Rupen Janbazian
“Before traveling to Europe, [Armenian writer Yeghishe] Charents
visited this city with his good friend, Avetik Isahakian. (*) It’s unclear
as to how long he stayed; perhaps 10 or 15 days. I’m not completely
sure. It is said, however, that he stayed in this building, which used
to be a hotel. This is a historic building belonging to the Karagozian
Foundation. He also mentions the Pera Palace in his poem entitled
‘Istanbul,’ so he might have stayed there too. The details don’t really
matter. What is certain is that he roamed around these streets. That we
know. In that same poem, he calls the city an ‘international whore,’ and
he was right. It sure as hell is an interesting place to live.”
He doesn’t like to be called by his real name; only his wife,
Payline, who he boasts has been with him for 45 years now, has that
privilege. He prefers to be called Tomo.
“There were three Yetvarts in my class at the Tbrevank in
Iskudar, so we had to differentiate. First they called me Tovmas, then,
in pure Armenian fashion, it was shortened. Sarkis becomes Sako, Dikran
becomes Diko, and I guess Tovmas becomes Tomo.”
Tomo studied classic philology at the University of Istanbul, where
he focused on Classical Greek and Latin. During that time, he also
studied and mastered Classical Armenian (Krapar) at the
Armenian Patriarchate of Istanbul. After graduating, he got married, and
along with his wife voluntarily worked at the Armenian daily newspaper
Marmara, where they published the children’s page every Friday.
It was during those years that Tomo and a group of intellectual
friends, which included renowned Istanbul-Armenian author Mgrdich
Margossian, began publishing books. They would translate Armenian books
into Turkish and Turkish books into Armenian, and print them with the
little money they could put together. Their first publication,
Margossian’s Mer Ayt Goghmeruh, quickly became a hit among the Armenian community. Years later they decided to open a publishing house for real.
“Hrant Dink had a bookstore those days. I suggested to him that he
should start a publishing house with Margossian. Initially, I wasn’t
interested in being a part of it. They had a few meetings about it and
decided they wouldn’t go ahead with the project if I wasn’t going to
take part. Apparently giving the idea wasn’t enough.”
And thus, in 1993, Aras Publishing officially opened its doors. Its
three founders, Margossian, Dink, and Tomo, rented a small space on the
second floor of the same building the publisher occupies today and began
their little operation. Dink would leave the team three years later to
pursue his dream of publishing a Turkish-language weekly, which focused
on Armenian and other minority issues. Tomo admits that he wasn’t happy
to see Hrant go, but is now glad he did.
“There was a need for both Aras and Agos in Turkey, and I think we
both successfully filled that void. We’re still sister operations today.
We both have one similar purpose.”
The purpose, according to Tomo, is simple: to help bring together
Turks and Armenians to solve the 100-year-old elephant in the room.
“We know about the genocide…We were all affected, one way or another.
But the public in Turkey is unaware. It is our duty to teach the public
about our history, our literature, and our culture. I’m often asked,
‘Where have you Armenians come from?’ and I tell them that we’ve been on
these lands for thousands of years. I don’t blame them. They don’t know
about us. They have never been taught the truth.”
According to Tomo, the best way to educate is through the arts. “If
we can teach the general public about our people through our literature,
our songs, and our dances, then the peace process will commence much
easier. If the Turkish people learn the truth about the past, they will
surely demand their government to do the right thing and acknowledge
their history. These people have a voice and a vote in this country. It
is our duty to educate them properly; they will do the rest.”
And the Aras Publishing House is doing just that. Over the past 21
years, they have published 150 books: 40 in Armenian and 110 in Turkish.
Some have even been translated into other languages, including Kurdish.
Every one of the books published has either an Armenian author or an
Armenian theme.
Unfortunately, the business is not very profitable, but Tomo doesn’t
seem to care. He believes that the work he does serves a higher purpose.
“Our problems won’t be solved without dialogue. Turkey is changing.
Just 10 or so years ago, there was a conference organized here by
Armenians and Turks who wanted to start talking about coming to a peace.
People threw eggs and tomatoes at the presenters, posters were torn
down, and the conference was quickly canceled. Today, there are
conferences being organized not only in Istanbul, but even at Ankara
University, about opening the borders and discussing our history. The
books we publish are a small part of this dialogue that is beginning to
take shape here.”
Istanbul is changing and so is its Armenian community. Tomo says
there are about 3,000 Armenian students attending the 20 or so Armenian
schools left in the city—a student body that has been steadily dwindling
over the years. People don’t attend church as much as they used to, and
the pews are at full-capacity only at Easter, Christmas, and a few
other religious holidays throughout the year. Armenian isn’t spoken much
among the community, which was once the hub of Western Armenian
literature. The community is now made up of people from smaller towns
and villages where Armenian schools didn’t exist, Tomo explains.
“Most of our community learns Armenian when their kids go to Armenian school. They learn the language with
their children. Armenian is not spoken half as much as it once was in
this city. We print 500 copies of each Armenian book we publish and can
barely sell them all in 4 or 5 years. We print twice as many copies in
Turkish.”
But Tomo is not worried about his beloved city and the Armenian community.
“I often read articles written 50 or even 100 years ago. The problems
were much the same then as they are today. People were always
complaining about the community dying and disappearing. The fact remains
that we’ve been living here for thousands of years and enjoying all
this place has to offer. I consider myself very lucky to have been born
here and in this great civilization of Armenians. We will always
complain and criticize, but life goes on as usual. We are still here and
we will remain. This is our home.”
"The Armenian Weekly," December 12, 2014
(*) Charents visited Istanbul in 1924 on his way to Europe. But he was alone: he met Isahakian in Venice ("Armeniaca").
No comments:
Post a Comment