shiner Posted March 17, 2001 Report Share Posted March 17, 2001 It is amazing how strong diasporan Armenian communities have been in the Middle East and Iran, in terms of Armenians keeping their heritage. Why is it that Armenians in these places have completely disregarded all rules of assimilation? I think that one major reason is that in addition to being an ethnic minority they were also a religious minority. Not having the same religion as most in their host countries gave them an extra reason to stick toghether. Any other ideas? The communities in the Midle East (especially Lebanon) and Iran are not nearly as strong today, mainly because of emigration due to surrounding political circumstances. Assimilation is probably more common. What do you think the future of these communities is? Who are the Armenians still left in those countries? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragon Posted March 18, 2001 Report Share Posted March 18, 2001 Armenian Diaspora is not a stable situation, never was. Yesterday we had strong communities in Galguta(India), or in Eastern Europe, although in France, or in Egypt, etc..now none of them has the same image. Diaspora is not homeland. It is the changing reality of Western Armenians, and Lebanon is part of it. No much lebanese born armenians left there. Mostly they are syrian armenians, who got lebanese identity in the past years and became part of armenian community. Although community had a grow in number, but the ''magartag'' went down...Unfortunately, being very close to turkish culture ( TV, Radio, video...mentality...), Syrian Armenians brought with them all the habits and ''flavour'' that they were enjoying in Syria... Now, in Lebanon, Armenians and especially new generations are more interested in turkish culture than armenian or even Lebanese one... Armenian Organizations are trying to fight against this ''yerevouyt'', but they are reaching nowhere. They are losing members day by day and of course there is some reason for that. Please be sure that what I said was in general and ''joghovurtayin magartagi vra'', which I care most. I'm sure there are lots of great Syrian Armenians on whom communities can count. Before all these, I think we must discuss the Lebanese war and its effects on Armenian community over there. It is really a big issue. -------------------------------------------Dragon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boghos Posted March 18, 2001 Report Share Posted March 18, 2001 It is true that many Syrian-Armenians have either moved to Lebanon, or got Lebanese papers in the past several years. But I think it would be an exaggeration to characterize the Lebanese-Armenian community as being culturally dominated by Syrian-Armenians AND that they are that Turkified. Actually the issue of Armenian vs Turkish culture is by itself quite a complex and emotional one. We tend to believe that Armenian culture is unique and unrelated to Turkey. I don´t think that either of these two statements are true. From the most uncultured peasant of Anatolia to the highest educated Armenian from Istanbul we can see similarities. This should come as no surprise given the centuries of life together. However it is not my wish to make this a discussion of the nature of Armenian culture vs. Turkish. But rather to recognize the fact that we have some common traits with Turks and to dispel the notion that Syrian Armenians are more Turkified. The other side of the coin is that Lebanese Armenians are too Arabicized (Lebanese version), in the way they speak and behave. That is also inevitable, as it is inevitable that an Armenian living in France becomes gauicized or in America, Americanized. I agree that the diaspora is just but a temporary living gorund for our culture. We can point to whichever examples, from the Mekhitarists in Vienna to the schools in Cyprus. Armenian culture doesn´t live abroad it just experiences different versions of death. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragon Posted March 18, 2001 Report Share Posted March 18, 2001 There is no armenian culture in Lebanon, there is only the ''remainder'' of the ''great past'' (1940-1970's), mixed with lebanese and turkish ''flavours''... Is it a culture? Why not, it is the reality of our people and the real image of Armenian spirit dying over there. A community who can not renew itself, who cannot creat new ideology, can only follow the rules of adoptation, aylaseoum or whatever. Lebanese Armenians are in the same situation. Arabic and turkish are the dominating language and spirit. The first on the ''high'' level, the second on the ''low'' one. Where is the Armenian??? I think it has already lost somewhere in between... Armeniannes in Lebanon is living the ''kaskushouk'' of death. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.