Armenians in Turkey
Armenians living in Turkey today are a remnant of what was once a much larger community that existed for thousands of years, long before the establishment of the Sultanate of Rum.
[18] Starting in the late 19th century, political instability, dire economic conditions, and continuing ethnic tensions prompted the emigration of as many as 100,000 Armenians to Europe, the Americas and the Middle East.
As for the remaining Armenians in the east, they found refuge by 1917–1918 in the Caucasus and within the areas controlled by the newly established Democratic Republic of Armenia.
They never returned to their original homes in today's Eastern Turkey (composed of six vilayets, Erzurum, Van, Bitlis, Diyarbakır, Mamuretülaziz, and Sivas).
After the fall of French Cilicia, Some of those returnees attempted to stay permanently after the Turks gained the territory back, but were all driven away by the early 1930s due to various reasons.
The Armenian minority is recognized as a separate "millet" in the Turkish system and has its own religious, cultural, social and educational institutions along with a distinct media.
The Turkish Armenian community struggles to keep its own institutions, media and schools open due to diminishing demand from emigration and quite considerable economic sacrifices.
Kumkapi is also located in the Old city, while Pangalti is in the newer part, and Yesilköy is a neighborhood within Greater Istanbul next to the outer walls of the Fatih District.
[29][30] It is located on the slopes of Musa Dagh in the Samandağ district of Hatay Province, the village overlooks the Mediterranean Sea and is within eyesight of the Syrian border.
[38] Diyarbakir (or Amida/Tigranakert) has three operating Armenian churches as of 2015– one Apostolic,[39] one Catholic, and one Protestant[40]- The largest amount for any city in Turkey excluding Istanbul.
It could also be assumed that many Crypto Armenians have been living here as well, because when the Apostolic church was restored in 2011 after years of abandonment, several thousand people came to celebrate mass there, including diasporans.
The Armenian Church was raided by what is suspected to be Grey Wolves after most of the residents of Sur were forced to leave, and the district was occupied by the Turkish Army.
[47] The wealth tax known as Varlık Vergisi, a Turkish tax levied on the non-Muslim citizens of Turkey by a law enacted on November 11, 1942, with the stated aim of raising funds for the country's defense in case of an eventual entry into World War II had devastating effect on the ethnic minorities of Turkey, and most importantly the Armenian community.
The fears of the Turkish Armenians were justified with the fact that at many times, Turkish-Armenian institutions and even religious centers were targeted by threats and actual bombings in retaliation of the acts of ASALA, JCAG, ARA and others.
The Turkish-Armenian Artin Penik committed suicide in 1982 by self-immolation in protest of the terrorist attack on 7 August 1982 in Ankara's Esenboğa International Airport[52] by the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia.
Penik died five days after he set himself on fire in Taksim plaza, the main square of Istanbul, Turkey, and his stance was reflected by the Turkish mass media as a protest of most Turkish-Armenians against such attacks.
He had been sentenced to death in September 1982 after having confessed that he had carried out the airport attack with another gunman on behalf of ASALA, and despite the fact that he publicly condemned violent acts during his own trial and appealed to the Armenian militants to stop the violence.
Thousands of Turks joined Turkish intellectuals in publicly apologizing for the World War I era mass killings and deportations of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.
On the occasion of a World Cup qualifying match between the two national football teams of Turkey and Armenia in the Armenian capital Yerevan, and following the Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan's invitation to attend the match, on 6 September 2008, the Turkish President Abdullah Gül paid a breakthrough landmark visit to Armenia that he said "promises hope for the future" for the two countries.
The Turkish-Armenian Sarkis "Aghparik" Cherkezian and Aram Pehlivanyan (Nickname: Ahmet Saydan) played a pivotal role in the founding of the Communist Party of Turkey.
The Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople has exerted a very significant political role earlier and today still exercises a spiritual authority, which earns it considerable respect among Oriental Orthodox churches.
The first, fourth and seventh weeks of Hisnag are periods of vegetarian fast for church members and every Saturday at sunset a new purple candle is lit with prayers and hymns.
[60] Turkey's Armenian community faces educational problems due to the steadily decreasing number of students every school year and lack of funding.
In September 2011, the Turkish government recognized the right of immigrant families from Armenia to send their children to schools of the Turkey's Armenian community.
Akabi Hikayesi depicted an impossible love story between two young people coming from two different communities amidst hostility and adversity.
In addition to Armenian and Turkish, Martayan knew 10 other languages including English, Greek, Spanish, Latin, German, Russian and Bulgarian.
Following the issue of the Law on Family Names in 1934, Mustafa Kemal Pasha suggested him the surname Dilaçar, meaning "language opener", which he gladly accepted.
In return, Agop Martayan openly proposed the name Atatürk to Mustafa Kemal Pasha in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.
In contemporary music, Arto Tunçboyacıyan and his brother the late Onno Tunç are two veritable jazz musicians, composers and arrangers.
Robert Haddedjian chief editor of Marmara newspaper published in Istanbul remains a pivotal figure in the literary criticism scene.
