An advertisement in the April 23, 2007 issue of the International Herald Tribune carries an advertisement by the Turkish government calling to form an unbiased joint commission of historians to ”Unearth the Truth about what happened in 1915”. This date is significant, in that it is the day before the Armenian genocide anniversary, commemorated on April 24th around the world. The Turkish and Armenian governments and diaspora have been unable to hold successful talks about the events of 1915.
A photo taken during the Armenian deportations from Turkey shows a line of people on their way through the desert heading to Aleppo, Syria.
Rolling hills and farmland can be seen around the mountain of Musa Dagh near Vakifli, the last ethnic Armenian village in Turkey. About 30 Armenian families populate the small town and surrounding area, which is located near the Turkish border with Syria. In 1915 about 5,000 Armenians organized a defense of their community against the deportation edicts issued by the Young Turks, a fiercely nationalistic group said to have orchestrated the Armenian genocide.
The shadow of a train that runs from Adana to Istanbul, Turkey, is seen projected on land between the cities of Konya and Adana, Turkey. A German company won concessions to build part of the railway back in the early 1900s, then called the Baghdad Railway, and in 1915 the Turkish government began to use it to deport thousands of Armenians to Syria. According to eyewitness accounts, concentration camps sprung up along the sides of the train track, particularly between the cities of Konya and Gaziantep. Defending themselves from bandits and starvation, thousands perished in the camps or en route to Syria.
The Armenian Holy Cross Church, built in the 10th century by an Armenian King, is seen from a ferryboat on the island of Akhtamar in Lake Van, Turkey. The church is possibly the most precious symbol of Armenian presence in Turkey and is a popular pilgrimage site today.
People walk past the Sultanahmet Mosque in the ancient Byzantine area of Sultanahmet in Istanbul, Turkey. The mosque was constructed in the early 1600s. In 1913 when the Young Turks government took power, plans were set in motion to implement their dream of a “pan-Turkic” empire with one language and one religion. With this new nationalism came a surge in Islamic fundamentalist agitation and many considered the Christians ”infidels”. In 1915, as deportations decrees were implemented, many young Armenians were taken in by Turkish families to escape deportation, and converted to Islam. Today in Turkey it isn’t uncommon for Turks to discover that one or more of their relatives were ethnic Armenians, adopted and converted during the time of the massacres.
Orchards and farmland are seen from a train that runs from Istanbul to Gaziantep, Turkey.
Supporters of the Turkish Nationalist Movement party make the sign of a wolf with their hands — the symbol of this ultra nationalist party — at an election rally in Istanbul. Fierce nationalism thrives in Turkey, and it is criminal to insult “Turkishness” or call the massacres of Armenians genocide.
A woman holds a small Armenian Bible during a service at the Holy Mother of God church in Vakifli, Turkey. About 30 Armenian families populate the small town and surrounding area, which is located near the Turkish border with Syria. Although Armenians are allowed to celebrate their traditions in Turkey, many fear asserting their ethnic origins, which means living in near silence to avoid trouble.
A photo of slain Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink is seen in the reflection of the hearse carrying his flower-covered coffin during a funeral procession in Istanbul on January 23, 2007. Dink was shot in broad daylight outside of his newspaper’s office in Istanbul. Dink, a defender of his Armenian past, was charged with breaking Law 301 of the Penal Code which makes it illegal to “insult” the Republic or being a Turk. His killer admitted that he did it because Hrant had “insulted Turks.”
Bones that are said to be from the Armenian genocide are seen on display in the chapel of the Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia in Beirut, Lebanon.
Pigeons roost in the ruin of a building that was formerly an Armenian orphanage in the old city district of Aleppo, Syria. The compound is now half a house and half a ruin, which the owner uses to keep his pigeons.
Sarkis Karadoian, born in 1927, is a resident of Sancak (Sanjak) camp in the area of Bourj Hamoud, Beirut. Karadoian’s family is from a village outside of Iskenderun, Turkey and was forced to relocate during the time of the Armenian genocide. They came as far as Beirut to the refugee camp of Sancak, which still exists today.
Dikran Chapanian holds a picture of his late mother, who was originally from Urfa, Turkey. Chapanian said she was deported from Turkey to what is now Aleppo, Syria, during the time of the Armenian genocide.
The decaying ruins of an old traditional Armenian house are seen in Gaziantep, Turkey. Gaziantep’s Armenian community, once very wealthy and influential, fled or were deported during the time of the Armenian genocide, which preceded Turkey’s independence. Today the only traces of their existence are the homes and churches that are now inhabited by Turkish families, or which still lay in ruin.
The ruins of an old Armenian house are seen through a hole in the exterior wall in a former Armenian neighborhood in Gaziantep. Most Armenians fled the city or were deported in 1915.
Young Armenian boys run around the grounds of the abandoned seminary that stands in the Armenian quarter of the old city area of Jerusalem. Thousands of refugees arrived in Jerusalem after the Armenian deportations in 1915, seeking shelter in churches and convents, one of the primary being the St. James convent in the Armenian quarter.
A visitor to the Holy Sepulchre church in Jerusalem runs his hand across crosses that pilgrims have engraved on a wall in the Armenian section of the church. Thousands of Armenian refugees arrived in Jerusalem after surviving deportations from Ottoman Turkey in 1915.
A young girl stands on the ruin of an Armenian church in Diyarbakir, Turkey. A significant Armenian community once flourished in this southeastern city.
A priest’s frock dries in the sun at the Armenian abbey in Jerusalem.
Old stones etched with crosses and Armenian script lie in the cemetery beside the Armenian Holy Cross Church on the island of Akhtamar in Lake Van, Turkey. The church is possibly the most precious symbol of the Armenian presence in Turkey and is a popular pilgrimage site for Armenians today.
People watch and wave to a train as it passes along the route from Aleppo to Damascus, Syria. Many Armenians fled south to Syria, Lebanon and the Palestinian Territories during the massacres in the Ottoman Empire around 1915.
Photos of Gaziantep’s martyrs from the War for Independence (1922) are seen at a museum. Gaziantep’s Armenian community, once very wealthy and influential, fled or was deported during the time of the Armenian genocide.
Tables and chairs are set up before the start of an Armenian celebration in Vakifli, Turkey. Vakifli and six other Armenian villages in the area were completely deserted during 1915 as the Armenians resisted the Ottoman army against deportation and escaped from Turkey. It was only many years later that some of the Armenians’ relatives returned to Vakifli to live again, where they can celebrate traditional Armenian holidays.
A guest bedroom is seen in the Armenian Catholic Church in Jerusalem where Armenians deported from Turkey once took refuge during the time of the genocide. Many refugees traveled through Turkey, Syria, and Jordan before arriving in Jerusalem, where churches and convents overflowed with refugees.
Snow blankets the countryside along a road between Van and Dogubayazit, Turkey, close to the border with present-day Armenia. The region of Eastern Turkey is where the largest population of Turkey’s Armenians had been living for centuries. The region of Lake Van was hit hard by violence during conflicts between Armenians and Turks in the late 1800s to early 1900s, as well as during WWI. After the deportation decrees in 1915 were issued, almost all of the Armenian communities in the area were subsequently wiped out.
Koharik Zadikian sits in her home in a neighborhood called Ninety-Day Camp, in Beirut. The camp was originally created by Armenian refugees that fled Turkey during the massacres and took approximately 90 days to build. Koharik’s parents were from the Turkish city of Iskenderun.
A horse wanders through a meadow outside the formerly Armenian town of Arapgir, Turkey.
People walk towards the entrance of the Armenian genocide monument in Yerevan, Armenia to pay their respects on the evening of the anniversary of the genocide, April 24th.
Train passengers arriving from Aleppo to Damascus carry their belongings up the stairs of the terminal.
A police officer stands guard at the Armenian genocide monument in Yerevan, Armenia on the day of the genocide anniversary.
An Armenian woman attends a service at the Holy Mother of God Armenian Church in Vakifli, Turkey.
A coffin used for Muslim funeral ceremonies lies in storage in the ruins of an Armenian church in the village of Yogunoluk, 4 km from the predominantly Armenian town of Vakifli, Turkey. A mosque was built on top of the church. Yogunoluk is one of the dozens of villages around Musa Dagh Mountain that were abandoned by the Armenians.
People walk towards the entrance of the Armenian genocide monument in Yerevan, Armenia to pay their respects on the evening of the anniversary of the genocide, April 24th.
People walk in a procession in commemoration of the Armenian genocide on the path toward the genocide monument in Yerevan on the evening of the anniversary of the genocide, April 24th.
A boy runs down a path through a field as a dust storm covers the sky between Aleppo and Raqqa, Syria. This was a common deportation area for Armenians who were force-marched through northern Syria by Ottoman Turkish troops in the early 1900s.
Mist rises from a field outside of Erzerum, Turkey. The region of eastern Turkey is where the largest population of Turkey’s Armenians had been living for centuries, and Erzerum was particularly hard hit by violence and massacre during the Armenian genocide. After the new government issued deportation orders, Armenians were forced to leave their homes and sent on deportation marches across Turkey. Massacres, rape and pillage were frequent on the trail and an estimated 1.5 million Armenians died.
A man walks away from the train tracks that run from Istanbul along the southern region of Turkey towards Syria. In 1915 the Young Turks government began to use the railway to deport thousands of Armenians to the deserts of Syria.
The word “Allah”, or God, is seen on the back window of a mini bus in route to Deir ez Zor, Syria where Armenians from Ottoman Turkey were deported in the early 20th century. Survivors recall long marches without food and water through the northern Syrian desert.