Semerdjian Lectures on ‘The Armenian Presence in Aleppo: Glorious Past, Uncertain Future’

Soon, Armenians from Sasun immigrated to Aleppo. They were known for breadmaking, and had their own guild, which was the sole guild named after an ethnic minority there. Arapgir Armenians became commercial agents and bankers, serving over 100 caravanserais or khans in the city. Cilician Armenians also left their mark.

Semerdjian described how Armenians in particular settled in the Judayda Quarter in relatively large numbers. It was composed originally of two neighborhoods which merged into one. Outside of the walls of the city, it was not that well protected, unlike the places where affluent Muslims lived, but Judayda became a bustling commercial zone by the sixteenth century, and by the 16-17 centuries when Armenians were there, it rivaled the inner Muslim quarters as a zone of influence and affluence.

Armenians began to play key roles in leadership in Aleppo. They were in charge for collecting the poll tax for all Christians, not just Armenians, and for thirty years they dominated the lucrative position of customs chief. They had their own churches, including the 15th century Forty Martyrs Cathedral. According to one story, when Sultan Murad IV was passing through Aleppo in 1616, he was invited to dinner by Khoja Bedig, a wealthy Armenian merchant. The food was served on fine china plates, and after the dinner, the plates were smashed. The sultan, upset that such plates were being wasted, asked why. The answer was that no one was more worthy than the sultan to eat on them. This impressed the sultan so much that supposedly it led to the granting of permission for the brother of the host, Khoja Sanos, to renovate the cathedral. It was these two brothers who, at different times between 1610 and 1640, controlled the office of customs chief.

Despite all their successes, the local Armenians were still subject to the religious and social constraints of Ottoman Arab society. Semerdjian illustrated this during the question and answer session at the end of the talk through a court case from the 17th century. Apparently, Armenian men and women had been gathering around the entrance door of the Forty Martyrs church before and after ceremonies, talking. Some Muslims complained that these mixed gender gatherings were offensive, and tried to force the Armenians to make a second door of the church to be opened so that men and women have separate entrances. The Armenians were able to obtain a fatwa or legal opinion from a mufti or qualified jurist saying that the Armenians can continue to use a single door. However, the judge overruled this and sided with the Muslim neighbors. Thereafter, Armenian men and women had to use separate doors.

Semerdjian showed slides of parts of the city either named after Armenians or built by Armenians — for example, the Hokedun (“Spiritual House”), a place of rest for Armenian pilgrims going to Jerusalem, belonged to the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem and was donated by a prominent Julfan Armenian in the 17th century. Sisi Street was named after the Catholicosate of Sis. Sisi House was gentrified into a fine dining facility and hotel relatively recently, while across the street remains an Armenian orphanage run by the prelacy.

Before World War I, there were only approximately 5,000 Armenians, who were mainly Catholics and assimilated with the local Arab population. The huge influx of 100,000 due to the Genocide led to the creation of new buildings and quarters with an Armenian nature.

Semerdjian said that all these historical Armenian sites are at risk due to recent events. The Armenian Prelacy of Aleppo estimated prior to the recent war that there were 100,000 Armenians in Syria. Historian Simon Payaslian estimated that in fact there were only some 57,000 Armenians prior to the 2011 uprising. Though they generally were well off, many had already left due to the oppressive regime, stagnant economy, and a desire to avoid the draft.

Semerdjian described the loss of life and structures due to rockets, bombs and attacks, and said that many neighborhoods have formed self-protection groups.

She showed a picture of the Armenian Catholic Church of the Martyrs in Raqqa, which the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria confiscated and turned into its headquarters. When she showed a slide of the Armenian Genocide Memorial Church of Der Zor in ruins, Semerdjian exclaimed, “I’m not someone who is usually speechless, but this leaves me speechless.”

Semerdjian said that there was a new suburb of Yerevan called Nor Haleb (New Aleppo) being developed by the Armenian government for Syrian-Armenian refugees. So far 16-17,000 have come to Armenia according to the government, but already at least 6,000 have left Armenia for other countries.

Semerdjian ended by raising concerns of what will happen to these new emigrants, who may not be able to stay in an Armenian environment due to the various difficulties of life in Armenia. Aleppo like Beirut is one of the major centers of the production of literature in Western Armenian. These places also produce teachers for Western Armenian. Without Aleppo, and with only Beirut, what will happen to Western Armenian in the future? Semerdjian said, “It is an emotional, tough conversation, but there is a lot at stake.”