Bishamonten - king to vanguish evil

Armenia: Life in a Suitcase - Al Jazeera World

Filmmaker: Ahmet Seven

As the Armenian economy continues to struggle, so do its people. Around a third of the country's population lives below the poverty line and the price of everyday items is often too high for many people.

Over the years, hundreds of thousands of Armenians have emigrated in search of work and a decent living. There is tension between Armenia and Turkey and the border with Turkey has been closed since 1993. But this doesn’t stop many Armenians, often women, making the journey via Georgia, either to live long-term or making regular trips, buying cheaper goods in Turkey to sell back home.

This film tells the poignant story of two Armenian women unable to survive at home and who leave their families to join the many economic migrants, hoping to find jobs to enable them to support themselves and their dependents. 

Getting old doesn't mean dying... I'll live as long as it takes to reach my goal of helping my children. Anahit Donoyan

Anahit Donoyan first lost her husband when he was only 50 - and then 30 family members in the Armenian earthquake in 1988. She moved to Istanbul and did a series of manual jobs to survive.

"I worked in a factory and at a restaurant. I cleaned hallways at night. I took care of babies. I would steam corn and sell it by the sea. Then I was a housekeeper. All kinds of work. I'm not ashamed because I was providing for my children," says 73 year-old Anahit.  

Now, too old for physical work, she makes a living selling Armenian food products to other immigrants in Turkey, out of a suitcase on the streets of Istanbul.

She has lived and worked in Turkey for more than 18 years, managed to avoid trouble with the authorities - and still tries to find a little bit extra to send back to her family in Armenia and Russia.

"I've been setting up a stall and selling my goods here for five years. No one's ever asked me what I was doing here. Never. Everyone's fond of me and I'm fond of them."

Karine Galstyan is also Armenian and came to Turkey looking for work in 2004. After marrying a Turkish man, her residency and work status are a lot more stable, allowing her easier transit between Turkey and Armenia. 

"It was very difficult for me. I would lie in bed at night and my mind was in Armenia with my children. But, as a mother, I suffered to make sure my children were taken care of," she remembers.

Karine buys cheap clothes in Istanbul and takes them in a suitcase to sell in Armenia a couple of times a month, earning around $300 a trip. With shoes costing over $20 in Armenia but as little as $2 in Istanbul, Karine has seized the business opportunity, buying in one place to trade up in the other.

Despite the distance from their families and the tough existence they’re forced to lead to make ends meet, the two women are driven by the need to support the ones they love. Their desire to provide and care trumps their separation from their families.  

"I love Istanbul. People love a place if they have a good life and are making a good living," says Galstyan. 

Source: AI Jazeera

Living in the Ottoman Realm: Empire and Identity, 13th to 20th Centuries

 

Christine Isom-Verhaaren, Kent F. Schull, "Living in the Ottoman Realm: Empire and Identity, 13th to 20th Centuries"
2016 | ISBN-10: 0253019435, 0253019303 | 384 pages |

Living in the Ottoman Realm brings the Ottoman Empire to life in all of its ethnic, religious, linguistic, and geographic diversity. The contributors explore the development and transformation of identity over the long span of the empire’s existence. They offer engaging accounts of individuals, groups, and communities by drawing on a rich array of primary sources, some available in English translation for the first time. These materials are examined with new methodological approaches to gain a deeper understanding of what it meant to be Ottoman. Designed for use as a course text, each chapter includes study questions and suggestions for further reading.

Contents
Introduction: Dealing with Identity in the Ottoman Empire
Christine Isom-Verhaaren and Kent F. Schull 1
 
Part I. 13th through 15th Centuries | Emergence and Expansion:
From Frontier Beylik to Cosmopolitan Empire
1 The Giving Divide: Food Gifts and Social Identity in Late Medieval Anatolia Nicolas Trépanier
2 Changing Perceptions along the Frontiers: The Moving Frontier with Rum in Late Medieval Anatolian Frontier Narratives Zeynep Aydoğan
3 The Genoese of Pera in the Fifteenth Century: Draperio and Spinola Families F. Özden Mercan
4 From Byzantine Aristocracy to Ottoman Ruling Elite: Mahmud Pasha Angelović and His Christian Circle, 1458–1474 Theoharis Stavrides
5 Interpreting Ottoman Identity with the Historian Neşri Murat Cem Mengüç
6 A Shaykh, a Prince, and a Sack of Corn: An Anatolian Sufi Becomes Ottoman Hasan Karataş
Part II. 15th through 17th Centuries | Expansion and Cultural Splendor: The Creation of a Sunni Islamic Empire
7 Ibn-i Kemal’s Confessionalism and the Construction of an Ottoman Islam Nabil Al-Tikriti
8 Becoming Ottoman in Sixteenth-Century Aintab Leslie Peirce
9 Making Jerusalem Ottoman Amy Singer
10 Ibrahim ibn Khidr al-Qaramani: A Merchant and Urban Notable of Early Ottoman Aleppo Charles Wilkins
11 Mihrimah Sultan: A Princess Constructs Ottoman Dynastic Identity Christine Isom-Verhaaren
 
Part III. 17th through 18th Centuries | Upheaval and Transformation: From Conquest to Administrative State
12 The Sultan’s Advisors and Their Opinions on the Identity of the Ottoman Elite, 1580–1653 Linda T. Darling
13 Fleeing “the Vomit of Infidelity”: Borders, Conversion, and Muslim Women’s Agency Eric Dursteler
14 Policing Morality: Crossing Gender and Communal Boundaries in an Age of Political Crisis and Religious Controversy Fariba Zarinebaf
15 Leaving France, “Turning Turk,” Becoming Ottoman: The Transformation of Comte Claude-Alexandre de Bonneval into Humbaraci Ahmed Pasha Julia Landweber
16 Out of Africa, into the Palace: The Ottoman Chief Harem Eunuch Jane Hathaway
17 The Province Goes to the Center: The Case of Hadjiyorgakis Kornesios, Dragoman of Cyprus Antonis Hadjikyriacou
 
Part IV. 19th through 20th Centuries | Modernity, Mass Politics, and Nationalism: From Empire to Nation-State
18 Ruler Visibility, Modernity, and Ethnonationalism in the Late Ottoman Empire Darin N. Stephanov
19 Muslims’ Contributions to Science and Ottoman Identity M. Alper Yalçınkaya
20 Migrants, Revolutionaries, and Spies: Surveillance, Politics, and Ottoman Identity in the United States David Gutman
21 A Cappadocian in Athens, an Athenian in Smyrna, and a Parliamentarian in Istanbul: The Multiple Personae and Loyalties of Pavlos Carolidis Vangelis Kechriotis
22 Zionism in the Era of Ottoman Brotherhood Michelle U. Campos
Connections and Questions to Consider
Bibliography
Contributors
Index

Edward J. Erickson, "Ottomans and Armenians: A Study in Counterinsurgency"

Edward J. Erickson, "Ottomans and Armenians: A Study in Counterinsurgency"
2013 | ISBN-10: 1137563869, 1137362200 | 299 pages | PDF | 2 MB

This book offers a comprehensive look at the growth and activities of the Armenian revolutionary committees and the corresponding Ottoman counterinsurgency responses from 1890-1915.
Contents
Introduction
1 Insurgency by Committee
2 Counterinsurgency in the Empire’s Core
3 Counterinsurgency in the Periphery
4 A Template for Destruction
5 Invisible Armies
6 Readiness for War
7 Irregular War in Caucas and in the Levant
8 Enemies Within
9 A New Course of Action
10 Aftermath
Appendix A: The Relocation Antitheses
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Thomas de Waal, "The Caucasus: An Introduction"

 

Thomas de Waal, "The Caucasus: An Introduction" English | ISBN: 0195399765, 0195399773 | 2010 | 272 pages

 
In this fascinating book, noted journalist Thomas de Waal--author of the highly acclaimed Black Garden--makes the case that while the Caucasus is often treated as a sub-plot in the history of Russia, or as a mere gateway to Asia, the five-day war in Georgia, which flared into a major international crisis in 2008, proves that this is still a combustible region, whose inner dynamics and history deserve a much more complex appreciation from the wider world.

In The Caucasus, de Waal provides this richer, deeper, and much-needed appreciation, one that reveals that the South Caucasus--Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia, and their many smaller regions, enclaves, and breakaway entities--is a fascinating and distinct world unto itself. Providing both historical background and an insightful analysis of the period after 1991, de Waal sheds light on how the region has been scarred by the tumultuous scramble for independence and the three major conflicts that broke out with the end of the Soviet Union--Nagorny Karabakh, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia. The book examines the region as a major energy producer and exporter; offers a compelling account of the Rose Revolution in Georgia, the rise of Mikheil Saakashvili, and the August 2008 war; and considers the failure of the South Caucasus, thus far, to become a single viable region. In addition, the book features a dozen or so "boxes" which provide brief snapshots of such fascinating side topics as the Kurds, Turkish-Armenian rapprochement, the promotion of the region as the "Soviet Florida," and the most famous of all Georgians, Stalin.

The Caucasus delivers a vibrantly written and timely account of this turbulent region, one that will prove indispensable for all concerned with world politics. It is, as well, a stimulating read for armchair travelers and for anyone curious about far-flung corners of the world.



"They Can Live in the Desert but Nowhere Else": A History of the Armenian Genocide"

Ronald Grigor Suny, ""They Can Live in the Desert but Nowhere Else": A History of the Armenian Genocide" 2015 | ISBN-10: 0691147302 | 490 pages

 

Starting in early 1915, the Ottoman Turks began deporting and killing hundreds of thousands of Armenians in the first major genocide of the twentieth century. By the end of the First World War, the number of Armenians in what would become Turkey had been reduced by ninety percent--more than a million people. A century later, the Armenian Genocide remains controversial but relatively unknown, overshadowed by later slaughters and the chasm separating Turkish and Armenian versions of events. In this definitive narrative history, Ronald Suny cuts through nationalist myths, propaganda, and denial to provide an unmatched account of when, how, and why the atrocities of 1915-16 were committed.


As it lost territory during the war, the Ottoman Empire was becoming a more homogenous Turkic-Muslim state, but it still contained large non-Muslim communities, including the Christian Armenians. The Young Turk leaders of the empire believed that the Armenians were internal enemies secretly allied to Russia and plotting to win an independent state. Suny shows that the great majority of Armenians were in truth loyal subjects who wanted to remain in the empire. But the Young Turks, steeped in imperial anxiety and anti-Armenian bias, became convinced that the survival of the state depended on the elimination of the Armenians. Suny is the first to explore the psychological factors as well as the international and domestic events that helped lead to genocide.


Drawing on archival documents and eyewitness accounts, this is an unforgettable chronicle of a cataclysm that set a tragic pattern for a century of genocide and crimes against humanity.



Tigran Petrosian: His Life and Games by Vik Vasiliev

Tigran Petrosian: His Life and Games by Vik Vasiliev
English | 22 Aug. 1974 | ISBN: 071342818X | 256 Pages

Tigran Petrosian's place in history - a World Champion with a distinctive personal style - is secure. But still he is misunderstood by many of his contemporaries. As Larry Evans writes: 'Tigran Petrosian is one of the most original and mystifying players in the history of chess.'