THE GENERATIONS OF THE CONVERTED ARMENIANS IN EUROPE
Ruben Melkonyan
"Noravank" Foundation
17 May 2010
While studying the issue of the forcedly Islamized Armenians and their
generations new and interesting details about their geographic spread
are emerging. Particularly, the issue of generations of the Islamized
Armenians living in Europe at present is interesting and peculiar at
the same time. It is known that there is scanty information about the
current condition of the converted Armenians and if over the recent
period some data about the Islamized Armenians in Turkey emerged, there
is too little material about those living in Europe. Just recently some
foreign and Armenian authors have started referring to that issue and
presented some information which is mainly of descriptive character.
Firstly, let us turn to the issue of moving of the converted Armenians
to Europe and state that in 1950s in Europe and particularly in Germany
the necessity in cheap labour emerged and that is why the agreements
on foreign labour use with a number of countries were concluded. Such
an agreement was concluded between Germany and Turkey in 1961 which
was followed by the emigration of thousands of Turkish citizens to
Germany and later on to other European countries. As a result of
that process the Turkish community, which numbers several million
members, has been formed in Europe. According to some data among
those emigrants there were Armenians, both Christian and converted
or crypto-Armenians. The converted Armenians and their generations
have been emigrating and settling in Germany, Belgium, Holland,
Sweden, and France for decades, and today there are communities or
community-like structures of converted Armenians in those countries.
After moving to a new environment some processes and phenomena, which
are connected with the reclaiming their identity, started taking place
among the converted Armenians and their generations. The reconversion,
i.e. the re-adoption of Christianity, is the most widespread phenomena
among the converted Armenians living in Europe. And today among the
converted Armenians in Europe there are many of those who returned to
their roots. According to some sources, the reconversion, the process
of searching of their roots developed in different ways and today it
continues. Particularly, first of all, Christianity was re-adopted by
crypto-Armenians who used every occasion for that purpose. In one of
the recent issues of "Hooys" biweekly Tamar Gevonian brings a story
according to which a group of people who looked like Muslims and who
arrived to Germany from Turkey just at the customs office revealed
their identity and presented to the officials not their Muslim names
mentioned in their passports but their Armenian names. This notable
example illustrates the desire to return to their true identity,
which had been hidden for decades. As the same source mentions today
those Armenians have their own community and church in Germany.
According to different sources Armenians in Europe who reconverted to
Christianity are more zealous in the matters of religion. This also
has its psychological side, i.e. to prove to their milieu that they
are loyal to the Armeniancy. Among the Armenians who reclaimed their
identity some psychological and spiritual problems are also observed.
Some of them even visited psychologists: according to their diagnoses
the traumatic memories about the Genocide, the atmosphere of the fear
and threat, in which they had lived for decades, and the fact that
they constantly concealed their true identity had a significant and
even decisive influence on their state of mind.
Today in different cities of Germany there are groups of Armenians who
reconverted to Christianity a part of which has integrated with the
local Armenian communities and the other part facing the estrangement
of the old community continues its isolated mode of life and stays
out of community live.
Kemal Yalcin, the Turkish writer living in Germany, brings many facts
about the converted Armenians in Europe and in his letter to us he
mentions: "I know many people in Germany who adopt Christianity and
are christened at a mature age." The Head of the German Dioceses
of the Armenian Apostolic Church archbishop Garegin Bekchian also
touches upon this issue and brings some interesting facts.
According to Hamo Moskofian there is restaurant "Ani" in German
Wiesbaden where Armenians gather. In this city the Armenians who
reconverted to Christianity live too. One of them, Nureddin Gurden,
who changed his name to Simon, states that he descends from the kin
of the well-known fedayi Hrayr Djokhq.
An interesting article about the reconverted Armenians in Belgium
was presented by David Zeneian. According to him, today Kurdishized
and Kurdish-speaking Armenians who arrived from Shrnak and Silop,
reclaiming their identity, form the core of the local Armenian
community (the adherents of the Armenian Apostolic Church) and are
zealous Christians. Their children study Armenian due to which their
parents also begin learning their mother tongue. One of the founders
and the leader of the Kurdishized and Kurdish-speaking Armenians
community in Brussels Mesrop Afshar, speaking about the situation in
their motherland, mentions: "The fear and the feeling of depression
constantly accompanied us. There were many harassments but our parents
reminded us all the time that despite the loss of the language we were
Armenians". Afshar tells some detail about his mode of live which makes
it clear that they were crypto-Armenians and they secretly preserved
their Christian traditions; they secretly christened their children
with the help of the Assyrian priest, performed Christian nuptials
and funerals. In Shrnak, as well as in other places, crypto-Armenians
had two surnames – one for home and the other for the milieu. Serop
Afshar tells about that: "Among our people we were Armenians. While
baptizing we gave our children Armenian names – Sargis, Nubar, David,
Gevorg and Saro, but for the rest of the environment we were like
other townsmen. We had Kurdish surnames – Euz, Yalik, Odemish, Bircin".
It is worth noting that the serious role in saving and reclamation of
that group played the Patriarch of Istanbul Shork Galustian by whose
efforts at the middle of the 60s those splinters of the Armeniancy
began leaving Shrnak and Silop for Istanbul and then (in 1980s)
for Belgium, France, Holland.
As it was mentioned above there are also groups of reconverted
Armenians in Sweden. One of such Armenians is Suleiman Faruk, born
in Adana. Revealing his true identity he reconverted to Christianity
and changed his name to Haik Aramian. He was one of those thousands
of assimilated Armenians who lived under the cover of Turk or a Kurd.
Since childhood he had doubts about his identity. He was seeking
for his roots and in 1983 he was baptized in the Armenian Church in
Damascus, and in two years (in 1985) he moved and settled in Sweden.
While speaking about his identity he said: "Inwardly I always felt
that I am different. I could remain a Kurd but I decided to do in a
different way". Settling in Stockholm Haik Aramian married an Armenian
from Diyarbekir and called his children Masis and Ani. Children
learned and speak Armenian. The most notable is that returning to
his roots Haik Aramian tries to implant in his children the sense
of Armeniancy and with that purpose he brought them to Armenia and
Artsakh for several times. "I missed a lot and I want my children
to grow up knowing who they are. I want my son to be proud of his
Armenian descent", – he said.
Today Aramian is the active member of the Armenian community in
Sweden. It should be mentioned that part of Haik’s family stayed in
Adana, i.e. there is some concern that they may be persecuted there
but this did not keep him away from reclaiming his identity. Even
more, several years ago his brother left for Sweden and returned to
his roots changing his name to Aram.
Let us mention that those Armenians living in Europe have problems
in revealing their identity because their relatives living in Turkey
may become a target for persecutions, that’s why sometimes they do
not speak openly. There are families, which being concerned about
their relatives living in Turkey, do not speak too openly about their
identity and live double mode of life. One of such families is the
Merdjanian family which moved to Holland from Diyarbekir. Settling
in Amsterdam in 1970s they reconverted to Christianity but they
have relatives in Diyarbekir. Turkish researcher Urug Ungor mentions:
"Today when they visit their relatives in Diyarbekir during the flights
from Europe to Turkey you can be the witness of transformation from
one religion to the other. Women cover their heads just in the plane
and instead of Armenian they use Muslim names and in Diyarbekir they
behave like Muslims".
Summarizing, it should be mentioned that the study of the reconverted
Armenians living in Europe is important not only from the point of view
of the researches but it is also topical and of practical significance.
Other issues of author ON PERCEPTION OF THE ISSUE OF THE ISLAMIZED
ARMENIANS [06.04.2010] 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]