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A New Kind of Armenian-Turkish Reconcilation

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  • A New Kind of Armenian-Turkish Reconcilation

    A New Kind of Armenian-Turkish Reconcilation

    http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/4465/a-new-kind-of-armenian-turkish-reconciliation

    Feb 23 2012
    by Jennifer Manoukian
    [image: Listen to this page using
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    [image: [Cover of] [Cover of "Les petits-enfants"]

    In October 2011, the newly renovated Sourp Giragos Armenian Apostolic
    Church reopened in Turkey's southeastern province of Diyarbakir. Among the
    hundreds gathered to celebrate its first mass in over ninety years were
    localmen
    and women who had chosen the occasion to be baptized into the Armenian
    Apostolic Church. Raised as Sunni Muslims, these men and women were the
    children and grandchildren of Armenians who had converted to Islam to
    escape persecution in the waning days of the Ottoman Empire.

    Living in a society that glorified cultural homogeneity and in a country
    that still bore the scars of its Ottoman past, the first generation of
    converts often kept their Armenian heritage hidden from their children.
    They integrated into the communities around them and adopted, at least
    outwardly, a new
    language,
    religion, culture, and identity.

    Less encumbered by the fear that silenced their parents and grandparents,
    the grandchildren of these Armenians have recently begun to dig into their
    family histories and to discuss their backgrounds with a kind of pride
    uncharacteristic of previous generations.

    This growing trend in Turkey that values multicultural identities-and, in
    the process,
    exposes the absurdity of purity as a cultural ideal-rails against the
    Turkish nationalist model of identity that has become familiar to those who
    follow Turkish politics. But it is not the government that is fostering
    change; it is members of the civil society who are taking the matter of
    identity into their own hands.

    These themes have been most notably explored through personal accounts of
    the grandchildren of converted Armenians. In examining the impact that the
    discovery of Armenian ancestry has had on their own identity construction,
    the grandchildren attest to the possibility of multiple belongings. This is
    a concept that unhinges the common adversarial depiction of Armenian and
    Turkish nationalism advanced by states and leaders and inspires a more
    fluid, inclusive understanding of identity, where both Turkish and Armenian
    elements can coexist within an individual.

    Crypto-Armenians: Then and Now

    While the international community is well acquainted with the plight of
    Armenians driven from Anatolia in 1915, it has only been in the past decade
    that attention has been focused on the Armenians who stayed in Turkey=80'known
    as `crypto-Armenians,' `Islamicized Armenians,' or, more disparagingly, as
    `leftovers of the sword.'

    Although a small fraction of the pre-1915 Armenian community preserved its
    language and culture in Istanbul after Turkey's founding in 1923, most
    Armenians who remained in Turkey faded into the social fabric of rural
    towns and villages across Anatolia. But, in recent years, these men and
    women are being pulled from obscurity with increased momentum, thanks in
    part to the 2004 publication of Fethiye Ã=87etin's memoir, Anneannem [My
    Grandmother
    ].

    In this groundbreaking text, Ã=87etin-a Turkish human rights activist and
    lawyer best known abroad as legal counsel for the family of slain
    Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink-recounts her grandmother's personal
    history. Her grandmother, born Heranoush to an Armenian family, was taken
    from her mother and siblings by a Turkish gendarme during the death marches
    in 1915. She was renamed Å=9Eeher, was raised as a Turk, and repressed
    all
    memory of her Armenian past until the very end of her life.

    Ã=87etin's pioneering account reverberated across Turkey, resonating
    particularly with families who had uncovered similar stories in their own
    personal histories. In some cases, My Grandmother prompted these families
    to discuss their Armenian ancestry openly and without shame, leading to the
    publication of another unparalleled work, written with AyÅ=9Fe Gül Altınay,
    Torunlar [The Grandchildren], published in French as Les
    petits-enfants
    .

    Les petits-enfants is a series of personal accounts by twenty-five
    grandchildren of converted Armenians, originally published in
    Turkishin 2009 and
    translated into French by Célin Vuraler in 2011. In these
    interviews, the grandchildren piece together what
    they know about their grandparents' childhoods and families, explain
    how their grandparents were integrated into Sunni or Alevi communities, and
    describe their relationship with them.

    The startling, often brutal way that the grandchildren discovered their
    grandparents' Armenian ancestries, rattling whatever clear conception they
    had of their identities up until that point, is a key feature of each
    account. For example, one grandchild, the celebrated poet Bedrettin Aykin,
    remembers first learning of his family's past unexpectedly when a friend's
    mother referred to his mother as `the young infidel,' leading him to
    question his mother about their origins. Having been treated as a secret
    within their families and a source of shame within their society, the
    discovery of Armenian heritage often came as a shock to these grandchildren
    and forced them to reevaluate the way they understood themselves and their
    relationships to their communities.

    These painful recollections are nevertheless interspersed with bittersweet
    indications-obvious only in hindsight-of the past their grandparents kept
    hidden from view. One granddaughter recalls that her grandmother preferred
    to be called Satenig rather than Süreyya, the Turkish name on her identity
    card; only when talking about her grandmother to an Armenian friend did she
    realize that Satenig was, in fact, an Armenian name. Another grandchild
    remembers coloring eggs with her grandmother every year in the early
    spring, entirely unaware, at the time, of the insight it gave into her
    grandmother's Christian upbringing.

    Grappling with Latent Armenian Identity

    The grandchildren-raised as Turks, Kurds, or Alevis, speaking Turkish,
    Kurdish, or Zaza, and practicing, to varying degrees, Sunni Islam or
    Alevism-reacted to the news of their grandparents' Armenian heritage in
    ways representative of the diversity among them. Most took the opportunity
    to read more about Armenians; a great number of grandchildren cited the
    work of novelists Migirdiç Margosyan, Elif Shafak, and Kemal Yalçin as
    fundamental in humanizing an unfamiliar yet vilified group of people. Many
    also began to read about Ottoman Armenian history, and in the process,
    challenged the depiction of Armenians as wicked traitors, which had been
    instilled in them at school and in their larger society from an early age.

    Some grandchildren were intrigued by the religious piece of their Armenian
    ancestry, which prompted them to study the intersections between
    Christianity and Islam or, like those baptized at Sourp Giragos last
    October, to convert to the faith in which their grandparents were raised.

    Although the conclusions that each grandchild drew from his or her
    discovery varied considerably, each was compelled to reflect on his or her
    identity and how this new revelation would impact it. For some, their
    grandparents' past had no effect on how they conceived of their identity.
    One grandchild reflects: `I was born in Turkey. I am Turkish. I am
    Muslim.
    Should I, all of a sudden, become Armenian and go to Yerevan?' Or:
    `Up until today, I have never felt Turkish, Kurdish, or Armenian, even after
    learning of my family's history. I don't identify with any of these
    nationalities. I don't want to be attached to anywhere.'

    The absence of a single, dominant identity and the significance of
    multiculturalism are themes repeated in a significant number of accounts.
    After an initial period of crisis and uncertainty, many of the
    grandchildren came to value belonging to an eclectic mix of communities:
    `I have Armenian, Kurdish, and Turkish cultures. I know all of them well and I
    am the product of what they represent. But I don't know how to respond when
    one asks me if I am Turkish, Kurdish, or Armenian. I am a bit of all
    three.' This emphasis on multiple affiliations illustrates a flexible, more
    inclusive understanding of identity-a break with the prevailing nationalist
    conceptualization that so often attempts to place people into neat
    categories that do not represent reality.

    Hybrid Identities

    There is something hopeful to be said about a generation that can see
    beyond artificial constructs of nationhood and has the confidence to
    formulate identities based on its own individual experiences. After
    successful attempts by their grandparents to assimilate into the dominant
    culture, and desperate attempts by their parents to conceal any suggestion
    of their otherness, these grandchildren are bravely rejecting their
    society's taboos by acknowledging and, in many cases, embracing their
    Armenian ancestry. In his interview, one grandchild eloquently comments on
    the dangers of identity suppression so common in past generations:

    I don't wish for anyone to hide their true identity or to mask past errors.
    I think that people become much more extremist when they hide their pasts
    and protect themselves by diverting attention. [Bülent] Ecevit, wanting to
    erase his Kurdish origins, became a Turkish nationalist politician; my
    uncle, hoping to make people forget his Armenian ancestry, immersed himself
    fervently in Islam. People who are sure of themselves would not exist in
    such contradiction.

    The shift towards self-acceptance is promising because it indicates that
    identities no longer need to be understood as mutually exclusive. One
    granddaughter, who considers herself a devout Muslim and has chosen to wear
    hijab, celebrates the fact that she is not a `pure Turk' and credits her
    converted Armenian grandmother with teaching her about the faith. She shows
    us that a variety of seemingly irreconcilable identities can coexist
    harmoniously with one another.

    We see this emphasis on coexistence again in the accounts of grandchildren
    with extended families whose members belong to communities often understood
    to be in perpetual conflict with one another:

    I like this diversity very much because my two families, Armenian and
    Kurdish, mutually respect each other. For example, when my mother visited
    my Armenian family, we would always make them a prayer rug. And my mother,
    during Christian holidays, would always make a meal for the occasion. This
    proves that it's completely possible for the two cultures to cohabitate.
    Communication and common ground is all that is needed.

    Another grandchild shared a similar experience:

    In our family, there are Syriacs, Armenians, and Muslims. My aunts-my
    mother's sisters-married Syriacs and live as Syriacs. My sister married an
    Armenian. As for my maternal grandparents, they are still Muslim and pray
    five times a day. It is a mix of different lifestyles.

    These stories are models of exceptionally productive understandings of
    identity. Rather than being used as a way to create divisions among people,
    these families see identity as a personal code that provides comfort and a
    sense of belonging, but that resists politicization and spurns the idea of
    boundaries and limitations.

    Implications for the Armenian Diaspora

    The struggle to formulate identity is not foreign to Armenians living in
    the diaspora, who are also exposed to a variety of different cultures and
    identities from which to choose. The accounts of these grandchildren are in
    fact quite relevant to diasporic experiences and provide an alternative
    approach to Armenian identity construction, which encourages a kind of
    inclusivity that does not often characterize Armenian communities.

    The Armenian diaspora today is composed of descendants of Ottoman Armenians
    who, despite having lived in exile for almost a century, still feel a close
    connection to their heritage; in some cases, they continue to speak Western
    Armenian, a linguistic branch distinct from the one spoken in the Republic
    of Armenia today. Scattered in large part across Europe, the Middle East,
    and the Americas, the people who comprise the Armenian diaspora have, to
    varying degrees, retained aspects of their ancestral culture while at the
    same time participating in the societies in which they were raised.

    Despite what seems to be fertile ground for the development of dual
    identities, Armenians in the diaspora have internalized the idea that
    identity fusion makes their Armenian experience somehow inauthentic. A
    hierarchy of `Armenianness'- based on the degree to which a person adheres
    to a perceived, yet undefined paragon of ethnic perfection-is born
    from
    these feelings of inauthenticity. This hierarchy is dangerous because there
    is no ideal way to understand identity or the factors that influence it;
    the sole requirement is for it to have value to the individual. For some,
    language may be the most important building block; for others, it may be
    food, religion, or music.

    Identity is personal, but it becomes public when people create an
    environment welcome only to those who subscribe to the same brand of
    identity. General feelings of exclusion from the Armenian community are
    illustrated in a
    commentfrom
    Behçet Avci, one of the grandchildren baptized at Sourp Giragos last
    October: `We have been ostracized by both Sunni Muslims and Armenians. It
    is a very emotional moment for me and I'm a bit upset because unfortunately
    we do not belong to either side.'

    Understanding that identity is not static, but rather that it is
    evolving-constantly being defined and redefined-would encourage others to
    see the value in multiple belongings, ease feelings of alienation, and
    eliminate the idea that there is a certain kind of ideal Armenian identity
    for which to strive.

    The accounts of the grandchildren in Les petits-enfants can teach the
    diaspora that hybrid identities are not corrosive or threatening; they
    enrich one another and, most importantly, they represent reality.
    Egyptian-Armenian, American-Armenian, French-Armenian, Syrian-Armenian,
    Argentinean-Armenian: hyphenated identities describe lived experiences and
    should be appreciated rather than tinged with guilt.

    The accounts in Les petits-enfants also implicitly encourage readers to
    view each person as an individual with his or her own complex identity, and
    not as a representative of a country or a culture. They show us that
    prejudices wear away with personal contact, with time, and most
    importantly, with knowledge. The grandchildren were forced to come to this
    realization abruptly, but by learning from their stories, both Turks and
    Armenians can come to this realization more gradually by transcending the
    hostility fueled by the nationalist rhetoric on both sides and seeing one
    another as individuals above all else.


    --
    Jennifer Manoukian is a recent graduate of Rutgers University, where
    she received her BA in Middle Eastern Studies and French. She is
    currently an intern with the Arab Studies Institute, where she does
    research for the Forum on Arab and Muslim Affairs. She is interested
    in Western Armenian literature and issues of identity and cultural
    production in the Armenian diaspora. Her writing on these topics has
    appeared in ianyanmag.com and zohrabcenter.com. She also translates
    from Western Armenian and has had her translations of writer Zabel
    Yessayan featured in araratmagazine.org. She can be reached at
    [email protected].

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