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Professor
Mahmut Esat Ozan has been the rare, tireless voice in the United
States, putting up his dukes in the sea of Turcophobes for many years. Here is
a late 2005 commentary of his that appeared in The Turkish Forum; it
is placed away from his normal commentary section,
because the subject matter is that important: one of the very rare times the
"Armenians" let down their guard and allowed the real truth to slip.
The article will be followed by the
testimony of other Armenians that go against Diaspora views.
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YEGISABETH KASEBIAN IS AN
ARMENIAN GRANDMOTHER — UNLIKE OTHER DIASPORA GRANDMOTHERS SHE SAYS THAT TURKISH
SOLDIERS PROTECTED THEM DURING THE RELOCATION AND DID NOT HARM THEM,AS OTHERS HAVE
BEEN CLAIMING FOR AGES |
(An Editorial)
Mahmut Esat Ozan
Chairman -Editorial Board
The Turkish Forum- USA
(this article is humbly dedicated to an irreplaceable Turkish Lady called Fatma Sarikaya)
NO ARMENIAN ALIVE TODAY WILL EVER BELIEVE THAT THE FOLLOWING STORY IS TRUE. THEY ONLY
HEARD THE OPPOSITE INVENTED SIDE ALL THEIR LIVES
I do not believe that any Armenian person, man or woman, young or old, rich or poor would
admit that the story below could have ever happened. These unfortunate people almost from
infancy on have been fed a pabulum called the' Armenian genocide,' plus a goodly portion
of pure hatred for the Turks. This has been their gospel truth inculcated in them not only
in their homes and Churches but also at every phase of their lives from cradle to grave.
When I first heard recently about the story below, I promised myself to publicize it as
many times as I could in the future. That is what I am doing here to let the rest of the
world meet and admire this different kind of Armenian grandmother, born in the Ottoman
Empire who kept her closeness to her birth place and her love for her second native
tongue,Turkish.
Yegisabeth Kasebian is one courageous old woman among many who comes along and is brave
enough to tell the truth as it really happened. After her narration which appeared in a
Lebanese magazine, the Tashnaks started calling her ugly names. When this story first
surfaced, the publication began hearing hundreds of complaints, 95 per cent coming from
abroad.
This is a good indication that the Armenian Diaspora is alive and
well and will not give an inch of their deceptive ground to historical facts. Ironically
most of the mail received spoke about the fact that she was either a salaried agent of the
Turkish government in Ankara or that she was senile. Many letter writers said that this
grandmother's words did not jibe at all with the stories they had heard from their own
grandmothers.
Yegisabeth had personally witnessed the relocation of Armenians from the war zone of
Eastern Turkey. She had gone through the same marches as others had done .The only
difference between her account and others' was something called the truth.
TRUTH IS STRANGER THAN
FICTION
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Armenians who immigrated to Lebanon during 1915's bitter incidents in Ottoman lands
formed brand new lives for themselves. Leaving the past to the historians, Armenians
in Beirut, unlike those in the Armenian Diaspora elsewhere, do not hold grudges
against Turkey. Along with the Anatolian culture which they left 90 years ago, they
hand down the Turkish language from generation to generation in Beirut.
An old woman living in the Bekaa Valley sings a Turkish folk song. Her name is
Yeghisabeth Kesabian. She is 105 years old and the last witness of the expulsion.
She was 15 years old when she came to Lebanon from Hatay via Syria in 1915.
During the journey, she says they went through
great hardship: "We walked for days. Turkish cavalry were always next to us.
They were protecting us against the attacks, but they sometimes were beating us when
we were not able to walk fast enough to catch up with the others." She
admits that it was a very hard forced walk and a difficult journey. After about
three months of travel, Kesabian came to the Bekaa Valley's Anjar region along with
her relatives, of whom she is the oldest. She lives with her daughter Sara and her
grandchildren. Even her great-grandson, eight-year-old Mardiros knows Turkish.
Kesabian taught him Turkish songs.
Her adventure is not limited to 1915. After coming to Lebanon, she went back to
Samandag in Hatay (now a province of Turkey ) and got married. She cannot forget
that day in Turkey. "I was so happy. Our neighbors, relatives, everyone was
there. Rain after the wedding means prosperity. At my wedding, it was raining. Our
neighbor prayed for rain. A short while later, it started to rain. My wedding dress
got wet. Since I had no other clothes, my mother-in-law dried my dress and helped me
to wear it
again."
Married in Turkey, Kesabian puts her finger on a historical point that is missed
about her return to Lebanon. In 1939, after Hatay's being included within Turkish
borders, of her own will, she returned to the Bekaa Valley with a group of Armenians
and continued her life in the valley. During this period, again Turks did nothing
wrong against them and they returned to Lebanon upon their own free will.
"The French told us, 'come here', then we went there. When we wanted to leave,
Turkish soldiers helped us to get into the cars and escorted us to Damascus. Then,
the French took over. In those years, Turks did nothing wrong to Armenians."
Kesabian, one of the last witnesses of the expulsion misses Turkey a great deal. In
particular, she wanted to see the village in which she spent her childhood and where
she was married; however, she has not fulfilled her wish yet. Now, she has a single
request of her grandchildren and her daughter: She wants them to take her to Hatay
before she dies.
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They still live in Lebanon and dream of Turkey. They listen to
Ibo (Ibrahim Tatlises a Turkish singer), and support the soccer team called Galatasaray.
The names in the Borj Hammoud district of Southern Beirut are the same as the ones in
Turkey. Maras, Antep, Adana. The name of the biggest district is "Yeni Maras" It
is the same as any district in Kahramanmaras in Turkey - narrow streets, noisy children,
the smells of spices coming from the shops… jewelry brought from the Turkish cities,
Adana, Mersin and Kilis, charms saying "Mashallah", "Allah Korusun"
on them, dried mulberry, grape pectin… people are familiar, streets are familiar, shops
are familiar... the kids cry out at Ibrahim Tatlises and Galatasaray. Everybody is like
they have seen the Turkish movie "Copculer Krali" They know the Turkish actor
Kemal Sunal and call him "Copcu". Children support two teams here; one is from
Turkey and one is from rest of the World. They support and watch the matches of
Galatasaray, Fenerbahce and Besiktas besides the matches of Barcelona and Real Madrid.
Fifteen-year-old Artin Taursarkisyan is a fan of Galatasaray. He follows the matches on
Turkish TV channels. The other team that Taursarkisyan supports is Real Madrid. But the
football player in his dreams is not Zidane or Figo, he is Hakan Sukur. of Galatasaray.
There is no animosity between these Armenians and their neighbors the Turks . (It suffices
to say that they have no enmity between these people because they have not witnessed the
fabricated Armenian genocide)
Not only do these Armenians watch the Turkish broadcasts of Mehmet Ali Erbil and other
Turkish TV series; they even watch women's morning programs. People in Borj Mahmoud watch
Turkish TV channels. But the Turkish TV channels' broadcast by cable were closed
temporarily by the Tashnaks due to April 24.
Beiruti Armenians live like Turkish people and they show a different Diaspora
characteristic than the widely known one. They allow the sale of food and textile products
brought from Turkey, the beads with "Mashallah" and "Allah Korusun"
scripts are bought by Armenians and hung on the walls of their houses. Armenian
businessmen are always in touch with Turkey and they bring most of the goods they sell
from Turkey. The grocer Mano Lenbelian, who sells food and jewelry, is one of them and he
often goes to Turkey for this reason. He teaches Turkish to his children, a language which
he learned from his grandfather. He speaks Turkish with an Adana accent and goes to Antep,
Urfa, Kilis and Antep regularly. He is not interested in political issues like
"Genocide" or "Emmigration" He says:
"There is no problem with Turkey for me. There should be peace and dialog now. Those
mistakes should be left in the past, let the historians discuss these issues. Society is
negatively affected by these kinds of struggles. I get along well with Turks. We have no
problems. And the others also should not create problems for us . I sell the dried
vegetables and fruits to Armenians here. They like these products very much. Also
Armenians buy the beads with scripts "mashallah" and "Allah Korusun, If I
can sell these Turkish products, it means that there is no problem between the two
nations."
RESTOKIAN : WE LIVE
LIKE TURKS
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Meraat Al Khaleej magazine's Editor-in-Chief Nataly Restokian, who will come to
Antalya, Turkey, for a top-level business meeting to be organized this summer, says
that this is not well seen by some radical Armenians. Tashnaks' attitude harms
bilateral relations between the two countries according to her. "Armenians have
two options:
1) Don't think about Turkey at all and wage war or 2... Have dialogue and solve the
problem. The first option is impossible. We are living here like Turks. We watch
Turkish television. I eat Ulker biscuits, listen to Ibrahim Tatlises. I wear clothes
made in Turkey and so do the others. But for the second option, we have to work
hard. Life goes on. I don't want to deal with the past. I want peace and fraternity,
not fighting." When you get to know Restokian and talk with her, you see that
her expressions are not political.
'Money cannot be a black cat between our friendship with the Turks.'
An Urfa Kebap House in Yeni Maras,in Beitut, is in a neighborhood mostly populated
by Armenians... Besides having the most delicious kebaps and lahmacuns, the manager
of the house is talkative and a gentleman and that makes interest in the restaurant
grow. There are places and very polite helpers or managers who are serving various
authentic foods from around the world. But this place has many things to tell
Turkish people and the world, because its owner is the son of an Armenian family who
immigrated to Lebanon in 1915. His name is Levon Restokian.
Speaking Turkish, Restokian is as good as a local in Urfa in Turkey. He makes the
best lahmacun. The word "genocide" for Restokia does not have as much
meaning as it does for Diaspora Armenians. According to him, the war incident was
one of the mistakes made by Armenians during history and it is nonsense to build up
an entire life over this "mistake".
Among his customers, there are many Turks as well as second and third generation
Armenians who emigrated from Turkey. On Thursdays especially the biggest demand for
lahmacun and doner kebap is from the Turkish Embassy personnel in Beirut. His
relations with his Turkish customers are beyond those of merchant-customer. Even
more so, some customers like me do not pay the bill at the store. "Money cannot
be a black cat (rift) between our friendship," he says and he is still
interested in Turkey a great deal. He tells his children about Turkey and teaches
them Turkish.
If we leave aside the "Tashnaks" who are the most radical group of
Armenians in Diaspora, Restokian represents the average Armenian living in Lebanon,
namely people who speak Turkish, who prefer to leave the issues about Turkey and the
"things which happened in the past to historians"...
The Diaspora in this country, Lebanon is in fact quite ancient and rooted. It is
organized in a wide area from churches to political parties, from media to economic
organizations. They live mainly in a densely populated area in Bori Hammoud, in
Beirut and Anjar, Bekaa. Valley. They have 3 deputies in parliament.Now debates over
genocide are on the agenda due to the anniversary of the events of 1915. But these
issues do not take place in daily life. Even the new generations think very
different. The daughter of lahmacun master Restokian who, is even loved by Turks,
loves Turkey and Turks as much as her father. Nataly Restokian is the editor of the
magazine, previously mentioned, addresses the rich businessman of the Arab world and
the elite of the country. Nataly Restokian says, "It should no longer be a
problem for us that our fathers and grandfathers disagreed with each other and
killed each other."
I hope that the 105 year old grandmother Yegisabeth Kasebian attains her wish to see
Hatay, her birthplace in Turkey, once more before she passes away, and that the
level-headed majority of the Armenians of Lebanon get rid of the radical bull-headed
Tashnak politicians in order to prepare peaceful and better tomorrows for everyone
concerned.
I'd like to close with the words of the American Patriot Patrick Henry who once
said: "I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the
past."
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See Also:
Armenians with
Contrary Views
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