THE ARMENIAN EVANGELICAL COMMUNITIES IN THE MIDDLE EAST
24.10.2012
An attempt to assess potential
Vahram Hovyan
Expert, Center for the Armenian Studies, “Noravank”
Foundation
Currently there are Armenian Evangelical communities in 6 countries
in the Middle East – in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Turkey, Iran and
Egypt1. Besides the fact that the Armenian Evangelical communities
are an integral part of the Armenian communities in general and their
study is of great importance for forming complete idea of the Armenian
Diaspora, the study of the Armenian Evangelical communities in the
Middle East is also important due to the following reasons:
* The Middle East is a volatile region. Through a contemporary
history internal and external wars accompanied the countries of this
region – Arab-Israeli confrontation, civil war in Lebanon (1975-90),
Iraqi-Iranian war, Gulf war (1991), Iraqi war in 2003, “Arab spring”
(2011), etc. These events have a direct impact on the local Armenian
communities, including Evangelical ones.
* The Middle East is in immediate geographic proximity of Armenia and
two of the aforementioned countries – Turkey and Iran – are contiguous
with Armenia. Correspondingly, events proceeding in this region
directly or indirectly influence not only local Armenian communities
but they have impact on Armenia either. And the Armenian Evangelical
communities are a certain factor of not only separate countries’
policy but also of regional policy in general and its correct and
proper use can be rather efficient.
For the efficient and proper use of the potential of the Armenian
Evangelical communities it is necessary to assess it and this
assessment has been implemented by the following methodology. Two
criteria are distinguished – human and organizational. This two
criteria in their turn fall into sub-criteria. On the bases of these
sub-criteria the Armenian Evangelical communities in the Middle East
have been divided into three groups – with big, medium and small
potential2. Every sub-criterion has its standards.
Human criterion
1. Size. While considering communities in accordance with this
sub-criterion, the communities which size goes beyond 2000 people were
considered to be communities with big potential. The communities which
size was 1000-2000 people were considered to be with medium potential
and finally communities which size does not exceed 1000 people were
considered to be with small potential.
Correspondingly, the Armenian Evangelical communities in Lebanon,
Syria and Turkey are considered to be communities with big potential.
The number of the Armenians in Lebanon and Syria is 4-5 thousand
people.
In the aspect of size Turkey where contradicting processes are
proceeding is remarkable. On the one hand the atmosphere of religious
and national intolerance brings to their shrinking. According to
some sources number of the Armenian Evangelicals in Turkey today is
about 500 people3. On the other hand Christian missionary activities
have gained ground in Turkey recently. As a result the process of
Christianization is taking place. In consequence of the activity of
German and other missionary organizations in Turkey Protestantism
is also gaining ground and the generations of Islamized Armenians
are also involved in this process. Thus, according to the Turkish
Protestant organizations, among the Protestants of Adana there are many
people of the Armenian descent4. And re-conversion (to Protestantism)
among the descendants of the Islamized Armenians is also accompanied
by the revival of their national consciousness.
Thus, though on the one hand the number of the Armenian Evangelicals
in Turkey shrinks due to the national and religious persecutions,
on the other hand missionary activity which has gained ground causes
the growth of the number of the Armenian Evangelicals in Turkey. It
is difficult to distinguish the number of the generations of the
Islamized Armenians who converted to Protestantism as they constitute
heterogeneous human society. This hampers estimation of the number
of the Armenian Evangelicals in Turkey. Nevertheless, taking into
consideration the process of conversion of a great number of Islamized
Armenians into Protestantism one can assume that the total number of
the Armenian Evangelicals in Turkey goes beyond two thousand.
The Armenian Evangelical community in Iran, which size, by
our estimations, is about 1-2 thousand people, according to this
sub-criterion, is considered to be community with medium potential and
Armenian Evangelical communities in Egypt and Iraq, the sizes of which
are less than 1000 people, are the communities with small potential.
2. Dispersion. According to this sub-criterion, the communities which
are represented in more than two regions of the country are considered
to have big potential. The communities which are spread across two
regions are considered to be with medium potential and the communities
centered in one place are considered to be with small potential.
The observations prove that the Armenian Evangelical communities in
Lebanon, Syria, Turkey and Iran are communities with big potential.
They are spread over the regions populated by the Armenians. In Lebanon
the Armenian Evangelicals live in Beirut, Burj Hammoud, Achrafieh,
Anjar, etc. In Syria they mainly live in Aleppo, but there are Armenian
Evangelical communities in Kessab, Damascus and Homs as well.
According to this sub-criterion Turkey is also unique. There are 500
Armenian Evangelicals in Istanbul and the descendants of the Islamized
Armenians who converted to Protestantism are mainly spread over various
districts of Western Armenia and Cilicia. There are such groups in,
e.g., Malatya (Western Armenia), Adana (Cilicia). etc.
The Armenian Evangelicals in Iran mainly live in Tehran, New Jugha,
Tabriz, Aral, Hamadan5. Nevertheless, most of them live in Tehran6.
The Armenian Evangelical communities in Egypt and Iraq can even
be called, correspondingly the Armenian Evangelical community in
Alexandria and Armenian Evangelical community in Baghdad, as there
are no Armenian Evangelicals in other cities and population centers
of those countries. This allows considering them communities with
small potential.
Organizational criterion
The following four sub-criteria can be distinguished:
1. Quantity. According to this sub-criterion the communities which
have more than 10 organizational structures are considered to be with
big potential. If the number of the organizations vary from 5 to 10,
this community is considered to be with medium potential and those
which have less than 5 organizations – with small potential.
>From the perspective of this sub-criterion Armenian Evangelical
communities in Lebanon and Syria, which correspondingly have 24 and
287 organizations, are considered to have big potential.
They are followed by the Armenian Evangelical community in Iran,
which has 7 organizations8, thus being classified as a community with
medium potential.
The atmosphere of national and religious intolerance and persecutions
in Turkey has affected not only the number of the Armenian Evangelicals
but also their organizations. As a result instead of great number
of churches and rich property (schools, nurseries, etc.) which they
possessed long ago, today there are only two organizations in Turkey –
the Armenian Evangelical churches in Gedikpasa and Beiogli quarters
of Istanbul9.
As for the Armenian Evangelical churches in Egypt and Iraq, there is
only one organizational structure – Armenian Evangelical Church in
Alexandria in Egypt and two organizations – Armenian Evangelical church
and Armenian Evangelical radio broadcast in Bagdad in Iraq. Thus,
according to their organizational sub-criterion, the Armenian
Evangelical communities in Turkey, Egypt and Iraq are assessed as
communities with small potential.
2. Diversity. Following this sub-criterion, the communities which
have more than two types of organizations are considered to have
big potential. Communities which have two types of organizations are
considered to be the ones with medium potential and those with one
type of organizations – communities with small potential.
Correspondingly, the Armenian Eangelical communities in Lebanon, Syria
and Iran, which has 4-5 types of organizations – managing, church,
educational, and social and information ones10, are considered to be
communities with big potential. It is remarkable that the Armenian
Evangelical community in Iran, though being inferior to the Lebanese
and Syrian communities in the aspect of number of organizational
structures, is being equated with them in the aspect of the variety.
According to this sub-criterion, the Armenian Evangelical community in
Iraq, having two types of structures – church (Armenian Evangelical
Church in Baghdad) and information (Armenian Evangelical radio
broadcast in Baghdad), is considered to be a community with medium
potential.
And Armenian Evangelical communities in Turkey and Egypt which have
only one type of organizations (church) are assessed as the communities
with small potential.
3. Dispersion. Considering the issue from the perspective of this
sub-criterion, the communities which organizations are spread over
more than two population centers of the country are considered to
have big potential. Communities which organizations are located in
two populations centers are considered to have medium and those which
are located in one population center – small potential.
4. Significance of the activity. According to this sub-criterion those
communities which have organizations the activity of which is not
restricted to the local (community) level but has regional and even
nationwide significance are considered to have big potential. If the
activity of the organization is restricted to the community level it
is regarded as a community with small potential. There are no medium
potential communities while classifying by this criterion.
While classifying communities according to this criterion we see that
only Armenian Evangelical community in Lebanon matches criteria of
community with big potential. The headquarters of the Union of the
Armenian Evangelical Churches in the Near East is in Beirut. Due to
this circumstance it can be assumed that Beirut is the center of the
Armenian Evangelical churches in the Middle East.
The only higher educational institution is also located in Beirut –
Haigazian University. In spite of the fact that the university is
Evangelical organization, Armenian youth not only from Lebanon but
from more than 20 countries, despite its confessional affiliations,
study there. Moreover, the university, besides nationwide significance,
has a status of international educational institution as young people
of other nationalities which constitute half of the total number
of the students, also study there. And “Haigazian” Armenian studies
journal, published by the university, is one of the most authoritative
periodicals devoted to the issues of Armenology.
The Christian Endeavor Union of Armenian Evangelical Churches of
Syria and Lebanon and Near East School of Theology, which are the
organizations of regional importance, are also situated in Beirut.
The activity of the organizations of the Armenian Evangelical
communities of other countries – Syria, Turkey, Iran and Egypt –
is of local (community) significance.
Conclusions
Summarizing the analysis of the Armenian Evangelical communities in
the Middle East in accordance with separate sub-criteria, one can make
their rating in correspondence with their potential. On the bases
of six sub-criteria the communities were classified as communities
with big, medium and small potential. Correspondingly communities
with big potential can be given 3 points, medium – 2 and small – 1
point. According to this logic, total points of the potential of the
Armenian Evangelical communities of separate countries varies within
6-18 points where 18 points show maximal potential (communities which
have big potential in accordance with all the six sub-criteria –
6×3), and 6 points show minimal potential (communities which have
small potential in accordance with all the six sub-criteria – 6×1).
Thus, communities which have 6-9 points are considered to have small,
communities which have 10-15 – medium and communities which have
16-18 – big potential,
According to this rating, the Armenian Evangelical communities in
Lebanon and Syria, which has 18 and 16 points correspondingly,
are considered to have big potential. The Armenian Evangelical
communities in Iran (12 points) and Turkey (10 points) are considered
to be communities with medium potential and the Armenian Evangelical
communities in Iraq (8 points) and Egypt (6 points) are communities
with small potential (Table 1).
Table 1. Classification and rating of the Armenian Evangelical
communities in the Middle East (In accordance with their potential)
[2012-10-24_122840.gif]
1 Though the Union of the Armenian Evangelical
Churches in the Near East includes the Armenian
Evangelical communities in Greece and Australia
(see
id=3&Itemid=6), but this study covers the Armenian Evangelical
communities chosen on the assumption of their geographic location,
i.e. the communities of the countries of the Middle East.
2 It should be mentioned that such notions as big, medium and small
potential used here are relative and can be used only for consideration
of the Armenian Evangelical communities in the Middle East.
3 Õ~@Õ¡Õµ Õ½O~CÕµÕ¸O~BÕ¼O~D Õ°Õ¡Õ¶O~@Õ¡Õ£Õ”Õ¿Õ¡O~@Õ¡Õ¶,
ÔµO~@O~GÕ¡Õ¶, Õ~@Õ¡ÕµÕ¯Õ¡Õ¯Õ¡Õ¶ Õ°Õ¡Õ¶O~@Õ¡Õ£Õ”Õ¿Õ¡O~@Õ¡Õ¶
Õ°O~@Õ¡Õ¿Õ¡O~@Õ¡Õ¯Õ¹Õ¸O~BÕ©ÕµÕ¸O~BÕ¶, 2003, Ñ~A. 185 Tessa Hofmann,
Armenians in Turkey Today: A Critical Assessment of the Situation of
the Armenian Minority in the Turkish Republic, Brussels, 2002, p. 9.
4 Ð~PкопÑ~Oн Ð~P., Ð~^ Ñ~Gем моДÑ~GиÑ~B Ð~Pдана,
Ð~]оев Ð~ZовÑ~Gег, â~D- 01, Ñ~OнваÑ~@Ñ~L, 2010.
5 Õ~DÕ¡Õ¶Õ¸O~BÕ¯ÕµÕ¡Õ¶ Õ~D., Ô”O~@Õ¡Õ¶Õ¡Õ°Õ¡Õµ Õ£Õ¡Õ²Õ©O…Õ”Õ¡ÕÕ”
Õ¡Õ¼O…O~@ÕµÕ¡Õ¶, ÔµO~@O~GÕ¡Õ¶, 2000, p. 40
6 See for details: Õ~@Õ¸Õ¾ÕµÕ¡Õ¶ Õ~N., Ô”O~@Õ¡Õ¶Õ” Õ°Õ¡Õµ
Õ¢Õ¸Õ²Õ¸O~DÕ¡Õ¯Õ¡Õ¶ Õ°Õ¡Õ´Õ¡ÕµÕ¶O~DÕ¨, (Hovyan V. The Armenian
Evangelical Community in Iran. Globus, National Security, 2010, #5,
p. 33, (In Armenian)).
7 See: AMAA Directory 2012: Armenian Evangelical Churches,
Institutions, Organizations, Pastors and Christian Workers Worldwide
for website.pdf
8 Ibid.
9 Ibid.
10 Ibid.
“Globus” analytical journal, #10, 2012
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