Armenian History

Les inscriptions nous renseignant sur les architectes et les projets architecturaux sont relativement rares en Arménie et ont été largement réunis dans l’ouvrage de référence de Sedrak Barxudaryan. Hors d’Arménie ce type d’informations deviennent extrêmement rares dans les lieux d’implantation de populations arméniennes comme la Terre sainte, l’Égypte, l’Italie ou l’Europe centrale. Au-delà, les cercles arméniens. La question des liens entre l’architecture arménienne et les traditions architecturales occidentales est quant à elle étudiée depuis longtemps tout en étant un sujet particulièrement difficile.
Nous avons récemment examiné le cas particulier et étonnant de l’inscription dédicatoire de la rotonde d’Aix la Chapelle construite sous le règne de Charlemagne par un certain Odo / Eudes. Dans cette communication, nous allons examiner le cas de deux inscriptions en arménien sur des cathédrales latines médiévales. Leur existence même poste question puisque les inscriptions étaient interdites sur les murs des églises latines autrement qu’en latin. Lorsque l’on aura précisé qu’il ne s’agit pas de graffito mais d’inscriptions monumentales installées à des points clé de chacune des deux églises, leur caractère ostentatoire devient clair et le mystère qui les entoure encore plus épais.
Nous analyserons d’abord, l’inscription en arménien de la cathédrale de Sainte-Etienne de Chartres, publiée pour la première fois par Fédéric Macler en 1907 . Sur le septième pilier de la première colonnade nord, construite lors de la deuxième phase des travaux de la nef, se trouve une inscription située à près de 2 m du sol :

Transcription Traduction
Սարգիս
Ծառայ Այ [Աստուած] Sarkis serviteur de Dieu.

Puis nous étudierons l’inscription arménienne d’Hakop, situé à près de 4 mètres du niveau du sol, sur le proche de la cathédrale Saint-Martin de Lucques, et dont ornementation débutée en 1233. La façade de cette cathédrale est recouverte de marbre clair, avec des bandes de marbre rouge et vert. Entre les bandes, on voit dans la partie inférieure les blasons des familles proches de l’évêque et dont les membres faisaient partie de la fabrique paroissiale ayant financé les travaux. Dans la partie la plus haute de la façade, il y a un blason avec une croix principale et quatre secondaires, plus petites, qui suivent la grammaire ornementale arménienne . Sous le blason, on peut lire, en lettres calligraphiées suivantes  :
Relevé effectué sur site en 2011
ԶՅԱԿՈԲԿԱՐՑԻՆՅԻՇԵՑԷՔ
Transcription
ցՅակոբ Կար[նե]ցի յիշեցէք
Traduction
Souvenez-vous d’Hakop de Karin [= Erzerum ?]

Après une présentation matérielle de ces deux inscriptions, une réflexion sera menée sur leur fonction et leur interprétation possible, ainsi que sur le rôle de chacun des deux personnages ayant gravés ces deux inscriptions.

Despite the long-standing attention of scholarship towards the beginnings of the Armenian press, the biographical details of the first printers remain largely mysterious. Until the rediscovery in the last decades of the nineteenth century of the obscure figure of Yakob Mełapart, scholars had long believed that Abgar dpir of Tokhat was the first to have published two complete books in the Armenian language: a “jumble” calendar and the Psalms of David, printed in Venice in 1565-1566, which included an engraved portrait of Abgar together with his adolescent son Sult‘anšah. While Abgar left Italy shortly after, continuing his publishing activity in Constantinople for some years, Sult‘anšah remained in Rome, where in 1584 he began to collaborate with another poorly known Armenian printer, Yovhannēs Terznc‘i, giving to the press (with different fonts) the Armenian versions of the new calendar and of the profession of Catholic faith prepared under Pope Gregory XIII. More than a century of studies have not helped much to illuminate the life of these two men. My current research intends to provide new details on the biography and activities of Sult‘anšah and Terznc‘i, thanks to sources hitherto not considered by the Armenian and non-Armenian historiography. Based on documents recently discovered in the pontifical and Roman archives (which will be published in a forthcoming article), this intervention seeks to shed new light on three key issues: 1) the career of Sult‘anšah T‘oxat‘ec‘i (or Marco Antonio Abagaro, as he was known in Italian sources) and his involvement in the network of Roman printing workshops thanks to his hitherto unknown wife; 2) the demonstration that Marco Antonio Abagaro was a different person from his younger relative and successor at the helm of the Armenian Hospice, Bartolomeo Abagaro; 3) the fate of the Armenian types cut by Abgar dpir in 1565.

Την περίοδο των διακοινοτικών ταραχών 1963 – 1964, 231 οικογένειες Αρμενίων εκτοπίστηκαν από τα σπίτια τους στη Λευκωσία (εντός και εκτός των τειχών) ως αποτέλεσμα της βίαιης εκδίωξής τους από Τουρκοκύπριους εξτρεμιστές. Η παρουσία των Αρμενίων ήταν πιο έντονη στην οδό Βικτωρίας, την κύρια κεντρική αρτηρία του λεγόμενου Αρμενομαχαλά, και στις γύρω οδούς, όπου κυριαρχούσε το αρμενικό σύμπλεγμα. Στο σύμπλεγμα συγκαταλέγονταν η Αρμενική Μητρόπολη Κύπρου, ο Καθεδρικός Ναός της Παρθένου Μαρίας, το Δημοτικό Σχολείο Μελικιάν-Ουζουνιάν, καθώς επίσης και το Μνημείο της Αρμενικής Γενοκτονίας ενώ στην ίδια γειτονιά βρίσκονταν και οι τρεις αρμενικές λέσχες της Λευκωσίας: Αρμενική Λέσχη, το Armenian General Benevolent Union (στο εξής A.G.B.U.) και η Α.Υ.Μ.Α. Πέρα από τα συγκεκριμένα κτήρια στο σύμπλεγμα συγκαταλέγονται τρόπον τινά οι αυλές που επικοινωνούσαν είτε με τον χώρο της εκκλησίας, είτε μεταξύ των σπιτιών, οι οποίες αποτελούσαν χώρο συνεύρεσης, ανταλλαγής απόψεων και ιστοριών από το παρελθόν ενός λαού, η συλλογική μνήμη του οποίου γύρω από την εθνική ταυτότητα, την ιστορία και τον πολιτισμό, έχει διαμορφωθεί αφενός από το τραύμα της Γενοκτονίας και αφετέρου από τη μάχη για επιβίωση. Μέσα σε αυτό το πλαίσιο, όπως οι ίδιοι έχουν αποδείξει και παραδεχθεί, η διατήρηση της ταυτότητας αποτελούσε και αποτελεί ζωτικό στοιχείο της ίδιας της ύπαρξής τους.
Η παρούσα δημοσίευση αποτελεί μέρος Διπλωματικής Εργασίας που εκπονήθηκε για το πρόγραμμα Νεότερης & Σύγχρονης Ιστορίας στο Τμήμα Ιστορίας-Αρχαιολογίας, του Πανεπιστημίου Κύπρου με επόπτη Καθηγητή τον κύριο Γιώργο Καζαμία και σκοπό έχει να αναπτύξει το ιστορικό πλαίσιο γύρω από τον εκτοπισμό των Τουρκόλπηκτων Αρμενίων του 1963-1964 και να παρουσιάσει το νομικό πλαίσιο που θεσπίστηκε σχετικά με την περίπτωσή τους.

Anadolu Ermenileri, günümüz tarih yazıcılığında, genellikle içinde yer aldığı siyasi sorunlar açısından ele alınmıştır. Anadolu’nun kadim halklarından biri olan Ermeniler sadece, Doğu Anadolu’nun yaşam koşullarına uyum sağlamış ve siyasi bir “sorun” un odağındaki toplum değildir. Osmanlı coğrafyasında  diğer bütün topluluklar gibi Ermeniler de tarımda, ticarette, köy-kent hayatında, çarşıda, mahallede, düğünde, cenazede var oldular. Ekonomik koşulların ağırlaştığı dönemde Anadolu içlerinden batıya, özellikle liman kentlerine göç eden bir Ermeni topluluğundan bahsetmek mümkündür. Böylelikle Ermeniler de Anadolu’nun batısında uluslararası ticaretin merkezi, metropol kentlerde farklı bir yaşam tarzıyla karşılaştılar. Yaşlı imparatorluğun Batı dünyasına açılan penceresinde, farklılıkların içinde bazen kaynaşarak bazen ayrışarak yaşadılar. Cengiz Ergün’ün çalışması, Osmanlı dünyasının en önemli limanlarından biri sayılan İzmir merkezli bir çalışmadır, bu eser neredeyse hiç ele alınmayan Batı Anadolu Ermenilerine odaklanarak modernleşme sürecindeki Osmanlı toplumunun bir parçası olan Ermenilerin sosyal ve ekonomik hayata verdikleri katkıyı Batılı gezginlerin gözünden ele alıyor.
Büyük bir siyasi sorunun öznesi olmak dışında, Batı Anadolu Ermenilerinin  kent kültürüne ve rengine  katkısının,  siyasi çalkantıların ve sorunların en yoğun olduğu zaman diliminde değerlendirilmesi ise ayrı bir önem taşır. Batılı güçlerin Osmanlı gayrı Müslim unsurlarıyla çok daha ilgili olduğu ve toplumsal ayrışmaların yaşandığı dönemi kapsayan eser bu özellikleriyle daha da dikkat çekicidir.
Doç. Dr. Olcay Yapucu Pullukçuoğlu

The country of the Armenians in the beginning of the first millennium BC.

According to our hypothesis, the Armenian self-appellation hay is connected with the ethno-toponym Etiu-ni/ḫi of the Urartian sources of the 9th–7th centuries BC. One of the possible protoforms for hay could have been *hatiyo- (probably from Indo-European *poti-yo-, cf. *poti- ‘master, lord, husband’) that in Urartian cuneiform script could be transcribed as etiu-. The territory of this country corresponds with that of the Ayrarat
province of Greater Armenia. Ayrarat was the central region, domain of the kings and political, religious, and cultural center of the country. In the ethnogonic myth the forefather of Armenia Hayk settles in the north of the Van lake, but his eldest son Aramaneak moves to Ayrarat, the Ararat valley, where Armenia (“Armenian universe”) is formed after Hayk. To the present day Ayrarat remains the center of Armenia: almost all of the Armenian capitals were built here (Armavir, Artashat, Dvin, Yerevan, etc.).
In support of this hypothesis, the following arguments may be
adduced:
a) Spatial and temporal correspondence with the ethnogonic myth, where Ayrarat and the Ararat valley become the center of Armenia immediately after the forefather Hayk.
b) Identification of the Armenians as one of the main peoples of the Armenian highland in Urartian times, in contrast to other hypotheses, according to which the Armenians are inexplicably not detected in the extensive list of tribes of the Urartian inscriptions.
c) Clear historical interpretation of the Urartu-Armenia transition as the move of the dominant ethno-political center of the highland: geographically — from the south to the north, ethnically — from the ruling elite of Urartu to the Armenians.
d) Obvious Armenian etymologies of several names of Etiuni.

Key words: Armenian highland, Urartu, Etiuni, Armenian ethnogeny, prehistory of Armenia, Armenian language.

L’époque actuelle avec la multiplication des migrations et des processus diasporiques amène à développer une approche de ces processus selon des axes d’analyse actuels (structurations économique, linguistique et culturelle, religieuse, liens avec le pays ou l’état d’origine). Deux peuples, les Juifs et les Arméniens, ont une histoire diasporique deux fois millénaires et dont l’étude est riche à de multiples niveaux. Ce cours permettra de découvrir et typologiser plusieurs processus diasporiques qui se sont développé dans le temps et l’espace. De plus, l’analyse des diasporas arméniennes diffusées dans tout l’ancien monde permettre de comprendre les trois jeux dialectiques avec les cultures d’accueils, avec le plateau arménien et entre les différents espaces diasporiques.

The Programme of lectures and leisure activities organized by the "Padus-Araxes Cultural Association" within the Summer Course of Armenian Language & Culture in Venice. Two additional lectures were offered, although not scheduled in the official programme. Dr. Gevorg Stepanyan (Institute of History, Archeology and Ethnography, Armenia) and Varujan Vosganian (President of the Union of Armenians in Rumania) gave lectures on their respective topics, and namely "The Armenian community of Baku From its Origins to Modern Times", and "The Armenian Community of Rumania: Hindsights and Foresights".

When we speak of the renaissance of Western Armenian culture in the 19th century, we usually first mention the era‘s writers, playwrights, and actors whose names are engraved in the long list of the great Armenian intellectual and cultural figures of history.

Jennifer Manoukian‘s article examines one aspect of this cultural reawakening that remains relatively obscure – the Ottoman-Armenian publishing industry. The article focuses specifically on the Dedeyan Brothers publishing house of Smyrna/Izmir, which operated from 1853 to 1892. The Dedeyans published Armenian periodicals, non-fiction (mostly scientific monographs), religious texts, schoolbooks, literary works, and translated literary works. These publications undoubtedly contributed to the development of the cultural and intellectual life of Ottoman Armenians.

https://www.houshamadyan.org/mapottomanempire/vilayet-of-aydinizmir/literature/printing.html

This talk will examine episodes of gendered violence against Armenian women in the late Ottoman Empire and seeks to contextualize them within the imperial and international contestations and struggles over the status and equality of Ottoman Armenians. The legal status and communal administration of non-Muslims had been integral and controversial components of Ottoman reform since the middle of the nineteenth century. As traditional confessional hierarchies, which privileged Sunni Muslims in politics, tax collection and law, came under domestic and international scrutiny, interconfessional tensions mounted. Toygun Altıntaş’ study focuses on the last decades of the nineteenth century when the Ottoman state turned a blind eye to increasing numbers of abductions and forced conversions of Armenian women and children. As the Ottoman authorities militarized their surveillance and policing of Armenian dissent, some Armenian women also faced sexual violence at the hands of Ottoman soldiers and gendarmes. In many instances, the women played a key role in mobilizing their communities, securing international intervention and/or organizing protests against the Ottoman state’s discriminatory policies. Toygun Altıntaş’ research explores these processes, which were as integral to struggles over equality and supremacism in the late Ottoman period as disputes over land and taxation.

Altıntaş'ın II. Abdülhamid dönemi politikalarıyla Ermeni devrimci hareketi arasındaki ilişkiye odaklanan çalışması, bu hareketin Osmanlı toplumunun farklı kesimleri ve uluslararası aktörlerle olan çok yönlü ve karmaşık etkileşimini inceliyor. Bu bağlamda hukukun üstlendiği role dikkati çeken ve Ermeni kadınlarının bu sürece nasıl müdahil olduğunu detaylandıran araştırma, Osmanlı Ermeni çalışmaları ve II. Abdülhamid Dönemi tarih yazımına önemli katkılar sunuyor.

Review of Richard G. Hovannisian. The Republic of Armenia. Vol. III. From London to Sèvres to London, February-August 1920. Berkeley/Los Angeles/London: University of California Press, 1996, xx, 534; AND Vol. IV. Between Crescent and Sickle: Partition and Sovietization. Berkeley/Los Angeles/London: University of California Press, 1996, xii, 496, in Central Asian Survey, vol. 17, No. 3, September 1998, pp. 506-508.

In today's program, I speak with Richard E. Antaramian about his recent monograph, Brokers of Faith, Brokers of Empire: Armenians and the Politics of Reform in the Ottoman Empire (Stanford University Press, 2020).

In Brokers of Faith, Brokers of Empire, Antaramian shows that the Armenian Church and clergy--spread across the empire in a vast ecclesiastical network--played an important role in the application of Ottoman reform programs during the mid-nineteenth century. His main intervention to the scholarship is to show that Armenians were not uniformly opposed to Ottoman centralization. Furthermore, Through his study of the Armenian Church, he challenges the well-known paradigm of "center and periphery" by offering a networked model of empire. For experts and novices alike, this book will not only offer a compelling new perspective into Ottoman and Armenian history, but also surprise you with new insights on Kurdish-Armenian relations in Eastern Anatolia in the 19th century.