ETHNO-RELIGIOUS TRANSFORMATION OF ARMENIAN INHABITANTS IN THE REPUBLIC OF TURKEY (1923-2005)

By Karen Hrant Khanlari (Khanlarian)

The consequences of periodical massacres, forced deportations and especially the 1915-23 Genocide have been exceedingly extensive. An important part of those consequences stems from the ethno-religious changes and transformations of Armenians remaining in Turkey, which, in essence have a fatal significance for the present, and future of all Armenians. In this respect, although the effects of the Hamidian Massacres shared a similar temper with the Genocide, the proportions and depth of the 1915-23 Armenian Genocide was exceptional, congruently, the historical transformation of the remaining Armenians essentially plays out in Turkey's modern history and the evolution of the Republic of Turkey. For a transformed nation today, in the context of an independent state, preserving an ethnic profile, an existential reality, is one of its chief problems.

The aim of this study is to explore the ethno-religious changes and transformative processes in the Republic of Turkey (exclusive of Western Turkey) following the Armenian Genocide, to present approximate statistical and ethnographic appraisals and evaluations and finally to shed light on the internal facts of the current public and inner lives with respect to those elements.

Printing House of the Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia (2010)