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Today's Zaman, Turkey
March 15 2015
`Wealthy Armenians had to stay in Turkey to survive, deportation would
result in death'
Scholars presented their projects during a conference held by the
Hrant Dink Foundation on Saturday. (Photo: Today's Zaman, Zeynep
KarataÅ?)
March 15, 2015, Sunday/ 18:21:28/ ZEYNEP KARATAÅ? / ISTANBUL
It was necessary for wealthy families to remain in Anatolia during the
Armenian genocide of 1915 as deportation would have resulted in death,
Armenian-American professor Armen Marsoobian said during a conference
held by the Hrant Dink Foundation in Ä°stanbul on Saturday.
Professor Marsoobian was sharing his presentation on his project `The
Struggle for Survival of the Armenians of Marsovan (Merzifon),
1915-1921' during the Conscience and Responsibility in the Armenian
Genocide: New Research on Survivors conference in Ä°stanbul.
`Little is written about those who avoided deportation,' shared
Marsoobian. He explained that those Armenian families who were able to
stay in the crumbling Ottoman Empire were most often the ones who
belonged to higher economic classes. Those wealthy families that were
able to stay were the ones that had good relations with the local
district governor.
`Merzifon stands out because of its extensive documentation done by
American missionaries,' Marsoobian also noted. The Anatolia College in
Merzifon, established and directed by American missionaries between
1886 and 1924, played a large role in Marsoobian's research for he
uses their accounts as well as the photographs that Marsoobian's own
grandfather, a photographer, took to weave his understanding of the
Armenians who survived 1915.
When asked why wealthy Armenian families would want to continue living
under the Ottoman Empire when their Turkish neighbors were
slaughtering Armenians and there were few Armenian families left, the
scholar explained how deportation was almost equal to death.
Marsoobian also shared how his own family converted from Christianity
to Islam on Aug. 10, 1915 in an act of assimilation for survival.
Boom in Kurdish literature
In another presentation given during the conference, Ã-zlem Galip gave
a talk on her research on Kurdish literature in a project titled `The
Politics of Remembering.' The faculty associate in Kurdish and
Armenian studies at the University of Oxford explained how there is a
new wave for Kurdish literature that gained momentum after 2000 as
there was a large void and Kurds felt a need to preserve their
stories.
`It is always with the same intention to preserve the collective
memory,' shared Galip. `If we don't write this, the stories will be
forgotten,' she added.
This is a particularly important milestone considering Turkey's record
of banning the use of Kurdish in the public sphere, similar to the
Turkification of minorities in which Armenians were not able to
practice their faith or speak their language.
Furthermore, when explaining her project, Dr. Galip also described the
structure of the stories that are being written. `It is always with
phrases such as `When my grandmother told me',' she shared,
highlighting that the stories are not only still alive but also belong
to a collective history.
http://www.todayszaman.com/national_wealthy-armenians-had-to-stay-in-turkey-to-survive-deportation-would-result-in-death_375336.html
March 15 2015
`Wealthy Armenians had to stay in Turkey to survive, deportation would
result in death'
Scholars presented their projects during a conference held by the
Hrant Dink Foundation on Saturday. (Photo: Today's Zaman, Zeynep
KarataÅ?)
March 15, 2015, Sunday/ 18:21:28/ ZEYNEP KARATAÅ? / ISTANBUL
It was necessary for wealthy families to remain in Anatolia during the
Armenian genocide of 1915 as deportation would have resulted in death,
Armenian-American professor Armen Marsoobian said during a conference
held by the Hrant Dink Foundation in Ä°stanbul on Saturday.
Professor Marsoobian was sharing his presentation on his project `The
Struggle for Survival of the Armenians of Marsovan (Merzifon),
1915-1921' during the Conscience and Responsibility in the Armenian
Genocide: New Research on Survivors conference in Ä°stanbul.
`Little is written about those who avoided deportation,' shared
Marsoobian. He explained that those Armenian families who were able to
stay in the crumbling Ottoman Empire were most often the ones who
belonged to higher economic classes. Those wealthy families that were
able to stay were the ones that had good relations with the local
district governor.
`Merzifon stands out because of its extensive documentation done by
American missionaries,' Marsoobian also noted. The Anatolia College in
Merzifon, established and directed by American missionaries between
1886 and 1924, played a large role in Marsoobian's research for he
uses their accounts as well as the photographs that Marsoobian's own
grandfather, a photographer, took to weave his understanding of the
Armenians who survived 1915.
When asked why wealthy Armenian families would want to continue living
under the Ottoman Empire when their Turkish neighbors were
slaughtering Armenians and there were few Armenian families left, the
scholar explained how deportation was almost equal to death.
Marsoobian also shared how his own family converted from Christianity
to Islam on Aug. 10, 1915 in an act of assimilation for survival.
Boom in Kurdish literature
In another presentation given during the conference, Ã-zlem Galip gave
a talk on her research on Kurdish literature in a project titled `The
Politics of Remembering.' The faculty associate in Kurdish and
Armenian studies at the University of Oxford explained how there is a
new wave for Kurdish literature that gained momentum after 2000 as
there was a large void and Kurds felt a need to preserve their
stories.
`It is always with the same intention to preserve the collective
memory,' shared Galip. `If we don't write this, the stories will be
forgotten,' she added.
This is a particularly important milestone considering Turkey's record
of banning the use of Kurdish in the public sphere, similar to the
Turkification of minorities in which Armenians were not able to
practice their faith or speak their language.
Furthermore, when explaining her project, Dr. Galip also described the
structure of the stories that are being written. `It is always with
phrases such as `When my grandmother told me',' she shared,
highlighting that the stories are not only still alive but also belong
to a collective history.
http://www.todayszaman.com/national_wealthy-armenians-had-to-stay-in-turkey-to-survive-deportation-would-result-in-death_375336.html