Kayseri, Pinarbasi, Gergeme

[Gergeme]

I have been trying to find information about Pinarbasi and especially for the village called "Gergeme". Once Armenian and Greeks lived there. A georgious place used to be as I can remember. I have seen some pictures lately, totally deserted, no one lives anymore but the ancient houses still intact. The church at the top of the cliff, in the middle of a heavenly green acres and water all around seems to be still there.

 

The famous Architect "Mimar Sinan" lived there before he was converted to islam and went to Istanbul. The village is a thousand plus year old.

 

I am trying to find historical information, pictures, people who knows about the place. We want to do do something about it before it disappears from the face of the earth.

 

Any one who can direct me to the sites, organizations, libraries etc from where I can get information will be doing a great thing for the history.

 

Thanks

[Stormig]

I kiss you.

Sorry, I'm in a goofy mood from reading this: http://hyeforum.com/index.php?showtopic=93...ndpost&p=102926

 

Where are you from? It's best to visit the place itself and talk around a bit.

[Gergeme]

"to visit the place and talk about it?"..

 

I will be visiting in a few months, with an architect friend of mine. I only need historical data thru which I am planning to find out the "family" of original residents.

 

I don't really need "wise ..." comments, but simple but historically beneficial help.

 

Village is close the village where Elia Kazan's was born and spent his childhood.

Later it became a village of " "Buniyan", "Tezkiretu'l Bunyan" or "Bunyan-i Hamid " which was also detached from Sivas in 1331 and given to Kayseri independent sancak.

 

Anyone's help with some "input" shall greatly be appreciated.

 

Thanks

[Nakharar]

I will be going to the Cappadocia region this August through Kayseri. I have no knowledge or interest about Kayseri. I will use it as a transit point only. You have to ask local people or try to get as much information about it in relevant sites. People on this site won't be much help.

 

All the Best,

 

Daron

[vava]

People on this site won't be much help.

I would disagree. I myself have no knowledge of this region in particular, nor it's history, however i'm sure some of our members would be quite willing to share their knowledge.

 

Gergeme, welcome to Hye Forum. I think you may have mistaken Stormig's humour for a wisecrack. (and I believe she meant Walk around a bit). Hope you stay and post while.

[Nakharar]

No, no don't get me wrong. I didn't mean it in a condescending way nor was I referring to anyone. I doubt that anyone could be of much help for his request. I would be delighted if I am proven wrong and that someone could provide him with all the necessary info.

[Arpa]

I have been trying to find information about Pinarbasi and especially for the village called "Gergeme". Once Armenian and Greeks lived there. A georgious place used to be as I can remember. I have seen some pictures lately, totally deserted, no one lives anymore but the ancient houses still intact. The church at the top of the cliff, in the middle of a heavenly green acres and water all around seems to be still there.

Gergeme does not appear on any map. Pinarbasi and Bunyan do.

Is it now known by another name?

The internet yileds a few sites in reponse to "gergeme", one is in Turkish and it is in reference to Sinan, and it does corroborate the Armenian assertion that he had written to the Sultan to spare his family from displacement and harm. Of course the Turks will deny his Armenian origin just a the site ignores that aspect. The other sites are in Greek, I don't read Greek do you?

Armenian sourcses do not mention Gergeme except that it is known that Sinan was born in the town of Aghrnas (not much info about it either). I wonder if Aghrnas and Gregeme are somehow the same.

Btw. Are you Greek or Pontian?

[bellthecat]

Gergeme does not appear on any map. Pinarbasi and Bunyan do.

Is it now known by another name?

The internet yileds a few sites in reponse to "gergeme", one is in Turkish and it is in reference to Sinan, and it does corroborate the Armenian assertion that he had written to the Sultan to spare his family from displacement and harm. Of course the Turks will deny his Armenian origin just a the site ignores that aspect. The other sites are in Greek, I don't read Greek do you?

Armenian sourcses do not mention Gergeme except that it is known that Sinan was born in the town of Aghrnas (not much info about it either). I wonder if Aghrnas and Gregeme are somehow the same.

Btw. Are you Greek or Pontian?

I thought that the generally accepted place of Sinans birth is now called Mimarsinan?

 

There is a place very near to it that was called, I thınk, Germir in the 19th century. Which sounds a bit like Gergeme. Sorry - I do not have access to any maps at the moment but I will check for the name on a 1930s map later tonight.

 

There is a big derelict Greek church in Germir, beside a clıff, so it probably was a Greek village (there were several in the region). I might visit it again this month.

My visit there last year was not pleasant - but even paradise would be an unpleasant place if you had to have a person like Thoth or his cousin with you.

[Stormig]

Gergeme, welcome to Hye Forum. I think you may have mistaken Stormig's humour for a wisecrack. (and I believe she meant Walk around a bit). Hope you stay and post while.

Actually, I did mean talk, but walk would be better or at the least complementary. Thank you, Vava. And, yes, Gergeme, please don't be offended.

BTW, is this Pinarbasi indeed in the province of Kayseri? Reason why I ask is because I thought it was part of Sivas, unless there are two.

 

Arpa, I expect Gergeme is not Greek but Turkish judging from his writing "sancak" and not "sanjak," and a coupla other things.

[Stormig]

Nakharar, anything of Armenian interest in Cappadocia?

[Nakharar]

I don't know. All I know is that they have underground churches and cities there from the early Christian period. I'm more interested in the landscape. The volcanic landscape seems spectacular.

[Nakharar]

Who's the lucky man? Man, do I envy him. If only I had his good looks.

[vava]

Steve, please - it would suffice to say that you didn't enjoy your company on your last trip. Please don't get personal, it is getting a bit tired.

[Stormig]

Who's the lucky man? Man, do I envy him. If only I had his good looks.

Here: http://hyeforum.com/index.php?showtopic=93...=0entry102926

[Twilight Bark]

Translated from "Historical Names in Turkey" (in Turkish) by Bilge Umar:

 

Gergeme

A village in the Bunyan borough of the Kayseri province. Its newly fabricated name is Doganlar [1]. It is at the northwest corner of Bunyan, and at the foothills of Korumaz Mountain. We see that, just as the origin of the name Korumaz is Kor-uma [3], that is Summit-people (in the period of Hellenization, the -s suffix was added to make it a masculine name, producing Korumas), the origin of the name Gergeme is Karkama, that is Kar-ka-(u)-ma [3], which means "Summit-place-people". See Kar, -ka, -uma. [3]

 

 

Footnotes by TB:

[1] Doganlar is pronounced Doghanlar

[2] Bunyan is pronounced approximately as Biunyan

[3] Luwian

[Arpa]

The following is from Classical Armenian Digital Library on line.

As my mastery of the grabar is limited my poor attempt of translation follows.

 

Below is an excerpt from the above site in the Geography section.

It is one of the travelogues by Simeon Lehatsi. Lehatsi means Polish.

Siemon Lehats, aka Simeon Zamosatsi and Simeon Mikalyovski, 1584-1637. Writer, poet, traveler and dbir of the church. Was born to a family that had moved to Lehastan (Poland). Traveled in Europe and the ME during 1608-19. His travelogoues cover many cities in Europe and the esst such as Venice, Cairo, Jerusalem, Damascus, Aleppo et al. and last but not least, villages and towns of historical Armenia.

 

This is about Kesaria.

======

ԿԵՍԱՐԻԱ

 

Եւ անտի բազում գեղօրէիւք եւ լերամբք հասաք ի

Կեսարիա մայրաքաղաքն, որ ունի երկու պարիսպ, ներսի

եւ դրսի։ Կայր երկու եկեղեցի ներսն՝ Սուրբ

Աստուածածին եւ Սուրբ Սարգիս, բայց գետնափոր եւ

խաւարչտին տեղիս, որ մէրտիվանօք կ�իջնուն եւ ի

փայտից։ Եւ հինգհարիւր տուն հայ եւ աւելի կայր ի

նմա, փարթամ վաճառականք եւ խոճայք անվանի մեծատունք.

բայց աղքատն աւելի էր. այլ զանահաթ չունին, ամէնն

դերձակ եւ խաֆթանչիք են։ Ներսցիք հայնակ չի գիտեն,

միայն տաճկնակ, ֆարսի. իսկ դրսեցիք հայնակ գիտեն։

Բայց Ղայսարու տաճիկն խիստ չար է եւ վատ. սաֆի էմիրք

են, հաւատոց թշնամիք. եւ աւանն շատ է։ Տներն խամ

քարբիչ է. դռվին փոքր, կկզելով մտնուն. վասն որոյ եւ

քաղաքն աւեր եւ վէրան։ Ունի խաներ, պէզէստան ,

խանութնի, չարշու պազար եւ ոսկերչինոց. բայց սակաւ

մարդ ի նմա կ�երեւին. մի որ ճէլալին աւիրել էր. եւ

մի որ աւնի էմիրի զուլումէ չեն ի գալ շէնլիք անել։

 

Գնացի մօտ Գրիգոր վարդապետն, առ որ կացեալ էի. զոր

սիրեալ զիս՝ յոյժ ուրախացաւ եւ սիրով զիս ընկալաւ։

Տեսի եաբոյք հին եւ նոր ի ներս քաղաքին եւ ի դուրս.

այլ եւ եկեղեցիք մեծամեծք եւ կամարակապք, վիմաշէն։

Այլ եւ այն եկեղեցին, ուր սուրբ Լուսաւորիչն մեր եւ

Ներսէս հայրապետն ձեռնադրեցաւ Ղեւոնտիոս պատրիարգէ,

որ է մեծ եւ փառաւոր. ամէն զամէնն մէջիթ արած է։ Այլ

եւ բազում ուխտատեղիք կան ներս եւ ի դուրսն։ Եւ

Բարսեղ Կեսարացուն սուրբ գերեզմանն քաղքէն դուրս է,

յարեւելեան դիհ. յառաջն մեծ եկեղեցի էր, այժմ հանգել

է. անդ թաղեն զմեռեալս Հայք. զի քարերն հանել են եւ

բերդին շէնք են դրել։ Եւ ի հարաւակողմն պարիսպն

դուրսն մեծ եկեղեցի Մեռկերիոսի զինաւորին. որ եւ

գերեզմանն անդ է. եւ նա հանգած է. փոքր ղուպա մի

մնացեալ է միայն. սուրբ գերեզմանին վ[ե]րայ խորան,

զոր ամէն երկուշաբթի օր ուխտ կ�երթայ բոլոր քաղաքն

խնկօք եւ մոմեղինօք. եւ մտեալ անդ եւ մեք աղօթեցաք

երկրպագանելով եւ մեղաց թողութիւն խնդրեցաք մեզ եւ

մեր ծնողաց եւ ամենայն երախտաւորաց։ Եւ այլ բազում

ոսկերք եւ մասն կայ անդ սրբոց եւ եկեղեցիք յոլովք

որպէս ի Ստամպօլ. բայց աւեր, միայն նշմարանքն

կ�երեւան։

 

Եւ դէմ սուրբ Մեռկերի մղոն մի հեռի հարաւակողմ

մեծահամբաւ, հռչակաւոր հին լեառն ԱՐՃԻԱՍ՝ նման

Պուրսու Քէշիշտաղուն եւ այլ մեծ եւ բարձր. եւ քանի

հազար տարու ձիւն կ�էրեւի վրան ամառն եւ ձմեռն, մինչ

յորդնոտած լինէին, զոր անկանէին վայր։ Եւ ասին թէ

բազում կան եկեղեցիք. եւ աւագ եկեղեցին մեծ վիմաշէն

եւ գմպէթաշէն, մարմարիոնեայ սներով, եւ այն աւեր։ Եւ

ասին թէ ամէն տարի ի սուրբ Աստուածածնին օրն

քաղաքացիքն կ�ելնեն ի նա խուրպնով. եւ մեք կամեցաք

ելանել. եւ ասին թէ յոյժ բարձր է եւ դժուարագնաց,

անտաշ քար է եւ ձիւնն վերեւն. ի քարն եւ ի ձիւնն

ոտաց տեղ է կոփած, պիտոր հնարիւք եւ դէսնիֆով ելնեն.

ապա թէ ընկնի՝ հազար կտոր լինի։ Եւ ասին թէ խիստ

սաստիկ ձիւնամեծ է եւ ցուրտ եւ մեծ քամի։

 

Եւ յայն կոյս լերինն ստորոտն ՏԷՎԷԼՈՒ խասապան է, որ

եւ անդ կայ բազում հայ, եկեղեցի եւ քահանայք։ Եւ

հուպ Արճիշու երկորեակ լեառն, զոր ԱԼԻ ՏԱՂ կոչեն.

բայց շատ փոքր է քան զԱրճիաշն. կայ եւ անդ եկեղեցի

մի Աստուածածին անուն. անդ կան եւ զէնքն Մեռկեռիոսի

՝ յորժամ հրամայեց Մեռկերիոս, թէ երթ եւ սպան

զհայհոյիչն որդոյ իմոյ, որով եւ սպան զպիղծն

Ուլիանոս. եթէ կամիս գիտ եւ կարդա Յայսմաւուրքն

սուրբ Բարսղի։ Կայր անդ եւ սրբոհոյն քրոջն Բարսղի

գերեզման։

 

Եւ շուրջ զքաղաքաւ բազում այգիք, որպէս Էտրնու յոլով

եւ մրգաւէտ. եօթն ազգ խաղող տեսաք անդ։ Այլ եւ

մարդիկն են հիւրընկալ եւ մարդասէր. ամէն օր այգի մի

տանէին զմեզ. եւ մինչ իրիկունն մխիթարէին զմեզ

կերակրովք եւ անուշ ըմպելօք. զի գինին առատ է եւ լի.

եւ մարդիկն քաղցրազրոյց եւ անուշախօսք, մարդավարք,

խորագէտք եւ բանաստեղծք եւ առակախօսք, կատակարարք եւ

ուրախացուցիչք. ապա ներկողք են։

 

Այլ եւ Վարդապետն ունէր մեծ էգի որպէս քաղաք. եւ անդ

բազում անգամ գնացեալ մխիթարեցաք։ Եւ ասին թէ նորա

էգին տասներկու ազգ խաղող կայ։

 

And after many mountains and villages we arrived at Kesaria, the capital(sic) that has two walls, inner ans outer. Two churches on the inside, Sb Astvatsatsin and Sb. Sargis. Thes are underground dugouts and very dark. One can only enter by a wooden staircase. There are over 500 Armenian households, many propsperous merchants and landowners(khojas) but mush more poor farmers and tradespeople like tailors and tanners. Those inside the wall don't speak Armenian, they speak Turkish and Farsi. The Tajiks(Turks) of Kayseri are extre,ely evil and bad, they are mostly emirs (princes)and landowners and fierce enemies of the believers. Most houses are of raw adobe ans have very small doors so that one must bend over and crouch to enter. Because of this (sic[oppression?]) the city is in ruins. There are khans (inns), shops and stores, a bazaar and severl jewelry shops. The oppressive landowners will not rebuild.

 

I went to visit Grigor Vardapet who received me very cordially and with great joy. He showed me many buildings and churches built of stone, amny of the latter are now converted to mosques. One of the churches, he said, was where Lousavorich and Patriarch Nerses were ordained by the Patriarch Leontius. The sacred tomb of Barsegh of Kesaria, ouside the wall is virtually totally ruined down to nothing. Next to it is the Armenian cemetery but the stones have been removed and used to build the walls. Every Monday there will be pilgrimages where candles are lit and incense is burned. The only chapel remaining, in ruins as well is said to have had more trasures and gold than all of Stmbol. About a mile to the south Mt. Arjiash which is now known as Keshish(priest) Dagh@. It is big and high, one can see several years' accumulation of snow winter ans summer. They told me taht there were many churches, many built of masonry and marble columns, many of which are in virtual ruins or totally razed. During the feast of Astvatsatsin massive pilgrimages are held where animals are sacrificed and services held. I wanted to climb up but they warned me that is was very dangerously steep and and difficult and that those who fall off are broken into thousand pieces. At thefoot of this virgin Mountainis the town of Develou where many Armenians live. A little further rises the twin mountain of Arjash which is smalled and now is known as Ali Dagh. The tomb of Barsegh's sister, a saint in her own right is located there.

 

Numerous orchards and vineyards surround the city where it reported to be seven different varietis of grape. They took us to the orchards almost every day where we were fed with the most deliciuos food and drinks. The people are very generous and hospitable. THey are alos very eloquent, pleasant spoken and creative, they would entertain us with poetry, songs, jokes and stories.

 

The Vardapet owned a large vineyard. He would entertain us on many occasions. It is rumored that his vineyard has twelve varieties of grapes.

 

Note; Azat, Harut, Nairi. PLease convert to unicode. I give up. My system does not support it.

 

Fixed the font - nairi

Edited July 7, 2004 by nairi

[bellthecat]

Steve, please - it would suffice to say that you didn't enjoy your company on your last trip. Please don't get personal, it is getting a bit tired.

It isn't getting "tired" for me, alas - so I intend to pursue it until it does.

I might pursue it in more detail in the "Tales from Lostlandia" thread.

[Gergeme]

Gergeme

A village in the Bunyan borough of the Kayseri province. Its newly fabricated name is Doganlar [1].

Thanks, I will check on that.

 

The village people have been relocated to a nearby, newly constructed neighbor around 1970's. Vilage is empty http://www.findthelinks.com/history/gergeme/

Historical curved stones, stones from the churches are visible everywhere, at the edge of streams, as divider between the vegetable gardens, inside the houses.

The names of the sections of the vilage still called (at least by my mom) with the names ending "..yan"

 

I have to find out about "summit people" thanks again

[Gergeme]

Arpa, I expect Gergeme is not Greek but Turkish judging from his writing "sancak" and not "sanjak," and a coupla other things.

Actually one of the reason I have been researching, reading, traveling is to find out "who I really am?" ( in the sense of ancestry) not what my passport or my ID says who I am.

 

Sancak or Sanjak, those were, like most "quotes" from the writings, I quote the way it is written, or I change to make it sound "familiar". It shows that it is working:)

 

You must be American.

"It is not important what is said, but it is important WHO says it". Land of Hypocracy, "hate mongering is too bad, it is said, yet it is the land of Hate Mongering",

Champion of democracy , yet, allie and supporter of all the Dictatorships, death squads",

Champion of Peace, yet there is no other country had more war in last fifty years than her"

Champion of cleaning the world from the weapons of mass destruction , yet no other country has more WMD than her, and the only one who used and lets other use

 

I love the song of louis Armstrong(full version), what a wonderfull world;

"it aint the world so bad, what we doing to it"

"lots more of us loved each other, we'd solve lots more problems"

[Stormig]

:sniff sniff: Someone's been smokin' sumpin' funny in here.

[Nakharar]

Nice quotes Gergeme!

 

You should post more often.

[Arpa]

The following is from Classical Armenian Digital Library on line.

As my mastery of the grabar is limited my poor attempt of translation follows.

 

Below is an excerpt from the above site in the Geography section.

It is one of the travelogues by Simeon Lehatsi. Lehatsi means Polish.

Siemon Lehats, aka Simeon Zamosatsi and Simeon Mikalyovski, 1584-1637. Writer, poet, traveler and dbir of the church. Was born to a family that had moved to Lehastan (Poland). Traveled in Europe and the ME during 1608-19. His travelogoues cover many cities in Europe and the esst such as Venice, Cairo, Jerusalem, Damascus, Aleppo et al. and last but not least, villages and towns of historical Armenia.

 

This is about Kesaria.

======

ԿԵՍԱՐԻԱ

 

Եւ անտի բազում գեղօրէիւք եւ լերամբք հասաք ի

Կեսարիա մայրաքաղաքն, որ ունի երկու պարիսպ, ներսի

խորագէտք եւ բանաստեղծք եւ առակախօսք, կատակարարք եւ

ուրախացուցիչք. ապա ներկողք են։

 

Այլ եւ Վարդապետն ունէր մեծ էգի որպէս քաղաք. եւ անդ

========

Numerous orchards and vineyards surround the city where it reported to be seven different varietis of grape. They took us to the orchards almost every day where we were fed with the most deliciuos food and drinks. The people are very generous and hospitable. THey are alos very eloquent, pleasant spoken and creative, they would entertain us with poetry, songs, jokes and stories.

=====

The Vardapet owned a large vineyard. He would entertain us on many occasions. It is rumored that his vineyard has twelve varieties of grapes. Fixed the font - nairi

Some time ago we talked about Simeon Lehatsi, aka Simeone of Poland.

George Bournoutian’s work is soon to be available in English

http://www.amazon.ca/Travel-Accounts-Simeo...n/dp/1568591616

 

 

 

 

 

[Yervant1]

Boston Globe, MA
Dec 26 2015


Going home again

Visiting the land where his Armenian great-grandfather was a troubadour

By Chris Bohjalian Globe correspondent December 26, 2015

KAYSERI, Turkey ' My wife and I are holding small candles, the yellow
flames as thin as the tapers, above a wrought iron sand table at the
Church of Saint Gregory the Illuminator in Kayseri. Kayseri is a
Turkish city 200 miles southeast of Ankara with a population nearing a
million. It's not a part of Turkey where most American tourists
venture. Usually when we think Turkey and tourism, we envision the
mosques of Istanbul or the beaches of Bodrum. We imagine the Roman
ruins in Ephesus. I've never been to either Bodrum or Ephesus; the
last time I was in Istanbul, it was for a friend's wedding. Instead I
journey to places like Kayseri. Why? Because I am Armenian and that's
where my family once lived.

Saint Gregory's is one of a small handful of Armenian churches in
Turkey outside of Istanbul that are not rubble or ruins, or have not
been repurposed into a museum, mosque or (in one case) a fitness
center. There is no longer an Armenian congregation in Kayseri, but
sporadically ' once or a twice a year ' descendants of the church's
parishioners who live in Istanbul journey here to worship. I'm not
part of that Istanbul community, but my grandfather, Levon Nazareth
Bohjalian, was born in Kayseri. It's likely that he was baptized in
this church. It was built in 1856, and named after the man who was
raised in this corner of Anatolia and who would bring Christianity to
Armenia in the year 301. There is no priest in the city to let us in '
virtually no Armenians live in Kayseri ' but one of the locals knows
someone who knows someone who knows the caretaker who has a key.


This is my third trip in three years with my friend Khatchig
Mouradian, a genocide scholar and journalist, to the great swath of
Turkey that is Historic Armenia. The area stretches from the Black Sea
to the Mediterranean, and from Ankara to Turkey's Syrian, Iraqi,
Iranian, Armenian, and Georgian borders. It is the eastern half of
Turkey. It is Anatolia. It is Cilicia. And up until 1915, it was where
the majority of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire lived.

This year marked the centennial of the start of the Armenian Genocide:
it was April 24, 1915, when the Armenian intellectuals, professionals,
editors, and religious leaders in Constantinople were rounded up by
the Ottoman authorities ' and almost all of them executed. During the
First World War, the Ottoman Empire would systematically annihilate
1.5 million of it Armenian citizens, or three out of every four. Most
Armenians alive today are descendants of those few survivors '
including me. Both of my grandparents were survivors.

It is actually my great-grandfather, however, that I associate most
with Kayseri. Nazaret Bedros Bohjalian, Levon's father, was a
nineteenth-century troubadour and poet. Although he was born in
Kayseri, he performed in such distant corners of the empire as
Jerusalem and Constantinople, singing the poems he had penned. Based
on one account of his life in an old Armenian history of Kayseri, I
imagine him as a sort of Bruce Springsteen of the Anatolian Plains. He
may not have had stadium-sized crowds or rock 'n' roll T-shirts, but
it seems that he had enthusiastic audiences wherever he appeared.
Among his works? A seventy-quatrain epic of the Hamidian Massacres '
the prequel to the Armenian Genocide named after Sultan Abdul Hamid II
in which 250,000 Armenians were butchered. On Nov. 18, 1895, the
slaughter came to his city:

`They killed infidels with axes, daggers, and didn't ask who you were,
whether merchant or coolie.'

`They took the babies out of the wombs of their mothers, and those who
witnessed lost their minds.'

Advertisement

It is a wrenching, eyewitness testimonial.

Armenian footprints

Few Armenians remain in Turkey today, outside of the 60,000 or so who
live in Istanbul. You want to see the definition of ethnic cleansing?
Visit Historic Armenia. You will find Islamized Armenians here and
there, the descendants of the Armenians who were forced to become
Muslim a century ago, and there is a tiny community of 200 Armenians
in Vakifli Koy, one of the six villages on the mountain of Musa Dagh
on the Mediterranean Sea. They are descendants of the men and women
Franz Werfel made famous in his epic novel of the Armenian resistance
to the Genocide in 1915, `The Forty Days of Musa Dagh.' Otherwise,
however, it's rare to find an Armenian.

And yet our footprints are everywhere. Medieval churches. Ancient
monasteries. Armenian lettering carved onto village walls or
century-old doors. I've visited at least 45 different Armenian
churches and monasteries, most empty shells and some little more than
foundations. Often the ruins have piles of empty soda cans and water
bottles, and black fire pits from recent campfires. Occasionally,
there are deep holes where treasure hunters have dug up the floor in
search of mythical Armenian gold. Usually there is graffiti.

Sometimes the Kurds who live in the area now will share the horrors of
how the Armenians were killed or deported, the stories passed down
from generation to generation, and sometimes they will tell you that
the Armenians simply moved away. They pick a year seemingly at random,
but always before 1915. We left, they insist, only because we wanted
to be near our families in Aleppo, Syria, or Boston.

And now, of course, with the region so volatile, the Kurds will often
share stories of more recent horrors. The day before I was in
Sanliurfa, Turkey, this summer, ISIS suicide bombers detonated five
trucks filled with explosives in Kobani, Syria, 20 miles from
Sanliurfa as the crow flies, killing at least 70 Kurds. Two weeks
later in nearby Suruc, Turkey, ISIS killed 33 young Kurdish volunteers
' and injured well over 100 ' as they prepared to drive to Kobani to
help rebuild the city.

Regardless of how you look at the history, however, the 500,000
Armenians who survived the Genocide were never able to return home.
It's why we are a diaspora people. Of the 10 million Armenians in the
world today, fewer than 3 million of us actually live in Armenia.

A wall surrounding the Church of Saint Gregory the Illuminator in Kayseri.

A wall surrounding the Church of Saint Gregory the Illuminator in Kayseri.

Family history

Which brings me back to Kayseri.

Which explains why I keep returning to Historic Armenia, despite the
escalating violence.

It's my ancestral land.

In the mid-1920s, my grandfather traveled to Paris to meet Haigouhi
Sherinian, and there they would fall in love and marry. In 1927 he
brought her to the United States. The following year, he built the
beautiful brick monolith in Tuckahoe, N.Y., where they would raise
their children and reside for 40 years.

My father grew up in a house that could only be called exotic by the
standards of that particular suburb of New York City. Everyone spoke
Armenian behind those brick walls. And so like many daughters and sons
of immigrants, my father chose to become as American as he possibly
could. He even became that most iconic of mid-20th-century American
business professionals, an ad man. A mad man. Think Don Draper. That's
how extensive his reinvention was. And so other than the time I would
spend with my grandparents, I did not grow up a part of the Armenian
community or with a connection to my Armenian heritage. (The one
exception? Our dining room. My Swedish mother figured out quickly that
Armenian cuisine is delicious.)

Consequently, it was only at midlife that I felt a deep and relentless
tug at my Armenian soul to return. This is, I have come to understand,
the ground where the Bohjalians and the Sherinians once built their
lives. My grandfather was the youngest of my great-grandfather's six
children, and he was born only a few years before Nazaret Bedros would
die in 1902. I will never know precisely which of the Bohjalians left
Kayseri after the Hamidian Massacres in 1895 and which would be shot
or marched into the desert to die a generation later. Was it within
blocks of St. Gregory's that my grandfather saw the Armenian men
killed with axes and daggers? Was it on a nearby block that he
witnessed the babies being cut from the wombs of their mothers? Did he
himself lose a little of his own mind that day?

The fact is, Kayseri is a home that was taken from my family. It is
that injustice ` what my non-Armenian wife calls the `sheer unfairness
of it' ` that draws me back. It's my small way of saying to anyone who
happens to notice, the Bohjalians are still here. Still around. You
didn't quite wipe us out. I always feel acutely alive in Historic
Armenia, as if some otherwise napping ` untapped even ` link in my DNA
has been awakened and found its tether to the land.

Could I actually live there? Of course not. My last name alone would
make me a pariah in parts of the region, and most of the time I am
deeply proud to be an American. I have been (thank you very much)
quite happily spoiled by the American way of life. It's really hard to
find Ben & Jerry's or binge-watch `House of Cards' in Diyarbakir,
Kayseri, or Van.

But I also can't imagine not returning to visit.

After my wife and I had murmured our small prayers at the church in
Kayseri and placed the candles in the sand, she said to me, `You're
breathing the same air your grandfather breathed as a little boy.'

I nodded. She had put into words precisely why I was here. It's not
coming home precisely ` but it is without question a homecoming.

Chris Bohjalian is the author of 18 books. His new novel, `The Guest
Room,' will be published on Jan. 5. He can be reached at
chris@chrisbohjalian.com.


https://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/travel/2015/12/26/essay-going-home-again/sr2iyqCFQTzi7JFurSXgIN/story.html

[Yervant1]

Turkey mayor visits functioning Armenian church on verge of collapse

13:51, 15.11.2017

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mayor Mustafa Çelik of Kayseri, Turkey, recently paid a visit to the functioning St. Gregory the Illuminator Armenian Church of the town.

At the church, Çelik met with its fund officials and was informed about the problems of this church, according to Kayseri Haber (News) website of Turkey.

The website welcomed the visit to this Armenian church which is on the verge of collapse, and expressed the hope that the mayor of Kayseri will take appropriate measures to preserve it.

Kayseri Haber stressed that this 900-year-old Armenian church was last renovated 20 years ago.

https://news.am/eng/news/421075.html