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Hidden Armenians AI simulator
(@Hidden Armenians_simulator)
Hub AI
Hidden Armenians AI simulator
(@Hidden Armenians_simulator)
Hidden Armenians
Hidden Armenians (Armenian: թաքնված հայեր, romanized: t’ak’nvats hayer; Turkish: Gizli Ermeniler) or crypto-Armenians (Kripto Ermeniler) is an umbrella term to describe Turkish citizens hiding their full or partial Armenian ancestry from the larger Turkish society. They are mostly descendants of Ottoman Armenians who, at least outwardly, were Islamized (and Turkified or Kurdified) "under the threat of physical extermination" during the Armenian genocide.
Turkish journalist Erhan Başyurt describes hidden Armenians as "families (and in some cases, entire villages or neighbourhoods) [...] who converted to Islam to escape the deportations and death marches [of 1915], but continued their hidden lives as Armenians, marrying among themselves and, in some cases, clandestinely reverting to Christianity." According to the 2012 European Commission report on Turkey, a "number of crypto-Armenians have started to use their original names and religion." The Economist suggests that the number of Turks who reveal their Armenian background is growing. In Turkish, they are referred to by the derogatory term "leftovers of the sword" (Turkish: kılıç artıkları).
Armenians are originally from the Armenian Highlands. The western parts of what is called the Six Vilayets came under the Ottoman Empire's control in the 16th century with the Peace of Amasya. Armenians remained an overwhelming majority of the area's population until the 17th century; however, their number gradually decreased, and by the early 20th century they constituted up to 38% of the population of Western Armenia, designed at the time as the Six Vilayets. Kurds made up a significant part of the population.
In 1915 and the following years, the Armenians living in their ancestral lands in the Ottoman Empire were systematically exterminated by the Young Turk government in the Armenian genocide. The Ittihadists, who perpetrated the genocide, did not have the same understanding of race and nationality as the Nazis. They understood nationality as something could be changed by religious conversion to Islam, and likewise, Protestant and Catholic Armenians could be exempted from deportation.
Daniel Jonah Goldhagen explains that perpetrators differ in how they treat the targeted group's children: "In some instances, owing to the perpetrators' social theory, they treat children of groups targeted because of ethnicity or nationality radically differently from their parents. The Turks conceiving of their existential enemies the Armenians not entirely coherently, an unstable agglomeration of a national/ethnic/religious-based hatred, nevertheless had a decidedly nonracist view of them." He further explains that the Turks adopted a formal policy of "leaving the girls and children to be islamized". Although many children were killed, some were spared and allowed to live as Turks. Genocide historian Norman Naimark writes:
"Thousands of Armenian children were raised as Muslims and Turks, while women and girls were routinely converted, taken into harems, and married to Turkish, Kurdish and Circassian husbands. In the period 1918-1922, some of these women and children, encouraged by the Western powers and anti-Ittihadist Ottoman officials, reconnected with their Armenian families and communities. But women seventeen or over or those married to Muslims could choose to stay with their new families, and many did. Under the French occupation, many Armenian children were turned over by Turkish families to the Armenian community, but, wrote one Armenian officer, 'many of them want to go back.'"
When relief workers and surviving Armenians started to search for and claim back these Armenian orphans after World War I, only a small percentage were found and reunited, while many others continued to live as Muslims. Additionally, there were cases of entire families converting to Islam to survive the genocide.
"After converting to Islam, many of the crypto-Armenians said they still faced unfair treatment: their land was often confiscated, the men were humiliated with "circumcision checks" in the army and some were tortured." Between the 1930s and 1980s, the Turkish government conducted a secret investigation of hidden Armenians.
Hidden Armenians
Hidden Armenians (Armenian: թաքնված հայեր, romanized: t’ak’nvats hayer; Turkish: Gizli Ermeniler) or crypto-Armenians (Kripto Ermeniler) is an umbrella term to describe Turkish citizens hiding their full or partial Armenian ancestry from the larger Turkish society. They are mostly descendants of Ottoman Armenians who, at least outwardly, were Islamized (and Turkified or Kurdified) "under the threat of physical extermination" during the Armenian genocide.
Turkish journalist Erhan Başyurt describes hidden Armenians as "families (and in some cases, entire villages or neighbourhoods) [...] who converted to Islam to escape the deportations and death marches [of 1915], but continued their hidden lives as Armenians, marrying among themselves and, in some cases, clandestinely reverting to Christianity." According to the 2012 European Commission report on Turkey, a "number of crypto-Armenians have started to use their original names and religion." The Economist suggests that the number of Turks who reveal their Armenian background is growing. In Turkish, they are referred to by the derogatory term "leftovers of the sword" (Turkish: kılıç artıkları).
Armenians are originally from the Armenian Highlands. The western parts of what is called the Six Vilayets came under the Ottoman Empire's control in the 16th century with the Peace of Amasya. Armenians remained an overwhelming majority of the area's population until the 17th century; however, their number gradually decreased, and by the early 20th century they constituted up to 38% of the population of Western Armenia, designed at the time as the Six Vilayets. Kurds made up a significant part of the population.
In 1915 and the following years, the Armenians living in their ancestral lands in the Ottoman Empire were systematically exterminated by the Young Turk government in the Armenian genocide. The Ittihadists, who perpetrated the genocide, did not have the same understanding of race and nationality as the Nazis. They understood nationality as something could be changed by religious conversion to Islam, and likewise, Protestant and Catholic Armenians could be exempted from deportation.
Daniel Jonah Goldhagen explains that perpetrators differ in how they treat the targeted group's children: "In some instances, owing to the perpetrators' social theory, they treat children of groups targeted because of ethnicity or nationality radically differently from their parents. The Turks conceiving of their existential enemies the Armenians not entirely coherently, an unstable agglomeration of a national/ethnic/religious-based hatred, nevertheless had a decidedly nonracist view of them." He further explains that the Turks adopted a formal policy of "leaving the girls and children to be islamized". Although many children were killed, some were spared and allowed to live as Turks. Genocide historian Norman Naimark writes:
"Thousands of Armenian children were raised as Muslims and Turks, while women and girls were routinely converted, taken into harems, and married to Turkish, Kurdish and Circassian husbands. In the period 1918-1922, some of these women and children, encouraged by the Western powers and anti-Ittihadist Ottoman officials, reconnected with their Armenian families and communities. But women seventeen or over or those married to Muslims could choose to stay with their new families, and many did. Under the French occupation, many Armenian children were turned over by Turkish families to the Armenian community, but, wrote one Armenian officer, 'many of them want to go back.'"
When relief workers and surviving Armenians started to search for and claim back these Armenian orphans after World War I, only a small percentage were found and reunited, while many others continued to live as Muslims. Additionally, there were cases of entire families converting to Islam to survive the genocide.
"After converting to Islam, many of the crypto-Armenians said they still faced unfair treatment: their land was often confiscated, the men were humiliated with "circumcision checks" in the army and some were tortured." Between the 1930s and 1980s, the Turkish government conducted a secret investigation of hidden Armenians.