PROTESTANT ARMENIAN COMMUNITY IN TURKEY

17.06.2010

PROTESTANT ARMENIAN COMMUNITY IN TURKEY

Vahram Hovyan

Turkey is special for the Protestant Armenians because Protestantism was firstly spread among the Armenians there. In 1846 the first Protestant Armenian community was formed in Istanbul. From there Protestantism gradually was spread over many other regions of the Ottoman Empire inhabited by the Armenians, including Western Armenia, and after the Armenian Genocide over the Armenian communities in Diaspora.

Today, in spite of all the difficulties and challenges the Protestant Armenians in Turkey demonstrate enough viability and activity as an ethno-confessional unit which allows speaking about the Protestant Armenians in Turkey as a separate community.

The observations of the Protestant Armenian community in today’s Turkey are mostly focused at the following issues:

Number of the Protestant Armenian community and its organizations
Protestant Armenians in Turkish surroundings
Directions of the activity of the Protestant Armenian community in Turkey.

The number of the Protestant Armenian community and its organizations

While speaking about the number of the Protestant Armenian community in Turkey, one should pay attention to two factors which condition it: pressure and persecutions in regard to the national and religious minorities and missionary movements wide spread in Turkey.

Persecutions of the national and religious minorities. The Armenian Genocide perpetrated during the World War I as well as the persecutions of the Christians in Turkey, which followed it, affected the Protestant Armenian community causing the abrupt reduction of its number. If before the World War I the number of the Protestant Armenians exceeded 60 thousand, after the Genocide their number was about 14 thousand. One part of the Protestant Armenians was killed during the Genocide the other part together with the rest of the Armeniancy migrated and that process initiated “the beginning of the Diaspora period of the Armenian Evangelicalism”¹. After the Genocide the size of the Protestant Armenian community in republican Turkey continued reducing as a result of the intolerance and persecutions.

Missionary movement. In a consequence of the missionary activity carried out in Turkey the generations of many forcedly Islamized Armenians reconverted to Christianity (including Protestantism) which is also signified by the tendency towards returning to the national roots. E.g., according to the data compiled by the Protestant organizations in Turkey, many Protestants in Adana have Armenian descent². This process of reconversion of the forcedly Islamized Armenians to Christianity promotes the growth of the number of the Protestant Armenians.

The influence of those two contrary factors makes setting the exact number of the Protestant Armenians in Turkey rather difficult. According to some data, today the number of the Protestant Armenians in Turkey is about 500³. But those figures do not include the reconverted Islamized Armenians. And there is no information about the number of the later. Thus, the issue of defining the exact number of the Protestant Armenian community is left open.

The persecutions of the minorities in Turkey also caused the reduction of the number of the Protestant Armenians’ organizations. Unlike the Protestant Armenian communities in other countries which have many various organizations (spiritual and clerical, cultural and educational, social, information), there are only several clerical and educational organizational structures of the Protestant Armenians in Turkey. Instead of many Evangelical churches which had been spread over the regions populated by Armenians, today there are only two Armenian Evangelical churches – the Armenian Evangelical Churches in Gedikpasa and Beioglu quarters in Istanbul⁴. If before the World War I the Protestant Armenian community in Turkey had many schools⁵, today there is only one school under the Armenian Evangelical Church of Gedikpasa quarter. There are no other institutions (beneficial, information).

The Armenian Evangelical churches, which worked before, today are ruined and deserted. Turkish government does not allow restoring them and those which were restored today are used as museums – for the development of the tourism. As for the once rich assets of the Protestant Armenian Church (schools, camps, orphanages and etc.), they were seized by the state. The efforts to retrieve it have been in vain yet. The point is that the religious communities in Turkey cannot have property⁶. And a part of the seized property Turkish government sold to the private individuals which hampers its retrieval even more.

The Armenian Evangelical Churches in Istanbul are included in the Union of the Armenian Evangelical Churches in the Near East (with the centre in Beirut). The liturgy in the Armenian Evangelical Church of Gedikpasa quarter is recited in four languages – Armenian, Turkish, Iranian and Russian, because the ethnic composition of the visitors is not only restricted to the Armenians⁷.

Protestant Armenian community in Turkish surroundings

The Protestant Armenians who, on the one hand, are a part of Armeniancy in Turkey and, on the other hand, are Protestants are “double” minority – national and confessional. This dual status has both positive and negative sides.

The negative side is that it causes double oppressions and persecutions – on religious and national grounds.

Religious oppressions. In Turkey the Protestant Armenians are oppressed and persecuted like Christians. In particular, in the recent period as a result of the missionary movement the process of converting to Christianity is put on the large scale and consequently many Turkish citizens, including Turks, are adopting Christianity (both Catholicism and Protestantism). This causes anxiety and counteraction of the Turkish authorities and nationalist elements which is manifested in the form of the assaults and assassinations of the Christians⁸. The Protestant Armenians also become a target of such a counteraction. The example of such a counteraction is the atrocious murder of three Protestants (two of whom, according to some suppositions were the descendants of reconverted Islamized Armenians) on April 18, 2008 in “Cirve” publishing house committed by Turk nationalists⁹.

National oppressions. The situation of the Protestant Armenians is even more aggravated by the fact that they are Armenians, because in regard to the Protestant Armenians in Turkey not only the policy of religious persecutions but also the policy of the national persecutions was carried out. In post-Genocidal period the vivid example of persecutions carried out on the national ground was conviction of the Protestant Armenian activist Hrant Guzelian on 16 months of imprisonment for “anti-Turkish propaganda” and “Armenization of the Turk children”¹⁰.

The aggravation of persecutions on the national grounds is boosted by the opinion of some circles that the Protestant Armenians are an instrument in the hands of the external powers which is used against Turkey. Particularly, one of the viewpoints explained the emerging of the Armenian Question by penetration of the Protestantism in the 19th century into the Ottoman Empire. According to this approach, American missionaries, converting Armenians into Protestantism and enlisting them, tended to create Armenian Protestant Empire¹¹. Such viewpoints stimulate anti-Armenian moods.

The positive side is that being a part of the Protestants in Turkey in general, Protestant Armenians are at some extent under the patronage of the foreign Protestant organizations. Back in the 19th century the reason for the conversion of the Armenians into the Protestantism was the desire to be protected by the Europeans from the persecutions of the Muslims¹². A certain support to the Protestant Armenians during the pogroms was provided by the German, Scandinavian and English organizations¹³.

And today the activity of the Protestant Armenians in Turkey lies within the framework of the activity of the Protestants of that country, who are under the patronage of the foreign Protestant organizations. This allows Protestant Armenians initiating more eager activity both in spiritual sphere and the sphere of national issues. In the sphere of spiritual activity the Armenian Protestant clergymen more often visit the settlements in Western Armenia and carry out there spiritual and evangelical work. As for the national issues, the Protestant Armenians, unlike the Apostolic Armenians, who are mostly loyal to the authorities, are more initiative and consistent in sounding the issue of the Armenian Genocide in Turkey, protection of human rights and etc. Most probably, the feeling of being protected by the foreign Protestant organizations underlies all this, and in case of the Apostolic Armenians there is no such a factor.

The directions of the activity of the Protestant Armenian community

Though Protestant Armenians from the confessional point of view constitute a part of the Protestants in Turkey their activity is mostly directed to the solution of the national issues. There are two main directions of their activity:

Sounding of the issues of the Armenian Genocide and Hay Dat. The Protestant Armenians are the stratum of the Armeniancy in Turkey which stands out for its eager activity in the national issues. The figures who have a public image of audacious and fervent advocates of the Armenian Question endanger their personal security and being persecuted and under pressure nevertheless struggle persistently for resolving national issues¹⁴.
Preserving of the Armenian identity and returning to the national roots. Spiritual and clerical activity of the Protestant Armenians is comprehended from the national and civilizational point of view. It targets through the faith, on the one hand, to prevent the Armenians in Turkey from assimilation and, on the other hand, to reclaim assimilated (forcedly Islamized) Armenians to their national roots. In this aspect the observation of the Pastor of the Armenian Evangelical Church of Gedikpasa quarter Rev. Grikor Agabaloglu is remarkable: “… that huge mass of the Armenians who has been Islamized and, consequently, Turkishized can be returned to its roots, to its identity only by the power of faith. Only Christian faith can save them and awake the consciousness of their national identity”¹⁵. It is not a mere chance that the Protestant Armenians put on a large scale the activities among the Armenians who are on different stages of assimilation in formerly Armenian and today Turkish speaking, Kurdish speaking and Arab speaking (as a result of forcible Islamization) settlements and regions. In this connection Rev. Agabaloglu says: “…in the provinces we expand the activity in order to accustom to our roots, history through the power of faith and religion all the Armenians who today for the reasons which are beyond their control has been estranged from us”¹⁶. Thus, one can state, that for the Protestant Armenians in Turkey the spiritual and clerical activity is a kind of means to solve the national and civilizational issues, i.e. preservation and restoration of the Armenian civilization in Turkey.

¹Տաթևիկ Խաչիկյան, Բողոքական հայերը Թուրքիայում, http://www.religions.am/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1980:Բողոքական-հայերը-Թուրքիայում&catid=1:2009-02-27-03-45-54&Itemid=11

²Арман Акопян, О чем молчит Адана, http://www.yerevan-city.com/2010/01/03/o-chem-molchit-adana.html

³Հայ սփյուռք հանրագիտարան, Երևան, Հայկական հանրագիտարան, 2003թ., էջ 185; Tessa Hofmann, Armenians in Turkey Today: A Critical Assessment of the Situation of the Armenian Minority in the Turkish Republic, Bruxelles, 2002, p. 9 http://www.armenian.ch/gsa/Docs/faae02.pdf

⁴AMAA Directory 2010: Armenian Evangelical Churches, Institutions, Organizations, Pastors and Christian Workers Worldwide, p. 17 http://www.amaa.org/Directory%20for%20website.pdf

⁵Rev. Barkev Darakjian, Evangelism in the Early Armenian Evangelical Church http://www.cacc-sf.org/c-eeaBND.html

⁶Օթմար Օհրինգ, Գյուզիդե Ջեյհան, Թուրքիայում կրոնական ազատությունների մասին հետազոտություն, http://www.religions.am/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1288:Թուրքիայում-կրոնական-ազատությունների-մասին-հետազոտություն&catid=187:analitika&Itemid=856

⁷Մայրի´կ, մենք հա՞յ ենք, հարցազրոյց Պոլսի Կետիկփաշա թաղամասի Հայ աւետարանական եկեղեցու հովիւ, վերապատուելի Գրիգոր Աղաբալօղլուի հետ http://www.aztagdaily.com/DisplayNews.php?ID=28480

⁸See particularly Օթմար Օհրինգ, Գյուզիդե Ջեյհան, նշվ. աշխ.; Տաթևիկ Խաչիկյան, Միսիոներությունը Թուրքիայում, http://www.religions.am/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=961%3A2009-12-03-07-08-17&catid=1%3A2009-02-27-03-45-54⟨=hy

⁹See Ռուբեն Մելքոնյան, Կրոնական հալածանքների նոր ալիք Թուրքիայում (Մալաթիայի սպանդի շուրջ), Հանրապետական, 2007թ., թիվ 5, էջ 12-13։

¹⁰Tessa Hofmann, նշվ. աշխ., էջ 19։

¹¹Ali Riza Bayzan, Protestant Missionary Operations on Turkey, http://www.stradigma.com/english/april2003/articles_11.html

¹²Րաֆֆի, Ի՞նչ վերանորոգություններ պետք են տաճկական Հայաստանին, http://www.eanc.net/EANC/library/Fiction%5COriginal%5CRaffi%5CEssays_9.htm?page=19&interface_language=am

¹³Արման Հակոբյան, Բողոքականները Թուրքիայում, http://www.yerkir.am/newspaper/index.php?section=8&id=1287

¹⁴See, for example, Three Armenian Evangelicals from Turkey Defending the Armenian Genocide! http://www.chanitz.org/2009/04/three-armenian-evangelicals-from-turkey.html

¹⁵Կը հաւատամ, որ հայութեան այդ հսկայ զանգուածը, որ այսօր իսլամացած է եւ որպէս հետեւանք՝ թրքացած, միայն հաւատքի զօրութեամբ կարելի է վերադարձնել իր արմատներուն, իր ազգութեան, http://www.chanitz.org/2009/06/blog-post_19.html

¹⁶ Ibid

Return

Another materials of author

ISSUES OF ARMENIAN-GREEK COOPERATION IN DIASPORA[06.07.2017]
LOSSES OF ARMENIAN COMMUNITIES IN MIDDLE EAST ARE GREAT, HARD TO RECOVER[22.11.2016]
DIASPORA’S CONTRIBUTION IN DEVELOPMENT OF THE SCIENCE SYSTEM IN ARMENIA[08.07.2015]
LARGE CAPITAL OF DIASPORA AND DEVELOPMENT ISSUES OF ARMENIA: HISTORY AND MODERN TIMES[15.06.2015]
CENTERS FOR ARMENIAN STUDIES IN THE POST-SOVIET COUNTRIES[02.03.2015]
PROBLEMS OF THE CENTERS FOR ARMENIAN STUDIES AND THE WAYS OF THEIR SOLUTION[22.01.2015]
ABOUT THE SELF-ORGANIZATION PROBLEMS OF DIASPORA[29.12.2014]
THE ARMENIAN STUDIES IN MODERN IRAN[03.11.2014]
NEW DEVELOPMENTS AROUND THE ISSUE OF CHURCH PROPERTY RETURN IN TURKEY[02.10.2014]
KESSAB EVENTS: AN OUTLOOK FROM YEREVAN[19.05.2014]
CONTEMPORARY PROBLEMS OF CENTERS FOR ARMENIAN STUDIES ABROAD[07.04.2014]