Trauma and Resilience: Armenians in Turkey – Hidden, Not Hidden and No Longer Hidden

Raffi Bedrosyan

with introductions by Fethiye Çetin and Taner Akçam

London: Gomidas Institute, 2019,

xx + 226 pages, maps, photos. ISBN 978-1-909382-46-6,

paperback, Price: UK£20.00 / US$25.00 / CAN$35.00

To order please contact books@gomidas.org

FROM THE PUBLISHERS: This book is a record of Raffi Bedrosyan’s activities between 2011 and 2018 championing the rights of Armenians, especially "hidden” or Islamized Armenians, living in Turkey. It is a compilation of 49 newspaper articles written by Bedrosyan, as well as 10 new essays. All materials are insightful and well-written, and contribute to a growing awareness of the traumatic experience of Armenians in Turkey following the Armenian Genocide. We have reproduced Bedrosyan’s work with fidelity to the original materials.

ADVANCE PRAISE: [Rafﬁ Bedrosyan’s] insights into the state of modern Turkey, the story of its hidden Armenians and the clashing identities of Turkish citizens are deep, nuanced and illuminating. Anything Rafﬁ writes is worth reading and it is wonderful to have his writings collected in one volume. –Thomas de Waal, Senior Fellow Carnegie Europe Rafﬁ Bedrosyan is an engine behind the reconstruction of the Diyarbekir Sourp Giragos Armenian Apostolic Church, ﬁnding the lost identity for hidden or Islamized Armenians in Turkey, their re-awakening and return to their original roots. –Armen Yeganian, Director of Policy Planning, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Armenia, and former Ambassador to Canada Rafﬁ’s work highlights the denialist policy of Turkey that not only sought to exterminate more than 1.5 million Armenians, but also tried to erase the Armenian identity by Turkifying and Islamizing the survivors. –Federico Gaitan Hairabedian, President, Luisa Hairabedian Human Rights Foundation, Argentina

CONTENTS
Part I
My Roots – Ovsanna, Onnik, Araxie, Agassi (3)
Esayan Primary School (6)
Buyukada – Prinkipo Island - Medz Geghzi (8)
Life in the Turkish Army (10)
TAD – Turkish Armenian Dialogue (13)
Track One and A Half Diplomacy (15)
Ascent to Ararat (21)
Sense of Belonging, Integration or Acceptance (26)
My Speech at Massachusetts State House (29)
What If… (34)

Part II
Evolving Armenian Realities and the Surp Giragos Dikranagerd Church (39)
Searching for Lost Armenian Churches and Schools in Turkey (43)
Setting the Record Straight: List of Churches in Turkey (52)
What is Turkey Returning to Armenians? (58)
A Series of Firsts in Armenian-Turkish Relations (62)
Dersim: A First Step in Facing the Past in Turkey (65)
Justice as Joke: The Trial of Hrant Dink’s Murderers (68)
Lies, Damned Lies, and Billboards (72)
Revisiting the Turkification of Confiscated Armenian Assets (74)
A Flower or an Oak Tree? (81)
Hidden Truths or Lies (84)
‘2012 Declaration’: A History of Seized Armenian Properties in Istanbul (91)
Hrant’s Message and the Way Forward (97)
The Real Turkish Heroes of 1915 (101)
Where to Invest Our Resources? (105)
The Islamized Armenians and Us (108)
Thoughts on Threshold of Centennial (113)
Dialogue Can Lead to Acknowledgment (116)
Hasan Cemal Speaks at Dink Commemoration in Toronto (122)
The Four Shades of Turkey, and the Armenians (124)
Erdogan’s Message: Where Do We Go From Here? (128)
The Genocide of the Pontic Greeks (132)
Homecoming: Diyarbakir Armenian Language Students Arrive in Armenia (136)
Poetic Justice: Diyarbakir Armenians Baptized at Etchmiadzin (140)
What’s Next for the ‘Hidden Armenians’ of Diyarbakir/Dikranagerd? (143)
Three Fugitives and a Great Crime (147)
Fethiye Çetin Speaks at 8th Hrant Dink Commemoration in Toronto (150)
Letter: Hrant Dink (1954-1915) (154)
Turkey’s Tactics of ‘Oriental Slyness’ (155)
Dersim Leaders Embrace Armenian Roots, Plan Armenia Trip (157)
100 Years Later — Genocide Commemoration in Detroit (160)
Sick People: Open Letter to Mr. Erdogan and Mr. Davutoglu (161)
Reflections on Turkey’s Parliamentary Election (165)
Project Rebirth: Homecoming of ‘Hidden Armenians’ (167)
To Baptize or Not to Baptize the ‘Hidden Armenians’ (170)
The Implications of Turkey’s Renewed War on the Kurds (174)
Canadian Man Fights to Return Expropriated Armenian Church in Turkey (177)
The Plight of Hidden or Islamized Armenians in Turkey (180)
Programs Featuring Cem Özdemir Draw More than 1,000 in Canada (184)
A Diasporan Minister of Diaspora: A Proposal (186)
Turkey vs. Europe: Any Lessons? (189)
The Hidden Lives of Islamized Armenians Living in Plain Sight in Turkey (193)
What’s Next for Turkey? (197)
Oil, Gold, and Bribes: A Ticking Turkish Time Bomb (199)
When Even the Dead Cannot Rest in Peace: Turkey’s Intolerance toward the ‘Other’ (202)
The Untold Stories of Turkey: An Armenian Island on the Bosphorus (204)
Genocide Denied, Armenians Denied: Rejecting the Very Existence of Armenians in Turkey (207)
Returning to the Roots: Stories of Hidden Armenians (211)
‘Gna Merir, Yekur Sirem’: Artsakh War Veteran, Outspoken Activist Sarkis Hatspanian Dies at 55 (215)
The Failed Istanbul Armenian Patriarchate (217)
Armenian Turks and Other Tragic Stories of Roots (220)
Artsakh Karabakh – First Memories (223)
Hostages as State Policy (228)
About the Author 232)

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