ADANA: 1909: HISTORY, MEMORY, AND IDENTITY FROM A HUNDRED YEAR PERSPECTIVE

AZG DAILY
18-11-2009

Armenian Genocide

>From Nov. 6-7, Sabanci University (Istanbul) just hosted an
international workshop entitled "Adana: 1909: History, Memory,
and Identity from a Hundred Year Perspective." The workshop included
scholars from the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Italy,
and Turkey. The event was sponsored by Gomidas Institute (London),
Sabanci University, Istanbul Bilgi University History Department, the
International Hrant Dink Foundation, and Bogazici University History
Department. A capacity audience filled the lecture theatre and included
professors, students, journalists, and members of the public. There
was simultaneous translation between English and Turkish. The papers
that were presented will be published in English and Turkish editions.

In their opening remarks, Cengiz Aktar and Ara Sarafian welcomed
the participants and pointed to new opportunities for holding such
meetings in Turkey today. They explained that the Adana 1909 workshop
was organized to mark the centennial of the Adana massacres. It began
with a call for papers in Turkish, Armenian, and English, and the
presentations at the workshop reflected the different interests of
the participants.

The first paper was an unusual one, as it was a discussion of Turks
who saved Armenians in 1909. The fact that Armenians were massacred
was a given, and the speaker presented a sensitive examination of
righteous Turkish officials who saved potential victims. The speaker
used Ottoman records to show how Ottoman Armenians petitioned the
state to recognize one such Turkish official for his role in saving
an entire community. This first paper took some of the sting out of
the workshop, where the audience could sympathize with the Armenian
victims of 1909 without vilifying "Muslims" or "Turks" as single
categories. Subsequent papers followed with the same sensitivity.

Ara Sarafian (Gomidas Institute) and Zakarya Mildanoglu (independent
researcher) discussed Armenian records related to the events of 1909.

Sarafian introduced Hagop Terzian, who published a powerful report
in 1912, on the 1909 events. Terzian included his own testimony
in Adana city, as well as the testimonies of others in smaller
communities. Sarafian argued that Terzian’s text had a certain popular
force-of-argument that challenged official accounts that tried to play
down the incidents. Sarafian quoted Terzian to stress the devastating
role of the newspaper "Itidal" in agitating and fermenting violence
against Armenians. Zakarya Mildanoglu presented the Adana massacres
through the Armenian periodical press with many illustrations from
different journals. His accounts included satire as a powerful tool to
convey what had happened to Armenians. (Mildanoglu was also responsible
for a separate exhibition of photographs depicting the Adana
massacres. These images and texts were displayed at the workshop.)

The role of American missionaries as witnesses was discussed by Lou
Ann Matossian (Cafesjian Family Foundation) and Barbara Merguerian
(Armenian International Women’s Association), with powerful papers
related to events in the cities of Adana and Tarsus. Tarsus was
also the focus of Oral Calislar, a well-known Turkish journalist who
presented the testimony of Helen Davenport Gibbons in her book Red
Rugs of Tarsus. Calislar, who has published the Turkish translation
of this work, gave a personal reflection regarding his native Tarsus.

(The Gomidas Institute has just published a critical English edition
of the Red Rugs of Tarsus.)

The reality of Armenian losses was stressed by Osman Koker, who
gave a fascinating paper on Armenian communities in Adana province,
illustrated by photographs and postcards. He included images from
Antioch, Alexandretta, Marash, Beylan, Sis, Adana, Tarsus, and
Koz Olouk.

Sait Cetinoglu (Belge Uluslararasi Yayincilik) gave a forceful
presentation on the organization and plunder of Armenian properties in
1909, while Asli Comu (Cambridge University) gave a solid paper based
on land records from the Adana region in the 1920’s. These records gave
new insights into how Armenian properties were broken up and par celled
out to Muslim refugees. The actual number of Armenian casualties during
the massacres was discussed by Fuat Dundar, who raised some questions
about the demographics of the Adana massacres based on his work on
the massacres of Abdul Hamid II and the Armenian Genocide. The fate of
Armenian orphans following the Adana massacres became a major concern
for Armenian community leaders. Nazan Maksudyan gave a moving paper
on the fate of such orphans, especially in "foreign" orphanages. One
key concern was assimilation in government-run orphanages where the
language of instruction was Turkish and not Armenian.

Each session was chaired by a senior scholar and was followed by a
discussion. The workshop thus benefited from the presence of additional
senior scholars, such as Selim Deringil, Caglar Keyder, Mete Tucay,
and Hulya Adak.

The organizers considered the workshop a success, Armenian Weekly
reported.