Our Armenians

Karasu,  branch of Euphrates

Memories which come through my family from Erzurum concerning relations with Armenians are rather negative as I have mentioned in some of my previous posts from time to time. However, it is not the same with my husband's family. My mother in law Mecbure's father Hüsnü and his brother Sabit went to fight in Yemen. In general two sons from one family would not be sent to war at the same time. But somehow they were both recruited  during Yemen - Ottoman War which started in 1904 with the rebellion of Arabs in Upper Yemen in support of Britain. The two brothers set to road to come back home as they were discharged in 1915 although the Yemen War continued until 1918.  On the way from Yemen to Vartik (now called Beğendik)  village of Tercan, Erzincan (formerly of Erzurum), as they were proceeding along Euphrates they noticed that there was something moving in the water. It was a girl in her teens whose drown body was floating with a young girl child on her chest. The elder sister's arms holding her younger sister were still securing the infant from falling into water who was still alive. Some of Armenians intended to be relocated to secure the back of Ottoman Army for the upcoming Caucasus War with Russian Army which was to utilise voluntary Armenian troops were killed by local militia in revenge of the killings perpetrated upon local Muslims during upsurges.    These two sisters had fallen into river during such an unfortunate attack. The two brothers took the child with them to their village and named her Nigar. Nigar means someone who has a face  as beautiful as embroidery. Nigar became Mecbure's aunt when she grew up.  She used to talk about Nigar praisingly. During  hot summer days Nigar could preserve water cool in terracotta big jars she would make herself and bury into the ground in a shadowy place. This was not a method known in the village. Women of the village would come  and request cold water. They could probably follow the suit and cool their own water in the same way, I guess it was a pretence to pay a visit and chatter a bit. She was good at cooking, sewing and similar domestic activities and was highly praised for her skillfulness.

Mecbure married to Hamdi  from the village of Yeşilyaka (formerly Şebge), Çayırlı, Erzincan. Yeşilyaka is an Alawite village and there was an Armenian village nearby at that time. Hamdi's sister Fidan was a masculine, fearless girl. A group of Armenians were captured in a building to be prosecuted next day as they were attacking Sunnite Turkish villages. Fidan felt sorry for them and managed to persuade a few strong men to save them. They threw a rope from the chimney at nigt and pulled the captured Armenians out one by one. Some time later one day,  while her younger brother, few field hands and herself  were plowing in the field three men who had covered their faces came and ordered the field hand who was controlling the oxen  to release them from the yoke with the intention to take the oxen away. Fidan recognized the man's voice who was giving order to the field hand. This was one of the men they had saved. She was furious. With the stick she used to use to give direction to the oxen in her hand, she rushed towards them and said "Shameless Artin, is this your return. I saved your skin and you intend to steal our oxen even though you know that we are orphans. What a shameless man you are." Hearing her words, they said, "Crazy Fidan recognized us, we better get back", and went away. Fidan was an orphan because her father Abdullah had come back from long years' wars in bad health and lost his life in early age. Fidan's bravery was never forgotten in the village.

Poplars

When  Hamdi  decided to change his line of business and moved to Ankara in early 50s, Mecbure  met Marika and Olga, two Armenian sisters in her new neighbourhood. Marika and Olga used to make hats and sell them. Ladies of well-off families would visit them to place orders and buy hats. Mecbure enjoyed the friendship of two sisters as neighbours very much. On special days they would offer each other dishes of food prepared specially for the occasion. Mecbure would remember their friendship and tell about them frequently until her death in 1999. Here is a link to  her  favorite folk song, The Poplars of Şebge (Şebge'nin Kavakları),  in her remembrance.


All Alawites have a friend similar to blood brother, called musahip. Musahips are like one family.  My husband for instance used to call even his brother's musahip's mother Aslı as "analık" meaning step mother. Aslı was Armenian. In early years of our marriage Aslı and her husband Yusuf visited us on a travel to Ankara from Yeşilyaka  and thus I met her. I remember a broadly smiling happy face from this visit. She had three children.

Those who watch Khardalian's Grandma's Tattoos^[1] may get the impression that Armenian girls remained behind during relocation have all been raped and become concubines or second wives. Some of them  must have faced such a fate unfortunately as it was war time. But those who were embraced with affection and became loving and loved housewives in later years and reared their children happily must have outnumbered them. It should also be noted that Alawites didn't support marrying to more than one wife unless the first wife was infertile.

There has been no problem with our Armenians who did not join the armies of the enemies but fought together with us shoulder to shoulder against invaders during the War of Independence or who sought shelter among us in bad days. We lived together peacefully and they didn't need to go away from their homeland. It is a pity that a considerable number  have left later for a better life in Western countries and the community has shrinked. However, everyone surely has a right to make a choice.

I wish grandchildren of those who were relocated understood that it was their grandparents' choice and stop demonizing Turkey under the influence of politicians who want to create pressure on Turkey for political purposes and those who make money out of this conflict. Grandmas will naturally tell what they have been through personally. But to reach a judgement one needs to see the big picture.

Henry Franklin-Bouillon, 1870-1937

Armenians had an important share in the economy of the Ottoman Empire, there were ministers, members of parliament and high level government officers among them. But when the Empire started to decline they preferred to co-operate with he invaders. In 1921 when the Ankara Agreement^[2] was signed on 21 October between France and the Grand National Assembly of Turkey a complete amnesty was granted by Article 5. At a meeting with Armenians Henry Franklin-Bouillon told them about the amnesty and suggested that they stay in Turkey. Further to amnesty, Article 6 read as follows:"..Turkey declares that the rights of minorities solemnly recognized in the National Covenant will be confirmed by it on the same basis as that established by the conversations on this subject between the Entante Powers, their enemies and certain of their allies." However, Armenians  said that they could not stay and face Turks any longer for reasons as explained by their spokesperson:

Armenian Legion of French Army

"Thank you, if you want to make us a favor, please do not patronize any longer. If you, your generals in Adana and your officers had not given us hopes, but told  beforehand what  the result was going to be  and did not encourage us to pursue sweet ambitions; we could have now walked among Turks with our heads high, we could have lived together as brothers and sisters as we have had for centuries  and  we could have tried to make a living in our homeland. Alas,  it is too late. We attacked Turks' sacred values, burnt their houses and did many inhumane things. Unfortunately this is a fact. We  are all humans. How can we face them? We can't do that. If you want to make us a favor, set us free. Let us cry for the sorrows of the past and to be pardoned."^[3]
 
The daily Ferda in Adana reported that only in Adana 49.000 Armenians left their homes on their own despite the amnesty after Ankara Agreement was signed.

Remembrance of Alawite women cannot be complete without a religious folk song and semah dance. I suggest you listen to Tevhid[Tawhid=Unison] sung by Sabahat Akkiraz if you find a recording. The link I used to offer is no longer valid unfortunately.

I am not sure if Armenian Turkish women remained Christian in heart or adopted the belief of their second community. If they did, this remembrance is also for them.

References:

1)  From De Sica to Khardalian : Filming Rape in War and Genocide. Armenian Holocaust: My Story. 17 April 2012.
2)  Turkey No.2 1921. Despatch from His Majesty's Ambassador at Paris Enclosing the Franco-Turkish Agreement Signed at Angora on October 20, 1921. London: HMSO, 1921.  http://www.hri.org/docs/FT1921/Franco-Turkish_Pact_1921.pdf . Accessed on 12.10.2012
3) Karacakaya, Recep. "Milli Mücadelede Fransız işgali ve buna tepkiler [French Invasion during War of Independence and Reactions" in Türk Kamuoyu ve Ermeni Meselesi. İstanbul: 2005.  T.B.M.M. Zabıt Ceridesi, c. XXVI, Ankara 1960, s. 177'den naklen, Ali İhsan Gencer, Sabahattin Özel, Türk İnkılâp Tarihi, s. 166, 167. http://kutaksam.karabuk.edu.tr/M%C4%B0LL%C4%B0%20M%C3%9CCADELEDE%20FRANSIZ%20%C4%B0%C5%9EGALLER%C4%B0%20VE%20BUNA%20TEPK%C4%B0LER.pdf.  Accessed on 12.10.2012

"Deportation" changed to "relocation" 07.04.2013


Armenian Holocaust:My Story blog by Selma Aslan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Gayriticari-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.