Turkey's Hidden Armenians

[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.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

[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/index.php?showtopic=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.edu/news/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.org/wiki/User_talk:Tic.../armenian_quote

 

And Azg;

http://www.azg.am/?lang=AM&num=2006020907

 

 

http://hyeforum.com/index.php?showtopic=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.aztagdaily.com/EnglishSupplemen...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

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[joseph parikian]

More Photos

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[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.armeniapedia.org/index.php?titl...or_Aghabaloghlu

http://emmanuel-chanitz.blogspot.com/2007/...og-post_23.html

Edited May 13, 2007 by Arpa

[Johannes]

http://www.aztagdaily.com/Archive/11-05-07/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]

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/images/design/logo-hurriyet-daily-news.png

 

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

ISTANBUL

 

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/images/news/201302/n_41263_4.jpg

 

‘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.com/ln/50c/videos/543811-turkey-armenia-a-life-spent-in-hiding

[Yervant1]

http://www.al-monitor.com/files/live/sites/almonitor/files/logos/am-logo-website_65.png

 

Turkey’s Secret Armenians

 

http://www.al-monitor.com/files/live/sites/almonitor/files/contributed/jnt_news_turkey-secret-armenians/1-RTR315JR.jpg?t=thumbnail_578

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-monitor.com/pulse/culture/2013/02/turkey-secret-armenians.html#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-monitor.com/pulse/culture/2013/02/turkey-secret-armenians.html#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-monitor.com/pulse/culture/2013/02/turkey-secret-armenians.html#ixzz2LSPVDMcG