ON PERCEPTION OF THE ISSUE OF THE ISLAMIZED ARMENIANS

"Noravank" Foundation
06 April 2010

Ruben Melkonyan

Alongside with the stirring up the study of the issue of the Islamized
Armenians the following question has also appeared before the
scholastic discourse in Armenia: Do we have to preference to ethnicity
or religious stripe while identifying the Armenian? We very often
incline to believe that only a Christian can be considered an Armenian
and, correspondingly, the idea of the Armenian of other religion or
converted Armenian has been excluded. Meanwhile, the existence of the
Islamized Armenians and their generations is a fact and it will be at
least unfair to ignore people who preserved the memory of their
Armenian decent while passing through various troubles. In this issue
both unreasonably negative and irrelevantly optimistic estimates are
reprehensible. We should be guided not by the desirable but by the
reality which was imposed to us. And the reality is that there is a
stratum of the Armenians or the people of the Armenian decent who are
outwardly or truly Muslims.

Particularly, in the intra-Armenian discourse the issue of the term is
discussed, whether it is right to say `Muslim Armenian’. The main
argument is that Armenian must be Apostolic Christian and those who
are not Apostolic Christians are not Armenians or they are Armenians
with some provisos. We find it necessary to mention that though the
Armenian Apostolic Church played very important and unique role in the
history of our nation and identity, but the ethnicity and religious
stripe are, nevertheless, different and we were Armenians even before
301. Raffi, who was one of the broad-minded persons in this issue,
while speaking about the religious or confessional unity mentioned:
The variety of the confessions does not annihilate the national unity;
we should seek for the unity in the harmony of those parts and its
main motive should be the nationalism in its highest sense.

Being a realist Raffi offers to stick to the tactics which derives
from the existing realities and not to pass the desirable for reality.
It is very painful to see the part of the Armenians in Turkey
separated from the rest of the nation due to the religion. But as it
is a historically formed reality it means that we have to look for the
ways for consolidation and not to expand the gap. To continue to
propagate with musty nationalism the trite theme saying that we are a
religious nation, that our nationality is identified through our
church, that those who are not Apostolic Christians cannot be
considered Armenians and etc. May be there was a day we needed such
propagations but today they are rather outdated.

Not religious but the national identity can be a basis for the
national consolidation and in this regard Raffi said: `Catholicism,
Protestantism and even Islam do not deprive the Armenian of being an
Armenian and the adherence to the Apostolic Church do not entitle us
to be Armenians. We consider the enemy of our nation those
short-sighted nationalists who do not recognize any other Armenian but
the Apostolic one’.

The well-known writer Levon Shant, touching on that issue, also
mentioned that being important, however, religion cannot be the
connection which `would part the people’, because it happened that
different parts of the same nation belonged to different churches.
Summarizing his recollections on that issue Shant comes to the
conclusion: `One people differs from the other by its national
identity and different segments of the nation and individuals are
connected with each other by the national deeds’.

In our opinion, while dealing with this issue we should hold to two
approaches – the long-term and short-term. Our long-term purpose is
the returning of the Islamized Armenians to their roots where the
Apostolic Christianity takes important place and at present while
communicating with them we should adhere to more flexible policy and
to take them as they are. Besides, the adoption of Islam was temporary
and they aimed to reconvert to Christianity at the first opportunity,
simply to some of them circumstances allowed doing it and to some did
not. E.g. Ervand Otyan surviving after the deportation and reaching
somehow Arab vilayets, particularly Hamai, had to renounce and to
adopt Islam. He even changed his name and became Aziz Nouri, but as he
confessed `nobody seriously considered us as Muslims’.

It is much spoken about the threats that, e.g. Islamized Armenians
will come to Armenia and open here the mosques. Firstly, let us say
that we are not going to move those people to Armenia because they
mostly live in their historical motherland and they do not want to
leave it. During our conversations with them when we said that they
did not stand by their faith they argued that they remained loyal to
their land. Thus we all need to communicate with each other because
our essence has been distorted somehow, in one case, because of the
loss of the motherland, in the other case, because of the loss of
religion. Studying the Islamized Armenians we also aim to restore our
distorted identity because they stayed at the part of our motherland
which has been lost for us, they have visited and visit secretly our
desecrated sanctuaries… The consciousness of that distortedness can
also be found among the converted Armenians. Particularly, when we
were walking around Yerevan with one of the Islamized Hamsheni
Armenians from Turkey he entered into conversation with passing woman
and when he mentioned that he is from Turkey, that woman said: `What a
pity that our lands stayed there’ on what he answered `Don’t worry
mother, we are still there. We are not like we have to be but we are
still there’.

The issue of the apostate Armenians is also important in the context
of specifying the exact resources of the Armenians. An orientslist and
historian Ara Papyan writes: `Not overestimating the role and
importance of the Armenians speaking other languages or Armenians of
other religion or confession it is necessary, however, to underline
their significance in the context of lobbying the interests of the
Armenian statehood and their inclusion in some programmes under the
favourable conditions. Any state, no matter how powerful it is, needs
friendly groups in other states. The USSR made it by establishing
communist parties, Americans make it disseminating mass culture and we
can do that with the help of the Armenians spread all over the world
and through the revival of the Armeniancy.

The viewpoints that the Islamized Armenians and their generations do
not want to preserve their language, culture and ethnicity do not
square with reality, to say the least, and the facts of marriages
inside the communities, the searching of the roots and other processes
refute those viewpoints, at least partially.

Or, they say to mention one example when the Islamized Armenian took
part in the Armenian liberation movement and they answer the question
at once: `There are no such examples’. Or `There are no examples when
the Muslim Armenian at the crucial moment realized his national
identity’. In order to avoid senseless discussion let us bring a
couple of examples when the Islamized Armenian participated actively
in the Armenian liberation movement or in other issues regarding
Armenians. Particularly, teacher Avetis, from the village of Bulamiz
of Taron, was a member of the Armenian revolutionary struggle at the
end of the 19th century and due to this he was arrested and put to
torture. Being unable to stand the torments, Avetis converted to Islam
and even more, became a policeman and held a high position, becoming
`bas komiser Mehmed Efendi’, i.e. the chief commissar. He outwardly
became the enemy of the Armenians and used all his leverages to
struggle against them. The important episodes of his secret life were
told by Rouben Ter-Minasian who collaborated with `bas komiser Mehmed’
at different stages of the revolutionary struggle. While speaking
about the apostate Avetis Rouben wrote: `Outwardly he was a Muslim but
he remained a Christian. His wife and sons also were fervent
Christians’. A. Astvatsatrian wrote an article about Mehmed Efendi in
`Hayreniq’ magazine. He wrote that it was a great tragedy for Mehmed
Efendi because he continued being fervent Muslim for his surroundings
and at nights he preyed in a secret church made at his house: `The
real life of this unhappy family was at nights’. Rouben Ter-Minasyan,
speaking about the pro-Armenian activity of Mehmed Efendi and his
outwardly anti-Armenian image, wrote: `That lie, however, was honest;
that was a forced disguise. Under the police uniform of Mehmed Efendi
the same freedom-loving, patriotic and revolutionary Armenian was
hidden’. Sometimes Mehmed Efendi fall under the suspicion, but he went
on serving truly to the Armeniancy choosing that tactics. Later on
Mehmed Efendi moved to Istanbul and the most interesting is that
through Patriarch Zaven he christened his children thus reconverting
to Christianity, while he remained Muslim till the end of his days.

There are some facts regarding the Islamized Armenians in
archimandrite Grigorios Balakian’s book and it is remarkable that
Armenian clergyman described how the outwardly converted Armenians
tried to help deported Armenians. In the chapter entitled `The
selflessness of the Islamized Armenian women of Cesaria’ he describes
how forcibly Islamized Armenian women fetched necessary food to the
strings of the deported people thus endangering their own lives.

There were also the cases when Hamsheni Muslims saved their Christian
brothers during the Genocide. Hovakim Hovakimyan in his `History of
Armenian Pontos’ wrote: `During the Genocide Muslim Armenians mostly
helped those Armenians who found shelter in the mountains’.

The categorical, denying statements in the address of forcibly
Islamized Armenians jeopardize the revival of the Islamized Armenians
and there are already the first `results’. Particularly, the director
of `Hamshen’ center in Krasnodar Tigran Tavadyan while speaking about
the Islamized Hamsheni Armenians who emigrated from the Central Asia
to Krasnodar and their revival said: `Saying `there is mo Islamized
Armenian’ we impede the work which should be carried out with the
Islamized Armenian’.

Summing up, we would like to quote from the article published in 1969
in the official newspaper of the Armenians Evangelistic Church
`Banber’ where it is written about our obligations towards the
assimilated Armenians. The author of the article Paggalian calls to
the action saying: `Today we have an occasion and opportunity to help
them. If we miss this chance too, one day the Lord will ask us: `Where
is your brother…?’

Other issues of author

ATTITUDE OF THE ARMENIAN PATRIARCHATE IN INSTANBUL TOWARDS THE ISSUE
OF THE FORCIBLY ISLAMIZED ARMENIANS [09.03.2010]
ON THE TOPICAL ISSUES OF ARMENIAN COMMUNITY IN ISTANBUL [22.02.2010]
ON THE MANIFESTATION OF TURKISH STATE POLICY IN REGARD TO THE
ARMENIANS [30.11.2009]
TURKISHIZING OF THE PLACE NAMES IN THE REPUBLICAN TURKEY [29.10.2009]
ON THE MANIFESTATION OF ARMENIAN DESCENT IN TURKEY [27.04.2009]
ON ARMENIAN ORIENTATION OF ERGENEKON [31.03.2009]
PROBLEM OF ETHNIC ORIGIN ON THE POLITICAL AGENDA IN TURKEY [05.03.2009]