Voltaire And The Armenians

[Dave]

I just finished reading Candide from Voltaire, one of the main personalities of the Age of Enlightenment. In Candide, the main characters try to find reason and after traveling to various European and South American countries, they find it in Turkey and settle there.

 

In his essay Toleration and other Essays, Voltaire says:

 

Let us get out of our grooves and study the rest of the globe. The Sultan governs in peace twenty million people of different religions; two hundred thousand Greeks live in security at Constantinople; the muphti himself nominates and presents to the emperor the Greek patriarch, and they also admit a Latin patriarch. The Sultan nominates Latin bishops for some of the Greek islands, using the following formula: “I command him to go and reside as bishop in the island of Chios, according to their ancient usage and their vain ceremonies.” The empire is full of Jacobites, Nestorians, and Monothelites; it contains Copts, Christians of St. John, Jews, and Hindoos. The annals of Turkey do not record any revolt instigated by any of these religions.

 

Deniers often use this and other quotes from European authors in order to disprove the Armenian and Greek claims of persecution throughout Ottoman rule.

 

What do you think of this and of Voltaire's opinion on Turkey?

Edited November 22, 2006 by Dave

[Arpa]

I just finished reading Candide from Voltaire, one of the main personalities of the Age of Enlightenment. In Candide, the main characters try to find reason and after traveling to various European and South American countries, they find it in Turkey and settle there.

 

In his essay Toleration and other Essays, Voltaire says:

 

Let us get out of our grooves and study the rest of the globe. The Sultan governs in peace twenty million people of different religions; two hundred thousand Greeks live in security at Constantinople; the muphti himself nominates and presents to the emperor the Greek patriarch, and they also admit a Latin patriarch. The Sultan nominates Latin bishops for some of the Greek islands, using the following formula: “I command him to go and reside as bishop in the island of Chios, according to their ancient usage and their vain ceremonies.” The empire is full of Jacobites, Nestorians, and Monothelites; it contains Copts, Christians of St. John, Jews, and Hindoos. The annals of Turkey do not record any revolt instigated by any of these religions.

 

Deniers often use this and other quotes from European authors in order to disprove the Armenian and Greek claims of persecution throughout Ottoman rule.

 

What do you think of this and of Voltaire's opinion on Turkey?

Yeah, yeah. Voltaire/Moltaire/Schmoltiair and other "VOR-taires of his kind, not having lived in Van and other Armernian towns, not having their meres/mothers raped by Osman can sing the virtues of the Ottomans. Of course, mercifully, he or the the likes of him have not seen or felt fhe sword of, or the phalllus of Osman.

Edited November 22, 2006 by Arpa

[Dave]

Then he must have not visited the Armenian provinces of the Empire. Or did he?

[Zartonk]

I am certain he had not. We also must not give much account to his encounter with Ottoman governance anywhere: Like all other Europeans who visited the empire, they where carefully taken to only the most lavish parts, meeting only officials and never stepping beyond Constatinople's gates to see how the Christians really lived.

 

Good topic though. I have look into it now.

[skhara]

Dave, don't you mean Voltair and turks?

 

I also read Candide. There is little mention of turks except for the ending. There are a lot of references of being swindled by Jews.

 

Voltair was no friend of turks. He thought them quite bloodthirsty.

[Dave]

I also read Candide. There is little mention of turks except for the ending. There are a lot of references of being swindled by Jews.

 

Yes, I noticed those too. I remember one passage, where they had to sell pearls (or other jewellery), which they did quickly to Jews, who got them for half price. There's also Don Issachar, who "shares" Cunégonde with the Grand Inquisitor, etc...

 

In another version of Candide, Voltaire calls an Armenian merchant (slave merchant?) virtuous, "as much as an Armenian can be". Check the chapter 11 of that version here:

 

http://oll.libertyfund.org/Texts/Voltaire0...2b_Candide.html

[skhara]

Voltaire characterised the Turks as:

 

"tyrants of the women and enemies of arts".

He also spoke of the need:

 

"to chase away from Europe these barbaric usurpers"

He accused the Turks of having destroyed Europes ancient heritage from :"the Orient’s Christian realm" and wrote:

 

"I wish fervently that the Turkish barbarians be chased away immediately out of the country of Xenophon, Socrates, Plato, Sophocles and Euripides. If we wanted, it could be done soon but seven crusades of superstition have been undertaken and a crusade of honour will never take place. We know almost no city built by them; they let decay the most beautiful establishments of Antiquity, they reign over ruins."

In this passage Voltaire refers to the brutal 500 year Ottoman occupation of Greece

[Dave]

Did you take this from Wikipedia's Anti-Turkism article? It is somewhat contradicting. Perhaps a second visit to Turkey changed his opinion.

 

It doesn't change much, however, because in his most famous work, Candide, Voltaire unfortunately took a rather pro-Turkish stance.

[skhara]

Did you take this from Wikipedia's Anti-Turkism article? It is somewhat contradicting. Perhaps a second visit to Turkey changed his opinion.

 

It doesn't change much, however, because in his most famous work, Candide, Voltaire unfortunately took a rather pro-Turkish stance.

 

That where I found it yes.

[SanVal]

Maybe he fell in love with the people, became a Turkophile...love makes people oblivious to some things.

[DominO123]

Voltaire characterised the Turks as:

 

"tyrants of the women and enemies of arts".

He also spoke of the need:

 

"to chase away from Europe these barbaric usurpers"

He accused the Turks of having destroyed Europes ancient heritage from :"the Orient’s Christian realm" and wrote:

 

"I wish fervently that the Turkish barbarians be chased away immediately out of the country of Xenophon, Socrates, Plato, Sophocles and Euripides. If we wanted, it could be done soon but seven crusades of superstition have been undertaken and a crusade of honour will never take place. We know almost no city built by them; they let decay the most beautiful establishments of Antiquity, they reign over ruins."

In this passage Voltaire refers to the brutal 500 year Ottoman occupation of Greece

 

Voltaire was very much unstable in his conceptions. He started liking the Turks when he started liking the Muslims and stereotyping the Jews. See for example Zadig and the part where he describes the Jew not wanting to pay back an Arab etc.

[Dave]

In the very first Encyclopedia, the French Enlightenment authors consider that Armenia is the place where the Earthly Paradise was located, and that most Armenians (merely a religious group according to their definition) are schismatics.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27Encyclop%C3%A9die

Edited November 25, 2006 by Dave