Islamized Armenians: Coming to Grips With a New Reality
Hrant Gadarigian
21:50, November 3, 2013
3 Day Istanbul Conference seen as a first step in opening a much
needed discussion
Over the centuries, untold numbers of Christian Armenians have
converted to Islam. The vast majority have done so under various
degrees of pressure and given the exigencies of the time.
While relatively subtle on occasion, the imperative to convert to a
religion mostly regarded as the faith of the `enemy’ was often
clear-cut – convert or perish.
Over the past decade or so, a new sub-grouping of Armenians, either
called Islamized of Muslim Armenians, has come to the fore.
While the existence of such Armenians is not new per say, the issue of
who they exactly are in terms of overall Armenian identity has been
gaining greater exposure, both in Armenian circles and in Turkey.
One such attempt to grapple with this issue is the conference now
taking place in Istanbulthat I’ve been attending.
Entitled, `Islamized (Islamicized) Armenians’ and organized by the
Hrant Dink Foundation, the conference began yesterday and will end
tomorrow.
The scope of the conference is immense and has attracted a number of
prominent scholars and heretofore unknown speakers commenting and
analyzing the centuries-old conversion process of Armenians in the
Ottoman Empire, with a special focus on the 1915 Genocide and its
aftermath.
Bogazici University’s Albert Long Hall was packed the other day when
the conference kicked off.
I would estimate that there were at least 700 people in the hall to
listen to what speakers like Taner Akcam, Ayse Gul Altinay, Hranush
Kharatyan, Laurence Ritter and Anoush Suni, and Adnan Celik, amongst
others, had to say on the subject.
Rakel Dink, representing the Hrant Dink Foundation, welcomed speakers
and audience alike, stressing that the conference was merely an
initial step in discussing both the history, and more importantly, the
present reality of Islamized Armenians.
Religion, identity, memory, ethnicity, are just a few of the
intertwined topics that the speakers touched in their presentations.
Naturally, I cannot delve into all the subjects that the 30 speakers
will raise over the course of three days, but I can give readers a
concise overview.
After an opening conversation amongst Fethiye Cetin, Nabahat Akkoc and
Sibel Asna, the first day saw three separate panels exploring such
topics as: Burden of History, politics of Naming; The Recent and
Distant History of the Islamization; and Islamized in 1915.
Avedis Hadjian, an independent journalist based in New York, spoke
about Constantinople Patriarch Shnork Kaloustian’s `Four categories of
Anatolian Armenians and Today’s Muslim Armenians.’
It was interesting to hear that some 40 years ago, Kaloustian had come
up with different classifications of Armenians who had converted based
on when the conversion had taken place, whether it was a conscious
decision or not, and whether they had converted back to Christianity
when conditions allowed them to do so.
Hadjian, who has been touring Western Armenia for the past two years,
is in the process of writing a book entitled `A Secret Nation’ that
will present his findings regarding Islamized Armenians he has come
into contact with.
The author, a native of Aleppo who then moved to Argentine at an early
age, says his work is a journalistic investigation into the lives of
these people and will serve as an introduction for a wider audience.
`My purpose is not to proselytize or to make judgmental declarations.
We must first come to recognize one another without preconditions or
preconceived notions. This conference is a step in the right
direction,’ Hadjian says, adding that the book should be out in a few
months. The first edition will be in Turkish and then translated into
English.
Hadjian added that tragically, the Armenian diaspora lacks the
facilities to engage this new group of Armenians given that the
Church, as a religious organization, cannot by its nature initiate a
dialogue with individuals who profess another religion.
Another speaker whom I caught up with was Vahe Tachian, an historian
and chief editor of the website Houshamadyan.
Tachjian spoke at this morning’s panel entitled `Islamized in 1915:
History and Bearing Witness’.
His focus was on how many Armenian women during the Genocide entered
into mixed marriages and prostitution as a means of survival. Tachjian
talked about attempts to reintegrate these women into post-Ottoman
Armenian communities and how many were ostracized and shunned by the
dominant Armenian society and organizations.
`Many of these women could never return to the larger Armenian fold,
especially if they had children with Muslim men,’ Tachjian noted,
adding that the fact that so many `converted’ Armenians were present
at the conference underscored the need for a platform on this issue
that has now taken on a greater sense of urgency.
`These individuals, naturally, are interested to hear what the wider
world, especially Armenians, have to say on the subject. We must
approach this issue on a human level and shy away from making snap
judgments as to whether these people are Armenian or not,’ Tachjian
stressed.
During our conversation, Rakel Dink walked by and hearing the word
`judgment’, noted that identity is a concept that is not merely based
on religion and that all of us have a duty to build bridges between
these newly discovered Armenians and the traditional communities.
I also had the chance to briefly speak with Hilmar Kaiser, a German
historian, whose presentation dealt with the assimilation of Armenian
deportees between 1915 and 1917.
In his presentation, Kaiser noted that the CUP (Committee of Union and
Progress), was split on the issue of converting Armenians to Islam.
One grouping tolerated such conversions, which physically `saved’ many
Armenians from certain death, while others in the CUP saw it as
presenting a future danger to the state.
During my conversation with Kaiser, the historian noted that this
conference an earlier one in Diyarbekir has returned the Armenian
debate back to Turkey where it naturally belongs.
`We are witnessing the reemergence of the Armenian community of
Constantinople as the intellectual powerhouse that it once was.
Armenian intellectualism is returning to the very place that it was
cut down in 1915. And the Turkish colleagues are back. Thus the logic
of the killers is denied,’ Kaiser argued.
He also pulled no punches in criticizing the academic work carried out
in Armenia for the past twenty years, labeling it as not only
academically inferior but also damaging giving its nationalist, even
racist overtones. Luckily, Kaiser noted, there is a new generation of
academics coming of age in Armenia who are raising the bar when it
comes to academic scholarship, pointing to the presence of two young
scholars from Armenia as panelists.
Kaiser then turned his criticism to Armenian academics in the States
who, he argues, haven’t produced anything new in the past forty years.
`Tell me one publication on the extermination, as I call it since I
don’t like the term genocide anymore, which has been published in the
last ten years in the U.S. What comes to mind? You really have to
scratch your head. And this is after millions of dollars and
university chairs. It’s basically a declaration of intellectual
bankruptcy. They are stuck in their own mental prison,’ Kaiser said.
I last spoke with Raymond Kevorkian, the prominent Genocide scholar
based in Paris, who moderated yesterday’s `Islamized in 1915′ panel.
An old friend, I had no problem convincing Raymond to share his
thoughts on the issue.
`This is an issue that will only grow in significance in the future.
And it is an issue that blows away the Turkish state’s decades old
argument of a homogenous populace. As such, the issue of Islamized
Armenians should be seen as an integral part of the overall internal
Turkish process now going on in various ethnic communities regarding a
search for identity, and that there are actually several Turkish
identities,’ Kevorkian said.
He stressed that the entire issue demands greater research on a social
level and that the anecdotal studies carried out to date aren’t
sufficient.
`The diaspora must come to grips with the fact that the bulk of these
converted Armenians will remain as they are. So how do we relate to
them and, in particular, how shall we relate to those who display a
willingness to come into contact with traditional Armenian communities
and structures,’ Kevorkian added.
Summing up the challenge that these converted Armenians now pose to
the greater Armenian community, Kevorkian said, `We face a new reality
today. A significant segment of us had disappeared and are now
resurfacing, but in a new form.’
When I asked my friend, if we are able, and willingly, to come to
grips with this new reality, he responded, `We have to come up with an
answer, better yet, a set of answers. This conference is a preliminary
step in the search for answers, and I have no doubt that the search
will continue.
From: A. Papazian
http://hetq.am/eng/news/30441/islamized-armenians-coming-to-grips-with-a-new-reality.html