Speaking to One Another - The International Raoul Wallenberg ...

dernity and the oral transmission of history meant that the texture of life in Divriği in the late 19 th andearly 20 th centuries could be still traced during Necmi’s childhood. As 1915 had a major impact on thedemographic, economic and cultural life of the town, the event was ever-present in the narratives Necmiheard during his childhood. In addition, he came to know families of returned survivors, and was awitness to social relations between Muslim and Armenian neighbors in the town.Referring to the fact that 1915 was only the culmination of a series of similar events, Necmi recountswhat he heard from the elderly concerning the events of 1895: “Most of the ağas [local power holders]are of Kurdish origin. Those who come from rural areas have the ambition to profit, to grab and to rise.They are blood and thunder. It makes you fearful. They have horses and guns. In 1895, Kurdish tribeswho made an agreement with the warlords raided Armenian houses and seized property. And the nextday the warlords distributed bread for free, saying ‘It’s a pity what happened to the Armenians in ourland.’ The elderly people used to say, ‘Our warlords got their share of what the robbers seized from theArmenians and built mansions of their own’.”According to Necmi, an important theme in Muslim-Christian relations in the 19 th century was economicinequality and the envy that accompanied it: “Local Muslims are more resigned, abstinent and isolatedfrom the outside world. It’s impossible to enter industry for fear of sin. The best is to work in a bakery,butchery or run a hamam because the price is fixed. But you risk the religiously forbidden in jobs like ironworking, tinsmith work, clock making. These jobs are left to non-Muslims. And these productive peopleget wealthy. And there’s no place to transfer this wealth. They accumulate gold and rumors spread.This results in certain ambitions and intentions of takeover. Intermediaries are found and the ignorantare provoked. While not the reason for the deportation, there was such a distribution subsequent to it.”We didn’t see a good day after the star aroseOrdinary people in the town said that the suffering experienced stemmed from forces above and beyondthe local domain: “‘My child, what was wrong came from above’ they used to say. They meant from thegovernment, having nothing to do with us. Our Armenian neighbor we called ‘grandmother’ used to saythis too. They said, ‘The star arose and our homeland was finished. Armenian and Kurd fought each other,war began, scarcity began, epidemics began. After that we didn’t see a good day’.” [The star refers toHalley’s comet which appeared to the naked eye in 1910].Yet Necmi suggests elsewhere that local Armenians may have been provoked, and local Muslims led tobelieve that they themselves were in danger: “Everybody accepted that provocations originated from Armenianorganizations and that hostility came from other sources. It happened, and they were armed. TheEuphrates has a branch called Çaltı Water which passes below Divriği. It was no longer possible to go tothe river since there were Armenian neighborhoods above it. Armenian children began throwing stonesat Muslims from the roofs, just like in the Southeastern cities of today. When my father was going to40