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FORCED ISLAMISATION OF ARMENIANS RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT TODAY'S TURKEY
Asia News, Italy
Nov 26 2013
by NAT da Polis
Ethnic and religious cleansing accompanied the genocide
perpetrated by the Young Turks and the construction of Ataturk's new
Turkey. Millions of Turks are related to Armenians. Crypto-Armenians
and Crypto-Christians are now breaking their silence.
Istanbul (AsiaNews) - Turks are getting ready for a hot election in
March when they will cast their ballot to elect a new parliament
and, for the first time, a new president. Almost certainly, Sunni
ethics will certainly inform the debate. Not much coverage has gone
to a conference held in early November on the forced islamisation of
Armenians before and after the 1915 genocide.
Organised by Istanbul's Bogazici University and the Hrant Dink
Foundation, which is named after Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant
Dink, the editor of the bilingual Turkish-Armenian newspaper Agos. He
was assassinated in 2007 by Turkish nationalists with the tolerance
of elements within the Turkish state.
Although some 600 people from around the world attended the conference,
the Turkish media failed to give the event the attention it deserved.
In their presentations, various speakers noted that forced Islamisation
was not visited only on individual children and women survivors but
on entire families forced to convert in order to survive in the new
Turkey born out of the ashes of the Ottoman Empire.
The founding of the new Turkish Republic was premised on the policies
of Islamisation and genocide pursued by the Young Turks and the
Committee of Union and Progress. This occurred after Armenian members
of the Young Turks and the Committee split from ethnic Turks in 1913.
Based on various reports, the goal of the Committee of Union and
Progress in 1915 was to reduce the Armenian population (5 to 10 per
cent of the empire's population) where it had its strongest and oldest
roots - the central, southern and eastern regions of the Ottoman
Empire - since its aim was to establish a new Turkey that would
be Sunni Muslim. Even Kemal Ataturk, founder of Turkey's so-called
secular republic, appealed to Muslim solidarity to consolidate his
power. In short, a real Turk was a Muslim Turk.
Not surprisingly, after the Treaty of Lausanne (1923), Turkish-speaking
Orthodox Christians known as Karamanlis were uprooted from Anatolia
and sent to Greece.
Turkish historian Taner Akcam, who teaches at Clark University in
the United States, is one of the foremost specialist on the Armenian
Genocide. In his address, he spoke of 200,000 Islamised Armenians,
noting that the assets of the genocide victims went to the Turks.
Overall, historians focused on a very important issue. Because of
forced islamisation, millions of Turks have ties to the Armenian
and/or Christian communities. Some call them 'crypto-Armenians' or
'crypto-Christians;.
In her lecture, French sociologist Laurence Ritter presented research
showing that 100 years after the Armenian Genocide, the descendants
of Islamised Armenian survivors, the so-called crypto-Armenians of
Anatolia, are beginning to break their silence.
AyÅ~_e Gul Altınay, who teaches at Sabanci University, a private
college in Istanbul, said that Hrant Dink, the murdered editor of
the Istanbul-based Turkish-Armenian newspaper Armenian Agos, back
in 2004 called for the Armenian Genocide to be revisited in light of
the descendants of Islamised Armenians.
AyÅ~_e Gul Altınay and Fethiye Cetin edited a book, The Grandchildren,
released in 2007, in which they note that the Turkish state knew
about the ethnic make-up of the population. Contrary to the official
ideology, Turks were not as homogenous as the government wanted them
to be.
In light of these steps, Turkey is beginning to question its true
character and the multi-ethnic nature of its population.
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Forced-Islamisation-of-Armenians-raises-questions-about-today's-Turkey-29642.html
Asia News, Italy
Nov 26 2013
by NAT da Polis
Ethnic and religious cleansing accompanied the genocide
perpetrated by the Young Turks and the construction of Ataturk's new
Turkey. Millions of Turks are related to Armenians. Crypto-Armenians
and Crypto-Christians are now breaking their silence.
Istanbul (AsiaNews) - Turks are getting ready for a hot election in
March when they will cast their ballot to elect a new parliament
and, for the first time, a new president. Almost certainly, Sunni
ethics will certainly inform the debate. Not much coverage has gone
to a conference held in early November on the forced islamisation of
Armenians before and after the 1915 genocide.
Organised by Istanbul's Bogazici University and the Hrant Dink
Foundation, which is named after Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant
Dink, the editor of the bilingual Turkish-Armenian newspaper Agos. He
was assassinated in 2007 by Turkish nationalists with the tolerance
of elements within the Turkish state.
Although some 600 people from around the world attended the conference,
the Turkish media failed to give the event the attention it deserved.
In their presentations, various speakers noted that forced Islamisation
was not visited only on individual children and women survivors but
on entire families forced to convert in order to survive in the new
Turkey born out of the ashes of the Ottoman Empire.
The founding of the new Turkish Republic was premised on the policies
of Islamisation and genocide pursued by the Young Turks and the
Committee of Union and Progress. This occurred after Armenian members
of the Young Turks and the Committee split from ethnic Turks in 1913.
Based on various reports, the goal of the Committee of Union and
Progress in 1915 was to reduce the Armenian population (5 to 10 per
cent of the empire's population) where it had its strongest and oldest
roots - the central, southern and eastern regions of the Ottoman
Empire - since its aim was to establish a new Turkey that would
be Sunni Muslim. Even Kemal Ataturk, founder of Turkey's so-called
secular republic, appealed to Muslim solidarity to consolidate his
power. In short, a real Turk was a Muslim Turk.
Not surprisingly, after the Treaty of Lausanne (1923), Turkish-speaking
Orthodox Christians known as Karamanlis were uprooted from Anatolia
and sent to Greece.
Turkish historian Taner Akcam, who teaches at Clark University in
the United States, is one of the foremost specialist on the Armenian
Genocide. In his address, he spoke of 200,000 Islamised Armenians,
noting that the assets of the genocide victims went to the Turks.
Overall, historians focused on a very important issue. Because of
forced islamisation, millions of Turks have ties to the Armenian
and/or Christian communities. Some call them 'crypto-Armenians' or
'crypto-Christians;.
In her lecture, French sociologist Laurence Ritter presented research
showing that 100 years after the Armenian Genocide, the descendants
of Islamised Armenian survivors, the so-called crypto-Armenians of
Anatolia, are beginning to break their silence.
AyÅ~_e Gul Altınay, who teaches at Sabanci University, a private
college in Istanbul, said that Hrant Dink, the murdered editor of
the Istanbul-based Turkish-Armenian newspaper Armenian Agos, back
in 2004 called for the Armenian Genocide to be revisited in light of
the descendants of Islamised Armenians.
AyÅ~_e Gul Altınay and Fethiye Cetin edited a book, The Grandchildren,
released in 2007, in which they note that the Turkish state knew
about the ethnic make-up of the population. Contrary to the official
ideology, Turks were not as homogenous as the government wanted them
to be.
In light of these steps, Turkey is beginning to question its true
character and the multi-ethnic nature of its population.
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Forced-Islamisation-of-Armenians-raises-questions-about-today's-Turkey-29642.html