Армянское население Западной армении сегодня

[Гость Джанбазеан]

Для того, чтобы вернуть Зап.Армению нам нужна Турция в ЕС и возможность проведения работа в Зап.Армении.

[Гость Джанбазеан]

евреи используют активно курдов турции а мы должны работать с другими меньшинствами и представлять их интересы.............бизнесмены объединяйтесь о купцы армянские финансируйте нац.проекты((((((((((((((:

[Марга]

Для того, чтобы вернуть Зап.Армению нам нужна Турция в ЕС

[Марга]

Кстати, очень интересные данные по населению Западной Армении тут

[Ваэ]

поют и танцуют hемшины, африка отдыхает

примичательно такой инструмент, как паркапзук оснавательно забытый у нас и в Грузии у hемшинов и лазов номер 1, может и родной язык hемшины не сохранили но самобытный фолклёр и архитетуру им удалось.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKV8eG1kMAI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbHSqv2VFZg...related&search=

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYttifbDbc8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hokK7rursYA...related&search=

[Ваэ]

лазы (грузины)

[Ваэ]

заза дрсимцы

судя по этой песне в ихнем диалекте много наших слов

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_4SkEhWxt4...related&search=

[Гость Джанбазеан]

[Гость Джанбазеан]

Armenians, in EasternAnatolia

The Alevis's Ambivalent Encounter With Modernity.

Islam, Reform and Ethnopolitics In Turkey (19th-20th cc.)Hans-Lukas Kieser, University of Zurich ([email protected]

Another important differenceis the specialsymbiosis with the Christians, especially the

Armenians, in EasternAnatolia that led to moredeveloped interreligious practices and even the fact that some EasternAlevis got Armeniankirves (godparent of circumcision). We must also consider the fact thatan important number of rural Armenian Christians, under grewing pressure from their Sunnineighbours and the state, looked for protection by Alevi tribes. They were absorbed by themin the second half of the 19th and the first quart of the 20th century.These Armenians became Alevis not through outright conversion, but through a gradual process of integration intoexisting rural communities.

Posted by Pontians at 1:18 PM 0 comments

VARTO

Relatives of 3 killed shepherds break their silence No case has been opened for 11 years after 3 shepherds who were killed in Varto, Mu? in 1994 by the Special Forces teams.Abdurahman Tekal, father of Suphi Tekal who was reportedly killed along with two shepherds; Mehmet K?l?? and Izettin Tekal after taken into custody, stated he informed the governor's office, gendarmerie station and prosecutor' office about that who had been killed by special forces teams are shepherds and, he became paralyzed from tortures he had been exposed. Huseyin K?l??, elderly brother of Mehmet K?l???, says: "This cruelty must be punished and justice should be implemented into practice. This is savageness which a human cannot do to the other. We demand those who are accountable for that cruelty to be penalized."It is asserted that the special force teams called "Tansu's soldiers" who established themselves in Varto Clinic held a military operation covering Karapinar (Xerepungar) village of Varto, Mu? in August 1994, and detained Mehmet K?l??, Suphi Tekal and Izettin Tekal, shepherds who had been residing in the village cited and executed them by shooting in Kuru Gol arean nearby Arpa Upland called 'Var? Ce'. The security officials took off shepherds clothes, dressed their robed them in guerilla dresses and laid down 3 Kalashnikovs by the bodies.Huseyin K?l??, Mehmet K?l??'s elderly brother, pointing out the special force teams took reporters to the spot and told them they had killed 3 guerillas after incident said: "After showing the bodies with guns to press as if they had been guerillas, the special force unites brought funerals to Mu? State Hospital. Upon this, we applied to the Governor's Office Varto and Varto Gendarmerie Headquarters telling the 3 who had been murdered by the special force staff are shepherds and requested the incident to be revealed. Afterwards, while were going to Mu? Public Prosecutor's Office, we were stopped and threatened to be killed by some armed people dressed in plain clothes. They wanted us to make depositions that who had been killed are 'terrorists'. I answered them: One of died persons is my brother having 6 children. Since his financial situation was not good, he had been shepherding for his livelihood. He is not a terrorist."K?l?? expressing they did not permit us, me and other shepherds' relatives, to go in prosecutor's office after taking our ID cards and threatened us to kill saying "If you see the prosecutor, we kill you as others" said he and the relatives of the 2 killed shepherds were handed over to a sergeant major. "We were taken out of the administration of justice by him and told 'The funerals are in Mu? State Hospital. Go and receive the corpses there.Prosecutor: I can do anything"I and other families returned back to the administration of justice after walking around for a while and presented a petition bearing the statement those who had been killed by the special force units are shepherd to the prosecutor. We requested the funerals to be delivered us, hereupon; prosecutor said ' I cannot do anything'. Indictment after autopsy alleges that the dead are terrorists who caught killed after in an armed conflict with troops. After prosecutor's attitude, we went to hospital and received the funerals."''Difficulty in defining the bodies'The corpses were unrecognizable reporting K?l?? said he could identify his brother from his nose and hair. "The day when we take the bodies from the morgue, a person dressed in plain clothes who was calling on the phone called me and asked me to come on the phone. The individual who was talking on the phone introduced him self to be the commander of air operation and offered his condolence to me. He said ' Come to see me when you received the funerals, so I asked the person dressed in plain clothes to tell where the commander of air operation was. The former told me 'You cannot talk to the commander of air operation', swearing at me and added ' If you strive much, we will send you along side them'. We take the delivery of funerals and turned to our village."Military operation on the villageAfter we took the bodies to the village, a wide-scope military operation was held over the residence, and the special force units gathered all the villagers on the boulevard, insulted at and tortured them. After undressing dwellers, the security officials dragged villagers on thorns "Militaries wanted to force us to say 'Died people are terrorists'. They started to beat us with rifle butts after getting us down out of vehicles. 'You burry those Armenians in these holy grounds' they told us. Calling imam to come by themselves, they said 'Priest, are coming here to pray for these Armenians'. They ordered all the villagers as well as women and children to lie down and we waited so for an hour. After they went, we stand up, buried the funerals and applied to Varto Public Prosecutor's Office. The prosecutor asked me why I didn't come to make the application before. I answered him I had been afraid of the troops. Then, he said 'I will call you later', but has never done so up to now. This cruelty must be punished and justice should be implemented into practice. This is savageness which a human cannot do to an other. We demand those who are accountable for that cruelty be penalized. The state should not have done this cruelty to

Posted by Pontians at 1:15 PM 0 comments

The descendants of Armenians

ISTANBUL (AFP) - The descendants of Armenians who converted to Islam to escape the World War I massacres of their kinsmen by the Ottomans are now emerging from the shadows and seeking their roots, thanks to falling social taboos and a more relaxed attitude in Turkish society.

The catalyst was "My Grandmother," a 2004 memoir in which Istanbul lawyer Fethiye Cetin told the tragic tale of her Armenian grandmother Heranush, born in a village in the eastern Turkish province of Elazig.

The biography is based on Heranush's memories, kept secret until the very end of her life, of how the men of her village were massacred and the women deported from 1915 onwards, and how she was adopted by a Turkish Muslim family who converted her to Islam.

The book sold 12,000 copies -- a more than honorable performance for a non-fiction book in Turkey -- and is about to go into a seventh printing.

"What really counts," Cetin told AFP, "is that many people who were in the same situation called me up to say, 'My grandmother too...'"

She said that since the publication of her book, she received hundreds of letters telling similar tales, "always against a backdrop of suffering."

"I hope my book opened the gates," she said. "Before, there was fear, the subject was taboo. The Armenians were the baddies, it was an insult to be called an Armenian...

"But now," she said, "an entire process of self-questioning has begun."

After "My Grandmother" was released, many people, including the popular newspaper columnist Bekir Coskun, publicly revealed at least partial Armenian origins; many began to probe their sometimes blurry family pasts.

One of them was film director Berke Bas, who went back to seek traces of her great-grandmother in the eastern Black Sea port of Ordu.

"A lot of people talked to me," she said, "people who very clearly remembered their old neighbors.

"The people of Ordu remember those times (of coexistence) with sorrow, as if they were missing something," she said.

The young woman, who found out about her Armenian origins only after reaching adulthood, said Turks are now "more relaxed" about facing their past.

"There are now several versions of history, instead of the just one official version we knew so far," she told AFP.

Open debate on the killings that occurred between 1915 and 1917 has become almost commonplace here in recent months, thanks in great part to Turkey's bid to join the European Union with which it opened accession talks on October 4.

Still, the government maintains its decades old official position on the issue and refuses to describe the killings as "genocide".

The official Turkish version says 300,000 Armenians and "at least as many Turks" died in the "tragic events" that accompanied the crumbling of the Ottoman Empire during World War I; the Armenians say at least 1.5 million of their kinsmen were victims of "genocide."

In the name of freedom of _expression, the government nonetheless recently encouraged -- after one of its members first strongly opposed -- the first academic conference on the Armenian question to be held by opponents of the official history.

During the September conference at an Istanbul university, participants stressed the need to investigate the cases of Armenians -- mostly children and young women -- who converted to Islam to escape the killings.

Some participants in the forum put their number at 100,000 to 200,000

"If you ask me, half of Turkey is discovering that it has Armenian origins," joked Luiz Bakar, an attorney with the Armenian Patriarchate

Posted by Pontians at 1:10 PM 0 comments

ARMENIAN CONVERTS IN TURKEY BRAVELY AVOW THEIR NATIONALITY

The oppressed minorities of Turkey, most of whom evaded genocides bypassinginto Islam, are getting bolder in their speeches and activities as thecountry bids for the EU. The Greeks of Pontos, Assyrians, Arabs andespecially Armenians of Hamshen, Mush, Sassoon, Vardo, Zakho and otherregions who were "turned into" Kurds and Muslims are living days ofwakening. The latter sent a delegation to take part in the rally ofEuropeanArmenians in front of the European Parliament last September. Afterwards,excited by the ongoing pressures on Turkey to recognize the ArmenianGenocide, the Armenian converts give interviews to French, German,Belgian,Turkish and Armenian newspapers.

We called the "mother" of "Kurdized" Armenians and Hamshen Armenians inGermany historian and political scientist Alis (Aliye) Alt to getinformation on these issues. He said from his Frankfurt apartment which isin effect is a castle for preserving the Armenianhood: "We always followyour articles on Hamshen Armenians and Armenian converts. Thanks to theinfluence of these articles that are often posted on the Internet,hundredsof lost Hamshen Armenians who feared to reveal their identity in past getintouch with us now. Certainly, the important reforms that took place inTurkey under the EU's pressure and... the threat that a Kurdish state willemerge forced Turkey's state circles to be a little more democratic withthefree press and mass media. We call on the Armenians of Armenia andDiasporato provide care for their brothers and sisters who were forcefullyconvertedand who number 1.5 million in Turkey. Time is ripe for a conference toassemble all Armenians who are willing to get out of forced isolation,reveal their identity and tell about their 90 years long persecutions inEuropean institutions. This is to be an all-Armenian initiative withcontribution from all organizations", the author of "Hamshen Armenians inthe Mirror of History" tells.

Simon Geonden is from Karmir Khach village of Mush who currently lives inWiesenbaden. He lived the greatest half of his life as a converted "Kurd"but returned to his roots due to the Kurdish national awakening.Emigratingto Germany as a student, he got in touch with national minorities fromTurkey, including Armenian Genocide survivors.

"We are hopeful that the European Armenians will be more kind to us. Somepeople have morbid understanding of the converts and want to seeeverythingsettled in a few days. Time will solve all our issues and will heal ourdeepwounds", Simon Geonden said.

By Hamo Moskofian in Frankfort-Wiesbaden

Posted by Pontians at 1:10 PM 0 comments

Sirnak’s Armenians

Sirnak’s Armenians had relatively few problems until the 1915 Genocide when most of the local population and Armenians living in a number of other villages in the area were wiped out. Some were forced to convert to Islam while others escaped across the border to Iraq.

Those who made it to Iraq settled in the Kurdish town of Zakhu, where 70 Armenian families reportedly still live. While no Armenian is being taught, the Armenian school and St. Mary’s Church are still open.

Zakhu and Sirnak are only 50 kilometers apart, but in a sea of Kurdish population and with the long-standing feud between Turkey and Iraq, communication between the two Armenian minorities has been minimal.

“We were kept apart because of a multitude of complex demographic and geo-political reasons. We lived in a cocoon,” a Sirnak elder said.

Those who survived the 1915 Genocide and somehow remained in Sirnak under the tutelage of local Kurdish chieftains did not know if there were any other Armenians left on the face of the earth.

They were alone, isolated, and surrounded by Kurds in the region of southeastern Turkey which the Kurds call “Kurdistan”.

They lost their language, took on Kurdish surnames to “camouflage” their identity and for more than 50 years struggled against total assimilation into the Kurdish landscape.

“I was born in Sirnak and the only Armenians I knew were those in and around our small town. We did not know if other Armenians had survived the massacres,” Afshar said during a recent interview conducted partly in fragmented Turkish or through interpreters — other Kurdish-speaking Armenian immigrants who had learned Armenian since leaving Sirnak nearly 15 years ago.

“We could not go around trumpeting our heritage. You might find it difficult to understand, but for all practical purposes, we lived quietly as Kurds of Armenian descent by adhering to our Armenian Christian faith. It was this faith that kept us together as Armenians at a time when we had lost everything else. We were cut off from other Armenians. Our language was gone, so was our literature and history, but our faith was intact.”

An Assyrian Orthodox priest came to Sirnak from nearby villages under the cloak of darkness to baptize the newborn, sneaking out before daybreak to avoid attracting the attention of the town’s Kurdish population.

Weddings and funerals were done in the same way.

“Among ourselves, we were Armenians. As our children were baptized, we gave them Armenian names like Sarkis, Tavit, Noubar, Kevork and Saro but out on the streets we were like the rest of the town’s population. We had Kurdish surnames like Euz, Yalik, Odemish, Yajir, Birgin,” Afshar said.

One fateful day in 1965, however, the isolation of the small Armenian population of Sirnak was broken. As if by fate — or sheer accident — an Italian missionary working with the region’s Assyrian Christian minority was informed of “these other Christians” in Sirnak.

“This papaz (priest) came and talked to us and later went to Istanbul and briefed the late Patriarch Shnork Kaloustian of our existence.

“It was not much later that we saw the first Armenian priest since the Genocide. In time, his visits became more and more frequent. Our teenagers were taken to the Armenian Patriarchates first in Istanbul and then Jerusalem for education and finally, thanks to Patriarch Kaloustian, the entire population of Sirnak and Silope began evacuating in 1980 to Belgium, France and a small group to Holland,” Afshar said with an emotional voice.

By 1986, the entire population of Sirnak and Silope were out ... saved from imminent annihilation as Armenians.

Today, this peculiar “branch” of the greater Armenian family numbers several thousand citizens clustered around Armenian churches in their adopted homelands.

Testimony by first generation Armenians in Brussels and Marseilles is overwhelming. “Their faith in the Armenian church is very strong. For them, the church is not folklore or tradition. It is treated as a national treasure and that’s why the presence of these Kurdish Armenians has given a new lease to our religious life,” says one Marseilles resident.

Posted by Pontians at 1:09 PM 0 comments

SONS OF THE ARMENIAN NATION WHO "TURNED INTO" KURDSAND TURKS

It was a taboo till recently to write of the Armenianswho were forcibly turned into Turks and Kurds duringthe Ottoman reign. Most of them, living today inWestern Europe, Western Armenia and Cilicia(modern-day Turkey), are going through a revival ofnational identification. After the Armenians ofHamshen, those from Sassoon, Mush and Taron, who wereforcibly converted into Islam, are especially easy totalk with about their past and present. They try toreturn to the bosom of their nation by overcomingtheir "guise", the names and surnames, and to fightfor their rights and to recover the historic legacy oftheir forefathers massacred by the Turks.

One can meet those Armenians returning to their rootsin Germany as well as in Armenia especially after thewar in Iraq and the vents at the Turkish border. Some"Kurdish" Armenians fought in the ranks of the PKK(Kurdish Workers’ Party) and got disappointed afterOjalan’s capture and left for Germany where they couldfind a wide field for political and national activity.They settled in Frankfurt, Wiesbaden, Stuttgart, Mainzand elsewhere.

"I was born in Karmir Khach (Kzl Akhach) village ofTaron. We shunned the Armenian Genocide as we acceptedIslam feigningly and were Kurdish-speaking. My fatherand brother enrolled in the PKK to fight againstTurkish fascism, they were imprisoned and torturednumerous times. I’ve been studying and working here inGermany for a long time and am in touch with theArmenian community and the progressive forces. But inWestern Armenia, especially in originally ArmenianVardo town, which was stricken by an earthquake in 60sand where my relatives live, human rights violationsare rampant", Simon Kostanian (Sardet Kosdun), whoregained his Armenian identity today, tells.

Razmik Hakobian (Nureddin Yagub) from one of Ciliciavillages was a PKK warrior but was arrested and jailedin one of Ankara’s horrific prisons. He is a writerand a film director who is planning to shoot a filmabout the life of Diaspora Armenians.

"My parents concealed our identity particularlybecause being an Armenian was an unforgettable affrontin Adiamani where I am coming from. Despite this, many"Kurdish" and "Turkish" Armenians were called"gyavur". The film I am trying to shoot is about anArmenian outcast and also is an odyssey of a WesternArmenians who survived the Genocide. I shall realizemy plans if I find necessary support in Armenia and bythe help of our confederates in Western Europe",Razmik tells.

The number of Armenians, who only now discover theiridentity, above all in Sassoon and Mush, amounts tothousands.

"There are around 1000 Armenians in Mush. The Turkishgovernment has forgotten us for a while, as there arethe Kurds to deal with. The sons of the Kurdish peoplesay sorry for their fathers’ deeds who were killingArmenians together with the Turks", Armen from Mushsays.

By Hamo Moskofian in Wiesbaden-Marseilles

Posted by Pontians at 1:06 PM 0 comments

Crypto Armenians

From Greek word "Crypto" - hidden, secluded.Cryptoarmenians is a distinct ethnic minority of todays Republic of Turkey. They are the descendants of previously islamized christian Armenians.

Cryptoarmenians are of various backgrounds, ranging from forcedly islamized Hamshens of Black Sea coastal region, to kurdified and turkified Armenians of historic Taron, Vaspurakan, Bartsr Hayk and Lesser Armenia, who secretly preserve their chrisitan faith. So, whether Christian or Muslim, whether Kurdo- or Turkophone (or Armenian speaking), these people are unified by a single fact of repressed Armenian identity. According to various data, these people may number up to 2 million in contemporary Turkey. Due to the Turkey's agressive policy towards ethnic minorities, the "field-study" of hidden Armenians is almost impossible. However, because of the demise of the 'Armenian" tabu in Turkey, more and more people renounce their alleged nationality and opt to be Armenian, telling the world their own story. The site is dedicated to the study of the Cryptoarmenian phenomenon.

Posted by Pontians at 1:06 PM 0 comments

Karen Khanlarian.

Karen Khanlarian.Armenian Ethno-Religious Element in Western Armenia.

The Armenians inhabited in Turkey are quite heterogeneous from the standpoint of internal relationships and by the extent of assimilation and represent different characteristic traits.

Armenian patriarchy in Turkey, Archbishop Shnork Kaloustian, in 1980 said the following about provincial Armenians in Jerusalem: “I’ll present you four stratums of provincial Armenians as I have seen them:

Armenians, who consciously and voluntarily became Muslims, have broken off from Armenians and live within Turks. These people are for about one million. Armenians, who were Islamized three generations ago, and live separately like Kurdish ashirets and don’t get mixed. Armenians who have gradually and willy-nilly became Muslims but have kept their Armenian spirit and while settled in Costantinapole they changed the word “Islam” in their passports into “ermeni” through the court. The innate provincial Armenians have remained Armenians in spite of all the difficulties and today constitute the majority of Armenians living in Istanbul”. Though the situation is considered to have changed since the time when Archbishop Shnork provided this information, however on the ground of this the “Anatolian” Armenians were typologically divided into three ethnic groups.

“Official” ArmeniansThis type of Armenians lives in different states and settlements within the communities of Armenian Apostolic, Catholic and Evangelic churches. “Official” Armenians have more or less kept the relationships with the community formed in Costantinapole especially in historic Cilicia.

In comparison with the other groups of Armenians there is much information about today’s “official” Armenians. With some exceptions today it is also in inconsolable condition. The article in “The ?imes” newspaper in 1994 was a signal that a new campaign should be launched against the Turkey’s tough pressure on the Christians. “The Times” news mainly referred to the Christians living in Turkey’s Eastern states.

According to the brief encyclopedia “The Armenians in the world” published in 1995, there are for about 10 thousands “official” Armenians.

“Islamized” ArmeniansThis type mainly consists of small and large tribal groups of Pontian and Hamshenian Armenians Islamized in 17-18 centuries and inhabited in the regions situated from historical Zanik (Samsun) to the Armenian-Georgian boarders, along the coast of the Black See. The “Islamized” type in its comparatively wide circle includes also so called “Kes-kes” and “Haj-laz” groups.

Well-known specialist in the linguistic circles of Harvard and Columbia Universities, Bert Vaux, divides Hamshmenian Armenians into three groups.

Western Hashenian Armenians scattered through Orduum, Trapizon and Rize, Turkish speaking and Islamized. Eastern Hamshenian Armenians, mainly inhabited in Ardvin, Hamshenian Armenians dialect speaking. Northern Hamshenian Armenians, inhabited in Georgia and Russia, Hamshenian Armenians dialect speaking, Christians. The number of the first two types, Islamized and inhabited in Turkey, prevails over the last group inhabited outside Turkey.

“Wikpedia” internet encyclopedia calls the Western group of Hamshency or Hemshinly “Bash-hemshincies” and the Eastern group -“Hopa-hemshincies”.

According to the estimations of a candidate of political science in California University Hovhan Simonyan, there are for about 15-23 thousand Western Hamshenian Armenians inhabited in Reze. Here Simonyan also represents the estimation of Hopa’s (Historical Khopa) Eastern Hamshenian Armenaians-25 thousand.

It means that the obsolete majority of the population inhabited in Khopa is Hamshenian Armenians. This important fact is also confirmed by the authors of “Armeniapedia” internet encyclopedia.

The references to the number of the Hamshenian Armenians inhabited in Turkey are very contradictory.

According to the estimations of Dr. Tesa Hofman: “there are for about 20 thousands Muslim Hamshians whose native land is situated between Trapizon and Erzrum”.

It’s difficult to define more exactly the reasons of underestimating the number of Hamshenian Armenians. Under the circumstances of the lack of exact statistical facts, we think that in the governing circles of Turkey there is a tendency to represent Pontian Armenians as Pontian Greeks, Bas-hamshentcies as Lazes and a part of Eastern Hamshenian Armenians as Georgians, which is of course reasoned by the antagonism against the Armenians.

On the Islamic society’s secularization institute’s web-site, in his electronic letter written in September 16, 2002 an Islamized Armenian says: “there are villages inhabited with Armenian speaking Muslims. According to some estimations there are for about 2 million of them”.

According to a scientific worker in the Goethe University and Turkey’s ex Prime Minister Mesut Yelmaz’s relative, a native Hamshenian Armenian Alie-Alis Alti (Kostanyan): “Today more then one million of his compatriots are in the process of national self-consciousness and awake”.

In his interview Alie Alti’s son, German citizen Deniz Alti, describes the condition of Hamshenian Armenians implying for about 1,5 million Hamshenian Armenians inhabited in Turkey.

Though apostasy is an unwelcome reality for Hamshenian Armenians, but it is proved that their faith in Islam is far from fanaticism inherent to Sunnis. “Hamshenians are not very religious,-explains Hovhan Simonyan during one of his lectures,-they have got a few mosques and very few people pay any attention on them. Hamshenians also use alcoholic drinks”.

There has been a rise of national self consciousness awake among Hamshenian Armenians in Turkey during the last years. In this sense it’s worth mentioning their self-proclaiming appearances and articles in several web-sites and electronic forums.

“Crypto” ArmeniansThis group has been Islamized under the threat of physical extermination as a result of Armenians’ continuous pogroms and particularly the Armenian genocide in 1915 and lives in separate villages inhabited with Turks and Kurds. This group differs from the above mentioned “Islamized” type by the period and process of Islamizing.

The Armenians inhabited in today’s “Anatolia”, by their transformed ethnical types, remain mysterious and almost unrecognizable. At the same time, in comparison with the other types the study of “Crypto” Armenians must be considered to be the most difficult one.

The facts and evidences came to prove that today “Crypto” Armenians live in many regions of Central and Eastern Turkey, especially in Western and South-Western Armenia.

Starting with Kenan Evren’s military rule and especially during 1990s, Turkish army has destroyed or set on fire many villages in the Eastern regions of Turkey and has displaced the population of about three million.

This mass vandalism couldn’t but affect on Armenians. We don’t know yet the exact estimation of human and material casualties in Armenian villages. In a website on human rights protection it is said: “729 villages (both Kurdish and Christian) were devastated by the security forces”.

We have got too little information to assess the exact number of “Crypto” Armenians.

By the estimation of Tesa Hofman, there are for about 30-40 thousand crypto Armenians. We believe that this number is strongly underestimated.

On the other hand in the documents of the Kurdistan’s exile parliament there is information on overestimating the number of Armenians. According to this information, the number of Armenians and Assyrians inhabited in the territory of “Big Kurdistan” is estimated 10 % of the whole population. If we take into consideration the fact that the total amount of Kurds inhabited in Turkey is about 15 million, than according to the same arguments the estimation of Armenian and Assyrian population should be for about 1.5 million. In its issue in December, 1997 Kurdish “Ozgur politik” web-page also mentions of such a number, stating that there are two million “Kurds” of Syrian and Armenian origin in “the Kurdish territory”.

The existence of 1.5 million Assyrian and Armenian population is not well-grounded and checked, but it deserves serious attention. However taking into consideration the natality of the Armenian population still existing in Turkey, the number of “Crypto” Armenians can be estimated for about several hundred thousands.

During one of his interviews the progressive Turkish intellectual Kemal Yalchin describes today’s “Crypto” Armenians in the following way: “Such families live as Kurd and Turk Muslims, and their children don’t like their native language. Most of the crypto Armenians I have seen are 15-17 years old, and they have been warned by their parents not to speak about it.”

For having a clear idea about the “Crypto” Armenians political mode and orientation, it’s also worth mentioning the other facts concerning to existence of Armenian members in Kurdish organizations.

The Authors of “Grey wolves” research work S. Bram and M. Ulger say that PKK is often represented as a structure consisting of “Armenian slaves”. MeHePe former leader “Alparslan Tyurkesh let out a secret that Abdullah Ocalan was not Kurd, he was Armenian and his real name was Hakob Artinyan”.

Some Turkish sources represent Behchet Canturk, famous in trade circles, as PKK’s person in charge for financial operations and relations with Armenian terrorist groups and stress up that “he was born in Diarbekir, in 1950 from a Kurd father and an Armenian mother”.

The other fact refers to PKK Presidential council’s member Nuriye Kespir’s and its members of central committee Bekir Bakrchyan’s and Musa Haciyev’s Armenian origine first brought to light by “Turkiye” daily in November, 2002.

In the influential “Milliyet” newspaper military emergency state manager Ivnil Erkan has declared that: “In our computers we have recorded 800 PKK members of Armenian origin”. The armored subdivision commander and general Tagman from Bitlis in his interview given to Mass Media asserted that “Every seventh member of PKK is an Armenian. These members of PKK are the heirs of those who stabbed in the back of Osmanian Empire during the First World War”.

The same general Tagman, on the other occasion in 1995, said that during some hard battles given by that time “there were no Kurds. The ones who retreated to the mountains as a result of our subdivisions’ attacks were Armenians”.

From the interviews taken from some “Crypto” Armenians living in Europe at present we find out that some of them worked and struggled in the ranks of PKK and getting disappointed after Ocalan’s capture they decided to return to their country or went to Holland, Germany, etc.

In one of the electronic bulletins of PKK we can read about an Armenian young man Husin Sarichiyek, born in 1970 in Armenian, inhabited in historical village of Saylakkaya and killed during the battle against Turkish army in 1988.

In the website of one of the Turkish leftwing extremists TIKKO organization we come across the name, biography and political-economic articles of Karpis Artinoghlu, born in Amasia in 1946, here is often mentioned the fact of his being Armenian.

In the death-roll of TIKKO organization we come across the biographies of three Armenian young men who worked mainly among Zaza-Alevies and fought in Dersim Mountains.

Armenak Bakrchyan, born in Tigranakert in 1953, killed in Kharberd in 1980; Nubar Yalim, born in Mardin in 1957, killed in Amsterdam in 1982, Manuel Demir, born in the city of Bunyan in Kesarya in 1963, killed in Istanbul in 1988. It is interesting to know that a Turkish song was written to commemorate Manuel Demir’s heroism and feats.

Thus a large number of articles, statements and travel notes give us enough grounds to come to the conclusion that there are different types of Armenians in at least 80-90 Anatolian cities and villages.

Along with typological characteristics it’s not easy for us to decide the final number of Armenian population.

In its issue in 2005, February 17 “Jihadwatch” electronic newspaper says: “There are for about one million Armenians inhabited in Turkey”.

According to Goethe University’s scientific worker Alie-Alis Alti: “there are for about three million Armenians turned into Turks, they want to know about their origin after decades of silence…”.

In the report of the organization in support for needy churches of 1998 we can read the following about Turkey: “To the 20 thousands Baptist Christians must be added four and a half million Christians who live there but hide their identity and faith”.

Thus, we can come to the conclusions that in the geographical areal of our research the number of “Anatolian” “Official” Armenians is insignificant, less then 5.000, the number of “Islamized” Armenians excels the number of one million and reaches 1.300.000 and “Crypto” Armenians are more then 700.000.

In any case, the fact is that there are great numbers of Armenians inhabited in Turkey’s Eastern part, Western and Southern Armenians, Historical Cilicia, as well as in Armenia Minor (Pokr Hayk) and neighbor regions: a transformed ethnic element struggling for self-consciousness and for preserving national identity. “Don’t forget us,-urges a native Sasunian Armen Martirosyan, at present leaving in Mush,- in Vardo and other regions there are many Armenians, who till lately were afraid to speak about their identity but now they declare about it and struggle to remain Armenians”.

In the context of Turkey’s ethno-religious groups the problem of the Armenians inhabited in Turkey or reorganized Armenians need profound analyzing. This huge potential can develop whether spontaneously, become a subject of this or that global or regional political force’s speculation and finally die away or to turn into a national movement or rebirth.

[Гость Джанбазеан]

DERSОMTSО HAYER:

Dersim Ermenileri, yerli halk ile seyyahların зoğunu şaşırtacak kadar dostluk ilişkileri iзindeydiler. Bununla birlikte зok sayıda seyyah, Dersimlilerin Hıristiyan dinine ve Dersim bцlgesinde bulunan kiliselerine karşı цzel hьrmet gцsterdiklerini belirtmişlerdir. Zazalar, bu kiliselerin mьbarek yerler oldukları kanısındaydılar, hatta onları ziyaret etmekteydiler. Kızılbaş Dersimli Zazalar ve Kurmanclar, yalnızca Ermeniler'e karşı değil, bьtьn Hıristiyanlara da iyi davranmışlardır. Bu davranış karşılıklıydı. Tьrk otoritelerinin Dersim Ermenilerini Kьrtler'e karşı husumeti kışkırtma зabaları ve onların mukavemetini azaltma зalışmaları Dersim'de yaşayan Ermeniler tarafından birзok defa boşa зıkarılmıştır. Gerek Kьrtler'e rьşvetler vererek ve gerekse bu iki kavim arasında dini dьşmanlık yaratma зabaları başarıya ulaşamamıştır'

Dr.Celilк Celil

[Гость Джанбазеан]

http://www.dersimsite.org/birkitap.html

[Гость Джанбазеан]

PSD`s Attitude to the Armenian Question

In its statement on April 24, Partiya Serbestiya Dersimi/Freedom Party of Dersim (PSD) takes a clear stand on Armenian question.

PSD condemns the Armenian genocide and demands the acknowledgement of it.

In addition to this, the following demand is also underlined in the statement:

"Armenians wishing to return to their historic motherland must be given the right to do so, with all their democratic rights secured".

This is a position opposed to that of nationalists groups or parties of all kind.

We will stay in solidarity with Armenians and keep calling others to do the same.

[Гость Джанбазеан]

The Armenians in southern Kurdistan particulary lives in the western parts of Iraqi-Kurdistan.

Southern Kurdistan (Iraqi occupied Kurdistan), in the village Avzarok in southern Duhok close to Zaxho , Armenians lives in a small community and very aware of their identity and culture even if their first language is kurdish. Armenians also lives in Zaxho, tragicly 9 000 thousand Armenians where slaughtered by the Kurds in western Zaxho as a part of the Christian genocide as a band of para-militaries under the Ottoman empire.

According to Kurdistan law, all minority languages including Syriac, Turkmeni and Armenian are protected and the first two languages have a local official status in the areas where a majority of the inhabitants speak those languages, alongside Kurdish language.

St Vartan Church in Duhok

In northern Kurdistan (Turkish occupied Kurdistan), in Sasun in the province of Batman that belonged to Greater Armenia from 190BC to 66EC we can still find a Armenian community.

Sasun (Armenian: Սասուն is a area where Armenian epic of "The Daredevils of Sasun" (Sasna Dzrer) in wich the Armenian folkhero of the name Sasna drives enemys and invaders from Armenia. Many Armenians live in northern Kurdish citys like Urfa and Nuseybin since the time of the Kingdom of Armenia, Ottoman Empire and the Christian genocide.

In Vaspurakan (province around the lake Van during the time of Great Armenia, near the Armenian-Turkish boarder) where Armenians lived, mostly converted to Islam and were Kurdified.

Armenian village of Oulasch near Sivas

The Armenians in eastern Kurdistan (Iranian occupied Kurdistan), have their own communitys in the city Urmia near the famous Lake Urmia. This city has since its long history been the

city of many ethnic groups like the Assyrians, Kurds, Armenians, Azerbaijanis and the Iranians.

According to Dr. Jacob Sargis it was estimated to be 45 000 chiefly Armenian refugees in Urmia during the year 1916. Here in Urmia, Assyrians and Armenians gathered and fought the Turks and the Kurds south of the Lake Urmia.

Armenian and Assyrian refugees in Urmia

The Eastern Armenian in the diaspora is primarily spoken in eastern Kurdistan, Iran and former Soviet states.

Armenian church in north-western Iran

Posted by Kurdistan and Hayastan at 3:28 AM 0 comments

[Гость Джанбазеан]

http://kurdisharmenian.blogspot.com/2007/04/aram-tigran.html

[Гость Джанбазеан]

Hyeroums (or Airums) are an Azeri-speaking nomadic tribe engaged in seasonal migrations between plains and mountains of northern Artsakh. Their ethno-name derives from words “Hye” (meaning “Armenian” in Armenian) and “Roum” (meaning “Greek” in Old Armenian). Once the inhabitants of the Armenian principality of Gardman-Parisos (today’s northwestern part of Azerbaijan i.e. northern Artsakh), Hyeroums were re-converted from the Armenian into the Chalcedonian ("Greek") version of Orthodox Christianity by the rival Byzantine missionaries in the Middle Ages; hence, their current name as Hyeroums. Thus, alienated from the Armenian Church — pillar of identity of medieval Armenians — they later gradually assimilated with the Turkic nomads, when the latter arrived to the Caucasus from the Central Asia. The example of Hyeroums is not unique in Armenian history. In similar fashion, many Armenians living in the province of Taik (now in Turkey) and in Georgia's districts of Meskheti and Javakheti were assimilated into Turkic culture some ages after they had been converted into Greek Orthodoxy, becoming “Turks” and “Meskhetian Turks,” respectively.

Brief survey of Artsakh - Nagorno

Karabakh's art history >>

It is believed that in a larger sense, a great majority of people who today call themselves "Azeris" or "Azerbaijanis" originated from Armenians who — like Bosnian Muslims or Meskhetian Turks — converted into Islam (after the Arabic conquest of the Greater Armenia's province of Paitakaran, southeastern part of contemporary Republic of Azerbaijan). They continued speaking Armenian until the 11th century; however, influenced by the Seljuk Turk migrants from the Central Asia, became Turkophone, altogether losing explicit cultural connection to their Armenian Christian ancestors. The mentioned facts allowed some historians to speculate that the Karabakh conflict may well be endowed with what they vaguely referred to as "fratricidal overtones."