Armenian History

By following the sectional structure of this volume, these afterthoughts explore a multitude of venues for approaching aesthetics as a means to study the dynamics of religious narratives and their reception. They not only elaborate on the theoretical and methodological potential of the aesthetics of religion for the study of narrative cultures in diverse religious contexts, but also explore the main insights of this volume’s contributions by applying it to a case study. The afterthoughts follow the sectional structure of this volume and engage in methodological and theoretical reflections on issues central to the aesthetics of religion. To demonstrate how the theoretical and methodological approach as proposed in this volume could be put into practice and work within the context of a single case study, these afterthoughts illustrate how the aesthetics approach can be used to elucidate less obvious forms of narrative cultures and the different aesthetic means of their transmission within different religious and cultural contexts. By presenting a case study in which different narrative cultures are intertwined through lines of socially and culturally interconnected storyworlds, the most significant insights of these afterthoughts outline the potential framework for future analysis that emerges through the assemblage of the individual contributions. With the aim to highlight unrecognized connections and expand on the aesthetic junctures of sensation and imagination, a nuanced consideration of all dimensions and aspects promises to exemplify the theoretical and methodological relevance of the aesthetic frame and narrative focus as integral to the makeup of this volume and the study of religion as a whole.

This is the catalog for the exhibition, "To Know Wisdom and Instruction: The Armenian Literary Tradition at the Library of Congress," which ran from April 18-September 26, 2012, at the Library of Congress. The exhibition was  mounted to celebrated the 500th anniversary of the first Armenian printed book.

The colophons of the Armenian manuscripts take a special place with their original and rich information among the medieval Armenian written monuments.
In the work we have attempted to thoroughly examine the components of the Armenian colophons, the latters’ diverse ways of expression. We have done some classifications of the Armenian colophons, according to the time of writing, the authors of colophons and the content. We have individually represented the units we encounter in the Armenian colophons, if possible, comparing this all with the identical manifestations occurring in other manuscript traditions.

The start of the Great War and the tumult it generated continued until the foundation of the Republic of Turkey in 1923. Among the tragedies that happened in Turkish regions, that of Pontus, was characterised by massive killings, deportations, ethnic cleansings and other atrocities, which resulted in the disappearance of Christians without distinction to race, sect or nationality.

On top of that tragedy and for a different point of view in the study of those years, the testimony of Cirillo Giovanni Zohrabiàn is a valuable contribution. Born in Erzurum in 1881, Zohrabiàn was an Armenian Catholic of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin. The records of his life between Erzurum and Trabzon in the years 1919-1923 were collected by him and published in Italian by Capuchins of Palermo in 1965 as his memories in Minor Asia.

In march 1923, the friar because of his assistance to Greeks of Pontus in terms of financial and humanitarian aid, was accused by Turkish authorities of being one of the leaders of Pontic Greek Committee, "the revolutionary Mesrob Sarkys". For that reason, he was expelled from Trabzon and sent by ship to Constantinople, where he was arrested, tortured and sentenced to death by hanging. Accused by the Turks, he sought for the help of the Dominican Order of the Church of SS Peter and Paul in Galata in order to prove his identity as friar. However, he was condemned to exile for helping the Greeks.

The aim of this paper is to expose the memories of Zorhabiàn. This would be the beginning of a research project on the Pontus tragedy based on Catholic archival and bibliography resources.

Resumo: Sérgio Tutikian é um pioneiro por dois motivos: por um lado é dos primeiros diplomatas de origem armênia nos quadros do Ministério das Relações Exteriores e por outro é o primeiro a de fato ter servido nos postos-chave do Oriente Médio, dominando muitas de suas línguas, aspectos culturais e sensibilidades políticas. O depoimento em questão é uma entrevista de História Oral, do tipo história de vida, em que o entrevistado conta sobre a história da chegada da sua família ao Brasil, no contexto das perseguições porque os armênios passaram no Império Otomano em sua fase final, perpassa o estabelecimento da mesma no Rio Grande do Sul, sua escolha não óbvia pela carreira diplomática, e centra-se então em seus testemunhos sobre passagens no Irã, Iraque e Kuwait, entre outras localidades médio-orientais.

Un hecho que se ha repetido a lo largo de la historia es, sin duda, analizar el valor de algunas palabras que, además de dar nombre a una situación, reflejan en sus orígenes las circunstancias de su concepción. Tal es el caso de la palabra Genocidio, que adquirió entidad en 1948 cuando las Naciones Unidas la reconociera como un delito del Derecho Internacional definiéndola como "la persecución sistemática y destrucción total o parcial de grandes grupos humanos por motivos de nacionalidad, de raza, de religión o políticos" gracias a la cruzada personal del jurista polaco-judío Raphael Lemkin (1900-1959).

https://elcomercio.pe/mundo/actualidad/la-operacion-nemesis-el-origen-de-la-palabra-genocidio-por-hector-lopez-arestegui-noticia/

The Cold War era, from the end of the Second World War to the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991, remains understudied in modern Armenian history. Ara Sanjian will try to explain why Armenian historians and intellectuals in general have, in recent decades, shied away from tackling this specific period in the transnation’s history. He will also argue that writing the Cold War-era history of Soviet Armenia and the Armenian communities worldwide, as well as analyzing the legacy of the global Cold War for Armenians today are gaps that should be filled in the coming years. Based on deliberations during a conference on Armenians and the Cold War, organized by the Armenian Research Center at the University of Michigan-Dearborn in April 2016, Sanjian will briefly present the current state of historical research and knowledge on this topic. He will also list many related historical and other questions which remain to be answered by historians, social scientists, as well as literary and cultural historians interested in twentieth- and twenty-first century Armenian history. This public lecture, therefore, will aim at generating a public debate and pushing for further analysis of the Cold War segment of the Armenian past.

Four Years in the Mountains of Kurdistan, 1915-1919
Book Review:
Aram Haigaz (Aram Chekenian), Four Years in the Mountains of Kurdistan, 1915-1919, translated and edited by Iris Haigaz-Chekenian (New York: Maiden Lane Press, 2014)
Reviewed by: Dr. Garabet K Moumdjian, Historian

"Those of us who were born to displaced Armenian parents in the diasporic communities of Lebanon, Syria, and other Middle Eastern locals in the late 1950s and early 1960s are familiar with Aram Haigaz’s short stories depicting American-Armenian immigrant life in the United States of America. We read these short stories—always written in Armenian—when we were in primary school. Haygaz’s simple language captivated us. Then, when we were about 15 years of age, we read his monumental work about the history, self defense, and eventual demise of his hometown, Shabin Karahisar, in 1915. We also read the lengthy—almost 600 page long—saga of his adventures in “Kurdistan.” We learned how he was able to escape death by converting to Islam in order to save his life…"

Riccardo Pasqualin, Metz Yeghérn. Breve storia del genocidio degli armeni di Claude Mutafian [recensione], in Sololibri.net, 25-02-2021: Metz Yeghérn. Breve storia del genocidio degli armeni - Claude Mutafian - Recensione libro
(sololibri.net)

Bu kitap Times tarafından ‘modern zamanların en büyük ve sansasyonel siyasi komplolarından biri’ olarak tarif edilen olayı ele alıyor. 21 Temmuz 1905 tarihinde, İstanbul’da bulunan Yıldız Hamidiye Camisi’ndeki Cuma duasından sonra patlayan bombalı bir araç 26 kişinin ölümüne ve 58 kişinin de yaralanmasına yol açtı. Saldırının hedefi olan Sultan II. Abdülhamid olayı yara almadan atlattı. Osmanlı polisi kısa sürede olaydan Ermeni devrimcilerin sorumlu olduğunu buldular, pek çok insan tutuklandı ve yargılandı ve bunların arasında Belçikalı anarşist Edward Joris de vardı. Onun hapse atılması uluslararası bir tepkiye yol açtı ve sonuç olarak diplomatik bir karışıklık yarattı.

Suikast girişimi başarısız oldu, olaylar hafızalardan silindi ve bu olay yirminci yüzyıl tarihinin başlarına dair bir dipnot olarak kaldı. Bu kitap komployu Osmanlı’nın son döneminin tarihine dair ulusal sınırları aşan bir an olarak ele alıyor ve uluslararası hukuk, terörizm, Oryantalizm, diplomasi, anarşizm, emperyalizm, milliyetçilik, kitle iletişim araçları ve hayırseverlik gibi modern tarihe dair konulara bir pencere açıyor. Yirminci yüzyılın başlarındaki Osmanlı İmparatorluğu ile Avrupa ve dünyanın geri kalanı arasındaki uluslararası bağlara dair orijinal bir bakış sunuyor.

This is a French version an overview of the history of Armenian Kütahya ceramics and its continuation after the genocide in Jerusalem.  Kütahya was perhaps the most important center of Armenian ceramic production in post-Medieval times.  Many of the thousands of surviving early eighteenth-century pieces, including a special order for some 10,000 tiles destined originally for the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, now in the Armenian Monastery of St. James, are inscribed in Armenian.  In the early twentieth century, many of these objects, including two dated and signed examples of the early sixteen century in blue and white, the oldest dated ceramics executed within the Ottoman Empire, were thought to be the work of Turkish ceramists patronized by well to do Armenian patrons, despite the quite clear inscriptions by the Armenian craftsmen themselves.  The variety and popularity of this Kütahya ware has had renewed interest in both Turkey and abroad.  Les céramiques produites à Kütahya 1 , ville située à environ 200 kilomètres au sud-est de Constantinople/Istanbul, furent l'oeuvre presque exclusive de potiers arméniens, du XVI e au XX e siècle. La communauté arménienne y est présente dès le XIII e siècle et une église arménienne est attestée en 1391 2. Considérées longtemps comme une branche mineure des céramiques ottomanes, ce n'est qu'avec la publication de l'immense étude de John Carswell qu'elles furent définitivement incorporées à la longue histoire de l'art arménien 3 .

Материалы сборника посвящены различным аспектам истории и деятельности армянских общин на Юге России. Рассматривается история формирования армянских общин и их современное состояние, роль армянского населения в социально-экономическом и культурном развитии региона, взаимодействие с другими народами, этническое самосознание и социальная адаптация армян Юга России. Издание адресовано научным работникам, преподавателям, аспирантам, студентам, а также всем заинтересованным читателям.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE 18th С. ALEPPO’S ARMENIAN COMMUNITY IN ALEXANDER RUSSELL’S “THE NATURAL HISTORY OF ALEPPO”
Keywords- Syria, Ottoman Empire, religion, Turks, Chrisians, Muslims, Jews, Europeans, tradition, plague
The book "Natural History of Aleppo", by Alexander Russell, is an important source about the history of Armenian community in Aleppo during the Ottoman period.
Al. Russell was a Scottish physician and naturalist delegated to Aleppo in 1740. Having been appointed as a physician to the English factory there, and, gaining the confidence of the local Pasha, he became the chief medical practitioner of the city. In 1754, he returned to England and, two years later, published his Natural History of Aleppo. In 1794, Patrick Russell, his half-brother, assumed the second edition, revising and expanding the text. Later, the book was translated into different languages.
The title of the book implies that the research refers to fauna and flora of Aleppo, and also the climatic conditions of the city and its surroundings. Moreover, Al. Russell’s book contains significant information about Non-Muslim communities of Aleppo (Greek, Assyrian, Maronite and Armenian), such as the number of the population of each community, the relationship between them and with Muslims, in particular, with Turks living in Aleppo.
The study of above-mentioned issues allows us to clarify and to present the actual status of Armenians living in Aleppo in the first half of the 18th century, which mostly depended on the policy pursued by the local authorities.

Penetration of Armenians into India and the Far East had started since the pre-Christian times. We find information on the regular visits of Armenians to India and the military aid Armenians showed to India in Cyropaedia by Xenophon (430-355 BC) 1. Already in the 12th century the Armenian seafarer-merchants had a trading colony in Canton 2. The next wave of the resettlement of some Armenian groups took place in the 17th century when the Armenians deported by Shah Abbas' order not only founded the city Nor Jugha (New Julfa) in Iran, but also spread farther, to the east, rapidly becoming part of the leading participants of the barter and trade of the region and started to play an important role in the sea trade of the Indian Ocean and the western part of the Pacific Ocean. They created one of the largest trading networks of the world, and not only the local authorities but also the European countries had to reckon with it at least for two centuries. And all that system with its merchants, ship owners, captains, ships, storehouses and agents was managed and ruled from Nor Jugha with its population of only 30 thousand. Due to their intellect and respectful attitude towards the locals the Armenians had a free access to all the ports of the region. Armenians had considerable privileges in almost all the ports. Europeans tried to use that fact for their own purposes. Practically all the European East-Indian companies had been created with the Armenians' Armenians and Moors and no European of our religion can go there " 5. The French sources mention the same: Francois Martin notes that besides the Portuguese only " the Indian merchants and Armenians most of whom have settled in Madras and are busy with large trade, so they have the right to enter Manila 6. In that situation Armenians, besides conducting their own trade, also took up the responsibilities of intermediaries both between the Europeans, and between the Europeans and locals 7. The privileges, high social standing, the ability to conduct negotiations, the knowledge of the local languages and traditions, the agelong experience of communicating with different nations, the wide network of agents and the fact of being informed resulted in a situation where the European companies persistently invited Armenians as partners and used their relations and influence.