Hi all
I'm a Turkish from Harput and I've heard much about my grandparents about the deportation. First of all Harput was a very peaceful province with a significant number of Asyrians and Armenians although much of its population was of Turks and Kurds. It's also one of the first cities that American colleges and an American embassy opened and during the ww1 years the college and the embassy was open. Especially Armenian children were going to the college since Muslims were mostly trained in medreses. About ten or twenty years before 1915 many Armenians migrated to the U.S.A as a result of the decline in Ottoman economy. You can find these records at genealogy.com. You'll see that many Armenians left the country much before these events took place. Moreover the Armenians abroad founded organizations that supported the independence of Armenian people of the state. They published newspapers and directed the Armenians in Harput to rebel against the state. BTW During the Russian war many muslims from Caucasia were driven to Harput by Russian and allied Armenian forces. (My other grandfather is one of them) The armenians of Harput couldn't work up a significant rebellion mostly because they didn't outnumber Muslims and Russians could never enter the city. But according to the temporary law of deportation much of the Armenians were deported. We still have some Armenian acquintances but they moved to Istanbul because the economy of the city collapsed since those years. And also the young Armenians want to move to the U.S.A because they don't feel comfortable here anymore. If the diaspora stopped spreading hatred I'm sure they'll change their opinions.
I'm a Turkish from Harput and I've heard much about my grandparents about the deportation. First of all Harput was a very peaceful province with a significant number of Asyrians and Armenians although much of its population was of Turks and Kurds. It's also one of the first cities that American colleges and an American embassy opened and during the ww1 years the college and the embassy was open. Especially Armenian children were going to the college since Muslims were mostly trained in medreses. About ten or twenty years before 1915 many Armenians migrated to the U.S.A as a result of the decline in Ottoman economy. You can find these records at genealogy.com. You'll see that many Armenians left the country much before these events took place. Moreover the Armenians abroad founded organizations that supported the independence of Armenian people of the state. They published newspapers and directed the Armenians in Harput to rebel against the state. BTW During the Russian war many muslims from Caucasia were driven to Harput by Russian and allied Armenian forces. (My other grandfather is one of them) The armenians of Harput couldn't work up a significant rebellion mostly because they didn't outnumber Muslims and Russians could never enter the city. But according to the temporary law of deportation much of the Armenians were deported. We still have some Armenian acquintances but they moved to Istanbul because the economy of the city collapsed since those years. And also the young Armenians want to move to the U.S.A because they don't feel comfortable here anymore. If the diaspora stopped spreading hatred I'm sure they'll change their opinions.
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