NEW YORK—On Friday, November 9, New Yorkers gathered to hear Dr. Richard Hovannisian and Dr. Karen Khanlarian speak at a panel discussion titled “Armenian Culture and Identity: On People, Land and Monuments” organized by the Armenian Youth Federation (AYF) New York Hyortik chapter, the New School Diversity Committee, and the University Diversity Initiative. The overwhelming turnout caused the crowd of over 100 to spill out into the hallway as the speakers began their presentation.

In her opening remarks, New York Hyortik member and New School for Social Research student Sossi Essajanian began the evening by framing evening’s discussion. She said, “Tonight’s panel will focus on the ways in which Armenian cultural markers are negotiated: how politics, society, history and culture have intertwined to carve out an identity that is in constant flux while at the same time also seen as ‘static.’ This paradox is what today’s’ guests will help us try to understand.”

She then invited Hovannisian, professor of Armenian and Near Eastern History and Holder of the Armenian Educational Foundation and Chair in Modern Armenian History at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), to begin by discussing ethnic identity through the lens of his recent trip to Eastern Turkey. On this trip, Hovannisian and his wife visited sites important to their family histories, including the towns from which their parents were forcefully expelled during the Genocide.

Instead of going to historic Armenian lands with one of the many Armenian-organized tours, Hovannisian said that he chose to go with a Turkish colleague, Dr. Fatma Muge Gocek. He explained that going with one of the all-Armenian tour groups would have been too painful for him. As part of his presentation Hovannisian showed a photographic slideshow of the various sites he visited. He demonstrated the ongoing and often complete destruction of everything Armenian in the towns and villages of Eastern Turkey. In many places he visited, Hovannisian pointed out that almost all traces of Armenian existence had been completely destroyed. A few remaining structures were left standing, he said, because they had been used by the townspeople as stables or storage spaces for hay. Throughout his presentation also Hovannisian showed what these towns had looked like prior to 1915 and what they looked like today.

In discussing his trip he also mentioned coming across many people who identified themselves as Armenian or “part-Armenian.” Many, he said, claimed to have a grandparent who was Armenian and people in the villages would know and openly speak of a grandmother who was Armenian. Hovannisian said that he also met some “full-Armenians,” such as his driver who was a Hamshen Armenian and a member of the only remaining Armenian family in Kharpert.

Hovannisian said that even those who were not Armenian were aware of what had transpired on those lands some 90 years earlier. He then described an experience in which an old lady approached him and said that she knew he was back for his land, but she would not allow him to take it. Hovannissian also mentioned that at each place he visited, he was followed by townspeople who believed he was looking for his family’s buried treasure. So for the people who remained on these historical lands, he said, the memory of the Genocide and its aftermath are still a very vivid part of their daily lives.

Hovannisian ended his presentation and segued into the next by posing the very important and divisive question of whether or not Muslims who consider themselves to be Armenian, should be considered Armenian.

Next Khanlarian—a doctoral candidate at the Republic of Armenia’s Institute of History and editor of the Troshag monthly publication in Armenia—spoke in Armenian with simultaneous translation into English by Aris Sevag. In his presentation he discussed the different types of Armenians living in Turkey. He described three groups of Armenians currently living in Anatolia: “official” Armenians, “Islamized” Armenians and “crypto” Armenians. The first group is Armenians that have lived provinces and towns as communities connected to the Armenian Apostolic, Catholic or Evangelical churches.

“Islamized” Armenians are those, he said, who make up a “large and small patrimonial or tribal groups of Pontic and Hamshen Armenians, which live in the Black Sea littoral. The “Islamized” type, in its relatively wide sphere, also contains groups called ‘half-half,’ ‘Armenian-Laz,’ ‘Zaza,’ and ‘Bosha,’” he said. As for “crypto” Armenians, he described them as “coerced into accepting Islam by force, in order to maintain their physical existence, going back to the period of the periodic Armenian massacres (1896-1923).” Khanlarian said that “crypto” Armenians differ from the other types by the time and process of Islamization.

His paper, however, focused mostly on the Hamshen Armenians, a group of mostly-Muslim ethnic Armenians living in Turkey, Georgia, and Russia. He said that these people live along the Black Sea and speak a dialect of Armenian but practice Islam instead of Christianity. Khanlarian explored the Hamshen culture and the ways in which it retained its distinctively Armenian flavor. Through a multi-media assortment of images, musical selections and video clips, he described the group’s customs, songs (that were very similar to Armenian) and line dances. He also mentioned that the group practiced a more moderate form of Islam in comparison to other surrounding groups.

Khanlarian ended his presentation with the voice of one Hamshen Armenian. He read the following words spoken by 40-year-old Armen Mardirossian: “’Don’t forget us. There are many Armenians surviving in Mush, Sassoun, Vardo and other areas…Armenians, who were afraid until recently to reveal their identity but who today are expressing themselves courageously and are struggling to remain Armenian.’”

Following the presentations, refreshments were served and free copies of a DVD documentary on the destruction of the Julfa cross stones prepared by the Research on Armenian Architecture, were provided to all attendees.

“The presentations were as much about the people currently living on the lands we still feel so close to,” said New York Hyortik member Taline Ghazarian. “These people, some of which still identify themselves as Armenians, are the ones living what would have been our lifestyle if not for the Genocide. It's important to take a look at these people's lives and to not neglect those who still feel a connection to our culture, even if that means altering what our perception of being Armenian is,” she said.

For more information about these or other New York AYF events, please contact hyortik@gmail.com or visit www.ayf.org.

(L to R) Translator Aris Sevag, Dr. Karen Khanlarian, moderator Sossi Essajanian, and Dr. Richard Hovannisian 

Over 100 New Yorkers packed into a room at New School University for a discussion Armenian culture and identity

PHOTO CREDIT:

Harry Koundakjian