And for this we are thankful.... - Armenian Reporter

The Armenian Reporter | November 22, 2008InternationalLooking for Armenians in Turkish state museumsHacking historyby Ara Sarafian in AnkaraANKARA, Turkey – Armenians havebecome a common topic of discussionin Turkey for some years nowand this trend has picked up sincePrime Minister Recep TayyibErdoğan came to office in March2003. In this new climate of moreopenness, liberal intellectuals haveled a discussion of the ArmenianTaboo of Turkey.Their discussions have led to anew awareness of Armenians anda gradual reinvention of Turkey’sArmenian heritage, which was destroyedin large measure in 1915and its aftermath. The new positivediscussions have touched on suchissues as Armenian history, art,architecture, music, and cuisine indifferent publications, exhibitions,and public discussions.Fethiye Çetin’s book Anne Annem(My Grandmother) has beenreprinted in several editions. OsmanKöker’s exhibitions and publicationshave reached thousands.Orhan Pamuk’s comments aboutthe persecution of Kurds and Armeniansare reported by the worldmedia. All this suggests some tangiblebreaks with Turkey’s moreominous past.However, the more sympathetictreatment of Armenians hascontinued to take place alongsidelongstanding conservative, belligerent,and negative attitudestoward Armenians. These circlescontinue to slight, marginalise,and vilify Armenians as a matterof course.Their attitudes, supported bystock arguments, are the productof decades of Turkish nationalistindoctrination and its underlyingideology. Even in the last week wehave heard Turkey’s Defense MinisterVecdhi Gönül applaud the“departure” of the native Armenianand Greek communities of Turkey,and Minister of Justice MehmetAli Sahin defend the utility of theinfamous Article 301. He explicitlydefended the prosecution of TemelDemirer under Article 301 becausethe latter had called Turkey a statethat murdered its own citizens(with reference to Armenians andKurds).Within the academic domain,the Turkish Historical Associationand the Turkish military continueto prepare and publish overtlyanti-Armenian books and DVDs– invariably denigrating Armeniansand denying the Armenian Genocideof 1915. Various “think tanks,”such as the Ermeni ArastirmalarMerkezi (Armenian Studies Center)in Ankara remain actively anti-Armenian. Many small publishinghouses still print the conventionalTurkish nationalist position regardingArmenians.Attempts to reinvent TurkishArmenians in a more positive lightare still undermined by significantsectors of Turkish society, includinggovernment ministries. Therelative strength of the opposingconservative circles has still notbeen gauged, especially given theirpositions of power and influencein Turkey. While one cannot expectthe Turkish conservative-nationalistposition to change overnight,one does expect it to takesome note of new discussions andrevelations.Two weeks ago I decided to examineseveral museums in Turkey,all but one in historic Western Armenia,with one question in mind:“How are Armenia and Armeniansrepresented in Turkish museumstoday?”Turkish schoolchildren on a day trip to the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara. Photos: Ara Sarafian © 2008Gomidas Institute. Used with permission.The Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara.The museums I picked were theMuseum of Anatolian Civilizations(Ankara), Erzurum ArchaeologicalMuseum, Van ArchaeologicalMuseum, and Kars ArchaeologicalMuseum. All four are under thecontrol of the Ministry of Tourismand Culture.Had the new debates on Armeniansshaped representations ofArmenians in Turkey? How didthese state institutions acknowledgeand contextualize Armenianhistory in their everyday endeavors,and what can we say about Turkeyand its Armenian heritage basedon these museums.First stop: AnkaraMy first stop was the Museum ofAnatolian Civilizations in Ankara.This museum uses the term Anatoliaas coterminous with the territoryof Turkey-in-Asia. Of course,Turkey is not a single landmass,but formed of several distinct geographicalregions, such as the Aegeanlittoral, the Konya plain, thePontic mountains on the Black Sea,the Taurus Mountains of the Mediterranean,the anti-Taurus furthereast, and of course the Armenianhighlands.This museum is reputed to be oneof the most important museums inTurkey today. It won the EuropeanMuseum of the Year Award in 1997,and many tourists, schoolchildren,and academics visit it every day.The museum exhibition extendsover two floors. It is well constructedand maintained, with excellentlighting and good human resources.Starting from the prehistoricera, the visitor is led through collectionsof Paleolithic, Neolithic,Chalcolithic, Early Bronze Age, Assyrian,Hittite, Phrygian, Urartianand Lydian, Greek, Roman, Seljuk,and Ottoman artifacts.The displays at the museum includestatues, pottery, jewelry, andmetalwork, and various panels discussthe collections in their broaderhistorical contexts, with referencesto other civilizations such as theMedes, Scythians, Egyptians, andPersians.However, there are no artifacts,discussions, or references to Armeniansin the museum.The obvious question is, therefore,why is there no mention ofArmenia as a geographical entityor Armenians as a culture and civilization?After all, there was theempire of Tigran the Great in thefirst century B.C.E., the ArmenianKingdom of Vasbouragan on LakeVan in the 10th–11th centuries, andthe Armenian Kingdom of Ciliciain the Middle Ages. Armenia wasa distinct part of the Roman andByzantine Empires, and Armenianswere one of the important pillars ofthe Ottoman Empire. Armeniansplayed a major role in arts, crafts,and trade throughout the ages, andthey developed their own distinctidentity with their own alphabetfrom the 5th century in this area.Armenian literature, philosophy,art, and architecture are worthyof much comment, yet they do notappear in a museum dedicated toAnatolian civilizations.The only reference to ArmeniansI saw at this museum was a multilingualDVD prepared, interestinglyenough, by the Turkish Ministry ofThe Museum of Ethnography in Ankara.Culture and Tourism called The ArmenianIssue: Allegations and Facts.The other reference was a smallbook on Akdamar (sic, Aghtamar)Island, which made some derisoryremarks about Armenians, but includedmore sensible discussionafterward.By way of explanationAfter my visit to the museum, Iraised what I had seen with twoTurkish colleagues, both membersof the Turkish Historical Society.They proceeded to explain that Armenianswere not mentioned in theMuseum of Anatolian Civilizationsbecause they did not constitute astate. Obviously, there have beenArmenian states in the areas underdiscussion. Their explanation alsoseems to suggest that “states” and“civilizations” are the same thing.I asked one of them why Armenianswere not represented withindiscussions of these states, for examplein the case of the OttomanEmpire. After all, the OttomanEmpire was a multicultural entity,probably with more Christiansthan Muslims at its height. Armenianswere indistinguishable fromTurks, I was told in response, sothere was no need to say anythingabout Armenians.I do not know if they were embarrassedby my questions and didnot know what to say, or they reallythought their explanation hadmerit. I doubt it was the latter, andI hope they will do something aboutthe issue, if only to save Turkey furtherembarrassment.While I was in Ankara, I also visitedthe Museum of Ethnography.One of the figures in the garden of theMuseum of Anatolian Civilizations.DVD cover.Just as the Museum of AnatolianCivilizations did not mention Armenians,the Museum of Ethnographyalso did not see Armeniansas an ethnicity. Indeed, the ethnographymuseum was composed ofmainly 19th-century set scenes inperiod costume, such as marriage,circumcision, workshop, barbershop,and coffeehouse. It includedvarious wares, Korans, and Islamiccarvings from mosques (doors andpulpits), but it had nothing thatwas Christian or had a specific ethnicity(Armenian, Greek, Kurdish,Circassian, Arab, or other). Turkey’srich ethnic mosaic had beenpressed into an insipid mush. Accordingto these two museums, Armenianswere neither a civilizationnor an ethnicity.I was there to observe and listenand I said no more. I hoped thatmy next stop, the ArcheologicalMuseum of Erzurum, would be different.fAra Sarafian’s findings in Erzurum, Van,and Kars will appear in the coming weeks.