Neo-Ottoman policy of Turkey – Assignment and destruction of the cultural heritage of the Armenian people
Published: 4 June, 2018 / vstrokax.net /
Author column, In the world, Culture Comments: Vigen Avetisyan June 4, 2018
One of the clear manifestations of the neo-Ottoman policy of the Turkish Republic at the present stage is the continuation of the policy of appropriating and destroying the cultural, historical and spiritual heritage of the Armenian people. The policies that the Turkish governments pursued throughout the time — be it Sultan, Young Turk or Kemalist.
It took on particularly horrific forms during the years of the genocide of the Armenian people in 1894-1923, committed by the Turkish governments in Western Armenia, Cilicia and Ottoman Turkey.
And since the world community’s timely condemnation of this horrific crime against humanity and civilization, and the compensation of the damage caused, has not yet fully occurred, the genocide continues to this day, taking various forms, including as a cultural genocide.
In this context, it is necessary to pay attention to the further fate of the heritage of civilization, which is often called and now called the “cradle”, given that it belongs to those with whom spirituality, humanism and culture of our world began.
A significant part of the ancient civilization, the fruits of the cultural and spiritual heritage belonging to the Armenian people, unfortunately, are in the hands of that state, which itself committed this atrocity, which deliberately demonstrates to the world its barbaric attitude to the culture of another people – the creator of these values.
We have to admit that for a long time, the neo-Ottoman policy of Turkey, “developing” the traditions of the Young Turks, carefully, consistently and methodically continues their traditions to destroy the cultural and spiritual heritage of the Armenians.
After the physical extermination of a large part of the country’s indigenous Armenian population during the genocide during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the process of eradicating everything that was and is considered to be Armenian today becomes even more intensive.
Starting from the 28th year of the last century, the process of renaming everything that was historical, national in the territory of Western Armenia is going on. More than 90% of Armenian toponyms are Oturech, the geographical names of Western Armenia are replaced. Hundreds of architectural monuments of the Armenian people are turned into mosques, everything that is of Armenian origin or is related to Armenians, Armenian culture and history is being destroyed.
Monuments, churches, architectural masterpieces are used as targets during the military exercises of the Turkish army, which is crazy for any modern state, if you don’t talk about terrorist groups like ISIS!
Those few churches that are still intact, serve as a crib, warehouse, prisons. New official documents are created and other official documents are falsified, pseudoscientific publications are encouraged, in which the Armenian history and culture is distorted or forgotten.
Formed a whole “regulatory framework” of the so-called. “Legal vandalism”, legalizing the demolition of monuments, their use as building materials, illegal searches for valuables and illegal excavations.
“Gold miners” under the auspices of the Turkish government destroy all without exception! Such monuments do not belong to Turkey, they are the heritage of mankind. Their loss is irreparable. The destruction or appropriation of Armenian cultural monuments is a continuation of the Armenian Genocide. Cultural genocide followed physical destruction!
We give some examples from the set.
Mount Nemrut is the pantheon of ancient Armenian gods. There are 8-9 meter statues of the gods Aramazd, Mitra, Vahagn, Anahit, Astghik and others. Among them is the sculpture of Antiochus I Theos. Erected in 62 BC. in honor of the king Antiochus I Theos from the Armenian dynasty of Ervandidy. Today, the Turks have appropriated this legacy, passing it off as their own.
Portablur – (Gebekli Tepe (Turk.), Umbilical Mountain (Rus.)). The settlement, with the temple complex and observatory, located on the Armenian Highland. It is the oldest of the largest megalithic structures in the world. He is over 12,000 years old. Portablur is one of the most important discoveries of our time. This is the first temple created by man. And he also renamed the Turkish manners.
The city of Ani is a monument to the Armenian “golden” century. The ancient capital of the Armenian kingdom of Ani was one of the largest cities in the world. From the “city of 1000 and one church” there are only ruins, and even they are destroyed by vandals to this day. The Turks renamed Ani into “Ana” and are trying, through UNESCO, to make it the cultural heritage of Turkey.
They also attacked biblical values - one of the main symbols of the Armenians – on Mount Ararat, renaming it “Agra”!
Spiritual legacy. According to official data, by the beginning of 1914, the total number of churches and monasteries in Western Armenia and the Ottoman Empire was 2549 (including unique early Christian monuments of the 4th-5th centuries), most of which were robbed, burned and destroyed during the genocide. According to UNESCO in 1974, after 1923, out of 913 Armenian historical and architectural monuments that have survived, 464 were completely destroyed, 252 lay in ruins, 197 are in need of capital restoration. And today there is almost nothing to restore – Turkey systematically destroyed them.
The modern policy of the followers of neo-Ottomanism is also manifested in the unwillingness to return the residence of the Cilician Catholicosate in Sis, appropriated by the Turkish state in the early 20th century as a result of the genocide.
Modern politics of Turkey has led to the fact that the Western Armenian language is under threat of extinction because of the deportation of Armenians of Western Armenia and the inability to return to their historical homeland, and use it there, realizing their natural right.
A good example of the policy of neo-Ottomanism and assimilation in Turkey is the attitude towards Hamshen Armenians, who for the most part were forcibly Islamized. Many have lost their roots and national identity, do not recognize themselves as descendants of Armenians, call themselves Hemshilians. While reading prayers in Western Armenian (for example, “Our Father”), some are convinced that this Hemshilian prayer is in Turkish.
A masterpiece of architecture – unique medieval Hamshen arched bridges, the Turks without a twinge of conscience attributed to their achievements. And we must use every opportunity to help our Hamshen brothers and sisters to return to their Armenian roots.
Turks give out Armenian carpets for their own, bringing them even from Armenia or copying, in spite of Armenian symbols, colors, etc., asserting that everything specified is the property of the Turkish people.
They are so unprincipled, untalented that they appropriated our patriotic song “Zartnir lao melemn kzi” – the only lullaby in the world in which the mother wakes her son to defend the Motherland, the song with which our fidain warriors went into battle. The Turkish football team appropriated it and uses it as its anthem, of course, replacing the words with Turkish.
The ancient Armenian national cuisine is also “expropriated” by its neighbors, which is easy to prove if you look at the sources by studying what and how the dish is prepared.
We give an example of wheat, although we can with other products. It is known that the homeland of wheat is the Armenian Highland. Until now, 3-4 of its kind are considered native Armenian. It was the Armenians from ancient times engaged in the preliminary processing of wheat. Blur, pohindz, korkot, dzavar, achar – these are all processed wheat cereals used differently in Armenian cuisine.
All those dishes that the Turks and other neighbors “with the help of” UNESCO are trying to assign or have already appropriated are an original Armenian invention, since they have a purely Armenian cooking technology — in tonyr and have Armenian names. The same applies to pita bread and madnakash.
As some predict, after the national dish kashik (from the word “kashel” (Armenian) – to draw in), the Turks will want to assign the tonnyr (which was a symbol of the Sun in the earth at the time of the Sun worshiping by the Armenians). Tondyr had several functions: in addition to the stove for cooking, it heated the house, helped to restore health after an illness, etc.
All of the above is done to give the Turks the opportunity to call themselves the autochromic population of the Armenian Highlands, but no matter how they try to falsify their history by paying off various lobbying organizations, they will not succeed, history remembers them by nomads who seized foreign lands and appropriated their property and cultural values .
The Republic of Turkey is a member of UNESCO. It is time for UNESCO and other international organizations to work, adhering to the principles of historical justice, law, ethical norms, and not like now – applying double standards. We hope that bona fide specialists from UNESCO and other international organizations will stop the ongoing vandalism and begin to work, receiving satisfaction from studying the true history, and not imagined or presented them as such. This is not only the history of the Armenian people, but also the world history, cultural and spiritual heritage of all mankind!
Yulia Gyulian, head of the commission on culture, member of the presidium of Hamshenk’s international women’s association of Hamshen Armenians
ORIGINE SOURCES-vstrokax.net/v-mire/neoosmanskaya-politika-turtsii-prisvoenie-i-unichtozhenie/?
