Armenian-Turkish lawmaker targeted as Erdogan courts far-right

Amberin Zaman

 

Turkish prosecutors are seeking to lift the parliamentary immunity of an ethnic Armenian lawmaker in order to prosecute and potentially jail him, marking a further escalation of the government’s assault on free expression.

Prosecutors in Ankara have invoked Article 301, which criminalizes insulting the Turkish nation, and Article 299, which penalizes insulting the Turkish president, against Garo Paylan of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), the largest pro-Kurdish bloc in the Turkish parliament.

Armenian Turks and Other Tragic Stories of Roots

Raffi Bedrosyan

 

Last month, the Turkish government released a website where Turkish citizens can look up their ancestral roots all the way back until the mid-1850s. There are hundreds of stories in printed and social media, which sent shockwaves in Turkey and beyond, about several Turks who discovered that they had Albanian, Arabic, Pontic Greek, and—worst of all—Armenian roots. There have even been reports that some members of an ultra-nationalistic and racist Turkish party were ostracized and thrown out of their ranks, went into depression, and even committed suicide upon discovering their Armenian family roots.

Turkish genealogy database fascinates, frightens Turks

 Fehim Tastekin

During the days when Turkey still hoped to join the European Union, its people were becoming willing to question their ethnic and religious ancestry. Since then, the country has reverted to a time when people were disgraced and denigrated, with the government’s blessings, as “crypto-Armenians."

Hrant Dink was the editor of the Armenian-language newspaper Agos in 2004 when he wrote that Sabiha Gokcen, the first female military pilot of the Turkish Republic, was of Armenian parentage. Because of this and other articles he penned, Dink found himself the subject of investigation by the Justice Ministry. He was assassinated in 2007 for reasons thought to be related to his strong support for Armenian causes.

How Turkey went back to square one 10 years after murder of Armenian intellectual

Cengiz Çandar

For the past 10 years, Jan. 19 has been an unforgettable date for some Turks. But this year was more meaningful because it was the 10th anniversary of the assassination of Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink. As founder and editor-in-chief of bilingual weekly Agos, Dink was a renowned intellectual who was gunned down in daylight on Jan. 19, 2007, on the sidewalk near the entrance to his office located in one of the most crowded districts of Istanbul.

In a rapidly changing country like Turkey, Dink's name has become a symbol for taboo-breaking developments. His funeral on Jan. 23, 2007, was a revolt against the religious nationalism embedded in Turkish society's psyche that had blinded it for generations.

How some Armenians are reclaiming their Christian faith

Sibel Hurtas

Translated by Timur Göksel

  

Armenians in Turkey who opted to live as Muslims to avoid mistreatment are recovering their true identities in collective baptisms. The latest such baptism came in May when 12 Armenians from Dersim (Tunceli) recovered their identities.

The saga of Armenians who were compelled to live as Muslims goes back to 1915 massacres. Armenian children were adopted by Muslim families, women married Muslim men and some families converted to Islam to save their lives.

These Armenians, who for a century were forced to conceal their identities, are trying to return to their roots. This activity is more prevalent among Anatolian Armenians, particularly those from Dersim. It hasn’t caught on among Istanbul Armenians.

The Armenian Genocide and the Politics of Knowledge

Christine Philliou

 

In this centennial year since the Armenian Genocide, countless conferences, meetings, and commemorations are underway across the globe. While they have all been peaceful so far, they come at the end of a century of violence. I refer not just to the events of 1915–17, but also the waves of violence spurred by memory, recognition, and denial ever since. First came the killings, at the hands of individual Armenians, of two of the leading perpetrators of the violence, Talaat and Cemal Pashas in Berlin and Tiflis, respectively, in the 1920s. Then came the nearly 50 people, many of them Turkish diplomats, killed, and the hundreds more injured, across the globe by the Armenian organization ASALA in the 1970s to protest Turkey’s continuing refusal to recognize the genocide.

Armenian Children's Camp in Turkey being returned to its original owner

The owner of the land of the Armenian Children’s Camp, which has been at the center of ongoing controversy with activists attempting to prevent a planned demolition of the former orphanage, has announced that he will be donating it to the Gedikpaşa Armenian Protestant Church Foundation.

“I respectfully announce to the public that I will be donating the land to the Gedikpaşa Armenian Protestant Church Foundation… with the hopes of contributing to social harmony and unity of our country in line with our Armenian citizens thoughts and wishes,” announced Fatih Ulusoy, who owns the land where the former orphanage is located, in a written statement published on May 23, 2015.

First street protest by Turkey's Armenians

Sibel Hurtas

Translated by Timur Göksel

Armenian youths in Turkey have launched a protest campaign against the demolition of Camp Armen, the Armenian orphanage that housed hundreds of Armenian children in summer sessions. The Armenian community demands the orphanage be preserved and handed over to it. This does not sound likely, but it is significant as being the first street protest by Turkey's Armenians to express their demands in recent times.

Camp Armen symbolizes the long saga of the deportation and massacres Armenians suffered on Anatolian soil. Its history starts with the purchase of a plot of land by Gedikpasa Armenian Protestant Church from a private party to house Armenian orphans who lived in Anatolia and were labeled as "sword leftovers" by the Armenians. The orphanage camp was built in 1962 by the orphans themselves under supervision of a master builder.

Not Another ‘Je Suis’ Article

Harout Ekmanian

 

The attack on the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo last month prompted millions of French citizens and people from around the world to celebrate the slain journalists as martyrs of freedom of speech. We have seen similar waves of reactions in Turkey, Armenia, and the Armenian Diaspora every January since 2007, when editor/journalist Hrant Dink was assassinated in daylight on his newspaper’s doorstep in central Istanbul by Turkish nationalists.

In the Wake of Gezi, Taking Stock of Istanbul’s Art Scene

Nevdon Jamgochian

 

Public art in Turkey’s largest city exploded during the mass uprising of the Gezi Taksim protests, which lasted from May 2013 through September 2014. There are too many examples to do any kind of justice to the breadth of artistic reactions during Gezi, as they ranged from the expected performance pieces to graffiti to a 5,000-book park library to an internet mock-up of the Turkish version of eBay, which listed Gezi Park as an item to bid on. The protests started over the proposed privatization of the beloved little park in Istanbul and exploded into a mass expression of dissatisfaction with the right wing government of Turkey. Gezi was similar to the 15-M and Occupy movements but riskier for the participants, as the violent crackdown by the Turkish government demonstrated.

Tomo of Istanbul

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.”

Mahcupyan’s Appointment: A New Step in Genocide Denial Policy?

Aline Ozinian

Turkish Sabah newspaper, which has come to be considered in recent years as the mouthpiece of the ruling Justice and Development Party, announced the appointment of Etienne Mahcupyan as Chief Advisor to Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on October 25. Sabah “adorned” the news of the appointment with the fact that after Erdogan’s “constructive” April 24 message this was yet another important step, this time taken by Davutoglu, toward the “normalization” of relations between Turkey and Armenia (the term used in Armenia-Turkey protocols), by appointing an Armenian as his Chief Advisor.

This appointment was regarded in Turkish press as an important step which would assist Davutoglu in his policy on minorities and the improvement of Turkey-Armenia relations. At the same time, Mahcupyan denies the Armenian-Turkish orientation of his appointment, giving a wider role to his activities. Mahcupyan said that it was a compelling proposal which he gladly accepted. In the meantime, Turkish media is emphasizing his Armenian roots, underscoring that the AKP managed to bring even an Armenian to the position of chief advisor to the Prime Minister.

Between Dream and Realism : for a New Armenian-Turkish Dialogue

Tigran Yegavian

On 30^th May 2014, an editorial was published simultaneously in Turkey, France, Armenia and Italy under the title “Let’s have a dream together.” Signed jointly by French personalities of Armenian descent and Turkish intellectuals, it revived interest in the Armenian-Turkish dialogue, which had seemed asleep for years. Besides echoing the famous speech of Afro-American pastor Martin Luther King in its plea for reconciliation, it clearly thinks the Armenian question as a dream-like projection, overlooking the fact that, at this juncture, such a dialogue cannot write a new page of our history if it keeps ignoring the Armenian complexities as well as the deep issues at stake.

Hrant Dink's Lawyer: Prime Minister Protecting Those Involved in Dink Murder

Fethiye Çetin, an attorney representing the family of slain Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, slammed Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Thursday for his recent remarks about the Dink murder case and claimed that the government is trying to protect those who were involved in the assassination.

On the Way to Baykoz

Nigol Bezjian



I was in Istanbul recently as part of a Lebanese production team working on a mobile phone commercial for a third country. Normally this would have taken place in Lebanon, but the politically unstable conditions here are diverting work into Turkish coffers. Interestingly, I was booked in a hotel located only a hundred meters away from the Armenian Agos newspaper, whose founder, Hrant Dink, was assassinated on Jan. 19, 2007. While resting and waiting for time to pass, I recalled my first ever visit to Istanbul where, once again unknowingly, I had booked a hotel just a street away.

In 2009, I was back in the city to film Marc Nichanian for “Milk, Carnation & a Godly Song,” my film about Taniel Varoujan, the Armenia poet who was killed in the genocide.

Pretty Amazing, Again

Garen Yegparian



No doubt you read recently that Abdullah “Apo” Öcalan has called on the Turkish government to recognize the Armenian Genocide. You might not have thought much of it, but here’s why it’s so amazing.

Apo is serving a life sentence in the prison on İmralı island. Flyovers or fishing in the vicinity of the island is prohibited. This is the same island prison in which Billy Hayes, the American whose story became the film “Midnight Express,” was kept. (*)

Ocalan Urges Turkey to Recognize Genocide

Abdullah Öcalan, the jailed leader of the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) has penned a letter to the Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, calling on the Armenian community to support the demands of Kurds in Turkey.
“The Kurdish people’s fight for freedom and the cure for the Armenian people’s sorrows have overlapped in the fight to [be able to] live in this land as citizens who share the same rights,” Abdullah Öcalan said in the letter, published on January 30.

Dink Commemoration and Demonstration Held in Ankara

On January 18, 2014 a conference was organized by the Ankara Freedom to Thought Initiative and National Congress of Western Armenians at the Alba Hotel in Ankara. Scholars, human rights activists and journalists from around Turkey came together to mark the anniversary of the assassination of Hrant Dink.

The Islamized Armenians and Us

Raffi Bedrosyan

 



In early November, the Hrant Dink Foundation held a conference on “Islamized Armenians” at the Istanbul Bosphorus University, breaking one more taboo in Turkey. Islamized Armenians were hitherto a hidden reality, a secret known by many, but which couldn’t be revealed to anyone, whispered behind closed doors but filed in government intelligence offices, and it finally broke free into the public.

The late Hrant Dink would have been elated to see this conference become a reality, eight years after the first conference on “Armenians during the late Ottoman Empire era and the 1915 events” was held at Istanbul Bilgi University, when protesters hurled insults at the conference participants and government ministers, labeling them as “traitors stabbing Turks in the back.” That conference had also broken a taboo, but Hrant was already a marked man for revealing the identity of the most famous Islamized Armenian—Sabiha Gokcen, Ataturk’s adopted daughter and the first female Turkish combat pilot, who was an Armenian orphan named Hatun Sebilciyan.

"Bastards of the Infidels"

Eric Nazarian

 



“Bastards,” “infidels,” “remains of the sword” were the derogatory words directed at Armenian survivors of the genocide in Turkey as well as their offspring. Under this same umbrella was another set of “bastards” who were Christian Armenians forcibly or willingly converted to Islam in the wake of the genocide.

This was one of the many topics covered over the course of three eye-opening days at the Hrant Dink Foundation’s Conference on “Islamized Armenians” on the Bogazici University campus in Istanbul. We heard lectures and panels comprised of international scholars presenting a myriad of oral and academic histories about forcibly Islamized Armenians, as well as the histories of the willingly converted that bridge and divide these communities. The conference was a platform for these unofficial minorities, a sort of “People’s History of Islamized Armenians,” to borrow half of Howard Zinn’s title. This percentage of the Turkish population is the resurfacing “remains of the sword.”