Gomidas Institute Lecture in London: Rediscovering Bardizag

[chinchilla]

THE LOST ARMENIAN COMMUNITIES OF OTTOMAN TURKEY

REDISCOVERING ARMENIAN BARDIZAG (BAHCHEJIK) IN WESTERN TURKEY

INVITATION

27 January 2008, 3:00 pm
Armenian House, 25 Cheniston Gardens, London W8
London, England

Nearest tube High Street Kensington

For more information please write to Roland Mnatsakanyan
at [email protected] or telephone 020 7603 7242

Entrance is free. Light refreshments will be provided. RSVP.

Ara Melkonian is a Fellow at the Gomidas Institute, London, where he specializes in Armenian-English translations and works on other special projects. His recent work includes translations of Vahram Dadrian’s Forsaken Love (Taderon Press, 2006) and Raffi’s Tajkahayk, (Taderon Press, 2007). He just began a database series on Armenian Orphans in the Aftermath of WWI. He is the author of “Memory Faultlines” which appeared in the July 2006 issue of Ancestors, the journal of the British National Archives.

http://www.gomidas.org/events/27January2008invitation.htm

[chinchilla]

Anyone going to attend? Steph?

[Steph]

Anyone going to attend? Steph?

Are you?
Perhaps we could hold hands at the back!

[bell-the-cat]

Some info missed from the OP.

From Gomidas Institute UK


THE LOST ARMENIAN COMMUNITIES OF OTTOMAN TURKEY

REDISCOVERING ARMENIAN BARDIZAG (BAHCHEJIK) IN WESTERN TURKEY


This presentation by Ara Melkonian is the first in our new series, "The Lost Armenian Communities of Ottoman Turkey." Melkonian will use a rich tapestry of sources to visit Bardizag, the ancestral village of his family, in western Turkey. He will recall the memory of his village for a new generation of Armenians to connect with their ancestral past. Melkonian’s work is creative, meaningful and relevant – and it is our contribution to this year’s United Kingdom Annual Commemoration of Holocaust Memorial Day 2008.

And the lecture in English.

[chinchilla]

The lecture: http://www.gomidas.org/events/Revisi...anBardizag.htm

[chinchilla]

The lecture: http://www.gomidas.org/events/Revisi...anBardizag.htm

I just finished reading it.

Although, to my knowledge, I don't have any Bardizagian ancestry, I read it with a strong sense of longing. Longing for something that is no longer there and with an imagination of what could have been if it were. I wish I could spend a day within this erased community, just to see what it was like.

I also learned about the existence of Laz Armenians from the lecture. I used to think all Laz were of Georgian ethnicity, which separated them from the Hemshin. But it must be a strictly regional and cultural community, since Melkonian distinguishes them from Gurdji (Georgian) Muslims. I'm guessing these folk are now Turks.

What a great initiative from the Gomidas Institute. I hope another "Lost Communities" lecture is held (and posted on the internet) soon.

[ardakilic]

I also learned about the existence of Laz Armenians from the lecture. I used to think all Laz were of Georgian ethnicity, which separated them from the Hemshin. But it must be a strictly regional and cultural community, since Melkonian distinguishes them from Gurdji (Georgian) Muslims. I'm guessing these folk are now Turks.

Laz people is distinct ethnical and indigenous people of Anatolia. They are different from Georgian Muslims, Hemshins and Megrels.

It is estimated about 100 000 Lazuri (they call themselves as Lazuri) people live in Turkey, predominantly in Lazistan (Artvin, Trebizond and Rize). The name Lazistan is banned in 1926 but Laz people try to protect their language and culture. Their language can be considered close to Greek and also in Lazistan there are Muslim Greeks though very few.

[Gavur]

I believe they are not indigeounos,they were moved there.

[ardakilic]

I believe they are not indigeounos,they were moved there.

As far as i know, they are indigenous.

Laz word is firstly used by Plinius's Naturalis Historia (AD 1st century). And between BC 150-AD 600, they estalished Lazika Kingdom between Trebizond and Abhazia.

[Gavur]

Seems like were both right 2 categories of Laz in Turkey one is indigenous the other moved to Turkey escaping Russian expension .