Meryem, the Kurdish singing Armenian

This information has never been revealed before, it is information from Meryem Xan´s own relatives about her heritage.

Meyrem, or Maria as she would be named in west was actual Armenian amoung Kurds.

Meyrem Xan was adopted during the genocide, Emin Ahmet Aga adopted her
he was from a big and rich family, the family noticed that Meyrem Xan
sang very sadly but still beautiful and also creating her own music,
she was also writing her own lyrics. They heard that her songs
was working on a problem, that she was going through a trauma.

It was common that locals bought a christian orphan children from the Ottoman armies, it can be discussed if it is considered saving the life of a child or not.

Actually "adoption" during the genocide means that someone purchased
a christian child, she was born in the tumults in 1904 and lived
through the genocide as an child and youth.

Meyrem was only singing about the family and her new home, about the mountains,
about their village in Botan (Besîr) - Her singing style was a Besîrî style

A black/white photo of Meyrem.

When the LP technique was modern in all of middle east she went to Armenia and sang
in Denge Erivan and later on in Radio Baghdad where other famous Kurdish artists
had been like Nesrin Serwan, Ayse San and Gulbehar.

She was 45 when she passed away in 1949 in Baghdad, Iraq.

The madness continues

The same professor from the Turkish historical society (TTK), Dr Yusuf Halacoglu that stated that Alevi Kurds was Armenians and that Kurds was actually Turks has now said that PKK (the Kurdish workers party) is not a Kurdish movement, but assimilated-Armenians that consider themselves Kurds.

"Armenian. Most of the members included in the PKK, which wants
to split the country, and the "Turkish Workers' and Peasants'
Liberation Army"
He has in another interview said that
"...when some PKK members are arrested it becomes
apparent that they are not circumcised.”

Halacoglu has been condemned by the Turkish priminister Erdogan that
accused him of racism, leaders of the Kurdish "Democratic Society"
organization and also by many Alevi organizations.

The Alevi, Reha Camuroglu, the AKP deputy (ruling
Justice and Development Party) has also asked asked
Halacoglu to resign from his office yesterday and the
Ankara public prosecutor initiates an investigation over
Halacoglu. Yusuf Halacoglu comments this in a
pressconference and said:
"I did not reject [the existence of] Kurds, I said the following:
'Some who believe themselves to be Kurds are shown as
Turkmens in 16th century records. Is that saying there are
no Kurds? I [also] did not say that Kurdish Alevis are Armenians.
There are Armenians who pretended to be Kurdish Alevis in
order to escape the forced emigration. Being is different,
pretending to be is different."

Alevi Kurds = Armenians ?

Prof. Dr. Yusuf Halaçoglu from TTK (Turkish Historical Society) has stated
that "Kurds are actually Turkmen and that the Alevi Kurds are actually
Armenians".

Yusuf Halaçoglu is the leading genocide denier in Turkey

"I do not speak without evidence. Some may prefer
making noisy arguments, but I do not make statements
without conducting studies. Professors bury their
heads in the sand."


Halacoglu also claims that many Turks became Kurds
due to the feudal structure of Ottoman society in the
16th century. Alevis, too, harshly reacted to
Halacoglu's remarks that `Alevi Kurds are actually Armenians.'

Yusuf Halaçoglu says that many Armenians identified
themselves as `Kurdish Alevis' in an attempt to save
themselves from the genocide, or as he self says the forced
migration of Armenians in 1915 to avoid a genocide label
on the nation.

This was found on the TTK´s homepage:
 "Turkey should fight against this unjust and
biased legislation and try to prevent the genocide
label from being attached to the nation. Otherwise,
those Turkish children who read in textbooks that
their ancestors were murderers will suffer an
inferiority complex and will become asocial in the
countries in which they live."

Some of the Turkish security experts had claimed
that the PKK party is an Armenian terrorism and it
has been strong in the Armenian donmes region.

Justin McCarthy

Halacoglu together with the American Prof. Justin McCarthy is the
front figures in the genocide denial movement.

General Andranik and Cenghir Agha

These days, 90 years ago..

Armenia's national hero General Andranik together with the Yezidi-Kurd Cenghir Agha.
Until now, this picture has never been digitalized and available on the web, this picture with both of them is rare and is donated to Kurdistan and Hayastan by a man who traveled through the Kurdish communities of Soviet Armenia during the 1980´s.

General Andranik and Cengir Agha struggled together in 1918-1920 particular in the Battle of Bash-Aparan which was a battle against the Turkish army on May 21, 1918 during the Turkish-Armenian War, when the Turkish invasion of the newly independent Democratic Republic of Armenia.

During the Genocide, the military cooperation and relations between general Andranik and the Yezidi-Kurd Cenghir Agha were strong and their their battles against the Turks became an symbol of the age-long friendship of the two nations.
The Yezidi-Kurds in Armenia were active participants in the battles at Bash-Aparan and Sardarapat in 1918, that turned a new page in the history of the two nations.

General Andranik Ozanian with his men, the "Fedayi"´s, the mens nationalities on the picture is unclear.

The Yezidi-Kurds has participated and symphatized in many Armenian defence battles, for an example in the battle of Artsakh, the Kurds attended in the battle and thirty of the Kurdish soldiers died in the battles.
The Kurds has also financed and shared battles the Artsakh movement where a Kurdish section and a Kurdish women section (!) existed who fought for Vaiq, Goris, Ijevan and Yeraskhavan.

• Discuss in the comment section in the end of this post!
  

Why is it today that the Yezidi - Kurdish community is more popular and beloved among the Armenians then the everyday Muslim - Kurd?

Is it a dispute over religion or does it have any geographical explanation, because the Yezidi - Kurds live closer to the Armenians?

Kurdish and Armenian horsemen (1894)

Horsemen of Caucasus

This creation is painted by and comes from a rare art journal printed in 1894 by Franz Alekseyevich Roubaud (1856 - 1928), he was a Russian painter who created some of the largest and best known panoramic paintings.

The painting Horsemen of Caucasus depicts Kurdish and Armenian horsemen in the mountains of Caucasus in 1894.

Meyro - Kurdish artist, Armenian descent.

Meyro Zilan is an Armenian women, currently living in Sweden and she is since the 1980´s involved in kurdish art. She has set up over 30 art exhibitions in every city in Sweden with one purpose, to portray and describe the everyday life in Kurdistan with diffrent perspectives; the man but especialy women and the child.
The material in the show has been collected from her in Kurdistan like rugs, photos, instruments, clothes and so on.

Meyro with an Bolivian man dressed as a Kurd, baking bread.

Meyro wanted to compare and introduce the lifes in east and west to show a balance in her ner country Sweden, many people with diffrent nationalities has since the exhibition was first set up the 8th mars 1986, on the international womens day.

Meyro with an Armenian outfit from Semsûr with a Swedish women dressed as a Kurd with dress from western Kurdistan, Syria.

The show has been set up in places like the Citylibrary of Uppsala, Stockholms teaching university and in schools, folk high schools. librarys and museeums around the country.
The newspapers published articles with Meyro´s show and her material also became theatrical properties later on in a movie.

The following pictures is some of Meyro Zilan´s collected work

"Gocer" - A nomad girl

"Distar" - Women crushing wheat, making bulgur.

"Rencber" - A man harvesting his land

Some photos from the art exhibitions:

Kurdish village leader in the Van province restores Armenian church

Van province

Earlier this year, in March the famous Akdamar church on Akdamar island in northern Kurdistan was restored to a museum, this is one of the churches that almost survived the genocide and the mass killings of Armenians and other christian groups by the young-Turks in 1915.

Akdamar church is placed in a island in the middle of the lake of Van

3 days ago, the Kurdish leader of Yerekdagi in the province of Van where the Holy Cross Church of complex is situated, purchased construction materials for repairing the roof of the church built in the 13th century.

The headman of Yerekdagi has turned to tourists who visit Van, including Armenians with a request to assign money for paying workers.
Before the year of 1914, there were almost 100 Armenian monasteries and more than 500 churches in the Van province.

One of the Armenian monasteries in northern Kurdistan, the monastery was neglected in the last 10 years and requires urgent restoration.

A eyewitness and survivor memories from the Armenian genocide, Siranoush Simon Toutounjian´s testimony :

Van had seven churches. There were also Catholics and Protestants, who had their schools and hospitals. But the Gregorian Orthodox Armenians were much more. We used to go to St. Astvadsadsin (Holy Virgin) Church.

In summer we went to the Varaga Monastery. It was a sacred place, and from different villages people came there. The Armenians gathered, sang and danced.

...Until 1915 we had political activists in Van as Vramian, Vahan Papazian, Artak Darbinian, Paramaz and Ishkhan. The Hnchaks could play a great role had they been able to keep secrets.

The future of the churches that remains is probably in great danger, the Turkish government has problem keeping promises and dont practise what they preach. An example is (according to an October 19th report by Bloomberg News) a church in Diyarbakir (Armenian: Dikgrangerd / Kurdish: Amêd) which was under the Turkish government's official protection, was torn down by a construction firm. The article, written by Mark Bentley, added that, "builder Kerem Emre used stones from the demolished church in the province of Diyarbekir to lay the foundations for a mosque" in its place.
Read more "ANCA CONDEMNS TURKEY'S DEMOLITION OF ARMENIAN CHURCH IN DIKRANAGERD"

The Armenian Church has traditionally maintained two patriarchates: one in Jerusalem and another in Istanbul. In Jerusalem, the Armenian Patriarchate is the guardian of the Holy Places in the possession of the Armenians, the Armenians should rather relie their patriarchates then the turkish government.

Armenians dancing to Kurdish folkmusic

Tom Bozgian travels around the world teaching Armenian dance and began teaching Armenian dancing 41 years ago. Teaching Armenian dancing has allowed Bozigian to travel the world and Tom Bozigian conducts classes in Los Angeles with a majority of armenian students.Tom is focused on dances that originated in Van.

Hovaness Badalian

Hovhannes Baldalian was born in 1924 close to Hamadan in Iran 1924 but his parents were from the regions around Urmiye in eastern Kurdistan.
During Tom Bozigian’s dance studies in Armenia (1972-75), he spent time with the famous singer Hovaness Badalian who taught him this Kurdish Armenian dance named after a girl “Naze.” Badalian grew up with Kurds in Tehran, Iran and even spoke kurdish.

Tom´s students

Some of the groups dance source naterial:

• Govend - This is the name of a family of dances of which Kocharee/Halay are members. Govand means encircled, fortified, close-knit which dancers demonstrate in this dance. Immigrants brought the dance to the U.S. from Vaspurakan/Van Province.

• Lorke - Bozigian had the opportunity to learn many variations of this “Vanetsi” dance during his youth. The meaning is shake in Kurdo Persian. Some variations demonstrate “Gagh” (limping) or “Pati Kael” (duck walk) in their movements.

• Jurjena - This dance is named after the rhythm. It hails from Kharpert region (Harput-Mezraa) . As a child, Bozigian had the opportunity to dance with many elderly Kharpert Armenian immigrants in Fresno. His maternal side immigrated from the region. Many interesting dances have evolved through the centuries with this unique rhythm.

The dance of the young Kurd

In the Armenian ballet in four acts (with music by the famous Armenian Aram Kachaturian) wich is originally composed and choreographed in 1942, one composed song with dancing is called "The dance of the young Kurd".

The Armenian ballet was a success when performed in front of Joseph Stalin The suite of dances in the second act is ethnic dances and they reflect the nationalities in the Soviet Union because at that time Armenia was already a mixed population with nationalities like the Assyrians, the Molokans, the Jews and the Kurds.


The Armenian dance in "The dance of the young Kurd" is described as some kind of volcanic mountaineers dance.

• A snippet can be found here on this link, click on track 13.

Rebuilding Kurdistan

Southern Kurdistan has been rebuild since 1992, from a war region to a wealthy region in Iraq wich welcomes foreign workers and business men to invest and live.
Imagine that a occupied country with no borders what so ever has since 1999 built around 1000 km of new roads/highways, 600 km repaired and resurfaced, 15 new bridges constructed with around 26% of Kurdistans budget spent on construction and repairing with a estimated number of 45 billion barrels of oil reserves wich is making it the 6th in the world with the the largest amount of oil (!).
The same year (-99) around 10,5 million dollars were spent buying surplus grain from local farmers and 60 new schools were built and 503 were renovated and refurbished.
Today, 35 new villages have been provided with electricity and 700 other villages have been repaired.

50 foreign companies since 2005 have registered in Hewler as international enterprises and many of them is foreign, mainly Turkish companies and Korean companies.

Koreans in Kurdistan

KRG (Kurdistan Regional Government) has since 1992 modernized the bank system into a modern network with important bank activities, it is for an example since 1996 possible to open saving accounts.
Iraqi Kurdistan has 33.265 students and more than 2.700 schools and the amount of millionaires in south Kurdistan has grown from 5 (1991) to over 1000 (2003).

Foreign investers and workers has moved to south Kurdistan because of the fast growing of per capita income.
What we see is a wealthy country, with no borders...


Foreign workers (African and Asian) immigrants in Kurdistan