Special for the Armenian Weekly

In Turkey today, a very high-tempo, high-tension action scene is unfolding, with a life-or-death fight at the top of the state apparatus. A volcano of corruption is erupting once more, releasing all the filth from below the surface. We’re seeing the sons of cabinet members being taken from their homes, alongside prominent businessmen, and put into custody; the mass removal of middle- to high-ranking security officers; and comprehensive changes in the juridical organization. But there are no prospects for a better Turkey, because both parties of this fierce fight belong to the “bad guy” club—the ruling AK Party and the informal but all-mighty clandestine organization of the “Gulen community.”

Gulen (L) and Erdogan (Photo: worldbulletin.net)

The audience is deprived of the expectation of a reward for watching these horrors play out. There is no hope for the emergence of a good guy, who will punish the bad and set things right. There is no need to wait for it, because there is no good guy at all in this action film. None of the already-few forces of democracy in Turkey have the slightest role to play in the plot.

The new enemies are, in fact, old comrades-in-arms. Until very recently, both were acting in perfect harmony in their evil-doings—their vulgar, gross denial of the genocides of Asia Mnior’s Christian population, their repression of the Kurdish resistance, their involvement in judicial scandals (Turkey has the highest number of political prisons in the world), in human rights violations of every kind, in public racism and discrimination, in the prisons where life becomes hell for the inmates.

The disintegrating state apparatus

Now, let’s take a short look at what happened: On Dec. 17, 2013, the İstanbul police detained 47 people for their involvement in corruption and bribery. The names of the detainees created a stir: they included the sons of three cabinet members, Muammer Güler, the Minister of Interior, Zafer Çağlayan, Minister of Economy, and Erdoğan Bayraktar, Minister of Environment and Urban Planning; Mustafa Demir, the mayor of the district municipality of Fatih (known for the much-debated “urban renovation project” that left thousands of Roma homeless); as well as a number of prominent businessmen, including the Iranian-Azerbaijani Raze Zarrab and Süleyman Aslan, the general manager of the state-run Halkbank. Newspapers have also reported that Egemen Bağiş, the Minister of European Union Affairs, may be a potential suspect of bribery related to businessman Reza Zarrab.

The police reportedly confiscated some $17.5 million used for bribery during the investigation; $4.5 million came from Aslan’s residence, and $750,000 from the Interior Minister’s son’s home. Prosecutors accused 14 people, including 2 sons of cabinet members, of corruption, fraud, money laundering, and smuggling gold. On Dec. 21, the court ordered their arrest. Reports indicated that a new investigation would be held on Dec. 26 involving Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s sons, Bilal and Burak, as well as certain al-Qaeda affiliates from Saudi Arabia, such as Yusuf Al Qadi and Osama Khoutub. But police officers in the Istanbul Security Directory, newly appointed by the government just a few days prior, reportedly refused to carry out the orders of arrest. The deputy director of public prosecutions also didn’t approve this new operation. The man behind this second investigation, Prosecutor Muammer Akkaş, was dismissed on the same day. Akkaş said he was prevented from performing his duty.

A few days later, on Jan. 7, the police force was purged, and the positions of 350 police officers were changed, including chiefs of the units dealing with fraud, smuggling, and organized crime.

The public’s amazing state of numbness

The only good thing in this show is the possibility that the Turkish people, still loyal to their “father state,” may take one tiny step towards doubting the morality of the entire mechanism that dominates their life. With each new scandal, the Turkish public is shocked at the extent of the corruption revealed. Yet, it always falls back into an everlasting state of oblivion, forgetting that corruption seems to be an integral part of the establishment.

The republican history is full of scandals that tell stories of large-scale irregularities, embezzlement, and abuse. Not very long ago, in 1996, the famous “Susurluk Accident,” during the peak of the armed clashes between the PKK and the Turkish army, had prompted  many to believe that nothing would be the same again. The car crash victims included the deputy chief of the Istanbul police department; a member of parliament who led a powerful Kurdish clan serving as the paramilitary armed support of the Turkish army; and the leader of the ultra-nationalist Grey Wolves, who was a contract killer on Interpol’s red list.

The scandal had revealed the close relations between the government, armed forces, and organized crime in a wide variety of unlawful activities that ranged from drug trafficking, gambling, and money laundering to extra-judicial killings and gross human rights violations in the Kurdish provinces. Although then-Interior Minister Ağar, who was shown to be closely involved with outlawed gang members, and then-Prime Minister Çiller, who led the state-sponsored assassinations, resigned after the scandal, no one received punitive sentences. Ağar was eventually re-elected to parliament as a leader of the True Path Party (DYP), and the sole survivor of the crash, chieftain Sedat Bucak, was released. In short, the perpetrators escaped justice. A number of Susurluk investigators subsequently died in car accidents suspiciously similar to the Susurluk car crash itself—two in 1997, and one in 1999.

The corruption that gave birth to Turkey

Nothing—no restructuring of the state apparatus, no reformulation of the founding values of the government, no enlightenment on the part of the Turkish public—came from this outpouring of immense filth that lay deep beneath the surface.

Corruption forms the very texture of life in Turkey, because corruption is the initiator, the founder, the very reason for its existence. Less than 100 years ago, it was founded on the massive plunder of Armenian, Greek, and Assyrian property, and the unlawful transfer of their wealth to the state and to the local Muslim population.

Since then, since this tremendously large-scale theft, embezzlement, fraud, and corruption, we in Turkey all live on a vast land of sticky, stinky swamp, bubbling continuously, emitting nauseous vapors, fuming sickening smoke and, from time to time, creating small volcanoes that throw up the age-long filth the swamp has struggled to keep inside.

Parliament is now (as of Jan. 12) debating a government-proposed bill that would strengthen the Justice Ministry’s hold on a council that appoints judges and prosecutors and oversees their work. Opinion makers, academics, and politicians are on TV heatedly protesting (rightly) that this would put an end to the already feeble independence of the judiciary system.

The judicial system and denialism

From the start, the judicial system in Turkey was designed to serve denialism—the denial of the founding essence of the Turkish state, the genocide, the suppression of all opposition. It was the High Court of Appeals that, in 1974, decided that the minority foundations’ “1936 declarations”—given at the request of the government to record the immovable properties they presently possessed—should be considered to be the foundations’ charters and, therefore, unless it was clearly indicated that the foundation could acquire new immovables, acquisitions made after the declaration had no legal validity. So hundreds of immovables acquired by foundations after 1936 (by way of donation or passed on by elderly non-Muslim individuals, as they were once sources of income of the non-Muslim communities’ churches, hospitals, orphanages, cemeteries, and schools) were seized by the state. What was unbelievably unlawful in this decision was that these foundations of non-Muslim citizens of Turkey were referred to as the institutions of “foreigners”! Such is the lawlessness practiced by the highest body for justice in this country.

The swamp is sticky and contaminates everything that it comes into contact with. The recent scandal that led to a wide-scale cabinet reshuffling broke out during the so-called “peace process” between the PKK, the armed organization of the Kurdish liberation movement, and the Turkish government. While generally, individual Kurds and some prominent local officials in the Kurdish provinces display an honest and conscientious attitude towards Armenians’ demands for genocide recognition, recently one of the top-level Kurdish leaders, a woman, Bese Hozat, made anti-Armenian, anti-Greek, and anti-Jewish statements, causing great disappointment and resentment among democratic forces in Turkey.

In an interview with the Kurdish Firat news agency about the “parallel state” (a trendy phrase nowadays to refer to the Islamic Fethullah Gulen movement), Hozat said: “The Jewish lobby, the nationalist Armenians and Greeks are such parallel states. Such parallel states are in touch with one another and have interests from each other. Parallel states do not have formal and constitutional rights. It seems they do not have troops either, but they have an organized and a strong structure and they hinder the efforts for democratization in Turkey.”

It was only a couple of weeks before that Rupen Janbazian, in the Armenian Weekly, wrote how he was deeply impressed by his visit to Diyarbakir/Dikranagerd. “What is interesting, however, was that nearly a century after the genocide began, the descendants of those Kurds not only accepted our delegation in Dikranagerd with open arms, but actually apologized, time and time again, for the part some of their ancestors had in the genocide—something Armenians across the world wish to hear from the government of Turkey,” he said. “Hospitality is a trait Armenians have been known to value for millennia, but what we experienced in our six days in Dikranagerd was something I had, quite unfortunately, never felt in Armenia nor in the Armenian Diaspora, not to that extent, anyway. These people, who I had heard only negative things about from so many of my compatriots, were not only taking us to all the sites of Armenian civilization and culture in the city, but were giving us the factual, unadulterated history behind these places.”

The only hope for a ‘Good Guy’

Were Bese Hozat’s words an answer to Rupen Janbazian? No, this discourse has its roots in the original corruption, the initial one—the genocide and its denial, the one that gave birth to the still-fuming swamp that contaminates everything, even the politics pursued by the most radical opponent of the present Turkish state, the PKK.

These words reflect the dirty politics that the PKK leadership is itself caught up in, in this fight between the two bad guys, believing it has to choose the one that will maintain official power for the sake of the “peace process,” which will mean nothing if the original corruption is not revealed, recognized, and compensated.

These words also reflect the Turkish state’s biggest fear: the possibility of mutual understanding and cooperation between the politically involved Armenians and Kurds. The PKK leadership is forced to give into the government’s demands for a concession by declaring that it will not challenge the official Turkish thesis on the Armenian question.

But these words do not belong to the people of Dikranagerd who welcomed Janbazian. Here is how Janbazian described them in the Armenian Weekly: “One would assume that a stadium full of Kurds who don’t understand Armenian would be bored, uninterested, and ultimately indifferent—especially since we were speaking as representatives of a people who once called these lands ‘home.’ Yet, we witnessed the exact opposite that day. As I read out loud what we had written in the Western Armenian dialect of my forefathers, the audience watched and listened attentively. It almost seemed like they understood everything I said.”

It is clear that the politically conscious sections of the Kurdish people are far ahead of the PKK leadership, which is more interested in gaining ground in the negotiations behind closed doors than adhering to the ideal of justice.

The emergence of a “good guy” in this disgusting action film will depend on whether or not the movement for recognition from below can become strong enough to challenge the denialism that spews from the swamp of corruption.

Special for the Armenian Weekly

On Nov. 5, I was among a group of panelists who took part in the European Parliament’s 10th conference on Turkey and the Kurds. It was surely an honor to address such a distinguished crowd, including the widely acclaimed woman Kurdish politician and activist Leyla Zana. But I can happily confess that my greatest joy was to be able to finally meet Saleh Muslim, my co-panelist and the co-chairman of Syria’s most influential Kurdish party, the Democratic Unity Party (PYD), in the flesh.

The author with PYD co-chairman Saleh Muslim

Mr. Muslim and I had spoken countless times. But we were never able to meet in person. Not for lack of will or of opportunities. He was supposed to be in Washington last month to speak at a groundbreaking conference organized by Turkey’s largest pro-Kurdish grouping, the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), to discuss the role of the Kurds in the new Middle East. But Mr. Muslim was unable to come and was left addressing us all via Skype.

This is because the U.S. government denied him a visa. Not because Mr. Muslim had committed any crime. Not because the PYD had committed any unlawful act. Nor was it because the main Kurdish militia, known as the People’s Defense Units (YPG), in Syrian Kurdistan or Rojava had ever engaged in terrorist activity. On the contrary, they are combatting well-known and extremely brutal terrorist groups who are officially designated as such by Europe and the United States. I am talking about al-Qaeda, about the heartless people who killed Mr. Muslim’s youngest son Sherwan in October, not to mention countless innocent civilians

Mr. Muslim continues to be denied a visa because of the well-worn and utterly hypocritical policy of supporting so-called “good Kurds” against the “bad.” It is a policy that has been practiced for centuries and continues to be practiced by regional powers, including my own country, Turkey.

This policy is not only harmful to the Kurds but to the very countries that practice it, and to regional stability as a whole. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Rojava, where Turkey has been mentoring assorted and armed Syrian opposition groups, not only to fulfill its thus far elusive goal of toppling President Bashar Assad but also to keep the Syrian Kurds’ legitimate aspirations in check.

This policy is morally and strategically flawed.

I say morally flawed because Turkey’s policy of keeping its borders shut with areas that are under the Syrian Kurds’ control means that tens of thousands of people living in those regions are deprived of urgently needed humanitarian aid. Of medicine, of water, of milk. Women and children, the sick and the elderly are suffering as I write.

Turkey has repeatedly claimed that its policy on Syria is based on ethics, on morality. If so, how can Turkey justify keeping its doors shut to the Kurds when border gates controlled by other opposition militias remain open?
Ask a Turkish official and the answer you get will no doubt be that the PYD is the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Syrian clothing. My answer to that is, “So what?” To be sure, there are close ideological and organizational links between the PKK and PYD. According to some estimates, one third of the PKK’s fighting force is made up of Syrian Kurds. I met some of them when I last went to the Qandil Mountains in 2010.

It is therefore unsurprising that sympathy for the PKK runs strong among Syrian Kurds who have lost countless sons and daughters in the mountains and whose mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters have, like Mr. Muslim and his wife, Ayşe Effendi, been jailed by the Assad regime.

Also let us not forget that the borders drawn up by the Allied powers less than a century ago left many Kurdish families divided. Turkey’s Kurds cannot remain indifferent to the plight of the Syrian Kurds, for they are one and the same people. Label it as you will, the Kurdish movement inspired by the imprisoned PKK leader, Abdullah Ocalan, is growing stronger by the day. It is the most popular Kurdish movement in Turkey, in Iran, and in Syria. It is well established in Europe and increasingly so in the United States. Most importantly, the PKK is moving away from violence to peaceful politics. Ocalan has declared unequivocally that the days of armed struggle are over.

The other reason why Turkey and the United States say they won’t engage with Mr. Muslim and the PYD is because the latter has refused to join the Istanbul-based Syrian opposition and to take up arms against the Assad regime. Turkey’s foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, made it clear that this is why Ankara has frozen dialogue with Mr. Muslim.

Setting aside the fact that the Assad regime has committed crimes and must be punished, looking at the tragic and messy picture in Syria today, the path chosen by the Kurds—that of neutrality—seems unquestionably right. Rojava is, relatively speaking, one of the safest areas in Syria, and not just for the Kurds.

Arabs, Assyrian Christians, Armenians, Alawites, and Yezidis all have been offered protection and a chance to take part in the Syrian Kurds’ brand new experiment with democratic self-rule. They have been spared the destruction of Assad’s killing machine. The Kurds of Syria are at last able to taste freedom. The PYD’s strategy is paying off.

But what of Turkey’s strategy? If the purpose was to prevent the Kurds from pursuing their cultural and political rights, it has clearly failed. The Kurds are steadily consolidating their autonomy through the establishment of local councils, and plan to hold elections and draw up a constitution. Their battle against the jihadists has won them a growing number of friends within Syria and beyond.

Moreover Turkey’s perceived backing of jihadist groups in a proxy war against the PYD is jeopardizing its attempts to make peace with its own Kurds. How can you purport to be seeking peace at home when you are complicit in the Kurds’ suffering next door? And what is the logic in refusing to deal with the PYD—on the grounds that it is no different from the PKK—when you have accepted Abdullah Ocalan as a legitimate interlocutor for achieving peace?

And how can Ocalan and the BDP believe that Turkey is acting in good faith when it is applying such double standards? The Kurds certainly want to know.

If the main concern is Turkey’s security, well that hasn’t worked out all that well either. All along our 900-kilometer border with Syria, the al-Qaeda-linked group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and ash Sham or ISIS is steadily consolidating its hold, save for in those areas controlled by the Syrian Kurds.

I recently spent several days touring the Syrian border. People are scared. Very scared. Especially the Alevis in the Hatay province who fear that al-Qaeda will attack them as well. I spoke to Ali Yeral, a leading Alevi sheikh in Hatay, who told me that he and his family had received numerous death threats. Also in Hatay, I met Syrian Turkmen fighters who had just returned from their villages across the border. They were desperate for help. ISIS had seized control of their villages, unleashing a reign of terror among the civilian population. Just months ago, Turkmen brigades had fought alongside the jihadists against the Kurds. One of the Turkmen who took part in the battle against the Kurds told me that Turkey, as he put it, “gave us lots of bullets.”

Al-Qaeda’s growing presence in Syria is also threatening to destabilize Turkey’s close ally, the Iraqi Kurds. ISIS claimed responsibility for the October suicide bomb attack that claimed the lives of innocent civilians. While many of us have criticized the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Northern Iraq for sealing its border with Rojava, the fact remains that above and beyond the differences between the KRG leader, Massoud Barzani, and the PYD, the Iraqi Kurds want at all costs to prevent the war between al-Qaeda and the Syrian Kurds from spilling over to their side of the border.

To sum up: Turkey needs to change its Syria policy and to resume government-level dialogue with Syria’s Kurds. There is absolutely no reason why Turkey and the Syrian Kurds cannot enjoy the same kind of strategic and economic ties that Turkey now has with Iraq’s Kurds.

The same holds true for Europe and America. Be they in Iraq, Iran, Turkey, or Syria, the main Kurdish political parties are secular, and pro-Western, and though we cannot as yet call them true democrats we can credit them for trying.

The Kurdish movement inspired by Abdullah Ocalan is no exception. The funny thing is that when I talk to Turkish and Western officials in private, they all agree. My trip to the border left me feeling that things are changing for the better, that Turkey has finally realized the enormity of the risk and is making an effort to restrict the movements of al-Qaeda.

In turn, much responsibility lies with Mr. Muslim and his friends to prove that they are truly committed to democracy and to disproving the claims of all those who say that the PYD is bent on replacing one dictatorship with another.

My hope is that they will not seek to settle past scores with the Arabs, and to uproot those who were forcibly settled by the regime in Kurdish lands. For they, too, are victims. I recognize that none of this simple or easy in times of war. I look forward to traveling to Rojava in the near future. I am hearing encouraging rumors that I may be able to cross through Turkey, legally; that the borders may soon be re-opened. And if not, as we say in Turkish, when one door closes another opens.

This article is an adapted version of the speech delivered by Amberin Zaman at the European Parliament on Dec. 5‏, 2013.

On Jan. 18, writer and activist George Aghjayan delivered a talk in Ankara on Turkey’s “hidden Armenians.” He was speaking during a panel discussion held in memory of Hrant Dink. Below is the full text of his talk. 

***

The first time I traveled to Turkey was in 1996. I spent three weeks covering the length and breadth of the country, from Istanbul to Van, from Erzurum to Musa Dagh. The land had been calling me for some time, yet the trip was extremely difficult emotionally and physically. Even though I had left many things undone, it took 15 years before I could even begin to put behind the emotional scars from that trip.

It was the re-consecration of the Surp Giragos Church [in Diyarbakir/Dikranagerd] and the conference on the social and economic history of the Diyarbakir province organized by the Hrant Dink Foundation that brought me back in 2011. I found a much different reality in Turkey and have now returned 4 additional times since 2011. I am profoundly thankful to the organizers of this event for providing me yet another opportunity to be here and to reflect on the cruel murder of Hrant Dink.

Hrant observed, “When we talk of 1915, we should not just speak of those who perished, but also of the experiences of those who survived.” Over the almost 20 years now that I have been traveling to Turkey, I have met many Armenians, and I would like to share a few of their stories.

I think of my first trip to Keserig where we met a very old Armenian woman. My uncle, whose family was from Keserig, was asking if she recognized our family name. As the conversation progressed and the crowd around us grew, I remember a man getting very angry with us and screaming, “Why do you ask about the Armenians?” I distinctly remember another man shouting him down, telling him to go away, and kindly offering to show us where the church and other significant places had been. It occurred to me that, quite reasonably, the first of these men represented the descendants of those who committed the genocide. If not literally, surely in spirit, those who deny the genocide and reveal their racism today are linked to the criminals of the past. The second man, in turn, represented those whose humanity demanded that they rescue Armenians.

I think of the visit to my grandmother’s village of Uzunova where one of the leading men revealed that both his grandmothers were Armenian. My own grandmother was a young girl when she was taken as a slave to a Muslim family. Her father murdered, her mother and two sisters sent on the death march never to be seen or heard from again, she survived six years in servitude before her sole surviving sister rescued her.

When I met this man, I felt the bond of two sons of the village—his grandmothers were taken and never escaped, while mine was rescued. We were two sides of the same coin.

I think of our wonderful friend Armen who has bravely embraced his Armenian and Christian heritage, and his brothers who have remained Muslim. They open their home time and time again to Armenians visiting their village, and share their knowledge of the history of the region. This family, like so many others,  has seen the crimes against both Armenians and Kurds…crimes of hate and racism.

I think of Asiya from Chungush, about whom my friend, Chris Bohjalian, so eloquently wrote in the Washington Post. On one visit to Chungush, as we were about to drive away, her son-in-law tapped on the window of our van. Upon rolling down the window, he indicated that his mother-in-law was Armenian. Not knowing exactly who or why this man had approached us, we began to drive away. He stopped us again by banging on the window, this time with greater anxiety. As the window was being rolled down, he thrust his phone to my friend Khatchig Mouradian, and on the phone was a video of Asiya telling the names of her Armenian relatives. We would meet Asiya that day.

I think of entering a village near Moks, where I knew Armenian were still living in the recent past. On the main road to the village, we stopped a man who was walking by and asked if he knew of any Armenians living there. He said there was an elderly Armenian woman who was very sick and homebound. He indicated this woman’s son was working in the field just up ahead of us. So we drove on and eventually came upon a man working in the field. However, when we inquired about his mother, he indicated she was too ill to talk to anyone and was not Armenian in any case. His explanation for the confusion was that the other man had something against him and that is why he had claimed that his elderly mother was Armenian.

So, you see, those who descend from the remaining Armenians deal with their heritage in very different ways. The reception they have received from the Armenian community and their Muslim neighbors has been equally varied.

I recall the genocide survivor memoir titled, In the Shadow of the Fortress. It is a fascinating account from the village of Hussenig of what it was like for those who survived the genocide in hiding. The author recounts how after each round of deportation, there would be a period of calm followed by pronouncements that it was now safe for the Armenians to come out of hiding. After a period of time, the Armenians who naively believed such promises would be rounded up and marched off. This happened time and time again. Similarly, many of those who hide their identity today have survived over the decades by remaining silent, by not believing that the climate had in fact changed. Throughout the years, they have learned that those who believe in change and reveal themselves ultimately suffer persecution.

The Islamized Armenians must be welcomed back to their Armenian heritage. Not as second-class citizens, and definitely not to experience a new kind of discrimination. Every single Islamized Armenian is a precious miracle of the survival of identity and is the key to the return of the Armenian presence to these lands. Armenian culture and heritage was born of this land, and after a thousand years of assimilation and purposeful destruction, we demand the right of its return.

Today, there is a window of opportunity that has opened a crack. It is our challenge—those of us here today and others who are like-minded—to open the window wider, and permanently. If we fail, we may never have another opportunity. That is what the criminals are counting on.

On a dirt road in Geghard—one of many found in Armenia—an elderly woman sweeps the street with a broom more suitable for a pygmy. She looks up, smiles amiably, then goes about her business.

Vendor peddling wooden bookmarks at Vernissage (Photo: Tom Vartabedian)

The road won’t get any cleaner than it is, but the woman sweeps anyway as if she were obligated or obliged.

In Armenian, she tells us, “It’s always been my custom to keep a tidy home and that includes the street. Would you like to come inside and join me for a cup of coffee?”

To refuse such an invitation would have been discourteous. To accept would have meant an idle hour or two of hospitality.

We accepted. And the coffee came with bread, cheese, dried beef, and fruit.

At Vernissage, an open-air flea market that comes to life like a Brigadoon, a man on crutches dressed for winter straddles along in 60-degree weather peddling his wooden bookmarks. There are vendors here who remain situated, and others like wandering minstrels with wares in hand.

He claims to have made them himself and offers one to any taker. A token of appreciation was expected. Otherwise, you’re in for a culture shock. Others will harp on the scene, begging your generosity, almost in cahoots with the guy.

How could you turn an 80-year-old down, even if you didn’t need the trinket?

Sweeping a street in Geghard (Photo: Tom Vartabedian)

In Jermuk, you can find all the water you want. That’s where it’s bottled in a refinery and distributed throughout the land. A woman with a colorful stocking hat over her head pitches you a container, with a twist. Hers are a tad cheaper than what you’d find in the store.

She has cups on a table inviting you to try a sample.

Sample water?

“You come to Jermuk, the water is better than anywhere else because it’s straight from the spring to your mouth,” she explains.

At the farmer’s market in Yerevan, the elderly are found pitching their vegetables and fruits, all of it homegrown. They come here like a sorority and beckon the same clientele with the power of appeal. It’s all in neat array waiting to test your appetite.

Go to a dozen villages on tour and invariably you’ll find a roadside vendor hawking everything from bread and lavash to embroidery, wine, fruits, cheeses, sujuk, and bastegh. Musicians have their places. One senior was renting out doves at Khor Virap for a price.

“It’s the bird of peace,” he told us. “You bring it to the vank, let it fly, and God will be with you.”

Taking a water break in Jermuk (Photo: Tom Vartabedian)

We were later pleased to discover that they were more like homing pigeons and returned to the site from which they were released.

A number of elderly were found digging and planting at the Armenian Tree Project, feeling connected to the earth, while others were seen with their hands extended, hoping for some mercy. It was more the exception than the rule.

At Oshakan, an octogenarian greeted us at the door with candles and other religious artifacts on his table. He was quick to tell us this was the burial place of Sourp Mesrob Mashdots, who created the Armenian alphabet, and there were symbols of his life throughout the property.

Another gatekeeper his age was found outside a dilapidated church in Ptghni, accompanied by a cow. He’s been coming here each day to lend spirituality to visitors who might amble by. His quarters are outdoors by rocks where a self-made shrine is all the inspiration he needs. Rain and cold are no deterrents.

According to reports, Armenia has a rapidly aging population. About 15 percent of the country’s population is already over 60. Fertility decline, along with the migration of an economically and reproductively active population, contribute to the numbers.

Selling vegetables at the farmer’s market in Yerevan. (Photo: Tom Vartabedian)

Projections further indicate that by 2050, almost 31.5 percent of Armenia’s population will be considered elderly, which may imply a significant added burden to the state.

The report also embraces the concept of active aging, remaining close to one’s environment and family while keeping the body and mind nimble.

In Ambert, an elderly woman with a pig on a leash greeted us by the fortress. The mountains were her home and the pig had a name. Satenik.

Not far was a woman selling pomegranates. The natural fruit of Armenia.

“Eat these,” she said, “and you’ll live to be healthy. You’ll live to a ripe old age.”

Special for the Armenian Weekly

The Syrian crisis began in the spring of 2011, but it wasn’t until violence hit Aleppo in late July 2012 that the first wave of Syrian Armenians began trickling into Armenia. Within just a couple of months, 3,000 refugees were living in the country. While their numbers have continued to increase—just past 11,000, according to a recent report by the Armenian Ministry of Diaspora—a significant portion have left Armenia for Europe, the U.S., or other Western countries.

In 2012, President Serge Sarkisian required that all government efforts to support Syrian Armenians be coordinated by the Diaspora Ministry. That summer, the Ministry created a working group to deal with the ever-increasing problem. The prime minister then formed a coordinating committee comprised of deputy ministers of health, education, and justice, and headed by Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan.

The Ministry, however, has been broadly criticized for its incompetence and inaction. Lusine Stepanyan, the head of the Department for Armenian Communities of the Near and Middle East at the Diaspora Ministry, disagrees. She recently told me that even before the conflict had started to affect Armenians directly, the Ministry had asked experts at the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia to prepare a report about the history of the region and its Armenian communities. Since the early stages of the Syrian conflict, she added, several meetings have taken place with representatives from the Syrian-Armenian community to discuss what should be done in worst-case scenarios.

It was perhaps Hakobyan’s old-fashioned approach towards the Armenian Diaspora, her Soviet lexicon, or populist public appearances that left many people dissatisfied. In August 2012, she was criticized for acting like a “wanna-be Mother Theresa” during her many orchestrated TV appearances. One such event took Hakobyan to a maternity hospital to congratulate the “first Syrian-Armenian baby born in Armenia!” This, of course, ignored the fact that many Syrian-Armenian repatriates had given birth in Armenia for decades before the Syrian crisis (in fact, perhaps as early as the 1940’s). Similar made-for-TV moments continued that summer, including frequent visits to the airport to welcome Syrian Armenians with flowers. Ignored was the fact that these newcomers had been exploited by Armavia, the Republic of Armenia’s carrier, which had just raised Aleppo-Yerevan ticket prices to record highs.

Despite such blatant missteps, officials at the Diaspora Ministry say that Hakobyan’s personal charisma and character have helped to solve the bureaucratic hurdles and to “get things done” as fast as possible.

In October 2012, the Ministry founded the Center for Coordination of Syrian-Armenians’ Issues NGO. Its Board, fully comprised of Syrian Armenians, is tasked with the issue of humanitarian assistance. In the meantime, the Ministry coordinates assistance with legal, health, and education issues with its respective ministries and governmental bodies.

As part of these efforts, the government began issuing visas for Syrian Armenians on the border, instead of mandating they be obtained in the home country through Armenian embassies and consulates. Refugees were also exempt from visa and residency fees. The government took another step and allowed Armenians from Syria and Lebanon to apply for and be granted citizenship from their embassies, instead of traveling to Armenia for the application process. Here, too, they were exempt from fees, as well as custom taxes on cars, for example.

The government is also offering free medical care to all Syrian Armenians at polyclinics regardless of citizenship, as well as the same support for major medical operations that citizens receive. Young Syrian Armenians have the same rights to education as Armenian citizens. Even university students have had their 2013-14 tuition fees paid for by the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) and the Kalouste Gulbenkian Foundation.

The Diaspora Ministry is working with the Armenian Catholic Church and the “Armenian Caritas” to provide accommodations to the many families, especially those from the northeast region of Syria, who are less familiar with the Armenian language and have greater integration issues. It is working with the Armenian Evangelical Church to provide lodging, medications, and dental care, as well as with other organizations, such as the Children of Armenia Fund, Vision Armenia, the Red Cross, and several UN agencies. Most of these activities are being coordinated by the Center for Coordination of Syrian-Armenians’ Issues on behalf of the Ministry.

Stepanyan says it’s been surprising to see the large numbers of business owners and individuals who have offered jobs, assistance, and goodwill since the early days of the conflict. One individual from the impoverished Berd border town donated 5,000 AMD (12 USD), which may not be a lot by U.S. standards, but is almost a week’s worth of meals for a family in Berd. “People are not indifferent to each other,” she says. In another case, a generous donation came from Iran, from a man whose sister had passed away in Syria. He hadn’t been able to help then, but wanted to donate to other Syrian Armenians.

The Diaspora Ministry is also organizing courses that introduce Syrian Armenians to the tax and customs system in Armenia, as well as to Eastern Armenian and Russian.

In recent months, Hakobyan launched her “New Aleppo” initiative, which will house approximately 630 Syrian-Armenian families. The land is being provided by the Ashtarak municipality. According to Ministry representatives, construction will soon begin. For some, the idea of gathering all Syrian Armenians in one place, 20 kilometers from the capital, is reminiscent of Soviet policies to ghettoize repatriates in the 1940’s and 1950’s. Stepanyan, however, stresses the financial difficulty in providing hundreds of families with permanent accommodation in Yerevan, which is already expensive and over-populated. The choice of location and all other steps, she says, were mainly decided through public gatherings with Syrian Armenians. Rather than ghettoizing, this project will help them preserve their Western-Armenian language and traditions, she adds.

Considering the social and economic circumstances that led many to leave Armenia, the government’s efforts to support Syrian-Armenian refugees, albeit late or half-hearted at times, have been better organized than in the past, when refugees arrived from other war-torn communities. It has also eclipsed the relief work being carried out by neighboring countries who have taken in refugees from Syria.

Special for the Armenian Weekly

It is Sunday, January 19, 2014. Seven years ago today Hrant Dink was assassinated in broad daylight on one of the busiest streets in Istanbul. I joined the family for the first time to commemorate Hrant’s legacy. My heart is full and the quill won’t do much justice this time around to convey the pressure-cooker of melancholy, rage and the awesomeness of seeing one of the busiest boulevards in Istanbul shut down to make room for tens of thousands of commemorators from all walks of life belting out at the top of their lungs, the now famous mantra, “We are all Hrant…We are all Armenians,” in addition to “Hrant, we will never forget you,” in Western Armenian dialect a stone’s toss from Taksim Square.

iPhone photo by Eric Nazarian

Listening to these words faraway in America through YouTube or online links is no match to experiencing the acoustic magnitude of tens of thousands of unbreakable voices exploding as neck veins flared up and down Halaskargazi Boulevard. Today is the day every year that protesters shut down this Boulevard. Today is a day when this society is forced to listen and remember one of the most seismic events to shakedown public consciousness here in the 21st century. Today, we remember this deeply peaceful man of words and letters who devoted every iota of his being to finding the beginnings of an extremely difficult reconciliation between Armenians and Turks.

Every age and walk of life was present in the march remembering this lonely fighter for justice with a pen, a very devoted family and a small, close circle of writers and thinkers up against an army of swords waiting to take him down for threatening the fabric of their consciousness and identity by exposing historical truths that began shattering national taboos.

Today, I thought of Leonard Cohen’s magnificent lyrics in “Anthem” where he sings, “…ring the bells that still can ring, forget your perfect offering…there is a crack in everything… that’s how the light gets through.” Hrant was the light that caused the crack and got through. What he endured, the vast majority of us will never come to know. He faced the storm of hate with complete devotion to his principles and integrity. A rebel to the bone, he remains alive in the souls of these people clenching roses and standing resolute side-by-side in his honor. And these people, like Hrant, cannot be silenced. They are here because keeping the flame of memory burning is not enough. There is much more work to be done to further the work he started.

iPhone photo by Eric Nazarian

We walked today with thousands to the beat of Hrant’s drum. There were children, elderly, youth, and the handicapped. Everybody came to this spot and everybody had a voice in the chorus of “Sari Sirun Yar” blasting on the stacks of loudspeakers for all to hear. And today, like all January 19 days to come from here until as long as this city is above water and the sun shines, Hrant’s voice will soar and flow. No man can kill Hrant. You can only immortalize him. He is beyond death, and today was yet another proof that he lives in the souls of these people who have a place to stand and be heard because of him. Lest we forget.

On Jan. 19, Armenian Weekly Assistant Editor Nanore Barsoumian delivered the following speech during a memorial event hosted by the Friends of Hrant Dink at St. James Armenian Apostolic Church in Watertown, Mass.

Three gun shots brought him down. His lifeless body sprawled on the pavement—a scene that would later haunt millions. It took three shots to silence a man that had dared to insult Turkishness. Another Armenian executed. Purged. Another dream interrupted.

Barsoumian delivering her speech (Photo by Aaron Spagnolo)

Murder—that hateful murder—breathed in Istanbul. And that day, it came for Hrant Dink in Istanbul. The shots echoed, piercing the Istanbul air. An echo that traveled door to door, reverberating the black news of a horrific death—and the concealed past. It took three bullets to draw thousands out—thousands who bore witness to the punishment for speaking out.

The Armenian—one of the few Armenians in Turkey with a platform—Killed. Killed because he was an Armenian in Turkey with a platform and a voice. For many who chose to understand, a faint stench from the 1.5 million corpses traveled through time and space. They saw a body through a peephole, and they knew it was lying in a sea of bodies—bodies from Ayntab, Kghi, Van, and Kars.

But as those bullets tried to silence Hrant’s truth—the opposite became true. His truth exploded, infecting others near and far. Instead of silencing one man, those bullets gave rise to a multitude of voices, of promises to continue his work.

Dink—a man with a mellow expression and a kind smile—was a nightmare to some in Turkey. He was feared, even as he saw himself as a frightened dove.

Once, when an interviewer asked Dink about his work and Agos, his response was simple. To fight and to protect—those were my primary aims when founding Agos, he said. Grvil yev bashdbanel. “We would fight against our government, against its injustices toward us,” he said. “[We would] hurl those injustices at its face. We would fight to demand our rights… to demand our history… to become a more democratic country, to be good citizens…”

And to fight that injustice, Dink used the Turkish language. He published 10 of the 12 pages of Agos in Turkish, just two in Armenian. He wanted to reach a Turkish-speaking audience. And so, at the time of that interview in 2006, a sizable portion of his subscribers—roughly 1 in 6—were Turks. Agos highlighted Armenian stories in Turkey—most notably, stories on hidden Armenians. Dink’s approach was hard to counter. There were the smear campaigns, the court trials, and the death threats. None of which thwarted his mission. He was persistent.

This past November, the Hrant Dink Foundation organized a conference in Istanbul. A conference that focused on what some call Hrant’s obsession: The story of the Islamized Armenians.

The story of the Armenian Genocide is not complete without the story of those who were left behind. The story of forced conversions; of the hidden Armenian identity, of the thousands of children who were forced to stay behind—parentless, and at the mercy of the perpetrator state.

But in telling these stories, there also lies hope. And since Hrant’s murder, that unspoken volume began to unravel. Stories began to be told.

These stories are abundant—they are everywhere, and they need to be told.

When we met the old saddle-maker in Elazig—near Kharpert—he needed to tell us his story. Sitting in his small, bare shop off a narrow cobble-stoned alley, he offered us tea as he searched our eyes and revealed his mother’s Armenian identity. He said, “I am one of you.”

These stories need to be told because that is how we can shed light on a dark past… on our identity.

We met the mayor of a small village while we admired a stork that had built a nest on a tree just across from his doorstep. He led us to the roof of his house. He said we could better admire the bird from there. When he discovered we were Armenian, he insisted we stay for breakfast. Both my grandmothers were Armenian, he said.

Hrant encountered stories like these on a regular basis. Even more importantly, he believed there were well over a million hidden Armenians in Turkey.

We chose to remember the harrowing details of the Genocide—the details that were speakable—but we chose to forget the unspeakable crimes. We chose to remember the killings, the starvation, the death marches—and not the rapes, kidnappings, and enslavement. For years, we spoke of the dead and the survivors. Not those that fell in that gray space. The ones that stayed behind. We need to allow those narratives to find a space in our story. And in recent years, we started to. Hrant Dink’s role was great in this. The more he pursued and publicized those stories, the more stories came to him. Agos became a messenger, and it inspired others.

At the same time, Turks and Kurds—witnesses to the Armenian reality—also began to speak up, to share their stories, to take a stand against the denial of truth. Their voices are invaluable.

Why is it important to remember Hrant Dink?

With Turkification as a deliberate running policy in the country, the likes of Hrant are perceived as enemies of the state. But in fact, they mirror the failure of the state. Hrant died while struggling for justice, while trying to cultivate openness in a society where myths are abundant, where history and myth are congruent, where he and his like are vilified, and forced to disappear.

Hrant’s life, work, and death shot like an arrow through the heart of Turkey. His legacy speaks to us all—to Armenians everywhere, hidden or not.  To Turks and Kurds who yearn to live in a just society. Hrant’s is a legacy of optimism and persistence. It’s a legacy of struggle and hope.

Special for the Armenian Weekly

Over the last six months, analysts have shifted from describing the Syrian uprising-cum-civil war as a democratic uprising to highlighting its increasing sectarian dimensions. For those watching closely, sectarian undertones were evident early on. Most distinct were the regime’s attacks against the Sunni neighborhood of Baba Amr during the “Siege of Homs” in February 2012. After Syrian forces leveled the neighborhood, armed militants targeted Homs’s Christian population, which numbered around 800,000. Subsequently, 90 percent of Homs’s Christian population was erased.¹ As the uprising increasingly militarized, the politics of revenge became business as usual.

Virgin Mary statue in Damascus (Photo by Kathryn Cook)

Leading media outlets have discussed sectarianism in all the wrong ways; the discussion of Hezbollah’s role in assisting regime forces in the June 2013 capture of Qusayr stands out as the most egregious example. Sectarianism was reduced to anachronism by journalists who highlighted its ancient origins rather than its contemporary political utility for what Mark Lynch has called “entrepreneurs of cynical sectarianism.”² This essay highlights three myths of sectarianism presented by reputable American media outlets. Dominant assumptions within these myths simply fail to be supported by historical evidence. Sectarianism is an incendiary issue by nature, but clarity on what it is and what it is not can prompt more informed discussions of this complex historical phenomenon and help us move beyond the narratives that sustain it.

Myth #1: Sectarian conflicts are primordial conflicts

The New York Times is the newspaper of choice for informed American intellectuals, yet it has promoted numerous myths about sectarianism in its recent Syria coverage. Many of these myths, including the primordial nature of interreligious strife, are familiar to American audiences because they have been used to explain sectarian violence in Iraq since the U.S. invasion in 2003. Journalist Thomas Friedman repackaged the primordial argument in his Sept. 7, 2013 article about Syria entitled, “Same War, Different Country.” The title really says it all: The particulars of Syria simply do not matter since it is the very same war, a timeless battle between Sunnis and Shiites witnessed previously in Iraq. Friedman, considered the Times’s Middle East expert since the 1980’s when he wet his heels as a war journalist, offers an emotional plea to those skeptical about a possible American intervention in Syria:

“But, please do spare me the lecture that America’s credibility is at stake here. Really? Sunnis and Shiites have been fighting since the 7th century over who is the rightful heir to the Prophet Muhammad’s spiritual and political leadership, and our credibility is on the line? Really? Their civilization has missed every big modern global trend—the religious Reformation, democratization, feminism, and entrepreneurial and innovative capitalism—and our credibility is on the line? I don’t think so.”³

In this excerpt, Friedman with a wave of his pen dismisses the entire 19^th century—a century that ushered in the modernization of the Ottoman economy, the development of a nascent feminist movement in the Ottoman and Arab press, and enhanced political reforms that left most intellectual communities ripe for democracy after World War I. What is conveniently forgotten is what came between this intellectual florescence in the 19^th century—referred to as an Arab Renaissance (“al-Nahda al-‘Arabiyya”) by scholars—and the present, when a series of Western interventions foiled liberal democratic development when and where it took root. In the case of Syria, a series of covert American operations there beginning with the toppling of Shukri Quwatli in 1949 ushered in an era of military dictatorship.⁴ In spite of these events, Friedman denies Syria modernity, and issues the most egregious of anachronistic explanations for the conflict in Syria—that it is grounded in 7^th-century rather than modern conditions.

How then do historians understand sectarianism? As a scholar who has used the Syrian archives extensively since the late 1990’s, I can say that instances of communal violence between Muslims and non-Muslims are hard to come by before the targeting of Christians in the 1850 Aleppo massacres. Historian Ussama Makdisi best reflects scholarly consensus when he writes, “Sectarianism is an expression of modernity. Its origins lay at the intersection of 19^th-century European colonialism and Ottoman modernization.”⁵

Published over a decade ago, Makdisi’s work charts the decades leading up to the first outbursts of violence on Mount Lebanon, noting the role that Ottoman reforms granting non-Muslims equality played in creating Sunni resentment. Sectarian violence between the Druze and Maronite communities of Mount Lebanon in 1860 spread to Damascus where Christians were attacked, marking the first major regional sectarian event in Ottoman history. The pogroms intensified in the latter part of the 19^th century. Sultan Abdul Hamid II launched his pogroms against the Ottoman Armenians (1894-96) in the eastern provinces. These were followed two decades later with the ethnic cleansing of Armenians, Greeks, and Assyrians in the eastern provinces, who were killed and deported en masse.

These 19^th-century convulsions are the experience of modernity in the Middle East. The sectarian discourse continues to reverberate in the discourse of peddlers of hate, political groups, and elites that seek to use this rhetoric to mobilize identity for political gain regionally.

Myth #2: Sectarianism appeared in Syria with Hezbollah and Iran’s involvement

Hezbollah’s entry into Qusayr to support regime forces quickly piqued the interest of many media pundits and Middle East analysts. On June 1, 2013, the New York Times published an article entitled, “As Syrians Fight, Sectarian Strife Infects Mideast,” portraying sectarian tensions as a byproduct of Hezbollah’s alliance with the Syrian army during the military campaign in Qusayr.

“Fighters are inspired by religious passions rooted in the seventh-century battles in what is now Iraq over who would succeed the Prophet Muhammad,” Kamel Wazne, a Beirut-based analyst and founder of the Center for American Strategic Studies, is quoted as saying. “After the bitter defeat of the faction that gave rise to the Shiites, the victors captured the prophet’s granddaughter Zeinab and took her to Damascus, where Shiites believe she is buried beneath the gold-domed shrine of Sayida Zeinab.”⁶

The writer notes the presence of a Shiite shrine in Damascus to revisit seventh-century history rather than focus on the modern conditions that produced an unlikely alliance between Hezbollah, a Twelver Shiite Lebanese militia and political party in Lebanon, and the Assad regime—a staunchly secular regime comprised of a core of Alawites (a distinct offshoot of Twelver Shiism). Such an alliance should prompt the question of how unusual the pairing is rather than its treatment as a normative fixture of regional politics. Easily assuming the naturalness of a Hezbollah-Assad alliance only highlights what’s missing in the conversation, namely, that the regime’s collaborators come from a variety of social, religious, and economic interests that often have very little to do with religion. Clearly, coverage rarely highlights the non-sectarian features of the conflict and instead gravitates towards easy essentialism and intrinsic religious differences.

In this case, Wazne is the New York Times’s “native informant” offering authenticity to the narrative while confirming in large part what the West already thinks about sectarianism and its ancient origins. The sloppiness in this reasoning can be best appreciated when one considers the contemporary form sectarianism has taken through a combination of outside meddling by the U.S. in Iraq and the sectarianism promoted by traditionalist clerics hailing mostly from Saudi Arabia.

The U.S. invasion of Iraq created a political vacuum and then secured Iraqi Shiite supremacy (sometimes referred to as the “Shiite Crescent” by other peddlers of sectarian mythology) after the downfall of Saddam Hussein, resulting in unparalleled sectarian violence that depleted Iraq’s ethnic and religious diversity. The U.S. intervention parallels the 19^th-century interventions in Mount Lebanon that produced the largest sectarian violence for that century. Yet, earlier periods of anti-Christian violence are dwarfed by the mass exodus of 500,000 Iraqi Christians—half the total population— since the US invasion in 2003, which permanently altered the ethno-religious landscape of Iraq.⁷

Saudi Arabia and its ideological mainstay Wahhabism have created a new form of sectarianism in Iraq and now Syria. Saudi Arabia, one of the major financiers of the armed opposition in Syria, is also home to sectarian ideologues who advocate for violence against Shiites via fatwas issued on traditional television programming, YouTube, and Twitter. This sectarian trend among Sunni clerics has some classical origins in the writings of Hanbali jurist Ibn Taymiyya (d. 1328), but have been harnessed in the very modern tensions between Saudi Arabia and its Shiite minority since the 1990’s. Some of Saudi Arabia’s most reputable clerics, Abdul-Aziz ibn Baz and Adul-Rahman al-Jibrin, have openly declared Shiites apostates and informed their audiences that killing them is religiously justified.⁸ These fatwas resurfaced over the last decade during the power struggle in Iraq between Sunni and Shiites to condone the murder of Shiites. As of April 2013, Saad al-Durihim, a Saudi Wahhabi sheikh, posted a Tweet (a fatweet perhaps?) in which he said that jihadist fighters in Iraq should adopt a “heavy-handed” approach and kill any Shiites they can get their hands own, including children and women.⁹ Although he claims to be non-sectarian, Shaykh Adnan al-‘Ar’ur, a Salafi cleric from Hama, has repackaged much of this earlier anti-Shiite discourse as anti-Alawite rhetoric in the Syrian struggle. His televised speeches have incited his supporters to attack pro-regime Alawites and “feed their flesh to dogs.”¹⁰ While the regime has also done much to dehumanize its political opponents, this particular use of Muslim clerics and their juridical rulings to peddle sectarian hate, and mobilize political factions, has its origins in Saudi Arabia, not Syria and Lebanon.

U.S.-fortified Shiite rule in Iraq, along with Iranian hegemony through its alliance with Syria and Hezbollah, have increased the stakes for Muslim extremist sectarian discourse. One could view this potent sectarian discourse as foreign policy for the many elites who seek to facilitate the hegemony of Sunni competitors in the region, Saudi Arabia and militant Salafism, to combat perceived Shiite gains in the Bush Administration’s reordered Middle East. Considering these developments, the seventh century is hardly the context for contemporary violence in Syria.

Myth #3: Minoritarian rule is beneficial to minorities

One of the most pervasive myths of minoritarian rule, often propagated by the regimes themselves and their subject populations, is that it has brought direct benefits to other minorities. Studies have shown that the financial and political benefits in the case of Syria were not as profound as claimed. Historian Nora Arissian has documented, for example, Armenian participation in Syrian politics, which was more visible prior to the ascendancy of Hafez al-Assad, but gradually declined after he assumed power in 1970. The myths of inclusion are quickly dashed as her evidence reveals how Armenians were occasionally appointed as ministers or military personnel rather than elected into parliament.¹¹ Marginal Armenian political participation in Syrian politics is at odds with the durable and diverse political institutions that exist within the community, where political parties, clubs, churches, and social committees flourished.

This gradual decline in Armenian participation in Syrian politics should be taken into account when considering the comments of Andrew Tabler at the AIPAC-affiliated think-tank, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.¹² In an interview with NPR, this much-publicized Syria analyst argued that Christians get “very good business contracts, positions in government and the Syrian military.” He continued, “They get preferential treatment and protection of their places of worship.”¹³ Surely, both the Assad regimes continued the Ottoman practice of allowing freedom of worship for religious communities, but recent scholarship has shown that Christians were not the major benefactors. In fact, economic concerns were among the most cited grievances by Armenians who chose to leave Syria over the last century, according to Simon Payaslian, who estimated that the population had dwindled to as low as 58,000 by 2012.¹⁴ Recent scholarship by Bassam Haddad highlights the Sunni capitalist elites who were the primary benefactors of economic opening under Bashar al-Assad’s neoliberal reforms.¹⁵ These benefactors of “crony capitalism” were a mix of family members, old Sunni bourgeoisie, along with a new Sunni bourgeoisie class created by the economic reforms of the last decade.

As recently as 2012, Bashar al-Assad appointed an Armenian woman, Dr. Nazira Farah Sarkis, as Minister of the Environment, whereas Sunni elites obtained the higher and more influential offices of Defense Minister (Mustafa Tlas), Prime Minister (Mustafa Miru), Foreign Minister (Faruq al-Shar’), and Vice-President of Foreign Affairs (‘Abd al-Halim Khaddam).¹⁶ In the context of marginal Armenian representation, one could read this singular appointment in 2012 as an effort to garner the support of Armenians during a period of protracted fighting when Armenians stayed neutral. The myth of minoritatian rule as beneficial to minorities has had devastating effects for everyday Syrians, who are approached as the primary collaborators with the Assad regime when, in reality, every community has been coopted to one degree or another in the complex webs of collaboration.

Rather than primordial or ancient, sectarianism is the experience of modernity in the Middle East. It did not make its way into the Syrian conflict with Hezbollah’s involvement; rather, it has been a widespread regional issue since the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, and much earlier if we include Wahhabi sectarian rhetoric from the 1990’s, which continues to be preached by clerics and militants in the region. The final myth in this essay—that Christian minorities, and Armenians in particular, reaped large benefits from the minoritarian regime in Syria—has been largely absorbed by militants in pursuit of regime collaborators. The utility of sectarianism as the primary lens for understanding the conflict is exhausted once the legs upon which its myths are sustained are removed.

Notes

[1] See Kim Sengupta, “The plight of Syria’s Christians: ‘We left Homs because they were trying to kill us,’” The Independent (Nov. 2, 2012), http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/the-plight-of-syrias-christians-we-left-homs-because-they-were-trying-to-kill-us-8274710.html; and Daniel Brode, Roger Farhat and Daniel Nisman, “Syria’s Threatened Christians,” The New York Times (June 28, 2012), http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/29/opinion/syrias-threatened-christians.html?_r=0.

[2] March Lynch, “The Entrepreneurs of Cynical Sectarianism,” Foreign Policy, Nov. 14, 2013.

[3] Thomas Friedman, “Same War, Different Country,” The New York Times, Sept. 7, 2013.

[4] Douglas Little, “Cold War and Covert Action: The U.S. and Syria, 1945-1958,” Middle East Journal 44:1 (Winter 1990).

[5] Makdisi, Culture of Sectarianism, xi.

[6] See http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/02/world/middleeast/sunni-shiite-violence-flares-in-mideast-in-wake-of-syria-war.html.

[7] See http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/Olive-Press/2013/0910/After-more-than-10-years-of-hardship-Iraqi-Christian-calls-it-quits-on-Iraq.

[8] Vali Nasr, The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam Will Shape the Future (W.W. Norton, 2006), 237.

[9] See “Saudi Wahhabi Sheikh Calls on Iraq’s Jihadists to Kill Shiites,” http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/04/wahhabi-sheikh-fatwa-iraq-kill-shiites-children-women.html. The original Tweets can be read from April 23, 2013 at https://twitter.com/Saldurihim.

[10] See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9NA96kVad0 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JW04Vvxx0ac.

[11] See http://www.aztagarabic.com/archives/5558.

[12] See p. 21 of Stephen M. Walt and John J. Mearshimer’s “The Israel Lobby,” http://mearsheimer.uchicago.edu/pdfs/A0040.pdf.

[13] P.J. Tobia and Dalia Mortada, “Why Did Assad, Saddam and Mubarak Protect Christians?” http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2011/10/mid-easts-christians-intro.html.

[14] Simon Payaslian, “Diasporan Subalternities: The Armenian Community in Syria,” Diaspora 16:1-2, 2007, 118.

[15] Bassam Haddad, Business Networks in Syria: The Political Economy of Authoritarian Resilience (Stanford University Press, 2012).

[16] Eyal Zisser, As’ad’s Legacy: Syria in Transition (Washington Square, N.Y.: New York University Press, 2001) 20.

Harry Parsekian (Photo: Aaron Spagnolo)

WATERTOWN, Mass. (A.W.)—On the 7^th anniversary of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink’s assassination on Jan. 19, the Friends of Hrant Dink organization hosted a memorial coffee hour in Dink’s memory, following church services at the St. James Armenian Apostolic Church.

President of Friends of Hrant Dink Harry Parsekian thanked those gathered to reflect on Hrant Dink’s legacy, and justice that still hasn’t been served. He then proceeded to introduce the first speaker, Armenian Weekly assistant editor Nanore Barsoumian.

Following Parsekian’s words, the organizers played a moving recording of “Dle Yaman” performed by Isabel Bayrakdarian, while images from Dink’s funeral rotated in the background.

Nanore Barsoumian (Photo: Aaron Spagnolo)

Barsoumian then shared her reflections on Dink’s legacy. (Read full text here.) She said that instead of silencing one man, the bullets that hit Dink gave rise to thousands of voices who vowed to continue Dink’s work. She said Dink was both feared and seen as an enemy of the state, even as he himself felt like a frightened dove. She repeated what Dink had considered his mission: to struggle against injustices, to demand the rights and the history of the Armenians, and to build a democratic country. She also talked about Dink’s work through Agos, and about the importance of telling the stories of the hidden and Islamized Armenians—stories Hrant encountered regularly. Those stories are missing from the Armenian narrative on the Genocide and they need to be included, she said, as they also shed light on the Armenian identity. Hrant mirrored the failure of the state, she said, his work went against the country’s policy of Turkification. Hrant’s legacy speaks to Armenians, Turks, and Kurds alike—it is a legacy of optimism, persistence, and struggle.

Gonca Sonmez-Poole, a member of the Turkish Armenian Women’s Association that aims to foster dialogue between Turks and Armenians, took the stage next. She said prior to Dink’s assassination she had never thought to question the official state narrative on the Armenian question. Dink’s death changed her outlook. She spoke about the importance of talking to one another, to engaging in dialogue. She said whereas before Dink’s death she had never approached Armenians, afterwards, she felt she had to go to every Armenian event she could attend. Dink’s death was in short, a life changing event for her.

Gonca Sonmez Poole (Photo: Aaron Spagnolo)

The event came to a close with concluding remarks from Parsekian, followed by a few words from co-organizer Zadik Ozcan, who presented the speakers with a framed picture of Dink that bore a tribute to his legacy. Ozcan also presented the speakers with copies of the documentary “Don’t Get Lost Children” (“Kaybolmayin Cocuklar,” in Turkish), which is about the Tuzla Armenian children’s camp where Dink spent his childhood, and met and married his wife. The camp was confiscated by the state in 1984.

Roughly 200 people participated in the memorial event, including some members of the local Turkish American community. Soon after the event concluded, Umit Kivanc’s documentary “For Hrant, for Justice!” was shown at the Watertown Public Library. The event was co-organized by Friends of Hrant Dink and Bostonbul, a grassroots organization founded by Turkish American activists in June 2013, in solidarity with the Gezi park protesters. Following the movie screening, Zadik Ozcan, Dink’s childhood friend and classmate shared some of his memories from his childhood days. He concluded his talk with the following words: “The water found its crack. To me, Hrant was like running water in life and even in death… Given enough time, water can break down all barriers to find its destination, its crack… We should honor and strive to continue Hrant’s legacy, to correct the wrongs of history and to someday achieve his dream of a truly just and democratic Turkey for all—Turks, Kurds, and Armenians—and to live in peace…”

Special for the Armenian Weekly

ANKARA, Turkey (A.W.)—On January 18, a conference was organized by the Ankara Freedom to Thought Initiative and National Congress of Western Armenians at the Alba Hotel in Ankara. Scholars, human rights activists and journalists from around Turkey came together to mark the anniversary of the assassination of Hrant Dink.

Participants in the conference

Progressive and leftist scholars and activists from Turkey discussed Hrant Dink’s life, legacy, and the circumstances that led to his assassination. The current judgment against those responsible was deemed wholly inadequate and a travesty of justice.

They spoke of the link between the assassination and the Armenian Genocide. Various speakers placed the genocide in historical context, calling for not just recognition of the crime but also the return of Armenian properties. One speaker proposed erecting an Armenian Genocide monument in Turkey by 2015. It was stated that the genocide is a collective crime that cannot be ignored.

Some speakers touched on the recent meeting Prime Minster Recep Erdogan had with Turkish diplomats on plans to counter genocide recognition. The role of Azerbaijan was also discussed.

Finally, issues of Armenian identity in Turkey today were raised. One participant noted that the government of Turkey has openly acknowledged that there are 5 million citizens in Turkey today of Armenian descent. Examples were given of the types of discrimination these Armenians face in the country.

Gathering at Güvenpark (Photo by George Aghjayan)

Demonstration at Güvenpark (Photo by George Aghjayan)

Writer and activist George Aghjayan was the only diasporan Armenian among the speakers (Read full text here), while MP Aragats Akhoyan (Prosperous Armenia) was the only speaker from Armenia.

On Sunday, there was a  demonstration of some 1,000 people in Güvenpark.

Mouradian Receives First Hrant Dink Spirit of Freedom and Justice Medal

LOS ANGELES, Calif. (A.W.)—Hundreds gathered in Los Angeles on Jan. 19 to commemorate the 7^th anniversary of Hrant Dink’s murder.

Hundreds gathered in LA to honor Dink’s legacy

The event, held at the Organization of Istanbul Armenians (OIA) Krikor and Aved Kurkcuoglu Hall, brought together representatives of Armenian churches and organizations and a cross section of the community.

Dr. Ohannes Kulak Avedikyan, trustee and chairperson of the OIA Cultural Committee, delivered opening remarks and introduced master of ceremonies Edvin Minassian, who is chairman of OIA Board of Trustees and chairman ex-officio of the Armenian Bar Association (ABA).

Mouradian receives medal

Minassian’s welcoming remarks were followed by a presentation by Ayda Erbal, who teaches Middle Eastern politics and democratic theory as adjunct professor of politics at NYU. Erbal’s talk focused on the situation in Turkey of minorities in general, and Armenians in particular, in light of recent developments.

The keynote speaker of the evening was Khatchig Mouradian, whose illustrated presentation, titled “Unearthing Western Armenia in Turkey,” dealt with the challenges facing hidden Armenians and cultural heritage in historic Armenian cities and villages in Turkey, and the lessons—and implications—they have for Armenia, Artsakh, and the diaspora.

Following his presentation, the OIA presented Mouradian with the first Hrant Dink Spirit of Freedom and Justice Medal. Mouradian is the editor of the Armenian Weekly and the coordinator of the Armenian Genocide Project at Rutgers University. He teaches at Rutgers University and Worcester State University as adjunct professor. Mouradian is a PhD Candidate at the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University, currently writing his dissertation on the Armenian Genocide.

The event brought together representatives of Armenian churches and organizations and a cross section of the community.

The speakers: (L-R) Ghazarian, Minassian, Mouradian, Erbal, Avedikyan, and Eginli

Following the presentation of the medal, Alec Eginli spoke on behalf of the youth. Armenia opposition leader Raffi Hovannisian (Heritage Party) and Chairman of ABA and Co-chair of the 100th Anniversary of Armenian Genocide Committee (Western) Garo Ghazarian, and church leaders delivered brief remarks and shared their reflections during the evening.

The program included musical performances.

STEPANAKERT, NKR–As the world commemorates the 22^nd anniversary of the independence of Nagorno Karabagh Republic (NKR), the population of Karabagh is still reeling from the ongoing social impact of the war two decades ago. The cumulative health burden of the conflict has implications that are far-reaching and pervasive.

Bombed facade of  the old Central Republic Hospital in Stepanakert

In September 2013, Armenian-American surgeons Dr. Hratch Karamanoukian and Dr. Raffy Karamanoukian conducted a surgical mission to strengthen ties with the medical and surgical staff at the Central Republican Hospital in Stepanakert, the capital of Karabagh. Their trip coincided with the opening of the new Central Republican Hospital within the city.

Woman with extensive hand shrapnel from war

“One of the most salient impressions we experienced was the ongoing impact of the war on daily life,” said plastic surgeon Raffy Karamanoukian. “Our meetings with surgeons and patients reminded us of the enormous physical and psychological burdens the conflict had on the population. In turn, we appreciated the enormous resiliency of the Karabagh population to return to normal life.”

During the surgical mission, both doctors met with Chief of Plastic Surgery Dr. Igor Zakharyan to discuss challenging case reports in the United States and Karabagh, as well as current techniques in microsurgical reconstruction, limb salvage procedures, and trauma surgery. Hratch Karamanoukian, a cardiovascular and vein surgeon, provided important dialogue on trauma protocol and cardiovascular surgery.

Of special significance was a discussion regarding ongoing efforts by the Halo Trust to clear landmines. According to a report by the Halo Trust, Karabagh has one of the world’s highest per capita rates of accidents caused by mines, cluster munitions, and other explosive remnants of war. A case report presented by Zakharyan, a skilled microsurgeon, demonstrated a successful limb salvage of an adult male who sustained traumatic upper extremity injury as a result of a landmine. The medical and trauma team at the Central Republican Hospital administered limb-saving resuscitation of the individual.

The new Central Republic Hospital

With the opening of the new Central Republican Hospital, the surgical trauma team will be better equipped to administer trauma care to patients in acute settings. Discussions with the anesthesia, nursing, and post-surgical teams demonstrated unparalleled professionalism and work ethic supported by highly trained staff. According to Deputy Minister of Health Dr. Karen Ghukasyan, the new hospital has been equipped with state-of-the-art diagnostic and surgical equipment from the U.S. and Europe.

Dr. Raffy Karamanoukian (Left) and Dr. Igor Zakharyan enjoying a light-hearted moment in the operating suite

The surgeons also participated in the care of patients with ongoing problems resulting from post-traumatic amputation. Many of the patients were highly functional war veterans who sustained limb amputation as a result of war. “The population of Karabagh made extreme sacrifices with a heavy loss of life,” said Hratch Karamanoukian. “They, however, have an indomitable spirit and resiliency that allows them to flourish and rebuild, despite hardship.”

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (A.W.)—On Jan. 19, Hrant Dink’s legacy was commemorated at an event held in front of the Human Rights Monument in Diyarbakir.

A scene from the commemoration in Diyarbakir (Photo by Gulisor Akkum, The Armenian Weekly)

Attending the commemoration were Kurdish intellectuals, mothers of Kurdish activists whose murders remain unresolved (known as Saturday Mothers), pro-Kurdish BDP mayoral candidate Firat Anlı, Diyarbakir Bar Association president Tahir Elçi, and members of the city’s small Armenian community.

After observing a moment of silence in memory of Dink, reflections were offered and statements were made by representatives of group attending the commemoration.

Gafur Ohannes Turkay of the Sourp Giragos Church Foundation spoke on behalf of the Armenian community. He presented a brief biography of Dink and demanded that those responsible for Hrant’s murder be brought to justice.

Speaking next, Elçi said, “Just like the Special Organization (Teşkilatı mahsusa) implemented the Armenian genocide, Ergenekon implemented the state’s wish and killed Hrant Dink. His murder constitutes a continuation of the Armenian genocide.”

Two other events commemorating the 7th anniversary of Hrank Dink were held in Diyarbakir on the same day. Reports on those events to follow.

Special for the Armenian Weekly

When the events in Syria unfolded last year, Ani was the first person I thought of. We met over a decade ago when our children were in Montessori school together. She and her husband were active members of the Boy Scout troop in our area. They helped teach my son how to properly fold and retire the American flag, as well as the importance of serving one’s community. This is a couple that takes their American citizenship and civic duty seriously. Her son Michael is a straight-A student who plays on his high school football team and recently earned his Eagle Scout badge. He’s a great role model for my own sons, who are significantly younger.

When Ani opens the door of her four bedroom house in Laguna Niguel, her hair is swept up in a high ponytail. She wears the uniform of most Orange County housewives, designer jeans and a loose fitting top. It’s Monday afternoon and she has to drive her son to practice. She kisses me on the cheek and tells me to make myself comfortable.

I haven’t come to Laguna Niguel to talk about Syria. I’m not even here to talk to Ani. I’m here to see her mother, Suzanne, who’s visiting from Syria. Suzanne and her husband are descendants of the Armenian Genocide, a historical event which happens to be the backdrop of my novel. Suzanne Ohanian has brought with her a printed manuscript, written in Armenian, chronicling the family’s exile from Turkey in 1915. At sixty five, Suzanne is too young to have live through the Armenian genocide, but the first hand account written by a long deceased uncle is the kind of thing I live for.

I’m used to talking to people about 1915. I was only eight when my great grandmother told me stories of her harrowing escape from what historians refer to as the first genocide of the twentieth century. Asking centenarians to tell me about the most horrific episodes in their lives is something I’ve grown used to, but this interview is different. I may be here to talk about the Ohanian family’s painful past, but the subject of what’s happening in Syria today looms large between us.

Suzanne Ohanian was visiting her daughter and grandkids in California in July of 2011, when the airports closed back in Syria. She’s been here ever since, away from her other grown children and her husband of 43 years. She is a well-dressed woman in her sixties, with blue eyes, and blond hair worn in a stylish bob. She greets me at the kitchen table, where she’s laid out homemade cookies and baklava. No Costco cookies here.

“My husband’s grandfather was a leatherworker from Gessaria,” she begins, pointing to a faded photograph in the family memoir. The inscription beneath the photograph reads ‘Turkey 1913.’ “They hung him when he refused to convert to Islam. My father-in-law and his family were driven into the desert with only the clothes on their backs.”

She tells me of how the family arrived, starving and half crazed in the Rakka region of Syria, and how a kindly and rich Arab by the name of Ojaila took pity on them.

“He gave them food, work, and mercy. They wouldn’t have survived without his help.”

Suzanne tells me that the Armenians of Syria, who numbered over a hundred thousand before the Civil War, are all descendants of genocide survivors, a community of orphans who considered Syria a place of religious and political refuge.

I ask her to tell me about the Syria of her childhood and she describes a thriving metropolis with schools and churches, where Christian Armenians like herself, were free to learn their language and culture. Her face lights up as she describes meeting her husband, Setrag Ohanian.

“He was 27 years old. Ten years my senior. But I knew he was smart and hard working so when he asked me to marry him, I said yes.” She blushes.

“Could you have said no? I ask

“Of course, it wasn’t the stone-age, you know.”

“He is a self made man,” she adds proudly.

Her husband, Setrag, dropped out of pharmacy school to start a small business selling and repairing high-pressure hydraulic hoses. Over the next fifty years, that storefront grew into a large export business supplying Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and all of Syria. The descendants of Armenian refugees, the Ohanians became barons of industry, rising so high that a major street was named after them. By 2001, Ohanian’s eldest son, Levon, joined the company, expanding the business until they had not one but three warehouses shipping all over the Middle East.

Ohanian’s original storefront turned warehouse was located in a valley beneath the Bostan Pasha region of Allepo. In 2011, anti- government forces moved into the homes and apartment units of the region, kicking residents out onto the street. Car bombs and snipers riddled the neighborhood. Levon and his father stubbornly kept the storefront and warehouse open anyway. “One day, the government soldiers walked into the store and never walked out,” Suzanne explains. “They needed a base from which to launch a counter attack against the rebels and my husband’s warehouse was the perfect place.”

Two years have passed, and they are still waiting. Suzanne waits from Laguna Niguel, while her son and husband fled first to Armenia, then to Lebanon. They are a family twice exiled.

Two months ago, Levon got a call from a former employee. The entrance of the remaining warehouse, and the family’s last hope, had been marked by a large red X. A note attached to the door proclaimed that all Christian properties marked with a red X now belonged to the Muslim Brotherhood. With the pieces of his father’s empire in the hands of opposing factions, he and his wife and two children left Syria for good. He now sells hydraulic hoses for a company in Lebanon.

“Syria was our refuge,” Suzanne says. “100 years have past since the Turks kicked us out of our homes.100 years of building hospitals and schools and lives…and for what? Exiled again.”

When I ask her if she has any animosity against Muslims, Suzanne looks confused.

“For what?” she asks. “A Muslim hung my husbands grandfather, and a Muslim took pity on the surviving members of his family. Muslims took our homes and warehouses in Allepo, but it was a Muslim who gave my son a job when he landed in Lebanon. This isn’t about God or religion.”

“What do you think it’s about?” I ask.

“Greed,” she says. “This is about man and his folly.”

As various armed oppositional groups continue fighting against Assad’s regime, taking one town or street, then losing it again, one wonders who is winning here? And what is being won? Perhaps Faulkner said it best when he said victory is an illusion of philosophers and fools. For now Suzanne waits from the safety of a Southern California suburb. Her only wish is that the family’s legacy of exile will not continue to haunt her grandchildren.

Names have been change to protect the identity of the people named.

In a lengthy interview last week with Agence France Presse (AFP) on the tragic situation in Syria, President Bashar al-Assad made an unexpected reference to the massacres of 1.5 million Armenians. This is the first time that any Syrian head of state has acknowledged the mass murders and identified the perpetrator as Ottoman Turkey.

During the interview, Assad compared the Armenian Genocide of 1915 to the brutal killings of civilians by foreign fighters taking place in Syria today: “The degree of savagery and inhumanity that the terrorists have reached reminds us of what happened in the Middle Ages in Europe over 500 years ago. In more recent modern times, it reminds us of the massacres perpetrated by the Ottomans against the Armenians, when they killed a million and a half Armenians and half a million Orthodox Syriacs in Syria and in Turkish territory.”

Not surprisingly, two days later, Bashar Jaafari, Syria’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, made a similar remark: “How about the Armenian Genocide where 1.5 million people were killed?”

The only other high-ranking Syrian official to have acknowledged the Armenian Genocide was Abd al-Qader Qaddura, then-speaker of the Syrian Parliament, when on July 16, 2001 he inscribed a poignant statement in the Book of Remembrance of the Armenian Genocide Monument and Museum in Yerevan: “As we visit the Memorial and Museum of the Genocide that the Armenian nation suffered in 1915, we stand in full admiration and respect in front of those heroes that faced death with courage and heroism. Their children and grandchildren continued after them to immortalize their courage and struggle. … With great respect we bow our heads in memory of the martyrs of the Armenian nation—our friends—and hail their ability for resoluteness and triumph. We will work together to liberate every human being from aggression and oppression.”

While the parliament speaker’s 2001 statement was a candid and heartfelt message with no political overtones, the same cannot be said of Assad’s words on the Armenian Genocide, as he clearly intended to lash back at the Turkish government’s hostile actions against the Syrian regime. It is well known that Turkey has played a major role in the concerted international effort to topple Assad, by dispatching heavy weapons and arranging the infiltration of foreign radical Islamist fighters into Syria.

Relations between Syria and Turkey were not always hostile. Before the start of the Syrian crisis in 2011, the two countries were such close political and economic allies that the Assad regime banned the sale of books on the Armenian Genocide, and did not permit foreign film crews to visit Der Zor, the killing fields of thousands of Armenians during the genocide. Mindful of possible Turkish backlash, Assad’s staff cancelled my courtesy meeting with the president in 2009 after they discovered my countless critical articles on Turkey on the internet. Moreover, during the honeymoon period between the Syrian and Turkish governments, Assad advised the visiting Catholicos Aram I that Armenians should maintain good relations with Turkey and not dwell on the past!

In his recent interview with AFP, Assad also complained about the failure of Western leaders to comprehend developments in the Middle East: “They are always very late in realizing things, sometimes even after the situation has been overtaken by a new reality that is completely different.” Frankly, one could make the same criticism about Assad for realizing at his own detriment, only too late, the dishonesty and duplicity of Turkey’s leadership.

Regrettably, the Syrian president is not the only head of state who has failed to decipher the scheming mindset of Turkey’s rulers. Countless Middle Eastern, European, and American leaders have made the same mistake, trusting Turkey’s feigned friendship, only to be let down when the time comes for Turkey to keep its end of the bargain.

In recent months, with the increasing dissatisfaction of the international community with Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan’s autocratic policies and belligerent statements, it has become crystal clear that no one knows the true face of Turkey better than Armenians, Assyrians, Greeks, and Kurds, who have suffered countless brutalities, massacres, and even genocide under despotic Turkish rule.

Despite Assad’s political motivations, Armenians should welcome his belated statement on the Armenian Genocide. After refraining from acknowledging the genocide for all the wrong reasons for so long, at least now the Syrian president is on record, telling the truth about past and present Turkish atrocities.

Special for the Armenian Weekly

Now that a new year is here, maybe we can resolve to spend some time thinking about what is happening in and to Armenia. We can recall the joy and the pride we felt when the second free and independent Republic of Armenia was declared in 1991 (please don’t equate the Bolshevik-dominated republic as our second republic). It was a moment that many thought would never come, but it did. Since then Armenia has been beset by many crises: The devastation of the Spitak earthquake that occurred in 1988 was coupled with the total collapse of an economy that eschewed proven economic principles in order to meet the political objectives of the Bolshevik’s new order. The liberation of historic Artsakh and the uneasy truce along the Line of Contact has created its own lingering set of problems, as has the presently moribund issue of the Turkish-Armenian protocols; looming large over all of this is Russia’s influence that has, for the moment, shifted our orientation from the West to closer ties with Moscow. These have been difficult years, but Armenia has not only survived, it has made some palpable gains. Unfortunately, there is always the however that has to be considered.

The however refers to the pernicious problems that plague Armenia. First is the high rate of unemployment and underemployment that is responsible for many families and most pensioners living below or close to the poverty level. Apologists will immediately point to the devastated economy (already mentioned) that Armenia inherited as the reason, or the shop-worn excuse that other countries have similar problems.

They do, but in large measure our problems stem from the institutionalized corruption within the country that has its roots in the chaotic conditions that accompanied our independence. Unfortunately, what has evolved is a symbiotic alliance of governing politicians and monopolists able to exploit the economy for their personal enrichment. Unemployment, poverty, and the absence of opportunity are written off as collateral damage as these Apex predators within society amass wealth and influence to the detriment of the nation and its citizens. Whatever legitimate economic gains the administration has made (and to its credit, gains have been made), it is the shameful disparity in the distribution of the wealth that is produced that keeps poverty at over 30 percent; encourages emigration; and allows unemployment and underemployment to exceed 20 percent. One might question how this disparity in the distribution of wealth relates to unemployment. Oligarchs or monopolists (or however you wish to identify them) are not necessarily driven to expand the economy, because the more expansive and diverse it becomes, the more difficult it is to manipulate. Consider that in the poorest of poor countries where unemployment and poverty are rampant, the Apex predator is still able to amass wealth well beyond his needs from economies that barely seem to function. It belies the adage that you cannot get blood from a stone.

Given this unhealthy concentration of power, Armenia is closer to an oligarchy in practice than the democracy that is defined by its constitution. A patina of social justice that can be burnished when necessary not only misleads us, but the great pride we have in our country encourages us to overlook the reality that is Armenia.

Our problems are not due to a lack of resources that can be developed; or to the absence of a pool of intelligent and ambitious workers who could be retrained if required; or to the lack of energetic and creative entrepreneurs within and outside Armenia who would enter the marketplace to provide a range of goods and services that would increase employment and provide much needed competition.

Rather, it is the powerful alliance of politicians and oligarchs that controls the marketplace by determining who can participate; the goods and services that may be offered; as well as the prices that consumers must pay. And in subtle and blatantly obvious ways, they are able to profit from the various public and private projects at the national, district, and local levels. The end result is an ever-widening gap in the distribution of the wealth produced (wealth includes wages/salaries, access to medical delivery systems, education, leisure time, housing, opportunity for self-improvement, etc.) to the detriment of the worker and his family. As long as Armenia’s small economy (its present Gross Domestic Product, or GDP, is estimated at $10-$11 billion) can be manipulated by those who have acquired wealth, power, and influence, the quality of life for the majority of the people will not dramatically improve.

For a country supposedly suffering from a battered economy that has resulted in high rates of unemployment and poverty, a recent study (Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries: 2002-2011, D. Kar and B. LeBlanc, Global Financial Integrity, December 2013) determined that Armenia had an illicit outflow of $6.2 billion during the 10-year study period. Illicit outflows are defined as “…all unrecorded private financial outflows involving capital that is illegally earned, transferred, or utilized, generally by residents to accumulate foreign assets.” The annual outflow during the years 2008, 2010, and 2011 exceeded $1 billion annually. This is about 10 percent of Armenia’s estimated GDP.

The second problem is the lack of opportunity available for our educated and talented young men and women just starting out in life. Rather than the administration coming up with creative policies to underwrite opportunities for them to spread their wings (and be able to contribute to the nation’s development), the system essentially ignores them. These are the men and women who, in the normal course of events, would be the foundation upon which our country’s future is built. Having few to no options, many are literally forced to emigrate to other lands where their talent, professional skills, and creativity allow them to flourish. What a waste of human talent for Armenia. Yet, there appears to be no urgency on the part of opposition leaders or the majority of the hard-pressed citizens to confront an oligarchy that weakens the country and is destroying their future.

The third problem is the continuing annual decrease in Armenia’s total population. In 1991, the population of Armenia was estimated at about 3.5 million. Assuming a closed population (no immigration or emigration) and a slightly above replacement level fertility rate, the population of Armenia in January 2014 should have been no less than 3.6 million (a very conservative estimate), rather than the present estimated population of 2.8 to 3 million. This represents a decrease of from 600,000 to 800,000 people. How many of that number have permanently relocated is debatable. Without a significant increase in the birth rate and immigration, the population will likely continue to contract. And as the population decreases with more and more young people and families emigrating, the population will get older as the average age of those remaining increases.

How will the needs of this expanding number of elderly people be met? As it is, most pensioners presently live below or close to the poverty level. A decreasing population has a wide range of serious implications for the country’s future, such as family formation; birth rates; the size of the work force; ratio of retirees to workers; revenue collections; budget appropriations; the number of males available for future military service; the loss of potential leaders in all aspects of service to the nation; and the political status of the country within the South Caucasus.

The approximately $2 billion that is remitted annually by Armenians working “overseas” (outside the country) keeps the economy afloat. However, for families separated for extended periods of time from the husband or father, there are serious emotional and psychological downsides. For Armenia, exporting workers is a stopgap necessity brought about by a combination of government policies and corruption. Unlike such countries as Egypt, Jordan, and Pakistan, to name only a few, where serious population and resource imbalances exist, exporting workers is an absolute necessity.

President Serge Sarkisian will complete his second term in 2018. Armenia must endure four more years of the same failed policies. Four more years of corruption. And four more years of favors to be dispensed. In what condition will our country be at the end of his final term? Of greater concern is the fact that his hand-picked candidate in the 2018 presidential election will be elected, one way or another, to serve until 2023. Why? Simply because it is highly unlikely that a strong, energetic coalition candidate will oppose Sarkisian’s alter ego in the 2018 presidential election, given the inability of the political parties to put the welfare of the nation ahead of their petty interests and jalousies.

No change means that Armenia’s future hangs precariously in the balance, along with the hopes and aspirations that fall under the rubric of Hai Tahd. The continuation of a Sarkisian-dominated administration beyond 2018 to 2023 should be cause for concern. Although some of the Apex predators may change (even they have to age or may opt to retire in comfort), the policies, corruption, and favoritism will continue. Is there another likely scenario to consider?

Obviously there are individuals and families who have no reason to seek change. They are fortunate that life in Armenia does not present the hardships experienced by those living below or close to the poverty level—those who are unemployed or underemployed, forced to emigrate in search of a better life, or have a husband or father seeking employment outside the country to provide for his family. If the leaders of the opposition parties and the majority of the electorate who have legitimate reasons to seek change are unable or unwilling to confront the issue in 2014, will it be any easier in 2018? And if the oligarchy continues to 2023, what then?

ISTANBUL, Turkey (A.W.)—Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan reaffirmed the Armenian Genocide and called on Turkey and the world to confront history in a letter first published by Agos on Jan. 30.

A recently released photo of Ocalan

The PKK leader, who was arrested in 1999 and is serving a life sentence in the Imrali prison, wrote the letter in the context of a heated debate in Turkey following a notorious comment by Kurdish leader Bese Hozat about Armenian, Jewish, and Greek lobbies. (For context, read Ayse Gunaysu’s column.)

Repeatedly using the term “genocide” when referring to 1915, Ocalan called the survival of the Armenian people “a great miracle,” achieved thanks to the efforts and struggles of the Armenians.

“Today, the entire world should confront the historical truth of what happened to the Armenians and share their pain, paving the way for mourning,” Ocalan said. “Inevitably, the Turkish Republic too will have to approach this issue with maturity and confront this painful history,” he added.

Ocalan called for continued, joint struggle for rights. He accused anti-democratic forces and lobbies of blocking the resolution of the Kurdish issue in Turkey, seeing the murder of Hrant Dink as part of this process.

Details to follow.

SACRAMENTO, Calif.—Despite heavy opposition by pro-Turkey lobbying groups, the California State Assembly voted unanimously on Jan. 29 to pass Assembly member Adrin Nazarian’s bill, AB 659, encouraging schools to use oral histories when teaching about the Armenian Genocide. AB 659 will now move on to State Senate for consideration.

“The unanimous passage of AB 659 sends a strong message that California officials cannot be bought or bullied into denying truth and justice. The ANCA WR commends Assembly members Nazarian and Achadjian for spearheading through this important genocide education legislation and looks forward to working with them in garnering similar support in the State Senate,” stated Elen Asatryan, Executive Director of the ANCA-WR.

“AB 659 has enjoyed overwhelming support from my colleagues in the Assembly,” commented Assembly member Nazarian, following the vote. “I look forward to continuing to work with the ANCA-WR to garner support from our counterparts in the Senate. The personal testimonies of Genocide survivors will give educators a powerful tool to engage students in the subject matter in ways they have never been taught before. If we expect to stop the genocides of the future, it is important that we strengthen the teaching mechanisms on past genocides,” he continued.

Joining Nazarian as co-authors AB 659 were State Senator Mark Wyland (R) and Assembly members Katcho Achadjian (R), Steve Fox (D), Mike Gatto (D), Scott Wilk (R), and Cheryl Brown (D). Other members of the State Assembly who spoke in support of the measure during the floor session today were Assembly members Tim Donnelly (R) and Diane Harkey (R).

Assembly member Achadjian, principal co-author on AB 659, worked closely with his Republican colleagues to secure broad bipartisan support for the measure, noted, “I am proud to be a principal co-author of AB 659. Part of ensuring a better world for our children includes educating them about the past. We must take the initiative to recognize such tragic acts of violence in order to prevent such events from happening again. It encourages teachers to educate our students on the Armenian Genocide.”

Earlier this month, AB 659 was unanimously adopted by the State Assembly Education and Appropriations Committees. Education Committee Chairwoman Joan Buchanan explained, “It is important for California students to understand and learn from the lessons of history, including the atrocities of genocide around the world. I am proud to support AB 659, which encourages schools to include the Armenian genocide in our history courses.”

In the weeks leading up to State Assembly consideration of the measure, the ANCA Western Region worked closely with legislators to ensure they learned of the Armenian American community’s enthusiastic support for the measure. “Grassroots efforts are critical for the success of such legislation, particularly in light of the increasingly aggressive lobbying campaigns which are being mounted by Turkey and Azerbaijan. In these times, it is especially important to activate our grassroots, because while we may be outspent by our adversaries, active participation by our community makes a difference,” added Asatryan.

Once adopted by the State Senate and signed into law by the Governor, AB 659 would encourage the incorporation of oral testimony and teacher training, such that the Genocide may be more comprehensively taught in California’s public schools.

The Genocide Education Project (GenEd), a non-profit organization based in San Francisco which has developed model resources for high school teachers regarding the Armenian Genocides, hailed the measure. “With the proper materials and training, teachers can incorporate the Armenian Genocide into their social studies curriculum in a meaningful way,” said Roxanne Makasdjian of The Genocide Education Project. “This resolution reminds education administrators across the state of California’s commitment to the inclusion of the Armenian Genocide as an essential part of its courses on world history, genocide, and human rights.”

The Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region is the largest and most influential Armenian American grassroots advocacy organization in the Western United States. Working in coordination with a network of offices, chapters, and supporters throughout the Western United States and affiliated organizations around the country, the ANCA-WR advances the concerns of the Armenian American community on a broad range of issues.

Special for The Armenian Weekly

The last of my dreams this morning was a strange short film. A form of classroom glob white in color like a mother’s milk, yet transparent like a pure glass floating in a dark space weightlessly, shining. But this translucent small UFO in a galaxy was gooey like a jellyfish, as it kept shaping and reshaping its perfect, global body.

The author with his mother

I tried holding it between my palms like Gypsy Rose would her crystal ball, and just then the globe turned into a tubular circle with a large hole in the middle resembling a doughnut glazed with cream. Then pointing dots appeared pulling spikes from the upper surface and forming a royal crown for a queen. When I tried to touch it, it crumbled and disappeared into nothingness. I opened my eyes from the dreamy dark space to a cloudy sky pregnant with rain.

Moments later, sitting on my couch, coffee in hand, sipping away my dream, and looking into the open space through the balcony windows, I saw another strange form and rubbed my eyes to make sure I wasn’t still dreaming.

A white butterfly, pure white like a snow petal, the size of a large pallet of a master painter, was flying in the dark and cold sky. It reminded me of the white handkerchief my grandma kept in her worn-out black leather purse. Strange morning, I said to myself, and went to take a closer look at this flying oddity. I opened the door and stepped out, but the graceful butterfly that had invited me out had shied away, vanished into oblivion, as raindrops started falling. I took a deep breath from the cold wind and went back to my warm couch and morning sips.

Seconds later, halfway through my sweet drink, I got a message from my brother in Boston that read, “Mother now is resting in peace.” This message from thousands of miles away shook me; it gave meaning to this morning’s extraordinary experience and sent salty tear drops into my unfinished drink. I wanted to sit down and grasp all of this. I looked for my notebook, for my pen to write something… Holy paper, where have you disappeared to, I said, and began thinking about a mother’s life. Mother meant endless stories, a dense past layered between black and white ends. If she could’ve seen me, she would have smiled and said, “You look like the effendi who lost his donkey in the bazaar.”

Smile she did all her life. For me, the unmatchable smile came during my last visit to Boston. I had just arrived home and had woken her up gently from her sleep, unsure if she would recognize me, as her mind had been slipping in and out of reality. She opened her eyes and smiled, making me believe in angels for once. She looked at me, and my brothers, Raffi and Njteh, carefully, one by one. Gathering the strength, she said, “Oh my son you have come home. The three of you look so wonderful together, standing above me,” and closed her eyes, and went back to her medicated sleep.

The author with his brothers and mother

Humble mother, how few know your glorious past as a daring teenage girl in Aleppo’s ultra-conservative Armenian community, acting in plays of “The Valley of Tears” and “Extinguishing Lanterns,” and dancing in Armenian folk ensembles when girls were not allowed to be on stage.

Strong mother, how few know how you defended us from our fanatic and racist neighbors. How few know how you were attacked by a bearded men when father was away while I, a little fragile boy, shouted my lungs out at the father of the girl I had kissed as a game children play.

Mother, how many know that you worked and toiled all of your life and supported anyone who needed help? How many know how you took me from door to door to ask neighbors to tutor me in Arabic, wishing me to be a better person than yourself?

How many know that you tailored my school uniform by candlelight all night long, and managed to buy an orange, a few chestnuts, a peach and apricots with your savings from time to time. How many know how father and you tailored gowns, stitch by stitch and with needle pierced fingertips, for every gracious woman in town, making them shine on the dancing floor of Aleppo’s Mogambo nightclub.

When I unleashed my anger, how you laughed at me and said, “Grow up, learn how to govern anger.” And with your laughter and energy, you gathered friends and foes, strangers, neighbors, and familiar people, young and old, and made them laugh with you in your palace that was your kitchen.

“Is the man you were talking to an acquaintance,” I asked her once, for she loved talking to anyone during her free time. “I just met him. He was shopping for his family like we are,” she said. When I asked why she talked to strangers, she said, “He is a human and lives on earth, how could he be a stranger?” She smiled assuredly, pushing her full shopping cart ahead and pointed at a cellophane-wrapped rotten French blue cheese—a favorite—before leaving Russo’s farm market.

With her relentless humor and eternal smile, she defeated everything and everyone. Hate, sadness, tarnished memories, and bad news did not brood within her, even when she was diagnosed with spinal stenosis. Her sadness and unease only lasted the distance between the doctor’s clinics and the parking lot. She took out her anger on the seatbelt, yelling, “This stupid thing again! It is the law, law, does the law know about my back pain?” She quickly propelled a smile, “That’s a funny old doctor you know? Next time I’ll bring a nice gift to him. He is Jewish, maybe he likes baklava.” Astounded, I asked how she could be angry, smile, and be funny at the same time.

“My name is Arshaluys [Twilight],” she responded, “and light is what I give to all with my smile, day or night, rain or sunshine. Humor is the cane that walks you through life; anger, I don’t know what is it good for.” She had a sentence or two for every occasion, which at times sounded like proverbs.

“If you say what you want freely, you will hear what you don’t want unwillingly.”

“The line between pride and humility is slimmer than your tiniest hair.” These were words she used for wisdom, and she would say them, again, with a smile.

Her final angelic smile was a punch line, it was her way of exiting from life, and she did it for one last time. I held her cotton-soft hand and kissed her forehead, knowing this would be our last goodbye, a moment of farewell that had arrived before its time. This person, who had taught her children how to be independent, free, and righteous, would soon depart through the same gate everyone has and will.

Mother, now that you rest next to your husband, do tell father about the last seven years we spent without him—the good, the bad, and the in-between. He will call you after favorite star and you will make fun of him—“You give me this name to make yourself feel like Gregory Peck!”—and both of you will roll your sparkling eyes and giggle like you did in your younger days, and then start singing, “Yeraz” (Dream), anew.

When I was at last with my pen and notebook, turned to a white page pure like a mother’s love, I wrote:

“Today I’ll burn incense and be silent

Today I’ll mourn and light candles

Today her last smile once again

I’ll see through the tears in my eyes

Today is a holy day, a day of feast

Forever my MOTHER to the soil I give.”

And so it goes…

YEREVAN—The Armenian Revolutionary Federation Nigol Aghbalian Student Organization and the ARF Youth Organization of Armenia staged a protest in front of the foreign ministry building on Feb. 5, as the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen met with Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian to discuss the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process.

Protesters converged at the Foreign Ministry to voice opposition against Minsk Group Co-Chairmen

The groups were protesting the Karabakh mediators’ continued insistence on maintaining parity in the face of Azeri aggression against Armenian targets in Armenia and the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, which in a span of a week and a half claimed the lives of two soldiers, wounded a 16-year-old girl and threatened the security of Armenians living in the border regions.

The groups called on the Minsk Group co-chairmen to end this false parity and properly address Azerbaijan’s aggression.

In an interview with Tert.am on Feb. 4, Nigol Aghbalian Student Organization’s chairman Gerasim Vardanian said that the groups aim to send a clear message of opposition to the Minsk Group for their overt disregard toward Azerbaijan’s aggressive policies.

“Their objectivity—parity—does not benefit peace or the ceasefire but rather it supports Azerbaijan’s policies. We are saying that by maintaining this parity they are only helping Azerbaijan,” said Vardanian referring to the Minsk Group co-chairmen.

Since the most recent incidents at the border, several Minsk Group co-chairmen have condemned the violence on the border and have refused to acknowledge Azerbaijan’s destructive and aggressive maneuvers on the so-called “Line of Contact.”

Vardanian also said that the two groups have issued an announcement condemning the Minsk Group mediators.

“The human loss resulting from the regular violation of the ceasefire by Azerbaijan and their continued anti-Armenian and warmongering policies have not received the proper evaluation from the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen,” reads the announcement.

“Judging Azerbaijan’s actions on the principle of parity… encourages and allows Azerbaijan to continue its disruptive policies, which destabilize the security of the region,” added the announcement.