01-2012tert.nla.am/archive/NLA AMSAGIR/XXI Century/01_2012.pdf · 2016. 5. 24. · Gevorg Hayrapetyan Executive Secretary Lusine Baghramyan Anna Zhamakochyan Arestakes Simavoryan

YEREVAN

21st CENTURY « N O R A V A N K » F O U N D A T I O N

Published with the partial support of the

Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon

Special Issue

Published with the support of “Hyksos” Foundation

2012

( ) 1 11

21st CENTURY

Information and analytical journal

1 (11), 2012

EDITORIAL BOARD Aleksandr Gasparashvili Laboratory Chief at MSU after M. Lomonosov, Candidate of Science (Philosophy) Ara Marjanyan Coordinator of Renewable Energy Project of the World Bank in the Armenia, Candidate of Science (Engineering) Ashot Markosyan Deputy Head of the State Property Management Department adjunct to the RA Government, Doctor of Science (Economics) Gagik Harutyunyan (coordinator) Executive Director of “Noravank” Foundation, Candidate of Science (Chemistry) Hranush Hakobyan Minister of Diaspora or RA, Doctor of Science (Law) Karen Karapetyan First vice president of Gazprombank Joint Stock Company, Doctor of Science (Economics) Mushegh Lalayan Deputy Chairman of the Republican party of Armenia Sevak Sarukhanyan Deputy Director of “Noravank” Foundation, Candidate of Science (Political Sciences) Sergei Grinayev Director General of the Center of Strategic Estimations and Forecasts, Doctor of Science (Engineering) Tigran Sargsyan Prime-minister of the Armenia, Candidate of Science (Economics)

EDITORSHIP

Editor-in-Chief Gagik Harutyunyan Deputy Editor-in-Chief Ara Marjanyan Sevak Sarukhanyan Managing Editor Gevorg Hayrapetyan Executive Secretary Lusine Baghramyan Anna Zhamakochyan Arestakes Simavoryan Eduard Danielyan Ruben Melkonyan Tigran Harutyunyan

21st CENTURY

Information and analytical journal

1 (11), 2012

TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S

Gagik Harutyunyan Religious/Confessional Problems of the Armeniancy in the Context of the Global Developments …...………………...……………………….... 5 Vardan Astsatryan The Relations between Different Religious and Confessional Segments of the Armeniancy and the Issues of Their Consolidation …….......................................... 15 Hovhannes Hovhannisyan The Contemporary Problems of Armeniancy in the Religious Dimension ……............... 24 Arestakes Simavoryan, Vahram Hovyan The Forms and Mechanisms of Consolidation (Cooperation) of the Armeniancy’s Confessional Segments …………......…............................................. 38 Hagop Cholakian Latin Rite Roman Catholics of Armenian Descent in Syria …………................................ 54 Ruben Melkonyan The Study of the Issue of Islamized Armenians in Turkey: Problems and Prospects ......................................................................................................... 71 Sergei Vardanyan Converted Hamsheni Armenians: Mutual Acquaintance ................................................... 81 Hamo Moskofian The Awakening of the Converted Armenians ..................................................................... 87

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RELIGIOUS/CONFESSIONAL PROBLEMS OF THE ARMENIANCY IN THE CONTEXT

OF THE GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS

Gagik Harutyunyan*

A considerable part of ethnic Armenians, at least 10% by various estimates, are not adherents of the Armenian Apostolic Church. In addition to the Ar-menian Catholics, Evangelicals and Orthodox, there is a sizeable mass of Islamized Armenians. Obviously, forming expert opinions on Armenians of different confessions and religions is not only an issue of self-knowledge, but also an urgent task for spiritual security (SS), which is an important compo-nent of the national security (NS). Undoubtedly, without having clear ideas about the different confessional and religious segments it would be impossible to develop mechanisms for consolidated and effective activities by the Arme-nian public. At the same time it is known that in principle, no isolated areas can exist in the NS system, and even the problems of totally different nature are interconnected to a greater or lesser extent. In this respect the issues re-lated to SS have to do, in particular, with the following:

• Security problems of diaspora: as it is known, most of the Armenians adhering to other confessions and religions reside outside the Republic of Armenia (RA) and Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR)

• Pressing internal political problems of Armenia connected with interre-lations between various confessional segments, sectarian manifestations, tax and property issues, problems of the monuments’ preservation, etc.

* Executive Director, Noravank Foundation.

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• Foreign policy developments, with consideration of the existence and political potential of Armenians adhering to various confessions and re-ligions in Turkey, Middle East, as well as in Europe and the American continent.

It has to be stressed that the research of various confessional/religious

segments of the Armeniancy must be an integral part of classical Armenian Studies. It encompasses rich historiography intertwined with the history of Armenia, theological matters and many other issues. There are deep historical and scientific traditions in the scholarly studies of these fields. At the same time one may observe some trends that under a pseudoscientific cover at-tempts are made to over-simplistically interpret the Armenian genealogy or say, compose definitions of being an “Armenian” based exclusively on confes-sional/religious and linguistic prerequisites.

The Question “Who is Armenian?” and the Objectives of the Applied Armenian Studies

The problem of “Who is Armenian and who is not?” does not and cannot have solutions in form of a mathematical formula, as there are no such formu-las for complicated historical/social phenomena. The phenomenon of “the Ar-menian” is quite a complex notion, and clarification of this issue in each sepa-rate case (in these circumstances there are numerous different cases) should be left to the senses of a given person, to the opinion of the Armenian public, to the approaches of government structures and the church, and so forth. The issue of being an Armenian is such a matter where one’s personal approaches should never be overestimated, and in our opinion sometimes it is worth to confide in God only, because concretization attempts and mental exercises of Talmudic sort can only lead to a deadlock, but will never produce any con-structive results. In this context it seems appropriate to bring some quotes from the speech of the Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan delivered at the

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official reception hosted by the Permanent Mission of Armenia to the United Nations and leading Armenian-American organizations1: “Do we realize that cultural, linguistic and confessional diversity is not a deficiency, which has to be overcome, but an advantage which gives us unique opportunities? The Ar-menian identity should not be intricate and mysterious. It has to reject lin-guistic, religious, cultural, partisan, or ideological divides. The English-speaking, Turkish-speaking, Russian-speaking, or Armenian-speaking Arme-nian; the Apostolic, Catholic, Protestant, or Muslim Armenian; the Socialist or Democrat Armenian; the Nationalist or Liberal Armenian – they are just Armenians.” We believe this approach should serve as guidance for the public in the given issue. It has to be noted that Karekin II, Catholicos of All Arme-nians has also made statements along the same lines2.

Returning to the subject matter, in parallel to the classical Armenian studies the formation of Applied Armenian Studies is a somewhat new tradi-tion. Its objectives are outside the scope of the scientific criteria typical to the previous eras and are re-interpreted as a strategy for defending the national/political interests of Armenia and Armeniancy3.

Of course, such approach in no way implies forgoing classical concepts and fundamental knowledge, nor does it suggest that the processes of Arme-nian Studies and self-cognition problems should be pushed to the backburner and turned into mere PR and politicized procedures. Quite the opposite, the goal of Applied Armenian Studies is to use in a most effective way the results of

1 Speech delivered by President Serzh Sargsyan in the United States at the official reception hosted by the Embassy of Armenia to the US, Permanent Mission of Armenia to the United Nations and leading Armenian-American organizations http://www.president.am/events/news/arm/?pn=329&id=209 2 “We accept them as children of our nation who abandoned the faith and religion of their fathers due to some sad historical circumstances. We work so that they re-find their national identity, the core of which is the Christian faith.” The answer of Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II to a question asked by the French-Armenian “Nor Haratch” newspaper regarding Islamized Armenians. http://noravank.am/arm/articles/detail.php?ELEMENT_ID=6133 3 Գագիկ Տեր-Հարությունյանց, Հոգևոր անվտանգությունը որպես ազգային անվտանգության բաղադրամաս, «Տարածաշրջան» (հատուկ թողարկում), 2(4), p. 29, 2005; Гагик Арутюнян, Распад «системы» и формирование будущего, Ереван, НОФ «Нораванк», 2011.


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fundamental research in informational, ideological and international/political dimensions, thus putting those in service of modern and urgent matters of Ar-menia and Armeniancy. Such a modernized statement of the problem facili-tates the development of interdisciplinary methods and establishment of new fundamental research directions1. The experience of Western countries (especially the USA) and Russia has shown that activities of such nature, as a rule, are implemented by the so-called “think tanks” and these issues will later be considered in the context of the need to create such national institutions2.

The essence of religious/confessional problems of the Armeniancy pre-sented in this article is in line with the concepts and approaches of the newly forming traditions in Applied Armenian Studies. In the context of Applied Armenian Studies it has to be noted that the current brisk changes in the global geopolitical and even geo-economic fields cannot leave the Armenian state and the whole Armenian society untouched, and hence they influence also our national religious/confessional problems. This is simply a statement of a well-known fact, since the history of religion and church has always been and remains to be an important component of the world history. In par-ticular, the history of spiritual and religious matters is also a history of wars, if for example we recall the Crusades, modifications of which continue to date, as some analysts and political scientists argue.

Having stated once again that in the modern era of informational revo-lutions the great changes directly impact the Armenian realities, let us try to answer briefly the question of what is the global situation with the public and spiritual/religious arena. Apparently, without well-developed insights on the surrounding world it would be very difficult for us to act properly in the

1 Գագիկ Տեր-Հարությունյանց, Հոգևոր անվտանգությունը որպես ազգային անտանգության բաղադրամաս, «Տարածաշրջան» (հատուկ թողարկում), 2(4), p. 29, 2005; Гагик Арутюнян, Распад «системы» и формирование будущего, Ереван, НОФ «Нораванк», 2011. 2 Գագիկ Հարությունյան, Ուղեղային կենտրոնները և ազգային ան-վտան-գությունը, 21-րդ Դար, #1(35), p. 3, 2011։

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modern globalized, interlinked world, which responds quite harshly to the tendencies of isolation.

The Post-Secular, but in Essence Not-So-Spiritual World

As it is known, the contemporary social science in an almost uniform ap-proach describes the current era as “post-secular”1. The relevance of such wording to the current realities is proved, in particular, by the fact that in the recent period about 105,000 Christians are annually killed for their religious affiliation, or in other words, every five minutes a Christian is martyred for his/her faith. It has been also calculated that about 100 million Christians in the world are persecuted based on religious affiliation (mostly in the Middle East, North Africa, Southeast Asia, countries of Central and Southern Africa, and India). Other religious segments are also persecuted: about 35 million Muslims and representatives of other religions are annually persecuted in the world (suffice it to recall bloody conflicts between Shia and Sunni Muslims that sometimes take the form of mass terror)2. These are plausible data pre-sented and discussed at the international conference “Freedom of Religion: Problems of Discrimination and Persecution of Christians.” There is a good reason that the final document of the CIS Inter-Religious Council Session in Yerevan declares an aspiration that the 21st century should become an age of morality, for which the world has to at least accept and use the unique ex-periences contained in the peoples’ spiritual traditions3.

It can be thus argued that in contrast to the Modern era, the spiritual/religious matters are starting to regain high importance in the 21st century. Although having some positive aspects, which will be discussed later, the

1 See for example, Аркадий Малер, Постсекулярность или неоязычество? http://www.katehon.ru/html/top/philosophia/postsekularnost_ili_neojazychestvo.htm 2 «Каждые пять минут в мире за веру умирает христианин», http://www.stoletie.ru/print.php?ID=112136 3 Final communique of the CIS Inter-Religious Council Session, http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=documents&div=1148


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“post-secular” world brings certain risks. Particularly, two types of threats, geopolitical and societal ones are worth to briefly touch upon.

It is no surprise that the experts community links the beginning of the “post-secular era” to the collapse of USSR and Socialist system and the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The latter actually unleashed a war against extremist Islam-ism, conditionally named “war on terror” which however, cannot totally dis-guise its civilizational and partly religious direction. What currently happens in the New Middle East should be viewed as a logical extension of those global events. In particular, the region sees a return of political Islam, or worded differently, theocratic regimes. These forces currently act still using the terminology and rhetoric typical to the “moderate Islam”. However, ac-cording to some substantiated forecasts, particularly based on studying the radicalization of Islam currently taking place in Turkey, in the near future such regimes will move to more extreme manifestations with all the conse-quences that come with it1.

The fundamental work carried out by the highly reputable American and European “think tanks”, National Intelligence Council and EU Institute of Security Studies, presents near-future scenarios of the world’s division/fragmentation and particularly, the formation of an isolated Islamic world2. These trends are clearly shaping up in the context of the Middle Eastern de-velopments, and this is directly associated not only with the safety of our compatriots there, but also the security issues of the RA and NKR. It can be safely stated that Samuel Huntington’s concept of the “Clash of Civilizations” finds increasingly more materialized justifications3.

1 Գագիկ Հարությունյան, Սերգեյ Գրինյաև, Հեղափոխություններ. նոր աշխարհակարգի կերտ-ման ավարտը և գլոբալ կառավարման սցենարները. Գլոբուս ազգային անվտանգություն, #2(18) p. 3, 2011։ 2 Global Governance 2025: At a Critical Juncture. National Intelligence Council, European Union Insti-tute for Security Studies, September 2010. http://www.iss.europa.eu/uploads/media/Global__Governance_2025.pdf. 3 Самюэль Хантингтон, Столкновение цивилизаций, Москва, Изд-во АСТ, 2003.

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The second threat is that the spiritual, in particular, the Christian prin-ciples are reinstated in the modern consumer or so-called “consumerist” social system, where the main actor is the non-spiritual Homo economicus with an overly materialistic mentality. Thus, religious/confessional conceptions seem to be introduced in a social environment where spiritual principles are re-jected, which may cause various and not necessarily positive processes. It has to be stressed that in any case this phenomenon should be interpreted above all as a compensation mechanism or a peculiar therapy aimed at filling in the spiritual vacuum of the contemporary societies. However, there are obvious difficulties on this path, prompting some people to describe the modern Euro-pean societies as the “post-Christian world.”

In parallel with all of this, it has to be considered that the clergy is also affected by the consumerism of the time. This leads to a situation where the contemporary “post-secular” processes sometimes take up a nature of absolu-tizing and formalizing the ceremonies and rites, which in turn causes clerical-ization processes. Such approaches are as inacceptable as rejection of the spiritual principles (in this regard it is worth recalling the medieval precedent of selling indulgences or receiving “absolution for sins” for a monetary pay-ment). The situation arisen leads some scholars to present the current “post-secularism” as “neo-paganism”. These trends of clericalization and “neo-paganism” sometimes cause public outcry. For instance, even in Poland, a country with such solid Catholic traditions, an anti-clerical party called Palikot's Movement won about 10% of the vote (40 seats in the parliament) in the 2011 parliamentary elections1.

With all of this in mind, no wonder one may come across the thought expressed in media that Homo sovieticus, the hero of various funny stories (who as it is known did not attend church, performed no ceremonies and never followed any rituals) was often more spiritual and closer to the Chris-

1 Станислав Кувалдин, Дорога от костела, Эксперт, # 47(780), p. 73, 2011.


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tian worldview in essence than the present-day Homo economicus, who duteously performs all the ceremonies.

“Multiculturalism”, Civilizational Factor and External Influences

It is commonly accepted that as an important component of human con-sciousness, the religious concepts are deeply rooted and are hard to change. Perhaps this is one of the circumstances resting in the foundations of multi-culturalism policy that currently suffers a deep crisis in Europe1. Sometimes this reality prompts viewing the Armenian society through the prism of mul-ticulturalism, too. It has to be noted that in addition to the confessional/religious matters the Armenians of Diaspora are characterized by various geo-political orientations, linguistically different segments and other differences depending on their place of residence. Sometimes this leads to a conclusion that the Armeniancy is a “torn” civilization in Huntington’s definition and is doomed to break apart.

However, it has to be considered that the European and Armenian reali-ties are principally different. The newly established, primarily Muslim com-munities in Europe represent other, non-European civilizations. In contrast, our society is the bearer of Armenian civilizational values and characteristics, including a common homeland (currently represented by the two Armenian states), a unique and rich history and culture. This civilizational commonality allows being confident that we are able to overcome the existing problems.

It should be noted that the Armenian civilizational factor plays an im-portant role as a security resource in the state-related processes. It is known that the religious factor and existence of different confessional segments in the societies is often used by external powers as leverage for political influ-ence. There are numerous historical precedents of this, including the ones

1 Эмиль Паин, Мирное сосуществование ХХI века, Россия в глобальной политике, т. 9, #2, p. 8, 2011; А.И. Тэвдой-Бурмули, Мультикультурализм: между панацеей и проклятием, Актуальные вопросы Европы, #4, p. 14, 2011.

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uncovered recently with regard to the large-scale special actions of such na-ture used during the Cold War period1. These actions are hardly different in methodological terms from the activities implemented in information war-fare. Hence, solving these problems requires wide use of the measures typical for information security, among which conceivably the most effective one under the given circumstances is boosting the competitiveness of the national spiritual resources, as well as embedding the idea of Armenian civilizational commonality in the consciousness of the public.

At the same time, in the area of national security the challenges are of-ten coupled with opportunities. Such approach suggests that apart from con-stituting a certain problem, our religious/confessional differences contain sig-nificant potential and may render vast practical opportunities. For example, the Armenian Catholics are part of the 1 billion strong Catholic world gov-erned in a rather centralized manner by Vatican, which is not only a spiri-tual, but also a powerful geopolitical center. The various Evangelical confes-sions are a very influential political factor in the West and especially in the USA. A number of countries make use of this factor in terms of political lob-bying and it is worth a serious consideration. It is also entirely possible that the factor of Islamized Armenians may find a political use, and some attempts are already made in this direction. These circumstances could be used to the benefit of our national interests, if an appropriate strategy existed.

Some Conclusions

The brief thoughts presented above at the very least point out that the mod-ern religious/confessional problems deserve a serious scientific and analytical attention. An atmosphere of silence or outright rejection of these problems is the most ineffective approach for this area. Certainly, there are some prob-lems that should be dealt with not only by the experts, but also by govern-ment structures. 1 Петер Швейцер, Победа, Минск, 1995.


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At the same time it is obvious that the discussed area of spiritual security should be understood in the deepest and widest possible manner. Meanwhile, it has to be admitted that presently there is a lack of researchers, expert publica-tions and especially practical steps, first of informational actions. These are nec-essary to reinforce among the various religious/confessional segments of Arme-niancy the ideas of Armenian civilizational commonalty and the need to strengthen both Armenian states (RA and NKR). It should be noted that infor-mational actions do not imply at all mere rhetoric and primitive propaganda, but rather, above all they require development of proper programs, tactics and strategy. The solution of these problems entails consolidation of national intel-lectual and political resources, which is unthinkable without active involve-ment of our compatriots of different confessions and religions.

In this respect sometimes opinions are voiced that the current resources of Armenian research community are not nearly sufficient to organize studies of such scale, and that rather, such investigations are typically carried out in large states and powers. Evidently, such statement does contain realistic ele-ments. However, prioritizing an issue in turn triggers a process of forming the necessary intellectual resources.

December, 2011.

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THE RELATIONS BETWEEN DIFFERENT RELIGIOUS AND CONFESSIONAL SEGMENTS OF THE ARMENIANCY

AND THE ISSUES OF THEIR CONSOLIDATION

Vardan Astsatryan*

The Necessity to Consolidate the Armenians Spread all over the World

In the current transitional period of the multi-polar world civilizational con-flicts take place, with the globalized world being formed in parallel. These processes imply spiritual and cultural collisions and possible expansions. Only the nations that act in a coordinated manner are capable of scoring victories or at least gaining advantageous positions. Meanwhile, nations unable to de-termine their course, or follow a wait-and-see policy, eventually fall under the influence of the others.

In this context it is a crucial issue whether in present conditions a given nation has a clearly formed civilizational concept and competitive capacities to implement it.

The Armenian individuals and separate groups, who are the bearers of the Armenian civilization, have had remarkable achievements at different times and in different fields. However, having been deprived of their state-hood (including a system of power) for centuries, Armenians actually had no opportunity to practice their civilization at a political level, though the native Armenian homeland has always been a focal point for clashing global inter-

* Head of the Department for Ethnic Minorities and Religious Affairs, Staff of the Government of the Republic of Armenia.

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ests. For extended times this circumstance has significantly hindered the natural development of the Armeniancy in the political arena, and restricted the opportunities to gain necessary experience. In the modern times it is a rather essential gap that should be filled as soon as possible in order to dem-onstrate our independent profile and strengthen our positions in the processes taking place in the world.

On this path, high importance is attached to the knowledge of own identity and the Armenian civilizational values deriving from it (the charac-terization of the Armenian civilization), as well as their real-life application under the current conditions, which implies development of a spiritual/ideological concept and modern mechanisms to practice it so as to face the existing challenges.

Another imperative related to putting the Armenian civilizational values into action is the consolidation and systematization of the national resources.

In our opinion, the high priority of the spiritual/ideological concept is obvious here. It will be a necessary condition for bringing together the hu-man resources needed, whereas in its absence, it will be difficult to consoli-date these resources, turning the mentioned concept into a subject of only limited discussions.

Consolidation of the National Resources

Consolidation of the Armeniancy and its resources spread all over the world is obviously challenged by considerable linguistic, religious/confessional and cultural obstacles, which in practice sometimes cause confrontations. There-fore, in order to develop any long-term programs of consolidation it is neces-sary to clarify and seriously scrutinize the existing situation.

The overwhelming majority of Armenians at least nominally identify themselves as members or adherents of the Armenian Apostolic Church

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(hereinafter referred to as the Armenian Church), but there is also a consider-able number of Armenians of other religions and confessions. This issue is evident in the Republic of Armenia (RA) and it becomes even more notable when the Armenian Diaspora is added to the pool. Here a particular attention should be paid to the leftovers of the Armeniancy who were forcibly Islam-ized (assimilated with Kurds and Arabs) as a result of the Genocide perpe-trated by the Ottoman Empire in the 19-20th centuries in Western Armenia and the Near East. Some representatives of this segment recently came for-ward and spoke up.

Under the circumstances concerned, those who study this subject pro-pose to take the Armenian descent as a basis for consolidation; however, this cannot serve as a sufficient condition for such consolidation. Bearing an Ar-menian self-consciousness is offered as an additional condition, which in principle seems to be acceptable almost to everyone. If this is the case, the next step should be defining all the characteristics of the “Armenian self-consciousness”.

In developing this definition it is also necessary to take into considera-tion the religious and confessional ideas of a person who regards himself an Armenian. In this sense, it appears important that the Armenians who live outside the RA are to be actually ready to rank the Armenian national inter-ests higher than those of the countries they live in.

The Role of the Religion

As it was mentioned above, the system of values is an important and requisite descriptor of the identity, serving as guidance for all groups and regulating their everyday lifestyles. The system of values inevitably contains religious/confessional notions, as well as principles and norms deriving from those.

In this context special attention should be paid to the fact that the na-tion cannot exist without a living memory, without its past, and that we in-


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herited Armenia from our ancestors, so every generation should contribute to this heritage (material, spiritual and cultural) and pass it on to the next gen-eration. In case if due to various reasons there is no possibility or ability to add to this heritage, it should at least be passed to the following generation unadulterated and undisturbed.

The spiritual component is an essential part of this heritage and the Ar-menian Church has been its carrier for ages. One should not forget that the Armenian Church is the only preserved and uninterrupted Armenian institu-tion which connects us with the past, and its mission is to take our nation to its future destination. Under the influence of different external drivers some segments of the Armeniancy started adopting other spiritual heritages only during the last three centuries.

While considering the religious situation one cannot ignore the circum-stance that in the last century secularization swept victories all over the world. One of the manifestations of such secularization has been the “privatization of the religion”, as a result of which the social life was divided into public and private areas and religion has been pushed to the “private space” to become a personal matter of an individual. Religion was turned into one of the particular public services and “a market of the religions” emerged. Consequently, consumer attitudes towards religions developed among the people; a person began viewing religious traditions as merchandise and treat-ing them by the principle “what is in it for me?” Thus, generally the religion no longer tells a human being what kind of a person he/she should be, but quite the opposite. Hence, the traditional consolidating role of the religion was abolished and substituted by the civil norms…

Nevertheless, we believe that while studying the issue of the Arme-niancy’s consolidation one should not bow too much to the current secular concepts and disregard the real, traditional role of the religion, but should rather take it into consideration as necessary.

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According to Vincenzo Gioberti, an Italian philosopher, statesman and politician of 19th century: “At all times and everywhere the civil principles were derived from the hieratic ones, cities developed around the temples, laws originated from prophecies, … the education and culture of people from their religion…” Similar ideas were suggested also by A. Berdyayev, M. Müller, L. Feuerbach and many other reputable thinkers.

It should also be taken into account that today, under the post-secularism, the notion of religion based on secular concept is being reconsid-ered; i.e. Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Protestantism (except for its ultra-liberal branches) and Islam are no longer viewed as religions alone. Now they are again treated as ideologies and ways of life, as alternative value systems not only respective to each other but also in regard to secularism. Secularism is losing its status of the one that uses neutral tools to regulate co-existence of different religious and ideological systems. Under such conditions the issue of possible co-existence of these ideologies has surfaced, the unity of which so far has been taken care of only by formal norms that in no way were neutral.

The Situation in the Republic of Armenia

Currently there are 67 registered and many unregistered religious organiza-tions in Armenia. Most of the registered organizations are Protestant, fol-lowed by the so-called new religious movements – Jehovah’s witnesses, Mor-mons, Krishnaites, etc. Although there is no official statistics on religious af-filiation in Armenia, according to the data presented by different experts and researchers, the Armenian Church is the largest in terms of the number of the adherents, followed by Armenian Catholics, Protestants and followers of the new religious movements.

The number of adherents of the Protestant churches and new religious movements constitute about 4%, but they act very vigorously and sometimes even aggressively in Armenia, and over the last 20 years they have been able


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to establish their own infrastructures (kindergarten, school, university, com-munities, etc.) in the country.

The inter-religious and inter-confessional atmosphere in Armenia is generally peaceful. The Armenians are truly tolerant toward the national reli-gious institutions of the ethnic minorities living in Armenia that comprise about 3% of the country’s population, and have never treated them as sects. However, there is an obvious discontent with most of the Protestant organi-zations and new religious movements, which is caused by their aggressive ac-tivity and the threat they pose to the Armenian identity. This is evidenced by the grievances brought by the citizens and comments in the mass media.

Though the Protestants in Armenia often mention that they recognize the Armenian Church as the “mother church”, but in the inner circles they continuously criticize it. Over the recent years this controversy spilled over beyond those inner circles and materialized in an open opposition. This comes to prove that for different reasons, the religious and confessional dif-ferences cause confrontation in the RA.

It is noteworthy that there is no atmosphere of an inter-confessional and, much less, inter-religious dialogue in Armenia. It is absent even in the relations between different Protestant movements; only recently, prompted by the need to protect own interests, they initiated steps directed toward con-solidation. As for the new religious movements, they reject all other religions and confessions.

Today the Armeniancy faces serious global challenges; meanwhile an Armenian has no answers to them based on the traditional religion, no appro-priate norms of behavior, no organized application of these norms, no ideo-logical propositions, and the newly forming legislation actually has no rela-tion to the aforementioned norms and the national ideology. This implies a necessity to analyze and assess the existing challenges and problems and ur-gently develop a social doctrine from the perspective of the Armenian Church’s teachings.

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The General Situation in the Diaspora

Researchers studying the issue of language and confessional differences of Ar-menians in the Diaspora classify the religiously/confessionally or linguisti-cally assimilated groups according to certain criteria and come to some inter-esting conclusions, as follows:

1. The Armenians who do not speak Armenian and are not Christians tend to almost totally lose their Armenian self-consciousness, as, for example, great many Armenians in Syria who assimilated with Arabs and con-verted to Islam (about 500-700 thousand people).

2. Only in case of carrying out special policies it may become possible to reclaim the Armenian identity for the Armenians who do not speak Ar-menian, but are Christians.

3. The Armenians who do not speak Armenian, but adhere to the Arme-nian Church have preserved their Armenian self-consciousness and have higher chances for awakening (e.g. Yakoubiye village in Syria).

There is another remarkable observation: among the foreign language

speaking Armenians some manifestations of the self-consciousness of the na-tion the language of which they speak can be observed, but these may disap-pear as soon as they find themselves in a mainstream Armenian environment. Therefore, the mainstream Armenian environment or the way of life which corresponds to the Armenian identity has a key role to play.

The following conclusion is also important: the confessional estrange-ment from the main Armenian masses paves a way to linguistic and national estrangement in general, and the language estrangement (Syria, Lebanon) boosts alienation on confessional/national grounds.

Conclusion

A general situational analysis suggests that obstacles may appear on the way of consolidating the individuals and groups who have Armenian self-


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consciousness, and it will be necessary to develop differentiated approaches toward the adherents of other Christian confessions, followers of the new re-ligious movements and people of drastically different religions.

Along with developing spiritual and ideological responses to the existing challenges and modern mechanisms of their implementation, the following should be treated as top priorities:

• organizing the process of consolidation for the individuals and groups who maintain vibrant Armenian self-consciousness and tend to under-take nationally-oriented activities; and

• constant implementation of programs that draw closer the individuals and groups who have not rejected yet different religious/confessional ideas or who have weak perception of the Armenian self-consciousness.

To attain this objective it is necessary to develop an appropriate reinte-

gration (transformation) program and implement it fittingly to the existing conditions. It should have components addressing the groups which are at different levels of the Armenian self-consciousness and readiness to act.

At the same time, it is necessary to develop favorable and stimulating con-ditions which, in turn, could spur their wish and will to transform, i.e. to re-claim their roots, understand the Apostolic faith, learn the Armenian language and use it on a daily basis, politically support the state interests of Armenia.

This is not a new issue and in the early 20th century one of the great Armenian luminaries had proposed an approach to solve it. This approach is especially remarkable by the fact that its author is one of the high-ranking priests of the Armenian Church – Bishop Karekin of Trabzon. He wrote:

“The Armenian Church as a religious association is also a spiritual fam-ily. And as a family it has its own Home. There is only one Church in the moral sense, but there are many temples.

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There are children inside and outside this Home and they all are a family. Those who live in the Home are loyal to its laws and rules that help

manage the house and keep the internal harmony. Those outside the Home – different groups, sects or vagabonds – are de-

prived of the privileges enjoyed by those who are inside, but they still remain the sons of this family.

In any case it is wrong to stay outside the Home, no matter what are the justifications and reasons. As a result the House loses its magnificence. The responsibility for it falls both on the indifferent people who are inside and the discontented ones who are outside.”

In the conclusion Karekin of Trabzon provides the formula for the inner peace of the Armenian Home:

“There is no and there must never be any inquisition on faith in this Armenian Home. However, it is appropriate that the spirit and moral basis of the Home constitute the spirit and basis for the individual self of its every member”1.

I would suggest supplementing this approach by a well-known principle of the Christian Church (by Blessed Augustine of Hippo): “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity”.

December, 2011.

1 «Գարեգին Եպիսկոպոս Տրապիզոնի, «Աշխարհի Լոյսն ի Հայս», pp. 208-209.

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THE CONTEMPORARY PROBLEMS OF ARMENIANCY IN THE RELIGIOUS DIMENSION

Hovhannes Hovhannisyan*

The Problems of Armeniancy in the Religious Dimension

Over the history of the Armenian people, along with the political and state-related issues the religious, ecclesial and theological ones were among the most discussed and analyzed problems. Already in the 5th century the “Ecumenical” Council of Chalcedon led to division between Chalcedonian and non-Chalcedonian churches, setting conditions for further course of not only ecclesial/religious, but also the political life. Later the numerous other ecclesial splits not only deepened the ecclesiastical or religious/confessional differences alone, but also shaped the processes of identity formation and dif-ferentiation for various nations and ethnic groups. Naturally the Armenian Church and Armenian people could not stay away from these processes. The Great Schism of 1054, and later also the church division during the Reforma-tion period directly affected the Armenian reality.

In parallel with emergence of various Christian sects the Western eccle-sial structures launched active missionary activities particularly in the regions inhabited by Armenians, simultaneously exploiting the socio-psychological conditions caused by the pressure of the Muslim environment, as well as the lack of religious education among the Armenian population and the absence of a national political authority. The Catholic and Protestant preachers some-times took advantage of this unstable political, public, social, religious and * Ph.D. in History, Docent at YSU Chair of History of Ecclesiology and Armenian Church.

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spiritual situation, and over the time their active proselytism enabled them to acquire a large number of adherents among the Armenian population. It is not our intention to analyze the reasons why a considerable mass of Armeni-ans converted to other religions, because this analysis may include drastically different causes: from using the opportunities to adapt to the only means to avoid physical extermination. Nonetheless, it has to be mentioned that the late-medieval history of the church and politics is full of stories about foreign preachers, who were often viewed as a serious factor disturbing the national unity and posing a threat to the national identity.

The stratification of the Armeniancy especially deepened and widened after the Genocide, when the various religious strata of the Armeniancy left their ancestral homes and scattered around the world. It has to be noted that during this period the special attitudes of European states and religious/ecclesial structures towards Armenian Protestants and Catholics often inten-sified the existing controversies and antagonism between Apostolic Armeni-ans and their Evangelical and Catholic brethren1.

Moreover, in some cases adherents of the Armenian Apostolic Church directly blamed Armenians of other religions and viewed them as accom-plices in the massacres. Such attitudes did not facilitate establishing national unity, and further pushed apart the approaches of Armenians with different religious affiliations regarding the issues of concern for the Armeniancy. Needless even to mention the Islamized Armenians, as Apostolic Armenians used to refuse that they are Armenians at all, since adherents of the Armenian Apostolic Church traditionally regarded only themselves as ethnic Armeni-ans, and rejected the idea that people of other religions can be Armenians.

In respect to the Armenian Apostolic, Catholic and Evangelical Churches it is useless to talk about ecclesiological/confessional, canonic or

1 For more details on the attitudes of Apostolic Armenians toward Armenian Evangelicals see: Խառա-տյան Հ., Կրոնի և կրոնական ինստիտուտների հասարակական դերը կամ կրոնականության իրավիճակը Հայաստանում, «Կրոն և հասարակություն» ամսագիր, Ա, Երևան, 2007, p. 99:

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ritual issues, because the differences between these churches always existed and the very fact of these differences has prompted diverse approaches to-wards Armeniancy. Despite the religious differences, some religious/confessional similarities of these churches are to be noted as well, in particu-lar their common acceptance of the first three Ecumenical Councils (Nicaea – 325, Constantinople – 381, and Ephesus – 431), which is often neglected or subordinated to the differences and conflicts that increasingly deepened in subsequent centuries. On the other hand, raising the religious issues can only be an artificial problem, which does not reflect the true nature of relationship between these churches and is outside the scope of the critical issues that the Armenian people are concerned about. It bears also mentioning that most of the Armenian Catholics residing in Armenia “are Catholic by hereditary reli-gious identity, rather than by faith”1. Many of them have no idea about the etymological origins of their sobriquet “Frank”, no perception of any confes-sional discord with Armenian Church and they often turn to the priests of the Armenian Apostolic Church for satisfying their spiritual needs. Incidentally, Armenian Evangelicals were called “Ingliz” by the public.

The situation is different with the Armenian Evangelicals, who strengthened their adherents’ sense of religious affiliation with help of the support received from abroad, and thus intensified the displays of religious identity. In this perspective the main emphasis of the this article is not placed on the religious differences or similarities, but rather on the national unity of Armenian people living in both Diaspora and the Republic of Armenia, valu-ing the identity, developing joint actions, acting in unison with regards the national problems, quickly responding and forming a national front to face the global and local challenges. In this regard Dr. Hayk Kotanjyan, a political scientist, has correctly noted: “Difficulties remain in relations between the RA and Diaspora, because so far there has been a lack of understanding of the

1 Ibid, p. 95:

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necessity to form an effective model of mutual interests between the two sys-tem-creating components of the World Armeniancy – the Republic of Arme-nia as the National State and the Diaspora.”

The Issues of Armenian Identity in the Religious Dimension

In a publication titled Ethnic Groups and Boundaries, Fredrik Barth brings up new approaches in defining group identities and outlines the boundaries of these identities1. The Armenian Apostolic2, Catholic and Evangelical3 Churches are distinct groups, each having their characteristic identities and by that they differentiate themselves from other groups, including the churches representing other segments of the Armenian people. On the other hand, these religious groups of the Armeniancy have undergone various po-litical, economic, cultural influences over the time, which have often deter-mined their boundaries and identity traits.

As the religious groups of Armeniancy lived in different parts of the world and in various cultural systems, they formed “multi-identities” that al-lowed them to develop the most adaptive mechanisms and to survive physi-cally. The ethnic origin or ethnic affiliation is one of the important identity elements for the Apostolic, Catholic and Evangelical Armenians. This ele-ment might be concealed due to some political or other reasons, or might not manifest itself for a long time due to the lack of favorable conditions. 1 Fredrik Barth, Ethnic Groups and Boundaries. The Social Organization of Culture Difference, Bergen. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, London: George Allen & Unwin, 1969, p. 9-35. 2 The Armenian Apostolic Church consists of four autocephalous centers: Catholicosates of Etchmiadzin and Cilicia, Patriarchates of Jerusalem and Constantinople. Despite this departmentalization, the party affiliation rather than religious factor has played a major role in the identity of the Armenian Apostolic Church adherents. For instance, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation has played an essential role in the activities and relations of the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia, and this has formed the identity traits of the Armenians living under auspices of the Cilicia Catholicosate (see more details about this in: Հովհաննիսյան Հ., Մայր աթոռ Ս.Էջմիածնի և Մեծի Տանն Կիլիկիո կաթողիկոսու-թյան 20-րդ դարի երկրորդ կեսի հարաբերությունների վերլուծության փորձ, Տարեգիրք Գ, Երևան, 2008թ., pp. 316-338): 3 The matters are more complicated with the Armenian Evangelical Church, because in this case there is no uniform ecclesial system, and so the Armenian Evangelicals or Armenian Protestants are represented by numerous churches and with various names. In this article Armenian Evangelical Church refers to the church registered in the Republic of Armenia.


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The problem of religious affiliation of different strata of Armeniancy can be overcome only by subordinating the religious element in the identity to the national or ethnic one, when an objective is set to mobilize various seg-ments of Armeniancy through a strategy of “inclusion”. Mobilization can take place only as a result of a direct intervention by the government authorities of Armenia, when attaining a common objective or solving common prob-lems brings the priority of being Armenian to the forefront, leaving behind the religious affiliation of Apostolic, Catholic or Evangelical Armenians.

Pursuing shared objectives and solving common problems may lead to development and adoption of such mechanisms that will not only boost the cooperation between Apostolic, Catholic and Evangelical Armenians at vari-ous levels, but will also create opportunities for them to establish joint bodies and implement effective programs to the benefit of the Armeniancy. Imple-mentation of joint programs on a permanent basis will gradually demote their religious identity relative to the national one and make them rise above the confessional differences. Subordinating the religious identity to the ethnic identity is quite difficult, especially for the adherents of the Evangelical church, because many of them deny the connection between religious and ethnic identities and attribute a higher priority to the religious affiliation.

Discussion on the religious identity of the Armeniancy requires men-tioning the issue of local identities as well, because it is impossible to examine the identities of adherents of the Armenian Apostolic, Armenian Catholic and Armenian Evangelical Churches from the viewpoint of universal concepts alone; the nature and components of their identities tend to change depend-ing on the geography. In this sense the residents of Armenia should be viewed as a separate entity, whereas the problems of Diaspora should be con-sidered in a multi-phase diversification perspective. On the other hand, it should be mentioned that the dialogue between the traditional Armenian churches must stem from the public interests, rather than from narrow per-

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sonal or even ecclesial interests, because in the modern world priority should be given to the public demands and grassroots motives.

In this respect one should not ignore the circumstance that the modern world has rushed into the stages secularism and post-secularism, which is quite vividly displayed in the interrelation of religious and non-religious aspects in the Republic of Armenia. These stages take different shapes in the Armenian Diaspora communities and Armenia proper, and this is why the religious or inter-church dialogue should take place through secular participation. In other words, the government authorities of Armenia must create favorable condi-tions for a dialogue between the Armenian Apostolic, Armenian Catholic and Armenian Evangelical Churches from a non-religious perspective and for Ar-menian-centered joint activities to the benefit of Armenians.

In the context of dialogue between various Armenian ecclesial struc-tures and different segments of Armeniancy and implementation of Arme-nian-centered activities, it seems appropriate to refer to the principles of in-terreligious dialogue formulated by Paul Tillich, a renowned theologian. Ac-cording to these principles the dialogue participants are to accept the value of the opponent’s religious ideas, which by itself underscores the importance of the dialogue. Secondly, the dialogue participant may insist on his/her reli-gious views, which implies opposing opinions, but at the same time there should be a common ground for both dialogue and dispute. Finally, the par-ties have to be open to the criticism of their religious standpoints1.

It has to be noted that for the Armenian churches it is quite hard to meet the last requirement of Tillich, because each of them is sure and convinced about the rightness of own principles. The other principles of the “Tillich plat-form” seem applicable for establishing an arena for dialogue and a standing body with participation of Armenian Apostolic, Catholic and Evangelical Churches. The content dimension of the “Armenian” component present in 1 For details see: П.Тиллих, Христианство и встреча мировых религий // Теология культуры, М., 1995, p. 425.


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their names could unify all three ecclesial entities, because they all are bound to serve the shared interests of Armeniancy, whether these are universal, local, public or state interests. On the other hand, in addition to supra-religious equivalences and commonalities, the churches also have no less important rit-ual, canonic and confessional similarities (e.g. the dogma of Trinity), which could be underscored if there is a desire and will for dialogue, and in case of implementing Armenian-centered activities. If a will for dialogue and desire to emerge out of the “latent conflict” exist, then those need to be institutionalized and brought from the level of periodical meetings of church leaders down to the wide circles of the faithful, along with boosting the personal communica-tions and relations, publishing circular letters when necessary, etc.

The Armenian Apostolic Church traditionally dominated in the terri-tory of Armenia, and considered other religions and religious dissent a threat to ethnic preservation and national unity. Interestingly, to counter the repre-sentatives of other religions the Armenian Apostolic Church uses only na-tional arguments, rather than confessional or religious ones. On the other hand, after emergence of the Armenian Diaspora the Armenian Catholic and Evangelical Churches have played quite a significant role in preserving Arme-niancy and thus contributed to shaping the new realities in Diaspora. It is enough to mention that since the 18th century the Mekhitarist Order has played an invaluable role in developing the Armenian studies and preserving Armeniancy. As for the Evangelical Church, one may recall the activities and tragic death of Hrant Dink, an Armenian Evangelical, who played a great part in bringing up the problems of Armeniancy in the modern Turkish society and launching an Armenian-centered discourse.

The Memory of Genocide and Restoration of Historical Justice: the Image of Hrant Dink as a Vow for Religious Unity

The 1915 Genocide of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire resulted in emer-gence of Armenian Diaspora, which continues a joint struggle to date for re-

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storing the historical truth. Every year on April 24 the Armenians of Diaspora and Armenia regardless of religious and political affiliations stand united to voice protests about the great tragedy that occurred in Turkey. The fair reso-lution of the Armenian Cause is among the very few issues for which the Ar-menian people set aside any religious differences and try to make a stand in a united front against a common adversary. In all fairness it has to be added that the religious differences and controversies were shaken off also in 1988 after the Spitak earthquake, when the entire Armeniancy stood united to cope with the effects of the disaster. Unfortunately, this unity and accord can be observed only on occasions related to the Genocide or some other adverse realities, but not in relation to Armenia’s Independence Day or Constitution Day or any other celebrations.

It has to be mentioned that in the modern-day Armenian environment the previously widespread religion-based restrictions, when Apostolic Arme-nians did not marry the Catholics or Evangelicals and vice versa, have been eliminated1. The rules of the information society have abolished the limita-tions existing in the past and made the modern human discard the archaic methods and follow the new rules. Unfortunately, these realities have elimi-nated not only the religious boundaries, but also the ethnic ones, as a result of which the Armenians in foreign environment often marry foreigners, assimi-late into the local culture and lose their ethnic identity under the influence of this environment, especially if it is a Christian one. Despite this circumstance, we still can see internal marriages among crypto-Armenians of modern Tur-key whose hidden ethnic self-consciousness causes them pursue the goal of maintaining their ethnic Armenian essence, at the same time outwardly pre-

1 For the analysis of a similar situation in Javakhk see: Սիմավորյան Արեստակես, Հովյան Վահրամ, Ջավախահայության որոշ հիմնախնդիրներ, Եր., «Նորավանք» ԳԿՀ, 2009, p. 41. Also there is an interesting case of negative attitude of Apostolic Armenians toward a family that married their daugh-ter off to a Russian Orthodox policeman in the years of the Russian Empire: Հովհաննիսյան Հ., Հայ Առաքելական եկեղեցու բարենորոգության հիմնահարցը 1901-1906թթ., Երևան, 2008, p. 46:


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tending to be Muslims1. Although the Information Age dictates its rules, there are attempts to maintain in whatever ways the Armenian identity in the modern world, thus creating wide opportunities to consolidate around new ideas and approaches, the first and foremost of which is the imperative to consolidate around the idea of “the Republic of Armenia”.

In this context it seems appropriate to analyze some of the opinions about Armenia and memories of genocide expressed in Catholic and Evan-gelical media of Diaspora. Recently, various centers of Diaspora have been actively discussing the idea proposed by Hranush Hakobyan, RA Minister of Diaspora, regarding a bicameral legislature and more active involvement of diasporan Armenians in the life inside Armenia. This idea had an ambivalent reception among the Armenians of Diaspora2. Interestingly, in these discus-sions about realities inside Armenia all sorts of religious differences were brushed off, and the issue was examined exclusively from the viewpoint of finding political and Armenia-centered solutions, which we believe is a good precedent for making it a continuous process.

Generally, the ecclesial structures of Armenian Diaspora conduct a sin-gle-vector policy toward recognition of the Armenian Genocide, because the credo of being an Armenian is directly linked to the demand for a fair resolu-tion of the Armenian Cause, regardless of any religious or political affiliations. The Armenian Apostolic, Armenian Catholic and Armenian Evangelical Churches all had scores of martyrs and victims among the faithful and the clergy. For instance, although the headquarters of Mekhitarist Order were in Europe, at the time of the Genocide there were Mekhitarist centers in Mush, Trabzon, Izmit and Bardizag, where many Mekhitarists fell victim to the Turk-ish yataghan. The Armenian Catholic Church in Zmmar also had numerous victims, but none of them gave up their Armenianness and the Christian faith3.

1 For more details see: Մելքոնյան Ռ., Իսլամացված հայերի խնդիրների շուրջ, Երևան, 2009, pp. 36-43: 2 See «Մասիս», մարտ 2011, 6-8: 3 For more details see: «Մասիս», ապրիլ 2011, 22-30:

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Many leaders of the Armenian Apostolic and Armenian Evangelical Churches perished because of their ethnic and religious identity, as they re-fused to repudiate this identity. It has to be mentioned that Armenian Protes-tants have done and continue doing a lot in various countries of the world to bring up the issues of Armeniancy and preserve the nation.

The memory of Genocide and its victims is an endless topic to discuss, but we shall turn to expanding the Armenian-centered comprehension of this memory in current conditions and by modern methods, as well as introducing the Armenia-centered identity. Instilling such identity is directly linked with the ideas that the Diaspora has about Armenia, which are not always positive due to some adverse experiences many diasporan Armenians have gone through. Having suffered from the Genocide, the traditional Armenian churches should not concentrate on grave memories of the past, but with the lessons of history in mind they should rather engage in an active dialogue with each other and develop joint action plans to retain the Armenian iden-tity, preserve Armeniancy and have a more serious participation in programs directed towards strengthening and developing Armenia. The traditional Ar-menian churches must be able to jointly form a distinctive public platform, recommendations and criticisms of which could be useful for solving the common problems.

In this regard it is worth noting situation in the Constantinople’s Arme-nian community consequent to Hrant Dink’s vigorous activities, when the Armenian ecclesial structures often set aside their differences and contributed to implementation of joint programs. After Hrant Dink was murdered there was much talking about his Evangelical background, ensued by opinions and comments voiced both in public circles and media. Even more debates fol-lowed when Very Rev. Rene Levonian, Head of the Armenian Evangelical Church made a statement in the media that Hrant Dink was a member of the Evangelical Church1. 1 See Azg daily, 22/02/2007; http://azg.am/AM/2007022202


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Although Hrant Dink has studied in an Armenian protestant school, the religious or identity-related issues did not have an essential or decisive signifi-cance for him; instead, he was very much concerned about national problems and supra-religious issues that were vital to the community. Interestingly, the compensation paid by the Turkish government was divided in three parts and allocated to the Hrant Dink Scholarship Fund, Getronagan Armenian High School in Istanbul and Gedikpaşa Armenian Evangelical Church, respectively, with the purpose of providing education to the children of migrants from Ar-menia. This is remarkable in the sense that even after his death Hrant Dink continues to remain above any religious affiliation, with a higher priority placed on being an Armenian and benefitting Armeniancy and Armenia.

The Agos weekly never prioritized the religious affiliation or viewed people from that perspective, which clearly shows Hrant Dink’s vision and stance concerning religious identity. The emphasis on Hrant Dink’s person is important in this context, showing that a true Armenian who is concerned about the problems of Armeniancy should not care what church or confes-sion an individual is a member to, but instead should set aside the issues of religious identity, and get involved primarily and mostly with advancing and solving nation-related and ethnic preservation problems, as Dink did.

The Republic of Armenia as a Supra-Religious Reality

The statement by Serzh Sargsyan, President of RA, made in the USA with re-gard to the boundaries of ethnic and religious affiliation, or to be more precise, about breaking such boundaries, infused a new quality and content to the Ar-menian civic, national and political discourse. After this statement, active dis-cussions started about the entirety of Armenian identity’s elements, whereby being an Armenian traditionally used to be equivalent to being an adherent of Armenian Apostolic Church, while anybody else was classified as “renegade Armenian” or “traitor of nation”. In the modern world such approach is fraught

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with dangers of stern intolerance, which is a barrier to starting a dialogue be-tween ecclesial structures of ethnic Armenians. Despite this, many leaders of the Armenian Apostolic Church continue to insist on putting the equal sign between the religious and national identities, which both contradicts the guidelines set by the RA President and endangers the unity of Armenian struc-tures in Diaspora, as well as the ethnic preservation process. Recently, the church’s “patriot/traitor” approach and equalization of religious and national identities that hinders the state unity are often criticized in the scientific dis-course as the main barrier to pluralism of opinions and religious dialogue1.

In this sense all churches that act in Armenia and for the unity of Ar-menian people, should focus not on the confessional differences, but on the imperative of having the same national self-consciousness, same history and same destiny, within the framework of which all intolerance and faulty prac-tice of blaming each other must be eliminated among the traditional Arme-nian churches and in their interrelations. The ideas and accounts of great Ar-menian novelist Raffi on national self-consciousness are quite remarkable. He testified that Armenian Protestants had played a great role in preaching Christianity among the Armenians of Dersim and returning them back to their ethnic origins. He also mentions that the national self-consciousness is an important component of the national identity: “… the multitude of confes-sions does not destroy the national unity. Unity should be sought in the har-mony of the parts, with the main motive being the nation in its highest meaning”2. It is impossible to imagine national unity without sponsorship of the highest authorities of Armenia, as well as the Armenian Apostolic Church’s policy of tolerance toward people of other religions, which would lead to religious dialogue and implementation of joint national programs. 1 See Սարգսյան Մ., Անհանդուրժողականությունը և ներքին համերաշխության ձեռքբերման խնդիրը հայաստանյան հասարակության մեջ, «Կրոն և հասարակություն» ամսագիր, N. 3, ապ-րիլ, 2008, pp. 5-19: 2 Quoted from: Հովյան Վ., Բողոքական հայերը` տարադավան հայության շերտ, Րաֆֆի, Ի՞նչ կապ կա մեր և Տաճկաստանի հայերի մեջ, http://www.eanc.net/EANC/library/Fiction/Original/Raffi/Essays_9.htm?page=31&interface_language=en


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Given all of the above, we believe implementation of the following con-cepts will be a basis for achieving the mentioned objectives:

• The vision of development and prosperity of the Republic of Armenia should become the cornerstone for cooperation and establishment of a common platform between Armenian Apostolic, Catholic and Evangeli-cal Churches.

• Defending the Artsakh people’s right to self-determination, fair resolu-tion of the Artsakh question, strengthening the political, military, eco-nomic security of Artsakh are the objectives for which the Armenian ecclesial structures must set aside their differences and tie into work for the benefit of the homeland.

• Though recognizing each other’s religious, confessional and ecclesial differences, the Armenian Apostolic, Catholic and Evangelical Churches should always be in a dialogue to pursue the interests of the Republic of Armenia and jointly solve the problems of Armeniancy, because the tra-ditional Armenian Churches have a common ethnic background and the same cultural and historical legacy.

• The Armenian Apostolic, Evangelical and Catholic Churches should es-tablish common platforms in various centers of Diaspora that should re-port to an ecumenical council comprised of the respective church lead-ers, acting under auspices of the Republic of Armenia President. They will implement joint activities during the public holidays in Armenia and organize events that appeal the Armeniancy.

• The traditional Armenian churches that are active in Diaspora should develop joint strategic and action plans for preserving Armeniancy, whereas frictions and discord between ecclesial communities are harm-ful and add new threats to the existing ones. A good example to follow is the genuine cooperation between Armenian Apostolic and Armenian Catholic Churches in Javakhk.

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H.Hovhannisyan

• The joint actions and plans of the traditional Armenian churches should be free from any partisan influences and be mostly directed to imple-mentation of the state and national programs.

• The joint actions should include youth, benevolent, educational pro-grams aimed at consolidating the Diaspora around the Republic of Ar-menia and enrooting the idea of Mother Homeland.

• Representatives of the Armenian Apostolic, Evangelical and Catholic Churches should have the opportunity to organize academic confer-ences on Armenian Studies, whereas the youth should be given the chance to attend annual summer schools in Armenia.

December, 2011.

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THE FORMS AND MECHANISMS OF CONSOLIDATION (COOPERATION)

OF THE ARMENIANCY’S CONFESSIONAL SEGMENTS

Arestakes Simavoryan*, Vahram Hovyan**

One of the main objectives for studying the confessional strata of the Arme-niancy is to develop effective mechanisms for consolidation of the national potential. This is a particularly urgent matter for Diaspora, as facing its chal-lenges implies combination of all-national efforts. Hence, creating an envi-ronment of effective cooperation between Armenian Apostolic, Catholic and Evangelical Armenian communities abroad is an imperative for survival and development of these communities.

The problem of finding pathways to inter-confessional solidarity in Di-aspora has both theoretical and practical dimensions. Therefore, consolidation of the national potential implies unification of different confessional segments of the Armeniancy, as well as development and implementation of effective theoretical and practical means for bringing them to a single unified national ground. There are two aspects in this problem.

1. Refuting the fragmentation. This means rejecting or at least pushing to the backburner any ideas and factors that by some criteria (in this case, by religious and confessional ones) divide the Armeniancy or set Arme-nians against each other.

* Head of the Center for the Armenian Studies, “Noravank” Foundation. ** Expert at the Center for the Armenian Studies, “Noravank” Foundation.

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A.Simavoryan, V.Hovyan

2. Development and application of unifying ideas and practical means. This implies developing and implementing theoretical and practical mecha-nisms for consolidation of various confessional segments of the Arme-niancy (Apostolic, Catholic and Evangelical Armenians), based on an in-tegrated national foundation. If such unifying mechanisms exist, or even better, are prevalent, then the factors and ideological/worldview concepts undermining the national potential are at least pushed backwards, which is a serious basis for creating an atmosphere of national solidarity and ef-fective collaboration between different confessional segments of the Ar-meniancy. Both theoretical generalizations based on past experiences and innovative approaches could be useful in this matter.

It is expected that development and application of unifying ideas and

practical means should be methodologically based on development of theoreti-cal, visionary and practical footings that ensure integration of various confes-sional strata of the Armenians living outside Armenia. Therefore, it is worth to view this issue in its theoretical/worldview and practical dimensions.

Theoretical/Worldview Basis of Consolidation

The theoretical/worldview dimension of the issue entails proposing and de-veloping ideological/worldview bases that secure mutual accord between various confessional segments of the Armeniancy. Observations indicate that such unifying theoretical/worldview cornerstones are:

• High national self-consciousness • Common Christian faith • Secularity

Strengthening the national self-consciousness. One of the important

positive mechanisms for creating an environment of religious tolerance in the modern world is raising national self-consciousness among the different reli-

A.Simavoryan, V.Hovyan «21st CENTURY», № 1 (11), 2012

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gious/confessional strata of the same ethnic community (see more details in [1, p. 29]). This means strengthening the consciousness about one’s ethnic (national) background, or in other words, bringing forward the sense of being first of all an Armenian, rather than an Apostolic, Catholic or Evangelical in the consciousness of the Armenians from Apostolic, Catholic and Evangelical denominations. To ensure this, two steps are needed:

1. Separation of religion (confession) and ethnicity, i.e. the notions of re-ligion (faith) and nation. Already n the 19th century S. Nazariants, a prominent Armenian intellectual and publicist, brought forward the idea of separating the concepts of nation and religion: “Religion and ethnicity are different things… Ethnicity has a secular essence, whereas religion has to do with one’s conscience and with God. Hence, Apos-tolic, Catholic and Protestant Armenians always remain blood brothers, sons of the same nation, speakers of the same language, successors of one national history… Armenians may differ by religion, but there is no harm in that for the nation… The nation equally belongs to the Apos-tolic, Catholic and Protestant” [2, p. 172]. Thus, it stems from separation of religion (faith) and ethnicity that religious (confessional) background ceases to be a criterion for one’s national identity.

2. Prevalence of the national in the interrelation of the religious (confessional) and national. This idea emerged among the Armeniancy already in the 19th century, when the Catholic and Protestant confes-sions began surfacing among Armenians. It was aimed at mitigating the Apostolic, Catholic and Evangelical division among the Armenians and conflicts in mutual perceptions arising on that ground.

The principle of prevalence of the national dimension over the religious

one has been reflected in the Armenian reality both in scientific and publicis-tic works, as well as in the fine art. Raffi, a renowned Armenian intellectual of the 19th century, wrote with regards to the issue of interrelation between

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the national and the religious aspects: “… Diversity of faiths does not destroy the national unity. Unity should be sought in harmony of these segments, with the main motive being the devotion to the nation in its most exalted meaning” [3. p. 292]. As far as the fine arts are concerned, the verses of Rev. G. M. Shmavonian, a prominent 19th century Evangelical Armenian luminary are a noteworthy example. In his poem “Love the Armenian”, the author calls upon his people for mutual love and tolerance, regardless of wealth, social background or status and religious-confessional worldview. The poem urges:

Love the Armenians, Whether Protestant or other faith,

Or maybe superstitious in your view, Heretic and faithless.

If called Armenian, then Ought to be loved as Armenian [2, p.369]

Nowadays, in the theoretical/worldview dimension, the activities of mass

media and other means of outreach must be based on the national, rather than religious emphasis. Promoting the sense of belonging to a common nation and pushing back the sense of confessional affiliation in a person’s self-identification would be a solid basis for mitigating sectarian discords and ten-sions in the relations between Apostolic, Catholic and Evangelical Armenians. This would significantly contribute to unifying the segments of Armenians di-vided along the confessional lines into a nation-based single entirety.

Strengthening the common religious, Christian self-consciousness. An-other mechanism of religious tolerance in the modern society is promoting the sense of belonging to a common religion among the different confessional strata of the same religion (see more details in [1, pp. 27-28]). This means prevalence of the religious (in this case, Christian) identity over the confes-sional one, with the latter being viewed as of secondary significance. The


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Evangelicals claimed that in the 1820s the preachers of Basel Mission who conducted missionary activities in the Russian Empire, did not seek conver-sion when preaching among the Christians, but rather wanted to spread the word of God, because “… as long as a man’s heart is devoted to God, he will be saved regardless of what church he belongs to” [2, p.180].

The idea of primacy of the common religion over the confessional dif-ferences has been reflected in poetry as well. “We are brothers”, a poem by the already mentioned author G.M. Shmavonian points out:

We are brothers, sons of one father, No one is greater or lesser among us,

Jesus is our sole teacher, There is one faith and one hope for us [2, p. 369]

Presently, the Armenian communities of the Middle East are exemplary

among the Diaspora in terms of the common religion’s primacy over the con-fessional differences. For instance, Rev. Datev Basmajian, pastor of the Arme-nian Evangelical Church of Damascus substantiates the unification of Apos-tolic, Catholic and Evangelical Armenians in Syria’s Armenian community with the following words: “Being a Christian Armenian is the important thing … When we stand before God at the end of our days, we are not going to be asked – are you Evangelical or Apostolic” [4, pp.33, 34].

Pushing back the confessional differences can be done most successfully through a combined emphasis on the importance of national and religious commonalities, when the national and religious elements of a person’s iden-tity simultaneously prevail in his/her self-consciousness and perception of the others. As S. Nazariants wrote in the 19th century; “When an Apostolic Arme-nian converts to Protestantism, he remains our brother both ethnically and in Christ. Ethnically – because the Armenian blood does not change in a Protes-tant convert, and brother in Christ, because Jesus belongs both to the Protes-tant and the Apostolic” [2 p. 172].

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Secularity. In present days the widespread secularity pushes the reli-gious and theological matters to the sidelines and significantly alleviates pos-sibilities of tension and conflicts based on those. Taking advantage of this cir-cumstance it is necessary to facilitate establishment and development of secu-lar institutions as instruments of national consolidation in the Armenian Di-aspora. This is an urgent matter for the Armenian communities abroad, as de-spite the atmosphere of secularity in the modern societies the religious estab-lishments (churches) continue to be a dominant force in Diaspora, perhaps by inertia, because in absence of a national state over a prolonged period of time (several centuries) the spiritual structures (especially the Armenian Apostolic Church) had to assume responsibility for a number of state functions.

However, currently the dominance of spiritual/religious structures in the community life causes some fragmentation along the religious/confessional lines among the Armenian communities of the Diaspora, which results in weakening the national potential.

The problem is not confined just to the division between the Apostolic, Catholic and Evangelical. In the religious dimension troubles within confes-sions contribute to weakening the national potential as well. For example, after adoption of the 1863 Armenian National Constitution the rivalry and struggle taking place in Antioch between the Sis Catholicosate, Constantin-ople and Jerusalem Patriarchates to increase their influences dealt a serious blow to the Armenian Apostolic Church (see [5, pp. 124-125]). As H. Cholakian wrote: “The indifference and internal strife of the Armenian Church was one of the spurs pushing Armenian people towards foreign creeds, especially in the Antioch district.” [5, p.135].

Presently such trouble exists in the Armenian community of Damascus. After the ecclesial upheaval in 1956, the issue whether the Damascus diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church should belong to the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin or to Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia caused a morbid


44

rivalry among the local Armenian public circles and impaired the commu-nity’s potential. The Hunchak, Ramgavar, benevolent and Communist circles were aligned toward Etchmiadzin, whereas the Dashnaks backed Antelias. The problem was so acute that the Dashnaks boycotted any events organized under aegis of the Prelate of the Armenian Diocese of Damascus (who was appointed by Etchmiadzin). Even the April 24 events for commemoration of the Armenian Genocide victims were held separately [4, pp. 17-18].

To overcome this challenge it is worth taking advantage of the modern time atmosphere of secularity and promoting establishment and vigorous ac-tivities of secular structures and institutions. Such national (all-national) structures will encompass in their activities all (including religious and con-fessional) segments of the Armeniancy and thus become effective means of national consolidation. These secular institutions may include the traditional Armenian political parties in Diaspora (ARF, SDHP, ADL), charitable estab-lishments (AGBU, ARS, etc.), sports and cultural unions (Homenetmen, Hamazkayin Armenian Educational and Cultural Association, etc.), commu-nity structures (committees, etc.), educational institutions, mass media, etc. As experience has shown, regardless of the confessional affiliation Armenians get involved in the activities of such secular institutions. At the same time the activities of these institutions cover all Armenians, again, regardless of their confessional affiliation. These circumstances are a serious basis for bringing the Apostolic, Catholic and Evangelical Armenians to a common arena of ac-tivities and thus integrating them in a national-base single entity of a non-religious, secular nature. As Hagop Cholakian mentions, at the time the ac-tivities of Armenian political parties in the Armenian community of Syria sig-nificantly contributed to the rise of the overall national self-consciousness: “SDHP was the first one to awaken national consciousness and feelings among the co-villagers that were so divided and hostile to each other due to matters of faith. In these villages an Armenian priest, a Catholic minister, a

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Protestant preacher and reverend, and even a foreigner Latin rite Roman Catholic pastor were members of the party…” [5, p. 151].

As for the educational institutions, Raffi once wrote: “…It is time to em-bark on the school, as a new baptismal font where the Armenian Catholic, Armenian Muslim and Armenian Protestant would be baptized with a new spirit and new life and will be confirmed by the name of nation; this is the only way to unite with our brothers who we had been divided by the church font…” [6, p 57]. As if reacting to the words of this renowned Armenian in-tellectual, in 1910 some young Kessab people of different faiths initiated the Kessab Educational Association, which resolved to “bring the main line and objective of education and upbringing to the national domain, and not the confessional one, to unify the more than one schools in each village and take away the jurisdiction over the educational matters from the confessional au-thorities” [7, pp. 79-80].

The Republic of Armenia (RA) must play a key role in those secular in-stitutions, activities of which have a unifying effect for the different confes-sional strata. As the state of the whole Armeniancy, the RA should be in-volved not only with the main confessional stratum of the Armeniancy, i.e. Apostolic Armenians, but also with other religious and confessional strata (catholic, evangelical, etc.). In the relations with the local Armenian commu-nities in the foreign countries, the Embassies of Armenia have to cover not only the Apostolic, but also Catholic and Evangelical Armenians in their scope of activities. In this sense the RA Embassy in Syria is good example, as it routinely invites Apostolic, Catholic and Evangelical Armenians to the events organized by the Embassy. In this manner “the Embassy tries to play a uniting role, to consolidate the community under the Armenian flag and around the idea of Homeland and Armeniancy” [4, p. 22].

With such policy, the RA as an all-national secular entity would be able to unite the different religious/confessional strata of Armeniancy through the


46

principle of secularity, and become a symbol and effective tool of national unity for the Armenian communities abroad. The RA President’s speech de-livered in the USA on September 24, 2008 outlines the policy of RA state bodies in this area: “The Armenian identity should not be intricate and mys-terious. It has to reject linguistic, religious, cultural, partisan, or ideological divides. The English-speaking, Turkish-speaking, Russian-speaking, or Arme-nian-speaking Armenian; the Apostolic, Catholic, Protestant, or Muslim Ar-menian (italics added); the Socialist or Democrat Armenian; the Nationalist or Liberal Armenian – they are just Armenians. The Armenian identity should not be limited by the boundaries of its own “true” faction, trying to preserve its secluded purity. Diversity is the key to continuity, while secluded species come to extinction” [8].

The Practical Aspects of Consolidation

As for the practical means ensuring the organic unity of various confessional strata of the Armenian Diaspora communities, the main task in this field is to advance and prioritize the areas that ensure wide cooperation between repre-sentatives of the Apostolic, Catholic and Evangelical faiths. “We have one prayer, and our struggle, challenges are the same…” [9, p.5] – these words by Fr. Antranig Granian, a prominent contemporary luminary in the Armenian Catholic Church have gained a status of slogan. This is the best formula and guidance to bring together the Apostolic, Catholic and Evangelical Armenians to a cooperation platform. Hence, the cooperation between different confes-sional strata of Armenian Diaspora communities, exposing and strengthening their organic unity, should be based on shared objectives and solution of com-mon problems.

The main aspects of practical activities that provide a platform for coopera-tion between the confessional strata of the Armenians in foreign countries are:

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• Preserving Armeniancy. • Facing the challenges brought by the public and political environments

of a given country. • Struggle for achieving all-national objectives (international recognition

and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide, Artsakh problem, etc.).

Preserving Armeniancy. The assimilation as the sword of Damocles con-stantly hangs over the all Armenian Diaspora communities. Armenians resid-ing abroad integrate rapidly or slowly in the local socio-cultural environment, which is unfortunately accompanied by loss of the national identity compo-nents, such as language, affinity to the national culture, and national self-consciousness. Therefore, preserving the national character of Armenian Di-aspora communities requires combination of all-national efforts for a single goal, which is the preservation of Armeniancy. This implies, inter alia, coop-eration between Apostolic, Catholic and Evangelical Armenians in such areas as education (preserving the national language), culture (helping the Arme-nian community to be in touch with the national culture), and other fields. Referring to the situation during the late 19th century, H. Cholakian contends that national education and upbringing is a necessity “… for all Armenians, regardless of what community they belong to” [5, p. 151].

Facing the challenges brought by the public and political environments of a given country. Every country or region with Armenian communities has a unique socio-political environment. In some of the countries this environ-ment brings security challenges to the Armenian communities. For instance, in the Middle Eastern countries such challenges include Armenophobia (Turkey), Islamic fundamentalism (Iraq, Iran, etc.), terrorism (Iraq, Palestine, etc.), civil war (Lebanon), wars, including Arab-Israeli (Syria, Lebanon, Israel, etc.), Iran-Iraq (Iraq, Iran), US-Iraq (Iraq), internal political cataclysms (Egypt, Syria, etc.). For another example, in the post-Soviet period the Arme-nian community of Russia had to face serious challenges caused by the public


48

and political environment of the country, such as internal political tremors and instability, terrorism, xenophobia and so forth.

Factionalism (including that along the confessional lines) is a needless luxury for the Armenian communities facing such challenges. Partitioning the potential of Armeniancy makes it even more susceptible to various threats. On the contrary, withstanding these challenges requires combined national efforts, i.e. cooperation between Armenian Apostolic, Catholic and Evangelical communities.

Struggle for achieving all-national objectives (international recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide, Artsakh problem, etc.). The joint struggle for achieving all-national objectives is the best field for coop-eration between different confessional strata. In this context the main areas are the Artsakh problem and struggle for international recognition and con-demnation of the Armenian Genocide. These two objectives play a consoli-dating role especially in the life of the Armenian Diaspora and even consti-tute components of the national identity. “It can be said that these two pillars of the historical self-consciousness consolidate the whole Armeniancy and are the fundamental incarnation of national consciousness. In some sense, the self-identification of Armenians begins with such consolidation” [10 p. 254]. H. Marutyan, an ethnologist, notes the following with respect to the histori-cal memory of the Armenian Genocide: “… Ethnic commonality or a mem-ory shared between a nation’s members is a means to bond the individuals, to build their relationships and actions” [11, p.9].

Therefore, the joint struggle for achieving all-national objectives; inter-national recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide, solution of the Artsakh problem and other issues helps unite and bring about close co-operation between various confessional strata of the Armenian communities, because these concerns are common for all (social, religious/confessional and other) strata of Armeniancy.

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Forms and Levels of Inter-Confessional Cooperation

Cooperation between different confessional strata of the Armeniancy in Dias-pora can be implemented at two levels:

• Individual, whereby cooperation occurs between individuals represent-ing different confessions (Apostolic, Catholic, Evangelical);

• Institutional, when cooperation between different confessional strata is implemented through institutional structures.

The cooperation at the individual level may take the following forms:

• Involvement of individuals representing different confessions in the ac-tivities of all-national and secular institutions. Such institutions may in-clude the traditional Armenian political parties in Diaspora (ARF, SDHP, ADL), national charitable, cultural and other unions (AGBU, Hamazkayin Armenian Educational and Cultural Association, etc.), community structures, mass media, sports clubs, etc. For example, H. Cholakian writes about the consolidating role of AGBU: “The presence of the Armenian General Benevolent Union in Antioch region villages, as well as in Kessab had a positive effect in sense of bringing together people from different communities and triggering aspirations of national upbringing among them. Along with the Apostolic Armenians the same branch of the Union included Armenian Protestants, Catholics and even Latin rite Roman Catholics” [5, p.187].

• Participation of Armenian individuals representing different confessions in the organization and implementation of national and secular events. The annual April 24 commemoration of the Armenian Genocide victims is the main one among such events. Besides the commemoration of the Genocide victims, other events consolidating different confessional strata of the Armeniancy may include scientific conferences, exhibi-tions, protest rallies and other events with participation of Apostolic, Catholic and Evangelical Armenians.


50

The inter-confessional cooperation at the institutional level may take the following forms:

• Establishment and operation of integrated structures. An excellent ex-ample is set in this field by the Armenian communities of the Middle East, where different confessions have established and managed joint social, educational, public health and other institutions. For instance, the Azouniyeh Sanatorium in Lebanon has been created and governed by Armenian Apostolic and Evangelical Churches (see [12, pp.56-57]).

• Organization and implementation of joint events. Besides the annual April 24 event for commemoration of the Armenian Genocide victims, which is jointly organized and carried out by the Armenian Apostolic, Catholic and Evangelical Churches, the inter-confessional collaboration may also include organization and implementation of joint scientific conferences and other public events. This form of cooperation is par-ticularly important from the viewpoint of joint efforts to solve common problems (political, social, educational and other types of problems). For instance, in August 2006, the Armenian Apostolic, Catholic and Evan-gelical Churches in Lebanon made a joint announcement against de-ployment of Turkish peacekeepers in the country1.

• Participation of other communities in the events organized by one of the communities. A noteworthy example of such cooperation was the International Conference on Culture of Armenian Cilicia jointly organ-ized by the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia and Yerevan Matenadaran, which was attended also by the Armenian Catholic and Evangelical Churches2.

• All-national events with participation of the three confessions. Visits of the RA President or other high-ranking officials to a given country

1 Армяне Ливана против включения турецких сил в состав миротворческого контингента http://www.regnum.ru/news/690305.html 2 Ливанские эскизы http://aniv.ru/view.php?numer=16&st=2

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could be viewed as such events in Diaspora. The leaders or representa-tives of the three Armenian churches may accompany the RA President or attend the events with the latter’s participation. This will not only symbolize the national unity of the Armeniancy’s different confessional strata, but also will emphasize the role of RA as the state of the whole Armeniancy and as a consolidating factor. For example, during the RA President S. Sargsyan’s visit to Syria on March 22-24, 2010, the leaders of the three Armenian confessional communities accompanied the President and jointly participated in the planned events [13, p. 50].

• Being represented at institutional level in the all-national structures. Involvement of the Armenian Apostolic, Catholic and Evangelical Churches in management and activities of the all-national structures would significantly facilitate the inter-confessional cooperation at the institutional level among the Armenian Diaspora communities. The Ha-yastan All-Armenian Fund is a brilliant example of such involvement, as the Armenian Apostolic, Catholic and Evangelical Churches are repre-sented in its Board of Trustees1. The Catholicos of All Armenians (H.H. Garegin II), Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia (H.H. Aram I), Ca-tholicos-Patriarch of the Armenian Catholic Church (Nerses Bedros Tarmouni) and representative of the Armenian Evangelical Church (Rev. Rene Levonian) are among the members of the Fund’s Board of Trustees2.

This model of cooperation can be spread also among the all-national

structures of the Diaspora, their local subsidiaries, as well as governing bodies of various Armenian communities abroad (e.g. Union of the Armenians of Russia).

1 See http://www.himnadram.org/index.php?lang=2&id=46 2 Ibid


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Summary

Thus, high level of national self-consciousness, common Christian faith and secularity are the theoretical/worldview bases that secure an environment of tolerance and solidarity between different confessional strata of the Arme-niancy. Consequently, the national consolidation in the Armenian communi-ties of Diaspora among other factors implies also promoting these theoretical/worldview bases.

At the same time, preserving Armeniancy, facing challenges that stem from the given country’s public/political environment, as well as the joint struggle to solve all-national problems are the areas of practical activities, which bring wide horizons for cooperation between different confessional strata of the Armeniancy in Diaspora.

The active cooperation of Apostolic, Catholic and Evangelical Armeni-ans in these areas would first of all bring better effectiveness to the efforts of solving the common problems. As the experience has shown, the combined efforts of the three Armenian confessional communities produce desirable results. For instance, in 1970s the joint efforts of the Armenian Apostolic, Catholic and Evangelical churches in Syria enabled achieving a permission to teach Armenian language in the Armenian schools, as well as to teach Reli-gious Studies in Armenian language [4, p.15].

On the other hand, inter-confessional cooperation would contribute to strengthening the unity of the different confessional strata of the Diaspora Armenians, becoming a serious basis and stimulus for organic cohesion of the Armenian communities.

The mentioned types of inter-confessional cooperation exist in the Dias-pora communities in one form or another. Having emphasized the importance of their development, we find it worth proposing a new form of cooperation: establishment of an inter-confessional council to coordinate the activities of the Armenian Apostolic, Catholic and Evangelical Churches. This would be an im-portant step towards more effective and targeted institutional-level cooperation

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between different confessional strata of the Armenian communities in Diaspora. In addition to being an effective institutional mechanism for better and more targeted efforts of the three Armenian denominations, it would also make an excellent form of cooperation between them at the institutional level. The Ar-menian Apostolic, Catholic and Evangelical Churches could be represented in such council either proportionally (according to their weight in the entirety of the Armenian community), or in equal shares. Raising the inter-confessional collaboration to the institutional level would be facilitated and expressed by adoption of a charter for the coordinating council.

December, 2011.

References and literature

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2. Կ. Ատանալեան, Յուշարձան հայ աւետարանականաց եւ աւետարանական եկե-ղեցւոյ, Ֆրեզնո, 1952թ.։

3. Րաֆֆի, Ին՞չ կապ կա մեր և Տաճկաստանի հայերի մեջ, Երկերի ժողովածու, հ. 11, Երևան, 1991թ.։

4. Ա. Փաշայան, Դամասկոսի հայ համայնքը. ներկան և հեռանկարը, «Նորավանք» ԳԿՀ տեղեկագիր, 2008թ., թիվ 23։

5. Յ. Չոլաքեան, Անտիոքի մերձակայ Ռուճի հովիտի հայերը, Անթիլիաս, 2006թ.։ 6. Րաֆֆի, Ի՞նչ վերանորոգություններ պետք են Տաճկական Հայաստանին, Երկերի

ժողովածու, հ. 11, Երևան, 1991թ.։ 7. Յակոբ Չոլաքեան, Քեսապ, Ա. հատոր (տեղագրութիւն, բնակավայրեր, բնակչու-

թիւն, պատմութիւն, տնտեսութիւն), Հալէպ, 1995։ 8. «Երկիր», 25 սեպտ., 2008: 9. Ա. Սիմավորյան, Ջավախահայության դավանանքային վիճակի ուսումնասիրու-

թյուն, Ա. Սիմավորյան, Վ. Հովյան, Ջավախահայության որոշ հիմնախնդիրներ. ջավախահայության դավանանքային և տեղեկատվական վիճակի ուսումնասի-րություն, Ե., 2009թ.։

10. Г. А. Погосян, Современное армянское общество: особенности трансформации – М.: Academia, 2005.

11. Հ. Մարության, Հիշողության դերն ազգային ինքնության կառուցվածում, Երևան, 2006թ.։

12. Վ. Հովյան, Լիբանանի հայ բողոքական համայնքը, 21-րդ դար, 2010, թիվ 4։ 13. Վ. Հովյան, Սիրիայի հայ ավետարանական համայնքը, Գլոբուս. Ազգային ան-

վտանգություն, 2010թ., թիվ 4։

54

LATIN RITE ROMAN CATHOLICS OF ARMENIAN DESCENT IN SYRIA

Hagop Cholakian*

The article discusses the Latin Catholic proselytism that took place starting the late 19th century in northwestern regions of Syria with dense Armenian population, the conditions and methods of spreading the Latin rite Roman Catholic faith, the composition of Latin communities of Armenian descent, as well as the existence of numerous Armenian families that comprise separate churches or are scattered among the non-Armenian Latin rite Roman Catho-lic communities. The essence of Latin Church and its approach to the national values are touched upon; thereafter efforts to bring the Latin rite Roman Catholics back to the Armenian Church, as well as the current situation of the remaining Latins are presented.

An attempt is made to present in this article all of the above-mentioned topics against the backdrop of the general situation related to foreign religious movements and the Armenian Church.

The Background of Foreign Proselytism

Although in the 19th century the Armenian Church was properly represented in the region with three Hierarchical Sees (Sis Catholicosate, Constantinople and Jerusalem Patriarchates), yet none of the diocese authorities operated normally. Church wardens and candle-store managers were representatives of local landowner families. The supervisors of the Church-owned lands, archi-

* Hamazkayin Institute for Armenian Studies (Syria).

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mandrites or bishops, would visit the area just once a year to collect the tithe on the harvest, like an ordinary estate inspector or mutawalli. After adoption of the Armenian National Constitution (in the Ottoman Empire) both the Sis Catholicosate and Jerusalem Patriarchate staged silent opposition to the Con-stantinople Patriarchate, but avoided assuming responsibilities for the urgent needs of the people, whereas the Constantinople Patriarchate waited the Constitutional authorities to come forward first and only then would tend to intervene and provide assistance. The region suffered from a confusion of tri-ple diocesan power, where each faction pursued their own interests. Articles and complaints frequently appearing in the press actually remained unan-swered. This inauspicious spiritual, educational, social, economic and national situation of the Armenians in Cilicia and Antioch region did not change.

The inability, indifference and internal strife of the Armenian Church were major spurs pushing the Armenian people towards foreign creeds.

Being aware of the troubled state of affairs in the Cilicia and Antioch dioceses, absence of supreme religious authority and disorderly situation in the parishes, the Catholicos of All Armenians Khrimian Hayrik wrote in his encyclical dated February 11, 1899 to Maghakia Ormanian, the Armenian Pa-triarch of Constantinople: “More and more lamenting and sorrowful letters from the land of Cilicia are reaching me. Reading these letters makes me sad, letters that not only roar – it’s famine, famine – but also tell about the condi-tions of the abandoned and pastor-less people for whom there is no shepherd and leader, no overseer and visitor.” Khrimian was very much concerned about the wave of faith conversions that had been gradually increasing: “Woe unto me and woe unto you; I am now horrified and so should be you, as the historical chronicles will record that ‘in the times of pontificate of Mkrtich Catholicos and patriarchate of Archbishop Ormanian, vast parishes of Cilicia and Vaspurakan converted to Catholicism.’ The historians will not limit it to this short sentence, but will lay down many accusations in the pages of their

H.Cholakian «21st CENTURY», № 1 (11), 2012

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historical accounts. We shall work and do our best to erase with God’s help this shameful and disgraceful future book of history.”1

In these circumstances the Protestant preaching has made great ad-vances in the region in the mid-19th century. Protestantism has penetrated in almost all settlements, and in some places it took the whole population under its umbrella. Missionaries of the American Board of Commissioners, and later also the Anglican and Irish churches sponsored this movement, often clashing with each other. The Catholic movement penetrated the region with the same strength, although the Andonian-Hassunian controversy arisen in 1870s weakened its vigor. Later the Latin rite Roman Catholic missions came to the assistance of the Catholic clerics, thus setting grounds for establishment of a church with a different Catholic rite, the Latin Church.2

The Forming Patterns of the Neophyte Communities

The fathers of the Latin Church employed the same methods as the Protestant and Catholic preachers did previously to proselytize among Armenians and establish their communities. For example:

• Under some favorable circumstances arisen in the Ottoman Empire, a social class had emerged in large villages, towns and cities that had an upper hand in market relations; in 1840-50s they tried to take over the spiritual and educational affairs, and met opposition from the old au-thorities. The foreign missionaries came to their assistance and that is how the Protestant, Catholic and Latin communities were created and recognized as separate “millets”, independent from the “Ermeni millet” that were people adhering to the Armenian Church.

1 Վաւերագրեր Հայ Եկեղեցու Պատմութեան, Գիրք Դ., կազմեցª Սանտրօ Բեհբուդեան, Երեւան, 1997, pp. 18-19, վաւերագիր թիւ 6: 2 In order to avoid complicating the article with too many references, it is suggested to see the following works by the author: «Քեսապ», Ա. հատոր, Հալէպ, 1995, sections «Քեսապը 19րդ դարու առաջին կիսուն», «Համայնքներ», «Մայր համայնքին վիճակը», «Կրթական տեսութիւն», pp. 55-80. «Քե-սապ», Գ. հատոր, Հալէպ, 2004, section «Ազգայնական շարժումը Հայ Աւետ. համայնքէն ներս», pp. 411-458. «Անտիոքի Մերձակայ Ռուճի Հովիտի Հայերը», Անթիլիաս, 2006, chapters «Լատին քարոզչութիւնըը եւ Գնիէի լատինացումը՚ եւ ̔Ռուճի Հովիտը Մեծ Եղեռնէն ետք», pp. 122-205:

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• These converted persons put the peasantry in a market-based depend-ence and exerted influence over them, gradually converting whole set-tlements.

• In the Antioch district the foreign creeds were forced upon people first of all through conversion of the priests and sometimes the managers of the church candle-stores. The priests and candle-store managers did not want to be accountable and seized the church revenues and lands under the powerful protection of foreign missionaries in courts of law.

• The fight for ownership of church buildings often ended in their de-struction. The newly formed community usually received a permission to build a new church, whereas the mother community was unable to win the right to restore its church or even to claim the ownership of the ruins. Court cases took decades and the mother community would never win anything. An interesting fact to mention is that litigation continues up to date over the ruins of the Holy Mother of God Church in Karaduran village of Kessab district that had been razed in 1860.

• The converted communities saw quick changes in their spiritual, educa-tional, economic, social and everyday life aspects. They would have offi-cial lyceums, adult schools, nicely constructed church school buildings, doctors and sanatoriums, job/business opportunities, and new phenomena entered in their everyday lives and relations. The Armenian community remained impoverished, uneducated and derided; for many people the only way out of this situation was to convert to the foreign creed.

• Almost everywhere the relations soured between the neophytes and ad-herents of the Mother Church. Intermarriages were forbidden, the Ar-menian estates were destructed or taken over, and even the cemeteries became subject of disputes.

• The adherents of foreign creeds always felt protected before high authori-ties of the Ottoman Empire, and hence, before the local officials and ad-


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ministrators. In addition to being protected by the foreign missionaries who considered the converts their own flock, the neophytes also enjoyed protection of the Italian, UK, German, French and American consulates in Latakia, Antioch, Aleppo, Alexandretta, which did anything that the missionaries told them to do. In exchange for conversion, the foreign mis-sionaries protected the people from malevolence of Ottoman officials and even from arbitrary actions of some Armenian leaders.

Emergence of Latin Rite Roman Catholic Communities

The Latin rite Roman Catholicism made its first appearance in the region in 1878, in the Arab-speaking Ghneye village. Members of Jobie family were indignant with the village head Hanneh and incited some of the co-villagers who they were to some extent dependent on them against Hanneh. The Prel-ate of Aleppo confirmed Hanneh’s position and did not allow the Jobies to interfere with the church and educational affairs. The village priest Rev. Mes-rob Nazlian from Karin was obviously against Hanneh’s monocracy and joined the Jobies faction. He claimed ownership of the village’s olive gardens that belonged to the Jerusalem and Cilicia Sees and refused to report to Han-neh.Hhhh The Jobies sought protection with Armenian Catholic and Protes-tant notables in Aleppo. However, due to the Andonian-Hassunian contro-versy, the Catholics were not able to satisfy the people, and so were not the Protestants, again due to internal strife. At some point the oppositionists sided with the Greek Orthodox, but realizing that an Eastern church would have not been able to protect their autonomy, they appealed to the Latin rite Ro-man Catholic missionaries in Aleppo. These missionaries penetrated the vil-lage and added tension to the relations. They created their own community. Along with the Jobies, 30-40 families converted to Latin rite Roman Catholi-cism, including Rev. Mesrob. Hanneh locked the doors of the church and did not let in even the convert priest. The Armenian Church sent a new priest to

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the village and tried to boost the school activities, but failed to restore the community. Hassle and court cases lasted for about thirty years. The Latin Catholics somehow managed to record with state authorities that all villagers, including the new priest, are Latin rite Roman Catholics, and harassed any opposition. Efforts to save the church and lands were useless, because the courts would not recognize existence of Apostolic Armenian families in the village. The St. Cyprian Armenian church was dismantled by the Latins. By 1906 the village was fully Latin rite Roman Catholic and ceased to be a parish of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

The Latins turned Ghneye village into their stronghold and launched their preaching and proselytizing activities from there. By the beginning of the 20th century the Arab-speaking village Yakoubiye had also been partly Latinized. In these two villages the Latin rite Roman Catholics had monaster-ies with church, school and benevolent departments. It was a different rite church and Armenian language was not taught at the school.

During the next decades the Latin Catholics had certain success among the population of Armenian and Arab Christian villages and cities of the re-gion. The Latinized Armenians of Latakia and Antioch made bonds with the local Latin Catholic churches, whereas those in the Armenian populated vil-lages Aramo, Ghnemiye and Arpali created relations with the Latin Catholic communities of nearby Arab villages and severed ties with the Armenian rite churches and Armenian life.

Taking advantage of the weakness of the Armenian Catholic communi-ties, the Latin Catholic missions penetrated in a number of regions to imple-ment educational and benevolent activities. Armenian Catholic communities handed their educational affairs over to them, who soon established monas-teries, attached school buildings and succeeded in creating small communities (Beilan, Hadji Habibli), thus producing two Catholic communities – Arme-nian rite and Latin rite.


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Excellent conditions for Latin Catholic preaching appeared in 1890s, after the surrender of Hunchakians in Kessab and Musa Ler districts, when contrary to the government promises many were persecuted, arrested and jailed. Turkish aghas of nearby districts multiplied their tyranny. All of a sud-den Latin “protection” appeared in Kessab. In a short period of time two Latin rite Roman Catholic monasteries were founded in Kessab district and Latin communities were established in several villages. Lower Baghjaghaz village was totally Latinized. In Kessab, Latin rite Roman Catholicism found some acceptance because of the perspective that the Latin fathers would be able to protect them and their property from the terror of Turkish aghas and govern-ment officials. It was the same reason for the families in Beilan area to con-vert to the Latin rite.

The Latin fathers skillfully used for proselytism the circumstances of those who survived the 1909 calamity, claiming credit for transportation of Armenians of Kessab and surroundings to Latakia by Italian and French ves-sels, as well as for averting imminent invasion of Yakoubiye and Ghneye vil-lages. Such preaching resulted in attracting more neophytes and expanded the Latin community of Yakoubiye.

For some reasons still unknown to date, populations of Ghneye and Yakoubiye villages were not deported in 1915. All of Ghneye and part of Yakoubiye were Latin Catholics. The Armenian Apostolic priest of Yakoubiye had passed away. A Latin leader dared to claim that both villages were spared deportation and saved from atrocities of bands spread throughout the region only thanks to the Latin Church, and that only the will and capability of the Latin Church can help these two villages stay afloat and survive. Even the most traditionalist villagers had to remain silent and put up with this. They knew well that the Latin Church and priests were unable to save Armenians of Latin rite Roman Catholic faith in Kessab, Musa Ler, Antioch, Beilan, Zei-tun and Marash from deportation. Whether or not avoiding deportation here

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had to do anything with intervention of the Latin priests, the latter could any time put their lives in danger.

In 1923, when the French mandate over Syria had already been estab-lished, Archimandrite Nerses Dolabjian, the supervisor of the Latakia monas-tery of Jerusalem Patriarchate and Antioch Vicar General visited Yakoubiye and reported about the situation to Catholicos Sahak. The village was in fact fully Latin. All spiritual needs, without exception, were taken care of by Latin Catholic fathers; the people went to a Latin church and marked Latin feast days, children attended a Latin school. Armenian language was not taught, and there was neither national life nor external national relations.

Some of the families in Yakoubiye wanted to restore their religious/educational activities, but did not dare to act on their own. The superinten-dent of village lands that belonged to Jerusalem and Cilicia Sees, Ibrahim Musa, had not reported to anybody since pre-war times, because actually, neither Sis Catholicosate, nor Aleppo Armenian Prelacy existed anymore.

In summer 1923 Catholicos Sahak II Khabayan paid a visit to Kessab area. A group of nationally oriented Yakoubiye villagers managed to get 90 families sign a letter and went with it to Kessab, presented the situation of their village to the Catholicos and requested help from him. After having thoroughly investigated the situation and the moods of the villagers, the ven-erable patriarch personally visited Yakoubiye village. The visit of Catholicos inspired courage to the desperate and helpless villagers. On the spot, in St. Anna Church he ordained Serop Ayanian to priesthood as Rev. Husik. The Catholicos ordered that the income from olive gardens of the village belong-ing to the Cilicia Catholicosate and Jerusalem Patriarchate should be allocated to the priest to provide for his living. As for the school, the Catholicos prom-ised to make appeals to the Benevolent Union and “free the young children from the clutches of the fanatical Latin clerics”.1

1 «Հայաստանի Կոչնակ», Նիւ Եորք, 1923, թիւ 46, p. 1459ա:


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It appeared the Armenian community of the village finally found peace. However, the Franciscan archimandrite residing in Ghneye could not take it easy at all. He utilized the ugliest methods of proselytism against those Yakoubiye villagers who returned back to the Mother Church, including promises of food and money, pressures and tortures. The local and provincial French authorities supported the Franciscan Order. They tortured and expelled the newly ordained Rev. Husik from the village, closed the church and the school, seized the national estates and forcibly converted the whole village, 120 families to the Latin faith.1 The Latins harmed the traditionalist villagers every way they could, such as breaking their windows, cutting their trees, closing the church, seizing the church-owned lands, threatening with weapons and terror-izing. Almost all families of Yakoubiye were divided, especially the Mstrih and Kassis-Yeretsian families. The responsible person for the church-owned olive gardens that were to provide for living of the priest, Ibrahim Musa, did not give any of the income to the priest and seized the land.

Having played such an important positive role in the village community during the pre-war period, Ibrahim Musa now actually played into the Latin hands because of this personal issue, and he eventually converted to the Latin faith.

Although the litigation with Catholicosate delayed the issue of the Ar-menian rite church and Armenian school, but a number of villagers could not forgo the need for these institutions. They would even agree to accept patron-age of the Armenian Catholic Patriarchate in order to escape from the Latin community. This could also contribute to reconciliation of the two segments of the village. For Yakoubiye it was no longer an issue of choice between Ar-menian Apostolic and Armenian Catholic communities, but rather an issue of having an Armenian rite church through which the need to be connected

1 Աբրահամ Երէցեան, Եագուպիէ- Հայկական Հին Գաղթօճախ Մը, «Գեղարդ Սուրիահայ Տարե-գիրք», Հալէպ, Բ. տարի, 1976-1978, p. 368:

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with the Armeniancy could be satisfied. Both Latin and Armenian Apostolic residents of Yakoubiye jointly appealed to the Armenian Catholic Prelacy of Aleppo, but the latter could not do anything either. The Latin fathers did not want to give up the community status they have created themselves. For them the only way the villagers could go was conversion to the Latin rite Ro-man Catholicism.

After the lawsuit issues were in some way resolved with Ibrahim Musa, in 1928 by the order of Catholicos Sahak, the Primate of Aleppo Diocese the Most Reverend Artavazd sent a priest to Yakoubiye, Rev. Papgen Adjemian, who was a native of Sassoun and a fluent speaker of Arabic language. He was able to consolidate the scattered flock, inspire courage and faith in them. The villagers felt safe in the caring hands of the Mother Church. In 1929 Archbishop Artavazd Surmeyan, Primate of Aleppo Diocese and members of the national authority visited Yakoubiye and the villagers greeted them as liberators. The already mentioned Rev. Papgen Adjemian was appointed the village priest. He courageously and competently organized the community, successfully dealt with the process of returning people to the mother commu-nity, reinstated peace amongst the villagers. In 1930 the Community Council was established. Part of the village community was saved from being finally lost and began living in the Armenian way.

After Cilicia was emptied from Armenian population in 1922 and the new Syrian Armenian community was formed, new Latin rite Roman Catho-lics of Armenian descent came to add to the number of Latins that had taken roots in the old community in Syria. For example, Latinized Armenians from Marash, Zeitun, Aintab and other regions fleeing to Syria found refuge with old and new Latin churches or Latin missions in Syria, which had been at-tracting all the refugees who had economic, educational, medical and em-ployment needs. In every place where the Latins had centers, the process of Latinization continued in exchange for taking care of these needs. The Arme-


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nian national and religious circles often expressed concern about the dangers and damages caused by conversion to the foreign creed, and this was reflected in the press. Latin churches and schools were multiethnic entities. Many Lati-nized Armenian families became part of the Latin Church parishes in Aleppo, Latakia, Damascus and Deir ez-Zor.

The Peculiarities of the Latin Church

The Latin rite Roman Catholic Church did not attribute any national image to itself. Unlike the “Armenian Evangelical” or “Armenian Catholic”, there was no notion of “Latin Armenian”, as the Latin fathers by no means allowed that. Latin Catholicism was against the national idea, and hence, also it was against the national Church Saints, Armenian traditions and history of Armenia. In-stead of those, it spread the Latin faith, and filled the everyday life of the faithful with Latin saints and holidays. It was more flexible in the area of edu-cation though: among the Armenian speakers, as necessary, teaching Arme-nian language at the schools was allowed. In the schools of Ghneye and Yakoubiye Armenian was not in the curricula simply because the faithful in these villages were Arabic-speaking. In such cases the Latin clerics were very tough about any relation and ties of the neophytes with the national roots and values. Any national aspiration was despised on the grounds that Latin rite Roman Catholicism is an international power, encompassing all conti-nents, colors and local languages.

In their activities the Latin fathers aimed at creating their community among the Eastern Christians and having a separate community status from the perspective of the government. This would make a solid ground for their activities. For this reason they had an objective of constant expansion and ac-quisition of more neophytes. Their first thing to do was getting the neophyte family with all its members recorded as Latin Catholics in the government registers. That is why Armenians were always very careful with each other,

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because any misunderstanding or intolerance in the local branch of the Be-nevolent Union, or church’s community council, or school board or even in relations between the parents and the school could lead to Latinization. Some people even tended to use the threat of conversion to Latin faith in order to force their will or whim.

During the Ottoman rule the Latin community’s feeling of superiority was widespread. As the Latin rite Roman Catholic Church was a Western church, the Latins of East considered their communities an open door to Europe, and they had the self-conceit of presenting themselves as envoys of the European civilization. All of this naturally prompted the Latins to look down on the Eastern Christians, especially their fellow Armenians. The Latin Church had managed to convince their faithful that the Latin rite Roman Ca-tholicism means internationalism and cannot be confined in the national shells. For the Latins, the Armenian Church and the Armeniancy that existed thanks to that Church were regressive and anachronistic phenomena. The Protestants, Armenian Catholics and Latin rite Catholics of the Antioch re-gion used to ridicule Apostolic Armenians calling them “Armenian the red slipper.” Red slipper was a sign of backwardness there. In those days confes-sional affiliation was generally perceived as equal to ethnic affiliation.

Once the French took over Syria after 1920, the Latin rite Catholics gained a special status. In practice, the adherents of the Latin Church had many privileges compared to the others, since they enjoyed the patronage and special attitude of the government operating under the Mandate. The Latin rite Roman Catholics comprised the largest portion in the state, regional and village governments. During the French rule all sorts of office tenures were more accessible to them. Latins of Armenian descent dissociated them-selves from their kinfolk adhering to another rite and looked down upon them, thus stirring up more inter-confessional intolerance.


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Return to the Mother Church

In 1890s, during the first decade of the national liberation movement, espe-cially when the Hunchakian Party penetrated the Antioch region, some set-tlements of the area, such as Beilan, Musa Ler and Kessab experienced a na-tional and patriotic urge. The previously accepted “protestant” and “catholic” identifications were then replaced with “Armenian Evangelical” and “Armenian Catholic” identities. This was a period of rapprochement between the communities.

In the period subsequent to the Ottoman Constitution, especially after the 1909 Calamity, all communities of the region made great efforts to re-cover, especially the Armenian Apostolic community that wished to surpass the other communities in the fields of schools construction and education, despite lacking the vast financial capabilities of the others. This was a new period of national/patriotic movement which inspired the Armenian Evan-gelical and Catholic youth as well. In this period the need for nationally-oriented upbringing was felt in a number of areas, such as Kessab and Musa Ler. For the sake of this goal there was a serious aspiration to take the schools away from the confessional authorities and make them independent. Even a return to the national roots was observed. For many people this meant return to the Mother Church. The mentioned goal was the underlying rationale for establishment of the Kessab Educational Association in 1910, in which the majority of members were young Dashnaks from the Evangelical community.

In any case the confessional division hindered the overarching goal of national unity. This was particularly evident in 1915, when the Turkish au-thorities played the confessional game to sow discord among the population of Kessab, which had all the readiness and means for resistance. The defense forces were weakened by the Turkish promise made to the Protestants that only Apostolic Armenians were going to be deported. Eventually, the Protes-tants were deported too.

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On the other hand, the opposite thing happened as well. After return-ing from exile, when there was no external support, responding to the Ca-tholicos Sahak’s call, the Protestants supported the idea of joint schools, at least for some time.

In 1930s the youth of the Protestant community wanted to reorganize the Evangelical Church on national basis. This sent some powerful shock-waves in the community. Due to this formidable movement mass returns to the Mother Church were observed in many places, especially in the Kessab district. This movement still continues to exist.

This movement found its way to the Catholic community as well, where the educational affairs were handled by foreign priests of the Latin rite com-munity. Incidentally, after the return from exile, teaching of the Armenian language had gained more prominence in the joint Armenian Catholic-Latin Catholic schools. However, even this no longer satisfied the parents and stu-dents. The Armenian Catholic community demanded more attention to the national education, so that History of Armenia is taught in addition to the Ar-menian language at the community schools managed the Latin fathers. The movement was headed by Archimandrite Thomas Katchaznouni, a minister of the Armenian Catholic community. The demand of the Catholic commu-nity was turned down. Fr. Katchaznouni founded a new school together with a group of his students and a number of assisting teachers. So the Latins con-ceded; History of Armenia was included in the curriculum and the school was united back. However, the wave against the Latin rite Roman Catholic Church did not come to an end. The nationally minded people felt that the existence of the Latin rite Roman Catholic community is needless and point-less when the Armenian Catholic community already existed. In the Arme-nian circles the Latin Church with its differing rite was seen as something un-necessary. The issue was finally brought to the Armenian Catholic Patriar-chate and Papal Nunciature in Beirut. Ultimately, through mediation of Car-


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dinal Agagianian and by the Papal Decree, on July 30, 1946 the Latin commu-nities of the Kessab district were dissolved, their members, churches and mo-nastic estates were transferred to the Armenian Catholic community, and the Latin fathers left the region.1

The Remaining Parishes of the

Latin Rite Roman Catholics of Armenian Descent

With Turkish annexation of Sanjak of Alexandretta in 1939, and then dissolu-tion of Latin communities in the Kessab district only the following Latin communities of Armenian descent were left in entire Syria:

• All of the Ghneye village; • Part of the Yakoubiye village; • A dispersed mass of Arab-speaking or Armenian-speaking people that

are part of the Latin Church parishes in various places.

Among the Armenian-speaking people of the above-mentioned mass many tend to have an urge to return to the Armenian rite. This is manifested especially on occasions of baptism or wedding, when people wish the cere-mony to be held in the Armenian rite. The Latin Church prohibited this, be-cause if a ceremony happened in an Armenian rite church then its subjects would have to be registered as Armenian Catholics or Apostolic Armenians. However, today this is doable to some extent, particularly in Aleppo.

In the mentioned mass, especially for the Arabic-speaking part, the cul-tural and social isolation leads to alienation, which always highlights and ele-vates the value that has caused such alienation. In this case it is the Latin rite Roman Catholicism. The same is true for the Greek Orthodox Armenians, as well as those Protestants who are part of the local Arab Evangelical Church parishes. The parishes of the Presbyterian Church in Latakia are comprised mostly of Arabic-speaking protestant Armenians from Ghnemiye and Aramo.

1 Յակոբ Չոլաքեան, Քեսապ, Ա. հատոր, pp. 145, 252-255:

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After Syria gained independence in 1946, Arab nationalism became the state ideology, traces of the colonial government were eliminated and activi-ties of the foreign missionaries were banned. The Arabic-speaking Latin com-munities of Ghneye and Yakoubiye faced a difficult situation with their iden-tity choice: are they Armenians or Arabs?

It is worth mentioning the important role that ethnic Armenian Latin clerics played in maintaining the national affiliation of both Armenian-speaking and Arabic-speaking populations. Indeed, since 1920s there were several ethnic Armenian priests and even some Europeans among the Latin missionaries who played a considerable role in this direction. Some of them had interest and writings in the field of Armenian studies, for example Fr. Haroutiun Msrlian, Fr. Talon, Fr. Mstrih and others. Some of them imple-mented pastoral care duties. Among those, Fr. Haroutiun Chamichian after serving a liturgy used to lead the Armenians of his Aleppo parish to an Arme-nian church, so that they could also familiarize themselves with the Arme-nian Church and sharakans. He even organized summer schools of Armenian language for children in Ghneye village.

The Latin rite Roman Catholic population of these two Arabic-speaking villages may return to the Armenian identity, perhaps may even become Ar-menian-speakers, if thoroughly developed policies are implemented. It is im-portant to know, that many of them are still conscious about their origins, their interest toward Armenian values gradually awakens, they seek to marry women who can speak Armenian, to bring back the spoken Armenian lan-guage to their homes. However, they blame the Armenian circles for not con-sidering them as Armenians. For instance, they always question: why their Apostolic co-villagers can go and study in Armenia as Armenians, while they are not accepted as such. The Diaspora does not have a legal means to make connections with such people; can the national state have it?

Except for the religious differences, in the aforementioned villages there are no differences between the Apostolic and Latin communities in everyday


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live, forms of economic activities and customs. The household culture is no less important than the religion. Despite having high importance and influ-ence, the language and confession (even the religion) are not always the deci-sive criteria in determining a group’s ethnic affiliation. This can be surely stated for the language, with regards to Armenian community of Yakoubiye, people of Aramo and Ghnemiye, as well as a significant part of the faithful in the Armenian Catholic Church of Aleppo. Being Armenian Apostolic or Ar-menian Catholic, they have always been linked with the Armenian collectiv-ity and keen to preserve its values.

If the Armenian Catholic clergy exerts proper persistence, the Latin rite Roman Catholics of Ghneye and Yakoubiye villages could be re-connected to Armeniancy without any serious shocks, by transferring them under the aus-pices of the Armenian Catholic Church with permission of Vatican, as it hap-pened in Kessab district back in 1946. There is a legal issue here as well: the Armenian language cannot be taught at the Latin school merely because for the government Armenian is a liturgical language, and hence, teaching it can be authorized only in the schools of the Armenian rite communities.

On the other hand, the formula “Armenian = member of the Armenian Apostolic Church” is a profoundly wrong one to use. Today, both Armenian Catholic and Armenian Evangelical confessions bear the Armenian traits and adhere to the Armenian traditions. Utmost vigilance should be exercised with regard to these individuals and masses, as not to push them further away in-stead of returning them to the fold of the nation. After all, nation is a differ-ent concept than language, confession, church and religion. There are multi-confessional and multi-religious nations, and there are multiethnic confes-sions and religions. The same can be stated about the language-to-nation re-lationship. It is well known that confession and language are the most power-ful factors for assimilation, but even under conversion and language change certain political circumstances may prompt a reverse shift.

December, 2011.

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THE STUDY OF THE ISSUE OF ISLAMIZED ARMENIANS IN TURKEY: PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS

Ruben Melkonyan*

In the Armenian reality the issue of the forcibly Islamized Armenians has drawn the attention of the experts and general public in different periods. Valuable publications, accounts, travel notes, articles can be found since the 18th century with regard to the different groups of Armenians who have been estranged from their roots under the pressure of Islam. In this relation it is worth to mention such authors as Hakobos Tashian, Minas Bzhshkian, Atrpet, Hovakim Hovakimian, Sarkis Haykouni, Grigor Artsruni, Vladimir Gordlevski and others who had done much work in this direction. In the Soviet period Levon Khachikyan, a prominent scholar, wrote a remarkable article about the Islamized Hamsheni Armenians, whereas Barunak Tor-lakyan, a Hamsheni Armenian himself, published interesting materials on the ethnography and history of the Hamsheni Armenians’ Christian and Muslim segments.

It deserves to be specially stressed that high ranking clergy of the Arme-nian Apostolic Church have been also involved in both academic and practi-cal aspects of the problems related to the forcibly converted Armenians. For instance, the Catholicos Vazgen I of Blessed Memory, the Armenian Patri-archs of Constantinople Zaven Der Yeghiayan, Karekin Khachadourian, Shenork Kaloustian were among such clergymen.

* Expert at the Center for the Armenian Studies, “Noravank” Foundation.; Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Oriental Studies, YSU, Candidate of Science (Philology).

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Since 1980s valuable research activities on topics related to the Hamsheni Armenians have been carried out by a true enthusiast Sergei Var-danyan, whose works greatly contributed to expounding the issue and in-duced further work in this direction. Today Sergei Vardanyan continues his research of the issues related to Hamsheni Armenians and it is a pleasure to note that other researchers have joined him over time, including, notably Haykazun Alvrtsyan, Lusine Sahakyan and Hovnan Simonian (USA). The is-sues of the forcibly converted and crypto-Armenians of Turkey are also stud-ied by Karen Khanlaryan who has published a valuable monograph.

Since 2006 articles devoted to the Armenians adhering to other religions or confessions have been periodically published in the Hanrapetakan maga-zine. A more institutionalized study of the issue has been initiated since 2007 by the “Noravank” Foundation, led by its director Gagik Harutyunyan. A pro-gram dealing with the issues of the Armenians converted to other religions or confessions has been established in the Foundation, field studies have been carried out in Turkey and Georgia, and seminars have been organized. The researchers of the Foundation presented their reports at the conferences held in Armenia and abroad. Finally, the cooperation between “Noravank” Foun-dation and the Ministry of Diaspora of Armenia resulted in publication of books covering the issues of the Islamized Armenians and Armenians of other confessions.

The studies on the issues of the forcibly converted Armenians in the real academic field can be assessed as normally evolving, but some negative developments have also been observed alongside. First of all, non-professionals got involved in the matter, some of which made flashy conclu-sions that there are millions of crypto-Armenians in Turkey who will soon rise and Turkey will collapse. Another group of non-specialists, who perhaps have some achievements in certain disciplines of science, try to penetrate this area too and they not only put forward nihilistic, anti-scientific and often

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amateurish assessments, but also feel it their duty to harshly criticize those who are involved in this subject. We believe that, for instance, the issue of the Islamized Armenians is an interdisciplinary topic, but it mostly has to do with Turkish Studies, as without having knowledge of the political stance and policies of the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Turkey, the matter can-not be studied comprehensively. For unknown reasons many believe that it is very easy to become a narrowly focused specialist on this subject and they make conclusions and conduct analyses which are rather far from being sci-entific and realistic. Unfortunately, in this issue some people are guided by personal discontent, complexes, envy and narrow-mindedness rather than by scientific impartiality. In addition to the aforementioned group, there are some Internet maniacs and bloggers of all sorts for whom the subject of Islamized Armenians is just another excuse to prate.

Both the admiring and nihilist approaches are unacceptable for us. Along with the rising interest toward the subject of the forcibly con-

verted Armenians, the following artificial issue came up in our academic dis-course: whether the ethnic or religious identity should take precedence in indentifying an Armenian. Very often an idea takes hold in our consciousness that only a Christian can be considered Armenian, and hence, there could be no such notion as converted Armenian or Armenian of another religion. Many arguments are being brought to prove this point of view. It has to be stated that this is rather difficult question, but in our opinion, one should ap-proach the issue in the context of today’s reality, rather than what we want to see or what is ideal. The existence of the forcibly Islamized Armenians and their descendants is a fact and it would be at least unfair to ignore the people who have preserved the memories of their Armenian origins despite innu-merable difficulties.

In our opinion, such a vehement reaction to the issue of the converted Armenians contains an obvious tendency, as the subject was taken out of the


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academic studies framework, causing new rifts and deepening of the older ones. Most importantly, the counter-arguments concerning the issue of the Islamized Armenians do not stand up a scrutiny at all and are quite outdated. The main argument is that an Armenian can only be Apostolic Christian and those who are not Apostolic cannot be considered Armenians or they are Ar-menians with some reservations. It is necessary to emphasize that although the Armenian Apostolic Church has played a special and important role for our nation, identity and history, however, the ethnic and religious identities differ. We had been Armenians before 301 A.D., and those Armenians who are Catholics, Protestants, pagans or atheists are still Armenians, so utmost discreetness must be exercised in assessments. The famous writer Raffi is among the intellectuals who are broader-minded with regard to this issue. He had turned many times to this problem, providing exhaustive answers to vari-ous questions. For example, referring to the religious and confessional accord, he noted: “We believe that the diversity of faiths does not destroy the na-tional unity. Unity should be sought in harmony of these segments, with the main motive being the devotion to the nation in its most exalted mean-ing.” [1, p. 292]. “There is no civilized or uncivilized nation on earth, which would adhere to the same church” [2, p. 327]. “Neither Catholicism, nor Prot-estantism, nor even Islam cause the Armenian to cease being an Armenian, and conversely, adherence to the Apostolic church does not give us the right to be called Armenians” [2, p. 332].

We must combine abilities of being both good adherents of the Arme-nian Apostolic Church and being broad-minded in the issues concerning the national identity. Studying the converted Armenians cannot damage the Ar-menian Apostolic Church, as no anti-church or anti-religious ideas are propa-gated; just the opposite, it is shown how different groups of Armenians forci-bly removed from Christianity keep struggling to preserve it even if doing so secretly, in what conditions they have preserved their memories, etc. Also, as

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it has been mentioned above, many priests, Catholicoi and Patriarchs of the Armenian Apostolic Church dealt with the issue of the forcibly Islamized Ar-menians, trying to reclaim these assimilated Armenians.

It should be specially stressed that Armenians converted to Islam or crypto-Armenians are a result of the Turkish oppressive policy. They were forced to abandon their religion, ethnicity and language. They are silent and enduring evidences of the Ottoman tyranny. At the same time these people and their descendants are incontestable proofs of the Armenian Genocide, as the item (e) in Article 2 of the UN Convention on the Prevention and Pun-ishment of the Crime of Genocide clearly states that forcibly transferring children of the ethnic, religious group to another group constitutes genocide. In the years of the Genocide tens of thousands of Armenian orphans were forcibly Islamized and today we speak about their descendants.

We believe that the issue must not be politicized, should remain mainly in the academic field and be analyzed properly, the results of which could be presented to the public in a professional manner. Incompetent statements af-fect both the subject matter and the people who live in different parts of our historical homeland. Besides, two approaches should be adopted to deal with this issue – long-term and short-term. Correspondingly, our long-term goal is to re-integrate and return this part of the Armeniancy to their roots, and here the Apostolic Christianity plays an important role. Meanwhile, to communi-cate with them now we should adopt a more flexible strategy and accept them as they are. It is important to note that adoption of Islam for many of them was a temporary solution and they intended to return to Christianity whenever an occasion would arise; due to the circumstances some managed to do that and others did not.

It is much spoken about the dangers caused by this matter, for example that the Islamized Armenians will come to Armenia and open mosques. First of all, it should be stated that we are not in favor of bringing these people to


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Armenia, because most of them live in their historical homeland and they do not want to leave it either. During our conversations with the converted Ar-menians, whenever it was suggested that they did not remain loyal to their religion, they counter-argued that they remained firmly committed to their land. Hence, we need to communicate with each other, because our essences has been somehow distorted; in one case caused by the loss of the homeland and in the other case by the religion. Through studies of the converted Arme-nians we also aim at restoring our deformed identity, as those people stayed in the part of the homeland which has been lost for us, and they have been the ones who secretly visited and continue to visit our defiled sanctuaries. The feeling of this twofold distortion is present among the converted Arme-nians as well.

With regard to the dangers, many point out that we should not have initiated the study of this issue in Armenia, and moreover some non-professionals contend it is a trick devised by foreign intelligence services. It has to be noted that this issue has been first touched upon by the European researchers, then by the Turkish researchers, and under such circumstances the silence of the Armenian science would have seemed strange at least. The Armenian science should have a say on the subject after appropriate studies are carried out. We also study the elements of the Armenian culture pre-served among these people – the dances, songs, customs, place names and we see nothing dangerous about it. Of course, as it has been already mentioned, groundless and politicized statements are not desirable and may adversely af-fect the common cause. It also has to be added that the studies of the forcibly converted Armenians may contribute to identifying the entirety of resources available to the Armeniancy

We would also like to turn to the moral aspect of the issue: we, as Chris-tians are obliged to lend a helping hand to our stray compatriots who had been estranged from us against their will. In this regard a rather remarkable

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observation was made back in 1969 in an article by S. Bakkalian, a priest of the Armenian Evangelical Church: “However today when we have a pretext and opportunity to help them (the Islamized Armenians), and if we miss this last golden chance, surely one day our Lord will ask us – you and me: “Where is your brother?...” [3, p. 179].

We would also like to present some practical results of the study on the topic of the Islamized Armenians. First of all, the research uncovered some realities that even more strengthened the irrefutability of the fact of the Ar-menian Genocide. These arguments are based, inter alia, on the Turkish sources, and to date the Turkish side has not been able contest them. It is im-portant to underscore that since 2008 the secular and religious leaders of Ar-menia have also made references to the issue of the forcibly converted Arme-nians, which is something that never happened before. For instance, on Sep-tember 24, 2008 the President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan stated during his visit to the USA at the meeting with the representatives of the Armenian Di-aspora that he was against linguistic, religious or confessional divides among the Armenians1. Later on, in February 2009, the President of Armenia dis-cussed the issue of the Armenians of other religions and confessions at the meeting with Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians and the Supreme Spiri-tual Council, and the press-release issued after the event contained the fol-lowing: “Among the issues discussed were enrooting a fuller sense of Arme-nian identity among the Armenians of other religions and confessions and effective cooperation between different Armenian confessional communi-ties”2. In his address of April 24, 2011 the president spoke about the forcible Islamization of the Armenians during the Genocide: “The Ottoman Empire carried out a state-level policy to annihilate the Armenian people and deprive them of their homeland. Throughout all stages of its implementation, massa-

1 http։//www.president.am/events/news/arm/?day=24&month=09&year=2008&id=209 2 http://www.president.am/events/news/arm/?id=418


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cres, deportations, religion conversions (bold emphasis added, R.M.) and en-slavement were viewed as common, routine trifles”1. We are pleased by the approach of the Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II to this issue. For in-stance, in his address on April 24, 2010 he stated: “The Armenians who were forcibly converted to Islam and their descendants who are afraid to speak about their identity are also victims of the Genocide”2.

Our intelligentsia is also concerned about the issue of the forcibly con-verted Armenians. For example, in one of the recent interviews, National Hero of Armenia Charles Aznavour acknowledged that he had raised the is-sue of the Islamized Armenians during his conversation with the President of Armenia: “One day I spoke with the President of Armenia about the Islam-ized Armenians and I told him that something has to be done. These people are not happy as they are accepted neither by Turks, nor by Armenians; it is necessary to help them. We are a nation and nations obviously consist of dif-ferent people – good or bad, people of different religions – Christians, Jews, Muslims, it is normal. Armenia needs to change its mentality and accept Ar-menians of different religions, just like Europe does”3.

As for the developments around the issue of the forcibly Islamized Ar-menians in Turkey, it has to be noted that using various structures this coun-try tries to speculate on it, which is something one would expect. One of the developments concerning this issue is worth a discussion – in the recent pe-riod interesting and at the same time dangerous tendencies can be observed in the ethnic policy of the Turkish authorities carried out particularly in some of the mostly Kurdish-populated eastern regions of the country. One of the main arguments of the Kurdish claims is that they constitute an absolute ma-jority in some eastern regions of Turkey and, in essence, these regions are

1 www.nt.am/newsday.php?p=0&c=0&t=0&r=0&year=2011&month=04&day=24&shownews=1040754& LangID=9#1040754 2 http://www.tert.am/am/news/2010/04/24/april24/ 3 http://1in.am/arm/armenia_interview_37227.html

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ethnically homogeneous, i.e. Kurdish. Of course, this situation is a conse-quence of the genocidal policy carried out by the Ottoman authorities whereby the native people of the territory – the Armenians – were extermi-nated or assimilated. However, currently the Turkish authorities try to ques-tion the fact that those regions are “homogeneously Kurdish” and for this purpose they tend to use the factor of the forcibly Islamized Armenians. It has been for a while that the Turkish media and official Turkish historians have put into circulation the idea that there are many converted Armenians in the eastern regions of the country. Very often some of the statements made with the adverse intentions correspond to the reality, but certain Turkish structures had known about this fact for quite a long time and they did their best to control and fully assimilate those fragments of the Armeniancy. As the Turkish authorities failed to achieve a complete success in their attempts, to-day they strive to turn the situation to their advantage. In particular, the same context could be applicable to the phenomenon that at least with the tacit consent of the Turkish authorities, efforts are taking place to self-organize and activate the forcibly Islamized Armenians living in different parts of the historical Armenia (e.g. in Dersim). Actually, this is a rather pleasing develop-ment for us, but the other components of this matter should also be consid-ered. Raising the issue of the Armeniancy’s fragments surviving in the his-torical Armenia, the Turkish authorities try to exploit it for showing that these regions are not homogeneously Kurdish and there are other ethnic groups as well. We believe that the attempts to restore the Armenian churches could also be part of the same context. All of this may cause ten-sions between Kurds and Islamized Armenians and lead to unpredictable ef-fects as Kurds may start viewing them as competitors. However, it should be noted for now that the minor attempts to resurge the Armenian presence in the region are taken positively and sometimes are even encouraged in the Kurdish circles, but, nevertheless, the possible dangerous developments


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should also be taken in to consideration. Today, one of the main trends of the Turkish ethnic policy is setting the interests of different ethnic groups against each other. Thus, it can be safely stated that the ethnic direction continues to be an important part in the domestic policy of Turkey and although the ob-served new trends sometimes may superficially seem positive, at the same time possible hidden threats and traps should be taken into consideration.

In conclusion it has to be mentioned that there appear to be two areas of development for the issue of the Islamized Armenians. First, due to the ongo-ing crisis of the ethnic identity in Turkey, many people will suspect about, search and reclaim their Armenian identity; they will associate themselves with the Armeniancy with all the consequences that come with it. Second, one part of the converted Armenians will choose the way of complete assimi-lation (even today they are at a certain level of assimilation and some of them had been almost completely assimilated). Our impartial academic studies should set solid grounds for the political and religious authorities to under-take practical, tangible and effective actions.

December, 2011.

References and literature

1. Րաֆֆի, Ի՞նչ կապ կա մեր և Տաճկաստանի հայերի մեջ, Երկերի ժողովածու, Երևան 1991, հատոր 11-րդ:

2. Րաֆֆի, Մինչև ե՞րբ, Երկերի ժողովածու, Երևան 1991, հատոր 11-րդ: 3. Պագգալեան Ս., Մեր մնացորդը, Բանբեր հոգեւոր ամսաթերթ, Մարսել, 1969,

թիվ 9-10:

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CONVERTED HAMSHENI ARMENIANS: MUTUAL ACQUAINTANCE

Sergei Vardanyan*

Today, at the end of 2011, when just several months are left before celebra-tions start for the 500th anniversary of the Armenian book printing, when hundreds of newspapers and magazines are published in Armenia and all over the world in Armenian language, it is hard to believe that we, Armenians, a nation with 1600 years old writing and literature do not fully know ourselves. Even 130 years ago the Meghu Hayastani newspaper published in Tiflis staged a discussion whether Protestant or Catholic Armenians could be considered Armenians or not. In 1880 the celebrated writer Raffi wrote in “Mshak” (# 121): “Neither Catholicism, nor Protestantism, nor even Islam cause the Ar-menian to cease being an Armenian”. However, the words of the great writer did not become an accepted view; such disputes and controversies in Armenia and Diaspora have ruined many lives and even resulted in bloodshed. Today, perhaps many will answer with a smile that both Catholic and Protestant Ar-menians are certainly Armenians as well, but there are also those in the words or attitudes of whom some sort of reservation is felt. Having worked for 11 years as vice-chairman of the State Council on Religious Affairs under the Government of Armenia, I have observed various manifestations of such reservation by clergy, state officials and ordinary citizens. If even today there

* Research Associate at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Republic of Armenia Na-tional Academy of Sciences, Editor-in-Chief of the “Dzayn Hamshenakan” (Voice of Hamshen) monthly newspaper.

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is such an attitude towards our Christian brothers, one can only imagine what the public opinion used to be in the past about the forcibly Islamized Armeni-ans. Back in 1887 Grigor Artsruni wrote in “Mshak” (# 13): “When many years ago we said that in Kars province and to some extent in Batumi there were many Muslim Armenians who had been forcibly converted to Islam un-der the Turkish rule, nobody wanted to believe”. Indeed, the Armenians of Caucasus had no idea about the Muslim Armenians living around Kars and Batumi and did not comprehend the reality that for centuries many Arme-nian villages and even provinces had been forcibly converted to Islam and that there had been Armenians living side by side with them who heroically managed to preserve their language. It should be mentioned that there were many cases of conversion in Syunik, Nakhijevan and Artsakh as well. It is natural that the readership of “Mshak” was small and the ideas of Raffi and Artsruni could not illuminate the inhabitants of the dark village shacks. How-ever, in 1984, in about a century after those articles were written, when I vis-ited some converted Armenians who were exiled in 1944 to Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan from the villages near Batumi mentioned by Artsruni, after my return to Yerevan I again met astonished gazes and sometimes even hostility – how could one be a Muslim and Armenian? Of course, there were also many open-minded people. At that time about 3000 converted Hamsheni Ar-menians lived in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, and many of them told me that while serving in the army or being at the Black Sea, in different resorts and big cities, even in the places where they lived (Osh district in Kyr-gyzstan, Kizil-Kiya city, Bishkek, Tashkent) the Armenians they met always told that if they were Muslim then they could not be Armenian, even though everybody was surprised that they spoke Armenian. They asked me to send them books about their history in Russian language. I told them that there were no such books. Twenty-seven years have passed, and a part of the con-verted Hamshenis has moved to Russia – Krasnodar Krai, Rostov and Vo-

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ronezh. Recently I received an email from the converted Hamsheni Armeni-ans living in Russia. They again asked send them books about their history in Russian language, which would also cover the comparison of their dialect with the literary Armenian. I answered that about two decades after visiting them, at last my book “The Dialect, Folklore and Songs of the Converted Hamsheni Armenians” was published in 2009; it included the material I ob-tained from them, but there was no book in Russian. It is obvious that for publishing this book in Russian some funds are needed. So, the converted Hamshenis want to learn their and our history, but we do not give them such an opportunity. Why? I don’t know.

In this regard I would like to pose a question: if we don’t know con-verted Hamshenis well, do we know Christian Hamshenis well enough? In 1944, during the World War II, the renowned Armenologist Hrachia Acharian visited Gagra, Abkhazia. He stayed there for 25 days, studied the Hamsheni dialect and in three years, in 1947 published the book “A Study of the Hamsheni Dialect”. More than six decades since then no newer book is available on Hamsheni dialect, although many Hamsheni Armenians studied philology in the higher educational institutions of Yerevan and being the speakers of the dialect and living among other people who speak the dialect they should have published many new valuable works. Of course, not only they could have done it, but they should have done it in the first place. It has to be stated that over this period the vocabulary of the Hamsheni dialect has underwent considerable changes; the Trabzon (non-urban) sub-dialect has been displaced by Janik sub-dialect. Till now no academic work has been published on the folklore of the Christian Hamshenis. Books by Barunak Tor-lakyan and Hakob Gurunyan, which are a result of a diligent work, cover only some part of the Hamsheni Armenians’ rich folklore. No study of the heroic resistance of the Hamsheni Armenians during the Armenian Genocide has been published either. The memories of many of those who survived the


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Genocide have either been already lost or are kept at somebody’s place in some village or town, and who knows what will happen to these faded note-books. Why do I tell all of this? I do it simply to state again that we, Armeni-ans, no matter how strange it may seem, still face the issue of self-knowledge and moreover, we still do not know at all one of the segments of the Arme-niancy – Christian Hamsheni Armenians.

It should be added that Christian and Muslim Hamshenis do not know well each other either. As travelling has become easier over the last 20 years, they have heard about existence of each other and nothing more. They do not know why the children of the same family have had such different fates. In 1980s when I told the Hamshenis from Abkhazia, Krasnodar Krai and Arme-nia about their Muslim brothers, they were surprised, and now, when I tell the Muslims about their Christian brothers, they are equally surprised, espe-cially when they learn that among the Christian Hamshenis there were many renowned people of art and science, Heroes of the Soviet Union, etc. And these are the Hamshenis from the Turkish Hopa and Borçka districts, which border Georgia. The converted Hamshenis in Rize province are even less in-formed. Over the recent years I had an opportunity to visit three times the Muslim Hamsheni villages in Rize and Artvin provinces, together with a small group including Turkologist Lusine Sahakyan, and it should be stated that the 70 years of closed borders and Turkish propaganda have had a devas-tating effect. They no longer speak Armenian in Rize province, though still continue using many Armenian words and toponyms, whereas more than 20,000 converted Hamshenis in Hopa and Borçka districts of Artvin province still speak the Hopa sub-dialect of the Hamsheni dialect, but their children do not understand it. Incidentally, the video clips and CDs produced in Istanbul in the recent years by Kazim Koyuncu (a Laz), Züleyha Ortak (a Zaza), Ay-şenur Kolivar, Gökhan Birben, Hikmet Akçiçek, Aydoğan Topal, Nurcan Nurcanim, Altan Civelek, Erbal Aydin have greatly contributed to populariz-

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ing the Hamsheni culture of Hopa and Borçka districts; they include some songs in Hopa sub-dialect of Hamsheni dialect. The works by prosaic Mahir Özkan and poet Yusuf Vayiç written in their native dialect, as well as three films by well-known film director Özcan Alper have played a great role in raising awareness about our compatriots. Though in both Rize and Artvin provinces there are Hamshenis who say with confidence that they are Arme-nians (some of them being truck drivers who have visited Armenia and com-municated with the Armenians), most of them say that their ethnic back-ground is Hamsheni. There are also those who consider themselves Turks. People repeat what such Turkish scholars as Sakaoğlu, Kirzioğlu, Arici have foisted on them in their books. It is remarkable that some of the Hamshenis from Rize province have conducted studies and managed to publish books and articles about their native villages – Can Uğur Biryol about Çamlihemşin, Adnan Genç about Zuğa, Ibrahim Karaca about Khachapit, Kemal Nabi Ünal about Senoz. Unfortunately, they are not familiar with the Armenian sources, as they do not know Armenian. In order to fill this gap to some extent, a very valuable article Pages from the Hamsheni Armenian History by Levon Kha-chikyan previously published in “Banber Yerevani Hamalsarani” journal in 1969, was printed as a brochure in 1996 in Istanbul. However, this study pub-lished 42 years ago was intended for the academic circles of Armenia and not for the converted Hamsheni Armenians living in Turkey who are not aware even of the well-known episodes of the Armenian history, so by reading this brochure they cannot find answers to the questions that are of interest for them. A collection of articles in 306 pages presented at the “Hamshen and Hamsheni Armenians” international scientific conference (2005, Sochi) that was translated in Turkish language and published in Yerevan (2007) signifi-cantly improved the familiarity with the Armenian sources. It included about 20 articles by well-known scholars. It was sent to all the Hamsheni intellectu-als and scientists we knew. However, such academic articles are not accessible


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to the peasants, drivers, craftsmen, in other words common people who have been asking me about their origins and requesting to send popular science brochures in Turkish language about the Armenian history and history of the Hamsheni Armenians. Unfortunately there are no such brochures. They asked me “Why?” What could I tell them? I didn’t know either. Maybe our nation has changed its system of values, attaching more importance to the comfortable, sometimes avaricious life rather than to nationwide issues? I am surprised by the behavior of the Hamsheni Armenians, too. It is no secret that there are many rather wealthy Hamshenis, including those from Russia – Moscow and Krasnodar Krai, especially Sochi, but these people wallowing in money do not want to fund publication of books about the history of their ancestors, grandfathers and fathers. Why? Again, I do not know.

I often think why we, Armenians, have created such psychological, public, political and economic conditions in our country, causing a situation which is probably quite unique in the world history, when in peacetime 1/3 of the population has emigrated and many are still preparing to do so: not to evacuate as in wartime, but much worse, simply leave the country. Whom are we running away from, ourselves? Unfortunately, yes. Numerous times I have witnessed how the children of many immigrants in Krasnodar Krai do not attend facultative Armenian language lessons or Sunday schools. They argue that they do not need the Armenian language, as they are not going to return to Armenia. The situation is similar in many communities of Diaspora. There is only one conclusion – today we, Armenians, have a paramount goal of self-knowledge and mutual awareness of various religious and confessional, ethnographic and dialectal segments of the Armeniancy, and all of this is in-terconnected.

December, 2011.

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THE AWAKENING OF THE CONVERTED ARMENIANS: Notes of an Investigative Journalist

1980-2011

Hamo Moskofian*

In September 1980, when a military coup d'état took place in Turkey led by Kenan Evren, head of a fascist junta, thousands of progressive and left-wing activists fled to Syria and Lebanon to escape mass arrests and hanging. Some of them, being skillful revolutionaries and professional combatants, joined the ranks of the Palestinian revolutionary organizations. As a reporter, I built close relations with Devrimci Sol (Revolutionary Left), Devrimci Yol (Revolutionary Path), Partizan Yol (Guerilla Path), Türkiye Komünist Partisi Lenincileri (Communist Party of Turkey – Leninists), THKP Acilciler and-TİKKO-Türkiye İşçi Köylü Komünist Partisi (Popular Party of Turkey and Workers and Peasants Communist Party of Turkey), P.K.K. (Kurdistan Work-ers' Party) and some other organizations, many members of which were con-verted, Kurdified and Turkified Armenians. Also their ranks later included people that struggled for recognition of the Armenian Genocide, such as Ta-ner Akçam, Hrant Dink, Mihraç Ural, Abdullah Ocalan (“Apo”), Erkin Erki-ner, Aram Tigran and many others.

Since the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 our most significant meet-ings took place in 1999 in Frankfurt and Wiesbaden, Germany with Hamsheni Armenians and Kurdified Alevi Armenians. Aliye Alice Alt, her brother Sadet Bostan – Tigran Kostanyan and her son Deniz Alt, Turkish-

* Political journalist, editor, Beirut, Lebanon.

H.Moskofian «21st CENTURY», № 1 (11), 2012

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speaking and Islamized Armenians who were later baptized as Christians, were the relatives of Mesut Yılmaz, the former Prime Minister of Turkey. Al-ice Alt’s diploma thesis-book “Hamshen Armenians in the Mirror of History” has been translated from German to Greek by Yorgo Andreadis and to Turk-ish language by Ragip Zarakolu. Nureddin Gürman, one of the Hamsheni Ar-menians of Germany, has been quite active in undertaking various endeavors. All these meetings resulted in number of article series that familiarized the readership in both Diaspora and Mother Homeland with some of the true leaders of the lost Armenians who were able to spark off a sudden awakening among hundreds of their kinfolks after years of silence.

There were also quite noteworthy meetings, interviews and filming with the eastern, Armenian-speaking segment of Hamsheni Armenians in Federtsovka village, 1250 km south-east of Moscow. The children and grand-children of Akboyukov (Jermakian), Karaibrahimov, Shabanoglu and other families that were previously deported to Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan by Sta-lin and Beria, lived in hardship in this area of Russia and despite being fluent in the Hamsheni Armenian dialect often did not know that they are not only Hamshenis, but also Armenians. Some of them, like Ruslan Karabajakov, leader of Hamsheni Armenians in Kyrgyzstan, visited Armenia and Artsakh and expressed a wish to resettle in the lands of the liberated homeland after so many years of exile. Our continued joint efforts in this direction together with young people from Moscow’s Hamshen Union, such as Gevork Mkhi-taryan, Garik Garanyan, Ashot Dudukjyan are kindly supported.

In Germany, invaluable information and material for photographs and films about Alevi and Sunni converted Armenians were provided by Simon (Sedat) Goenden from Mush-Gundemira region of Western Armenia along with his brother Arman and relative Orhan, as well as by gray-haired but al-ways brave Daniel and his son Hagop who went through great suffering on their way from Varto to Hassakeh to Wiesbaden. They all were re-baptized

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into Christianity and maintained close relations with thousands of Armenians in the Turkish-conquered part of Armenia. Simon’s father, Hussein Goenden, visited Yerevan in 2007 and brought a handful of sacred soil of Taron from Knar village of Sassoun to the grave of late Armenian Prime Minister An-dranik Margaryan, whose family was originally from Mush and Sassoun. Meanwhile, Armen (Martirossian) from Mush has been guiding numerous visiting Diaspora Armenians through Western Armenia. It has to be men-tioned that Samuel Felekian (Ali Ihsan), a former PKK freedom fighter has returned to liberated Armenia after spending decades in Turkish jails as a po-litical prisoner. He now serves a linking bridge between the converted Arme-nians of Turkey and Germany and the Mother Homeland.

Recently, in Wiesbaden I attended the wedding of Alan Goenden, an Alevi from Varto and an woman of Armenian descent who was a great-granddaughter of Seyid Riza, a hero martyred during the Dersim Rebellion of Zazas in 1938. The groomsman at the wedding with 1500 guests was Dikran (Shahin Menderes) Chatinkaya, a Sunni Kurdified Armenian who was re-baptized into Christianity and in 2000 successfully sued the Turkish govern-ment to return his Armenian Christian identity in his passport.

Our meeting and strengthening friendship with the great Zaza singer and musician Mikail Aslan and Cemil Koçgiri that was made possible through Zafer Kücük, a Kizilbash of Armenian descent, helped uncover previously un-known and concealed tragedies, which occurred during the 1915 Armenian Genocide. The martyred Zaza hero Seyid Riza had then saved thousands of Armenian orphans, which was one of the main reasons why he was hanged as a rebel in 1938 by the Kemal Atatürk - Ismet Inönü tyrant regime. According to Munzur Chem, a Zaza historian whose consanguine sister is Armenian, a great number of millennia-old Armenian manuscripts and bibles were confis-cated and destroyed in Seyid Riza’s house. The existence of ample Armenian vocabulary, traditions, festivities in the culture of Zazas in Dersim (named


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after Der Simon, an Armenian priest) has been attested in the works of Mesut Keskin (Goethe University of Frankfurt), Nadire Göktaş (Ankara University), Annika Törne (Bochum, Germany) and especially in Mikail Aslan’s famous album “Petag”, which presents centuries-old Armenian songs of Dersim sung also in Zazaki and Turkish languages (using the archives of Mihran Tumajyan who was a student of great Komitas, as well as with the help of Akunq Ensemble).

With all this information in mind, in summary the converted Armeni-ans can be categorized in the following groups:

1. Muslim and Christian Hamsheni Armenians. Those converted to Is-lam live in Turkey (Western Armenia) in the areas around the historical for-tress-town Hamamashen built by Prince Hamam Amatuni, Trebizond, Khotorjur, Kajkar, Rize, as well as in Voronezh, Rostov, Federtsovka, Osh, Chirkino and other settlements in Georgia, Russia, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakh-stan. The Christian Hamsheni Armenians live mainly in Moscow, Sochi, Krasnodar, Gagra and settlements in Abkhazia; they are the descendants of the Hamsheni Armenians who fled from Western Armenia to escape Turkish persecution. Currently there are many Hamsheni Armenians in Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Canada and the USA, who maintain contacts with their compatriots. There are many Internet websites and Facebook groups for everyday communication that help awaken the Hamsheni Armenians. In this regard it is worth mentioning the academic research implemented in this field by Hamsheni studies scholars S. Vardanyan and H. Alvrtsyan, poet Y. Vayiç, R. Safrastyan and R. Melkonyan. Great work has been accomplished, particularly through the “Hamshen” illustrated magazine, by the members of Christian Hamsheni Armenian Union and its youth organization in Moscow, such as Sergey Galinjyan and Ashot Dudukjyan.

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2. Alevi and Sunni Armenians, currently Zaza and Kizilbash, Kurdified and of Zoroastrian stock. They live mostly in Sassoun, Mush, Varto, Gun-demira, Dersim, Batman, Erzerum regions. A few thousand of them reside in cities and towns of Germany, Netherlands, Belgium and Sweden. Their actual number increases daily thanks to the Internet websites, Facebook connec-tions, conferences and new studies. Aram Ateshian, Vicar of the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople, and Archbishop Karekin Bekjian, Primate of the Diocese of Germany, have made statements many times in mass media about the existence of thousands of crypto-Armenians. After the identity of these people was confirmed, many of them received Christian baptism in Constantinople, Cologne, Hanau, Wiesbaden, Frankfurt, etc.

There is a significant number of Zaza and Kizilbash Zoroastrian Armeni-ans in Dersim and Western Europe. They represent a new and powerful force with well-developed leadership and have joined efforts with their Zaza and Kurdish brethren for recognition of the Dersim genocide and struggle for inde-pendence. They have established unions and created websites, they organize cultural events and music concerts in Dersim and elsewhere in Western Arme-nia, attended by many Armenian and foreign dignitaries and leaders.

3. Both Islamized and Christian Armenians who had become Arabs and Assyrians, and long before the Armenian Genocide, in the age of the Cilicia Kingdom played important roles in the Assassins religious/revolutionary movement, and even as supreme rulers of the Mamluk Empire, such as Malik al-Afdal, Shajarat al-Durr, Lulu and others.

However, focusing on the days of the Armenian Genocide, thousands of orphans were saved by Arab tribes and most of them were handed over to Ar-menian or Armenophile collectors of orphans. Raised in the orphanages of Lebanon, Syria and newly independent Armenia, they later became the cream of the crop of the new Armenian generation. Yet many remained and


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were Arabized, some others were Assyrianized, although maintaining their Armenian identity. There are many articles, photographs and films about them. Several years ago chief sheikhs of some Syrian Arab tribes visited Yere-van and told about many Armenians, who converted to Islam but maintained their identity. Sometimes they met with their re-found relatives coming from countries far away, causing very emotional moments.

The struggle for return to Armeniancy carries on. The dawn of overall

awakening movement approaches.

December, 2011.

“21st CENTURY” information and analytical journal Editorial Board

Founded by the “NORAVANK” Scientific-Educational Foundation State register certificate no. 221 granted on 17.05.2001

by the Ministry of Justice of the RA 23/1 Garegin Nzhde St., Yerevan, 0026, Republic of Armenia

Website: www.noravank.am E-mail: [email protected], [email protected]

Phone: + (374 10) 44 38 46 Fax: + (374 10) 44 04 73

Lusine Baghramyan - issue manager

Printed: 26.03.2011.

No. 1 (11), 2012. Print run: 200 copies.

Art paper, size: 70x100 1/16

6 sheets. Font: Sylfaen Printed at Gasprint Ltd

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01-2012tert.nla.am/archive/NLA AMSAGIR/XXI Century/01_2012.pdf · 2016. 5. 24. · Gevorg Hayrapetyan Executive Secretary Lusine Baghramyan Anna Zhamakochyan Arestakes Simavoryan