Z. S. Andrew Demirdjian, Ph.D., Los Angeles, 16 November 2015
Last night I dreamt. I went to Western Armenia. This time it was not a pilgrimage to pay homage to my parents’ occupied Highland. Circumstances must have changed for I was there to reclaim my grandfather’s house and other properties. As dreams blend facts with fiction or myth, change scenes, places, and events abruptly, and as they move either sequentially or recursively, I found a Kurdish family living in my grandfather’s house on a hilltop in Kharpert. They had four sons and three daughters. All worked in the family business my grandfather (on my mother’s side) used to run a winery, tannery, and animal husbandry facilities which were all interrupted suddenly when the Genocide began. The Kurdish family was continuing only with the tannery operation, though.
There is a state of consciousness in which one could be or experience anything imaginable. This state encompasses the ability to dream anything in the realm of possibility or impossibility. Of the kind of dreams– I believe I had a prophetic dream– a dream about something later takes place–for example, the regaining of a long lost homeland. Or, perhaps it was a holiday from reality, an escape from the restraints of feeling helplessness about our collective frozen initiative to claim our ancestral lands from Turkey (Western Armenia and Cilicia), Azerbaijan (Nakhichevan), and Georgia (Javakhk).
Vaguely enough, in my dream, I was faced with the unpleasant decision to either ask the Kurdish family to vacate the house and leave or let them stay there as tenants. Apparently, there had been a major change in the Armenia Irredenta claims of regaining “Turkish-occupied Western Armenia”, as Appo Jabarian would call it. Mr. Putin of the Russian Federation had waged war against Turkey and Armenia had given several brave battalions to help the Russians. Fortune seems to have turned its back on Turkey’s empire-building, for as luck would have it, Russia had prevailed. After the titanic clash, Armenia was rewarded with the annexation of Western Armenian territories.
Supposedly, the Republic of Armenia (RA) had asked the Diaspora-based supra-structure leaders to find ways to solve the present population problem of the newly liberated Western Armenia consisting of different ethnicity and religion as a result of Armenia irredenta (i.e., an unredeemed territory historically or ethnically related to one political unit but under the political jurisdiction of another).
In response to Armenia’s call for assistance and out of patriotism, the Diaspora-wide supra-structure leaders supposedly had brainstormed the following avenues as methods to solving the present population problem of the free and independent Western Armenia. Remember, in brainstorming technique, the group comes up with as many realistic or wild ideas as possible and the evaluation of the ideas are left to the end of the session. However, this step has not been observed in the following discussions of possible population solutions:
Population Drain through Migration: This option requires waiting for the natural attribution of the local population to central and western Anatolia. Every year thousands upon thousands of Turks are moving to central and western Anatolian cities from the southeastern parts of Turkey. In a matter of decades, the region will become devoid of Turkish people. According to Jirair Tutunjian’s informative editorial published in Keghart.com on August 31, 2015, millions of Turks living in eastern Turkey have been moving to the heavily urbanized and industrialized areas of the central and western sections of Anatolia. Additionally, Turks have left Turkey from those remote areas for better economic opportunities in Europe, North America, and Australia, to cite a few destinations. Although the Kurds of southeastern Turkey are also migrating west compared to the Turks, they are doing this in far less numbers. As is obvious, the southeastern section has been losing population to central and western Turkey and also to foreign lands. Evaluation results: This method is not a viable solution for it would take years for southeastern Turkey to be emptied. Besides, Kurds are moving in droves to replace the migrating Turks to populate their dreamland, “Kurdistan”.
Deportation of the Existing Population: Armenians were subjected not only to inhumane, but to heinous treatment by decapitating the Armenian nation by killing their leaders and intellectuals; massacring their able bodied men; downing the young and the old alike; forcing old men, women and children on death marches to the desolate desert to die. According to my dream: Now, Armenians are in control –only it would be fair to practice an “eye for an eye” sort of punishment for the crime. Evaluation results: Armenia is hailed now by archeologists, paleontologists, historians and other scientific researchers as being the earliest cradle of civilization. As a nation, Armenians are proud of their long history of cultural heritage. There is no chance they would stoop to barbaric ethnic cleansing in order to get rid of their former tormentors. This is no option to consider at all for Armenians would refuse to have the indelible stain on their conscience.
Forced/Voluntary Population Exchanges: After WWI, this method was successfully used in Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, and Macedonia. Although, the use of forced population exchanges to solve conflicts based on irredentism, this procedure has become internationally illegal in the lexicon of most diplomats. The use of transfers of populations between two or more states to solve territorial or self-determination issues are today looked upon uncivilized and potentially in violation of international law. Nevertheless, 100 years ago, the practice of both voluntary and forced population transfers between former adversaries in the Balkans was an accepted and commonplace occurrence which seldom results now in post-exchange conflicts. Evaluation results: This is not a viable solution for most of the population of former southeastern Turkey consists of Turks and Kurds, and only 50,000 or 60,000 Armenians live in western Turkey and a few thousands in southeastern region. What’s more, only a handful Turks live in the RoA which is today a homogenous ethnos. Therefore, population exchange would be lopsided.
Voluntary Relocation. This method took place right in the southeastern Anatolia (Armenian Highlands) when Nakhichevan was shamefully assigned to Azerbaijan in the early 1920s. Despite the fact that the region was promised to Armenia as its historical province, the Soviets assigned the region to Azerbaijan. The Armenian population of this Russian oblast was voluntarily evacuated or relocated to either to Soviet Armenia, Iran, or Iraq in a matter of years. Since Turks and Kurds do not feel comfortable in a country that belongs to “kafir” (gavoor) people, unbelievers or sinners who do not accept Prophet Mohammad as the last messenger of God would also eventually leave Western Armenia. Evaluation Results: This is not a feasible solution to the population problem since it takes many years to get the Turks and the Kurds move out of Western Armenia on their own volition.
Mixed Population: This method involves the option of doing nothing. Let the present population of former southeastern Turkey continue to live there unfettered. Following the invasion of Cyprus by Turkey in 1974, the population issue was not subjected to the effects of exchanging or forcing populations to leave one part of Cyprus to the other. Instead, this was one area where their respective ethnic populations remained mixed. Evaluation results: Again, Armenians are sparsely populated in “present Western Armenia,” therefore they would end up being a minority in that vast territory if the Republic of Armenia and Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) citizens choose not to move to their ancestral lands.
Resurgence of Islamized Armenians: If the Republic of Armenia does not refuse to baptize the Islamized Armenians of former southeastern Turkey, the mixed population option would be possible. Estimates have run anywhere from 50,000 to 5 million hidden (crypto) Armenians now are living in Turkey combined with the Hamshens along the Black Sea (consisting of 3 to 4 million). If a large number of these populations revert to their former religion or declare their Armenian ancestry, Western Armenia would end up with a substantial pro-Armenian population. Evalutation of results: If that were the case, with the apostate hidden Armenians then the present population could be considered fairly equal in “the former southeastern Turkey”. Thus the RoA would be able to slowly bring the Western Armenia under its wings with the help of the former Islamized Armenians and its Diaspora.
Import Settlers from the RoA: Since Western Armenia is contiguous to the Republic of Armenia (RA), it would be possible to attract farmers, business men, and other entrepreneurs to establish themselves in their ancestral homeland with the extension of the infrastructures from the RoA to Western Armenia. This would be predicated on the assumption that Armenia would distribute real estate to these settlers free land as the Zionists encouraged Jews to return to Palestine before, during and after 1947 as mainly farmers by giving them assistance of all sorts. Evaluation results: It would be feasible to entice settlers from Armenia, Artsakh, and Javakhk by offering them substantial assistance for relocation at the expense of their dwindling populations. Where would the funds come from? Naturally from “The Sugar Daddy or Deep-Pocket Diaspora”.
Import Repatriates from the Diaspora: There is an important nucleus of Diaspora Armenians who would express their solidarity and nationalism by relocating to the former southeastern Turkey provided the RoA finds ways to embrace its vast Diaspora instead of alienating it by creating uncharacteristically differences between the Diaspora Armenians and those born there. Evaluation results: The feasibility of a large number of Diaspora Armenians relocating in Western Armenia is slim and very questionable.
Combined Solutions: While the above methods are stated singly as options to consider in their merit to solving the population problem when Western Armenia is liberated, logic dictates that two or more methods could be used in solving ethnically and religiously different population problems. For example, by combining methods of resurgence of Islamized Armenians, with import settlers from the RoA, and import repatriates from the Diaspora to equalize the population balance in Western Armenia. Evolution results: The combination of the three methods would provide a doable solution to the population problem in the aftermath of Western Armenia becoming free and independent again from the yoke of Turkish occupation of the Armenian nation’s heartland.
As for my decision whether to ask the Kurdish family to vacate my grandfather’s house or stay and pay rent, in my epic dream, I chose the latter and felt good that I belonged to a kind and gentle nation of people who practice the principle of treating their enemy with respect and consideration since they had become victims of circumstances.
Once in a while you read about the question some raise: “What can we do with the Turkish and Kurdish population if we get Western Armenia? There are no Armenians left in that region.” While irredenta is defined as territorial and ethnic in nature, ethnic linkages are not theoretically necessary because claims can be based solely on territory alone. In other words, an attempt can be made to detach land from one state in order to incorporate it into another without claiming any relations to the present population in the disputed territory.
Let the Turks and the Kurds be happy that they lived in Armenian houses, enjoyed their orchards, tilled their land, and took over their businesses all rent free for over 100 years. Now, the landlord has come –either you pay or vacate the premises. They milked Western Armenia for centuries; now it is our turn to enjoy our stolen ancestral lands. Where there is a will, there is a way, albeit an old cliché but it packs a lot of wisdom, tenacity, and perseverance. Empires come and empires go, if we play our cards well, if we get along with one another, if we plan now, if we form a Diaspora-based supra-structure, our future generations will have the chance to one day own and enjoy Western Armenia, Cilicia, Nakhichevan, Javakhk as united into one free and sovereign nation. Our next generations should always remember that there can be no real freedom for a nation without the spirit of solidarity and that the future rewards those who keep on dreaming toward the realization of a noble goal.
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