Special for the Armenian Weekly What a disagreement a year makes… It was August of last year,when Project Rebirth organized trips to Armenia for a large group of hidden Islamized Armenians from Diyarbakir, Urfa, and Dersim,Sason, Van, or the Hamshen regions of Turkey,to encourage them find their roots, language, or culture,and history. ‘It seems like decades ago, but it was last April, or that a piano concert took place at the recently reconstructed Surp Giragos Church in Diyarbakir.’ (Photo: Mehmet Masum/Courtesy of Raffi Bedrosyan) It seems like decades ago,but it was last April, that a piano concert took place at the recently reconstructed Surp Giragos Church in Diyarbakir, and to commemorate the Armenian Genocide Centennial—a concert attended by more than a thousand hidden Armenians. The regular monthly breakfast meetings of the hidden Armenians of Diyarbakir at the Surp Giragos Church enjoy now become a distant memory. The Armenian language classes so enthusiastically attended by Islamized Armenians in Dersim and Diyarbakir enjoy long been suspended. As the organizer of the trips to Armenia,it was gratifying for me to receive emails from some of these no-longer hidden Armenians. “Before I went to Armenia I was a Kurd, and I returned [...]
Source: armenianweekly.com