Turkish Forum

Tag: History

  • BOOKS: How the trading hub was destroyed

    BOOKS: How the trading hub was destroyed

    Sunday, November 2, 2008

    SMYRNA 1922

    By Giles Milton

    Basic Books, $27.95, 426 pages, illus.

    REVIEWED BY MARTIN RUBIN

    On Wednesday, Sept. 13, 1922, the ancient city of Smyrna (now Izmir) on the Aegean Sea, which had long been a prosperous cosmopolitan trading hub, was a charnel house. Caught up in a 10-year cycle of war which had seen Greece and Turkey fighting for control of the region, the largely Greek city (its Hellenic population of more than 300,000 much larger then than Athens’) had been sacked by the Turkish forces under Mustafa Kemal, later known as Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern post-Ottoman Turkey.

    Scenes of almost unimaginable brutality and horror ensued: Untold rapes and cruel assaults – limbs, noses and ears hacked off -and murders by scimitar, bayonet and club. Not content with mayhem on this scale, the invaders scattered gasoline throughout the city and set it alight. Desperate to escape the inferno, much of the city’s populace streamed down to the harbor, a scene that must have merited the term indescribable if ever one did. But Giles Milton, a British writer, has managed the difficult task of harrowing the hell that Smyrna must have been 86 years ago and is capable of painting such scenes thus:

    “The Smyrna quayside had indeed become a scene of abject human misery. Almost two miles long – and wider than a football pitch – it was large enough to accommodate hundreds of thousands of homeless people. … By the time dusk fell on that terrible Wednesday, the quayside was crowded with almost half a million refugees.[Smyrna had a large Armenian as well as Jewish and European populations.] They stood in real danger of being burned alive for the fire had by now reached the waterfront – a scalding, pulsating heat that was transmitted from building to building by the liberal use of benzine. . . . The heat was soon so intense that the mooring lines of the ships closest to the waterfront began to burn. All the vessels moved 250 yards out from the quayside, yet the heat was still overwhelming. . . . The flames leaped higher and higher. The screams of the frantic mob on the quay could easily be heard a mile distant. There was a choice of three kinds of death: The fire behind, the Turks waiting at the side streets and the ocean in front … in modern chronicles, there has probably been nothing to compare with the night of September 13 in Smyrna.”

    If there was one thing that could make this hellish scene worse, it was the fact that Smyrna harbor was packed with warships from Britain, France, Italy and the United States, their crews witness to what was taking place but under strict orders not to intervene. (It is interesting to note that it has been reported that this book was on John McCain’s reading list and that he has singled it out as having resonated strongly with him.) The descriptions of these scenes of desperation as people struggled to reach the ships and were beaten back physically by the crews shamefully under strict orders to do so are literally sickening to read: What must it have been like to be the participants beggars even the most vivid imagination.

    from the book cover

    Milton tells his story unflinchingly and does not disguise his outrage. He is very good at providing the historical context for this dreadful episode: A complicated tale involving World War I and its aftermath, great power politics and adventurism, and a wildly expansionist Greece dedicated to restoring the lost grandeur of the Byzantine Empire. But although his goal is understanding the underlying causes for this incident, never does he fall into the trap of allowing any of this knowledge in any way to mitigate the unpardonable atrocities of those September days in Smyrna. He tries to find heroes and sometimes succeeds: Asa Jennings, a Methodist minister from New York newly arrived in Smyrna, managed eventually to overcome callous policy and bureaucratic hurdles to rescue many of those who managed to survive the fire but still faced deportation and certain death.

    The book justifies its title by summoning up the lost world of Smyrna, with its worldwide trade in dried apricots and the figs that bore its name. A bustling town where Jews, Christians and Muslims had lived in peaceful harmony for many centuries, Smyrna was also home to a group known as the Levantines: merchant families from Europe who had lived there for generations and made great fortunes from trading. Smyrna’s lost world of opera houses, luxurious hotels and splendid villas does seem paradisal in Mr. Milton’s account, although he may perhaps have been overly credulous in accepting the understandably rose-tinted accounts of those few eyewitnesses still living whom he assiduously tracked down. Still, he is not wrong in pointing out how so much can so quickly be destroyed in an orgy of destruction like this, no matter its origins: A cautionary tale indeed for John McCain – and for all of us.

    Martin Rubin is a writer and critic in Pasadena, Calif.

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  • LECTURE- Armenia in Old Maps and Old Armenian Maps, Rouben Galichian, Oct. 29

    LECTURE- Armenia in Old Maps and Old Armenian Maps, Rouben Galichian, Oct. 29

    American University of Armenia Extension Program

    Presents

    Armenia in Old Maps and Old Armenian Maps
    Illustrated Talk in English by

    Rouben Galichian

    October 29, 18:30-20:00
    AUA, 5th floor, Small Auditorium

    Free Admission

    The presentation is prepared to give the layman an idea how
    non-Armenian mapmakers have shown Armenia in their maps, accompanied
    by the images of the important maps. Some common misconceptions
    generally used by many specialists regarding Armenia are also discussed.

    Armenia has existed for millennia and this fact is well displayed on
    the maps prepared by various mapmakers all over the world. The
    earliest map showing Armenia is in fact the oldest World Map, a
    Babylonian clay tablet displaying the known world and dating form the
    6th century BC.

    >From then on all major cartographers and mapmakers have shown Armenia
    in their maps, notwithstanding the fact that at certain times Armenia
    as an independent kingdom has not existed, but all that time the
    territory where the Armenian people lived has been entitled Armenia.
    Various maps of the Greek, Roman, early Christian, Latin, Assyrian and
    Islamic maps come to prove this fact.

    Samples of all these maps collected from major libraries and museums
    of the world are displayed, followed by maps made by Armenian authors,
    some of which are not well known.

    Speaker: Rouben Galichian has been seriously studying geography and
    cartography since 1970s. He is the author of three monographs:
    “Historic Maps of Armenia: The Cartographic Heritage” (I. B. Tauris,
    London, 2004), “Armenia in World Cartography” (2005) and “Countries
    South of the Caucasus in Medieval Maps: Armenia, Georgia and
    Azerbaijan ” (2007). He represents the huge cartographical heritage
    related to Armenia not only by books and articles but also by public
    lectures     and speeches at different scientific conferences and by media
    in the USA and in Europe.

    About AUA Extension:

    American University of Armenia Extension Department (AUA Extension)
    serves as University’s principal interface with the community. At AUA
    Extension we plan, design, develop and deliver a number of quality
    courses to target certain sectors of government, academia, private
    organizations and individuals to help them fulfill professional and/or
    career goals through flexible and innovative adult and continuing
    education and training programs. We offer a comprehensive English
    Language Training Program    , a multitude of Computer Literacy and
    Information Technology training and a number of Leadership, Business
    and Entrepreneurial courses. Our mission is to foster individual,
    organizational, and community growth and transformation, through
    accessible, high-quality programs.  Our Vision is to become the
    Education and Training Organization of choice to meet the changing
    needs of those seeking the best in lifelong learning.

  • Forward To The Past: Russia, Turkey, And Armenia’s Faith

    Forward To The Past: Russia, Turkey, And Armenia’s Faith

    Russia, too, must deal with Armenia in good faith.

    October 21, 2008
    By Raffi K. Hovannisian

     

    The recent race of strategic realignments reflects a real crisis in the world order and risks triggering a dangerous recurrence of past mistakes. Suffice the testimony of nearly all global and regional actors, which have quickly shifted gears and embarked on a collective reassessment of their respective strategic interests and, to that end, a diversification of policy priorities and political partnerships.

    It matters little whether this geopolitical scramble was directly triggered by the Russian-Georgian war and the resulting collapse of standing paradigms for the Caucasus, or whether it crowned latently simmering scenarios in the halls of international power. The fact is that the great game — for strategic resources, control over communications and routes of transit, and long-term leverage — is on again with renewed vigor, self-serving partisanship, and duplicitous entanglement.

    One of the hallmarks of this unbrave new world is the apparent reciprocal rediscovery of Russia and Turkey. Whatever its motivations and manifestations, Turkey’s play behind the back of its trans-Atlantic bulwark and Russia’s dealings at the expense of its “strategic ally” Armenia raise the specter of a replay of the events of more than 85 years ago, when Bolshevik Russia and a Kemalist Turkey not content with the legacy of the great Genocide and National Dispossession of 1915 partitioned the Armenian homeland in Molotov-Ribbentrop fashion and to its future detriment.

    Time To Face Up

    Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh, in Armenian) was one of the territorial victims of this 1921 plot of the pariahs, as it was placed under Soviet Azerbaijani suzerainty together with Nakhichevan. That latter province of the historical Armenian patrimony was subsequently cleansed of its majority Armenian population, and then of its Armenian cultural heritage. As recently as December 2005, Azerbaijan (like Armenia, a member of the Council of Europe) completed the total, Taliban-style annihilation of the medieval Armenian cemetery at Jugha that contained thousands of unique cross-stones.

    Nagorno-Karabakh, by contrast, was able to turn the tide on a past of genocide, dispossession, occupation and partition and defend its identity, integrity, and territory against foreign aggression. In 1991 — long before Kosovo, South Ossetia, and Abkhazia became buzzwords — it declared its liberty, decolonization, and sovereignty in compliance with the Montevideo standards of conventional international law and  with the Soviet legislation in force at that time.

    Subsequent international recognition of Kosovo, on the one hand, and the later withholding of such recognition for South Ossetia and Abkhazia, on the other, demonstrate that there exists no real rule of law applied evenly across the board. On the contrary, such decisions are dictated by vital interests that are rationalized by reference to selectively interpreted international legal principles of choice and exclusivist distinctions of fact which, in fact, make no difference.

    It’s time to face up to the farce — and that goes for Moscow and Ankara too, judging by recent pronouncements by high-level officials. And if the two countries are driven by the desire for a strategic new compact, then at least their partners on the world stage should reshift gears and calibrate their policy alternatives accordingly. Iran, the United States, and its European allies might find here an objective intersection of their concerns.

    What Is Needed

    Russia and Turkey must never again find unity of purpose at the expense of Armenia and the Armenian people. The track record of genocide, exile, death camps, and gulags is enough for all eternity.

    These two important countries, as partners both real and potential, must respect the Armenian nation’s tragic history, its sovereign integrity and modern regional role, and Nagorno-Karabakh’s lawfully gained freedom and independence.

    Football diplomacy is fine, but Turkey can rise to the desired new level of global leadership and local legitimacy only by dealing with Armenia from a “platform” of good faith and reconciliation through truth; lifting its illegal blockade of the republic and opening the frontier that it unilaterally closed, instead of using it as a bargaining tool; establishing diplomatic relations without preconditions and working through that relationship to build mutual confidence and give resolution to the many watershed issues dividing the two neighbors; accepting and atoning, following the brilliant example of post-World War II Germany, for the first genocide of the 20th century and the national dispossession that attended it; committing to rebuild, restore, and then celebrate the Armenian national heritage, from Mount Ararat and the medieval capital city of Ani to the vast array of churches, monasteries, schools, academies, fortresses, and other cultural treasures of the ancestral Armenian homelands; initiating and bringing to fruition a comprehensive program to guarantee the right of secure voluntary return for the progeny and descendants of the dispossessed to their places and properties of provenance; providing full civil, human, and religious rights to the Armenian community of Turkey, including the total abolition the infamous Article 301, which has served for so long as an instrument of fear, suppression, and even death with regard to those courageous citizens of good conscience who dare to proclaim the historical fact of genocide; and finally, exercising greater circumspection in voicing incongruous and unfounded allegations of “occupation” in the context of Nagorno-Karabakh’s David-and-Goliath struggle for life and justice, lest someone remind Ankara about more appropriate and more proximate applications of that term.

    As for Russia, true strategic allies consult honestly with each other and coordinate their policies pursuant to their common interests. They do not address one another by negotiating adverse protocols with third parties behind each other’s back; they do not posture against each other in public or in private; and they do not try to intimidate, arm-twist, or otherwise pressure each other via the press clubs and newspapers of the world. Russia, too, must deal with Armenia in good faith, recognizing the full depth and breadth of its national sovereignty and the horizontal nature of their post-Soviet rapport, its right to pursue a balanced, robust, and integral foreign policy, as well as the nonnegotiability — for any reason, including the sourcing and supervision of Azerbaijani oil — of Nagorno-Karabakh’s liberty, security, and self-determination.

    The Armenian government, in turn, must of course also shoulder its share of responsibility for creating a region of peace and shared stability, mutual respect and open borders, domestic democracy, and international cooperation. An ancient civilization with a new state, Armenia’s national interests can best be served by achieving in short order a republic administered by the rule of law and due process, and an abiding respect for fundamental freedoms, good governance, and fair elections, which, sadly, has not been the case to date.

    Armenia urgently needs a new understanding with its neighbors that will preclude once and for all its being cast again in the role of either fool or victim.

    Raffi K. Hovannisian served from 1991-92 as foreign minister of the Republic of Armenia. He is the founder of the Armenian Center for National and International Studies and represents the opposition Heritage Party in the Armenian parliament. The views expressed in this commentary are the author’s own, and do not necessarily reflect those of RFE/RL

  • Book Tells the Story of Armenians in New Britain

    Book Tells the Story of Armenians in New Britain

    By Ken Byron
     October 3, 2008

    To many, New Britain is synonymous with Polish jokes and it’s easy to forget that there are more that just Polish people in New Britain and that the city has a long and rich history as a cultural melting pot. I was reminded of this when an advance copy of a book entitled “New Britain’s Armenian Community” came across my desk on Friday. Thls volume is published by Arcadia Publishing as part of its Images of America series.

    I’ve worked in New Britain for years now and I’ve gotten used to seeing Armenian names from time to time. But to say I know little about their history is an understatement. According to this new volume, the first Armenians who came to New Britain were five men who arrived in 1892 to work in the city’s factories. By 1940, there were 2,700 Armenians in New Britain.

    Armenians began arriving a great numbers in the 1920s. Unfortunately, they had a really good reason for coming. Most of them were fleeing what is called the Armenian Genocide of 1915, in which Turkey uprooted, deported and killed many Armenians. Many historians consider this to be the first modern, systematic genocide and the book’s author, Jennie Gerabedian, prominently mentions the suffering that many Armenian immigrants to New Britain endured. She also highlights the stories of many of them who came to New Britain and prospered.

    The book is not a history in the regular sense of the word but instead tries to tell the story of New Britain’s Armenians through pictures. Arcadia has published a great many other local histories through its Images of America series and all of the ones I’ve seen are like this, page after page of pictures with sometimes very lengthy captions. 

  • Imagining the Turkish House – Collective Visions of Home

    Imagining the Turkish House – Collective Visions of Home

    From: Carel Bertram <[email protected]>
    List Editor: Mark Stein <[email protected]>
    Editor’s Subject: H-TURK: New book [C Bertram]
    Author’s Subject: H-TURK: New book [C Bertram]
    Date Written: Mon, 29 Sep 2008 16:19:52 -0400
    Date Posted: Mon, 29 Sep 2008 16:19:52 -0400

    Dear Colleagues,
My book on the Turkish House has just been published by UT press:
   Imagining the Turkish House
   Collective Visions of Home
       By Carel Bertram

The UT site gives a nice description.... and a 33% discount (thus: $16.95 for
the paper back.)

DESCRIPTION


TABLE OF CONTENTS AND FULL INTRODUCTION


UT Press was very generous in its image allowance, there are over 80 images,
including my own 2 page map of Istanbul in 1918, linked to Peyami Safa's
heroine, Neriman, in Fatih-Harbiye.

Dr. Carel Bertram
San Francisco State University
  • Turkey and Armenia Friends and neighbours

    Turkey and Armenia Friends and neighbours

     

    Sep 25th 2008 | ANKARA AND YEREVAN
    From The Economist print edition
    Rising hopes of better relations between two historic enemies

     
    KEMAL ATATURK , father of modern Turkey, rescued hundreds of Armenian women and children from mass slaughter by Ottoman forces during and after the first world war. This untold story, which is sure to surprise many of today’s Turks, is one of many collected by the Armenian genocide museum in Yerevan that “will soon be brought to light on our website,” promises Hayk Demoyan, its director.
    His project is one more example of shifting relations between Turkey and Armenia. On September 6th President Abdullah Gul became the first Turkish leader to visit Armenia when he attended a football match. Mr Gul’s decision to accept an invitation from Armenia’s president, Serzh Sarkisian, has raised expectations that Turkey may establish diplomatic ties and open the border it closed during the 1990s fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh. The two foreign ministers were planning to meet in New York this week. Armenia promises to recognise Turkey’s borders and to allow a commission of historians to investigate the fate of the Ottoman Armenians.
    Reconciliation between Turkey and Armenia could tilt the balance of power in the Caucasus. Russia is Armenia’s closest regional ally. It has two bases and around 2,000 troops there. The war in Georgia has forced Armenia to rethink its position. Some 70% of its supplies flow through Georgia, and these were disrupted by Russian bombing. Peace with Turkey would give Armenia a new outside link. Some think Russia would be happy too. “It would allow Russia to marginalise and lean harder on Georgia,” argues Alexander Iskandaryan, director of the Caucasus Media Institute.
    Mending fences with Armenia would bolster Turkey’s regional clout. And it might also help to kill a resolution proposed by the American Congress to call the slaughter of the Armenians in 1915 genocide. That makes the Armenian diaspora, which is campaigning for genocide recognition, unhappy. Some speak of a “Turkish trap” aimed at rewriting history to absolve Turkey of wrongdoing. Indeed, hawks in Turkey are pressing Armenia to drop all talk of genocide.
    Even more ambitiously, the hawks want better ties with Armenia to be tied anew to progress over Nagorno-Karabakh. But at least Mr Gul seems determined to press ahead. “If we allow the dynamics that were set in motion by the Yerevan match to slip away, we may have to wait another 15-20 years for a similar chance to arise,” he has said.