Syrian Armenians and the Turkish Factor: Kessab, Aleppo and Deir ez-Zor in the Syrian War

Description

This volume examines significant social transformations engendered by the ongoing Syrian conflict in the lives of Syrian Armenians. The authors draw on documentary material and fieldwork carried out in 2013-2019 among Syrian Armenians in Armenian and Lebanese urban settings. The stories of Syrian Armenians reveal how contemporary events are seen to have direct links to the past and to reproduce memories associated with the Armenian genocide; the contemporary involvement of Turkey in the Syrian war, for example, is seen on the ground as an attempt to control the Armenian presence in Syria. Today, the Syrian Armenian identity encapsulates the complex intersection of memory, transnational links to the past, collective identity and lived experience of wartime “everydayness.” Specifically, the analysis addresses the role of memory in key events, such as the bombing of Armenian historical sites during the commemorations of 24 April in the Eastern Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor; the (perceived) shift from destroying Syrian Armenians’ material culture to attempting to destroy the Armenian community in urban Aleppo; and the informal transactions that take place in the border area of Kessab. This carefully-researched ethnography will appeal to scholars of anthropology, sociology, and political science who specialize in studies of conflict, memory and diaspora.   Contents 1 Introduction The Interference Tracing the Roots of Interference Linking up Loci of Interference Connecting War Actors Legitimizing the Urban Space Armenian Urban Loci of Remembrance Heterogeneous Diasporic Settings Challenges in Data Collection: From Symbolic Names to New Legal Definitions Book Structure Bibliography 2 Armenians in the Ottoman Empire: From Violence to Genocide Defining the Historical Armenian Homeland The Armenian Millet The Armenian Apostolic Patriarchate of Constantinople The Armenian Catholic Church The Armenian Protestant Church The Armenian Millet Under Attack The Armenian Question and State Demographic Engineering The Trap of Being Concentrated Envisaging Large-Scale Violence Ottoman Armenians at the Onset of the First World War Trapped Between Threats and Loyalty Violence and Massacres at the Eastern Border Crimes Against Humanity 24 April 1915 Towns as Symbols of Deportations and Resistance Van Musa Dagh Smyrne and Constantinople: Accounting for Foreign Variables The Genocidal Intention Conclusions Bibliography 3 Religious Affiliation and the Armenian Diaspora in the Middle East The Religious Variable in Armenian History A Mission of Religious Resistance: The Armenian Apostolic Church Features and Patterns of the Armenian Diaspora Armenian Diaspora’s Driving Forces Syrian Armenian Diaspora (1915–1917): Deportation Roads, Camps, Refugees Armenian Communities in the Middle East After the First World War Keeping Christianity a “Home” Religion Transnationalism and the Armenian Diaspora Conclusions Bibliography 4 Armenian Communities in the Syrian War Prologue: Popular Revolts in the Middle East The Religious Turn The War Enters Northern Syria: The Kurdish Variable and Armenian Memory Trapped Between the Regime, the Kurds and the Terrorists Taking the Regime’s Side From a “Peripheral” Conflict to a Broader Warfare Scenario Armenian “Positive Neutrality” Doctrine The Syrian Armenian Migration During the Syrian War Conclusions Bibliography 5 Deir ez-Zor and Its Lieux De Mémoire The 24 April Celebrations: From Aleppo to Deir ez-Zor Deir ez-Zor: Lieux De Mémoire A City of Martyrs The Martyrs’ Memorial Church in Deir ez-Zor Deir ez-Zor: Memory and War Deir Zor: Political Symbolism and Transnationalism Conclusions Bibliography 6 Aleppo Armenians at War Prologue: Neighbourhood at War Symbols and Quarters of Attack Parallels with the Cultural Genocide in the Nakhichevan Enclave The Burning of Marashian Saint Kevork Church The Turkmen Factor The “Grey Wolf” Coming Closer Disaster Zones The Bombing of the Forty Martyrs Apostolic Cathedral The Resurrection of a Communal Cathedral The Involvement of Motherland Armenia Informal Community Self-Reference Systems The Looting Conclusions Bibliography 7 Kessab in the Syrian War Kessab: A Border Town Kessab Identity The Little Homeland Informal Practices at the Contested Border Wartime Informal Border Practices Informal Channels of Sensitive Data The Turkmen Factor in the Kessab Attack FileRef="485880_1_En_7_Fige_HTML.png" Format="PNG" Color="BlackWhite" Type="Linedraw" Rendition="HTML" Height="30" Resolution="300" Width="136" (Talant) The Looting Deported to Vakef Save Kessab Conclusions Bibliography 8 The Occupation of Northern Syria Introduction: Syrian Kurds Operation Euphrates Shield: The First Shadow of History Operation Olive Branch: New Emergencies and Old Threats The Attack in the Turkish Parliament Operation Peace Spring: Refugees Once Again Ras al-Ayn Tell Abyad: A Town of Armenian Settlers Tell Abyad at the Time of IS Tell Abyad: Reactivating Old Fears Armenian Views on Operation Peace Spring The TAF Enters Tell Abyad The Issue of Properties Following the Turkish Invasion Tell Abyad Holy Cross Church: Damaging the Genocide Memory Sacred Blood and the Turkish Factor Conclusions Bibliography 9 Conclusions Bibliography Index