Adana Flourishes Again; This Time Without Armenians
Kristine Aghalaryan
hetq
03:36, May 4, 2011
Let me start off by saying that I will be reporting off and on from
Turkey for the next few days. I am with a group of reporters from
Armenia that will eventually wind its way back to Armenia by air and
ground transport.
We arrived in the city of Adana today, our first stop after Istanbul.
Our escort, Ferzan, took us to see some of the sites of Adana, First
on the list was the Ulu Cami (The Grand Mosque) complex within a high
wall in the old town.
It opened for religious services in 1541 and severely damaged in the
1998 earthquake. It was restored and opened its doors in 2004.
Now for some history. Adana was captured by forces of the Armenian
Kingdom of Cilicia in 1132. It was taken by Byzantine forces in 1137
but recapture by Armenians around 1170. After a terrible earthquake in
1268, Adana was rebuilt and remained a part of Armenian Cilicia until
1359 when the city was ceded by Constantine III to the Mamluk Sultan
of Egypt in a peace deal.
The Mamluks’ capture of the city allowed many Turkish families to
settle in it. The RamazanoÄ?lu family, one of the Turkish families
brought by the Mamluks, ruled Adana until the Ottomans captured the
city.
Our next stop was the Taskopru (Stone Bridge) spanning the Seyhan
River. It’s also known as the Justinian Bridge. The inscription
indicates that the bridge was built during Roman Empire by the
architect Auxentius. The reason that the name of Justinian I is
mentioned relating to the construction period on the inscription is
probably the extensive restoration of the bridge done by him later.
Then we were taken to the Sabanci Merkez Mosque. Though not being
historical, is the most visited mosque in Adana, as it is one of the
largest mosques in the Middle East. The mosque was opened to service
in 1998 to a capacity of 28,500 prayers.
We then asked our Turkish organizers to show us something Armenian
that might have survived in Adana. They said there was nothing to
show.
Steps away from the old Roman bridge is the historical neighborhood of
Tepebag, a well to do Armenian district back in the Ottoman era that
reflects the Armenian architecture of the city with fine houses,
gardens and stone-made schools.
Ferzan noted that there might be some Armenians left in the city but
they keep the fact to themselves.
Figures as to these Crypto-Armenians remaining in Adana vary as widely
as those figures for Turkey as a whole. Some say there might be up to
2,000 such families in Adana today. There is also a good number of
descendents of Armenian children who were given to Muslim families to
be fostered in 1915, either by their Armenian parents or by the
Ottoman officials. Armenians and Greeks were to constitute half of the
population of Adana before 1915.
Armenians were well represented in local manufacturing and trade. They
owned paint cotton, cloth, beer and other factories and operated gold,
silver, leather and ceramic artisan shops. Armenians also had their
own cultural centers, hospitals, theaters and schools. In the 19th
century, the city had four churches; 2 Armenian, 1 Greek and 1 Latin.
I wonder if our Turkish escorts even are aware of the historical
Armenian presence in Adana and the surrounding countryside; if they
were ever taught how the Armenian community was evicted and destroyed
in succeeding waves ` 1909, 1915 and 1922-23
I would be amiss if I didn’t bring up the fact that Adana is home to a
community of around two-thousand British and Americans serving to the
Incirlik NATO Air Base.
Recently Armenian Genocide survivors are preparing a legal suit
claiming that the base is built on land once owned by local Armenians.
Just think of it, a NATO base which helps defend Turkish interests in
the region just might have been built on lands confiscated from
Armenians killed in 1915 when all of the estimated 20,000 Armenians in
the city alone were rounded up and marched out into the Syrian Desert.
Today, Adana is Turkey’s fifth largest city with a population of 1.5
million and noted for its agriculture and a rapidly developing
economic base. The major ethnic groups are Turks, Arabs and Kurds,
with the latter now comprising almost a third of the population due to
massive migration in the 1990s.
We had a chance to meet with the local Association of Young
Businessmen and its director Hakan Celik. Last year, Adana boasted
exports of around $1billion.
Celik noted that with a regional population of close to 5 million,
Adana’s economy is set to take off even though it still lags behind
Istanbul, Izmir and a few other cities.
The young entrepreneur said his Turkish colleagues would like to
collaborate with their Armenian counterparts and they regard Armenia
as one of their neighbors.
“We see that the Turkish and Armenian governments have their views on
history, but we believe that the more relations on a personal level
develop the more business ties will develop and we can thus reject
those views,” Celik noted.
The Turkish businessmen confessed that they knew little about the
economic environment in Armenia and whether or not entrepreneurs in
Armenian were ready to work with Turks.
Celik added that if the Armenians could “overcome” their preconceived
notions about Turks, cooperation in a number of sectors was possible
and that this would assist in normalizing relations between the two
nations as well.
From: A. Papazian