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ANKARA: The Meaning of the Mount Agri (Ararat) in the Armenian Issue

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  • ANKARA: The Meaning of the Mount Agri (Ararat) in the Armenian Issue

    Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey
    June 9 2006

    The Meaning of the Mount Agri (Ararat) in the Armenian Issue Print

    By Dr. Sedat Laciner


    Friday , 09 June 2006


    Mount Ağri (Ararat) is like 'the Ergenekon', or 'the Gokturk
    Scriptures of the Armenians'. The Armenians believe that they are the
    descendants of the Noah's children. According to an ancient Armenian
    belief, the Deluge was not only a tragic catastrophe for the
    Armenians, but also a great punishment and a test which came from the
    God. There are similar approaches in other Christian sects as well.
    But there are only a few who identify themselves with the Mount Ağri,
    or Ararat as they call it, as much as the Armenians do. First of all,
    the geographical proximity led to emotional proximity. This devotion
    may be, regardless of religion, due to the genetic transmission of
    the tradition of worshipping to the mountain.

    This adoration can be observed in the Ottoman period or even before.
    The Mount Ağri, arising with its splendor, was perceived by the
    Armenians as a place to gather on its 'skirts'. But none of the
    moments in history has this adoration to the Mount Ağri been as
    `exalted' as today. The contemporary Armenians, so to say, deify the
    Mount Ağri. They only remember Armenianness and revenge fever when
    they see the Mount Ağri.

    The current situation is not a good one and it is also not the result
    of a natural process. The secessionist Armenian movement that started
    before 1915 has sought help from many instruments such as terrorism,
    assassinations, military coup, riot and collaboration with the
    occupiers. The movement has never admitted defeat and the more it was
    defeated, the more aggressor it became. It wanted to stand up as it
    fell down and some time later, it turned out to get delight from
    pain. The Armenians were first exiled to the Middle East, then to
    Cyprus, to Europe and to other small regions. The feeling that the
    journey was not complete did not perish as the Armenians arrived at
    the final destinations like the U.S. and France. Perhaps, there has
    left no place to arrive at geographically, but the journey in the
    minds has severely continued. Some of them migrated first to the
    Caucasus and then to Russia. Moreover, their exodus still continues.
    The number of Russian Armenians who emigrated to the Western Europe
    and the Northern America after the end of the Cold War increases day
    by day.

    Where is the motherland, where is the foreign land?

    These two became fully mixed. An Armenia which doesn't include the
    Mount Ağri is not perceived as a motherland.

    It is hard for the Armenians to say `motherland' to an Armenia which
    excluded Van adn Agri.

    Well then, will these wounds heal if Turks give Van and Ararat (the
    Mount Ağri)?

    Is the issue that simple to say `what would you lose if you give us
    Ağri?' as the Armenian-origin French singer Charles Aznavour asked.

    In Turkish daily newspaper Milliyet (May 14, 2006), the answer of
    Levon Ananyan, the chairman of the Armenian Writers Union, to Ece
    Temelkuran's question reflects the same points:

    `If you knew the meaning of Ararat (the Mount Ağri) to us, you would
    carry it here by lorries! It is a mountain for you, but it is our
    roots. We are an emotional community. You fear that we will demand
    Ararat, but it is a hearty issue for us.'

    In short, we also see in Ananyan's speech that Armenia is not viewed
    as the real motherland. He sees the issue as `the motherland is where
    Ararat is'. And what he doesn't see is the fact that the Mount Ağri
    is very important to the Turks as well; that it is a hearty issue for
    the Turks too. This is because the Mount Ağri is also a homeland for
    the Turks. Just like Istanbul, Van or Izmir...

    Frankly speaking, I find the Turkish approach much more sounder. The
    Turks know that they came from the Altay Mountains and the Central
    Asia. But they don't need a mountain or a scripture to make somewhere
    homeland. They embrace and pay respect to the place they live in as
    homeland. Even if you carry lorries of soil from the Central Asia, it
    will not compare to Izmir for Turks. Same logic is also true in
    religious aspect. The Turks will not differentiate between Gallipoli
    and Mecca. Afyon is sacred, so is Ordu.

    Another dimension of Armenian `disorder' is the Ararat compassion of
    Armenians in the Diaspora. The Ararat, which is seen from Armenia,
    can not be seen from California or Marseille (Diaspora). An
    overwhelming majority of Armenians in the U.S. or France have never
    seen Ararat and sat by the Van Lake. Most of them believe that they
    will be slaughtered if they come to Turkey. They dream of Van and
    Agri in such an `ignorance'. They name their shops with Anatolian
    cities. They set up football teams and name it Malatyaspor. I don't
    know what the name of this disorder in psychology is. I call it
    `disorder', because the words `homesickness' or `nostalgia' are weak
    for this situation.

    ***

    The Armenia's situation is lamentable today. Unemployment is over
    30%. The population is still decreasing. The unemployed youngsters
    still emigrate. The Armenians, who have migrated at least 3-4 times
    since 1915, keep on moving. They not only seek job or food but also
    homeland. However, the homeland is the abandoned Armenia. They don't
    even care about it. If millions of Armenians around the world had
    invested some billions of dollars each year, Armenia would have
    revitalized. Not only the emigration would have stopped but it would
    also have attracted migrations from Turkey.

    As long as the Armenians look at the Turkish territories from Armenia
    and sigh, they will never have a homeland because the true homeland
    is where you live. It is where you show your sympathy for homeland.
    It is where you earn a living and live peacefully. The Armenians
    perhaps will gather, if not today, on the skirts of the Mount Ağrı in
    the future. But it will be never possible with this mentality. Let's
    assume that they were able to obtain some land from Turkey through
    violence and fraud. They will not have a homeland even in this case
    because the Armenians don't know what homeland means. If Turkey had
    given Ararat to Armenians, the Armenians would have only had a
    mountain, but they would have lost Ararat. If they had been given
    Van, they wouldn't have settled there. They would have only had a
    lake but they would have lost `Vaspurakan', because they don't know
    the value of Van. Can those who don't grasp the value of Armenia
    grasp the value of new lands? They live in a world of dreams. The
    yesterday's pains are more appealing than today's peace for them.
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