Tradition of Minstrelsy Literature of Erzurum and a Turkish Poet Writing in Armenian

When I came across a book titled Erzurum Aşıklık Geleneği [Tradition of Minstrelsy Literature of Erzurum] by Dr. Metin Özarslan [1] a few days ago, I was interested in it, not because of its theme but rather  for its geographic coverage as Erzurum is my home town.

Since I started this blog as soon as I open a book my fingers move towards the Armenian / Ermeni entries in the index. The same thing happened. I was not expecting to find anything of interest, but I was wrong. 

The last thing I could have imagined to find would be a Turkish poet writing in Armenian language! Yet, there he was: Kami (1843-1911) from the village of Tivnik, later named Altunbulak. He fell in love with an Armenian girl from the same village. He learnt Armenian and wrote poems in Armenian language for her. Unfortunately there is not an example of these poems in the original language they were written in this book. There is a poem in Turkish which I dare not attempt to translate into English. It is a nice poem asking wind to take his greetings to the beloved unnoticed by the others and telling how unhappy he was. A stanza is at the bottom for those who know Turkish to give a flavour of his poetry. None of the communities allowed intermarriages and a lot of hearts were broken in those times.  "By the middle of the 13th century, mystical (Sufi) poetry had become a major branch of Turkish literature, with Sufi poets working primarily in Anatolian Turkish" [2]. Kami was a mystic poet belonging to this branch of Turkish literature who was educated in a dervish lodge.

There are some 25 references in the book which unfortunately I could not check all due to lack of time, but I noticed the following Armenian book which appears in the list of sources :

Levovyan, G. 1892. Ermeni Aşıgları. Aleksandropol: G.S. Sanosiantsın Metbeesi.

Rather comprehensive introduction contains information about Erzurum which I found very useful. My grandmother never mentioned when they had to flee home and I was wondering when it happened. I still don't know which year it was and at one stage I guessed it could have been February 1916 when the city was occupied. However, Özarslan states that beginning of forced migration goes back to 1915 as slaughtering of Muslims by Armenians started then [p.10].

Özarslan covers earlier history of Erzurum as well. For instance he summarizes what Evliya Çelebi (1611-1684) told about Erzurum. Evliya Çelebi (March 1611- 1684, Istanbul) "was one of the most celebrated Ottoman travelers, who journeyed for more than 40 years throughout the territories of the Ottoman Empire and adjacent lands. Under the patronage of the court he began the journeys that took him from Belgrade to Baghdad and from Crimea to Cairo, sometimes as an official representative of the government and sometimes on his own. The result of these travels was his masterwork, the Seyahatname"[3],  ei. Book of Travels. I have not completed reading this section yet, but at the beginning a quotation caught me: "There are 70 districts of Muslims and 7 districts of Armenians. There are no Roma people, nor Jews. ..." [p.13]. That was a surprise to me because Erzurum is called Karen in Armenian and Armenians wanted to make this city their capital if they could have succeeded in founding Greater Armenia wiping out 80 per cent Muslim population from Eastern Anatolia at the end of WWI. There is an argument that the balance of population changed after migration of Muslim people from Balkans, Caucasia and Crimea in the 19th century. All those forced migrations surely must have made an impact, but Çelebi's statement indicates that even in the 17th century, in some places like Erzurum, which Armenians call historical Armenia, the size of the Armenian population was apparently not very substantial.

I understand, Muslims and Christians used to live in separate districts in the cities, but there were also some villages where Armenians and Muslims lived together like Tivnik/Tifnik. Isn't it a pity that hundreds of years' coexistence was wrecked in the political climate which prepared the WWI. Isn't it better to try to create a new positive relationship based on common culture and common interests, rather than carry on with the enmity of those days. Could not neighbouring peoples protect their interests better if they acted together leaving the past behind?

Sources

    1. Özarslan, Metin (2001). Erzurum Aşıklık Geleneği [Tradition of Minstrelsy Literature of Erzurum]. Akçağ.

2. "Turkish literature." Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online Academic Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2014. Web. 28 Aug. 2014. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/610052/Turkish-literature.

3. "Evliya Çelebi." Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online Academic Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2014. Web. 28 Aug. 2014. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/197350/Evliya-Celebi.


                A stanza from a poem by Kami (1843-1911):

                                  Boş gitme köyüne ey bâd-ı sabâ
                                  Yare çeşmim yaşın armağan götür
                                  Eğer hatırımdan sual ederse
                                  Zülfü tek hâlimi perişan götür

                                                         Quoted by Özarslan from Uraz 1933:160

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Some studies on Armenian Aşugs:

Koz, Sabri. 19. Yüzyıldan Üç Aşuğ. 1. Türk Halk Kültürü Araştırma Sonuçları. Ankara: Kültür Bakanlığı, 1996.
Türkmen, Fikret. Türk-Ermeni Aşık Edebiyatı İlişkileri. Osmanlı Araştırmaları, cilt 3. İstanbul: 1982.

 (Source: Tokel, Bayram Bilge. Türküler Kalır. İstanbul:Kapı, 2011. p.168)

Added on September 23, 2014 - SA