Today’s Zaman
Does a Turkish-Armenian like Armenia?
by
ALÝN OZÝNÝAN*
web/news-184103-109-centerdoes-a-turkish-armenian- like-armeniabr-i-by-i-bralin-oziniancenter.html
T here is no doubt that the identity-building process of
Turkish-Armenians is complicated, multidimensional and volatile; it is
also under the heavy influence of other dynamics.
The impact of the political change Turkey is going through on the
shaping of the internal dynamics of the Armenian community cannot be
ignored.
Bold, anxious, repressed or hypocritical, and most of the time
cautious and balanced, the attitudes of the different segments of
Turkish-Armenians provide important clues for understanding the
process.
During his speech at a workshop on relations between Turkey and
Armenia held by the Foundation for Political, Economic and Social
Research (SETA), sociologist Ferhat Kentel gave a few examples of
discrimination against Armenians in Turkey. At the meeting hall, an
Armenian woman (I did not have the opportunity to ask how she defined
herself, but most likely she would prefer Turk of Armenian origin as
her identity) strongly opposed Kentel’s arguments, saying: `You don’t
have the right to speak on behalf of us. We do not have any problem in
this country. You are saying we cannot become civil servants or
military officers, so what? We are happy with our current status.’ I
think this excerpt does not suffice to summarize the above statement,
but it sure makes you think about how to define the process.
I felt the same way while reading the book, `Ermenistan’da bir
Türkiyeli.’ (A Turk in Armenia) by Bercuhi Berberyan. Even though I
abandoned my intention of buying the book when I noticed its back
cover, featuring an attitude of obsession over a homeland and the
pursuit of help from others in the identification of a homeland, as
reflected in the sentence that reads, `A Turkish-Armenian who is not
considered a citizen in a place that she considers a homeland and does
not see the place considered her homeland as her home,’ I finally
decided to read about the person from Turkey who got confused after
her short stay in Armenia. While reading the travel notes from a
10-day trip in this country, it was possible for me to notice the
strong and pathological state of mind of some of the members of the
Armenian community in Turkey.
What am I doing here when I had the opportunity to lead a life in
Europe?
Armenians in Turkey rely on religion and language to preserve their
identity. The uneasiness of the Armenians after the promotion of the
Turkish language and the strong emphasis on the use of Turkish symbols
in 1950s and ’60s and the fear caused by the Armenian Secret Army for
the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) attacks took a whole different form
after the 1990s. The Armenian community came to the conclusion that
they should be supportive of Turkey’s EU bid and its democratization
in order to preserve their fundamental rights; with the spread of this
conviction, Armenians agreed to fight like authentic citizens instead
of acting like outsiders in this country. The nationalistic discourse
that gained momentum almost concurrently was accompanied by violent
actions, and this re-emerged in the chronic habit of calling
minorities foreigners. Surely, the people were enjoying a process in
which they were less scared when they call themselves Armenians. This
process was shaped by div!
erse internal and external dynamics. The murder of Hrant Dink
dramatically affected the process and caused the past fears of
repression and defeat to resurface, but the process is still alive.
Armenia’s independence during this period of fluctuations and its
promising relations with Turkey have a special place in the lives of
Turkish-Armenians even though they are not aware of it. While they
become self-confident when the president of Turkey, where they live as
citizens, pays a visit to Armenia to see a soccer game, the same fact
makes others resistant and opposed to such moves.
The book I referred to above as the author who is unable to find her
homeland and the woman who argued at the meeting that she was pretty
happy living in Turkey are simple examples of this. While the concept
of `homeland,’ a concept that we love and adore so dearly, refers to
the place where a person was born or lives, it has gained a political
dimension since 1860 in parallel to a French word, patrie. In other
words, there is no problem with calling a place where we are born,
live or ethnically belong to as homeland. That said, you may have
problems when it comes to citizens’ rights. The book in which
Berberyan publicizes her memoirs starts with her testing herself. The
suspicion outlined in the sentence, `I could have headed to Europe
with such a great amount of money; why did I choose Armenia?’
emphasizes the core theme that Armenia is not a special place for her
and the author is not attached to this country. Berberyan does not
particularly like anything about Armenia, i!
ncluding the coffee and the olives. She often misses Ýstanbul; she
misses everything about Ýstanbul. She argues that the spoken version
of the Armenian language (eastern Armenian, pretty different from the
western form) is vague and rude. She counts the days left until her
return to Ýstanbul. In the meantime, she criticizes everything about
Armenia. Actually, this style is supposed to provoke an idea of a
proper Turkish citizen in the eyes of the readers; however, I feel
pity and sorrow for her because I simply observe an effort to stress
that she is a Turkish citizen who cannot have any ties with
Armenia. It is just like what the woman said in the meeting where the
sociologist wanted to talk about the problems of an ethnic minority in
Turkey.
Anything unlike them is just wrong
Why do some Armenians hold such ideas? Do not get me wrong; they do
not renounce their Armenian identity. They just choose not to send
their kids to their community schools because they simply think that
they should act pragmatically; the Armenian language will be of no
help or use in their lives, so private school is a better option. Some
of them are not willing to see that the Armenian language is fading
away, but they are concerned about the disappearance of Native
Americans; in other words, this is a sign of general sensitivity and
all about being a world citizen. The Armenian community’s relations
with the diaspora are strained. Some of their unease is related to the
diaspora’s accusation that they have converted to Turks, but actually,
this is an accurate accusation; everything about them says they have
become just like Turks. Not holding positive sentiments about the
country to which they should be attached because of their ethnic
orientation, not speaking its languag!
e and reiterating their loyalty on every occasion to the country where
they are legally citizens actually says they are concerned about
expressing themselves accurately. Undoubtedly, everyone is free to
identify their homeland, the schools where they will study and pursue
their degrees, the languages they will speak and the newspapers they
will read; however, unfortunately, as a result of the assimilation
policy pursued by the Turkish state as well as improper modernization,
the Armenian community has come to the conclusion that everything that
is not like them is wrong and dangerous.
The twisted elitism that Berberyan is suffering from reinforces her
idea of a unique and single model of Armenian-ness. This different
Armenian just cannot stand another Armenian identity; she complains
that their language and customs have been eroded, and she presents
this as an absolute truth instead of the outcome of her subjective
approach.
True, many things in Armenia are different from what is in Turkey’s
Ýstanbul. The eastern Armenian language is different from western
Armenian. The smiles of girls that Berberyan dislikes are different
from the smiles of girls in Ýstanbul, but this is not a problem at
all. Quite the contrary, the idea suggesting that everyone should be
the same is dangerous. Armenians in Armenia bury their dead fellows to
the sound of the duduk — a regional flute-like instrument — instead
of church ceremonies. But I am sure that they are as sorry as
Turkish-Armenians when they lose a relative. This growing intolerance
reminds me of opera lovers who hate hearing folk songs, the professors
who do not admit covered students into their classes, the woman who
refused to accept an Alevi girl as her daughter-in-law, the man who
dislikes Bulgarian migrants because he feels they are not Turkish
enough and the mindset that defines the ability of people from diverse
religions and ethnic origins to li!
ve together peacefully as `tolerance.’ This small society is
excessively affected and influenced by the larger one.
*Alin Ozinian is the press representative of the Turkish-Armenian
Business Council.
16 August 2009, Sunday