   Conference on Islamized Armenians2-4 November 2013 – IstanbulThe Conference on Islamized Armenians, which is organized by Hrant Dink Foundation with the cooperation of Boğaziçi University History Deparment and MalatyaHAYDer and with the support of Friedrich Ebert Foundation, Chrest Foundation and Olof Palme International Center took place at Boğaziçi University’s Albert Long Hall during 2-4 November 2013. The conference, which is intended as a gateway to amplify the academic research on the issue, consisted of eight panels in three days, one round tabel meeting, one forum and one workshop. Simultaneously with the conference, movie screenings were arranged.The turn of the 20th century was a period of significant social and political transformation in the Ottoman geography. Some of these transformations included individual and collective acts of conversion, leading to a number of Armenians who (became) Islamized in different times and processes. Especially during 1915-1916, the number of (forcibly) Islamized Armenians has increased significantly. Although the exact number is not known, we know that some of the Armenian children and teenagers survived the death marches and masscres of 1915 through adoption by Muslim families. Among the adults, we know that there were women who survived by marrying a Muslim or, in fewer cases, men; and in even more exceptional cases a whole family, neighborhood or village of Armenians survived by Islamization.
Even though many of the Armenians –especially men– reunited with their families in upcoming years, many of them took Turkish, Kurdish or Arabic names and remained a “Muslim” for the rest of their lives, their stories were kept silent. While until very recent times no narrative of history provided a place for the Armenians who survived by Islamizing, the last years saw an increase in the numbers of novels, life stories, witnessing and historical research that shed light on the issue. The conference, which was dedicated especially to the research of the events of 1915 and its societal reflections, was opened with speeches by Rakel Dink (Hrant Dink Foundation President), Gülay Barbarosoğlu (Boğaziçi University President), Hosrof Köletavitoğlu (MalatyaHAYDer President), and Ayşe Gül Altınay (Sabancı University). Gülay Barbarosoğlu, who took the floor after Rakel Dink, who stated that “We are here today to crack open the pages of an issue that has never been questioned, that is too heavy even for talking about it”, is quoted as saying “This conference is an opportunity to perfectly merge the scientific mission of our university with our debt to Hrant Dink.” While Hosrof Köletavitoğlu expressed the aim of the conference as being able to work on an issue that has long remained a taboo, that still remains a bleeding wound; Ayşe Gül Altınay stated that “These stories, which started out as whispers, are now turning into flowing waters, into increasing numbers of memoirs, literature, research and documentaries.” The conference commenced with the panel Burden of History, Politics of Naming after the opening conversation between Fethiye Çetin, Nebahat Akkoç and Sibel Asna in which their personal stories and experiences were discussed. The first panel, chaired by Ayfer Bartu Candan, started out with the Skype connection to Zeynep Türkyılmaz in USA to deliver her article on the Armenians of Trabzon, titled “Researching and Conceptualizing Religious Conversion: Reflections on Ottoman and Republican History and Historiography.” Avedis Hadjian contributed with “Patriarch Shnork’s Four Categories of Anatolian Armenians and Today’s Muslim Armenians” and Ayşe Gül Altınay emphasized the necessity for a new academic language in her “The Historical and Historiographical Silence on Islamized Armenians and New Memory Work along the Axis of Ethnicity, Nation, and Gender”. The second panel, “The Recent and Distant History of the Islamization” was chaired by Meltem Toksöz and discussed the process of Islamization for the case of Hemshin. While Sergey Vardanyan questioned the Armenian, Christian and Muslim identites of Hemshinians living in the Ottoman Empire or USSR; Serap Demir presented the unique attitudes of the Hemshinian Islamized Armenians throughout this process. Mahir Özkan talked about his Hemshinian identity in conjunction with his family’s story. Uğur Bahadır Bayraktar presented the various stages and rules of the conversion in the Ottoman period. Selim Deringil’s presentation, “Mass Conversion during the Hamidian Massacres 1894-1897” was carried out by Ohannes Kılıçdağı. The last panel of the day, chaired by Raymond Kevorkian, was “Islamized in 1915: History and Bearing Witness I” where Taner Akçam put assimilation as a component of genocide in his “Assimilation as a Structural Element in the Conversion of the Armenians.” Armen Marsoobian, with his “An Untold Story of Survival” talked about his own family’s Islamization experiences in Merzifon, and how they saved Christian families, also including photographs. The panel ended with Anna Alksanyan’s presentation on Ruben Heryan, who is claimed to be a savior, titled “Ruben Heryan: Liberator of Armenian Women and Children from Muslim Families after the Armenian Genocide” and Gayane Çobanyan’s “The Question of Arabized Armenians”, presented in Armenian. In the first panel of Nov. 3, Sunday; chaired by Ronald Grigor Suny and called “Islamized in 1915: History and Bearing Witness II”, Vahe Tachijan talked about the different dimensions of the survival efforts of Armenian women in Aleppo region and the perceptions of these efforts by the Armenian community. Arda Melkonian presented the ways of survival through gender during the Armenian genocide and Doris Melkonian contributed with her research on the genocide experiences of Armenian children iwthin the frameowrk of oral history. Ishkhan Chiftjian stated that Muslim Armenians shall be evaluated as a social strata, whereas Hilmar Kaiser talked about the center-periphery distinctions and the assimilation processes of the 1915-1917 exiles. The second panel of the day, “Traces of Memory: Music, Food and Stories” was chaired by Ferhunde Özbay. The panel included Wendy Hamelink, who presented Sasun Armenians’ music, Cafer Sarıkaya, who talked about the story of a sweetmeat commonly known as “Lokum”, and Nevin Yıldız Tahincioğlu, whose speech was about the sad story of Sara, a woman born in 1871 who lost all of her family to attacks aimed at Armenians. Rubina Peroomian, who could not attend the sessions, had her paper presented by Arda Melkonian. In her article, she questioned the new identities of Armenians who were forced to forego their identities and she pressed forth the necessity of acceptance. The third panel of the day was conducted under the rubric “Memory, Ethnicity, Religion: Kurdish Identity”, chaired by Yektan Türkyılmaz. The general discussion was about the reflections of Armenians’ experiences within Kurdish literature, short story and other fields. Adnan Çelik presented the case of Diyarbakır – Pasur (Kulp), whereas Davut Yeşilmen researched narratives about Armenians within Kurdish literature. Ramazan Aras analysed the perception of the Armenians by the Kurds and Ümit Kurt, along with Murad Uçaner, told the story of Armenian orphans from Besni. Last panel of the day was dedicated to “Memory, Ethnicity, Religion: Dersim”, chaired by Murat Yüksel. The panel contained the discussion of 1937-1938 Dersim massacres from the personal perspectives of the grandchildren by Nebahat and Kazım Gündoğan, of the Alevized Armenian identity by Hranush Kharatyan in Armenian and of Dersim Armenians by Gökçen B. Dinç. The conference ended with workshops, “Memory and Identity” panel, round table discussion and forum. The last day of this scientific meeting was dedicated to personal face-offs, identity and religion. In the “Memory and Identity” panel, the researchers presented their analysis of their research conducted in Anatolia. Laurence Ritter narrated the stories of hidden identities in Southeastern Anatolia, whereas Alice von Bieberstein presented her research on discrimination through ethnic and religious identities. The session included Anoush Suni’s presentation on psychological and physical otherization through the eyes of Arman, a grandchild born in 1970 in Batman. The last presentation belonged to Helin Anahit, who narrated the emotions of the grandchildren while setting her own story as a starting point. The conference ended with “Grandchildren” forum, conducted by Ayşe Gül Altınay. The results of the “grandchildren” workshops as well as personal experiences were shared. The conference, which was translated simultaneously into English and Turkish, was broadcasted online from Hrant Dink Foundation’s website in both languages and was followed throughout the world. The videos of the conference will be posted soon to the website and the articles will be collected as a book in 2014. Video LinksDec 7, 2013Conference on Islamized Armenians (Hrant Dink Foundation) Istanbul Turkey 2-4 November 2013 |