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BY GAREN YEGPARIAN // JANUARY 28, 2014 IN GAREN YEGPARIAN
Yegparian: Suggestions
An ever-increasing number of testimonials (or reports, or essays, or
travelogues, or...) are appearing from and/or about Western Armenia,
written by Armenians, Kurds, and Turks. For now, the best I can
do is to make some suggestions from afar that might help with this
re-connection-with-our-neighbors process that's heating up.
First, I want to address our Kurdish neighbors. The best thing they
could do, both from their own internal, cultural/national perspective,
and to enhance ties with Armenians is this: adopt a unified alphabet
instead of having four (modified Latin in Turkey; Arabic in Iraq and
Syria; modified Arabic in Iran; Armenian in Armenia). That unified
alphabet should be ours. It has most of the Kurdish language's sounds,
or very close approximations. It would be perfect and very unifying.
Let's move on to what we should be doing, specifically, to reconnect
with our own hidden compatriots. These Armenians are in various stages
of rediscovery. Some care a lot. Some are only one-quarter or one-half
Armenian, but still want to reconnect. Some are devout Muslims; others
still wear that religion only skin deep. How do we bridge the gaps that
have opened up over the course of a century to re-acculturate them?
The most potent single thing we can do is publish the Koran in
Western Armenian and disseminate it by the tens, or even hundreds,
of thousands among the current residents of the Armenian Plateau
and Anatolia. Just think how powerful a message and tool that
would be for re-Armenianizing our homeland. In addition to Eastern
Armenian (recently translated at the behest of the Iranian embassy
in Yerevan), the Koran has been translated into Western Armenian at
least twice--once recently, and one in the pre-genocide era. These
should be handed over to an expert in Arabic and Armenian, perfected,
published, and pushed out!
We should also be setting up exchange programs and internships where
young and old alike from our western homeland can attend schools or
enjoy diasporan community life. And Diasporans can do the same--perhaps
in the very villages, towns, and cities of our ancestors.
Learning Kurdish is also important. Some of our compatriots, those
who hail from Ghamishly (QÄ~AmiĊĦlÄ", QamiĊ~_lo, QamiĊĦlo), where
just days ago the Kurds declared autonomy within Syria, already speak
it. Perhaps it should be introduced as a foreign language offered at
our Armenian schools. How better to communicate with Kurds, Kurdified
Armenians, and Armenians living in the predominantly Kurdish-speaking
areas of our homeland?
No doubt this will irritate the hell out of many people who will
perceive it as "preaching" Islam, or endangering ourselves, diluting
our language, or simply as a waste of time. But remember, "soft power"
is very potent. How does the U.S. dominate the planet? To a significant
degree, it is through soft power--culture, Hollywood, the Peace Corps,
business, etc. We must learn from that example if we are to reclaim
our homeland and our lost cousins.
http://www.armenianweekly.com/2014/01/28/yegparian-suggestions/
Yegparian: Suggestions
An ever-increasing number of testimonials (or reports, or essays, or
travelogues, or...) are appearing from and/or about Western Armenia,
written by Armenians, Kurds, and Turks. For now, the best I can
do is to make some suggestions from afar that might help with this
re-connection-with-our-neighbors process that's heating up.
First, I want to address our Kurdish neighbors. The best thing they
could do, both from their own internal, cultural/national perspective,
and to enhance ties with Armenians is this: adopt a unified alphabet
instead of having four (modified Latin in Turkey; Arabic in Iraq and
Syria; modified Arabic in Iran; Armenian in Armenia). That unified
alphabet should be ours. It has most of the Kurdish language's sounds,
or very close approximations. It would be perfect and very unifying.
Let's move on to what we should be doing, specifically, to reconnect
with our own hidden compatriots. These Armenians are in various stages
of rediscovery. Some care a lot. Some are only one-quarter or one-half
Armenian, but still want to reconnect. Some are devout Muslims; others
still wear that religion only skin deep. How do we bridge the gaps that
have opened up over the course of a century to re-acculturate them?
The most potent single thing we can do is publish the Koran in
Western Armenian and disseminate it by the tens, or even hundreds,
of thousands among the current residents of the Armenian Plateau
and Anatolia. Just think how powerful a message and tool that
would be for re-Armenianizing our homeland. In addition to Eastern
Armenian (recently translated at the behest of the Iranian embassy
in Yerevan), the Koran has been translated into Western Armenian at
least twice--once recently, and one in the pre-genocide era. These
should be handed over to an expert in Arabic and Armenian, perfected,
published, and pushed out!
We should also be setting up exchange programs and internships where
young and old alike from our western homeland can attend schools or
enjoy diasporan community life. And Diasporans can do the same--perhaps
in the very villages, towns, and cities of our ancestors.
Learning Kurdish is also important. Some of our compatriots, those
who hail from Ghamishly (QÄ~AmiĊĦlÄ", QamiĊ~_lo, QamiĊĦlo), where
just days ago the Kurds declared autonomy within Syria, already speak
it. Perhaps it should be introduced as a foreign language offered at
our Armenian schools. How better to communicate with Kurds, Kurdified
Armenians, and Armenians living in the predominantly Kurdish-speaking
areas of our homeland?
No doubt this will irritate the hell out of many people who will
perceive it as "preaching" Islam, or endangering ourselves, diluting
our language, or simply as a waste of time. But remember, "soft power"
is very potent. How does the U.S. dominate the planet? To a significant
degree, it is through soft power--culture, Hollywood, the Peace Corps,
business, etc. We must learn from that example if we are to reclaim
our homeland and our lost cousins.
http://www.armenianweekly.com/2014/01/28/yegparian-suggestions/