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CENGİZ AKTAR
The Anatolian Diaspora
Friday, April 16, 2010
On the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan looked for a remedy on the fate of the normalization protocols Turkey signed with Armenia last fall. Well, since he is the main cause of the problem when it comes to the current situation regarding the protocols, he is supposed to find the solution. But this is not an easy task for him as first and foremost he needs to change his references.
I have underlined before: The notions and concepts regarding the Armenian question and those used by Turkish politicians should be reassessed thoroughly. One of these notions is the “Armenian diaspora” of which sizable numbers are settled in the United States.
Next week is the 95th anniversary of an event in which 200 leading figures of the Ottoman-Armenian community were seized in Istanbul and deported. April 24, 1915, is the symbolic day of the removal of Armenians from these lands and the formation of a diaspora by the survivors.
The word “diaspora” has a negative connotation in Turkish so much that it cannot be used, for instance, for over a million Turkish-descent Germans who have become a genuine diaspora in Germany after being granted naturalization and citizenship rights. The diaspora, in official language, is the name of a group which is known as the eternal enemy of Turkey.
With Turkey’s brand-new Armenian policy, the diaspora is treated like a center of mischief causing trouble for “poor” Armenia and “reasonable” Turkish Armenians living in Turkey. For instance, the reason behind Erdoğan’s threat to deport Armenians from Armenia who try to earn their bread in Turkey is the approval of “genocide” bills that are forced by the diaspora in the United States and Sweden.
He does this without questioning a second how approximately 10,000 Armenian-descent Swedes could have had this bill passed – just like in Lithuania, Poland and Slovakia where hardly any meaningful Armenian community lives.
This “evil” diaspora is, in fact, perceived as the unique obstacle in front of Armenia who is looking for peace with Turkey. Turkey’s Armenian policy is based on this black-and-white world.
Grandchildren of our countrymen
This notion now needs a re-formatting. First of all, we have to know that the most effective and most bitter members of the diaspora who speak up the most are the grandchildren of Armenians who survived the deportation a century ago or who were saved by their compassionate neighbors from the massacres.
If not assimilated, these people speak Western Armenian and sometimes Turkish. They mostly live in Armenia, France, North and South America and the Middle East. The total Armenian population in the world is around 9 million, one-third of which lives in Armenia. The biggest group outside Armenia is composed of 2 million who are in Russia. Armenians of Anatolian origin form the other big group with 2 million people.
The integration of Armenians in their new home countries was far from easy. Let’s not forget that they were overwhelmingly Anatolian peasants. But they rapidly adapted to the countries to which they moved.
There were different waves of migration. Around 1915, during and after, Armenians were forcefully removed from Anatolia, most of whom lost their lives. During the establishment period of the Republic, there were left only 300,000 Armenians in Turkey. Today, the Armenian population in Turkey is estimated to be about 50,000-60,000. Following the Grand Catastrophe, the Turkish government found it possibly inappropriate for them to remain in Anatolia.
As an example of the incentive for the remaining Armenians to leave, the Armenian church which remained in the Black Sea province of Ordu was demolished in 1927 by the order of the government of the time and the Armenian congregation had to immigrate. As a matter of fact, immigration continued all through the republican era though it ramped up in difficult periods.
In the aftermath of the 1915, Armenians of Anatolia left with their institutions whereas properties remained behind. Figures for the institutions are as follows: There were 2,500 churches and 2,000 schools before 1915; today there are only 43 churches and 18 schools. The Ottoman Armenian political parties Dashnak, Hınchak, Ramvagar, as well as the Kozan (Sis) Patriarchate still exist today but out of Turkey. Their differences of opinion remain as well.
For instance, not all Armenians think alike when it comes to the protocols. The Armenian General Benevolent Union, or AGBU, in service since 1906 and established in Ottoman lands with branches all over the world, is one of them. The AGBU Executive Board published a communiqué on Sept. 14, 2009, in support of the protocols. The communiqué was saying that the implementation of the protocols is a remarkable moment in the history of Armenia, the Armenian World and Turkish-Armenian relations. After that, together with the AGBU, three leading Armenian groups in the U.S., the Armenian Western and Eastern Dioceses, the Armenian Assembly of America and the Knights of Vartan, announced their support to the Armenian government in a joint statement published on Oct. 1, 2009.
Today, the Anatolian Armenian diaspora speaks out and speaks differently from the first generation who survived. They are also curious and have various expectations. Some want to visit the graveyard of their ancestors, some want to find the location of their properties, and some are after their relatives who had to convert to Islam. Some celebrate cheerfully in Los Angeles the championship of their favorite Turkish football team yet some demand the return of their ownership rights. Some hate Turks and some have broken the taboo and travel to Turkey. But most are thinking about Turkey and look for justice.
It is totally unrealistic for Turkey’s Armenian policy to overlook the Anatolian Diaspora in the search for normalization and a solution. We know that the minister of foreign affairs, Ahmet Davutoğlu, is becoming aware of that fact. Maybe one day, a Turkish prime minister during a visit to U.S. will meet also with representatives of Anatolian Armenian diaspora there to listen.
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