Project Rebirth: Homecoming of Hidden Armenians

This year, more emphasis was placed on having younger generation participants in the trip, and several children of the people who came last year were now part of the group. The age of the participants ranged from 11 to 87. The Islamicized Armenians came from all walks of life, teachers, lawyers, artists, writers, poets, high school and university students, business people, housewives and retired pensioners. They may have had different perspectives about almost every subject, but they all shared one common goal — searching and finding their Armenian roots. Their life stories and quest for their roots are as different as themselves. They are all descendents of the ‘living victims’ of the 1915 Armenian Genocide, orphaned Armenian boys and girls captured, protected, hidden or bought by Turks and Kurds, who became Islamicized, Turkified and Kurdified. As grandchildren of these assimilated orphans, they have become aware of their Armenian roots during different stages of their lives. Some found out about their Armenian origins at an early age, while others discovered in their adulthood, at the deathbed of their parents and grandparents.

During this trip, they eagerly participated in Armenian language classes every morning, followed by expeditions to significant historic sites during the day, and cultural events in the evenings. Interestingly, the participants from the Hamshen region already spoke a dialect of Armenian, and they could easily understand or be understood by Armenians in the street. One of the Armenian cultural events the entire group attended was a concert by pianist Raffi Bedrosyan who performed works of Komitas, Khatchaturian, Alan Hovhaness and Edgar Hovanissian. The full-house concert and the activities of the group were followed widely by Armenian media and TV.

As a result of this trip, they will be no more hidden Armenians when they return to Turkey, as their real identities will be revealed at considerable risk to themselves and their families. They may be discriminated against by their employers, lose their jobs if working in the public sector, lose their Moslem friends, neighbors, and even the rest of their families who prefer to remain Moslem Turks or Kurds, but they are all willing to take the risk.

Throughout the trip, the expectations, short and long term goals of Project Rebirth and the needs of the hidden Armenians were discussed. As courageous people willing to take the risk of revealing their Armenian identities, the participants need support mechanisms related to Armenian language instruction, increased interaction and exchanges with cultural groups to and from Armenia, technical and professional help related to restoration projects for abandoned or destroyed Armenian churches, cemeteries and other monuments in their cities and villages. More importantly, on a personal level, they may need financial, legal and social services help for family and employment problems triggered by revealing their Armenian identities. The expectations of the Project Rebirth organizers can be summed up as willingness by these new Armenians to learn the  Armenian language and history, organize among themselves toward planning and implementing restoration of Armenian churches and buildings, arrange regular social and cultural activities to encourage others to “come out” and more critically, pass along their desire to return to Armenian roots to their children and the next generation.

The goals and objectives of Project Rebirth are now well defined and a few of the short term goals are already achieved. One example was the agreement negotiated between the organizer and the Ministry of Diaspora last year to have two university students from Diyarbakir who had participated in last years’ trip to continue their studies in Armenia with free tuition. After a year of intensive Armenian language instruction in Yerevan University, we watched with great pride and satisfaction as one of these students acted as guide and translator to the participants of this year’s trip.