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CONSEQUENCES OF MASS KILLINGS OF ETHNIC ARMENIANS STILL REVERBERATE - THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
13:38 * 23.04.15
Sarkis Teke is the last living remnant of a community that no longer
exists.
The grizzled pensioner lives alone in a hillside villa in this
Turkish city whose commercial and cultural life until a century ago
was dominated by Armenians and whose skyline was crowned by the spires
of the 40 Christian churches where they worshiped.
With the killing and forced deportation of more than 1.5 million
ethnic Armenians in 1915 by forces of the disintegrating Ottoman
Empire, the steeples have long since crumbled and Mr. Teke's family,
like so many that once prospered here, have left for Istanbul and
beyond to Lebanon, Canada and the U.S.
"All my life I've fought to stay here, and I've paid a heavy price,"
Mr. Teke said as he thumbed gold rosary beads clutched in his palm. "I
will stay here until I die."
Some 250 miles away in the city of Diyarbakir, where an Armenian
community also once flourished, Yervant Bostanci is the only person of
Armenian descent known to have accepted an invitation from municipal
officials to Armenians abroad to return.
After two decades in Los Angeles, Mr. Bostanci relocated to the
predominantly ethnic Kurdish city two years ago. A musician, he is
the first Armenian member of a prestigious, government-funded choir.
While a milestone, Mr. Bostanci is too mindful of the bloody history
that haunts Turkey to suggest Armenian representation in a state-funded
organization could prompt many others to resettle in the land of
their forebears.
"Last year, our choir sang the first Armenian song," he said. "It's a
positive step, but I'm sure no one else will return. They have built
their lives elsewhere."
Friday marks the 100th anniversary of the day that Ottoman authorities
began rounding up ethnic Armenian intellectuals and community leaders
in Istanbul, then known to Christians as Constantinople. By the end
of 1915, the splintering empire's minority Armenian communities were
wiped out.
The horrors and trauma of 1915 still reverberate, not only in the
lives of Mssrs. Teke and Bostanci but for Armenians scattered across
the world. At the center of the anguish is the bitter controversy
over what to call the bloodshed itself.
Turkey still vehemently disputes any suggestion that Ottoman forces
committed genocide in 1915, saying the deaths occurred as part of
war in which Turks were also killed by Armenians.
Most independent scholars have described it as genocide, however,
and more than 20 nations have formally recognized it as such. When
Pope Francis and the European Parliament voiced agreement last week,
Ankara withdrew its ambassador to the Vatican in protest and accused
Rome of joining an anti-Turkish conspiracy.
U.S. officials on Tuesday said President Barack Obama would stop
short of labeling the 1915 bloodshed as genocide. On Friday, however,
parliament in Germany--Turkey's biggest trading partner and the home to
its largest overseas community--is expected to recognize the Armenian
genocide for the first time.
The consequences of the slaughter that convulsed a waning empire are
more than semantic and historical.
Armenian communities today are all but nonexistent in eastern and
southern Turkey. The fate of property seized by Turks and ethnic
Kurds from deported Armenians is still disputed. And Ankara has no
diplomatic relations with present-day Armenia.
Read more here
http://www.wsj.com/articles/one-hundred-years-later-a-bloodbath-haunts-turkey-1429695006
http://www.tert.am/en/news/2015/04/23/wallstreet/1655541
13:38 * 23.04.15
Sarkis Teke is the last living remnant of a community that no longer
exists.
The grizzled pensioner lives alone in a hillside villa in this
Turkish city whose commercial and cultural life until a century ago
was dominated by Armenians and whose skyline was crowned by the spires
of the 40 Christian churches where they worshiped.
With the killing and forced deportation of more than 1.5 million
ethnic Armenians in 1915 by forces of the disintegrating Ottoman
Empire, the steeples have long since crumbled and Mr. Teke's family,
like so many that once prospered here, have left for Istanbul and
beyond to Lebanon, Canada and the U.S.
"All my life I've fought to stay here, and I've paid a heavy price,"
Mr. Teke said as he thumbed gold rosary beads clutched in his palm. "I
will stay here until I die."
Some 250 miles away in the city of Diyarbakir, where an Armenian
community also once flourished, Yervant Bostanci is the only person of
Armenian descent known to have accepted an invitation from municipal
officials to Armenians abroad to return.
After two decades in Los Angeles, Mr. Bostanci relocated to the
predominantly ethnic Kurdish city two years ago. A musician, he is
the first Armenian member of a prestigious, government-funded choir.
While a milestone, Mr. Bostanci is too mindful of the bloody history
that haunts Turkey to suggest Armenian representation in a state-funded
organization could prompt many others to resettle in the land of
their forebears.
"Last year, our choir sang the first Armenian song," he said. "It's a
positive step, but I'm sure no one else will return. They have built
their lives elsewhere."
Friday marks the 100th anniversary of the day that Ottoman authorities
began rounding up ethnic Armenian intellectuals and community leaders
in Istanbul, then known to Christians as Constantinople. By the end
of 1915, the splintering empire's minority Armenian communities were
wiped out.
The horrors and trauma of 1915 still reverberate, not only in the
lives of Mssrs. Teke and Bostanci but for Armenians scattered across
the world. At the center of the anguish is the bitter controversy
over what to call the bloodshed itself.
Turkey still vehemently disputes any suggestion that Ottoman forces
committed genocide in 1915, saying the deaths occurred as part of
war in which Turks were also killed by Armenians.
Most independent scholars have described it as genocide, however,
and more than 20 nations have formally recognized it as such. When
Pope Francis and the European Parliament voiced agreement last week,
Ankara withdrew its ambassador to the Vatican in protest and accused
Rome of joining an anti-Turkish conspiracy.
U.S. officials on Tuesday said President Barack Obama would stop
short of labeling the 1915 bloodshed as genocide. On Friday, however,
parliament in Germany--Turkey's biggest trading partner and the home to
its largest overseas community--is expected to recognize the Armenian
genocide for the first time.
The consequences of the slaughter that convulsed a waning empire are
more than semantic and historical.
Armenian communities today are all but nonexistent in eastern and
southern Turkey. The fate of property seized by Turks and ethnic
Kurds from deported Armenians is still disputed. And Ankara has no
diplomatic relations with present-day Armenia.
Read more here
http://www.wsj.com/articles/one-hundred-years-later-a-bloodbath-haunts-turkey-1429695006
http://www.tert.am/en/news/2015/04/23/wallstreet/1655541