INSIGHTS FROM A CONVERTED ARMENIAN FAMILY IN DIYARBAKIR1
Ohan Sasunyan

s&nid=2046
06 October 2009

Diyarbakir (also known as Amed or Amida) is located in the
south-eastern part of Turkey. Its population is 1.5 million with
Kurdish majority.

Diyarbakir (also known as Amed or Amida) is located in the
south-eastern part of Turkey. Its population is 1.5 million with
Kurdish majority.

Before 1915, the Armenians had a large quarter in the city along with
an active market which was burnt to ground on the eve of the Armenian
genocide in 1915. The city was famous with St. Kirakos Church known for
its high tower bell which was seen from any part of the city. Today,
the tower bell no more exists and the church is in ruins.

The Armenians of Diyarbakir called themselves Tigranakertsi in relation
to the city of Tigranakert which was built by King Tigran the Great
and was once the capital of Armenia.

In 1915, Most of the Armenians in Diyarbakir were deported and
later massacred on the road to Deir Zor. Few survived and were able
to escape to Syria and Lebanon and start a new life. Many Armenian
orphan children were either sold as slaves to Arabs and Kurds or saved
by Kurdish families. Their names and identity were changed and their
religion became Sunni Muslim. In other cases, families as whole had
to change their religion and live secretly for many generations in
order to survive the genocide and the continued persecution in the
first decades of the Turkish Republic.

Maryam’s Family

This study focuses on a Muslim family in Diyarbakir with Armenian
roots.

The family in concern comes originally from the village of Sati
outside Diyarbakir. Sati was an Armenian village with a school and
a church. The St. Mary Church was recently converted to mosque and
called Sati Cami (1940s). The family’s grandmother was called Maryam
who was born in 1901 in Sati.

Maryam lost her family during the genocide and was given shelter by
a Kurdish family friend in the same village. Her name was changed
to Sekine and her religion to Islam. At the early age of 13, she
was forced into marriage with the family’s only son Sheikhmus. Over
the years, they had 7 children and since marriage at early age was
a tradition and sometimes a must, the 7 children formed a family of
almost 250 members after 90 years (5 generations).

It is interesting to note that Sheikhmus’s family had also Armenian
roots. His grandfather was originally from Sasun who fled to
Diyarbakir during the 1860s and converted to Islam to avoid any
further persecution from the Ottomans.

Unlike many converted families in Turkey, Sheikhmus’s new family
(2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th generations) -~V knew that their roots were
Armenian. They had heard stories from their grandmother Maryam about
her family and her village. Maryam remembered her family and school
very well and she also remembered her younger brother Harutyun who
was lost in April 1915.

During 1940-50s periods and due to the bad economic situation in the
village, the family gradually moved to Diyarbakir City but kept their
attachment to the village. Many years passed and although the family
lived in the heartland of the Kurds, they were always considered
as foreigners.

Interestingly, their Kurdish neighbors know about their past (and
about Armenians) more then what they know but the feeling of guilt
doesn’t let them speak freely. The elderly Kurds know that their
parents also took part in the Armenian genocide and are responsible
in a certain way to what happened to those converts.

Family Structure

The elderly of the family were very religious people. Praying 5 times
and fasting during Ramadan were holy duties that were observed and
respected (2). One of Maryam’s daughters even went to Mecca with her
husband for Hajj (3). She earned the title Haji (a person who has
gone to Hajj) by the family and friends.

An interesting phenomenon in the family was the role of the woman. The
head of family is usually the oldest man and since Mehmet (Sheikhmus’s
son) was dead; his wife – Badriye (68) – had become the head of
the family. Although a stranger to the family, Badriye was a highly
respected lady (4).

In Muslim families (esp. Middle east and Turkey), women are responsible
for bringing up children and taking care of the family and house but
never have authority or power for decision making. The man is the head
of the family and when he dies, his son or his brother will take over
not the wife or daughter or even his mother if she is still alive.

Badriye herself was from a family with unknown origins. When asked
about her past, she said that her father’s name was "Hayg" a rather
weird name for her environment but a purely Armenian name by all means.

One of Sheikmus’s daughters – Melike – had married a young orphan
named. Ahmet now was 67 years old and had lost most his memory. The
only two things that he remembered were that his family was from
a village near Van and his father’s nickname was "Janfida" who was
killed during the war. The man had no clue what was the name of the
village or what did that nickname mean. "Janfida" is another weird
name for that environment; it was an Armenian nickname given to those
freedom fighters (Fedayis) who were defending their villages against
the Ottoman Army and Kurdish militias (prior to 1915).

The family encourages the youngsters to marry young and have as much
children as possible. Each couple has 4-7 children with the 65 year
old Hafize breaking the family record with 9 children. In Anatolia,
it’s a great privilege for a grandmother to hold her grand child’s
grandchild – a privilege that Maryam had before dying in 1985 and a
privilege that Badriye hopes to have also.

Most of the family members had married either their cousins or
similar converts. When asked about the reason their answer was
"to keep the blood pure". Those members who had left Diyarbakir to
Istanbul or Germany had more mixed marriages with other Kurds or Turks
or Germans. Since they were away from their environment, their sense
of belonging had faded but still they kept attached to the family,
the village and the traditions.

Young Generation

Most of young members of the family identify themselves as Kurds but
when asked what Ashiret (5) they belong to; they had no answer.

One of the younger members, Ali, was excited for the Kurdish cause and
a big fan of Abdallah Ojalan. This was his school’s environment in
Yenishehir – an area of Diyarbakir well known to have full loyalty
to the Kurdish cause. However, his friends always knew that Ali
is different.

The young generation is also highly educated: Mahmoud (29) was a
graduate of the Engineering Faculty of Dicle University while his
cousin, Feryal (25), was a lawyer and a member of a local leftist
group. Another cousin Feyzo (36) was a well known physician in Dicle
Hospital.

They are mostly free minded. Alcohol was banned at home but it was a
habit to hang out with friends in coffee shops or restaurants serving
drink. Some of them drink while in public places while others prefer
indoors with close friends.

The family youngsters feel they are different then their neighboring
Kurds but the economic and political hardships unifies them against
injustice. Not all of them support the Kurdish militias in the Kandil
Mountains (6) but they don’t see any other solution as long as the
Government continues with its anti-Kurdish policies.

One of their young men, Mahmoud (age 27), invited some friends to have
a drink in an open coffee shop at one of the gates of the city. While
discussing about everyday life and politics, the issue of Ashiret was
discussed. Although all of them were supposedly Kurds, none of them
was able to identify his Ashiret. Only Adnan said clearly that his
family once was Armenian and they converted during the war. Mahmoud
was surprised to know that his life long friend Adnan was originally
Armenian. After an hour of discussion, the 10 year old friends realized
that they all have gaps in their past.

Apparently, all of them came from unknown roots. In a strange way,
they felt more comfortable to hang out together.

Environment

The views towards the central government were almost the same within
the youth of Diyarbakir. The education level was much lower then what
it is in Istanbul or Ankara. Job opportunities were scarce. Hence,
for a young man the only salvation was to move to Istanbul which
has become an overly populated city of 15 million people among which
almost 5 million are Kurds.

As a result, the youth had extreme anti-governmental feelings. Every
now and then, Diyarbakir is the scene of violent clashes between
pro-Kurdish parties and the Police or Army. The city itself is overly
crowded with Army barracks and Police stations. All these had their
deep effect on the youth of the city.

When the locals are asked about the Armenians, the answers become
unclear. In schools, they are told the official version of the
"so called Armenian Genocide" which denies that a mass murder had
occurred and accuses the Armenians of conspiring with the Russians
against the Ottoman Empire and killing millions of innocent Muslims
but with no clear explanation of where the Armenians are now.

In the mosques, the Imams are all assigned by the government. In
their Friday sermons, they sometimes mention Armenians, Greeks and
Jews as infidels and enemies of God. The Imams picture the infidels
as those people who are far from Mohammed (7) who are not clean (8)
and commit sins by selling and drinking Raki (9).

Many people in Diyarbakir consider Armenia (Ermenistan) as the land
of infidelity where people drink on the streets and girls wear very
light and open clothes – An idea that is very attractive to their
young men but strongly appalling to the old generation.

In this environment, the secret life of these Armenian converts is
explainable. They have chosen to live in low-profile and have blocked
the past as it was full of bad memories. In many cases, they have
become more religious then real Muslims in an attempt to prove their
loyalty to their environment.

Conclusion

Maryam’s family still lives in Diyarbakir. They don’t identify
themselves as Armenians but rather as Muslim Kurds with Armenian
origins. They are very close to the Kurds but more then 90 years
of coexistence couldn’t assimilate them. They are citizens of the
Turkish republic but cannot clearly identify themselves by one of the
40 ethnic groups in Turkey. Their easy way out is to say "I’m a Kurd
or I’m a Muslim"

Such families and communities that live in the dark in Turkey are
like a big dark hall whose content is still mostly unknown – a "hall"
that definitely needs deeper exploration and investigation. While many
researchers were able to look through small windows; others had the
rare chance to partially explore from the inside making this study
a possible work.

Maryam’s family along with many other converts can’t be called
Armenians because they lack the awareness of their national identity
BUT they cannot be ignored as well since it was not their choice in
the first place to become what they are right now…

Remarks

The exact site of the old city of Tigranakert is close to the town
of Silvan – 15 min away from current Diyarbakir where the old city
walls can still be seen.

Ramadan is the holy month for all Muslims in the world. It’s 30 days
of fasting and praying period followed by 3 days of holiday (Eid el
Fit). Fasting and praying are religious obligations for every Muslim.

Mecca is located in Saudi Arabia and is considered the holy city for
all Muslims. It’s an honor for any Muslim to go for Hajj at least
once in his life.

The bride (Gelin in Turkish) is considered a stranger to the family
as she comes from different family.

Ashiret is originally an Arabic word and means tribe. Before 1915, the
Kurds were identified through their Ashiret (tribe) while Armenians
were identified through their city of origin. Till today, the Kurds
identify themselves through their Ashirets scattered all over Anatolia,
Syria, Iraq and Iran while Armenians in the Diaspora still identify
themselves through their cities (Mushetsi, Vanetsi, Dikranagerdtsi,
Sasuntsi, Atanatsi…)

Kandil Mountains are located between Iraq and Turkey and they are
the main strongholds of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militia –
which is fighting the Turkish Army since the 80s.

Mohammed is the Prophet who is the founder of the religion of Islam.

In Islam, children must be circumcised at an early age. This mainly
symbolizes health and cleanliness. So for a Muslim, a non-circumcised
person is dirty and unhealthy person.

Drinking alcohol is totally forbidden in Islam and it’s considered
a great sin.

1 As it has been mentioned for many times the issue of the converted
Armenians is one of the least studied subjects in contemporary
Armenian studies, thus any step made in that direction is worth
mentioning. Guided by this logic "Noravank" Foundation presents the
article by Ohan Sasunian from the Diaspora which tells about the family
of the converted Armenians from Diarbekir. We find it necessary to
mention that the article is based on the studies made right at the
spot and personal impressions which make it even more remarkable.