Armenians Who Converted To Islam

[phantom22]

Armenians have learned to be flexible, to assimilate somewhat. Our history has dealt us difficult circumstances. Always being conquered.

 

Does anyone realize how badly the Byzantines, fellow Christians, treated us despite the fact that many of the rulers of Byzantium were Armenian.

 

As for Mamoulian, this was common practice in Hollywood. Italians, Jews, even Anglos with funny-sounding names were required to change their names.

Edited August 30, 2005 by phantom22

[phantom22]

This phenomenon occurs in other ethnic groups as well.

 

Do you all realize that many of the so-called White Anglo country-club set of Los Angeles are descended from Mexicans who were a mix (Mestizo) of Spanish, Indian and African?

 

There is a group known as "Los Californianos," the descendants of the Mexican landowners of Alta California. These folks are mostly quite wealthy and although they acknowledge a Spanish background, refuse to face the historical fact that their ancestors, the landowning Californios, were a mixed race people.

Edited August 30, 2005 by phantom22

[Takoush]

Armenians have learned to be flexible, to assimilate somewhat. Our history has dealt us difficult circumstances. Always being conquered.

 

As for Mamoulian, this was common practice in Hollywood. Italians, Jews, even Anglos with funny-sounding names were required to change their names.

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Yes absolutely about your first paragraph; our history speaks for itself of course.

 

In the case of Mamoulian; I know quite well Phantom that in Hollywood it was common practice to have actors and Directors, etc. to change their foreign names; however my point was that Mamoulian did not. He was told to stay and change his name or leave. He preferred to leave than change his name.

For all intensive purposes I was comparing it with Armenians that refused to change their religion; yet this man didn't even want to change his Armenian name for the love of his Armenianness. Interesting man.

 

Anahid

[phantom22]

Yes, Mamoulian was unique for his time.

 

Heditsian became "Hedison."

 

Ohanian became "Connors."

 

Kazanjian dropped her last name and became solely "Arlene Francis."

 

Sarkissian had already been adopted by stepfather LaPiere but dropped all, even her married name and became solely "Cher."

 

Aznavourian became "Aznavour."

 

Yet, Boghosian has kept his surname.

Edited August 30, 2005 by phantom22

[MosJan]

Yes, if you read this page you will find out more about her

It is very startling when learning these things, just how global our people have been in the past, as they are now.

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Thanks For the Link - good info - most of it i have been loking for some time now

Thanks

 

MOvses

[Artaxias]

Armenians have learned to be flexible, to assimilate somewhat. Our history has dealt us difficult circumstances. Always being conquered.

 

Does anyone realize how badly the Byzantines, fellow Christians, treated us despite the fact that many of the rulers of Byzantium were Armenian.

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They treated everyone badly who was non-Chalcedonian. Be they Greek or Armenian. That's nothing, at least there was an Empire with a system worthy of protection.

 

Justify non-Chalcedonian Armenians massacring Paulician Armenians en masse!

[Artaxias]

This phenomenon occurs in other ethnic groups as well.

 

Do you all realize that many of the so-called White Anglo country-club set of Los Angeles are descended from Mexicans who were a mix (Mestizo) of Spanish, Indian and African?

 

There is a group known as "Los Californianos," the descendants of the Mexican landowners of Alta California. These folks are mostly quite wealthy and although they acknowledge a Spanish background, refuse to face the historical fact that their ancestors, the landowning Californios, were a mixed race people.

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lol

Come on, do you really think a mestizo, regardless of its name can be mistaken for an Anglo or any other White person for that matter?

 

Most of the early Mexican land owners were Whites, even now there are plenty. Look at President Fox for example.

 

Mexican mestizo:

http://www.corozal.com/culture/mestizo/mestz084.wq.jpg

 

Mexican White:

http://gilmoregirls.monrezo.be/GilmoreGirl...ledel_Pub01.jpg

Edited August 30, 2005 by Artaxias

[phantom22]

Artaxias,

 

After a few generations of intermarriage, yes they can pass. I personally know some of these people. I also know exactly who they are descended from and the exact racial mixture of their ancestry. I also have pictures of their ancestors which attests to their mixed blood.

 

Sometimes this can be very embarassing. I have a cousin who lives in a community that was so "lily-white" that it did not even except Jews. My relatives got in by passing for Europeans (that side of my famly are germag hyes with light hair and eyes who could easily pass for kermanatzis) and lying about their ancestry.

 

After having three white children one of their neighbors, a family whose ancestry was in the Southern USA, had a black child. It seems that it was later revealed that both parents had some ancient black ancestry.

 

A germag friend of mine married a beautiful stewardess of Japan Airlines. The first child closely resembles the wife. The second child has light hair and blue eyes. This meant that the mother had recessive Caucasian genes.

After much crying the grandmother revealed that her grandmother was the illigitimate daughter of a geisha girl and a Portuguese sailor in Nagasaki.

Edited August 30, 2005 by phantom22

[phantom22]

Artaxias,

 

The mass pogroms by the Armenian nobles and church of Paulician and Tondrakian Armenian Christians is the most absurb element of Armenian history. It greatly weakened our numbers in our ancestral lands and opened us up to invasion. Those who were not outright killed escaped to the Balkans and Southern France where they were again persecuted.

 

You would think that our ecclesiastical leaders would have learned a lesson by this, not a chance!

Edited August 30, 2005 by phantom22

[Arvestaked]

That the wife of Shah Jahan was Armenian is news to me and very unlikely. Just like some people still claim that Gregory Peck or Gwen Stefani are Armenian.

 

I couldn't find anything Armenian about her:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumtaz_Mahal

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Gregory Peck had an Armenian grandfather.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000060/bio

 

"He had Catholic Armenian roots from his paternal grandfather, Sam "Peck," an immigrant from England. After he married his second wife, Veronique Passani, she had his ancestry traced and discovered the Armenian lineage. Urging him to learn of his partial Armenian heritage and to learn the Armenian language, he took Armenain classes in his middle age. But by then his public persona was fixed. "Gregory" is a common Indo-European name and Armenian surname (Gregorian or Krikorian) and was the name of Saint Gregory the Illuminator, Apostle of Armenia (332 AD)."

 

"He was of British, Irish, Scottish and Armenian heritage."

 

 

Gwen Stefani has no Armenian blood in her at all. I even remember going to the No Doubt website a long time ago and to read the FAQ to see if there was a mention of it. They adressed the claims and said she is not Armenian.

Edited August 30, 2005 by Arvestaked

[phantom22]

Sam Peck was only part-Armenian. Yet, actor Gregory Peck's Armenian heritage was more than Princess Diana's.

 

Someone should write a history about all the Armenians who intermarried with Brits in the British Empire and its colonies.

 

Eliza Kewark (Kevorkian) met her mate, Forbes, in Bombay. This is how the letters in Armenian script ended up in the Spencer castle in England. Armenians were often the only Westerners settled in the Far East British colonies.

Edited August 30, 2005 by phantom22

[Karen]

I respectfully apologyze, but who is this Mr. Ata Donmeh? Turkish provocator?

 

Honestly, what Indian princess or Iranian poet have to do with Armenian converts? I see no relation.

If you want to speak of some real conversions, check out Hemsil (Hamshen) Armenians of Turkey, who still preserve their language. Check out 17 Armenian villages in Erzurum il, secretly preserving their faith up to this day (of cause, I'm not gonna expose their names here). Check out tonns of ges-ges Armenian villages near Arapkir, Eliazig, Egin, Keban. These are real people living their real lives in facistic Turkey, afraid of speaking up the truth about who the really are. Nevertheless, they build up their web-sites, like http://www.yaylayolu.info , like http://www.geocities.com/cryptoarmenians , like http://www.efkere.com .

 

This people are nocking on diaspora's door, hoping to be accepted. They struggle assimilation, facing gigantic assimilation machine, called "turkish state". And they will continue on, regardless the century-old ignorance of diaspora and traditional turkish facism.

[Takoush]

I respectfully apologyze, but who is this Mr. Ata Donmeh? Turkish provocator?

 

Honestly, what Indian princess or Iranian poet have to do with Armenian converts? I see no relation.

If you want to speak of some real conversions, check out Hemsil (Hamshen) Armenians of Turkey, who still preserve their language. Check out 17 Armenian villages in Erzurum il, secretly preserving their faith up to this day (of cause, I'm not gonna expose their names here). Check out tonns of ges-ges Armenian villages near Arapkir, Eliazig, Egin, Keban. These are real people living their real lives in facistic Turkey, afraid of speaking up the truth about who the really are. Nevertheless, they build up their web-sites, like http://www.yaylayolu.info , like http://www.geocities.com/cryptoarmenians , like http://www.efkere.com .

 

This people are nocking on diaspora's door, hoping to be accepted. They struggle assimilation, facing gigantic assimilation machine, called "turkish state". And they will continue on, regardless the century-old ignorance of diaspora and traditional turkish facism.

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Wow Karen: I looked at your first suggested site and I found a lot of Turkish Armenians feeling for our Armenian Genocidal rights. They seem to be totally on our side. They really seem to be well rooted Armenians maybe more than some of the Armenian people I know in the Diaspora. They have a complete site about April 24. One Armenian chap born in 1907 Erzeroum depicting the massacres exactly how it happened, then he flew to Armenia in 1922 after he got married. It's really heartwrenching. I don't know Turkish at all. I never wanted to learn their blood wrenched language; but I wish now there was someone beside me to translate to me some of the things these Armenians or part Armenians are saying. They seem to feel quite Armenian though.

 

I don't know what to say, except I was dumbfounded. They seem to be locked in fascist Turkey unable to get out. It's a pity.

[Takoush]

Karen:

 

The only solution for these people are the heads of our organizations in the diaspora. Be it in the Americas, in Europe or even in the Middle East. They should look into these Armenians or 'ges ges' Armenians, who mind you they seem to feel quite Armenian. Anyway, our Armenian Organizations should look into this and see how they can free these people to get out of there.

[Arpa]

I respectfully apologyze, but who is this Mr. Ata Donmeh? Turkish provocator?

 

Honestly, what Indian princess or Iranian poet have to do with Armenian converts? I see no relation.

 

===

This people are nocking on diaspora's door, hoping to be accepted. They struggle assimilation, facing gigantic assimilation machine, called "turkish state". And they will continue on, regardless the century-old ignorance of diaspora and traditional turkish facism.

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Bravo/Brava Karen.

 

I t is beyond me how some of us will be sucked into such a blatant trap set by an obvious Turk whose only aim is to solicit and elicit off color comments, and in doing so to hijack the debate and deflect our attention. It is obvious that the originator of this thread is a Turk, openly and brazenly using a Turkish nickname and reinforcing it by declaring his connection to ATA (American Turkish Association, the nemesis of the Armenian Assembly and ANCA).

It is also beyond me how the debate precipitates to Gregory Peck and his ilk.

Phanton, aka Khoja, aka, Hagarag, aka AmericaHye, will you please SHUT UP and stop this charade. We have spoken about this before(just conduct a search on this forum and see how many times this subject has been brought up, beside Mamikonians being Chinese/Mongolian, the Bakratunis being Jewish , a nonsense that I have not yet figured out how it relates to our destiny), Gregory Peck has not only not acknowledged his armenianness, he has, on many occasions denied any connection. An Armenian is he/she who professes to be one.

 

This also brings to mind the recent debate we had with two self styled Armenian “missionaries” who have been preaching Christianity to us, and who have kept silent when invited to take their pulpit to Turkey, Iran and other hostile territories.

Karen, you rightly invite us to see how our not so lost kin are pleading to us to come to their aid and liberate them from a culture that they were forced to adopt.

Besides the sites you list above, here’s another one initiated and maintained by a few intrepid and brave Armenians in Turkey, who are waging a fateful battle against all odds and very hostile adversaries. I have not visited the site lately, it is mainly in Turkish, but one can tell how frustrated the detractors are as all they use is swear words with no plausible argument, by invoking one‘s mothers and sisters in the most graphic language.

 

 

I have deliberately corrupted the URL but it can be found using some of the keywords.

 

http://f20.parsimony.net/forum36933/index.

[phantom22]

These captive peoples demonstrate that the situation in Turkey is different than the face they want to show to Europe. Go to Europe and you will find numerous instances of villages of a different nationality within national borders. What are the Turks afraid of? Armenia is a small country. Edited August 31, 2005 by phantom22

[gamavor]

What are the Turks afraid of? Armenia is a small country.

 

A lot! Since the invention of Smith and Wessen there are no more small and big - all that matters is wether you have it or not. Same applies to nukes.

 

What turks are afraid of is what we are not afraid of. Turks are afraid of loosing their artificial homogenous society and their artificial country.

[Takoush]

Bravo/Brava Karen.

 

I t is beyond me how some of us will be sucked into such a blatant trap set by an obvious Turk whose only aim is to solicit and elicit off color comments, and in doing so to hijack the debate and deflect our attention. It is obvious that the originator of this thread is a Turk, openly and brazenly using a Turkish nickname and reinforcing it by declaring his connection to ATA (American Turkish Association, the nemesis of  the Armenian Assembly and  ANCA).

It is also beyond me how the debate precipitates to Gregory Peck and his ilk.

Phanton, aka Khoja, aka, Hagarag, aka AmericaHye, will you please SHUT UP and stop this charade. We have spoken about this before(just conduct a search on this forum and see how many times this subject has been  brought up, beside Mamikonians being Chinese/Mongolian, the Bakratunis being Jewish , a nonsense that I have not yet figured out how it relates to our destiny), Gregory Peck has not only not acknowledged his armenianness, he has, on many occasions denied any connection. An Armenian is he/she who professes to be one.

 

http://f20.parsimony.net/forum36933/index.

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Karen:

 

This is true? This Karen is a Turk?

 

If so, how are we supposed to know? I haven't been here as long as some of you

people to find out yet.

 

'Yete Turk eh inch kordz ouni hos; tours verendetsek geghdodin Kehena'

[Takoush]

I intended to address this previous post to Arpa:

 

 

Arpa, how can we know, we are still fairly new and we haven't been on the site as long as you people have been.

 

Like I just mentioned 'what is this Turk doing here'?

 

'tours chenk gernar verendel ayl SSO-in'?

[phantom22]

Arpa,

 

 

I would just love to put you and Ara at a dais together and have you two "duke it out."

 

There are so many Turks with blinders on.

 

There are also many Armenians with blinders on.

 

I have found you to be a "dyed in the wool" Armenian, and I am sure that you are proud of this. However, what we have been led to believe is not always the truth.

 

Have you not heard the ballad "Tsoodeh, Tsoodeh, Ays Archagin Mech, Amenpahn Soodeh?"

 

Much is concealed in this world for economic and political reasons. It was only after his death that we had revelations about the Black daughter of Strom Thurmond.

 

This whole Mamikonian/Bagratuni business was not stated by me but by eminent and respected ancient Armenian historians.

 

Peck's wife was obviously contacted and she did not refute the story that my overseas cousins had alerted me to. Now that he is gone there is nothing to be lost by the revelation that he kept secret while he was alive.

 

The world is complex. Being Armenian can be a liability in some circles.

Edited August 31, 2005 by phantom22

[Dave]

Gregory Peck has not only not acknowledged his armenianness, he has, on many occasions denied any connection.

 

I've heard of that too. Gregory (Krikor) Ipekian has denied his armenianness. If these people do not serve the Armenian nation, we shouldn't care.

Edited September 2, 2005 by Dave

[phantom22]

With ardent fanatic conservative Armenian politicans California and that famous talented but pychopathic author who ruined our name in "Hollywood" what would you expect? For Peck to tell Carol Saroyan Matthau at whose home he had dinner every week that he was of the same nationality as her former husband, who would tell her that she was a lousy Jew while he was having sex with her? Edited September 3, 2005 by phantom22

[Karen]

Karen:

 

This is true? This Karen is a Turk?

 

If so, how are we supposed to know?  I haven't been here as long as some of you

people to find out yet.

 

'Yete Turk eh inch kordz ouni hos; tours verendetsek geghdodin Kehena'

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Some clarifications.

No, I am not turk. Yes turk chem, yes hye am. Ev shat magur hyeren kxosem dzes het, sakajn bolors hyeren chen haskanum. Dra hamar, xosum em angleren.

Vorov kerpov el apahovem im hyeutjunes?

 

What I was talking about, this ges-ges islamized Armenians business, it hasn't started just recently. It was gaining momentum since late 70s - early 80s. It is only today that its had surfaced up to the general knowledge. And turks are trying their best to silence it up, or divert the attention to some gay "persian poets" of supposedly armenian dessent.

Speaking of the numbers, its really hard to say how many secret Armenians are there in Turkey. Some say 500 thousand. Some say 1,5 million. Some even go up to 2 million. I am curreently working on the details and will come up with some good news. As I said, I found out more than 100 villages already, which were islamized during 1895 and earlier, therefore, survivng the Genocide. I expect about 500 villages in total, which might still remember who they are...

The thing is - numbers don't matter. What matters is that there is a separate ethnic group, whether you call it muslem Armenian or cryptochristian, which is deprived of its rights of freedom of religion, education, language, etc. Turkey should be held responsible for that.

As I put it: if there is only one Armenian village left, somewhere deep in the mountains of Sassoun, - it is our duty, as Armenians, to make sure that this particular village becomes a pillar of our Armenianhood in the lost Ergir. If there is only one village left, we should struggle to make it our last stand in the lost paradise, our homeland Western Armenia. Yeah, Turks are keeping some two Armenian villages in the villayet of Hatay, next to Musa-Ler. Those are villages of Qnay and Yaggubia, which survived due to intervention of Western Catholic missions (villagers were Armenian Catholics). So turks point to those villages, saying - "see, we have Armenians in Turkey". Such a miserable roadside dog'n'pony show! How about Sassoun, Taron, Vaspurakan, Erzerum, Bayburt, Trabzon? How about Kharbert, Malatya? There are hundreds of villages there!

 

The facts are much more tough. It is not only one village - those are hundreds of villages. It is not some one hundred Armenians in Qnay and Yaggubia. Those are hundreds of thousands of Armenians in hundreds of villages. And we shouldn't help them to get out. We should help them to remain who they are ON THEIR LAND, to secute our path back, of which we are dreaming for the last 100 years. Moreover, it shouldn't be our Armenian Organizations, who should deal with that. It should be ordinary Armenians, like us on this forum, who should bring up the topic on all levels - be it Internet, or else.

Edited September 3, 2005 by Karen

[phantom22]

Obituary

 

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

Carol Matthau

 

Actress and socialite who was a model for Holly Golightly

 

Eric Homberger

Monday August 11, 2003

The Guardian

 

 

The career of Carol Matthau, who has died age 78, gave her many vivid roles: as semi-debutante at the Stork Club; a teenage bride of the Pulitzer prize-winning author William Saroyan; an actor and author; and during a long and spirited marriage to the actor Walter Matthau, an A-list Hollywood wife.

Carol's fabled wit, given full vent in a memoir, Among The Porcupines (1992) was feared and cherished: "I married Saroyan the second time because I couldn't believe how terrible it was the first time. I married Walter because I love to sleep with him."

 

 

Article continues

 

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Her mother Rosheen Doree, unmarried daughter of immigrant Jews in New York's Lower East Side, was 16 when Carol was born. When the father abandoned Rosheen and her baby, she was pushed into a loveless marriage with philosophy professor. When a baby from that marriage was born, the philosopher demanded that the illegitimate child, Carol, be sent for adoption. Her mother walked out, found a job at a hat factory, and placed Carol in a foster home while she worked and saved money.

In 1933 Rosheen bustled into the foster home, collected Carol, and whisked her off to Park Avenue, where her new husband, Charles Marcus, lived in luxury. A co-founder of Bendix Aircraft Corporation, Marcus warmly welcomed his stepdaughter. Two years later he learned that his wife had hidden the existence of another daughter, Elinor, who had been left in a foster home when they married. With equal generosity Marcus welcomed his second stepdaughter to his 18-room apartment.

 

The transformation from the Lower East Side to Park Avenue was the stuff of immigrant daydreams. Carol Doree adopted her step-father's name, and as Carol Marcus was sent to the exclusive private Dalton School in New York. Her golden blonde hair, and sharp, worldly humour, made her a favourite with the other socialites at Dalton, like Oona O'Neill, daughter of the playwright Eugene O'Neill.

 

Carol became friends with Gloria Vanderbilt, "little Gloria", object of the most famous custody case of the era. While still teenagers, as Truman Capote recalled in Answered Prayers, Carol was a fixture in café society, along with "Gloria and Honeychile and Oona and Jinx, slouched against El Morocco upholstery ceaselessly raking their Veronica Lake locks". In 1985 Carol's son Aram Saroyan published Trio: Oona Chaplin, Carol Matthau, Gloria Vanderbilt, Portrait Of An Intimate Friendship, a vivid memoir of his mother's world in café society.

 

In 1941 Carol was in Hollywood for the (first) marriage of "little Gloria". Her ever-ambitious mother introduced her to the bandleader Artie Shaw, who recognised the pouting 16-year old as Big Trouble. He passed her along to the writer William Saroyan, nearly twice her age, who was then at the height of his literary fame.

 

Their first marriage lasted for six years. A son, Aram, was born in 1943, and a daughter Lucy in 1946. Life with Saroyan was no honeymoon. He was an inveterate gambler, and emotionally and physically abusive. By the time they divorced in 1949, her children had seen her thrown down a flight of stairs and choked by an enraged Saroyan.

 

At their remarriage ceremony in 1951 Charlie Chaplin made a gracious speech about love. But within six months she again walked out on Saroyan. And did not look back. Moving to an apartment in New York, she completed a novella about her early life, The Secret In The Daisy, which was published under the pseudonym Carol Grace in 1955.

 

Old friends like Truman Capote and Gloria Vanderbilt rallied round, and her name once again began to appear in the showbusiness gossip columns. Eating doughnuts at 3am at the Fifth Avenue entrance of Tiffany's with Capote, he said: "You are Holly." She was one of many New Yorkers who claimed to be the model for Holly Golightly, the heroine of Capote's Breakfast At Tiffany's, which was published in 1958.

 

Capote advised Carol against sleeping with poor people, and it was advice which she happily accepted, except in the case of actors. While playing understudy to the secretary in George Axelrod's Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? she met the actor Walter Matthau, then unhappily married. An affair led to marriage in 1959.

 

Carol's Jewishness was carefully disguised, and she was introduced to friends as an archetypal shiksa, Carol Wellington-Smythe Marcus. Although they never became observant Jews, in later years the Matthaus attended synagogue in Hollywood and supported Israel.

 

Beyond good sex and a sense of humour, they shared an experience of New York which bound them powerfully together. Matthau, who solemnly assured interviewers that his father was an orthodox priest, and that his name was Matuchanskayasky or Matuschanskavasky - the spelling kept growing wilder with each telling - was the son of impoverished Russian-Jewish immigrants named Matthow. After her husband's desertion, Walter's mother was left to support her two sons by working in the garment industry. They lived in cold-water flats on the Lower East Side, fleeing before rent became due. He worked as a newsboy, and was a regular at card games on tenement roofs.

 

Matthau's breakthrough role came in 1965, when he played the shambling sportswriter Oscar Madison in Neil Simon's play The Odd Couple. He repeated the role in the acclaimed 1968 movie, playing opposite Jack Lemmon. They became fast friends. The wisecracking, mournful grumbling of Oscar Madison made Matthau's career.

 

The Matthaus were at the heart of the Hollywood establishment for three decades. They had one son, Charlie, who became a film-maker. He later directed his father in The Grass Harp in 1996. Carol co-starred with Matthau in the only film he ever directed, Gangster Story, a low-budget film which dropped unmemorably out of sight on its initial release in 1960.

 

They were a famously devoted and funny couple. "I never mind my wife having the last word," he remarked. "In fact, I'm delighted when she gets to it."

 

· Carol Matthau, writer and actor, born September 11, 1925; died July 20, 2003

[Arpa]

From the Economist.

Highlights mine.

======

Turkish tourism

 

How green is their valley

Aug 25th 2005 | CAMLIHEMSIN, TURKEY

>From The Economist print edition

 

A remote hideaway could thrive on, or be wrecked by, eco-tourism

 

THEY used to be one of Turkey's best-kept tourist secrets: the scented

plateaus of the Pontic mountains, with their wild flowers and exuberant

dancers. For the handful of travellers who came this far east, few

landscapes were as enticing as the Hemsin valleys in the province of

Rize, a place where many locals speak a dialect close to Armenian,

practise moderate Islam and are agnostic about their origins.

More recently, news of this area's beauty has been spreading. A new

breed of eco-tourist, many of them from Israel, has begun to head for

the yaylas, or meadows, with their roaring rivers and stone bridges.

But the very attractions that draw in these green wanderers could be

destroyed if clumsy developers and opportunistic local politicians

get their way.

 

To see the aesthetic hazards of unregulated tourism, go no further

than Ayder, a yayla overlooking one of the Hemsin valleys that was

once renowned for its tranquillity and hot springs. Thanks to a stream

of Turkish and foreign visitors, the air is thick with smoke rising

from barbecues. Mournful Arabesque music blares from tour buses and

cars. Garish motels and handicraft stands obscure the view.

 

Many Hemsinlis are furious. Ayder's degeneration began after it was

linked by road to the nearby town of Camlihemsin, says Selcuk Guney,

a local activist. One of his aims is to ensure his birthplace, the

neighbouring Firtina valley, avoids a similar fate. So far it is

virtually untouched; that is partly because access is by dirt track.

 

Mr Guney insists that if the region's unique way of life is to be

preserved, and well-managed eco-tourism is to flourish, the footpaths

leading to yaylas must not be replaced with paved roads; and tour

buses "that leave nothing but trash behind" must be restricted.

Mustafa Orhan, a crusty old bee-keeper who led a successful campaign

against a planned hydro-electric dam on the Firtina river, suspects

that the government's unspoken aim in building roads is to help

commercial logging. Locals have long used electric pulley-carts,

running along steel cables, to bring food and other supplies to

their yayla homes. So, instead of roads, Mr Orhan asks: "Why not

build electric cable-cars to carry people?"

 

Locals of his persuasion have found an ally in Rize's governor, Enver

Salihoglu; he too opposes further road construction in the valleys.

Smart development could avoid ruining this Shangri-la, he believes.

In Camlihemsin, for example, there could be more emphasis on bees,

trout farming and organic tea. Of course, not every Hemsinli is so

conservation-minded. "I want cable television and a fridge," says

Muazzez Yildiz, an elderly lady whose cottage has a gorgeous view of

the Firtina valley. The question is how to help her without wrecking

the