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

Brief Historical SummaryThe perception, and to a significant extent, the attitude of Armenia’s present population to Turkey andthe Turkish people, along with the possibility of developing Armenia-Turkey relations, has been largelyshaped by the Armenian Genocide; massacres and deportation that started in Ottoman Turkey at theend of 19 th century and reached its obvious conclusion in 1915-1922, followed by the lengthy “official reticence”of the USSR and Soviet Armenian authorities in regard to these massacres.Those Armenians, who survived the massacres in the western part 1 of the historical Armenia, inheritedby Ottoman Empire from Byzantium (which in this text is sometimes referred to as Western Armenia1 This part, sometimes only vilayets of Van and Erzrum, is called Armenieh, Armenia, Ermenistan in the maps up to XIXc inclusive(also in Turkish maps). For example, Islamic world map is dated 977 AH/1570 CE and is from the manuscript entitledKitab al- bad’w al-Tarikh (Book of the Beginnings and History). The manuscript is attributed to Ibn-Said or al-Šawi al-Farsi.Below the Caspian (to its west) lies a large mountain range – possibly the Caucasus – with asecond one further south, whichis probably the depiction of the Armenian Highlands. Between the two mountain ranges lies Armanieh, Armenia. Khorasanis situated to the west of Armenia. To its south the cities of Hamadan and Baghdad are shown. Size c. 28,5mm dia. BodleianLibrary – Oxford, MS Laud. Or.317 ff 9v–10r (Rouben Galichian, Historic Maps of Armenia. The Cartographic Heritage London,I.B.Tauris, 2004, pp. 120-121); The Map of ‘Turkey in Asia’ is from the Ottoman World Atlas, printed in Üsküdar (one ofthe districts of Istanbul) in 1803–4, which in itself is the translation of William Faden’s (1750–1836) General Atlas publishedin London in 1797... while the regions of Van and Erzerum are called Ermenistan, i.e. Armenia. Size 72x54cm British Library,OIOC 14999.h.2(2), f.18(Rouben Galichian, Historic Maps of Armenia. The Cartographic Heritage London, I.B.Tauris, 2004, pp.196-197); The German map was printed in Berlin in 1844 as ‘The Map of the Turkish Empire’.Ottoman Turkish map is a translationof an original German map by Heinrich Kiepert (1818–99), based on the observations of von Vincke, Fischer and vonMoltke, as well as Kiepert himself, and prepared for the General Staff of the German Army. The German map was printed inBerlin in 1844 as ‘The Map of the Turkish Empire’ (Fig. 116b). In this map the area of Lake Van, Erzerum, Kharput, Bitlis, Karsand Ararat, located within the Ottoman Empire, is denoted as Armenia, with Kurdistan south of Lake Van.(Rouben Galichian,Historic Maps of Armenia. The Cartographic Heritage London, I.B.Tauris, 2004, pp. 240);In the Ottoman maps of 1803 the area of Van and Erzerum is shown in bold letters as ‘Ermenistan’, i.e. Armenia, whilein this map of 1854, the name of the same area, while still shown as basically Armenia, appears here in much smaller lettersmerely as Ermani, which translates as ‘Armenian’ (see title underlined with double blue lines), while Kurdistan is boldlywritten in the area to the south of Lake Van. (Rouben Galichian. Historic Maps of Armenia. The Cartographic Heritage London,I.B.Tauris, 2004, pp. 240); Map of the ‘Ottoman Country’ (Turkey) is from the atlas of the world printed in Arabic in Constantinoplein 1867. In this map the territory of Armenia is divided between the Russian and the Ottoman Empires. The regionsof Van and Erzerum, although within the territory of the Ottoman Empire, bear the name Bilad Arman (Region of Armenia)and are considered to be Armenian lands. This area includes the cities of Bayazid, Van, Erzerum, Bitlis, Moush andErzinjan. The territory to the south of Armenia, below the region of Van and Bitlis, is named Kurdistan. Size 42x29cm BritishLibrary – London, Maps 42.d.1, f.2 (Rouben Galichian, Historic Maps of Armenia. The Cartographic Heritage London,I.B.Tauris, 2004, pp. 214-215).Starting from 1880 it was banned to use the name ‘Armenia’ in the official documents. During the rule of Abdul Hamid,a Turkish anglophile statesmen, great vezir Kyamil Pasha writes the following: ‘We and England do not recognize the wordArmenia and we have to smash any jaw which will dare to utter this word. Therefore, to reach this goal, it is necessary toclean the earth from Armenian nation without any trace, to destroy completely’. (Novaq istoriq Armenii v trudah sovremennyhzarubejnyh avtorov, otv. redaktor Saakqn R.G. Erevan, 1993, էջ 15,17)77