BITLIS, Turkey—The Bitlis town council recently approved the renaming of five streets in this historic town in south-eastern Turkey. Among the names is “William Saroyan Street,” after the great Armenian-American writer whose ancestors came from Bitlis before 1915. Saroyan was born in Fresno, Calif., but felt strong ties to his ancestral home. He visited Bitlis in 1964; 2014 marks the 50th anniversary of that visit.
Ara Sarafian (Gomidas Institute) and Hüseyin Olan (Bitlis co-Mayor) in Sapkor district of Bitlis, June 2014
One of the champions of renaming “William Saroyan Street” was Barzan Serefhanoglu, whose grandfather, Adil Serefhanoglu, was the mayor of Bitlis when Saroyan visited the city. Adil Serefhanoglu showed great respect to Saroyan—and paid a high price for it. After Saroyan’s departure, he was harassed by the authorities who wanted to punish him.
“William Saroyan Street” will now be the main street of the Sapkor district of the city, where the Saroyan family home was located. The district looks over the citadel in the city below. Many of the houses in the district still bear the dates of their construction in Armenian, Ottoman, and Western numerals.
The Gomidas Institute congratulated the co-mayors of Bitlis, Nevin Dasdemir Dagkiran and Huseyin Olan, as well as all members of the Bitlis town council who unanimously approved the name changes.
Bitlis co-mayors Nevin Daşdemir Dağkıran and Hüseyin Olan
“This was a sensitive decision,” said Ara Sarafian of the Gomidas Institute. “The people of Bitlis have expressed their pride in one of their own Armenian sons. Such sentiments could not have been expressed even a few years ago, when all positive sentiments regarding Armenians and Kurds were proscribed by the Turkish state. We have come a long way in Turkey, but there is still a long way to go.”
The other names adopted by the Bitlis town council celebrate Bediuzzaman Said-i Kurdi, Kemal Fevzi, Serefhan, and Ferhat Tepe.
The renaming of “William Saroyan Street” is partly the result of a bridge-building operation the Gomidas Institute initiated in 2013, before the current co-mayors and town council were even elected. The Institute’s efforts resulted in increased contacts, a public exhibition dedicated to the Armenians of Bitlis before 1915—an exhibition that was shown in Bitlis and Fresno—as well as other projects still underway.
The Gomidas Institute’s work in Bitlis was made possible with the help of the Turkish Human Rights’ Association (IHD), the Bitlis Bar Association, the Armenian Studies Program at California State University (Fresno), as well as private individuals. For more information, e-mail info@gomidas.org.
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