(OZAN-GRANDMOTHER) Tall Armenian Tale: The Other Side of the... http://www.tallarmeniantale.com/mahmut-granny.

htm

An Armenian Grandmother Vouches for the Turks

HOME ARTICLES
First Page Analyses
Background "West" Accounts
Scenario Professor Mahmut Esat Ozan has been the rare, tireless Historical
End-of-argument voice in the United States, putting up his dukes in the sea Academic
Crimes
of Turcophobes for many years. Here is a late 2005 Terrorists
commentary of his that appeared in The Turkish Forum; it Politics
Jewish
SECTIONS is placed away from his normal commentary section, Miscellaneous
because the subject matter is that important: one of the Reference
Quotes
Thoughts very rare times the "Armenians" let down their guard and
Census
Questions allowed the real truth to slip.
Reviews
Major Players REBUTTAL
Letters
The article will be followed by the testimony of other Armenian Views
Cumulative Armenians that go against Diaspora views. Geno. Scholars
Search
Links & Misc.

YEGISABETH KASEBIAN IS AN ARMENIAN MEDIA

General
GRANDMOTHER — UNLIKE OTHER Turks in Movies
Turks in TV
DIASPORA GRANDMOTHERS SHE SAYS
COMMENT THAT TURKISH SOLDIERS PROTECTED
Mahmut Ozan
Edward Tashji THEM DURING THE RELOCATION AND DID ABOUT
Sam Weems This Site
Others
NOT HARM THEM,AS OTHERS HAVE BEEN Holdwater

CLAIMING FOR AGES

(An Editorial)

Mahmut Esat Ozan

Chairman -Editorial Board

The Turkish Forum- USA

(this article is humbly dedicated to an irreplaceable Turkish Lady

1 -> 6 08.05.2009 12:07

(OZAN-GRANDMOTHER) Tall Armenian Tale: The Other Side of the... http://www.tallarmeniantale.com/mahmut-granny.htm

called Fatma Sarikaya)

NO ARMENIAN ALIVE TODAY WILL EVER BELIEVE THAT THE

FOLLOWING STORY IS TRUE. THEY ONLY HEARD THE
OPPOSITE INVENTED SIDE ALL THEIR LIVES

I do not believe that any Armenian person, man or woman, young

or old, rich or poor would admit that the story below could have
ever happened. These unfortunate people almost from infancy on
have been fed a pabulum called the' Armenian genocide,' plus a
goodly portion of pure hatred for the Turks. This has been their
gospel truth inculcated in them not only in their homes and
Churches but also at every phase of their lives from cradle to
grave.

When I first heard recently about the story below, I promised

myself to publicize it as many times as I could in the future. That
is what I am doing here to let the rest of the world meet and
admire this different kind of Armenian grandmother, born in the
Ottoman Empire who kept her closeness to her birth place and
her love for her second native tongue,Turkish.

Yegisabeth Kasebian is one courageous old woman among many

who comes along and is brave enough to tell the truth as it really
happened. After her narration which appeared in a Lebanese
magazine, the Tashnaks started calling her ugly names. When
this story first surfaced, the publication began hearing hundreds
of complaints, 95 per cent coming from abroad.

This is a good indication that the Armenian Diaspora is alive and

well and will not give an inch of their deceptive ground to
historical facts. Ironically most of the mail received spoke about
the fact that she was either a salaried agent of the Turkish
government in Ankara or that she was senile. Many letter writers
said that this grandmother's words did not jibe at all with the
stories they had heard from their own grandmothers.

Yegisabeth had personally witnessed the relocation of Armenians

from the war zone of Eastern Turkey. She had gone through the
same marches as others had done .The only difference between
her account and others' was something called the truth.

TRUTH IS STRANGER THAN FICTION

Armenians who immigrated to Lebanon during 1915's bitter

incidents in Ottoman lands formed brand new lives for
themselves. Leaving the past to the historians, Armenians in
Beirut, unlike those in the Armenian Diaspora elsewhere, do
not hold grudges against Turkey. Along with the Anatolian
culture which they left 90 years ago, they hand down the
Turkish language from generation to generation in Beirut.

An old woman living in the Bekaa Valley sings a Turkish folk

2 -> 6 08.05.2009 12:07

(OZAN-GRANDMOTHER) Tall Armenian Tale: The Other Side of the... http://www.tallarmeniantale.com/mahmut-granny.htm

song. Her name is Yeghisabeth Kesabian. She is 105 years old

and the last witness of the expulsion. She was 15 years old
when she came to Lebanon from Hatay via Syria in 1915.

During the journey, she says they went through great

hardship: "We walked for days. Turkish cavalry were always
next to us. They were protecting us against the attacks,
but they sometimes were beating us when we were not
able to walk fast enough to catch up with the others." She
admits that it was a very hard forced walk and a difficult
journey. After about three months of travel, Kesabian came to
the Bekaa Valley's Anjar region along with her relatives, of
whom she is the oldest. She lives with her daughter Sara and
her grandchildren. Even her great-grandson, eight-year-old
Mardiros knows Turkish. Kesabian taught him Turkish songs.

Her adventure is not limited to 1915. After coming to Lebanon,

she went back to Samandag in Hatay (now a province of
Turkey ) and got married. She cannot forget that day in
Turkey. "I was so happy. Our neighbors, relatives, everyone
was there. Rain after the wedding means prosperity. At my
wedding, it was raining. Our neighbor prayed for rain. A short
while later, it started to rain. My wedding dress got wet. Since I
had no other clothes, my mother-in-law dried my dress and
helped me to wear it
again."

Married in Turkey, Kesabian puts her finger on a historical

point that is missed about her return to Lebanon. In 1939, after
Hatay's being included within Turkish borders, of her own will,
she returned to the Bekaa Valley with a group of Armenians
and continued her life in the valley. During this period, again
Turks did nothing wrong against them and they returned to
Lebanon upon their own free will. "The French told us, 'come
here', then we went there. When we wanted to leave, Turkish
soldiers helped us to get into the cars and escorted us to
Damascus. Then, the French took over. In those years, Turks
did nothing wrong to Armenians."

Kesabian, one of the last witnesses of the expulsion misses

Turkey a great deal. In particular, she wanted to see the village
in which she spent her childhood and where she was married;
however, she has not fulfilled her wish yet. Now, she has a
single request of her grandchildren and her daughter: She
wants them to take her to Hatay before she dies.

They still live in Lebanon and dream of Turkey. They listen to Ibo
(Ibrahim Tatlises a Turkish singer), and support the soccer team
called Galatasaray.

The names in the Borj Hammoud district of Southern Beirut are

the same as the ones in Turkey. Maras, Antep, Adana. The name
of the biggest district is "Yeni Maras" It is the same as any district
in Kahramanmaras in Turkey - narrow streets, noisy children, the
smells of spices coming from the shops… jewelry brought from
the Turkish cities, Adana, Mersin and Kilis, charms saying
"Mashallah", "Allah Korusun" on them, dried mulberry, grape

3 -> 6 08.05.2009 12:07

(OZAN-GRANDMOTHER) Tall Armenian Tale: The Other Side of the... http://www.tallarmeniantale.com/mahmut-granny.htm

pectin… people are familiar, streets are familiar, shops are

familiar... the kids cry out at Ibrahim Tatlises and Galatasaray.
Everybody is like they have seen the Turkish movie "Copculer
Krali" They know the Turkish actor Kemal Sunal and call him
"Copcu". Children support two teams here; one is from Turkey
and one is from rest of the World. They support and watch the
matches of Galatasaray, Fenerbahce and Besiktas besides the
matches of Barcelona and Real Madrid. Fifteen-year-old Artin
Taursarkisyan is a fan of Galatasaray. He follows the matches on
Turkish TV channels. The other team that Taursarkisyan supports
is Real Madrid. But the football player in his dreams is not Zidane
or Figo, he is Hakan Sukur. of Galatasaray. There is no animosity
between these Armenians and their neighbors the Turks . (It
suffices to say that they have no enmity between these people
because they have not witnessed the fabricated Armenian
genocide)

Not only do these Armenians watch the Turkish broadcasts of

Mehmet Ali Erbil and other Turkish TV series; they even watch
women's morning programs. People in Borj Mahmoud watch
Turkish TV channels. But the Turkish TV channels' broadcast by
cable were closed temporarily by the Tashnaks due to April 24.

Beiruti Armenians live like Turkish people and they show a

different Diaspora characteristic than the widely known one. They
allow the sale of food and textile products brought from Turkey,
the beads with "Mashallah" and "Allah Korusun" scripts are
bought by Armenians and hung on the walls of their houses.
Armenian businessmen are always in touch with Turkey and they
bring most of the goods they sell from Turkey. The grocer Mano
Lenbelian, who sells food and jewelry, is one of them and he
often goes to Turkey for this reason. He teaches Turkish to his
children, a language which he learned from his grandfather. He
speaks Turkish with an Adana accent and goes to Antep, Urfa,
Kilis and Antep regularly. He is not interested in political issues
like "Genocide" or "Emmigration" He says:

"There is no problem with Turkey for me. There should be peace

and dialog now. Those mistakes should be left in the past, let the
historians discuss these issues. Society is negatively affected by
these kinds of struggles. I get along well with Turks. We have no
problems. And the others also should not create problems for us
. I sell the dried vegetables and fruits to Armenians here. They
like these products very much. Also Armenians buy the beads
with scripts "mashallah" and "Allah Korusun, If I can sell these
Turkish products, it means that there is no problem between the
two
nations."

RESTOKIAN : WE LIVE LIKE TURKS

Meraat Al Khaleej magazine's Editor-in-Chief Nataly Restokian,

who will come to Antalya, Turkey, for a top-level business
meeting to be organized this summer, says that this is not well
seen by some radical Armenians. Tashnaks' attitude harms
bilateral relations between the two countries according to her.

4 -> 6 08.05.2009 12:07

(OZAN-GRANDMOTHER) Tall Armenian Tale: The Other Side of the... http://www.tallarmeniantale.com/mahmut-granny.htm

"Armenians have two options:

1) Don't think about Turkey at all and wage war or 2... Have
dialogue and solve the problem. The first option is impossible.
We are living here like Turks. We watch Turkish television. I eat
Ulker biscuits, listen to Ibrahim Tatlises. I wear clothes made in
Turkey and so do the others. But for the second option, we
have to work hard. Life goes on. I don't want to deal with the
past. I want peace and fraternity, not fighting." When you get
to know Restokian and talk with her, you see that her
expressions are not political.

'Money cannot be a black cat between our friendship with the

Turks.'

An Urfa Kebap House in Yeni Maras,in Beitut, is in a

neighborhood mostly populated by Armenians... Besides
having the most delicious kebaps and lahmacuns, the
manager of the house is talkative and a gentleman and that
makes interest in the restaurant grow. There are places and
very polite helpers or managers who are serving various
authentic foods from around the world. But this place has
many things to tell Turkish people and the world, because its
owner is the son of an Armenian family who immigrated to
Lebanon in 1915. His name is Levon Restokian.

Speaking Turkish, Restokian is as good as a local in Urfa in

Turkey. He makes the best lahmacun. The word "genocide" for
Restokia does not have as much meaning as it does for
Diaspora Armenians. According to him, the war incident was
one of the mistakes made by Armenians during history and it is
nonsense to build up an entire life over this "mistake".

Among his customers, there are many Turks as well as second

and third generation Armenians who emigrated from Turkey.
On Thursdays especially the biggest demand for lahmacun
and doner kebap is from the Turkish Embassy personnel in
Beirut. His relations with his Turkish customers are beyond
those of merchant-customer. Even more so, some customers
like me do not pay the bill at the store. "Money cannot be a
black cat (rift) between our friendship," he says and he is still
interested in Turkey a great deal. He tells his children about
Turkey and teaches them Turkish.

If we leave aside the "Tashnaks" who are the most radical

group of Armenians in Diaspora, Restokian represents the
average Armenian living in Lebanon, namely people who speak
Turkish, who prefer to leave the issues about Turkey and the
"things which happened in the past to historians"...

The Diaspora in this country, Lebanon is in fact quite ancient

and rooted. It is organized in a wide area from churches to
political parties, from media to economic organizations. They
live mainly in a densely populated area in Bori Hammoud, in
Beirut and Anjar, Bekaa. Valley. They have 3 deputies in
parliament.Now debates over genocide are on the agenda due
to the anniversary of the events of 1915. But these issues do
not take place in daily life. Even the new generations think very
different. The daughter of lahmacun master Restokian who, is

5 -> 6 08.05.2009 12:07

(OZAN-GRANDMOTHER) Tall Armenian Tale: The Other Side of the... http://www.tallarmeniantale.com/mahmut-granny.htm

even loved by Turks, loves Turkey and Turks as much as her

father. Nataly Restokian is the editor of the magazine,
previously mentioned, addresses the rich businessman of the
Arab world and the elite of the country. Nataly Restokian says,
"It should no longer be a problem for us that our fathers and
grandfathers disagreed with each other and killed each other."

I hope that the 105 year old grandmother Yegisabeth Kasebian

attains her wish to see Hatay, her birthplace in Turkey, once
more before she passes away, and that the level-headed
majority of the Armenians of Lebanon get rid of the radical
bull-headed Tashnak politicians in order to prepare peaceful
and better tomorrows for everyone concerned.

I'd like to close with the words of the American Patriot Patrick
Henry who once said: "I like the dreams of the future better
than the history of the past."

See Also:

Armenians with Contrary Views

6 -> 6 08.05.2009 12:07