VAKıFLı

'Vakıflı Köyü' (Armenian: Վաքիֆ — 'Vakif') is the only ethnic Armenian village in Turkey.^[1][2] Located on the slopes of Musa Dagh in the Samandağ district of Hatay Province, the village overlooks the Mediterranean Sea and is within eyesight of the Syrian border. It is home to a community of about 130 Turkish-Armenians. Vakıflı is the only totally Armenian village in the world still speaking a dialect of Western Armenian. The dialect is very thick, and cannot be understood by other Western Armenians.
The residents of Vakıflı are the descendants of those Armenians who resisted the deportations of 1915 on Musa Dagh. For 53 days they repelled attacks by Turkish troops until French sailors sighted a banner that the Armenians had tied to a tree on the mountain emblazoned with the words "Christians in Distress: Rescue".^[3] After being transported to Port Said by the French, seven Armenian villages returned to their homes while Hatay was under French occupation starting from 1918.^[4] Following an agreement between France and Turkey and a plebiscite, the district reverted to Turkey on June 29, 1939, a move still not recognized by Syria. After this move the other six Armenian villages immigrated out of Hatay settling in Lebanon's Beqaa Valley, especially Anjar, while the residents of Vakıflı chose to stay.
Vakıflı suffered from a lack of jobs until the mid-2000s, prompting the younger generation to move to Istanbul.^[5] An estimated 500 former residents of Vakıflı live in Istanbul, and the village population increases to around 300 in summer as they visit. However, with the help of the district governor (kaymakam) and the TEMA Foundation, which identified ten villages and developed specific projects for each village to stop the urban migration, Vakıflı was selected for development of organic farming and eco-tourism, and the village obtained the only EU organic farming certification in the region.^[6][7] In 2004, Vakıflı Village Cooperative exported organic oranges worth one million Euros, giving hope of economic viability to the village and prompting some villagers to move back from Istanbul.^1[8]
Between 1994 and 1997, the village church was reconstructed and expanded with assistance from the Turkish government. In 2005, Vakıflı restored its old school building, turning it into a bed-and-breakfast, with two more old houses being converted to bed-and-breakfasts. Son Ermeni Köyü: Vakıflı Adem Yavuz Arslan With the help of the local government and the Association for Development of Vakıflı, an Istanbul based organization, a project for eco-tourism is being implemented that aims to restore the traditional stone houses of the village.

Contents

See also

References

External links

See also

★ Armenian-Turkish relations

★ The Forty Days of Musa Dagh

★ Republic of Hatay

References

1. Türkiye'nin tek Ermeni köyü Vakıflı Ersin Kalkan
2. Turkey, , Verity, Campbell, Lonely Planet, 2007,
3. Turkey: Village Survived The Century's First Mass Ethnic Expulsion Jolyon Naegele
4. Musa'dan notlar Celal Başlangıç
5. Türkiye'nin tek Ermeni köyü Pervin Kaplan
6. Bu köyler kurtulursa göç dönecek Mustafa Küçük
7. Vakıflı'nın kaderi organik tarıma bağlı Şerif Ercan
8. TMOK'tan 25 fair play ödülü

External links

★ Europe diary: Historical guilt Mark Mardell

★ Something old, something new Wylie Harris

★ Büyükşehir özlemi duymayan çalışkan insanların coğrafyası

★ Le parler arménien de Vakifli (Musa Daği), , Georges, Dumézil, Revue des Etudes Arméniennes, 1968

★ Textes en arménien de Vakifli (Musa Daği)., , Georges, Dumézil, Revue des Etudes Arméniennes, 1970