bitlis Archives

LOS ANGELES: Richard Hovannisian’s Van and Bitlis-Mush Volumes Published in Turkish

January 11, 2017 By administrator

Two of Professor Richard G. Hovannisian’s volumes, ‘Armenian Van’ and ‘Armenian Bitlis & Mush’, were recently published in Turkish by Aras Publishers in Istanbul.

LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Two of Professor Richard G. Hovannisian’s volumes, Armenian Van and Armenian Bitlis and Mush, were recently published in Turkish by Aras Publishers in Istanbul.

Both volumes, edited by Hovannisian, are from the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) international conference series “Historic Armenian Cities and Provinces,” begun by Hovannisian in 1997. Aras Publishers plans to translate all 14 volumes in the UCLA series into Turkish, the most recent of which, was released in 2016 by Mazda Publishers under the title, Armenian Communities of the Northeastern Mediterranean: Musa Dagh-Dört-Yol-Kessab.

Contributors to the Van and Bitlis-Mush volumes discuss the political geography and dynastic history and culture of the two regions from antiquity to the 20^th century; their art and architecture; classical historians and colophons; interactions with foreign powers; tribulations under Ottoman rule; their role in Armenian liberation movements; their fate during the Armenian Genocide and self-defense in World War I; and their presence in modern literature.

The two volumes were released to the public in Istanbul on Nov. 9-10, 2016, during an international conference on Van sponsored by the Hrant Dink Foundation. During his keynote address, Hovannisian reflected on growing up in the San Joaquin Valley of California among the immigrants and survivors from Van, Bitlis, and Mush. He then assessed the multifaceted information and insights gained from the 70 oral history interviews that he and his students at UCLA conducted with natives of the city and numerous villages of the province of Van.

Aras Publishers is currently translating the third volume in the UCLA series, Armenian Tsopk/Kharpert.

Hovannisian on the Road

Hovannisian continued his active schedule in the fall of 2016. Arriving in Boston from Istanbul on Nov. 12, 2106, he was honored, along with Professor Nina Garsoian, for his contributions as a pioneer of Armenian studies in the United States at the 60^th anniversary gala of the National Association for the Advancement of Armenian Studies (NAASR).

On Nov. 19, 2016, he spoke at the Kessab Educational Association’s annual “Perpoor” night hosted by Dr. & Mrs. George Apelian in Thousand Oaks.

With daughter Ani Hovannisian Kevorkian, he was in Stockholm, Sweden on Nov. 26-27, 2016, at the invitation of the Federation of Armenian Associations, to present his most recent volume on the Northeastern Mediterranean communities, with short film segments by Ani. They then traveled to Oslo for an evening with the small but active Armenian Cultural Association of Norway.

On Dec. 8, 2016 Hovannisian spoke in Chicago under the auspices of the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU), Armenian Bar Association, and Armenian International Women’s Association (AIWA).

Presentations continue in early 2017 with lectures at Abril Bookstore in Glendale, Calif. in cooperation with the Chork-Marzban (Dort-Yol) Compatriotic Union on Jan. 26, Fresno State University on Jan. 27, South Florida University and Sourp Hagop Church in Tampa, Fla. On Feb. 13-15, several presentations in Beirut and Cairo on Feb. 23-March 4, and the Armenian Institute in London on March 18.

Hovannisian is the author of Armenia on the Road to Independence, the four-volume history The Republic of Armenia, and has edited and contributed to more than 35 books, including The Armenian Genocide in Perspective; The Armenian People from Ancient to Modern Times; Remembrance and Denial; Looking Backward, Moving Forward; The Armenian Genocide: Cultural and Ethical Legacies; as well as many others. A member of the UCLA faculty since 1962, he was the first holder of the Armenian Educational Foundation Chair in Modern Armenian History, which is today renamed in his honor, and is presently an adjunct professor at USC, advising the Shoah Foundation on its Armenian Genocide testimony collection.

Source: http://armenianweekly.com/2017/01/09/hovannisian-published-in-turkish/

Başbakan’ın Bitlis’te ‘olmadı’ dediği soykırım

May 12, 2015 By administrator

Serdar Korucu, Agos
Başbakan Ahmet Davutoğlu, AK Parti’nin doğu illerindeki seçim mitinglerinde gündemine Ermeni Soykırımı’nı almayı sürdürüyor. Son olarak 8 Mayıs’taki mitinginde “Bitlis tarihi şahittir ki zulmü biz gördük” dedi. Halbuki soykırımdan kurtulanların hatıraları Ermenilere yönelik katliamları açıkça ortaya koyuyor.

Başbakan Ahmet Davutoğlu seçim mitingleri sırasında HDP’yi Ermeni Soykırımı üzerinden de eleştirmeye devam ediyor. Özellikle de doğu illerinde.

Son olarak Bitlis mitinginde bir kez daha hedefine HDP Eşbaşkanı Selahattin Demirtaş’ı alan Davutoğlu, “Bugün HDP’nin eşbaşkanı CHP’nin de eşbaşkanı yurt dışına gidiyor, yurt dışında Ermeni diasporasıyla Bitlis’i de Ermenistan’ın içinde gösteren haritalar önünde konuşmalar yapıyor” dedi.

Başbakan ardındansa Bitlis’te 100 yıl önce yaşananlarda Ermenilerin hedef olmadığını savundu: “Bitlis’i böyle yakıp yıkanların yaptığı zulmü unutup sizin dedelerinizin bizim bütün Türkiye’de yaşayanların dedelerinin soykırım yaptığı iddiasına destek verenlere bu meydanları bırakacak mısınız? Onlara Bitlis tarihi şahittir ki zulmü biz gördük.

Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’nun 1914 sayımına göre, 117 bin 492 kişilik nüfusuyla Bitlis Vilayeti’nin nüfusunun dörtte birini oluşturan Ermeniler, Merkezi Londra’da bulunan Gomidas Enstitüsü’nün direktörü Ara Sarafian’a görey “tehcir” olmadan yok edilmişti. Sarafian, “Soykırımda Bitlisli Ermeniler ‘tehcir’ süsü vermeye bile gerek görmeden hemen oracıkta sözcüğün tam anlamıyla kesildi. Öyle ki, bugün dünyanın dört bir yanında yaşayan Bitlis kökenli Ermenilerin çoğu soykırım öncesi daha iyi bir yaşam için başka ülkelere göç edenlerin torunları” derken bölgede hayatta kalmayı başaranların hafızalarında da benzer izler bulunuyor.

Prof. Verjine Svazlian’ın derlediği Ermeni Soykırımı’ndan kurtulanların hatıralarından biri, kendini “Bitlis’in yerlisi” olarak tanıtan Ağavni Mıkırtiç Mıkırtıçyan’a ait: “Dışarı çıktık; sokaklar hep öldürülmüş insanların cesetleriyle doluydu; bütün Ermenileri katletmişlerdi. Geri kalan bizleri de sürgüne gönderdiler; ama nereye gideceğimizi bilmiyorduk. Yolda bir gürültü patırtı koptu, feryatlar duyuldu, kargaşalık oldu… Geceleri de kızları ve kadınları kaçırıyorlardı.”

Sadece Bitlis’in merkezinde değil, vilayetin tamamında benzeri olaylar yaşanıyordu. O dönemde hayatta kalmayı başaran Bitlislilerin arasında, Osmanlı dönemindeki vilayet sınırları içinde de yer alan Khılat’ın (Ahlat) Pırkhus (Ovakışla) köyünde 1901’de doğan Sokrat Hakte Mıkırtıçyan da vardı: “Hiçbir kurşun boşuna harcanmıyordu. Hızla sokaklarda ve evlerin içinde cesetler üst üste yığılmaya başladı. Damların ve yolların üstünde de cesetler vardı.

Mıkırtıçyan, katliam sonrasında bölgede Ermeni yerleşiminin kalmadığını söylüyordu: “Eskiden Ermenilerin yaşadığı bizim Khılat bölgesinde tek bir Ermeninin nefesi dahi hissedilmiyordu. O bölgedeki bütün köylerin sakinlerini kılıçtan geçirmişlerdi.”

Bitlis’e bağlı bir başka bölgede Khizan’ın (Hizan) Surp Khaç köyünde 1911 yılında doğan Sırbuhi Mıkırtiç Muradyan da doğduğu bölgedeki dehşeti aktarıyordu: “Yolları kapattılar ve dehşet verici katliam başladı… Kadın, çocuk ayrımı yapmıyorlardı; herkesi öldürüyorlardı.”

Library In Turkey to Be Named after William Saroyan

February 13, 2015 By administrator

A view of the eastern Turkish town of Bitlis. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

BITLIS, Turkey (Armenpress)—A library in Bitlis (Armenian: Paghesh), Turkey, will be named after the prominent Armenian-American author William Saroyan, Agos weekly reports.

Journalist and author Ahmet Tuglar, who is authoring the project, noted that the idea of opening a library first came to mind when a decision was made in December of the previous year to name one of the streets in Bitlis, now a predominantly Kurdish town, after the Armenian-American author.

Saroyan was born in Fresno, California to Armenian immigrants from Bitlis, who escaped the Armenian Genocide. At the age of three, after his father’s death, Saroyan was placed in an orphanage in Oakland, together with his brother and sister, an experience he later described in his writings. Five years later, the family reunited in Fresno, where his mother, Takoohi, secured work at a cannery. He continued his education on his own, supporting himself by taking odd jobs, before becoming a successful writer.

Street in Turkey’s Bitlis renamed in honor of William Saroyan

December 26, 2014 By administrator

The administration of Turkish town of Bitlis has finally approved a decision to rename one of the streets in honor of Armenian American writer William Saroyan.

According to Ermenihaber, the order was signed by governor Orhan Ozturk, who previously opposed the initiative, saying that Saroyan “has no connection to the town”.

Renowned writer William Saroyan was born on August 31, 1908 in Fresno, California, to Armenak and Takoohi Saroyan, Armenian immigrants from Bitlis. Saroyan wrote extensively about the Armenian immigrant life in California. Many of his stories and plays are set in his native Fresno. Some of his best-known works are The Time of Your Life, My Name Is Aram and My Heart’s in the Highlands. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1940, and in 1943 won the Academy Award for Best Story for the film adaptation of his novel The Human Comedy.

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Ermenihaber

Turkey’s Bitlis town council renames street after William Saroyan

August 16, 2014 By administrator

The Bitlis town council has approved the renaming of five streets in this historic town in south-eastern Turkey. Among the names is “William Saroyan Street,” after the great American-Armenian writer whose ancestors came from Bitlis before 1915. Saroyan was born in Fresno but felt strong ties to his ancestral home. He visited Bitlis in 1964 and 2014 marks the 50th anniversary of that visit, Massis Post reported.

One of the champions of renaming William Saroyan Street is Barzan Serefhanoglu, whose grandfather, Adil Serefhanoglu, was the mayor of Bitlis when Saroyan visited the city. Adil Serefhanoglu showed great respect to Saroyan and paid a high price for it. After Saroyan’s departure, he was harassed by the authorities who wanted to punish him.

William Saroyan Street will now be the main street of the Sapkor district of the city, where the Saroyan family home was located. This district looks over the citadel in the city below. Many of the houses in this district still bear the dates of their construction in Armenian, Ottoman and Western numerals.

Bitlis-Co-Mayors-with-GI-Letter-and-flowers-2The Gomidas Institute congratulated the co-mayors of Bitlis, Nevin Dasdemir Dagkiran and Hüseyin Olan, as well as all members of Bitlis town council who approved the name changes unanimously.

“This was a sensitive decision,” said Ara Sarafian of the Gomidas Institute. “The people of Bitlis have expressed their pride in one of their own Armenian sons. Such sentiments could not have been expressed even a few years ago, when all positive sentiments regarding Armenians and Kurds were proscribed by the Turkish state. We have come a long way in Turkey, but there is still a long way to go.”

The other names adopted by Bitlis town council celebrate Bediüzzaman Said-i Kürdi, Kemal Fevzi, Serefhan, and Ferhat Tepe.

The renaming of William Saroyan Street is partly the result of a bridge-building operation the Gomidas Institute initiated in 2013 – before the current co-mayors and town council were even elected. The Institute’s efforts resulted in increased contacts, a public exhibition dedicated to the Armenians of Bitlis before 1915 – an exhibition which was shown in Bitlis and Fresno, California – as well as other projects still underway.

The Gomidas Institute’s work in Bitlis has been possible with the help of the Turkish Human Rights’ Association (IHD), the Bitlis Bar Association, the Armenian Studies Program at California State University (Fresno), as well as private individuals.

Nouvelles d’Arménie: Une Rue William Saroyan à Bitlis