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TWO PARALLEL ARMENIAN REALITIES
Liana Sayadyan
http://hetq.am/en/society/istambul-5/
2010/11/01 | 15:00
Feature Stories society diaspora
In Istanbul, Armenian Has No Life Outside the School Walls
A heavy rain had been beating down since morning. I had been
walking for quite awhile to get to my destination, the Karakyozian
Children's House located in the Istanbul neighborhood of Sisli. The
neighborhood is home to many Istanbul-Armenians.
I was soaked and my spirits had dropped a notch. I finally got to
the gate where a Turkish guard asked me for some I.D. My guide, 18
year-old Kayaneh, told him in Turkish that I was a tourist. He let
us in without any papers.
As I entered the school, my spirits suddenly lifted; I forgot about
the rain and my soggy shoes.
Karakyozian Kindergarten - learning Armenian for the 1st time
A sense of warmth came over me, and not just because it was physically
warm inside the building. Kids were running up and down the halls,
joking and talking in Armenian.
Arousyak Koch Mone, Director of the Karakyozian Kindergarten, came
out to welcome me. She said that Armenian is never heard outside
the classroom.
"Children from Turkish-speaking families learn Armenian here for
the first time. So, we also work with the parents. We've come
up with a dictionary of basic words and phrases so that parents can
converse in Armenian with their children."
The Karakyozian Kindergarten was established in January,
2007. It's the only independent Armenian pre-school now operating
in Turkey. Even though it is housed in the Karakyozian School building,
the kindergarten has its own administration independent from that
of the school's. The staff is all Armenian. There is no Turkish
vice-principal or teachers like in the school itself. Instruction in
the kindergarten is in Armenian.
Arousyak regards the kindergarten as an achievement of the Armenian
community and the late Hrant Dink, who raised the issue of the need
for a new community kindergarten in the pages of "Agos".
62 children, aged 3-6, are divided into four classes at the
kindergarten. The teaching staff is comprised of eight individuals;
two to a classroom. The teacher-in-charge must be a college graduate.
The other is an assistant with a high school degree.
Getting trained teachers is the major hurdle for the kindergarten.
Since there are no Armenian Studies departments at Turkish
universities, instructors teach students at home, using the Armenians
they learnt from their parents or passing self-taught knowledge.
Textbooks from Armenia unusable
Obtaining textbooks is the other problem facing the pre-school. The
staff and the principal put together their own teaching materials and
aids. When they're lucky, they get their hands on publications
authored by Armenian experts in Europe.
Due to linguistic differences, books and syllabus materials from
Armenia aren't practical for use by the Istanbul-Armenian
community.
Like other Armenian schools in Istanbul, this kindergarten also
survives solely on contributions raised in the community and the
payments of parents.
The Karakyozian Kindergarten instills a love of art in the children
from day one. There are classes in pottery and music alongside
instruction in English, Armenian and logic. During our visit, Kayaneh,
one of the kindergarten teachers, had dressed the kids up in tiny
smocks. She was showing them how to work with clay. Lined up in the
cabinet, worthy of display, were the clay works of her students from
past years.
Kumkapi school caters to "illegal" Armenian kids
After leaving the Karakyozian Kindergarten, my friend Kayaneh
Chalikian, a Bolsahay native, said we must visit another kindergarten
and school operating in Kumkapi, an Istanbul neighborhood along the
Marmara Sea.
Children of Armenian families illegally residing in Turkey attend
classes at the school. These kids cannot attend Armenian schools run by
the Armenian community since they have no residency papers despite the
fact that Turkey is obliged, under international conventions regarding
migrants, to guarantee their education, regardless of residency status.
This neighborhood was once home to many native Istanbul-Armenians and,
over recent years, has attracted many migrants from Armenian as a
place to live and work. The area is the site for textile, leather and
other factories. The Istanbul Patriarchate of the Armenian Apostolic
Church is also located here. No wonder, then, that Armenians from
the RA have converged on the area.
The illegal kindergarten and school are housed in the lower floor of
the Armenian Evangelical Church (GedikpaÅ~_a), a towering structure
founded in 1850. The school only goes up to the 5th grade.
We enter and a "mini-Armenia" opens up before us. In the
unheated corridors, children are dashing here and there, speaking a
hodge-podge of Armenian dialects and accents.
Many children only know Armenia through pictures
"Most of the children are from rural areas in Armenia, "says
Heriknaz Avagyan, who serves as the principal and Armenian language
and literature instructor. "Some children were born here and only
know Armenia through pictures."
In Armenia, Heriknaz worked as a teacher at Yerevan's Avan-Arinj
High School 180. She moved to Turkey in 2002. She first worked as
an elderly attendant for Armenian and Turkish families. Later, she
met Istanbul-Armenian jeweler Vartan and got married. Her son also
attends the "illegal" school.
It was 5pm and some parents had come to pick up their children.
Sousan Voskanyan hails from Vanadzor, Armenia. She came to pick up
her granddaughter. She and her entire family have been living in
Turkey for the past 15 years.
Sousan works at Istanbul's KapalıcarÅ~_ı (Grand Bazaar),
repairing old rugs and other handicrafts. She doesn't plan to
return to Armenia. Nevertheless, she is concerned about the future
of her grandkids since they are deprived of a full education. After
finishing the 5th grade, the boys are sent off to learn a trade. The
girls remain at home where they are self-taught.
The Vanadzor native urged the governments of Armenian and Turkey
to find a way that would allow the school to at least go up to the
8th grade.
In one of the tiny classrooms, with photos of Armenia's president
and the Catholicos attached to the wall, along with an Armenian
tricolor, Donara Bebouryan was reviewing some class work with her
pupils.
Back in Armenia, Donara taught at PS1 in Gyumri from
1992-2000. She's been living in Istanbul with her family ever
since. Her two daughters also work alongside their mom at the
school. One teaches Russian, the other, English.
"I'd return to Armenia, but the school needs me"
Donara told me that she definitely would return to Armenia but that
the school needs her. The classes here are based on a syllabus used
in Armenia and the Diaspora Ministry sends them the textbooks.
The school opened its doors in 2003. There were only 7 pupils back
then. Now it has 70. 20 children attend the kindergarten.
The kindergarten, housed in two small rooms, cannot accept new kids
due to a lack of space. Even now, the children take naps in shifts;
some on cots and the others lying on couches.
"There are a lot of parents who want to send their children to the
kindergarten. It's really a convenience for working families. We
take care of the kids till 7pm. We just don't have the means to
accept any more," says Heriknaz Avagyan.
Classroom space is so scarce that parts of the hallway are partitioned
off with curtains to devise make-shift rooms for grades four and five.
The school has no cafeteria. The kids usually bring lunch from home
or the teachers order out.
The Caritas organization has promised to construct a small kitchen
area by year's end and to supply the necessary equipment and
furnishings.
Right now, the school uses furniture brought from the Karakyozian
Kindergarten. Heriknaz says Karakyozian helps out whenever possible.
The driving force behind the school's founding was Alex Ouzuroglu,
a member of the Bezciyan Alumni Association.
Bolsahay community didn't want trouble
At the time, those wishing to create such a school also sought the
assistance of the Armenian Patriarchate. A meeting was convened to
discuss the issue.
Heriknaz also sat in on the meeting. She says it reminded her of
Yervant Odian's satirical work Comrade Panchoonie. After hours of
tedious detailed discussion weighing the pros and cons of the planned
school, the risks and benefits involved, the Patriarchate gave its
official thumbs down to the idea.
Principal Heriknaz says that most likely the Patriarchate didn't
wish to ruffle the feathers of the Turkish authorities.
Later Rev. Krikor Agabaloglu, pastor of the GedikpaÅ~_a church,
lent a helping hand. When Heriknaz asked if he wasn't afraid to
assist, Rev. Krikor replied, "These are Armenian children..."
Turkish authorities know about the school, but have not interfered.
The church lets the school use its basement for free. Parents pay
$60 a months for operating expenses. Neither does the school pay for
utilities, since most religious institutions in Turkey are exempt
for such expenses.
Heriknaz says that the numbers of those leaving Armenia for work
in Turkey is constantly increasing. Thus, there is growing pressure
on the school to expand, both in terms of physical space and in the
number of grades. The legal status of the school remains an unresolved
issue as well.
Rev. Krikor has plans to build a school on church grounds recently
returned due to a court case. Turkish authorities have still not
granted a construction permit.
My Bolsahay friend said there are a number of Armenian schools
in Istanbul, now closed and empty, that could have been put at
the disposal of the "illegal" school, had the church and
community agreed.
"The Bolsahay community should have taken care of it but, like
always, Armenians from the RA did what needed to be done on their
own."
I then realized why my friend suggested we visit these two schools.
Comparing the two realities of both, leads me to believe that in
Istanbul, just like many other diaspora communities, the divide
between Armenians from the RA and the traditional diaspora is still
a wide gulf to be breached.
In many ways, Armenians from Armenia still haven't "found
their place" within the traditional Armenian milieu, and thus,
they create their own parallel reality.
P.S. On Sept. 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights in
Strasbourg ruled that Turkish authorities "failed in their duty
to protect the life and freedom of expression of the journalist Firat
(Hrant) Dink." Turkey was ordered to pay 105,000 euros ($135,000)
in compensation to Dink's widow, children and brother, who brought
the case to court. Rakel Dink, Hrant's wife, announced that a
portion of the amount would go to the GedikpaÅ~_a School.
From: A. Papazian
Liana Sayadyan
http://hetq.am/en/society/istambul-5/
2010/11/01 | 15:00
Feature Stories society diaspora
In Istanbul, Armenian Has No Life Outside the School Walls
A heavy rain had been beating down since morning. I had been
walking for quite awhile to get to my destination, the Karakyozian
Children's House located in the Istanbul neighborhood of Sisli. The
neighborhood is home to many Istanbul-Armenians.
I was soaked and my spirits had dropped a notch. I finally got to
the gate where a Turkish guard asked me for some I.D. My guide, 18
year-old Kayaneh, told him in Turkish that I was a tourist. He let
us in without any papers.
As I entered the school, my spirits suddenly lifted; I forgot about
the rain and my soggy shoes.
Karakyozian Kindergarten - learning Armenian for the 1st time
A sense of warmth came over me, and not just because it was physically
warm inside the building. Kids were running up and down the halls,
joking and talking in Armenian.
Arousyak Koch Mone, Director of the Karakyozian Kindergarten, came
out to welcome me. She said that Armenian is never heard outside
the classroom.
"Children from Turkish-speaking families learn Armenian here for
the first time. So, we also work with the parents. We've come
up with a dictionary of basic words and phrases so that parents can
converse in Armenian with their children."
The Karakyozian Kindergarten was established in January,
2007. It's the only independent Armenian pre-school now operating
in Turkey. Even though it is housed in the Karakyozian School building,
the kindergarten has its own administration independent from that
of the school's. The staff is all Armenian. There is no Turkish
vice-principal or teachers like in the school itself. Instruction in
the kindergarten is in Armenian.
Arousyak regards the kindergarten as an achievement of the Armenian
community and the late Hrant Dink, who raised the issue of the need
for a new community kindergarten in the pages of "Agos".
62 children, aged 3-6, are divided into four classes at the
kindergarten. The teaching staff is comprised of eight individuals;
two to a classroom. The teacher-in-charge must be a college graduate.
The other is an assistant with a high school degree.
Getting trained teachers is the major hurdle for the kindergarten.
Since there are no Armenian Studies departments at Turkish
universities, instructors teach students at home, using the Armenians
they learnt from their parents or passing self-taught knowledge.
Textbooks from Armenia unusable
Obtaining textbooks is the other problem facing the pre-school. The
staff and the principal put together their own teaching materials and
aids. When they're lucky, they get their hands on publications
authored by Armenian experts in Europe.
Due to linguistic differences, books and syllabus materials from
Armenia aren't practical for use by the Istanbul-Armenian
community.
Like other Armenian schools in Istanbul, this kindergarten also
survives solely on contributions raised in the community and the
payments of parents.
The Karakyozian Kindergarten instills a love of art in the children
from day one. There are classes in pottery and music alongside
instruction in English, Armenian and logic. During our visit, Kayaneh,
one of the kindergarten teachers, had dressed the kids up in tiny
smocks. She was showing them how to work with clay. Lined up in the
cabinet, worthy of display, were the clay works of her students from
past years.
Kumkapi school caters to "illegal" Armenian kids
After leaving the Karakyozian Kindergarten, my friend Kayaneh
Chalikian, a Bolsahay native, said we must visit another kindergarten
and school operating in Kumkapi, an Istanbul neighborhood along the
Marmara Sea.
Children of Armenian families illegally residing in Turkey attend
classes at the school. These kids cannot attend Armenian schools run by
the Armenian community since they have no residency papers despite the
fact that Turkey is obliged, under international conventions regarding
migrants, to guarantee their education, regardless of residency status.
This neighborhood was once home to many native Istanbul-Armenians and,
over recent years, has attracted many migrants from Armenian as a
place to live and work. The area is the site for textile, leather and
other factories. The Istanbul Patriarchate of the Armenian Apostolic
Church is also located here. No wonder, then, that Armenians from
the RA have converged on the area.
The illegal kindergarten and school are housed in the lower floor of
the Armenian Evangelical Church (GedikpaÅ~_a), a towering structure
founded in 1850. The school only goes up to the 5th grade.
We enter and a "mini-Armenia" opens up before us. In the
unheated corridors, children are dashing here and there, speaking a
hodge-podge of Armenian dialects and accents.
Many children only know Armenia through pictures
"Most of the children are from rural areas in Armenia, "says
Heriknaz Avagyan, who serves as the principal and Armenian language
and literature instructor. "Some children were born here and only
know Armenia through pictures."
In Armenia, Heriknaz worked as a teacher at Yerevan's Avan-Arinj
High School 180. She moved to Turkey in 2002. She first worked as
an elderly attendant for Armenian and Turkish families. Later, she
met Istanbul-Armenian jeweler Vartan and got married. Her son also
attends the "illegal" school.
It was 5pm and some parents had come to pick up their children.
Sousan Voskanyan hails from Vanadzor, Armenia. She came to pick up
her granddaughter. She and her entire family have been living in
Turkey for the past 15 years.
Sousan works at Istanbul's KapalıcarÅ~_ı (Grand Bazaar),
repairing old rugs and other handicrafts. She doesn't plan to
return to Armenia. Nevertheless, she is concerned about the future
of her grandkids since they are deprived of a full education. After
finishing the 5th grade, the boys are sent off to learn a trade. The
girls remain at home where they are self-taught.
The Vanadzor native urged the governments of Armenian and Turkey
to find a way that would allow the school to at least go up to the
8th grade.
In one of the tiny classrooms, with photos of Armenia's president
and the Catholicos attached to the wall, along with an Armenian
tricolor, Donara Bebouryan was reviewing some class work with her
pupils.
Back in Armenia, Donara taught at PS1 in Gyumri from
1992-2000. She's been living in Istanbul with her family ever
since. Her two daughters also work alongside their mom at the
school. One teaches Russian, the other, English.
"I'd return to Armenia, but the school needs me"
Donara told me that she definitely would return to Armenia but that
the school needs her. The classes here are based on a syllabus used
in Armenia and the Diaspora Ministry sends them the textbooks.
The school opened its doors in 2003. There were only 7 pupils back
then. Now it has 70. 20 children attend the kindergarten.
The kindergarten, housed in two small rooms, cannot accept new kids
due to a lack of space. Even now, the children take naps in shifts;
some on cots and the others lying on couches.
"There are a lot of parents who want to send their children to the
kindergarten. It's really a convenience for working families. We
take care of the kids till 7pm. We just don't have the means to
accept any more," says Heriknaz Avagyan.
Classroom space is so scarce that parts of the hallway are partitioned
off with curtains to devise make-shift rooms for grades four and five.
The school has no cafeteria. The kids usually bring lunch from home
or the teachers order out.
The Caritas organization has promised to construct a small kitchen
area by year's end and to supply the necessary equipment and
furnishings.
Right now, the school uses furniture brought from the Karakyozian
Kindergarten. Heriknaz says Karakyozian helps out whenever possible.
The driving force behind the school's founding was Alex Ouzuroglu,
a member of the Bezciyan Alumni Association.
Bolsahay community didn't want trouble
At the time, those wishing to create such a school also sought the
assistance of the Armenian Patriarchate. A meeting was convened to
discuss the issue.
Heriknaz also sat in on the meeting. She says it reminded her of
Yervant Odian's satirical work Comrade Panchoonie. After hours of
tedious detailed discussion weighing the pros and cons of the planned
school, the risks and benefits involved, the Patriarchate gave its
official thumbs down to the idea.
Principal Heriknaz says that most likely the Patriarchate didn't
wish to ruffle the feathers of the Turkish authorities.
Later Rev. Krikor Agabaloglu, pastor of the GedikpaÅ~_a church,
lent a helping hand. When Heriknaz asked if he wasn't afraid to
assist, Rev. Krikor replied, "These are Armenian children..."
Turkish authorities know about the school, but have not interfered.
The church lets the school use its basement for free. Parents pay
$60 a months for operating expenses. Neither does the school pay for
utilities, since most religious institutions in Turkey are exempt
for such expenses.
Heriknaz says that the numbers of those leaving Armenia for work
in Turkey is constantly increasing. Thus, there is growing pressure
on the school to expand, both in terms of physical space and in the
number of grades. The legal status of the school remains an unresolved
issue as well.
Rev. Krikor has plans to build a school on church grounds recently
returned due to a court case. Turkish authorities have still not
granted a construction permit.
My Bolsahay friend said there are a number of Armenian schools
in Istanbul, now closed and empty, that could have been put at
the disposal of the "illegal" school, had the church and
community agreed.
"The Bolsahay community should have taken care of it but, like
always, Armenians from the RA did what needed to be done on their
own."
I then realized why my friend suggested we visit these two schools.
Comparing the two realities of both, leads me to believe that in
Istanbul, just like many other diaspora communities, the divide
between Armenians from the RA and the traditional diaspora is still
a wide gulf to be breached.
In many ways, Armenians from Armenia still haven't "found
their place" within the traditional Armenian milieu, and thus,
they create their own parallel reality.
P.S. On Sept. 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights in
Strasbourg ruled that Turkish authorities "failed in their duty
to protect the life and freedom of expression of the journalist Firat
(Hrant) Dink." Turkey was ordered to pay 105,000 euros ($135,000)
in compensation to Dink's widow, children and brother, who brought
the case to court. Rakel Dink, Hrant's wife, announced that a
portion of the amount would go to the GedikpaÅ~_a School.
From: A. Papazian