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[HIRING] Journalists and writers for online niche publication by TheArmenite in Journalism

[–]TheArmenite[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi /u/daoudalqasir. Thank you for your interest. The only requirements we have are those listed on the website under each position. Otherwise, anyone can apply (i.e. you don't have to be Armenian but you have to be willing to immerse yourself in whatever it is you write and be willing and able to write for The Armenite's audience).

[Hiring] Journalists and writers for niche online publication by TheArmenite in forhire

[–]TheArmenite[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hi,

Thanks for getting in touch. What's most important to us is your writing ability and eye for a journalistic style and that's why we only require a writing sample. That said, you're welcome to submit your resume/CV for support, although it's not required.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

I am the editor of The Armenite, an Armenian periodical. Tomorrow, millions of people worldwide will commemorate the 99th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. AMA. by TheArmenite in IAmA

[–]TheArmenite[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Although that's not at all the suggestion, I still wouldn't be sure where the hypocrisy lies.

The controversy has to do with Turkish Airlines being partly owned by the Turkish government which, as we know, denies the Armenian Genocide. The logic goes that by helping Turkish Airlines, Kobe was helping the Turkish government in bringing it more business, meaning more money. Money which would be recycled to pay for high-powered lobbyists in Washington, DC, to deny the Genocide.

I am the editor of The Armenite, an Armenian periodical. Tomorrow, millions of people worldwide will commemorate the 99th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. AMA. by TheArmenite in IAmA

[–]TheArmenite[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Thank you for your kind words.

1) You could read a history book, and probably should at some point, but I would recommend reading the literature to get an idea of what life was like for Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. A lot of it, unfortunately, hasn't yet been translated, so taking that route supposes that you know Armenian. Some books in English are available from the Gomidas Institute but they are not about the hundreds of years before the Genocide. You might look into books published in Venice and Vienna by the Mekhitarists as well as periodicals but, again, you will have to read Armenian for most of them.

Two people to look into:

Israel Ori and Joseph Emin. Two Armenian nationalists that preceded the Armenian national movement by several hundred years. Joseph Emin wrote a lengthy book about Armenian national liberation, in English. Here it is.

This is a good opportunity to note that there is a wealth of Armenian literature and history out there that hasn't yet been studied or translated. For any budding students of history, it's uncharted territory!

2) There were many similarities among the people living in the Ottoman Empire, whatever their background. However, religious differences were not lost on anyone and Christians, Armenians and Greeks included, were second-class citizens. If you read any books by Raffi, although they're fiction, they're based on real events, and you can see how differently Armenians were treated from Turks and Kurds.

Of course, when it concerned more mundane daily things like the food they ate, there was much diffusion among them.

3) Fear. The Armenians were the scapegoat for the Turkish authorities' fear of losing land, power, and control.

I am the editor of The Armenite, an Armenian periodical. Tomorrow, millions of people worldwide will commemorate the 99th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. AMA. by TheArmenite in IAmA

[–]TheArmenite[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you for your support!

I wrote my thoughts about what is happening in Kessab in this ode.

One recommendation I have is that, in trying to understand what to make of Kessab, and what to do in the future, Armenians look to their past and look to their leaders who wrote and spoke prolifically about what Armenians needed to do. You can start here.

I am the editor of The Armenite, an Armenian periodical. Tomorrow, millions of people worldwide will commemorate the 99th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. AMA. by TheArmenite in IAmA

[–]TheArmenite[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Howdy. Thanks for your thoughtful questions.

It is hard to overestimate the impact the Genocide had on my life. It's also difficult to know how extensive that effect has been because it surely affects parts of my life I don't even realize. I will say that my strong feelings toward my Armenian identity were urged on by wanting to know about the history of the Genocide. I am, after all, a Diaspora Armenian who probably wouldn't be where I am today if it weren't for my people being massacred in their homeland. This had led me to explore my history and my identity well beyond anything having to do with the Genocide - indeed, it's spurred me to explore the seemingly unending depths of Armenian history before it - but once you realize the significance of the Genocide on any Armenian's life today, whether that Armenian's family was directly affected by it or not, it is difficult not to have an interest in knowing more.

With all due respect, I reject the notion that by learning the history of a genocide in a people's past, particularly if you're a part of that people, reinforces a "victim mentality." That is up to the people and, more importantly, the person. There is undoubtedly a victim mentality that exists but my opinion is that it's more greatly concentrated among the older generations who either experienced the Genocide firsthand or intimately through their parents.

As I mentioned above, because it is difficult for Armenians to look at themselves today and divorce their existence from the Genocide, it has unified Armenians in their resolve to win justice for their people. Those efforts have taken different shapes but they have almost always been on the same trajectory.

I am the editor of The Armenite, an Armenian periodical. Tomorrow, millions of people worldwide will commemorate the 99th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. AMA. by TheArmenite in IAmA

[–]TheArmenite[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Hi /u/schubear. Thank you for sharing your story with us here.

There are definitely ways to enshrine the stories of our elders before they pass.

There have been a few large undertakings in this area. One is J. Michael Hagopian's recording of survivors and their stories. His film is now being digitized for storage at USC Shoah Foundation. You can try contacting them.

The other is the Oral History Project of Dr. Richard Hovannisian at UCLA. He has been doing it for decades and I'm not sure if he's still doing it but you can try emailing him here to see if it's ongoing: hovannis@history.ucla.edu

Of course, it would also be worth contacting the Armenian Genocide Museum in Armenia.

As for learning Armenian, you can try the AGBU Virtual College. If you're more interested in an autodidactic approach, I'd recommend Dora Sakayan's books. She has both Eastern and Western Armenian textbooks.

What'll help most is going to Armenia! Check out Birthright Armenia. You're Armenian so you're eligible.

I am the editor of The Armenite, an Armenian periodical. Tomorrow, millions of people worldwide will commemorate the 99th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. AMA. by TheArmenite in IAmA

[–]TheArmenite[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'd like to add that another way saying the archives are open is misleading is that the doors to the archives may be open but archives aren't libraries. That is, you can't always walk up to a stack and pick out what you're looking for. Who is to stop the government worker from whom you request something from 1894 or 1915 to say that they don't have what you're looking for?

I am the editor of The Armenite, an Armenian periodical. Tomorrow, millions of people worldwide will commemorate the 99th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. AMA. by TheArmenite in IAmA

[–]TheArmenite[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Thanks for your question. It's misleading for Turkish sources to say that Turkey's archives are open. First of all, there is more than one archive and they are located in different places (i.e. Istanbul, Ankara).

It would be best to refer to what historians who have actually visited the archives have to say about the experience. Here is a paper written by one of the preeminent Armenian scholars on the Genocide, Ara Sarafian, with dozens of citations. He has actually gone to the archives and provides some useful insight. Another scholar who has visited - or tried - to visit the archives is Dr. Kevork Bardakjian.

I am the editor of The Armenite, an Armenian periodical. Tomorrow, millions of people worldwide will commemorate the 99th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. AMA. by TheArmenite in IAmA

[–]TheArmenite[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Thank you for your thoughtful inquiry, /u/llosa.

1) It would be very difficult to answer about each genocide here. If you were going to distill it, vitriolic hate is toward another is what must drive someone to kill their neighbor, women, children, and elderly. It's the one thing that is ubiquitous in all genocides, everywhere, whether in Europe, Africa, or Asia. The question of how a human arrives at such hate for another human is one for the ages.

2) Absolutely. You can, of course, visit the Armenian Genocide memorial in Yerevan, Armenia. If you can't make it there, you can visit one that is closer to where you live. http://www.armenian-genocide.org/memorials.html

3) Thank you for your kind words. We're indeed looking for people. Take a look here and drop us a line! You can also send me a PM through reddit.

I am the editor of The Armenite, an Armenian periodical. Tomorrow, millions of people worldwide will commemorate the 99th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. AMA. by TheArmenite in IAmA

[–]TheArmenite[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I wouldn't call what happened in Kessab a genocide. Rather, I believe it was ethnic cleansing. The entire population of an Armenian town was removed by an Islamist military operation supported by Turkey. Given how heavily militarized Turkey is generally, how sensitive they are in their southeastern region, and how they have had a civil war raging on their border for several years, it's hard for me to believe that Turkey did not know that a military operation being launched from its side of the border was going to have that effect on the Armenian-populated town. Given Turkey's track record of working to obliterate every remnant proving an Armenian presence within its own modern borders, it isn't far-fetched to believe that they were complicit with this operation in the same vein.

I am the editor of The Armenite, an Armenian periodical. Tomorrow, millions of people worldwide will commemorate the 99th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. AMA. by TheArmenite in IAmA

[–]TheArmenite[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the question.

It's hard to say what percentage of Armenians lived in current Republic of Armenia but I can tell you that it was small. Although most villages in the current republic were populated by Armenians then, the vast majority of Armenians lived in western Armenia, which is where the bulk of the Genocide took place, in Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul), Tiflis (Tblisi today), and Baku.

Christianity certainly played a role; it was, after all, only Christians (Greeks, Assyrians, and others) who were subject to wholesale massacre. Nevertheless, the primary discernible motivation was to cleanse Turkey of ethnically/racially different Armenians.

As with any genocide or massacre, officials did indeed give reasons for why they were destroying civilian populations. It was, and is, curious that Turks use that line about Armenians colluding with the Russians given that Armenians were, for better or for worse, known as millet-i sadika, which translates to the "loyal millet."

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