510
HOŞGÖRÜ TOPLUMUNDA ERMENİLER
century, the founder of which was Dadah Umar (d.892). This silsilah got
currency in Azerbaijan, Aran, Armenia and Kudistan and spread from there
to the environs of the place. (56)Since this order had reached Afghanistan
and its vicinity and there were certain miscreants who often created diffi -
culties on the frontiers of the Mughal Empire in Hindustan, Akbar’s deputy
and court chronicler Abul Fazl,therefore, always called them as “Tarikis”
in his Akbarnama..(57)
Undoubtedly, the impact of Sufi sm in the Eurasian region highlight-
ing the monotheism and monism of ancient religions greatly contributed
towards bringing the heterogenous people of the region closer. Ibnul Arabi,
Rumi, Bhakti saints of India had emphasized it. The messages of Rumi is
quite clear and appealing:
‘What is to be done, O Moslems? for I do not recognise myself.
I am neither Christian, nor Jew, nor Gabr, nor Moslem.
I am not of the East, nor of the West, nor of the land, nor of the sea;
I am not of Nature’s mint, nor of the circling heavens.
I am not of India, nor of china, nor of Bulgaria, nor of Saqsin;
I am not of the kingdom of Iraqain, nor of the country of Khurasan.
My place is the Placeless, my trace is the Traceless;
‘Tis neither body nor soul, for I belong to the soul of the Beloved.
I have put duality away; I have seen that the two worlds are one;
One I seek, One I know, One I see, One I call’.(58)
Controversy regarding the antecedents of Ottomans and Armenians
and their mutual exchanges in the sphere of music, painting, architecture
and their rich common heritage is also found in the sources. The Istanbul
albums ‘seem to refl ect this taste for the exotic rather than the native work
‘(59) There are several manuscripts available in India which carry the royal
seal of Ottoman sultans like Sulaiman the magnifi cent, the seal of Shahja-
han and the names of Ottoman and Mughal Emperors and offi cers indicat-
ing that the Armenian traders must have brought the treasure of books also
certifying the cultural exchanges taking place in the region. The Nuzhatul
Arwah of Badruddin found in Muks in Armenia and the Anthology of Ara-
bic poetry entitled as Kitabal Aghani transcribed and illustrated in twenty
volumes for Badruddin Lulu an Armenian(earlier a slave captured in a war
who later became a regent and then a ruler 1233-59) of which half is now
511
Prof. Mansure HAİDAR
preserved in Istanbul(60)are examples in question. In the illustrated manu-
scripts of medieval period Armenian natural scenes are often depicted to
fi ll up the void. One such painting included in the Mathnavi of ‘Laila wa
Majnun” depicted Majnun in a woebegone and love stricken state wander-
ing in the woods of Armenia. This painting is considered to be one of the
most remarkable productions of Central Asia. The books produced on mu-
sic from the time of Barbad to this day confi rm the exchanges taking place
between the Ottoman and Armenian music. The lingual arena of Eurasia
presents a marvelous adoption of new words from each other enriching the
respective languages preventing them from languishing as dead language.
When the mother tongue –an emblem of a peoples’s identity and entity
adopts and carries the loan words from that of each other and a lingual
fusion is also noticed, it is here that real affi nity takes place.The cultural
exchange which had taken place over the centuries between Ottomans and
the Armenians can well form the subject of a book given the magnitude of
the material available, but this is beyond the purview of this article except
by way of reference.
The Armenian community is said to have played an important role
in the foundation and development of socialist movement in the Otto-
man Empire between 1876 –1923. Towards the end of nineteenth century,
nearly three to 3.5 million Armenian dispersed over Ottoman Empire.. It
is also argued that the Armenian issues at the Congress of Berlin (1878) a
precursor of Armenian Nationalist movement and the Treaty of Lausanne
9July 1923) opened a new chapter. Those who are acquainted with his-
torical developments in the region know well that democratic traditions,
socialist ideas, revolutionary movements and peoples’ uprisings were not
unknown to the region. Armenian community is also said to have ‘one
thing in common, they no longer had a country to call their own and the
violent fragmentation of Arnenian society---the physical gap between the
rural world rooted out in the Yerkir (the old name for Ottoman Armenia)
and the Bourgeoisie dispersed all over the world(61). The Armenian nest
in Turkey was no longer existent and uprooting is always agonizing.
512
HOŞGÖRÜ TOPLUMUNDA ERMENİLER
Bibliographical Notes
1. Achuyt Yagnikand Shchitra Seth, The Shaping of Modern Gujarat, 2005, p.8.
2. Banakiti, Tarikhi Banakiti, p318; Haft Iqlim.
3. Banakiti, 273.
4. Basil Gray, Persian Painting, Geneva, 1977, p.104.
5. Barbad,, Dushanbe 1989, pp139, 230’Barthold, V.V Sochinenija vol. 5,Moscow
ed. p.111.
6. Juvaini, Tarikhi Jahangusha I Juvaini, vol, 2, pp.438-439.
7. Claude Cahen, The formation of Turkey, Eng Tr. By P.M. Holt, Essex 2001,255-9;
Anthony the Armenian,, Purchas 327-329.
Account of the Traveller Anthony the Armenian (AD 1307), Purchas His Pilgrimes,
vol. X1, Glasgow, MCMVI, pp314-6; Ibni Batuta, Travels in Asia and
North Africa, New Delhi, 2001, p. 132
8. Hasan Beg Rumlu, Ahsanut Tawarikh Tehran, 1349 pp505-6;Yezdi, Zafar Nama,
194-; Claude Cahen, The formation of Turkey Eng tr. By P.M Holt,
Essex 2001 pp255-9
9. Rumlu, op. cit. p505-6;.Renaissance of Islam, 157-64;Anthony the
Armenians,358
10. Sochinenija 212; Travels of Mirza Abu Talib Isfahani, Asia, Africa, and Europe
during the years 1799-1803, New Delhi,pp 234-5,252-9; Travelogue
of Thomas Coryat Purchas His Pilgrimes, vol. X Glasgow MCMV, pp
426-27
11. Suraiya Farokhi, The Ottoman Empire and the world around it,2004, p, 212
12. Marwin Howe, Turkey Today, USA, 2000,pp 92-93,97-9
13. Thomas Coryat, 426-7; Isfahani 234-5,252-59
14. Suraiya, op. cit. 107
15. Basil Gray, Persian Painting, Geneva 1977, p.104
16. Purchas and His Pilgrimes, vol. 1, Glasgow, MCMV pp380-3;ibid vol.V111 pp
66-76
17. Purchas and His Pilgrimes, Vol,1,Glasgow MCMV, pp309-12
18. İbid;also see Ambassador Morgenthau’s story, p.337The Turkish
Transformation,,p75
19. Purchas His Pilgrimes, Vol 111, Glasgow, MCMV,pp166-169
20. Marco Polo op. cit, Book 1 note 1
21. Travels of Mirza Abu Talib Khan, Asia Africa and Europe during the years 1799-
1803, New Delhi, 234-35, 252-259
22.İbid 234- 235; 252-9
23.İbid
24.George Sandys, Purchas His Pilgrimes, Vol, VIII, pp122-23
25. Purchas His Pilgrimes Vol. 1 Enquiries of languages of Christians, GlasgowMCMV,
pp262-263.