Tweet
Date:
16 Sep 2002
Time:
05:03:43
Comments
Dear All,
I happened to discover this interesting website, after surfing the net for websites with an alternative view (if you know what I'm saying) of Islam.
I'm "Turkish" and come from a Muslim background. My story is rather interesting. As a child, I was told by my grandfather that he was actually an Armenian by birth. Apparently, he was the youngest in a family consisting of 5 kids. During the Armenian Genocide, sometime in 1915, his whole family including his relatives as well as family friends and neighbours were killed. I was told that the women were raped and the men tortured, sometimes with their feet nailed.
My grandfather was the only one in his family which was spared because apparently the Turks collected young Armenian children to be distributed among Turks to be raised as Muslims. After sparing and collecting Armenian kids of up to 12 years of age, orders were given by certain army officers to kill those above 8 years old. My grandad was 10 at that time but because he was small sized, he was fortunately mistaken as one who was 8 and was spared. To the best of his recollection, he came from a village near Diyarbakir and his family name was 'Mahdasian' (or something like that).
The Muslim family which took him in, was kind to him and treated him as one of their own. His foster siblings fully accepted him. Looking back at the times that my grandad told me his stories, he was always choked with emotions but yet bewildered and confused because he was a Turkish Muslim now and he acknowledged this Turkish family to be his own. Although never very religious, he lived and died a Muslim. I suppose the trauma of the massacre of his family alienated him from being a devout Muslim but at the same time I guess he never questioned Islam as the only true religion.
Incidentally, my grandmother, his wife was also one of those Armenian children who were spared. She was a devout Muslim and was in a way grateful that the massacre enabled her to be brought up in the true religion, Islam ... even though the family which took her in treated her badly and she was in a way no more than a servant.
To cut the story short, my family emigrated to Sydney, Australia and I became secularised along the way. Although, Turks and Lebanese Muslims were also trickling into Australia, somehow or other I never mixed with them much (perhaps because they were more conservative and un-Australian). Instead, I mix with other Mediteranean-looking "ethnics" such as Greeks and Macedonians from the "worg" community. My ethnicity (i.e. Turkish) was never an issue but at the same time, I never advertised it. In view of how much Greeks hate the Turks, looking back my friendship with them was rather unusual.
When I was in my twenties, I had a fair few Armenian and Lebanese-Armenian friends although Armenians and Turks usually don't mix (for the abovementioned reason). Interestingly, when they first got to know me, they told me that I looked distinctly Armenian!! Hmmm !! [My mum is a Turk of Pontic Greek extraction, another Islamised previously Christian minority from northern Turkey. Some of her relatives still practice certain unIslamic rituals which she believes is derived from Christianity]
Anyway, there was this Armenian guy my age who I really bonded partially because I discovered that his grandfather also survived the massacres of the Armenians and escaped to Lebanon.
I did some research and only then realised the real extent of the Armenian Genocide. Although, the Turkish government still cooked up all kinds of excuses, I for one know from my grandad that the Armenian Genocide did take place. I guess what gives the Armenian Genocide a religious dimension was that Kurdish and Laz Muslims in no small numbers, participated with the Turks. Interestingly, some of the Turks who took part were allegedly villagers whose Armenian ancestors had converted to Islam. Also, the villages populated by Armenian speaking Muslims were spared [I believe all Armenian-speaking Muslims or Hemshins have been fully Turkicised now. Some sources claim that there are as 2 million Turkish Muslims of pure or mainly Armenian extraction, some of whom still acknowledge their Armenian connection]
My interest in the Armenian Genocide, led me to read about historical data on other massacres committed by Muslim armies. Although, I have never formally renounced Islam, I have to admit that the attrocities committed in the name of Islam sickens me. It's hard to practice a religion after knowing what my grandad suffered, don't you think?
The comments and articles posted on your website speak the truth!! Violence naturally flows from the teachings of Islam and attrocities are not perpetrated by a handful of misguided and confused Muslim extremists.
Although, I do not consider myself anti-Islam, I applaud Al-Mansur, Syed Kamran Mirza, fatemolla, Abul Kasem and Mughal for their works on the various aspects of Islam which are posted in the "Comments" page of the "Feedback" section of this website.
Enver (just a pseudonym)
P.S. For the Islamic apologists who attack the testimonies posted herein, please note that your comments with regards to mine is unwelcome. I am not attacking Islam ...so, for once please drop the "Islam is not violent" and "You should also look at what the Christians did" rhetoric, which I am so sick of. You can take your "Killing of Armenian Christians never happened" and shove it up your arse.
16 Sep 2002
Time:
05:03:43
Comments
Dear All,
I happened to discover this interesting website, after surfing the net for websites with an alternative view (if you know what I'm saying) of Islam.
I'm "Turkish" and come from a Muslim background. My story is rather interesting. As a child, I was told by my grandfather that he was actually an Armenian by birth. Apparently, he was the youngest in a family consisting of 5 kids. During the Armenian Genocide, sometime in 1915, his whole family including his relatives as well as family friends and neighbours were killed. I was told that the women were raped and the men tortured, sometimes with their feet nailed.
My grandfather was the only one in his family which was spared because apparently the Turks collected young Armenian children to be distributed among Turks to be raised as Muslims. After sparing and collecting Armenian kids of up to 12 years of age, orders were given by certain army officers to kill those above 8 years old. My grandad was 10 at that time but because he was small sized, he was fortunately mistaken as one who was 8 and was spared. To the best of his recollection, he came from a village near Diyarbakir and his family name was 'Mahdasian' (or something like that).
The Muslim family which took him in, was kind to him and treated him as one of their own. His foster siblings fully accepted him. Looking back at the times that my grandad told me his stories, he was always choked with emotions but yet bewildered and confused because he was a Turkish Muslim now and he acknowledged this Turkish family to be his own. Although never very religious, he lived and died a Muslim. I suppose the trauma of the massacre of his family alienated him from being a devout Muslim but at the same time I guess he never questioned Islam as the only true religion.
Incidentally, my grandmother, his wife was also one of those Armenian children who were spared. She was a devout Muslim and was in a way grateful that the massacre enabled her to be brought up in the true religion, Islam ... even though the family which took her in treated her badly and she was in a way no more than a servant.
To cut the story short, my family emigrated to Sydney, Australia and I became secularised along the way. Although, Turks and Lebanese Muslims were also trickling into Australia, somehow or other I never mixed with them much (perhaps because they were more conservative and un-Australian). Instead, I mix with other Mediteranean-looking "ethnics" such as Greeks and Macedonians from the "worg" community. My ethnicity (i.e. Turkish) was never an issue but at the same time, I never advertised it. In view of how much Greeks hate the Turks, looking back my friendship with them was rather unusual.
When I was in my twenties, I had a fair few Armenian and Lebanese-Armenian friends although Armenians and Turks usually don't mix (for the abovementioned reason). Interestingly, when they first got to know me, they told me that I looked distinctly Armenian!! Hmmm !! [My mum is a Turk of Pontic Greek extraction, another Islamised previously Christian minority from northern Turkey. Some of her relatives still practice certain unIslamic rituals which she believes is derived from Christianity]
Anyway, there was this Armenian guy my age who I really bonded partially because I discovered that his grandfather also survived the massacres of the Armenians and escaped to Lebanon.
I did some research and only then realised the real extent of the Armenian Genocide. Although, the Turkish government still cooked up all kinds of excuses, I for one know from my grandad that the Armenian Genocide did take place. I guess what gives the Armenian Genocide a religious dimension was that Kurdish and Laz Muslims in no small numbers, participated with the Turks. Interestingly, some of the Turks who took part were allegedly villagers whose Armenian ancestors had converted to Islam. Also, the villages populated by Armenian speaking Muslims were spared [I believe all Armenian-speaking Muslims or Hemshins have been fully Turkicised now. Some sources claim that there are as 2 million Turkish Muslims of pure or mainly Armenian extraction, some of whom still acknowledge their Armenian connection]
My interest in the Armenian Genocide, led me to read about historical data on other massacres committed by Muslim armies. Although, I have never formally renounced Islam, I have to admit that the attrocities committed in the name of Islam sickens me. It's hard to practice a religion after knowing what my grandad suffered, don't you think?
The comments and articles posted on your website speak the truth!! Violence naturally flows from the teachings of Islam and attrocities are not perpetrated by a handful of misguided and confused Muslim extremists.
Although, I do not consider myself anti-Islam, I applaud Al-Mansur, Syed Kamran Mirza, fatemolla, Abul Kasem and Mughal for their works on the various aspects of Islam which are posted in the "Comments" page of the "Feedback" section of this website.
Enver (just a pseudonym)
P.S. For the Islamic apologists who attack the testimonies posted herein, please note that your comments with regards to mine is unwelcome. I am not attacking Islam ...so, for once please drop the "Islam is not violent" and "You should also look at what the Christians did" rhetoric, which I am so sick of. You can take your "Killing of Armenian Christians never happened" and shove it up your arse.
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