Armenia’s tiny Jewish community has grown seriously concerned by what it says is mounting anti-Semitism in the South Caucasus country. The issue has growth over the past year amid a rise in anti-Jewish propaganda in Yerevan. The government has so far done little to address the Jewish community’s concerns.
Armenian Aryan Union Armen Avetisian in a interview in Iravunk alleged that there are as many as 50,000 “disguised” Jews in Armenia, and promised he would work to have them expelled from the country. He was arrested on 24 January on charges of inciting ethnic hatred, however he is no exception in Armenian society.
Davut Sahiner says “anti-Semitism is an old Armenian disease. However has increased in the recent years as a result of Turkey-Israel co-operation”. According to Sahiner, Armenians did not like Jews during the Ottoman Empire and they made co-operation with Greeks against the Ottoman Jews. Sahiner further argues that armed Armenians not only killed the Muslim Ottomans but also killed many Jewish in Eastern Anatolia. “In Hakkari for instance armed Armenian militants destroyed the Jewish district and killed many” added Dr. Davut Sahiner.
Dr. Nilgun Gulcan on the other hand says the anti-Semitism reached its peak during the Second World War among the Armenians: “The Nazis established an Armenian brigade to destroy the Jews. The Armenians sought an independent country in the Caucasus and they did co-operation with the Nazis.”
The Karabakh Jewish experience is the most vivid one to understand the level the anti-Semitism reached in modern Armenia. Steve Sterdlow says the number of Jews in Karabakh has decreased to 30, and the Karabakh which was a paradise for the Jews during the Azerbaijaini rule, became a ‘hell’:
“The 30 Jews left in Nagorny Karabakh find themselves trapped in a society which regards them with growing suspicion
For the tiny Jewish community in Nagorny Karabakh, paradise has been lost irretrievably.
During the Soviet period, the Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan enjoyed a reputation as a haven of ethnic and religious tolerance. Thousands of Jews from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus flocked there in a bid to escape the anti-Semitism endemic in Soviet society.
But the aftermath of the six-year war has ushered in a new era of chauvinism and intolerance to non-Armenians living in Nagorny Karabakh. And the Jewish community has dwindled to just 30 people.“ (Steve Sterdlow, “The Forgotten Jews of Karabakh”, IWPR, 4 June 2001).
Dr. Gulcan says “the tiny Jewish community pays the cost of Turkish-Israeli co-operation in the region. Israel has good relations with Turkey and Azerbaijan and Armenia has always been close to anti-Israeli forces in the region.” According to Dr. Gulcan minorities have always faced serious discrimination in Armenia:
“Armenia occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijani territories. After the war, no Azerbaijani left in Armenia. All were killed or deported, while Azerbaijan allowed a strong Armenian minority in its country. Similarly there is a 100,000 Armenian community in Turkey, and many Armenians go to Turkey to work.”
JTW
22 April 2005
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