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HOW THE NAMES OF PLACES HAVE BEEN CHANGED IN TURKEY
Today's Zaman
http://www.todayszaman.com/columnist-250499-how-the-names-of-places-have-been-changed-in-turkey.html
July 14 2011
Turkey
On Wednesday I quoted from Sevan Nişanyan's latest report on the
changed names of places in the republican era in Turkey (Hayali
Coğrafyalar: Cumhuriyet Döneminde Türkiye de Değiştirilen Yeradları)
that indicates more than 15,000 names that were Armenian, Greek,
Jewish, Kurdish, Arabic and so on have been changed.
I also wrote that everything began in 1916 with the decree issued by
Enver Paşa immediately after the massacres of non-Muslims took place.
Let's read the rest of the story from the report:
"A radical transformation began in the second half of the 1950s. As
of this date, the making of things into Turkish was practically
espoused as though it was a 'state policy,' which superseded the
political powers. In 1957 the Changing of Foreign Names Commission
was established ... to determin the non-Turkish names of places and
suggest new names.
"Efforts bore their first fruits immediately in the aftermath of the
May 27, 1960 coup. During the four months that followed the coup,
approximately 10,000 new village names were made official. Prior to
1965, almost one-third of all places in Turkey were changed. Roughly
12,000 villages, some of which had thousands of years of history,
and 4,000 towns and districts, thousands of rivers, mountains and
geographical structures met their new Turkish names as a project of
the bureaucratic mindset.
"In an effort to erase the old names completely, very harsh policies
were implemented. The printing of the former names, even in brackets,
on maps, their entry into the country and their distribution was
banned. The Maps General Command was established for the purpose of
functioning as a map censorship committee under the auspices of the
General Staff. All printing and sales of maps relied on permission from
this committee. Publications that presented old names on a local scale
were confiscated, with sometimes even simple plans being considered
as maps.
"Simultaneous with the banning of old names were efforts to erase
traces on Turkish land that was not Turkish or Muslim. Many Greek and
Armenian churches that had been abandoned, in addition to cemeteries,
were destroyed by certain military and civil commissions, whose
natures are still not clear. The special status granted to Greeks on
İmroz and Bozcaada islands through the Treaty of Lausanne was lifted,
and the Greek population was moved. A good deal of the İstanbulite
Greeks were deported in 1964. The Armenian population that remained
in the country was forced into internal exile in İstanbul or abroad
following increased pressure after 1955 and 1956.
"The period of location name changing, which entered a lull after
completing its active phase around 1965, showed signs of revival in
the years that followed another coup -- that of Sept. 12, 1980. Old
names that were used, however seldom, in formal transactions until
1980 were removed from circulation entirely following the military
administration's determined interventions."
A counteractive movement
Voices that rejected the changing of location names in line with
"national" politics were quite limited in the 1980s and the 1990s;
however, in the 2000s, these voices began to influence the public
agenda.
The first important signals indicating that the official policies
vis-à-vis the changing of location names began in 2009. President
Abdullah Gül, while addressing the people of the town of Güloymak on
Aug. 8, 2009, used the Kurdish name of the town, "Norsin." Immediately
afterwards, on Aug. 12, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan used the
term, "Potamya'lıyız ezelden" (We are from Potamya since eternity),
in reference to Rize's Güneysu town, his place of birth. These
moves, which created a public buzz, brought to the public agenda
the possibility of abandoning this taboo, which had been protected
with great sensitivity for years, at the highest levels of political
authority.
Around the end of the 1990s, many villages in Artvin were given highway
signs that contained both their old and new names. And as of 2004,
newly populated Syriac villages in Midyat and Nusaybin were granted
signs in two languages.
It is known that the mindset that changed the names of old locations
and erased their traces is also the same mindset that destroyed
churches, memorials, graves, inscriptions, graveyards, houses and
neighborhoods. These were conducted at the same time and most probably
by the same groups.
The destruction of churches, etc., which was until recent years,
considered a "national duty," or at least excused as such, is now
accepted as a crime and in accordance with Law Number 2863 Clause
65/a, is punishable by two to five years in prison. Fifty years ago,
historic monasteries and churches around Lake Van were destroyed
systematically, with the church on Akdamar island escaping this
destruction only by way of coincidence. Today, the church is being
repaired with significant funding by the government.
A lack of reflection of this mental evolution that we are witnessing,
where historic monuments are concerned vis-à-vis old location names,
is saddening.
Quantitative results
"In the frame of changing location names in 20th century Turkey,
15,585 changes have been noted ... The regions in which there have
been the largest number of location name changes are the East Black
Sea region coastal strip and the provinces of the Southeast, which
have a predominantly Kurdish population.
"It is known that the first of these two regions that most strongly
experienced cultural and identity transformation, has better conformed
to the process of "Turkification," -- perhaps due to having started
the race earlier -- while the latter has been unable to conform."
Today's Zaman
http://www.todayszaman.com/columnist-250499-how-the-names-of-places-have-been-changed-in-turkey.html
July 14 2011
Turkey
On Wednesday I quoted from Sevan Nişanyan's latest report on the
changed names of places in the republican era in Turkey (Hayali
Coğrafyalar: Cumhuriyet Döneminde Türkiye de Değiştirilen Yeradları)
that indicates more than 15,000 names that were Armenian, Greek,
Jewish, Kurdish, Arabic and so on have been changed.
I also wrote that everything began in 1916 with the decree issued by
Enver Paşa immediately after the massacres of non-Muslims took place.
Let's read the rest of the story from the report:
"A radical transformation began in the second half of the 1950s. As
of this date, the making of things into Turkish was practically
espoused as though it was a 'state policy,' which superseded the
political powers. In 1957 the Changing of Foreign Names Commission
was established ... to determin the non-Turkish names of places and
suggest new names.
"Efforts bore their first fruits immediately in the aftermath of the
May 27, 1960 coup. During the four months that followed the coup,
approximately 10,000 new village names were made official. Prior to
1965, almost one-third of all places in Turkey were changed. Roughly
12,000 villages, some of which had thousands of years of history,
and 4,000 towns and districts, thousands of rivers, mountains and
geographical structures met their new Turkish names as a project of
the bureaucratic mindset.
"In an effort to erase the old names completely, very harsh policies
were implemented. The printing of the former names, even in brackets,
on maps, their entry into the country and their distribution was
banned. The Maps General Command was established for the purpose of
functioning as a map censorship committee under the auspices of the
General Staff. All printing and sales of maps relied on permission from
this committee. Publications that presented old names on a local scale
were confiscated, with sometimes even simple plans being considered
as maps.
"Simultaneous with the banning of old names were efforts to erase
traces on Turkish land that was not Turkish or Muslim. Many Greek and
Armenian churches that had been abandoned, in addition to cemeteries,
were destroyed by certain military and civil commissions, whose
natures are still not clear. The special status granted to Greeks on
İmroz and Bozcaada islands through the Treaty of Lausanne was lifted,
and the Greek population was moved. A good deal of the İstanbulite
Greeks were deported in 1964. The Armenian population that remained
in the country was forced into internal exile in İstanbul or abroad
following increased pressure after 1955 and 1956.
"The period of location name changing, which entered a lull after
completing its active phase around 1965, showed signs of revival in
the years that followed another coup -- that of Sept. 12, 1980. Old
names that were used, however seldom, in formal transactions until
1980 were removed from circulation entirely following the military
administration's determined interventions."
A counteractive movement
Voices that rejected the changing of location names in line with
"national" politics were quite limited in the 1980s and the 1990s;
however, in the 2000s, these voices began to influence the public
agenda.
The first important signals indicating that the official policies
vis-à-vis the changing of location names began in 2009. President
Abdullah Gül, while addressing the people of the town of Güloymak on
Aug. 8, 2009, used the Kurdish name of the town, "Norsin." Immediately
afterwards, on Aug. 12, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan used the
term, "Potamya'lıyız ezelden" (We are from Potamya since eternity),
in reference to Rize's Güneysu town, his place of birth. These
moves, which created a public buzz, brought to the public agenda
the possibility of abandoning this taboo, which had been protected
with great sensitivity for years, at the highest levels of political
authority.
Around the end of the 1990s, many villages in Artvin were given highway
signs that contained both their old and new names. And as of 2004,
newly populated Syriac villages in Midyat and Nusaybin were granted
signs in two languages.
It is known that the mindset that changed the names of old locations
and erased their traces is also the same mindset that destroyed
churches, memorials, graves, inscriptions, graveyards, houses and
neighborhoods. These were conducted at the same time and most probably
by the same groups.
The destruction of churches, etc., which was until recent years,
considered a "national duty," or at least excused as such, is now
accepted as a crime and in accordance with Law Number 2863 Clause
65/a, is punishable by two to five years in prison. Fifty years ago,
historic monasteries and churches around Lake Van were destroyed
systematically, with the church on Akdamar island escaping this
destruction only by way of coincidence. Today, the church is being
repaired with significant funding by the government.
A lack of reflection of this mental evolution that we are witnessing,
where historic monuments are concerned vis-à-vis old location names,
is saddening.
Quantitative results
"In the frame of changing location names in 20th century Turkey,
15,585 changes have been noted ... The regions in which there have
been the largest number of location name changes are the East Black
Sea region coastal strip and the provinces of the Southeast, which
have a predominantly Kurdish population.
"It is known that the first of these two regions that most strongly
experienced cultural and identity transformation, has better conformed
to the process of "Turkification," -- perhaps due to having started
the race earlier -- while the latter has been unable to conform."