Tweet
HRANT DINK, AN ANATOLIAN ARMENIAN
by Raffi Bedrosyan
http://www.reporter.am/go/article/2013-02-01-hrant-dink-an-anatolian-armenian
Published: Friday February 01, 2013
A view of Hrant Dink's funeral in January 2007. Ara Sarafian
On the sixth anniversary of his assassination and more significantly,
on the sixth anniversary of the Turkish state's inability or
unwillingness to find his real killers, Hrant Dink was remembered
by tens of thousands of people in many countries and in Turkey,
including Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Diyarbakir, Malatya and Bodrum.
International, Turkish and Armenian speakers reiterated his vision
and message of direct dialogue between Turks and Armenians. Year by
year, instead of gradually diminishing in numbers toward oblivion as
is the case for other assassinated journalists in Turkey, there is
a snowballing increase in number and intensity of people attending
the Hrant Dink commemorations, protesting and demanding justice,
as well as adopting Hrant's messages with more determination. It
is not the tiny Armenian community in Turkey but Turks (and Kurds)
from all walks of life who have embraced Hrant as a tragic hero. The
momentum is building to declare Hrant a martyr, in fact, the first
shared martyr by historically opposing nations of Armenians and Turks.
But what exactly was Hrant's message? He would define Armenians
and Turks as two sick people, clinical cases, Armenians suffering
from trauma (obsessed with 1915), Turks suffering from paranoia
(fear of consequences of acknowledging 1915). He would advocate
Armenians and Turks to be each other's doctors, with dialogue as
the only prescription. And he would clap his large hands vigorously,
exclaiming that 'there is no other medicine, no other doctor, no, no,
no'. He knew dialogue would be useless if one couldn't discuss the
painful 1915 but only pleasant subjects such as Turks and Armenians'
shared values, shared culture, shared foods like dolma and kebab. He
knew that dialogue would also be useless if one is unable to really
'listen and hear', in addition to talking. And most importantly,
he knew that dialogue would be useless if one didn't know the real
historical facts of 1915. After being systematically brainwashed by
the state with ever changing official versions of 1915 history, people
in Turkey have now finally started to learn the true historic facts,
reasons and consequences of 1915, not as so-called Turkish version
versus Armenian version. So, if and when there is willingness to
talk and listen, both sides can and should engage in direct dialogue,
without the need to convince third parties to pressure the other side.
Hrant had studied zoology and he would explain that if you remove
any living organism from its natural environment, you would cause
its extinction. He would then say: 'If you remove an entire people
from its land where it has lived continuously for 3000 years, even if
you transport them with great care in "golden airplanes", this would
still be similar to taking an axe to the roots of an ancient tree'. He
didn't need to explain 1915 with long words; in a corner of AGOS, every
week, he would place some facts about a village or town in Anatolia,
could be in the west, east, north, south or central Anatolia, giving
the Armenian and total population numbers, the names and numbers of
churches and schools there, before 1915. He would have photos of these
active Armenian churches and schools in that village or town before
1915, and photos of these non-existent churches or schools today,
totalling more than 4000 buildings. That would be enough for anyone
to understand the reality of 1915.
But he wouldn't only talk about the Armenians gone or dead in 1915. He
would be much more interested to talk about the Armenians who remained,
who stayed in Anatolia, those people who stayed and survived, but no
longer as Armenians. These were the Armenians who stayed and survived,
by converting to Islam, by assimilation into Turkish, Kurdish or Alawi
identities. These were the Armenian girls and boys captured or sold,
kept hidden, protected or married to Turks and Kurds. These were
some entire Armenian villages which converted to Islam, or stayed
protected by friendly Kurdish and Alawi leaders.
Hrant was obsessed with this subject. What happened to these people?
Did they secretly keep their Armenian identity? Did they pass it on to
the next generations? Where are they now? How many are there? If there
are hidden Armenians, what would be the trigger for them to 'come out
of hiding'? Genocide is not a single event but a continuous process.
It is not only denial of a genocide that continues it, but assimilation
and conversion also continue it. Scholars have recently started
defining genocide not only as destruction of the oppressed nation,
but also construction of the oppressor nation - using assimilation
and conversion processes. For Armenians, these processes continued
on all fronts.
Hrant didn't or couldn't write much about this sensitive subject,
but he was pre-occupied by it, gathering stories, anecdotal evidence,
always encouraging others to find out more. Obviously, this was
not a subject that could be researched openly and scientifically,
but whenever a new revelation came out about hidden Armenians in
Anatolia, he would be greatly excited. His lawyer, famed lawyer
Fethiye Cetin's 'My Grandmother' was only an example of the fate of
the hidden Armenians. In an interview with London filmmaker Nouritsa
Matossian for the documentary 'Hrant Dink: A Heart Of Two Nations',
Nouritsa asked him: 'Do you see Armenian faces in Anatolia?' Hrant:
'Yes, often'. Nouritsa: 'Apparitions (meaning, ghosts)?' Hrant:
'Apparitions AND real ones'. One can tell that Hrant, the emotional
Hrant with the biggest heart, is like a child who has a secret that
he can hardly keep.
The answer to the question that kept him wondering - what would be
the trigger for the hidden Armenians to come out, came four years
too late for Hrant to witness, unfortunately. The trigger was the
reconstruction of the Diyarbakir Surp Giragos Church in 2011.
Thousands of Anatolian people, young and old, Turkish and Kurdish
in appearance and identity, returned to their Armenian roots with
the reopening of this church. Some got baptized in the church,
some changed their Turkish names to Armenian originals, some changed
their identity to Armenian but remained Moslem (a new phenomenon of
Moslem Armenians), some started learning the Armenian language. Hrant
would have danced with joy to see an eleven year old Kurdish girl,
not only learning Armenian but also singing Armenian songs at the
first Armenian concert in the Diyarbakir Surp Giragos Church in
2012. Hrant would have danced on the table, as he is photographed on
a happy occasion, to see a thousand people from Adiyaman, Amasya,
Arapkir, Dersim, Diyarbakir, Elazig, Harput, Hemshin, Istanbul,
Kastamonu, Kayseri, Malatya, Musadagh, Sason, Sinop, Sivas, Tokat,
Van and Yozgat organize activities together and to celebrate the Surp
Hagop day in December 2012, singing Armenian songs, even though none
knew how to speak Armenian.
Hrant was an Anatolian Armenian and wished to have the same democratic
rights as all other citizens of the state, without being excluded,
without being discriminated, without being pressured to lose his
identity. Armenians wished to have exactly the same things 100 years
ago, no more, no less. The state felt threatened and when fear got
combined with opportunity, it wiped out the Armenian identity in
Anatolia to build a Turkish identity to the exclusion of all others,
including Greeks, Assyrians and Kurds.
The enormous transfer of wealth and assets from the Armenians to the
Turks has added to the fear and paranoia of the state in facing its
past. A new Turkish identity, which does not fear threatened from
the diversity of minority identities, needs to be created in Turkey
in order to face both the past and the future. The state has finally
started this process with the Kurds, but not the Armenians. The Kurds
have started this process with the Armenians, openly acknowledging
their role in 1915, and starting to make amends. It is hoped that
Turks will see the light and follow them.
by Raffi Bedrosyan
http://www.reporter.am/go/article/2013-02-01-hrant-dink-an-anatolian-armenian
Published: Friday February 01, 2013
A view of Hrant Dink's funeral in January 2007. Ara Sarafian
On the sixth anniversary of his assassination and more significantly,
on the sixth anniversary of the Turkish state's inability or
unwillingness to find his real killers, Hrant Dink was remembered
by tens of thousands of people in many countries and in Turkey,
including Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Diyarbakir, Malatya and Bodrum.
International, Turkish and Armenian speakers reiterated his vision
and message of direct dialogue between Turks and Armenians. Year by
year, instead of gradually diminishing in numbers toward oblivion as
is the case for other assassinated journalists in Turkey, there is
a snowballing increase in number and intensity of people attending
the Hrant Dink commemorations, protesting and demanding justice,
as well as adopting Hrant's messages with more determination. It
is not the tiny Armenian community in Turkey but Turks (and Kurds)
from all walks of life who have embraced Hrant as a tragic hero. The
momentum is building to declare Hrant a martyr, in fact, the first
shared martyr by historically opposing nations of Armenians and Turks.
But what exactly was Hrant's message? He would define Armenians
and Turks as two sick people, clinical cases, Armenians suffering
from trauma (obsessed with 1915), Turks suffering from paranoia
(fear of consequences of acknowledging 1915). He would advocate
Armenians and Turks to be each other's doctors, with dialogue as
the only prescription. And he would clap his large hands vigorously,
exclaiming that 'there is no other medicine, no other doctor, no, no,
no'. He knew dialogue would be useless if one couldn't discuss the
painful 1915 but only pleasant subjects such as Turks and Armenians'
shared values, shared culture, shared foods like dolma and kebab. He
knew that dialogue would also be useless if one is unable to really
'listen and hear', in addition to talking. And most importantly,
he knew that dialogue would be useless if one didn't know the real
historical facts of 1915. After being systematically brainwashed by
the state with ever changing official versions of 1915 history, people
in Turkey have now finally started to learn the true historic facts,
reasons and consequences of 1915, not as so-called Turkish version
versus Armenian version. So, if and when there is willingness to
talk and listen, both sides can and should engage in direct dialogue,
without the need to convince third parties to pressure the other side.
Hrant had studied zoology and he would explain that if you remove
any living organism from its natural environment, you would cause
its extinction. He would then say: 'If you remove an entire people
from its land where it has lived continuously for 3000 years, even if
you transport them with great care in "golden airplanes", this would
still be similar to taking an axe to the roots of an ancient tree'. He
didn't need to explain 1915 with long words; in a corner of AGOS, every
week, he would place some facts about a village or town in Anatolia,
could be in the west, east, north, south or central Anatolia, giving
the Armenian and total population numbers, the names and numbers of
churches and schools there, before 1915. He would have photos of these
active Armenian churches and schools in that village or town before
1915, and photos of these non-existent churches or schools today,
totalling more than 4000 buildings. That would be enough for anyone
to understand the reality of 1915.
But he wouldn't only talk about the Armenians gone or dead in 1915. He
would be much more interested to talk about the Armenians who remained,
who stayed in Anatolia, those people who stayed and survived, but no
longer as Armenians. These were the Armenians who stayed and survived,
by converting to Islam, by assimilation into Turkish, Kurdish or Alawi
identities. These were the Armenian girls and boys captured or sold,
kept hidden, protected or married to Turks and Kurds. These were
some entire Armenian villages which converted to Islam, or stayed
protected by friendly Kurdish and Alawi leaders.
Hrant was obsessed with this subject. What happened to these people?
Did they secretly keep their Armenian identity? Did they pass it on to
the next generations? Where are they now? How many are there? If there
are hidden Armenians, what would be the trigger for them to 'come out
of hiding'? Genocide is not a single event but a continuous process.
It is not only denial of a genocide that continues it, but assimilation
and conversion also continue it. Scholars have recently started
defining genocide not only as destruction of the oppressed nation,
but also construction of the oppressor nation - using assimilation
and conversion processes. For Armenians, these processes continued
on all fronts.
Hrant didn't or couldn't write much about this sensitive subject,
but he was pre-occupied by it, gathering stories, anecdotal evidence,
always encouraging others to find out more. Obviously, this was
not a subject that could be researched openly and scientifically,
but whenever a new revelation came out about hidden Armenians in
Anatolia, he would be greatly excited. His lawyer, famed lawyer
Fethiye Cetin's 'My Grandmother' was only an example of the fate of
the hidden Armenians. In an interview with London filmmaker Nouritsa
Matossian for the documentary 'Hrant Dink: A Heart Of Two Nations',
Nouritsa asked him: 'Do you see Armenian faces in Anatolia?' Hrant:
'Yes, often'. Nouritsa: 'Apparitions (meaning, ghosts)?' Hrant:
'Apparitions AND real ones'. One can tell that Hrant, the emotional
Hrant with the biggest heart, is like a child who has a secret that
he can hardly keep.
The answer to the question that kept him wondering - what would be
the trigger for the hidden Armenians to come out, came four years
too late for Hrant to witness, unfortunately. The trigger was the
reconstruction of the Diyarbakir Surp Giragos Church in 2011.
Thousands of Anatolian people, young and old, Turkish and Kurdish
in appearance and identity, returned to their Armenian roots with
the reopening of this church. Some got baptized in the church,
some changed their Turkish names to Armenian originals, some changed
their identity to Armenian but remained Moslem (a new phenomenon of
Moslem Armenians), some started learning the Armenian language. Hrant
would have danced with joy to see an eleven year old Kurdish girl,
not only learning Armenian but also singing Armenian songs at the
first Armenian concert in the Diyarbakir Surp Giragos Church in
2012. Hrant would have danced on the table, as he is photographed on
a happy occasion, to see a thousand people from Adiyaman, Amasya,
Arapkir, Dersim, Diyarbakir, Elazig, Harput, Hemshin, Istanbul,
Kastamonu, Kayseri, Malatya, Musadagh, Sason, Sinop, Sivas, Tokat,
Van and Yozgat organize activities together and to celebrate the Surp
Hagop day in December 2012, singing Armenian songs, even though none
knew how to speak Armenian.
Hrant was an Anatolian Armenian and wished to have the same democratic
rights as all other citizens of the state, without being excluded,
without being discriminated, without being pressured to lose his
identity. Armenians wished to have exactly the same things 100 years
ago, no more, no less. The state felt threatened and when fear got
combined with opportunity, it wiped out the Armenian identity in
Anatolia to build a Turkish identity to the exclusion of all others,
including Greeks, Assyrians and Kurds.
The enormous transfer of wealth and assets from the Armenians to the
Turks has added to the fear and paranoia of the state in facing its
past. A new Turkish identity, which does not fear threatened from
the diversity of minority identities, needs to be created in Turkey
in order to face both the past and the future. The state has finally
started this process with the Kurds, but not the Armenians. The Kurds
have started this process with the Armenians, openly acknowledging
their role in 1915, and starting to make amends. It is hoped that
Turks will see the light and follow them.