Anti-Semitism in Armenia is a Result of Hate against Israeli-Turkish
Cooperation
The Journal of Turkish Weekly, April 22, 2005
Armenia’s tiny Jewish community has grown seriously concerned by what it
says is mounting anti-Semitism in the South Caucasus country. The issue
has growth over the past year amid a rise in anti-Jewish propaganda in
Yerevan. The government has so far done little to address the Jewish
community’s concerns.
Armenian Aryan Union Armen Avetisian in a interview in Iravunk alleged
that there are as many as 50,000 “disguised” Jews in Armenia, and
promised he would work to have them expelled from the country. He was
arrested on 24 January on charges of inciting ethnic hatred, however he
is no exception in Armenian society.
Davut Sahiner says “anti-Semitism is an old Armenian disease. However
has increased in the recent years as a result of Turkey-Israel
co-operation”.
According to Sahiner, Armenians did not like Jews during the Ottoman
Empire and they made co-operation with Greeks against the Ottoman Jews.
Sahiner further argues that armed Armenians not only killed the Muslim
Ottomans but also killed many Jewish in Eastern Anatolia. “In Hakkari
for instance armed Armenian militants destroyed the Jewish district and
killed many” added Dr. Davut Sahiner.
Dr. Nilgun Gulcan on the other hand says the anti-Semitism reached its
peak during the Second World War among the Armenians: “The Nazis
established an Armenian brigade to destroy the Jews. The Armenians
sought an independent country in the Caucasus and they did co-operation
with the Nazis.”
The Karabakh Jewish experience is the most vivid one to understand the
level the anti-Semitism reached in modern Armenia. Steve Sterdlow says
the number of Jews in Karabakh has decreased to 30, and the Karabakh
which was a paradise for the Jews during the Azerbaijaini rule, became a
‘hell’:
“The 30 Jews left in Nagorny Karabakh find themselves trapped in a
society which regards them with growing suspicion
For the tiny Jewish community in Nagorny Karabakh, paradise has been
lost irretrievably.
During the Soviet period, the Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan enjoyed a
reputation as a haven of ethnic and religious tolerance. Thousands of
Jews from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus flocked there in a bid to escape
the anti-Semitism endemic in Soviet society.
But the aftermath of the six-year war has ushered in a new era of
chauvinism and intolerance to non-Armenians living in Nagorny Karabakh.
And the Jewish community has dwindled to just 30 people.” (Steve
Sterdlow, “The Forgotten Jews of Karabakh”, IWPR, 4 June 2001).
Dr. Gulcan says “the tiny Jewish community pays the cost of
Turkish-Israeli co-operation in the region. Israel has good relations
with Turkey and Azerbaijan and Armenia has always been close to
anti-Israeli forces in the region.”
According to Dr. Gulcan minorities have always faced serious
discrimination in
Armenia:
“Armenia occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijani territories. After the war,
no Azerbaijani left in Armenia. All were killed or deported, while
Azerbaijan allowed a strong Armenian minority in its country. Similarly
there is a 100,000 Armenian community in Turkey, and many Armenians go
to Turkey to work.”
Copyright 2005 The Journal of Turkish Weekly