36 replies to this topic

[Zartonk]

This is f*cked, I really dont know why these people stay in Turkey. Escpesially the more educated ones that live Istamb*l, and have the means should seriously consider migrating...

It isn't as simple as that when there is so much puzzlement of identity. It is not black/white for them.

[ALMA]

mezanits shater@ chen haskana iys mardkants / vorosh@ nuynisk chen el @endhuni n@rants vorpes Hye - sakaayn irakanutyun e vor n@ran iyspes te iynpes goyatevel en yev aprum en irents papakan hoghi v@ra tekuz yev urishi droshi tak

Tsavali e, yes chanachum em mi hay kin vor amusnatsel e turki het yev micnhev aysor aprelov Angliayum vaxenlum e xosi ir hay lineu masin. Shat tsavali e, yev bolores piti portsenk endunel vor urish champa chka ays mardkants hamar bayts pahel identitin yev aprel turkavari kani vor Hayastane ideal yerkire chi drnere batselu yev endunelu ir joghovrdin yev welcome anelu.

[Error 404]

ALMA

qo bacaskaan karciq@ Hayastani u Hayastani Hayeri masin ughaki zarmacnum e inds. Qez ov e asel vor Hayastan@ drner@ pakel e u chi @ndunum otarutyunic veradardsogh hayerin?

Gites qani haykakan @ntanqiner en teghapoxvel Hayastan Iraqic, paterazm@ skseluc heto?

Yes hamadsayn em kyanqi paymanner@ barenpast chen bayc Hayastan@ u Hayer@ der vochmi veradardsoghi chen vrndel Hayastanic.

Astvac chani mi or vor vochmitegh chunenas gnalu, imacir vor Hayastan@ misht qez knduni.

[MadArmo]

It is true that they should leave Turkey pronto.
But we're not Bolsahye so we don't understand what goes around in their heads.

It's not that easy... If your going to leave with your entire family you must disconnect all the way. No, money or personal belongings, This was especialy practiced during the 50's & 60's ... They were harrased and ridiculed, Many decided to send the children to Europe & Canada to avoid military service or forced assimilation. Turks want Armenians to stay they are vital for economical progress, They know we are hard working people and wish to harvest our fruits of labor for them. So, they imposed hardships on US not to leave, And if we did we lost everything !


Armenians answer the call !

[Error 404]

Another article about hidden Armenians in turkey.

http://www.aztagdail...012006_0001.htm

NEW REVELATIONS ON THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

The French College in Aintoura, Lebanon or Jemal Paha’s orphanage where Armenian children were to be turkified

ARTICLE BY: Nora Parseghian
ENGLISH ADAPTATION: Simon Beugekian

The Armenian nation lived the most horrible phase of its history in 1915. The Ottoman authorities executed the Genocide which resulted in the killing of over 1 million Armenians, while most of the Armenians remaining on the western parts of historic Armenia were compelled to leave there cities and villages and deported, marched towards the deserts of Iraq and Syria.

Parts of the deported Armenians reached Lebanon where they believed that they were left in peace without realizing that in one of the not-so-far villages of Lebanon, namely Aintoura, near Zouk, Keserwan, which is about half an hour drive from the capital city Beirut, a plan of Turkification of Armenian orphans had been put in motion in 1915.

Such a new page in the history of the Armenian Genocide was recently discovered by Missak Keleshian, who is an avid collector of all kinds of photos of the Armenian Genocide. This is how he speaks about this most recent discovery: “A few months ago I was reading a book entitled "The Lions of Marash" by Stanley E. Kerr, (President of the American Univerity of Beirut) who tells about his personal experiences with Near East Relief during the years 1919-1922. In the book I came across a shocking photo with the following caption: “Jemal *****...on the steps of the French College at Aintoura, Lebanon. Jemal ***** had established an orphanage for Armenian children in the college building and had appointed Halide Edib to be its directress”. Halide Edib Hanum was a famous Turkish feminist and very well known for her efforts to turkify Armenian orphans. Beside being shocking, the photo was the first step that lead to a new discovery.

“On December 8, 2005 I visited the village of Aintoura and located the school where the photo was taken. It’s a famous French College and it was established by the Jesuit priests 1657-1783 and Lazarist priests 1783-1834. I met with the school principal Superior Lazarist Father Jean Sfeir and after showing him the photo, I asked for his permission to research the school’s archives for additional information about it and reveal its entire history. He was also amazed by the photo and asked the archivist of the school to assist me.”

“The archivist of the school Mr. Jean Sebastian Arhan, a Frenchman who came to Lebanon 43 years ago and has been since working in the archive of the French College in Aintoura. I showed him the photo and explained to him what I was looking for. To my amazement he was not only well aware of that part of the school’s history that I was interested in but he had also gathered all the archival material pertaining to that period in a separate file which he gave to me.”

According to Missak Keleshian, the most important revelation of the photo is the presence of Jemal ***** and Halide Hanum beside Armenian orphans. Halide Hanum (Halide Edib Adivar 1884-1964) was one of the world renowned feminists of her times. She had received higher education American College for Women in1901. Best known for her novels criticizing the low social status of Turkish women; her first novel Seviye Talip, was published in 1909, Her first husband, Salih Zeki, then she remarried Dr. Adnan Adivar in 1917.

She served as a sergeant in Turkey’s nationalist military. Lived in UK, France, and as one of the early feminists met with Gandhi and visited the United States of America for meeting with the leaders of the feminist movement there. She fell in love with Kemal Atatourk but the latter rejected her. Halide Hanum was a strong supporter of the *****s who planned, organized and executed the Armenian Genocide and played a crucial role in the efforts to turkify the remnants of the Armenians and was one of the leaders of that effort with Nigar Hanum.

Halide Adivar was Member of Parliament 1950-1954.

On October 29, 1914 the Ottoman Empire declared war against France, Great Britain and Russia. Therefore the agreement signed between the great powers and the Ottomans giving Mount Lebanon special status on June 9, 1861 was voided. The last christian governor of Lebanon, Ohannes Kouyoumdjian *****, is replaced by Ali Mounif Bey, during whose reign Lebanon lived horrible condition including hunger, very harsh economic conditions and a surge in the number of executions.

At the end of 1915, the kaymakam (district governor) of Jounieh informs the responsible of the Aintoura College that they must close it down. The clergy are compelled to leave to another monastery on a higher altitude, others are taken to Anatolia and Ourfa while a few older priests, who are unable to travel, remain in Aintoura.

Following the expulsion of the Lazarist priests the school is transformed into an orphanage for Armenian, Turkish and Kurdish children. In 1915 the school housed 800 orphans and 30 soldiers who guarded the school. The staff consisted of 10 Lebanese and the director was Nebih Bey. This is when efforts to turkify the Armenian orphans start to be implemented. The boys are circumcised and they are given Arabic and Turkish names by keeping the first letters of their Armenian names. This is how Haroutiun Najarian becomes Hamid Nazim, Boghos Merdanian becomes Bekim Mohammed, Sarkis Sarafian becomes Safwad Suleyman. Poor sanitary conditions, lack of nourishment and diseases prevail in the school and as a result a big number of children die. Turkish responsibles visiting the school blame Nebih Bey and accuse him of incompetence. In 1916, the commander of the Fourth Turkish Army Jemal ***** decides to visit the orphanage. Upon being informed that the official who had appointed him to his position and charged him with the responsibility of turkifying the orphans is planning a visit, Nebih Bey orders the statues of St. Joseph and the statue of father Saliege removed from the school’s entrance. Jemal ***** arrives at the school accompanied by feminist Halide Hanum, who is immediately appointed to replace Nebih Bey as the principal of the orphanage. Halide Hanum is assisted by five Lebanese nuns from the Sacred Heart Order, who are responsible of the sanitation and nutrition of the orphans and other chores. Beside the Aintoura orphanage, Halide Hanum is also responsible of the Sister Nazareth school in Beirut, which is closed down in 1917.

400 new orphans between the ages 3-15 are brought to Aintoura with Jemal *****. They are accompanied by 15 young women from Turkish elite families, who join the team of 40 people working towards the islamization and turkification of the orphans. Halide Hanum, the principal of the school, was the highest authority and was supervising all the activities aiming at the full turkification of the orphans in the shortest possible interval. Her goal was to transform the Aintoura College into an idea Turkish institution.

While famine was prevailing in Beirut and other parts of Lebanon and the Turkish plan to exterminate the Armenians by the sword and the Arabs by famine was being carried on, cows, sheep and flour were abundant in the Aintoura orphanage. The goal was to have well fed and healthy newly turkified children. Lebanese outside the compound walls used to gather and beg for food.

Teaching at the orphanage was in Turkish. Older orphans were trained in trades – shoemaking, carpentry and others and the mullah assigned to the schools called the children to prayer five times a day. Every night the band used to play “Long live Jemal *****”.

In the summer of 1916 leprosy starts spreading within the orphanage while the Ottoman Armies start loosing on the fronts in the Balkans and in Palestine. Lutfy Bey, Rashid Bey and Halide Hanum abandon the school and the orphanage starts falling into chaos. Students start leaving the school compound and disorderly conduct leads to fights between the Turkish and Kurdish students on one side and the Armenian orphans – who were blaming the parents of the Turkish and Kurdish students of having killed their parents – on the other. It is only through the interference of the Turkish soldiers stationed at the school that killings are avoided.

From the 1200 orphans kept at the Aintoura orphanage one thousand are Armenians and the remaining 200 are Turkish and Kurdish. The Armenian orphans used to keep forks and other sharp objects to defend themselves. When the Ottomans retreat and the French and British arrive in the region, accompanied by members of the clergy, they find a chaotic situation in the school. One of the Lazarist leaders approaches Bayard Dodge, an officer of the American University of Beirut for assistance, who immediately complies with the request and arrange for shipments of food through the American Red Cross.

On October 1, 1918 the Turkish Army abandons Lebanon. On October 7 Father Sarlout returns to Aintoura and realizes that the situation is untenable. He arranges for the Turkish and Kurdish orphans to be transported to Damascus to ease the tension within the orphanage. He then gathers the Armenian orphans and starts working with them to remember their Armenian names and tries to explain to them that the turkification process they were going through is no longer in force. Once convinced, the Armenian orphans start calling each other by their original names then they gather all the forks and sharp items they were hiding and “surrender” them to the school officials. The statue of St. Joseph is returned to its podium and the French flag flies over the school. But father Sarlout realizes that his resources are limited and he cannot support that many orphans. He calls upon Bayard Dodge and the American Red Cross to support the school and the orphans. Mr. Crawford is then appointed principal of the Aintoura school, the staff of the school is replaced by Armenian teachers and the orphans are offered lessons in Armenian and English. Later “Near East Relief” takes over the school and keeps it until the fall of 1919, when the male orphans are sent to Aleppo and the females to the Armenian orphanage in the village of Ghazir, Lebanon.

While the school was under Turkish control, as a result of malnourishment, lack of sanitary conditions and diseases (mainly typhus), 300 Armenian orphans die. They are buried during 1916 in the backyard of the school. In 1993 the school directors decide to build an extension in that same backyard. When they start digging the ground they come across human remains which they gather and rebury in a few joint graves in the cemetery belonging to the Aintoura priests.

When the Turks leave and Father Sarlout returns to the school, he finds there 670 orphans – 470 boys and 200 girls.

“Wondering in the different parts of the school, one corner looked very familiar to me. At a first glance I couldn’t remember where or how I had seen that spot but I was sure that this was not new to me. When I returned home I started working in my collection of photographs and after three hours I found what I was looking for: it was the photo of a young orphan, which was actually taken in the same corner of the Aintoura school that looked familiar to me. The original of the photo was in the archives of the Catholicosate of the Holy See of Cilicia in Antelias, Lebanon, in the documents and photos belonging to Maria Jacobson. The writing on the side of the photo notes: “Armenian orphan, clean-cut and bright”. The seal of “Near East Relief” is still visible at the bottom-left of the photo. At the time, the photo in question did not seem that important but toady, following the newly discovered facts about the Aintoura college, it was another piece of the puzzle I was faced with”,- says Keleshian.

By putting the photos side by side and researching the archives of the Aintoura College, Missak Keleshian succeeded in reconstructing one of the most horrifying phases in the life of the orphans of the Armenian Genocide – Turkification, which was nothing else but another portion of the general plan of annihilating the Armenian nation.

[RemainFaithful]

Hidden Armenians? Well, according to a pastor of the Armenian Evangelical Church of Gedik***** (Istanbul), Rev. Krikor AghabalOghlu, there are around 1,000,000 Armenians living as Turks.

When you read about Hrant Dink and Rakel Dink in wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia....wiki/Hrant_dink) you will come across a name, Mr. Hrant Guzelyan. He is still living, but outside Turkey.

When Mr. Guzelyan was in Turkey, he used to travel all over to Anatolia (South-East Turkey) to get Armenian orphans and children who do not go to school, are in the streets and being raised as Turks, and bring with him to the Church and raise them as Armenians. Of these many, were Hrant Dink, and Rakel Dink (who is registered as a Turk).

Mr. Hrant Guzelyan has written his memories in a book, recently published, where he tells how the Turkish government used to threaten him and ask him why he is gathering Armenian children and taking them to Istanbul, and why is he teaching them Armenian.

Many hidden Armenians in Anatolia do not dare to speak Armenian, and they keep their roots hidden, so that they won't be threatened by the Turks around them (of course, many have their names changed). Only when they reach to Istanbul, where there's more freedom, these hidden Armenians come out, and try to find their roots and acestors.

They tried to silence Hrant Guzelyan for years, and they succeeded in the end, but not for long.

Note: There's another good article in Yergir Newspaper with the following headline: «Ծպտեալ» Հայերի Կրօնադարձութիւնը

[Dave]

Many hidden Armenians in Anatolia do not dare to speak Armenian, and they keep their roots hidden, so that they won't be threatened by the Turks around them (of course, many have their names changed). Only when they reach to Istanbul, where there's more freedom, these hidden Armenians come out, and try to find their roots and acestors.

Some things never change...

[Arpa]

Hidden Armenians? Well, according to a pastor of the Armenian Evangelical Church of Gedik***** (Istanbul), Rev. Krikor AghabalOghlu, there are around 1,000,000 Armenians living as Turks.

When you read about Hrant Dink and Rakel Dink in wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hrant_dink) you will come across a name, Mr. Hrant Guzelyan. He is still living, but outside Turkey.

When Mr. Guzelyan was in Turkey, he used to travel all over to Anatolia (South-East Turkey) to get Armenian orphans and children who do not go to school, are in the streets and being raised as Turks, and bring with him to the Church and raise them as Armenians. Of these many, were Hrant Dink, and Rakel Dink (who is registered as a Turk).

Mr. Hrant Guzelyan has written his memories in a book, recently published, where he tells how the Turkish government used to threaten him and ask him why he is gathering Armenian children and taking them to Istanbul, and why is he teaching them Armenian.

Many hidden Armenians in Anatolia do not dare to speak Armenian, and they keep their roots hidden, so that they won't be threatened by the Turks around them (of course, many have their names changed). Only when they reach to Istanbul, where there's more freedom, these hidden Armenians come out, and try to find their roots and acestors.

They tried to silence Hrant Guzelyan for years, and they succeeded in the end, but not for long.

Note: There's another good article in Yergir Newspaper with the following headline: «Ծպտեալ» Հայերի Կրօնադարձութիւնը

Մնամք Հավատարիմ
Please see here and here.
http://hyeforum.com/...13396&hl=halide

hate to go to that category GENOCIDE, as if it were something to be proud of.
So! Hang me!!
Therefor I'll post this under the catgoryof National.
A bitch at an Armenian den of lion cub.
Halide Edib, (her name means Halide-eternal, Edib-civilized, both from Arabic, as there is no such thing as Turkish(language)).
A neo-Turk modernist/feminist/activist (search the web to see her) was a frequent denizen at the Ocak/Ojakh in Istanbul and was intimately acquainted, an intellectual bosom buddy with the likes of Zohrab and Komitas. Some time ago I read where she had said this; Let me see if I remember correctly.
At one of the sessions she had asked Koumitas( her spelling) to sing something. Komitas must have sung something very nostalgic and painful, like “Antuni“, and she describes it, as if, all of a sudden (pardon my paraphrase) “Koumitas”’s face turned gray, contorted out of shape, and his voice sounded like a bleat of a sheep who had lost her lamb”.
Then she goes adding- “If we only would embrace THEM, rather than persecute, they would be Turks by now”.
We read in Groong:
http://groong.usc.ed.../msg136826.html
“Such a new page in the history of the Armenian Genocide was recently discovered by Missak Keleshian, who is an avid collector of all kinds of photos of the Armenian Genocide. This is how he speaks about this most recent discovery: "A few months ago I was reading a book entitled "The Lions of Marash" by Stanley E. Kerr, (President of the American Univerity of Beirut) who tells about his personal experiences with Near East Relief during the years 1919-1922. In the book I came across a shocking photo with the following caption: "Jemal *****...on the steps of the French College at Aintoura, Lebanon. Jemal ***** had established an orphanage for Armenian children in the college building and had appointed Halide Edib to be its directress". Halide Edib Hanum was a famous Turkish feminist and very well known for her efforts to turkify Armenian orphans. Beside being shocking, the photo was the first step that lead to a new discovery.”
Thank you Domino!
http://en.wikipedia..../armenian_quote

And Azg;
http://www.azg.am/?l...&num=2006020907


http://hyeforum.com/...13465&hl=halide


have, at other occasions spoken about that "whore", edebsiz Halide Edib, how she, at one occasion expressed the wish that the likes of "Koumitas" (transliterated from the Osmanli text to mean Komitas)coud have easily been turkified if , in her own words,"we were to embrace them rather than persecute".
See below how that turkification process was executed.
Why do we feel obligated to refer to those shunshanordi's, the likes of Jemal, Talaat, Enver and other dogs as "*****"?
Whose *****s are they?
I have mentioned this before; One of my good friends had named her dog "*****". Is she a "prophet" or what.
And, please, I beg of you, stop calling Zoravar Andranik a "*****" as well. We have a word to mean "prince", it is ISHKHAN. Nuf said.

http://www.aztagdail...012006_0001.htm

FROM: Gocek, Fatma
DATE: February 2, 2006

Below please find the link an article by Missak Kelechian, who has unearthed amazing old photographs of the Aintoura orphanage for armenian orphans established by Cemal ***** and run by Halide Edib (more)

[joseph parikian]

The Photos

----------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------------------

http://www.aztagdail...012006_0001.htm

[joseph parikian]

More Photos

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.aztagdail...012006_0001.htm

[Zartonk]

Then she goes adding- “If we only would embrace THEM, rather than persecute, they would be Turks by now”.

Her sentiment, is it now? Much appreciated, Edib modernist...

By the way Arpa, your mention of "Koumitas" reminds me of how the bastard gendarmes would mockingly call him Komiteci Rahib (demagogue priest) before sending him off to madness on the rails of death.

[Arpa]

Hidden Armenians? Well, according to a pastor of the Armenian Evangelical Church of Gedik***** (Istanbul), Rev. Krikor AghabalOghlu, there are around 1,000,000 Armenians living as Turks.
=====
They tried to silence Hrant Guzelyan for years, and they succeeded in the end, but not for long.

Note: There's another good article in Yergir Newspaper with the following headline: «Ծպտեալ» Հայերի Կրօնադարձութիւնը

Don't let Sako P see this
http://www.armeniape...or_Aghabaloghlu
http://emmanuel-chan...og-post_23.html

Edited by Arpa, 13 May 2007 - 05:08 PM.

[Johannes]

http://www.aztagdail.../html/page5.htm

[annannimusss]

Arpa,I am very happy the Pastor went on TV and said what he said.But the Patriarch has to kiss ass because he is seen as the leader of the community.And if he starts to speak up it will put the Armenians in Turkey in even more danger that they are already in.

[Yervant1]

Thousands of 'secret Armenians' living in Anatolia, Argentine journalist writes
ISTANBUL



‘It is less dangerous to live as an Armenian [now] compared to 10 years ago in Diyarbakır,’ says lawyer Mehmet Arkan, noting that Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality had paid for the restoration of the historical Surp Giragos Armenian Church in the old city. AA photo
Hundreds of thousands of Turkish citizens living in Istanbul and in eastern Anatolia are concealing their Armenian roots, an Argentine journalist of Armenian origin has said.

Avedis Hadjian, a reporter for La Nacion, one of the biggest newspapers in Argentina, said there was a significant community of a “mysterious minority known as secret Armenians” that have converted to Sunni Islam or Alevism in an effort to blend into society.

Hadjian said no one knew the precise number of “secret Armenians” in the country since a majority of them are afraid to reveal their true identity.

“A secret Armenian in Palu [in the eastern province of Elazığ] told me that that ‘Turkey is still a dangerous place for Armenians,’” he said, adding the secret Armenians typically chose to eschew contact with members of the Armenian community that are especially active in Istanbul.

Some of them reject their identity even though they know and accept that their grandfather or grandmother was an Armenian, while others hide it from their children, Hadjian said.

Many of the secret Armenians live difficult lives, he said, recounting the story of Rafael Altıncı, “the last Armenian” of the northern province of Amasya, who was brought up as a Christian. Altıncı, who studied in the same Armenian secondary school as slain Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, later converted to Islam and raised his daughter as a Turk despite considering himself an Armenian.

Another “secret Armenian,” Mehmet Arkan, a lawyer in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır, told Hadjian that he did not know his roots until he was 7 years old.

“He fought with a Kurdish child and returned home telling his father that he had been called ‘Armenian.’ That’s when his father mentioned that, as a matter of fact, they were Armenians but that he could not tell it outside the home,” the journalist said.

‘It is less dangerous to live as an Armenian [now] compared to 10 years ago in Diyarbakır,’ says Arkan, noting that Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality had paid for the restoration of the historical Surp Giragos Armenian Church in the old city.

Hadjian also noted the story of the Ogassian family, which lived in the Bagin village in Palu before emigrating to the United States following the events of 1915. But one of their little children, Kirkor, stayed in the village after perhaps being abducted by a Kurdish family.

Kirkor later married another orphan of Armenian origin and converted to Islam. After a number of years, however, their relatives made contact with them. Nowadays, Kirkor and his wife have a son who is an imam in the town of Harput, while their nephew is the archbishop of the Armenian church in New York, Hadjian said.
February/16/2013

[Yervant1]

NewsLook Videos
Deutsche Welle, Germany


Turkey/Armenia: A Life Spent in Hiding

Nearly a century after the mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman
Empire, an increasing number of Turks of Armenian heritage are
acknowledging their roots. Out of fear of discrimination, many
survivors had converted to Islam and adopted Turkish names. Powered by
www.newslook.com

Click to view video.
http://www.newslook....spent-in-hiding

[Yervant1]

Turkey’s Secret Armenians


Members of an Armenian community cast shadows during a rally marking the anniversary of mass killings of Armenians in Ottoman Empire in 1915, April 24, 2012. (photo by REUTERS/Bogdan Cristel)


Read more: http://www.al-monito...l#ixzz2LSP8heSl


Translated from Radikal (Turkey).


The presence of “secret” Armenians in Anatolia has become the subject of a news report in the Argentine press. In an article titled “The Footprints of Secret Armenians in Turkey,” Argentine journalist Avedis Hadjian writes that people of Armenian origin, estimated to number hundreds of thousands, continue to live in Anatolia and Istanbul under false identities. Hadjian’s research begins in Istanbul’s Kurtulus neighborhood and then takes him to Amasya, Diyarbakir, Batman, Tunceli and Mus.


Read more: http://www.al-monito...l#ixzz2LSPJHUgG

Turkish or Kurdish identity
According to the report, those who have been hiding their real identity for almost a century reside mostly in Turkey’s eastern regions. They have embraced the Sunni or Alawite sects of Islam and live with Turkish or Kurdish identities.
Still, a tiny community living in villages in the Sason district of Batman province preserves their Christianity. Stressing that no one really knows the exact number of crypto-Armenians, Hadjian says he has seen that many of them are scared to acknowledge their Armenian identity. He quotes a crypto-Armenian in Palu: “Turkey is still a dangerous place for Armenians.”
The crypto-Armenians who live under various guises do not socialize with those who live openly as Armenians, and evade contact with strangers. According to Hadjian, some reject their identities even though they accept their parents or grandparents were Armenian and their Turkish and Kurdish neighbors still call them “Armenians” or “infidels.” Others acknowledge their real identity but say they keep it secret from their offspring.
To church in winter, to mosque in summer
Hadjian says that identifying crypto-Armenians is not easy, recounting several examples. The last Armenian in Amasya, Rafel Altinci, for instance, was brought up as a Christian and graduated from the same school as Hrant Dink, the Armenian journalist who was killed. He then converted to Islam, married a Turkish woman and raised his daughter as a Muslim. Only recently has he begun to acknowledge that he is an Armenian. Jazo Uzal, a villager from the province of Mus, goes to church in Istanbul, where he spends the winters, but when he returns home during the summer he observes the Muslim rites of worship, including fasting.
In Diyarbakir, lawyer Mehmet Arkan says he became aware of his family’s Armenian identity at the age of seven. “Until 10 years ago, we used to conceal our identity from everybody, but being an Armenian in Diyarbakir is no longer dangerous,” Arkan says, pointing to the restoration of the Surp Giragos Church in the city. He explains he does not feel less Armenian for being a Sunni and performing Muslim prayers.
In some cases, secret Armenians have been transformed in surprising ways. The Ogasyan clan from Bagin village in Palu, for instance, survived the “events” of 1915 and emigrated to the United States, settling in Rhode Island. But before their departure, a Kurdish tribal chief abducted the family’s youngest son Kirkor to use him as a laborer in his fields. The chief then married off the underage Kirkor to an orphan named Zerman. The couple settled in a village in Palu, converted to Islam and adopted Turkish names. They even went on a Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca together.
Years later, relatives in the U.S. got in touch with Kirkor and Zerman. Today the couple’s grandson is an imam in Harput, while their second-generation nephew Oshayan Cloloyan is the archbishop of the Armenian Church in New York.
Little girl in Raman Mountains
Hadjian writes about the presence of crypto-Armenians also in Tunceli and its environs, and recounts an encounter he had in Sason. The journalist describes a girl aged 6 or 7 in a group of Armenians heading to the Raman Mountains on pilgrimage. Due to the force of the wind, the white sack on the girl’s back turns around to reveal the Armenian cross. The journalist approaches the girl to take a picture. She hides her face behind her scarf, and when asked whether she is Armenian or has Armenian relatives, she answers: “We are Muslims.”


Read more: http://www.al-monito...l#ixzz2LSPVDMcG