchal norms rule closely-knit clans and Islam remains a powerful social glue.
At the turn of the 20th century, Kurds and Armenians dominated the population of eastern Anatolia. Bonded to Turks in Islamic fraternity, Kurds joined the massacres orchestrated by their Ottoman rulers and seized the properties of slain or deported Armenian neighbors. Many Armenian children escaped death in the refuge of Muslim homes: Some were saved out of compassion, others were abducted to be raised as laborers or wives. The adoptees were Islamized and assimilated into Kurdish or Turkish culture. It is unknown how many survivors lived on as Muslims, with estimates ranging from tens of thousands to several hundred thousand.
According to the accounts of descendants in Diyarbakir, Turkey’s largest Kurdish city, some survivors kept memory of their Armenian identity, sought out other Islamized Armenians to marry and let their children know their roots. Others sank into silence and tried to obliterate their past, haunted by the horror of the massacres and eager to shield their progeny against persecution.
Neighbors, however, never forgot. A common childhood memory of descendants is how their peers would taunt them as “gavur” or “infidels” in street games. Relatives would often give away the secret in the heat of household quarrels, calling a father or a grandmother a “dirty Armenian.”
Some complain that because of their Muslim faith they are often ostracized also by Turkey’s Christian Armenians, who are concentrated in cosmopolitan Istanbul and number about 60,000.
“The [descendants of] Islamized Armenians are 100% assimilated. But there is always someone to remind them who they are. They are not fully accepted by either side. It’s dramatic,” Gafur Turkay, the grandson of an Armenian survivor, told Al-Monitor in the yard of the ancient Surp Giragos Church in Diyarbakir, a monumental reminder of the city’s once-thriving Armenian community.
After decades of silent awareness, Turkay now introduces himself directly as “an Armenian.” His father remains a devout Muslim who has made the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. Out of 18 siblings, only he and a brother have converted to Christianity.
The 47-year-old insurer sits also on the board of the foundation that runs the Surp Giragos Church, rebuilt from ruins and re-opened for worship in October.
He estimates that at least 1 million people in Turkey’s southeast bear Armenian blood today, even though mixed marriages and natural population growth have diluted Armenian ancestries. The acknowledgement of Armenian roots, he explains, is a difficult matter since descendants remain strongly bound to Islam and equate Armenianness to Christianity.
“More often than not those people are rigid Muslims — a trait they probably developed in order to gain acceptance and dispel suspicion. Let them be Muslims, but I wish they could at least accept their Armenian origins,” Turkay said. “But I can’t persuade even my own sister. ‘God forbid! You can’t make me call myself an Armenian’ is all she says.”
For Zorarslan, the resentment of his own family is no match to his resolve to discover his roots. On his mobile phone, buzzing with the ringtone of an Armenian tune, he proudly displays pictures of cousins he has tracked down in France, the Netherlands, the United States and Istanbul. His eyes sparkle with excitement and then well up with tears as he recounts how some relatives were happy to reconnect, but others refused to answer letters and return calls. “Is it about religion? Do they worry we may not be really relatives or do they think I am after money? I’m still trying to figure out,” he said.
Behcet Sayan, 47, remembers how his grandfather would keep company with six other survivors in their native village near Diyarbakir and how the elderly men would chat in Armenian. A former construction worker who now greets visitors at Surp Giragos, Sayan says he has endorsed Christianity “at heart.” He wishes other family members follow suit but is pessimistic. “My elder brother is a haji. You cannot change his mind even if you shred him to pieces. I wish my children follow me, but I know life will be difficult for them if they do. Let everybody make their own decision,” he said.
Surp Giragos, one of the largest Armenian churches in the Middle East, is still without a priest and a congregation. Nestled behind stone walls on a narrow cobbled street in the ancient heart of Diyarbakir, the edifice serves mostly as a tourist attraction.
Al-Monitor’s interview with Turkay in the churchyard was occasionally interrupted by young people, who, after touring the church, wanted to say hi and confide they also had an Armenian ancestor. Some inquired about the Armenian language courses launched in the city last year.
Kevork Calis, the Armenian teacher who flies every week from Istanbul to teach the course, politely turned down a request by this reporter to attend one of the classes. “I have about 20 students. They are all descendants of Islamized Armenians. Many are attending secretly,” he explained.
Compared to Turks, Kurds have been more forthcoming in efforts to reconcile with Armenians, driven by their own suffering in post-Ottoman Turkey and eager to advance their cause for pluralist democracy. Diyarbakir’s Kurdish-held local administration, for instance, provided financial assistance to renovate the Surp Giragos Church and sponsored the Armenian language courses in the city.
In February, prominent Kurdish politician Ahmet Turk admitted that “our grandfathers have blood on their hands” and apologized to Armenians. The apology, however, backfired as the veteran lawmaker appeared to reject direct Kurdish responsibility in the massacres, saying that Kurds were “manipulated” by Turks.
Armenian opinion leaders cast further doubt over Kurdish sincerity, irked by remarks that jailed Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan made in his fledgling peace process with Ankara. In a transcript leaked to the media in late February, Ocalan emphasized Islamic bonds between Kurds and Turks, and spoke in hostile terms about Armenians and other non-Muslims.
Amid the soured climate, the Diyarbakir municipality is preparing for a fresh gesture. A monument dedicated to communities that have suffered persecution in Anatolia is expected to be unveiled in the city in the eve of April 24, the Armenians’ genocide remembrance day.
Sibel Utku Bila is a freelance journalist based in Ankara, who has covered Turkey for 15 years. She was a correspondent for Agence France-Presse (AFP) from 1999 to 2011, and articles she wrote during that period have been published in many newspapers around the world. She has worked also as an editor at the Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey’s oldest English-language newspaper.


Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/orig...#ixzz2Ow9DKRGi

[Vrej1915]

Re: Western Armenians

ANOTHER ARMENIAN CHURCH IN TURKEY TO BECOME MUSEUM

http://news.am/eng/news/146469.html

March 28, 2013 | 14:24

ISTANBUL. - The tumbledown Surp Asdvadzadzin (Holy Mother of God)
Armenian Church, which is located in Gurun administrative district
of Turkey's Sivas Province, will be restored and subsequently turned
into a museum, Gurun Mayor Mehmet Aktas informed.

Aktas noted that they attach a great importance to restoring historical
structures and using them for tourism purposes, and stressed that
this is why they will restore the aforesaid church, Istanbul-Armenian
Hyetert website reports.

In the Turkish mayor's words, the Sivas Board of Cultural Property
Protection approved the plan for the restoration of the church,
and now a tender will be announced to carry out the restoration.

Once restored, however, the Armenian church will be turned into a
museum, where cultural events likewise will be held.

[Vrej1915]

Re: Western Armenians

ATTACKS ON ELDERLY ARMENIAN WOMEN IN TURKEY AWAKEN FEARS

15:05, 4 April, 2013

YEREVAN, APRIL 4, ARMENPRESS: Attacks on elderly Armenian women in
Turkey has awaken fears and recalled a tortured past and, perhaps,
hinted at future tensions as Turkey prepares to face the 100th
anniversary of the genocide of its Armenian population in the last
years of the Ottoman Empire, reports Armenpress citing The New York
Times: The Article runs as follows:

"The man in the ski mask struck in the twilight of late afternoon,
strangling the elderly woman from behind, beating her senseless and
leaving her for dead. He ran off with 50 Turkish lira, about $30,
and her engagement ring, a last memory of her long-dead husband.

"He just beat me, over and over again," said the woman, Turfanda Asik,
88, who spent two weeks in an intensive care unit. "He hit my back,
my skinny back. What have I done to him? What did he want? "

Ms. Asik was left bruised and blinded in one eye. Her beating is
thought to be the first of a string of attacks in the last few months
on elderly Armenian women in Samatya, Istanbul's historic Armenian
quarter. Until recently in Samatya, a neighborhood of wooden houses
built long ago and centuries-old churches, residents left their
doors unlocked.

As brutally as she was beaten, Ms. Asik was lucky. One victim of the
attacks died from her wounds.

Along the crooked streets of Samatya and in its teahouses, churches
and social clubs, the attacks have awakened fears - rooted in past
episodes of repression that residents say had waned in recent years
as Turkey became more accommodating toward its minorities.

"The community is always living with fear because the Armenian
community has always been under pressure," said Rober Koptas, the
editor of Agos, an Armenian newspaper here that has devoted several
issues to coverage of the attacks. "We were always regarded as
foreigners, as second-class citizens."

Armenians and other minorities were once widely discriminated against
in modern Turkey, subject to violent attacks by nationalists and shut
out from prestige professions like the army officer corps. In Samatya,
Armenians were typically artisans and merchants, many toiling in the
maze of stalls at the nearby Grand Bazaar.

But in recent times their lot has improved, thanks to reforms brought
on by Turkey's efforts to join the European Union, a process that
has lately stalled. Mr. Koptas, the newspaper editor, said younger
Armenians like him - he is 35 - are speaking and writing "side-by-side
with our Turkish compatriots."

"The fear has decreased," he said. "But for the older generation,
it is always there."

When the authorities recently arrested a suspect in the attacks
who they said was mentally disturbed and of Armenian origin - not a
fanatical Turk motivated by hatred, as many assumed - it only raised
more suspicions among some residents of Samatya, who said they thought
the police had merely found a convenient scapegoat.

Regardless of the perpetrator, the violence has recalled a tortured
past and, perhaps, hinted at future tensions as Turkey prepares to
face the 100th anniversary of the genocide of its Armenian population
in the last years of the Ottoman Empire.

Even though that milestone is two years away, in 2015, the country
is already questioning how the anniversary will be treated: as a
chance for reconciliation and full recognition of the massacres by
the Ottoman Army or an occasion for more tension and hate speech of
the sort that appeared on social networks after the recent attacks.

"Turkey has to face this," Mr. Koptas said. "Only with this will
Turkey become a democracy."

On a chilly afternoon in January, a few hundred protesters marched
down a narrow street that connects with Samatya's main square, which
is bordered by cafes and open-air fish shops. "The Armenian people
are not alone!" Was one chant. "Shoulder to shoulder against fascism,"
was another.

"This is normal," said Ayse Demir, a student who participated in the
protest, reflecting the sentiment that Armenians are constantly under
threat. "Armenians can be killed."

Another student, standing beside Ms. Demir, said, "There are lots of
racist people in Turkey."

Sedat Caliskan, 35, a taxi driver who is Muslim, stood watching the
marchers. "For years, nothing like this has happened," he said of
the attacks. "I want to believe that these are isolated incidents."

In simple terms, he spoke of a sense of harmony between Christians
and Muslims in the neighborhood. "On Sundays they go to church,
and on Fridays we go to the mosque," he said.

Mr. Caliskan lives three doors down from the murdered woman's home,
which is adorned with red carnations and signs that read: "Don't touch
our Armenian neighbor" and "Don't remain silent. Don't be intimidated.

"

As he sipped tea and watched the protesters, one longtime resident,
a Greek man named Yorgi Eskargemis, a retired textile merchant,
said that the neighborhood is still as beautiful as the days it
was called "Little Paris." But the attacks, he said , are a "stain"
on the community".