The bad comes not from the nation, but from the person

First we are guests to a typical house of Kumkapi, where the market is set. A. L. is a construction engineer born in Gumru in 1946. After the break-up of the Soviet Union he quit his profession and came to Turkey. He said, “The year was 1997, I was living in the house of relatives; in the corner there was a stove. Our nation does not know what a stove is; we are used to central heating. I lit the last cigarette and threw the pack at the stove. When I asked of those around where the other pack was, I received the answer that there was none. I felt strange and decided immediately; I should have done something to save myself out of this situation. I went to the bus station, 30 dollars was enough to come to Turkey; I paid it and came here”.

A. L. lived on the streets for 17 days. Afterwards, he met an acquaintance in a coffee house. With his help, A. L. first started to work in the factory of a Turkish Armenian, and later did any job he could find. When he found the opportunity, he brought along his wife as well. While Alin was doing the interpretation, all of a sudden he starts to talk in broken Turkish. He says that his grandparents were immigrants from Eastern Anatolia and adds ‘we already spoke Turkish at home”. He shows the photos of their grandchildren on the wall and says “We are here for them.”

His wife O. L. was setting a feast table in their poverty stricken house addressing us as “canim” (my life). She says that she took house cleaning jobs, shows the old chairs in the sitting rooms and says: “The Turkish woman I worked for gave these to me. They give us gifts on their and our sacred holidays and ask if we are short of anything. Sometimes, the Turks here treat us better than the local Armenians. I am greatly thankful, they don’t make me feel like a stranger. Anyhow, there are no bad nations, only bad persons.”

Retired teacher from Yerevan, A.S.
They told us to say that we are NOT Armenian

I am 62 years old, I taught 33 years, we came to Turkey in 1992. My wife and I were in the trading business. I was one of the three traders doing great business on glassware in Armenia. Actually, the answer to the question “Why Turkey” is very simple. This is the nearest and cheapest country for those who want to work. It is easy to get a visa at the border, just pay 10 dollars.

When we were coming to Turkey, they had told us to introduce ourselves as Georgians. For around two years we took that advice. Later we saw that Turks had no grudge against Armenians, everyone minds his business. When trading, I had no problem at all with other persons in business. Those who come from Armenia, work in the houses of local Armenians from Istanbul. Some treat the workers as guests; on the other hand there are some that don’t like Armenians from Armenia and would not give them a job in their house. This is because many who come to Istanbul are peasants. The Turkish Armenians would look at the Armenians from Armenia and say, “they are rude, covetous, don’t know how to dress”.

The local Armenians look down upon those coming from Armenia and mistreat them. I am sorry for that because it does not reflect our country totally. From time to time, I have been faced with such cases that I am ashamed to say that I am from Armenia. It's not nice to say, but there are some among them whom I would not take into my house. Let me say this openly: I never had any problems with local Armenians or Turks. I especially have never had a bad treatment, insult or annoyance from Turks. I earlier hesitated to say that I was Armenian, but now I am at ease.

In a street near to the Kumkapi pubs, we enter a house which looks to have three floors. Inside it is only a shelter. Rooms are separated with curtains, and the poverty is full fledged. Spaghetti is cooking on a picnic butane cooker. Despite this, the walls are adorned with pictures of Christ and Mary.

The Armenian ladies from the top floor

The woman on the first floor did not want to talk because her son did not permit her. The second floor was empty. On the top floor we see about three to five women, trying to fit on a small mattress .Among them, V. T. agrees to speak.

Her real profession is bookkeeping. Born in Leninakan in 1955, lives in Turkey since 2003. Reason of coming: “There was no job, and need of money, Turkey was the nearest country and I came here." First she baby sat the child of an Armenian family. Now she works daily as a house cleaner. “I took care of the baby as if the baby were my own and every time I took the child in my lap I begged God to have my children taken care of in the same manner.” When she first arrived, she was treated roughly by both Turks and Armenians. V. T. said : “they like to look down upon us; they don’t think that once I was too a lady of my house, I had a job, but now I have none; some day the same can happen to them. But I still don’t want any one to live what I have been through.”

V. T. gave courage for N. F. to speak as well. Born in Leninakan in 1948, came to Turkey in 2000. She also works in houses as a maid. With all sincerity she says: “Turks are very good people, I never saw any harm from them”. Referring to a house where no one would walk in under normal conditions, she says there were exactly 32 Armenian nationals living.

While getting out of the poverty district and walking toward the Armenian Patriarchate we think of other immigrants spread throughout the world, to have better way of life and to fill their stomachs. We think of immigrants drowned in the Maritsa River while dreaming of Europe; those dropped on no man's islands in the Aegean or those women and children from North Africa drowned while trying to reach Spain.

What was the poet Behcet Nercatigil saying?

“When values are dead I will have died as well”