The Secret History of Kınalı, an Armenian Island off Constantinople

Now we get to the more recent history of the first Armenians settling on the island.

According to the author, the first settlers were Armenians from Anatolia and Constantinople who were converted to the Anglican-Protestant faith by the British between 1830 and 1850.

The author states that this was a British political plot, however, with no clear explanation as to why.

In all fairness, it was around this time that, American Missionaries started appearing in Turkey, established Robert College and countless schools in Anatolia, with the distinct purpose of converting the Muslims, failed to do so, but, along the way, succeeded in converting the Armenians.

Meanwhile, hard though it may be to believe, in the 1840s, the island was again plundered by pirates.

Around this time, according to the Ottoman archives, the first registered owner of the island was the Greek Orthodox Patriarch Joannicius III of Constantinople. It is unknown whether he purchased or inherited it. and then… here comes the best part, in the author’s own words:

“But because the land registry records were either lost or didn’t exist, a few shrewd Armenians, noticing this, quickly bought the lands from the Ottoman treasury.”

Easier said than done, I, personally, am impressed.

So, all in all, an interesting book on the Armenian history of the island, except that towards the end of the book, when it comes to the section on famous people from the islands, I got a little depressed.

While there was a long list of notable, famous people from all three islands, none were Armenian.

How could this be? At a time of very notable Armenian Amiras, architects, writers, Nubar Pasha, Gulbenkian, Ottoman Foreign Minister Noradounkian, Finance Minister Kazazian, the Balyan architects, Hagop Baronian, Daniel Varoujan, Krikor Zohrab and even Komitas lived on the island for a while, but, that doesn’t count, I think.

Anyway… The fact that not one noteworthy person came out from such a heavily Armenian populated place reminded me of my Godmother, a scary woman during the times when Armenian Godmothers instilled both God’s and Mother’s fear in you, years of observing a new generation of Armenians, smug in their ignorance, totally disconnected from their ancestors and their achievements…..looking straight into my eyes and saying, “Kinaliyen mart chellar!” The way she looked into my eyes when she said “mart chellar”… I was a little offended then, but, now I understand.

Footnote:

While thinking about whether or not any notable person came out of the island, a memory of my mother came to my mind. World War II had started, Turkey, fully expecting to be attacked by Germany, had started a massive draft, my father, being caught in this hellish situation, was drafted to the army for the third time! They were living in Kinali, and my mother had just given birth to my oldest sister, Nivart. Alone, all by herself in this hellish winter landscape of Kinali. At that time, it so happens that historian Avram Galanti, people may google him, pretty famous in his own right, also lived in Kınalı. My mother, worried out of her mind, asks him what would happen with the war. Galanti says “Don’t worry Madame, the war will last only two weeks, the Soviets will collapse from within.” If Avram Galanti didn’t make it onto the list of important people, I think I understand why after this prediction, especially considering my mother waited five years for those two weeks to end…

(Garo Gumusyan is a New York-based architect.)