FORCIBLE ISLAMIZATION OF THE ARMENIANS DURING THE GENOCIDE: PROCESS AND EFFECTS
Ruben Melkonyan
"Noravank" Foundation
19 March 2010
One of the important components of the state Turkish policy –
the forcible Islamization of the non-Muslim nations, which in
different periods was implemented in regard to the Armenians as
well, is presented in the book. This consecutive policy became
especially active in the years of the Armenian Genocide and as a
result thousands of Armenians were forcibly Islamized. The methods of
forcible Islamization, target groups are brought in the book; special
attention is paid to the processes among the Islamized Armenians in
Turkey, the stance of the Turkish state and scholastic circles on
the issue is presented.
The book is intended for the orientalists (specialists in Turkish
studies), historians, ethnographers, political scientists and the
wide range of readers.
FOREWORD The issue of the forcibly converted, particularly
Islamized Armenians has been considered one of the most important and
little-studied themes in the Armenian studies. No doubt that at present
that theme is on the agenda in our science. While looking through
the academic publications one can often see that many well-known
scholars called for the comprehensive study of the issue. For example,
orientalist Garnik Asatryan, back in 1993, said: "The history of the
Muslim Armenians, the classification and comprehensive study of the
materials about them are not only serious and interesting sphere but
it is also important for the good of the nation. Any publication, even
the small one, in this sphere is a definite step in the restoration
of our national history" 1.
Not all the groups of the Armenians Islamized at different times
preserved memory or the consciousness of their national identity
but in some groups, however, their traces can still be observed. If
there are serious and superficial studies about the Armenians who
were alienated from their roots in earlier centuries, the issues of
the Armenians who were forcibly Islamized at the beginning of the
20th century during the Genocide have been put on the agenda of our
scholastic and public circles quite recently.
It is necessary to underline that the term "Islamized Armenian"
is mainly of conventional meaning and it was used in the books and
articles of many Armenian scholars, even spiritual figures and in
Turkey this term characterizes the current status of those people. The
issue of the forcibly converted Armenians in Turkey has many layers
and the researches carried out in this direction are important, but
in this issue professional approach should be adopted, otherwise,
undesirable result can be acquired. This process reveals new pages
in the history of the Armenians who survived the Genocide and their
collection and classification will give more integral notion of the
problem. But it requires time, skills and capabilities and proves
the groundlessness of the standpoints of the people who hasten to
make analysis or drive to conclusions based on one or two arguments.
While studying the issue of the forcibly Islamized Armenians we used
the works and the materials of the Armenian and foreign authors
which fully or partially referred to the matter. The memories of
the witnesses, of those who survived after the Genocide which also
contain many facts of the forcible conversion were also an important
source for us. In recent years in Turkey the books and researches
containing important informative base have also been published. But
even in Turkish scholastic books, traditionally, falsifications and
subjective interpretations are assigned and while using that literature
we filtered it, in order to separate the mispresentations from the
reality. Recently some documents from the Ottoman archives which
directly or indirectly refer to the conversion of the Armenians during
the Genocide have been published and we used those facts in our work
too. The publications of the Armenian press in Istanbul were also used
as the source of the information. We consider it necessary to mention
that in order to study the current condition of the Islamized Armenians
we carried out many field works in different parts of Western Armenia.
The study of the issue of the forcibly Islamized Armenians was
carried out with the active support of the people who were either
interested in or dealt with that theme. We would like to express them
our gratitude. The efforts of the editor-in-chief of "Hanrapetakan"
journal Moushegh Lalayan in putting the issue of the assimilated
Armenians on the agenda should be mentioned. For about 3 years the
articles devoted to the crypto-, Islamized Armenians and Armenians
of other confessions have been published in that journal and they are
re-issued by other periodicals and web-sites in Armenia and Diaspora.
In Armenia "Noravank" Scientific-Educational Foundation deals with the
issues of Armenians who changed their confession or religion. This
study was mostly done within framework of the Centre of Armenian
studies and with the assistance of the director Gagik Harutyunyan.
Doctor of History, ethnographer Harutyun Maroutyan, Sergey Vardanyan,
one of the best specialists on Hamsheni Armenians, greatly contributed
to the creation of this book by their useful advices, articles
and researches. We would like to express our special gratitude to
Ashot Soghomonyan, the specialist on Turkish studies, Candidate of
Historical Sciences, for his assistance and organization of our visits
to different districts of Western Armenia.
It should be mentioned that the issues of the converted Armenians
are in the spotlight of the Ministry of Diaspora of the RA and they
are included in the "Armenia – Diaspora Cooperation" concept.
This work, of course, does not cover the whole complex of the history
of the forcibly converted Armenians. It is simply a modest attempt to
present in general outlines the separate episodes of the history of
the Islamized Armenians, the processes going on among their progeny,
the approaches of some of the Turkish state and scholastic circles
to the issue. We hope that the book will help in forming a general
notion of the issue of the Islamized Armenians in Turkey and will
contribute to the furher works.