ON MUTUAL PERCEPTION OF ARMENIANS IN TURKEY
Ruben Melkonyan

09 February 2009
"Noravank" Foundation

The problem of mutual perception of different groups of the Armenians
becomes of vital importance today but this time on the grounds of
the Armenians in Turkey. The issue of the Armenians who were forced
to convert their religion (i.e. who were Islamized) in Turkey has
become the subject of wide speculations in scientific and analytical
circles of Armenia quite recently. This unknown and veiled problem
causes ambiguous reactions. First of all there is an objective problem
of lack of information, which gradually vanishes and this generates
both questions and answers. Thus the contradictive evaluations (from
unreasonably optimistic to nihilistic), which were caused by this
problem may be regarded as quite regular.

The facts show that the issue of mutual perception of different
groups of the Armenians is rather vital even for Armenian community
of Istanbul.

Taking into consideration the fact that Christian Istanbul-Armenians
associate more with different groups of the converted Armenians in
Turkey and their successors lower we shall try to turn to different
elements of their mutual perception.

It should be mentioned that the Armenian community of Istanbul,
which is mainly guided by different stereotypes and commonplaces,
is not inclined to associate with the Armenians from other groups,
which are different from them. Armenia ns from the RA are no exception
either. They are mostly regarded (perceived) by the Armenians of
Istanbul as "strangers" or "aliens". The growth of the number of
articles and publications is the evidence of the topicality of
the problem of mutual perception of the Armenians in Turkey and
Istanbul-Armenians who are on different stages of estrangement.

Thus Istanbul-Armenian journalist of "Akos" daily Bagrat Esdugyan
has been turning to that problem rather often recently. And here
we find it necessary to make rather extended quotations from his
articles. Because, being a member of Armenian community in Istanbul,
he could present the matter impartially, from constructive positions
and, which is most important, "from within": "One of the main issues,
which are on the agenda in Turkey now, is the issue of national
identity. Many prejudiced ideas, opinions and even statements
fall to the ground today. Till recent times the authorities have
liked to believe that 99.9% of the population of the country is
Muslims. Armenian community in the country seems to think the same
way. Or it does not realize that there are also other Armenians in
this country and it does not want to hear about them. There is no
place in our narrow-minded perception for the Armenian who is not
a Christian (underlined by us – R. M.). Till recent times we could
go on not calling Armenian the one wh o did not speak Armenian. And
today we do not want to hear of those whose way of life differs
from our philistine traditions. But there are such people. There are
Armenians who hold on their national identity, ignoring their religious
affiliation. There are Christians who cling to their faith without
realizing their national identity. There are Armenian-speaking people
who only now disclose the national identity of their ancestors. Some of
them occurred in the regions inhabited by Kurds and Kurdishized. The
others stayed in the regions inhabited by Turks and Turkishized. And
the third group is the Armenians who seeking for their roots come to
our church.

But are the doors of church open before them? What is the answer
an Armenian from province receives from the priest when he asks to
christen him, to carry out wedding ceremony or funeral?"

By the way, Bagrad Esdugyan talked on that subject in the interview
with Armenian internet-site "Hetq" (the Association of Investigating
Armenian Journalists"): "When we speak of Armenian community in
Turkey we mean Istanbul Armenian community. And we speak of Istanbul
Armenian community we mean a kind of philistine way of life. And
that philistine, narrow-minded way of life wants to see Armenians
who are just like them. I.e. an Armenian has to live in some distinct
districts, to go to the island in summer and visit church with some
frequency. And an Armenian should keep himself within some definite
bounds set by the majority of those who live in the city. An Armenian
who does not fit with this mode of life will arouse suspicion and
will be disdained. This group may include either those who live in
the RA or those who have lived out of Istanbul for a long time and
preserved their identity or lost it but now try to realize it.

Those Armenians cannot be integrated with Armenian community of
Istanbul either.

It should be mentioned that the same situation can be also met in
Europe where they have a number of obstacles determined by language,
social and other differences between Armenians who have re-converted
their faith (i.e. who re-converted Christianity) or who are on their
way to do that and those who have not converted their faith, and this
causes estrangement among people.

There is no doubt that Armenian Apostolic Church has a lot to do in
the issue of correct perception and integration of crypto- or Islamized
Armenians (especially those who want to re-convert Christianity). And
the uncharitable attitude of Armenian Patriarchate of Istanbul towards
the Armenians (and this may be conditioned by different facts, such as
prudence, the restrictions applied by Turkish government and also by
the possible danger of avaricious intentions) who want to re-convert
Christianity is reprehensible.

It is obvious that in the discourse of the Armenians of Istanbul the
=0 D question "Who is an Armenian?" is pointed out. And Bagrat Esdugyan
has also touched over that issue on the pages of "Akos" daily: "Indeed,
who is an Armenian? What do we understand saying "Armenian"? E.g. what
do we, the Armenians of Istanbul expect from the Armenians? Is it
possible that an Armenian does not speak Armenian? Life has shown
that it is possible. Do the Armenians living in Armenia accept those
who do not speak Armenian as an Armenian? Who knows, may be they do.

And can an Armenian be non-Christian? Can we imagine a man who has
converted Islam saying that he is an Armenian? It occurs that it
is possible. On the next day after the murder of Dink we had been
on guard by the entrance of the office of "Akos" daily, i.e. people
from "Sayat-Nova", guys from "Kartesh Turkiler", youth from "Tostlar
Gorozu", and dozens of Sasunians. That night we saw Muslim Armenians
who came to pay a tribute to the greatest martyr of our days Hrant
Dink. We saw that this is possible too". The author of the article
confirms the idea, which was presented by us repeatedly that the
adequate perception of crypto- or Islamized Armenians and their
successors in Turkey, the specification of the attitude toward them is
possible only after comprehensive acknowledgment and understanding of
that issue. One can see that Esdugyan approaches to the issue of the
perception of estranged Armenians in Turkey on behalf of the Armenians
from the RA with the unveiled caution and preconception which are
justly based on our "inexperience", i.e. lack of awareness concerning
that issue as compared with them. Esdugyan also indirectly accepts that
Istanbul-Armenians today have a problem of recognition of the Armenians
who live in province and who are on different stages of estrangement,
as they do not know the whole matter profoundly. "Who did know about
20 thousand Armenians of Adiyaman twenty years ago? Two years ago our
community got acquainted with that province, because several dozens
of pupils came to our national high schools. Is our country a place
where are a lot of crypto-Armenians or those who has lost their roots?

We find that the issue of the perception of the Islamized Armenians
and their successors on behalf of the Turks, the Kurds or in one
word Muslims surrounding them is not of a minor importance and it is
noteworthy. It is not a secret that in Turkey the converted Armenians
were not regarded as "true Muslims" either on state or on social
levels, and today that approach has not changed. There are a lot of
facts showing the foregoing. It is enough to mention the fact that
there were some sanctions imposed by the republican Turkey on state
level against Islamized Armenians. The Islamized Armenians accept that
even a fter their faith conversion their milieu does not regard them
as true Muslims and they are always labeled as "gyavur" of "denme"
(converted). E.g. the converted Armenian 85-years old Sasunian
Zeynep Iylmaz who is believed to be a faithful Muslim (even more
Muslim than her Muslim husband) says: "We were Armenians and now we
are Muslims but when occasion offers Muslims always say "You are the
Armenians". We cannot get rid of it". Turning to that matter Bagrat
Esdugyan mentions that Muslims still regard Islamized Armenians and
their successors as Armenians. "Muslim never accept them, they say
"this is gyavur village". Such an attitude has not changed and has
been passed on from generation to generation".

It would be interesting to know the opinion of Turkish nationalists
concerning the question "Who is a Turk?" and to see in the same
context the way they treat non-Turks who are on different stages of
estrangement. Thus one of the pioneers of pan-Turkism Nihal Atsz
(1905-1975) answered the question "Who is a Turk?" in his article
"Turkish race = Turkish nation" published in 1934 in "Orqun" magazine
saying: "For the Turks the issue of nation is first of all the issue
of blood. Thus the one who say that he is a Turk must be from the
Turkish kin.

The one of the other blood even if he does not know any other language
but for Turkish cannot be a Turk".

Summing up all what was said above we should mention that we must have
a differentiated approach and, which is most important expectations
from various groups of Islamized Armenians. The attempts and the
aspiration of crypto-Armenians to re-integrate Armeniacy must be
awarded our positive attitude. It is necessary to get over the
differences between us, which have occurred due to the objective
reasons.

There are different occurrences to be noticed among Islamized Armenians
and their successors from mixed marriages: some of them, as we have
already told, are proud of their Armenian descent and begin to treat
it in special way, the others try to ignore this, thus not to be
labeled as "gyavur" or "enemy-Armenian", and the third part feels
hostility towards the Christian Armenians (and this is conditioned
by some psychological reasons too).

Of course it is said that we can often see that the estranged
successors of Islamized Armenians have some deformed or "corrupted"
human features characteristic of our nation, of the Armenian
anthropological type. Anyway we should realize that there are people
who have an Armenian descent and those who want to learn more about
it. That is why we must not deny the existence of the Islamized
Armenians and their successors and quite the contrary; we must find
some common edges to associate with them.