Arts

Berj Terzian Presents the Armenians’ History in Egypt

By Kevork Bardakjian

This book is made up of 40 leading articles written for the Arabic supplement of the Armenian Egyptian periodical Arev, published in Cairo. The newspaper Arev began its publication in Alexandria in 1915 and became the organ of the Ramgavar Azadagan Party (ADL) from 1922. In 1924 it moved to Cairo. Vahan Tekeyan (1878-1945), Mihran Damadian (1863-1945) and Mikayel Gurjian (1879-1965), well-known writers and political figures all, were among its principal founders. Vahan Tekeyan assumed its editorship for a few relatively short terms. Mikayel Gurjian was one of its principal contributors and Edmond Azadian edited it from 1958 to 1967 shortly before moving to the United States.

The monthly Arabic supplement to Arev was initiated by Berj Terzian and some friends in the AGBU and the Armenian National Fund in January, 1998. Dr. Muhammad Rif‘at al-Imam most ably assumed its editorship. Terzian contributed the leading articles to the supplement to 2008, with a brief hiatus (2003-2006) due to added responsibilities in Armenian communal affairs. Sponsored by the Armenian National Fund (Hay azgayin himnadram, founded in 1942), 90 percent of the expenses of the Arabic supplement are shouldered by the AGBU.

Berj Terzian was born and educated in Cairo. He has been trained in accounting and management but for a long time now has been printing packaging products (carton boxes and labels). In parallel with his business, he has been devotedly active in communal affairs from an early age and has held high and sensitive positions within Armenian organizations in Egypt, notably the AGBU, the Armenian National Fund and the Armenian Church. His knowledge of Armenian history and culture as well as the history of the Middle East in particular is admirable as is his fascination with and analysis of diplomacy and politics, whether regional or international. Terzian knows Armenia, country and people, very well; has participated in the Armenia Diaspora conferences held in Yerevan since the late 1990s; and is fully up to date on the crises and problems afflicting the land of his forefathers in their local and regional contexts. A frequent traveller with an excellent command of Armenian, Arabic, English and French and a good grasp of Turkish, Terzian has been a keen reader and observer and an acute analyst of Armenian realities since the 1970s. He began by contributing to Arev occasionally in the seventies and then had his own weekly column (1984-87) in the same paper, all on matters of importance to the Armenian reading public, and all in Armenian.

The next phase, that of writing in Arabic, followed the birth of the monthly supplement of Arev and the persistent encouragement of its editor-in-chief Dr. Muhammad Rif‘at al-Imam inviting Terzian to write for the new periodical. Another factor for writing in Arabic, as Terzian states in his preface, was the fact that very few of his generation have a masterful command, as he does, of both Armenian and Arabic. But by far the most urgent need that dictated itself was the importance of communicating with the Arab reader on Armenian views and concerns in contemporary world affairs as well as the younger generations of Armenians who are fluent in Arabic. And this is the central theme of Terzian’s collection of leading articles in the Arabic supplement of Arev.

Although this may have been already said, this book is a most significant and in many ways a pioneering effort. The articles are culled from the first ever Armenian periodical in Arabic: the monthly supplement to Arev. The publication of this supplement partly fills a gaping gap in direct communication between the Armenian communities and their host countries in the Arab World. Such publications are one of the essential ways to help integrate the Armenian communities into the host society. They help shape and sharpen their identity at once as loyal local citizens and as members of the Armenian World (i.e. Armenia and the Diaspora). They also act as a forum where both shared histories and experiences and contemporary concerns and aspirations are discussed and promoted. This is amply illustrated in the past issues of the Arabic supplement to Arev, where Armenian presence in and contribution to Egypt and the Arab countries are highlighted; contemporary Armenian concerns, whether in the third Republic of Armenia or the Diaspora, are analyzed; and overall Armenian interests are brought to public attention.

More or less the same topics, with an emphasis on burning issues, make up the content of Terzian’s leading articles. The Armenian Genocide, Karabagh, Armenian-Arab relations are some of the more elaborately treated subjects. The internal life of Egypt and accomplishments of some Egyptians, whether Armenians or Arabs; oil, economy, Traseca, international relations, Armenians of the Holy Places, Armenian-Iranian relations, Armenia- Diaspora conferences, presidential elections in Armenia and Karabagh and a number of other, topical articles, are reviewed by Terzian. It is not my intention to comment on every single article; rather, having elaborated on the first merit of this book as one addressed to the Arab public, I propose to take a cursory glance at some of the issues preoccupying Terzian as an illustration of his analyses, and at the image of Armenia and the Armenians he projected to the Arab reader; and, last but not least, to suggest some of the elements of his worldview as a Diaspora Armenian. As a bleeding wound, the Genocide has a presence in almost all the pieces. Its commemoration serves Terzian as an opportunity to elaborate on the premeditated nature of this crime (there is therefore some repetition in frequently treated topics such as the Genocide, addressed to an uninformed or misinformed public). Its denial by the Turkish State or other quarters and individuals, prompts him to rebut, at times with the help of scholars of the Genocide, the various aspects of the colossal propaganda orchestrated by the Turkish State. He arduously refutes the claims of an Egyptian scholar, for instance, that the genocide was an act of retaliation against the Armenian “rebellion” of Van; or that it was a “civil” war that claimed a great many victims on both sides. The latest ruse of the Turkish State, the call for a joint, tripartite or mixed historical commission to look into the genocide is also condemned. Running like a red thread through all these articles, is Terzian’s contention that Turkish public support for denial stems from the efforts, since day one, of successive Turkish states to keep the public ignorant of the facts. And the reason behind this vehement and systematic denial may be the specter of the Treaty of Sèvres as a likely element which, together with other factors, might seriously jeopardize or disrupt, Terzian avers, Turkey’s plans for becoming the dominant regional power. He places no emphasis on the fact that Turkey’s policy of denial may also be due to its refusal to expose the violent and blood-stained birth pangs of the Republic of Turkey.

Turkey’s denial policy, Terzian notes, goes beyond misleading its own public. There are many aspects to Turkey’s manipulation of the international community. An extremely pernicious pattern has been the projection of the Genocide and the issue of Karabagh as the result of conflicts between a Christian and two Muslim peoples. This is noted, duly and by alarm, by Terzian but not, it seems, by Armenian diplomatic and similar circles that have failed to explain to the Muslim world, that Islam had nothing to do with either the Genocide or Karabagh; and the Muslim world in its gatherings (if memory serves the latest in May this year in Damascus) continues routinely to condemn Armenia as an aggressor, etc.

The blackmail and threats Turkey resorts to are well known. The US “diplomatic fields” is distinguished from other countries for its far intriguing twists and turns, crude confrontations and its openly immoral manifestations. Terzian knows the familiar line behind US refusal to acknowledge the Genocide and condemns it in no uncertain terms. One such occasion he seizes upon is President Clinton’s last minute intervention to abort the Genocide resolution. Commentary redundant here, but few of us have raised questions about the US refusal to recognize the Genocide. Many if not most Armenians attribute this to Turkish threats and pro-Turkish and pro- Israeli lobby groups and the confluence of strategic interests, as if the US would have readily recognized the Genocide had there been no such reasons. There is certainly much to be said for this interpretation, but there is also much room to speculate on US motives, such as using the Genocide recognition as a bargaining chip in US-Turkish relations.

This brings us to Israeli attitudes towards Armenia and the Armenians, mainly in the context of the Genocide (Rivka Cohen’s brazen assault on the Armenian Genocide launched, of all places, in the Armenian capital), the ‘Baronder’ Armenian property and the Israeli wall running through it, and the location of the Armenian quarter in Jerusalem. Terzian believes that, however the future map of Jerusalem is redrawn the Armenian Quarter should not be separated from the Christian one and sees the violation of the Baronder property as a blatant contravention of every law, rule and tradition. Writing at one of the worst moments in the history of the Israeli- Palestinian conflict, Terzian saw similarities between the Armenians and the harsh ways in which Israel treated the Palestinians but rejected parallels some draw between the Genocide and the Holocaust (November, 2000). It is unspeakably terrible to ‘categorize’ or ‘classify’ murder, but the Armenian and Palestinian cases, just like the Genocide and the Holocaust, do not correspond. All three certainly share certain similarities, but all three also represent very different situations with the Genocide and the Holocaust being unique cases as to the scope of the crime and the intent of the perpetrators. Terzian though has good many reasons to ascribe Israeli and US failure to recognize the Genocide and unquestioning American support of Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians to political interests and strategic considerations.

According to Terzian, economic factors, oil in particular, are at the very basis of the conflicts and clashes in the Caucasus and are intimately tied to the still-unresolved problem of Artsakh/Karabagh. The author realizes how intractable a conflict this is, given the economic and strategic significance of the region and the involvement of so many powers in it. The impact of US efforts to displace Russian and Iranian influence on the one hand and the Turkish and Azeri blockade of Armenia on the other, have complicated inter-state relations between the republics of the region and have imposed untold economic hardship on Armenia (the issue of oil and gas pipelines, railroads and other land routes, among others). He reviews and analyzes the positions taken both by Ter-Petrosian and Kocharian vis-à-vis two diametrically different solutions: step-by-step as opposed to a finalized package. Terzian asserts that in every respect, whether legal or historical, Karabagh has always been Armenian and advocates neighborly relations, peace and prosperity based on an equitable resolution acceptable to both parties.

Terzian reviews many other aspects of similar problems, including Armenian-Arab relations in general and Armenian-Egyptian cooperation in particular. He also elaborates on the Armenia-Diaspora relations and conferences, the Armenian Church, the pan-Armenian games, the murders in the Armenian Parliament, Armenia- Azerbaijan-EU, Turkey’s ambitions to become the dominant regional power, etc. He briefly touches on the issue of language (Eastern and Western Armenian) but does not dwell on it at any length. He laments Hrant Dink as an Armenian martyr and a Turkish hero for his relentless struggle for a Democratic Turkey.

A few of the articles, being topical in nature, are outdated already. But most of them stand as an eloquent testimony to an alert and insightful observer, a Diaspora Armenian with equal pride in his Egyptian and Armenian roots. He takes pride in the accomplishments of the Egyptian Ahmed Hasan Zewail (1999 Nobel Prize in chemistry) and Atom Egoyan (born in Egypt). With much pride and elation he recounts from memory the encounter of Sero Khanzadyan with the giants of Arabic literature Naguib Mahfouz and Tawfiq al-Hakim and laments with genuine sorrow the mechanical failure of the tape-recorder in conveying their conversation verbatim to posterity. Terzian is equally pleased to belong to his birthplace, Egypt, and the homeland of his forefathers, Armenia, with infinite love and devotion for both. He is proudly aware that Alexander Sarukhan, the celebrated Armenian caricaturist, belonged to both Armenian and Arabic cultures. Terzian also noted that two other illustrious Armenians, William Saroyan and Charles Aznavour,made eminent contributions to American and French cultures, respectively.

This ground-breaking and handsomely produced volume is noted with gratitude and admiration. One hopes that Terzian and his colleagues will continue to contribute to the Arabic Arev as a fertile ground of Arab-
Armenian friendship.

(Kevork B. Bardakjian is a professor of Armenian language and literature, Department of Near Eastern Studies, at the University of Michigan.)