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TANER AKCAM: ISLAMIZATION OF ARMENIANS THE PRODUCT OF SYSTEMATIC POLITICAL STRATEGY OF ASSIMILATION
14:50 04.11.2013
Armenians, Turkey
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 Akcam, a Turkish-German historian and sociologist, at the
Conference on Islamized Armenians held in Istanbul over the weekend,
Today's Zaman reports.
"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 Akcam 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 Istanbul's Bogazici
University for a three-day conference organized by the Hrant Dink
Foundation, which addressed the overlooked and unknown stories of
Armenians who converted to Islam since 1915.
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, Akcam said that as the 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.
Akcam, 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,"
Akcam 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.
Saying that the history of Armenians has been a "history of
victimization," Sergey Vardanian, an Armenian scholar from Yerevan,
told the audience about the Islamized Armenians of Hamshen, a town in
Rize province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. He said that Hamshen
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.
http://www.armradio.am/en/2013/11/04/taner-akcam-islamization-of-armenians-the-product-of-systematic-political-strategy-of-assimilation/
14:50 04.11.2013
Armenians, Turkey
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 Akcam, a Turkish-German historian and sociologist, at the
Conference on Islamized Armenians held in Istanbul over the weekend,
Today's Zaman reports.
"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 Akcam 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 Istanbul's Bogazici
University for a three-day conference organized by the Hrant Dink
Foundation, which addressed the overlooked and unknown stories of
Armenians who converted to Islam since 1915.
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, Akcam said that as the 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.
Akcam, 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,"
Akcam 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.
Saying that the history of Armenians has been a "history of
victimization," Sergey Vardanian, an Armenian scholar from Yerevan,
told the audience about the Islamized Armenians of Hamshen, a town in
Rize province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. He said that Hamshen
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.
http://www.armradio.am/en/2013/11/04/taner-akcam-islamization-of-armenians-the-product-of-systematic-political-strategy-of-assimilation/