Hagop Mnts‘uri’s The Second Marriage: Armenian realities in the pre- and post-genocide Ottoman Empire and Turkey

ABSTRACT

This paper discusses the novella Ergrort Amusnut‛iwně (The Second Marriage) by Hagop Demirciyan (pen name Hagop Mnts’uri) in a larger historical context including the conditions which led to the Armenian genocide, the ramifications it had on the life of the survivors and the irreversible realities it created in post-genocide Turkey. Published in Istanbul in 1931, the book represents the deep historical and structural differences between Istanbulite Armenians and those from the provinces. Reading and explaining these differences in their context through the lenses of Mnts’uri’s characters as well as through the lens of the literary theories of uneven development, I argue that the Armenians in the provinces and in Istanbul were deeply separated from each other, becoming non-contemporaneous contemporaries. This unevenness was coupled with genocide denial in the decades after 1915, imprisoning the survivor as kaght’agan² within silence over generations, not just in Istanbul but also the communities where they sought refuge abroad.

Acknowledgments

I thank Harry Harootunian for inspiring and encouraging me to think about the division of Ottoman Armenians in the provinces and in the capital in terms of non-contemporaneity of the contemporaries. This perspective opens up completely new horizons and enables much more in depth analysis of the historical evidence. I also thank wholeheartedly Hasmig and Antranik Cingöz for their generous gift, the first edition of Mntsuri’s novel, Ergrort Amusnut‛iwně (The Second Marriage) and for providing the scans of his other books, without which this paper could not have been written.

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

¹ Ernst Bloch, Heritage of Our Times, (Polity Press, 1991), 97.

² The Armenian term for “perpetually exiled.”

³ Hagop Mnts’uri, Ergrort Amusnut’iwně, (Istanbul: Aztarar Dbakr., 1931).

⁴ Hagop Mnts’uri, ‘Inch‘ Ĕri’ in Degher Ur Yes Yegher Em. (Istanbul: Murad Ofset, 1984), 199.

⁵ Deckard, Sharae, Nicholas Lawrence, Neil Lazarus, Graeme Macdonald, Upamanyu Pablo Mukherjee, Benita Parry, and Stephen Shapiro. Combined and Uneven Development: Towards a New Theory of World-Literature. (Liverpool University Press, 2015).

⁶ Ibid., 16

⁷ Ibid., 17. ‘Any typology of combined and uneven development will offer a catalogue of effects or motifs at the level of narrative form: discrepant encounters, alienation effects, surreal cross-linkages, unidentified freakish objects, unlikely likenesses across barriers of language, period, territory—the equivalent of umbrellas meeting sewing machines on (animated) dissecting tables. These are, in essence, dialectical images of combined unevenness requiring not just simple decoding but creative application.’

⁸ Hagop Mıntzuri, Istanbul Anıları, transl. Silva Kuyumciyan (Istanbul: Tarih Vakfı Yurt Yay., 1993), 143.

⁹ Mntsuri, ‘Inch‘ Ĕri,’ 199.

¹⁰ For more on the Armenian population of Armdan and the region in general see, Raymond H. Kevorkian and Paul B. Paboudjian, 1915 Öncesinde Osmanlı İmparatorluğunda Ermeniler. (Istanbul: Aras Yayıncılık, 2012), 456–61.

¹¹ For bibliographic reference of Masis see http://tert.nla.am/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=6904&query_desc=kw%2Cwrdl%3A%20masis (accessed on 11 August 2021)

¹² For Mntsuri’s biography, see Kevork Bardakjian, ‘Yakob Mndzuri’ in A Reference Guide to Modern Armenian Literature 1500–1920: with an Introductory History. (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2000), 178 and Agop J. Hacikyan, Gabriel Basmajian, Edward S. Franchuk, Nourhan Ouzounian, ‘The Twentieth Century: The First Two Decades,’ in The Heritage of Armenian Literature, Vol. III: From the 18^th century to Modern Times. (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2005), 895–6. Also see https://www.arasyayincilik.com/yazarlar/hagop-mintzuri/ (accessed on 13 August 2021).

¹³ Zhamanag, 4 July 1864, No. 40. For more on Armenian migrant workers, bantukhd, see Vazken Khachig Davidian’s unpublished PhD dissertation The Image of the Migrant Hamal of Constantinople: Late Nineteenth Century Representations of Migrant Workers from Ottoman Armenia (London: Unpublished PhD Dissertation, University of Oxford, 2019); Dzovinar Derderian, Nation-Making and the Language of Colonialism: Voices from Ottoman Van in Armenian Print Media and Handwritten Petitions (1820s to 1870s). (Michigan: Unpublished PhD dissertation at University of Michigan Ann Arbor, 2019).

¹⁴ On provincial oppressions, see Richard Antaramian, Brokers of Faith, Brokers of Empire: Armenians and the Politics of Reform in the Ottoman Empire, (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2020), Talin Suciyan, “Either Save Us from This Misery or Order Our Death”(Ya derdimize derman, ya katlimize ferman): Tanzimat of the Provinces, (Habilitation: LMU Munich 2019), under review at Syracuse University Press for publication; Yasar Tolga Cora, Dzovinar Derderian, Ali Sipahi (ed), The Ottoman East in the 19^th Century: Societies, Identities and Politics. (London: I.B.Tauris, 2016) For more detailed reports of provincial oppressions in form of primary sources see Kiwd. Aghanyants‘, Ed. Tiwan Hayots‘ Badmut’ean Kirk‘ 18: Harsdaharut’iwnner Dajgahayasdanum (Vawerakrer 1801–1888). (Tblisi: Dbaran N. Aghanyants’i, 1915).

¹⁵ Mnts’uri, Ergrort Amusnut’iwně, 7.

¹⁶ Ibid., 8.

¹⁷ Zaven Der Yeghiayan, Badriarkagan Hushers: Vawerakirner yev Vgayut’iwnner (Kahire: Nor Asdgh, 1947), 298–300. For its English translation, see Zaven Der Yeghiayan, My Patriarchal Memoirs. Transl. By Ared Misirlian, (Boston: Mayreni Publishing, 2002), 187.

¹⁸ Der Yeghiayan, Badriarkagan Hushers, 313, for its English translation, Yeghiayan, My Patriarchal Memoirs, 195.

¹⁹ For more on the social conditions of Armenians in the provinces during the post-1923, see Talin Suciyan, The Armenians in Modern Turkey: Post-genocide Society, Politics and History (London: I.B. Tauris, 2016), 34–90.

²⁰ Zaven Der Yeghiayan, Badriarkagan Hushers, 287. For its English translation, see Der Yeghiayan, My Patriarchal Memories, 180.

²¹ APC/APJ, The Patriarchate’s Constantinople Information Bureau, Ĕ 181–6, no. 193, letter from the Patriarchate to the Ministry of Justice, 3 January 1920, in Kevorkian, Armenian Genocide, 759.

²² Ĕntartsag Darets’oyts‘ Surp P’rgich‘ Hiwantanots’i 1924, 139, cited in Armaveni Miroğlu, ‘G. Bolsoy Azkayin Khnamadarut’iwně’, Handes Amsorya 124 (2010), 428.

²³ Including two non-Armenian orphanages, one British and one Swiss. After 1922, the former had to be moved to Corfu, Greece and the latter to Switzerland. See Der Yeghiayan, Badriarkagan Hushers, 284–6. For its English translation, see Der Yeghiayan, My Patriarchal Memories, 178–9.

²⁴ For the racist oppressions of daily life in the provinces and the perpetual exodus of Armenians from them it caused, see “Social conditions of Armenians remaining in Istanbul and in the provinces’, in Suciyan, The Armenians in Modern Turkey, 34–90.

²⁵ I rely on my own experience, having attended an Armenian high school in Samatya district of Istanbul, Sahakyan Nunyan Armenian High School, which had been one of the many kaght’agan centres during the 1930s. This is the reason why Samatya still hosts a relatively large number of Armenians from the provinces today. They continue to constitute the weakest strata of the Armenian community economically and socially, and are often the ones most targeted by racist attacks.

²⁶ Mnts’uri, Ergrort Amusnut’iwně, 9.

²⁷ An ongoing project of transcribing ‘Looking For’ notices from post-World War I Armenian-American newspapers can be found here, sorted by region and village of those being searched for: markarslan.org/ArmenianImmigrants/Public-ViewSummary-ArmenianImmigrants-Ads-ByOriginLocation.php?Staging =

²⁸ Ibid, 56.

²⁹ Hagop J. Siruni, Bolis Ew Ir Terě.Vol. 2 (Beirut: Mesrob Publ., 1970), 300.

³⁰ For more on non-contemporaneity, see Ernst Bloch ‘Summary Transition: Non-Contemporaneity and Obligation to Its Dialectic’ in, Heritage of Our Times, (1991), 97–148.

³¹ Suciyan, ‘Contesting the authority of Armenian Administration at the Height of Tanzimat: A Case of Incest, Adultery and Abortion’ in Reflektif, (2021), Vol. 2(1), 35–7. Based on my habilitation thesis, I consider the Tanzimat period (1839–1876) to be the beginning of oppressive bureaucratic, economic, social and military policies. The Land Code (1858), The Provincial Reform (Vilayet Nizamnamesi, 1864–71), Land Title Regulation (Tapu Kanunnamesi) or the Army of Fırka-ı Islahiye (Division of Reform) and other newly introduced policies were constitutive parts of the violence prevailing in the provinces throughout the 19th century. For a lengthy interview specifically on my habilitation thesis, see Yetvart Danzikyan, ‘Patrikhane Arşivi Işığında Tanzimat tarihine yeni bir Bakış’ in Agos, 21 January 2020. http://www.agos.com.tr/tr/yazi/23491/patrikhane-arsivi-isiginda-tanzimat-tarihine-yeni-bir-bakis accessed on 20.08.2020. See also, Deniz Yonucu, Talin Suciyan. ‘From Ottoman Empire to post-1923: Catastrophe seen by the angel of history,’ in Critical Times, (2020)3:2, 300–11.

³² Mgrdich‘ Khrimyan, ‘Khosk Hrajarman’ in Ampoghchagan Erger Khrimean Hayrigi. Ed. Badrig Giwlbēngyan (New york: Gochnag Dbaran, 1929), 11.

³³ Hagop J. Siruni, Bolis Ew ir Terě, Vol. 3. (Antilias: Catholicosate of Cilicia Publ., 1987), 464.

³⁴ Martin van Bruinessen, Agha Shaikh and State: The Social and Political Structures of Kurdistan, (London/New Jersey: Zed Books, 1992), 179, Sinan Hakan, Osmanlı Arşiv Belgelerinde Kürtler ve Kürt Direnişleri (1817–1867), (Istanbul: Doz Yayıncılık, 2007), 86, Hans Lukas Kieser, Iskalanmış Barış, 95–100. Also see Hirmis Haboona, Assyrians, Kurds, and Ottomans: Intercommunal Relations on the Periphery of the Ottoman Empire, (Amherst/New York: Cambria Press, 2008), 82,158 and 284.

³⁵ On Crimean War, see Candan Badem, The Ottoman Crimean War (1853–56), (Leiden, Boston: Brill Publ., 2010).

³⁶ For military operations of the Fırka-ı Islahiye in the region of Cilicia, see Cevdet Paşa, Tezakir 21–39, ed. by Cavit Baysun (Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu Yayınları, 1986).

³⁷ See the Ottoman Empire’s official newspaper, Takvim-i Vekayi, 14 December 1847, 5 Muharrem 1264 quoted in Sezen Bilir and Alişan Akpınar, ‘Kürdistan Eyaletinin Kuruluşu,’ in Kürt Tarihi, No. 3, Oct-Nov. 2012, 2nd edition Oct. 2018, 21–22.

³⁸ Hagop Mnts’uri, ‘Mer Mayrerě’ in Kiwghě Gabri Im Mech’s. (Istanbul: Aras Publishing, 2005), 87.

³⁹ Hagop Mnts’uri, Gṛung Usdi Gukas, (Istanbul: Madenashar Marmara, 1974), 264.

⁴⁰ Bantukhd is the migrant worker, bantkhdel is its verb form.

⁴¹ Bantkhdut’iwn is the concept form of bantukhd.

⁴² Mnts’uri, ‘Mer Mayrerě,’ 87.

⁴³ Siruni, Bolis Ew ir Terě, 301.

⁴⁴ Harry Harootunian, ‘ “In the Zone of Occult Instability:” Some Reflections on Unevenness, Discordant Temporalities and the Logic of Historical Practice’ in Archaism and Anachrony: Reflections on the Question of Historical Time and Uneven Development, (Forthcoming unpublished manuscript). The article was delivered first as the annual Edward Said Lecture in Warwick University, U.K., May 2019. I am thankful to Harry Harootunian for making his paper available and discussing its content with me.

⁴⁵ Harry Harootunian, Overcome by Modernity: History, Culture, and Community in Interwar Japan (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000) cited in Deckart, Lawrance et al., Combined and Uneven Development, 13.

⁴⁶ David Gutman, Politics of Armenian Migration to North America, 1885–1915: Sojourners, Smugglers and Dubious Citizens. (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2019).

⁴⁷ For more, see Janet Klein, Margins of the Empire: Kurdish Militias in the Ottoman Tribal Zones, (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2011).

⁴⁸ For more on Adana massacres, see 1909 Adana Katliamı: Üç Rapor (Istanbul: Aras Yayıncılık: 2015), Dikran Mesrob Kaligian, Armenian Organization under Ottoman Rule 1908–14 (New Jersey: Transaction Publication, 2008).

⁴⁹ For the survivor as the angel of history, see Yonucu, and Suciyan, ‘From the Ottoman Empire to Post-1923,’ 300–311. doi: https://doi.org/10.1215/26410478-8517751

⁵⁰ Mnts’uri, Ergrort‛ Amusnut‛iwně, 37.

⁵¹ Ibid., 38.

⁵² For more, see Ara Sarafian, ‘The absorption of Armenian women and children into Muslim households as a structural component of the Armenian Genocide’, in Omer Bartov and Phyllis Mack (eds), In God’s Name: Genocide and Religion in the Twentieth Century (USA: Berghahn Books, 2001), 209–21. Kathrine Derderyan, ‘Common Fate, Different Experience: Gender Specific Aspect of Armenian Genocide 1915–17’ in Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Volume 19, Issue 1, (Spring 2005), 1–25. Vahé Tachjian & Raymond H. Kévorkian, ‘Reconstructing the nation with women and children kidnapped during the genocide’, transl. Marjorie R. Appel, Ararat xlv/185 (2006), 5–14. Raymond H. Kévorkian, The Armenian Genocide: A Complete History. (London: I. B. Tauris, 2011), 757–62.Vahé Tachjian, ‘Gender, Nationalism, Exclusion: The reintegration process of female survivors of the Armenian Genocide’, Nations and Nationalisms xv/1 (2009), 60–80. Lerna Ekmekçioğlu, ‘A climate for abduction, a climate of Redemption: The politics of inclusion during and after the Armenian Genocide’ in Comparative Studies in Society and History. Issue 55, Vol. 3, (2013), 522–553, Suciyan, The Armenians in Modern Turkey, 62–5.

⁵³ T’ap’aṛagan [Kēōrk Haladjian], Tebi Gakhaghan, (Boston: Hairenik Publ.,1932), 102.

⁵⁴ Ibid., 114.

⁵⁵ Ibid.

⁵⁶ For more on forced Islamization and conversion see, Selim Deringil, ‘Conversion as survival: Mass Conversions of Armenians in Anatolia, 1895–1897’ in Conversion and Apostasy in the Late Ottoman Empire. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012), 197–239. While Deringil puts the emphasis on the late 19th century mass Islamizations of Armenians, it was a common method of oppression especially against Armenian women earlier in the 19th century as well. For primary sources, see Kiwd Aghanyants‘. ed. Tiwan Hayots‘ Badmut’ean Kirk‘ 18: Harsdaharut’iwnner Dajgahayasdanum (Vawerakrer 1801–1888). (Tblisi: Dbaran N. Aghanyants’i, 1915).

⁵⁷ Mnts’uri, Ergrort‛ Amusnut‛iwně, 80.

⁵⁸ Ibid., 86.

⁵⁹ Ibid.

⁶⁰ Ibid., 87.

⁶¹ Marc Nichanian, Edebiyat ve Felaket, transl. by Ayşegül Sönmezay, (Istanbul: İletişim Yayınları, 2011), 32.

⁶² Marc Nichanian, Writers of Disaster: Armenian Literature in the Twentieth Century, (Princeton and London: Gomidas Institute, 2002).

⁶³ Nichanian prefers to use the term aghed and translates it as catastrophe (felaket) after the name given by Hagop Oshagan to the Armenian genocide.

⁶⁴ Nichanian, Edebiyat ve Felaket, 16.

⁶⁵ Ibid., 24–34.

⁶⁶ The prolific Armenian writer, playwright and novelist Hagop (Kufejian) Oshagan’s (1883 Sölöz/Bursa—1948 Aleppo) magnum opus, the novel Մնացորդաց (The Remnants) was intended to encompass three volumes, was published in Cairo between 1932 and 1934, shortly after the publication of Mnts’uri’s novella. However, the third volume, entitled ‘Hell,’ devoted to the genocide and the annihilation of the Armenians of his native Bursa, was never written. Oshagan, as a survivor, could not bring himself to write it. For more on his inability to write as described in Oshagan’s 1931 interviews on his opus magnum published in 1931, see Nichanian, Edebiyat ve Felaket, 132–147 and Peroomian, Rubina. Hagop Oshagan’s Literature of Catastrophe: Struggle to Confront the Genocide of 1915, Vol. 4 (1988–1989): 105–142.

⁶⁷ Marc Nichanian (ed.), Bibliography of Hagop Oshagan, (Los Angeles: Open Letter Journal), 6.

⁶⁸ Kevork Bardakjian, A reference guide to modern Armenian literature 1500–1920: with an introductory history. (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2000), 175.

⁶⁹ Mnts’uri, ‘Inch‘ Ĕri’, 208.

⁷⁰ Ibid, 178–9.

⁷¹ In this essay Mnts’uri wrote about his life at the end of 1920s when he wrote the novella, working in Istanbul’s Pangalti district as a baker and publishing extensively at the same time. In Mnts’uri, ‘Inch‘ Ĕri,’ 207.

⁷² Ibid., 208.

⁷³ T’ap’aṛagan [Kēōrk Haladjian], Tebi Gakhaghan, 161 quoted in Suciyan, ‘Can the survivor speak’ in in Remembering the Great War in the Middle East ed. by Hans Lukas Kieser, Pearl Nunn, Thomas Schutz. (London: Bloomsbury, October 2021), 274.

⁷⁴ Often referred as odalık or besleme. See Nazan Maksudyan, “Foster Daughter or Servant, Charity or Abuse: Beslemes in the Late Ottoman Empire”, in Journal of Historical Sociology. (2008) Vol. 21, 488–512.

⁷⁵ Perhaps the exception to the rule, Zaven Biberyan’s novel Lgrdadze which he wrote first in Western Armenian in 1959 and later rewrote in Turkish as Yalnızlar in 1966, portrays the life and murder of an Islamized Armenian orphan and/or a foster daughter in a Muslim household who had been subjected to the utmost violence and sexual abuse. Biberyan masterfully depicts the many uneven relations of the post-genocide society, relations which were reset upon genocide denial.