Last week’s column on the 1909 fatwa issued by Egypt’s top Islamic cleric condemning Turks for massacring Armenians in Adana drew widespread attention. The article was posted on websites in many countries, including in Pakistan, India, Israel, France, Russia, Lebanon, Armenia, and the United States.
Although my columns are often translated and reprinted in the Turkish media, last week’s article broke all records. It appeared in summary form in dozens of Turkish newspapers and websites. In addition, prominent syndicated columnist Taha Akyol wrote a lengthy rebuttal published in Hurriyet, CNN-Turk, and other publications. Akyol is a right-wing journalist who switched his allegiance from the ultra-nationalist Alpaslan Turkes, leader of the Grey Wolves, to Pres. Abdullah Gul and his ruling Islamist AKP Party.
Akyol describes me as “one of the Armenian Diaspora’s fiercest leaders,” and “a Tashnak militant.” To prove to his Turkish readers that I am a “radical” Armenian, Akyol quotes an earlier column, in which I had stated that Armenians could regain Western Armenia someday when unexpected developments take place in that region, creating a power vacuum. Akyol was joined by former Turkish Ambassador Omer Engin Lutem in denouncing my views on Western Armenia. While calling me an “extreme nationalist,” Lutem depicted me as someone “highly admired and frequently read by Diaspora Armenians. In addition to the value of his writings, he is a person that must be taken seriously because of his influence over the Armenian Diaspora.”
In his article, Akyol uses standard denialist tactics by reducing the number of Armenian victims in Adana and mischaracterizing the killings as a clash between Armenians and Turks. In reality, 30,000 Armenians were killed by Turkish mobs that had been whipped into frenzy by Ismail Hakke, the mufti of Bahce, a town near Adana. Akyol’s gross misrepresentation of the facts is contradicted by the July 31, 1909 decree of the Council of Ministers of Ottoman Turkey, which placed sole responsibility for the massacres on the shoulders of provincial Turkish officials.
In a vain attempt to make his distorted views more credible, Akyol reports that he consulted Prof. Kemal Cicek, the director of the discredited Turkish Historical Society, who “had published a book last month titled, The Adana Incidents of 1909 Revisited.” In fact, the book was published a year ago, and Cicek is not the author but the editor of a volume consisting of papers presented at a 2009 Ankara conference. In response to Akyol’s question as to whether the Turkish mufti had issued a fatwa, Cicek reportedly stated, “I studied the Adana court records. Armenians had made such claims at the time, but no such documents or witnesses were found. There is absolutely no such fatwa.”
Contrary to Cicek’s claims, there are a number of references confirming that Ismail Hakke, the Turkish mufti, did issue a fatwa to legitimize the atrocities. Dr. Ali Osman Ozturk, professor at Canakkale’s “March 18 University,” wrote the following in the Milli Folklor Journal (2009): “The government hanged the mufti of Bahce in Dortyol because of the fatwa he had issued, stating that ‘Armenian blood and property are helal [religiously sanctioned].’”
Historian Raymond Kevorkian also mentions the Turkish fatwa in his monumental book, The Armenian Genocide, a Complete History, by referencing two sources: Z. Duckett Ferriman’s The Young Turks and the Truth about the Holocaust at Adana, in Asia Minor, During April, 1909; and the Turkish parliamentary commission’s report by Judges Fayk Bey and Haroutioun Mosdichian. Dr. Vahakn Dadrian also refers to several fatwa issued by muftis in various Turkish towns, including the mufti of Bahce, who “surpassed in intensity and scope the atrociousness of the rest of his colleagues.” Dadrian then quotes the German newspaper Berliner Tageblatt, which reported the eye-witness account of German engineers: “The mufti had excited and agitated the fanatical and criminal rabble of Bahce and its environs.”
To his credit, Akyol does not deny the fatwa issued by the noble Egyptian Grand Sheikh Salim al-Bishri of al-Azhar. Akyol admits the possibility that the Arab Sheikh had issued such a fatwa. I can assure him that such a fatwa exists, since I have in my possession a photocopy of the document, excerpts of which were translated and published in my last column. Akyol also acknowledges that the Turkish mufti of Bahce was in fact hanged for his crimes in Adana!
Over a 100 years later, the fatwa of Grand Sheikh of al-Azhar remains a most valuable document, particularly in these turbulent times. Copies of this righteous fatwa, along with the compassionate decree issued in 1917 by the Sharif of Mecca, should be disseminated by the Armenian Republic, church leaders, and civic groups to all Muslim states, their ambassadors, the media, and mosques worldwide, particularly in Turkey, Azerbaijan, and the Arab world.
Harut Sassounian
Great work Mr. Sassounian.
Takes a lot of hard, unrecognized effort to go meet someone in Egypt (Prof. Mohammed Rifaat al-Emam), and obtain incontrovertible documentation.
Little by little the Dam of Denial is being chipped away.
At this time, we will patiently await for the usual Denialist suspects to make an appearance @AW and bloviate about: “the Armenian Genocide myth”, “shared memory, shared pain”, “we Turks also suffered”, “there was no Genocide: Armenians were transported in air-conditioned carriages away from danger for their own safety: we Turks are so humane and nice”, “the Earth is flat”, “Elvis is still alive and was spotted at the Sherman Oaks Galleria”…..
The giant flare of Genocide can blind us to the good Turks as well as the common bonds forged in Ottoman culture, albeit that Armenians and other Chrtistian dhimmi subjects were not equals.
I often wonder today if there are Turks who take pride in Armenian religious and cultural achievments in Anatolia. How many Turkish children admire the beauty of remnant Khatchkars, or walk past an Istanbul church to hear sharagans, or admire stories they hear of Armenian neighbors who excelled at any of a hundred vital trades. There must be among Turks somewhere a curiosity and admiration. I know a Turk who prays in our Churches.
Similarly, there must be things Armenians once admired about Turks in centuries past. I have no idea what these would be, but if two races live side by side, even as unequals, the individuals must occasionally admire one another. Sometimes admiration can be racist, as when New Yorkers occasionally brag about the prowess of their very own “Jew lawyers.”
Maybe an academic person can answer this one: we hear of Armenians being converted and acculturated into Turks over the centuries, slowly or violently. As a child, nothing scared me more than the idea of Turks converting a person into something or someone else. Far worse than death. However, there must have been Turks who converted to Christianity and became Armenian too, because we know that when the Word is heard, many hearts respond. Is there a study of this? Was it possible? Or were they subject to death for Apostasy, which is still punishable by death in much of the Moslem worls?
Converted to a Turk is worse than death? Really? So if you were to discover your Turkish past or gene, you would be dead? It is known that many Armenians have Kurdified for example over the centuries, I guess they are all walking dead. I suppose the opposite, that is converting to Armenian would not be considered worse than death. Though it must have happened. These are the dilemmas DNA obsessed nationalist faces nowadays I guess.
When being a good and decent person is not good enough unless it has the seal of approval and authencity of this or that tribe or ethnic group or religion, now that is when the ugly stuff starts.
Murat,
You have misread, and misread entirely my post and its meaning. It is reminiscent of how some other people misread a far more able writer, later killed on the strength of a misreading – Hrant Dink.
I did not say that being a Turk is worse than death, and I did not say anything negative about being a Turk.
What I said was that being forcibly changed into someone and something you are not, losing your Armenian identity for that of the Turk you are not, is worse than death.
Can you answer my post as to what some Turks admire in Armenians?
No Denialist Turk, such as you, has the moral right to comment on the morality, or the lack thereof, of the expression “….the idea of Turks converting a person into something or someone else.”.
You are on record denying the Armenian Genocide – are you not, Murat ?
When you and your Denialist hordes have acknowledged the AG, and personally apologized for engaging in a lifelong campaign of AG Denial, we might give your views some consideration.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19368988
The Turkish media is going to have a field day with this one. Wait and see.
But back to the topic…. Well I also understood what jda said they way Murat did.
” As a child, nothing scared me more than the idea of Turks converting a person into something or someone else.”
First- did you grow up in Turkey jda? If not, why would this idea make you fear? Death is generally pretty bad, I don’t know if Turks converting someone into someone or something else qualifies as worse than death.
Avery: Being a denialist shouldn’t automatically void someone’s thoughts. Most Turks are denialists, I don’t think that makes most Turks bad people. I’m not completely siding with Murat here, but there’s a lot of racist statements made by both sides here.
RVDV,
While I thank my apologist Avery for pointing out correctly that I mean no disrespect or disparagement to Turks and Turkishness, whatever that means, I stand by and in fact elaborate on the horror I felt as a child at the prospect of being turned by the alien murderer group into one of them. robbed of an Armenian and Christian identity, even of my own name. See e.g. Thea Halo’s book Not Even My Name about the genocidal destruction of the Pontics.
In fact, I believe it was common for the children who were stolen and enslaved to be tatooed and renamed. No matter how many Turks and Kurds saved Armenians, their good deeds, for compensation, or for free, are only a minor key in the background of death and destruction. See the recent film Grandma’s Tatoos online for a taste.
The destruction of a person’s identity is unimaginably horrible, but turning that person into the group which murdered her parents is far worse than death. But this happened millions of times to survivors and their children.
The small remnant of Armenians brave enough to remain Armenian in Turkey must endure the daily barrage of hate in schools, where they are taught they are the traitors and murderers, in the media, and in the official discourse of politicians who lay at their footstep every woe which befalls Turkey.
Yes, foreknowledge of all this may be why Armenian women often flung themselves off cliffs when they had the chance in 1915.
jda has every right to say “As a child, nothing scared me more than the idea of Turks converting a person into something or someone else. Far worse than death.” It reflects HIS OWN personal feelings regarding the idea of FORCED conversion, about lacking the basic freedom to choose one’s own religion, about a religion being imposed on a person (in this case Islam) and another religion being denigrated as undesirable (in this case Christianity) and worthy of death.
Within the context of a comment that ponders whether there were in the past or are in the present, Turks who respect and value Armenian contributions, and Armenians who respect and value Turkish contributions, one can see that jda is trying to push beyond superficial prejudices to a deeper understanding of how Turks and Armenians did and can relate to one another. He also expresses his belief that it is better to be dead than to be forced to live a false existence—such as practicing a faith that is not of one’s choosing. This does not denigrate Islam or Turkey as much as it expresses abhorrence for the lack of the basic human right of freedom of thought and religion. To me, he simply ponders the limits of mutual respect and co-existence among Turks and Armenians and others?
Why would this offend you Murat? And RVDV, you are usually capable of more empathy regarding such concerns. What happened here? Did you fall victim to over-determined defensiveness? Do you truly not see the basic human rights questions raised in jda’s comment? Or do you think ‘allowing’ a person to convert in order to avoid death or imprisonment is a good thing?
Boyajian:
“Or do you think ‘allowing’ a person to convert in order to avoid death or imprisonment is a good thing?”
If my option was to be killed or convert to Christianity I’d say “see you on Sunday” and call it a day. It’s not a “good” thing, but generally preferable. What I didn’t understand was, if jda didn’t grow up in Turkey he, personally, had nothing to fear from Turks converting people into something else. So why did it scare him, if he didn’t grow up in Turkey?
RVDV, I can only hope that your callous response is an attempt at humor. If this is a typical Turkish attitude, than I see more clearly how Armenians found themselves at odds with Turks. Just because you would choose a coerced conversion, don’t presume that others should or would easily do the same. Some people find a life without basic freedoms hardly worth living. I’m surprised that you don’t get this.
“one of the Armenian Diaspora’s fiercest leaders,” and “a Tashnak militant.” “radical” Armenian,” “extreme nationalist,” “highly admired and frequently read by Diaspora Armenians.” “In addition to the value of his writings, he is a person that must be taken seriously because of his influence over the Armenian Diaspora.”
Such wonderful compliments, Harut. And from a Turk! Congratulations.
Right, Perouz! High praise for Mr. Sassounian.
Mr.Sassounian…
You should answer them
We are called Armenians
Our genes are Armenian…
Honest dedicated people everyone knows Us…
From the south pole till north
From the East till West…
Turks did not kill only Tashnaks
They killed every Armenian
They want to divide us…
as a daughter of Sheik el-Azhar told me short ago
“Ottoman genderma and their judges use to create problems between brothers and confiscate their lands…in Saeed Egypt…!”
Sylva
There is no such a thing as Turkish gene. Armenians, Bulgarians, Greeks, and Germans, despite being mixed partially are mainly distinct genetically. Turks aren’t since their genetic identity is taken from those who they took lands from and childeren or boys and girls were taken from parents to join turks or forced to convert via turkishification process.
Turkics incorporated every poppulation they came into contact with since their exapansion from Tarim basin in Mongolia towards west 2300 years ago. Their genetic identity is redundant and has a conquring nature to it.
RVDV:
That is a very interesting link. Calls for further exploration.
Re: {“The Turkish media is going to have a field day with this one. Wait and see.”}
How ? What do you predict they will say ?
That Turks are the originators of Indo-European languages ?
Regarding Denialists: agree that being one does not automatically void one’s thoughts – in other subjects.
That is why I specifically inserted the qualifier ‘moral’.
I generally give the benefit of the doubt to such posters, particularly if the writer is unknown to me.
But Murat is not unknown to me: have read his comments a long time.
A sampling of his recent prose (@HDN):
[There was no denial of Dersim. Facts and figures are there. Maybe it was not highlighted and talked about, but it was hardly denied. In fact, the real stroy and facts can never be erased. Unlike the Armenian genocide myth, where the facts and figures are mostly manufactured. You see the difference?]
[It is all about a medieval blood feud. Fiction posing as fact, clowning as art. Who remembers our grandfathers butchered by Armeinans? Repeating the same misinformation and propaganda over and over does not turn a myth into a fact.]
[Why is this news? Turkish community in US has been living with this charade for decades. These people have very little else in their lives, it is as if Tehcir gave it all a meaning. Mediaval blood feud mascarading as art imitating factuality.]
AG is a charade. A myth. Fiction. Manufactured.
I guess that’s why the 25-30 young members of the Turkish American community were singing and dancing on April 24, 2010 in front of the Turkish Embassy in Washington D.C. They were so traumatized living with the charade that they were jumping with joy.
I think for someone that is actively proselytizing against the AG recognition and acceptance to complain about what ‘Jda’ wrote is a little too rich.
True, the sentence is ambiguous and can be read either way. But I object to someone like Murat getting on a pedestal and chiding the author of an arguably ambiguous sentence. There certainly are bigoted posts by Armenians @AW, but I don’t read that particular sentence as one. Particularly in view of the many other positive sentiments expressed towards Turks in the same post.
Avery: “What do you predict they will say ?
That Turks are the originators of Indo-European languages ?”
I have a pretty strong feeling there’s going to be one idiot in the media that claims this yes. For others it will fuel and inflate already inflated egos and thoughts on our alleged ‘supremacy.’
Regarding the rest of your post- fair enough, I didn’t know all those details. You’re right.
There already is a broad array of pseudo studies from the glorious Kemalist Academy claiming that Ur-Turkish is the first language, and that Greece and Rome, were founded by Turks.
These works of fiction stand in my library righrt next to the Turkish studies that Native Americans are Turks, as are Melungeons.
Swedes: you’re next.
RVDV: it will be interesting to see how your countrymen can possibly find a way to claim any Turkish link to it – other than the name ‘Turkey’ and ‘Anatolia’. It is a matter of record that Seljuk Turks arrived in the Armenian Highlands and Asia Minor – what Turks currently call Anatolia – around 1000 AD. It will be very difficult, to put it mildly, to establish any connection to something that originated 8000 years prior to their arrival. (article says ‘…9000 years ago’)
But you know your people better than I do: as you said, somebody will try.
(Exhibit A: the Melungeons fiasco).
An excellent article as usual.
“[…] should be disseminated by the Armenian Republic, church leaders, and civic groups to all Muslim states, their ambassadors, the media, and mosques worldwide, particularly in Turkey, Azerbaijan, and the Arab world.”
Unfortunately our “Republic” and church are busy covering-up the crimes and thefts of the oligarchs…
Shame on us!
jda:
You wrote: “No matter how many Turks and Kurds saved Armenians, their good deeds, for compensation, or for free, are only a minor key in the background of death and destruction.”
Yes, of course. I am fed up with being reminded of the “good” Turks and Kurds. My father was saved by a “good” Kurd who took him in as a servant for over a year. However, the 32 women and children in his family were brutally murdered on the death caravan route by Kurds who willingly followed the directions of Turks. Only one adult male in my father’s entire family survived; not one female survived. None of the men in my mother’s family survived. The descendants of those Kurds still live on my father’s land. The descendants of Turks, who murdered our people, also still enjoy the financial benefits of murdering my family.
And yes, jda, you are absolutely correct; women flung themselves off cliffs in order to evade the rapists and murderers. My father’s 17 year old very beautiful cousin knew what her fate would be when the Kurds came into their village. She calmly walked into the cemetery and said goodbye to her ancestors, and then walked out onto a cliff. She crossed herself and raised her eyes upwards. When her mother and the villagers screamed, she said that she would rather be dead than taken by a Kurd. She then flung herself into the Bingol River.
Some of the women were murdered after being raped, some were released. I have often wondered about the women who became pregnant with the enemy’s child, and also, about any of their children who might have somehow survived.
Avery: thank you for taking the time to write such accurate and literate rebuttals to even the most ludicrous claims of genocide deniers. Your patience and tact are exemplary. I wonder if some of these genocide deniers have the intellectual ability to understand your posts.
Perouz:
Thank you for your kind words: none of us needs to thank others for doing that which we are supposed to do.
Multitudes of our people have willingly paid the ultimate price: what I do here is chickenfeed in comparison.
And there is a reason I take the time to compose coherent posts; but it is definitely not for the Deniers. I personally do not believe the Deniers who visit AW are here to learn or change their minds. They have darker motives.
I cannot remember a single case where an AG Denier visited AW, exchanged views, then went away having become a believer. For example, many of our very patient compatriots tried – really tried – to convince one Mr. Naess of the error of his ways for close to 2 years. That didn’t work. Something else worked. One less Denialist using Armenian media to disseminated disinformation.
isnt it clear that Murat misrepresented jda? To change into something is different from being forcibly changed into something? (see the expression “turks converting someone”.)
You are a day late and a lira short.
nice try, ingratiating yourself to Armenian posters, hoping we’ll forgive&forget: won’t work; we’re done forgiving and forgetting.
you know what you need to do: apologize, apologize, and apologize some more, with genuine contrition – for your previous transgressions against Armenians. And of course the specific and sincere apologies must be made to Armenian posters @AW and the Armenian people at large.
Otherwise we go back to the same old, same old.
And hopefully you have realized by now that you’ll run out of juice before I do.
jda and Avery,
no, we will not use time on our old debates. However, i was surprised that Murat didnt see the difference. Apart from this, your debates are interesting to me.
Rag,
Yes, we will use time to recall your constant pedantry and soft version of Genocide Denial, all to aid the fascists who would kill every one of us if they could.
And if you can make a few kroner out of the deal for yourself, with a nice timeshare in Bodrum, who can complain?
murat
do you now see that you misinterpreted jda?
turkish is the first language?? This seems to me another one of turkish claims such as the Tamga theory they have to feed Turkish nationalistic assumptions of their obtained glory they don’t realy own. One thing I give Turkics credit for is their persistance that lead them to take nations and change their names and change the original name of land marks such as Ararat to Agri. Other than that I know quiet well who Turkish origin comes from and what type of mixture the Torkemenistan turkics are who the Seljuk most likely originate from. They looked Oriental but mixed more or less with the caucasian groups they dominated along their way.
As for other Turkish claims that they invented writing. It is proven fact that Turkics of North Western China, the Ugures took their writing from Arameic which is far more older than the name Turk was designated to the Hun like tribes of Central Asia. This was made possible most likely by the Persian and later Greek empires and silk road.
Another piece of history shows why Later on Turks killed Armenians in history. The Origianl turks who liven in Mongolia were the original raiders against Chinese borders. Thanks to them China built its great wall to protect it’s civilizations against the nomades. The mentality of domination and conquest is embeded deeply in the psychee of turkish identity.
Genghis Khan was not a Turk. He was a Mongol- the two ethnic groups cannot be used interchangeably. Mongols are a separate ethnic group that lived on the same lands as the original Turkic peoples. Parts of the Great Wall were built centuries before Turks walked the earth, and the later construction of the wall was built in response to the Mongol invasions.
“The mentality of domination and conquest is embeded deeply in the psychee of turkish identity.”
Turks perceive that as a compliment.
The turns and twists of Turkish games over the genocide topic even confuses them.
But, one thing everyone must be aware of, and that is the genocide wasn’t only commited against Armenians, it was a bigger killing project aimed at irradication of Christianity from the face of Anatolia. Greeks, Assyrians, Kurdish Christians. all suffered in significant genocidal magnitude, but Armenians suffered most by casualty and loss of ancestoral lands.
The result of the genocide is how the map is drawn on caucases, Anatolia, up to Europe. Addition to that is the people who call themselves Turks who could possibly be Armenian or mix, as a result of their ancestors being forced into turkishifcation.
To RVDV: You blew it RVDV. Gengiz khan didn’t live 2500 years ago. He actually created his empire less than 1000 years ago. I am not sure what kind of a bowlshit they teach in Turkish history classes. But, based on the genocide view of turks it is obvious.
One other fact is that maybe Mongolians did exist before the Turks long time ago, but they are the Alteic breed that the Turkics were created from. Gengiz khan, Tamoor khan, Atilaa, or seljuks all behaved in a parallel path. Don’t separate yourself from the source of your culture.
And that completment that exites you. The fact that Turks take pride on domination just explains why they are still not civilized.
“Gengiz khan, Tamoor khan, Atilaa, or seljuks all behaved in a parallel path”
Again compliment. Oh, and I never gave a date so I don’t know where you got 2,500 years. Based on your clear lack of reading comprehension it is evident that I am far more educated than you… And it’s Genghis Khan, not gengiz. Timur or Tamerlane not Tamoor, and Attila not Atilaa. Furthermore, the first walls of the Great Wall of China were built in the 7th century BCE. That would be 2,600 years ago not 2500.
Also, the world Mongol first appears in Chinese literature in the 8th century. The word Turk first appears in Chinese literature in the 6th century. So you tell me who came first, I think you can manage that.
Ed:
if you are going to argue our (Armenian) side, you’ll get a lot farther not using filthy language.
And generalizing about the level of modern Turks’ civilization is poor policy.
There are quite a large number who are highly civilized: one example is Ms. Ayse Gunaysu, an ethnic Turk and a columnist at ArmenianWeekly. Another is Dr. Taner Akcam. Another is Ragip Zarakolu. Another is…..
and you won’t get too far with our Turkish guest RVDV by just throwing stuff out, hoping it will stick: you need to do your research.
Regards.
Avery.
Let’s not digress into petty insults and criticisms of spelling. RVDV, please explain the difference between a Mongol and a Turk as you see it.
I see that as a secular Turk of Kurdish ethnicity, you don’t seem to relate to the notion that losing one’s faith may be seen as a fate worse than death for some people. Faith must not be that important to you. That is your right. But to many people, their faith is not just a hat they put on; it is integral to who they are and losing their faith is like losing a limb, it’s a kind of death of the self. That’s how it is for Armenians PLUS being Christian is part of our national identity. Hard to separate the two.
Avery,
jda wrote: There already is a broad array of pseudo studies from the glorious Kemalist Academy claiming that Ur-Turkish is the first language, and that Greece and Rome, were founded by Turks.
These works of fiction stand in my library righrt next to the Turkish studies that Native Americans are Turks, as are Melungeons.
Swedes: you’re next.
I posted on August 30th related to jda’s writing. I didn’t paste it to this reply.
I respect what you are saying and I don’t consider Turks as sub-humans or their ancestors as not an integral part of history. As a matter of fact I am curious to learn and I know enough so that any research I do only will add to it.
The fact that Turks are civilized doesn’t mean they recognize what happened in history. Why is genocide still not recognized if the majority of the civilized Turks acknowledge and recognize it. I wonder???
What is keeping them from forcing their government to recognize it, since they could be the biggest force to make the change happen. Obviously the answer is, being civilized won’t make a difference if only few percent of them them are knowlegable enough and care enough to seek justice. The majority back Erdogan and his government on this particular matter.
There is the problem of genocide, lands, and thousands of Hemshins. This is something that even the good Turks won’t want to give it all up even if genocide is recognized, or will it be?
But, I should conclud based on my experience the nationalist Turks have variety of stories, many of which irrelevant to genocide to lower Armenian moral and to ultimately spread propaganda. This way they strenghted denialist goals. And jda is one of them.
However, I do appologize for some of my language.
I appologize,
I didn’t mean to say jda is spreading propaganda. please ignore this from my previous post.
“But, I should conclud based on my experience the nationalist Turks have variety of stories, many of which irrelevant to genocide to lower Armenian moral and to ultimately spread propaganda. This way they strenghted denialist goals. And jda is one of them.”
Boyajian,
I highly appreciate your accurate commnet.
The Turks and Kurds knew about our heritage and our national character and yet they tried turkishify or convert us. It was an event that was forced on the Armenians and perhaps other Christians all throughout Anatolia.
Even the name Anatolia was given to Turkey in order to wipeout its link to Armenians in general. The ignorance of Ani for decades is an example of such action by the Turkish government in the aftermath of WWI.
Isnt there a common misunderstanding here? The labels “turkish” and “mongol” are primarily linguistic categories. We have two distinct languages, however related as Altaic, languages. Without having read much history on this epoch I believe there were both Turkish speaking warriors and Mongol speaking warriors in Cengiz Khan’s armies (to introduce still another spelling…), and in the armies of Tamerlane and other “mongol” armies. But if we talk about “peoples” we talk about something other than language users. The social unit, clan or what one should call it, is more central. Many of the warriers of the time and their families were bi-lingual. Otherwise they could not have fought in the same armies. Turkish speaking and Mongol speaking people probably intermarriaged. These are some of the complications that arise if we ask about “the difference between a Turk and a Mongol”. We use a term designing a language to name a “people”.