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Today's Zaman, Turkey
Nov 3 2013
Islamized Armenians in Turkey represent age-long assimilation policy
3 November 2013 /LAMÄ°YA ADÄ°LGIZI, Ä°STANBUL
The Islamization of Armenians in Turkey is the product of a long-term
and systematic political strategy of assimilating and Turkifying the
Armenian community, according to documents from the late Ottoman era,
said Taner Akçam, a Turkish-German historian and sociologist, at the
Conference on Islamized Armenians held in Ä°stanbul over the weekend.
`The term `genocide' has always been defined in relation to the
Holocaust. The genocide of European Jews has always been at the center
of discussions. Whether a mass killing should be called genocide or
not has always been decided by comparison with the Holocaust. If the
case resembles the Holocaust it is a genocide; if not, it cannot be a
genocide,' said Akçam on Saturday, adding that the same applies to the
mass killing of Armenians that some call the Armenian genocide. The
Conference on Islamized Armenians was held by the Hrant Dink
Foundation, which is named after a Turkish-Armenian journalist who was
fatally shot outside his office by an extremist in 2007.
Many academics and analysts came together at Ä°stanbul's BoÄ?aziçi
University for a three-day conference which addressed the overlooked
and unknown stories of Armenians who converted to Islam since 1915,
when Armenians say the Ottoman Turks began to commit an alleged
genocide against more than 1 million Armenians.
Speaking at the conference's opening ceremony, Rakel Dink, the widow
of Hrant Dink, illuminated the conference's purpose, saying, `We are
going to open the pages of history that have so far never been
questioned and hear and witness the riddles that have never been put
into words.'
`We never want to hear what they have done. We never talk about what
has happened to them and how it occurred. Our conscience was only able
to deny the genocide,' Dink said in her opening speech, adding that
the facts should not be kept hidden in the dark.
Dink's widow emphasized that Dink was paying special attention to the
issue of Islamized Armenians, saying, `Hrant wanted this issue to be
discussed, not only for the ones who passed away but for the ones who
are alive.' There is a claim that Dink was killed because he began to
research Islamized Armenians across the Ottoman Empire.
Addressing the conference, Akçam said that as the alleged Armenian
genocide had for a long time been researched and defined in connection
with the Holocaust, the very important issue of assimilation was
disregarded and the events were understood only in terms of the number
of dead and exiled Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire during
World War I.
The alleged Armenian genocide is a sensitive issue in Turkey, as Turks
and Armenians have not reached a common understanding of events. While
Armenians all over the world urge the international community to
recognize the 1915 massacre of Armenians as genocide, Turkey denies
that those deaths constituted genocide. Ankara says both Christian
Armenians and Muslim Turks died in large numbers during the war while
the Ottoman Empire collapsed.
Akçam, who is the first Turkish academic to acknowledge and openly
discuss the topic, said that the Armenian community has been crushed
by the denial of the `genocide' by the Turkish government, and that
for quite a while Armenian academics have studied the issue by drawing
parallels between the Armenian genocide and the Holocaust. `And thus
they have ignored and separated some parts of the genocide such as
forcible conversions to Islam, forced relocation of Armenian kids into
the orphanages and accommodation of Armenians in certain regions of
the country, as they did not fit into the framework of the Holocaust,'
Akçam said. He also added that the Turkish policies of assimilation
for Armenians were not considered systematic for a long time, as
Armenians who converted from Christianity to Islam were even moved
from modern Turkey to other parts of the empire. `However,
assimilation was an integral part of the genocide since its start,' he
underlined.
In Armenian society, those who converted from Christianity are
generally not considered to be Armenians. Sergey Vardanian, an
Armenian scholar from Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, began with this
topic in his speech.
Saying that the history of Armenians has been a "history of
victimization," Vardanian told the audience about the Islamized
Armenians of HemÅ?in, a town in Rize province in the Black Sea region
of Turkey. He said that HemÅ?in Armenians were forcibly converted to
Islam, and that they converted "in order to survive." However, "they
have never forgotten that they are Armenian, and they never married
with other Muslim groups," according to Vardanian.
Neither diaspora Armenians nor those in Armenia have fully studied and
discussed Islamized Armenians yet. However, academic research has
begun in recent years, and the Conference on Islamized Armenians aims
to raise public awareness of the issue and will be continuing until
Nov. 4.
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-330509-islamized-armenians-in-turkey-represent-age-long-assimilation-policy.html
Nov 3 2013
Islamized Armenians in Turkey represent age-long assimilation policy
3 November 2013 /LAMÄ°YA ADÄ°LGIZI, Ä°STANBUL
The Islamization of Armenians in Turkey is the product of a long-term
and systematic political strategy of assimilating and Turkifying the
Armenian community, according to documents from the late Ottoman era,
said Taner Akçam, a Turkish-German historian and sociologist, at the
Conference on Islamized Armenians held in Ä°stanbul over the weekend.
`The term `genocide' has always been defined in relation to the
Holocaust. The genocide of European Jews has always been at the center
of discussions. Whether a mass killing should be called genocide or
not has always been decided by comparison with the Holocaust. If the
case resembles the Holocaust it is a genocide; if not, it cannot be a
genocide,' said Akçam on Saturday, adding that the same applies to the
mass killing of Armenians that some call the Armenian genocide. The
Conference on Islamized Armenians was held by the Hrant Dink
Foundation, which is named after a Turkish-Armenian journalist who was
fatally shot outside his office by an extremist in 2007.
Many academics and analysts came together at Ä°stanbul's BoÄ?aziçi
University for a three-day conference which addressed the overlooked
and unknown stories of Armenians who converted to Islam since 1915,
when Armenians say the Ottoman Turks began to commit an alleged
genocide against more than 1 million Armenians.
Speaking at the conference's opening ceremony, Rakel Dink, the widow
of Hrant Dink, illuminated the conference's purpose, saying, `We are
going to open the pages of history that have so far never been
questioned and hear and witness the riddles that have never been put
into words.'
`We never want to hear what they have done. We never talk about what
has happened to them and how it occurred. Our conscience was only able
to deny the genocide,' Dink said in her opening speech, adding that
the facts should not be kept hidden in the dark.
Dink's widow emphasized that Dink was paying special attention to the
issue of Islamized Armenians, saying, `Hrant wanted this issue to be
discussed, not only for the ones who passed away but for the ones who
are alive.' There is a claim that Dink was killed because he began to
research Islamized Armenians across the Ottoman Empire.
Addressing the conference, Akçam said that as the alleged Armenian
genocide had for a long time been researched and defined in connection
with the Holocaust, the very important issue of assimilation was
disregarded and the events were understood only in terms of the number
of dead and exiled Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire during
World War I.
The alleged Armenian genocide is a sensitive issue in Turkey, as Turks
and Armenians have not reached a common understanding of events. While
Armenians all over the world urge the international community to
recognize the 1915 massacre of Armenians as genocide, Turkey denies
that those deaths constituted genocide. Ankara says both Christian
Armenians and Muslim Turks died in large numbers during the war while
the Ottoman Empire collapsed.
Akçam, who is the first Turkish academic to acknowledge and openly
discuss the topic, said that the Armenian community has been crushed
by the denial of the `genocide' by the Turkish government, and that
for quite a while Armenian academics have studied the issue by drawing
parallels between the Armenian genocide and the Holocaust. `And thus
they have ignored and separated some parts of the genocide such as
forcible conversions to Islam, forced relocation of Armenian kids into
the orphanages and accommodation of Armenians in certain regions of
the country, as they did not fit into the framework of the Holocaust,'
Akçam said. He also added that the Turkish policies of assimilation
for Armenians were not considered systematic for a long time, as
Armenians who converted from Christianity to Islam were even moved
from modern Turkey to other parts of the empire. `However,
assimilation was an integral part of the genocide since its start,' he
underlined.
In Armenian society, those who converted from Christianity are
generally not considered to be Armenians. Sergey Vardanian, an
Armenian scholar from Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, began with this
topic in his speech.
Saying that the history of Armenians has been a "history of
victimization," Vardanian told the audience about the Islamized
Armenians of HemÅ?in, a town in Rize province in the Black Sea region
of Turkey. He said that HemÅ?in Armenians were forcibly converted to
Islam, and that they converted "in order to survive." However, "they
have never forgotten that they are Armenian, and they never married
with other Muslim groups," according to Vardanian.
Neither diaspora Armenians nor those in Armenia have fully studied and
discussed Islamized Armenians yet. However, academic research has
begun in recent years, and the Conference on Islamized Armenians aims
to raise public awareness of the issue and will be continuing until
Nov. 4.
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-330509-islamized-armenians-in-turkey-represent-age-long-assimilation-policy.html