Poem for an Armenian girl

February 17, 2006
The New Anatolian
By Nursun Erel
erel@thenewanatolian.com

[...] The New Anatolian's Editor In Chief Mete Belovacikli and I were with Rahsan and Bulent Ecevit in the library of their home in Oran. The highest parts of Cankaya were covered in snow and there was a freezing wind blowing outside, but we four enjoyed an incredibly warm talk.

First let me share a verse from a poem which Rahsan Hanim read for us,

Purple violets in the gardens,
Ahchek, you’ve made me crazy for you,
May you become Muslim,
Or shall I became Armenian?

Rahsan Hanim added:
"The poem was written years ago by a village boy in a Turkish town for an Armenian girl named Ahchek. Can you imagine what relations between Turks and Armenians were like at the time?"

All is well and good but "Ahchek" is not an Armenian name. It just means "girl" in Armenian. The Armenian "girl" was probably not that close to the village boy or too afraid of him, otherwise she would have revealed her name. The story was not as pretty as this article is making it out to be.

[...]
[...] Bulent Ecevit during his last premiership (1999-2002), with Mumtaz Soysal as foreign minister, took several initiatives to ease relations with Yerevan, [...]
[...]
[...] shared some memories with us:"Years ago, when we were young, we [he and Rahsan Hanim] spent a few months in the U.S. We were in Watertown. After a while some of our friends told us that there were some Armenian grocery stores in the area and that if we ever hankered after Turkish food, we could buy some specialities there. So once we went to one. The owner was an old lady. There were all kinds of delicacies on the shelves, like 'pastirma' [pastrami], 'sucuk' [Turkish sausage] and there was even white cheese. While we were trying to choose, she said that we didn’t look American and eventually realized that we were Turkish. First she expressed all her prejudices towards Turks and Turkey, but then we became good friends. Three months later, when we said goodbye, she hugged us and burst into tears.

"Ecevit also shared another memory with us. After the Cyprus Peace Operation (1974), which then Premier Ecevit ordered, he organized a tour in the U.S. to explain the Turkish position to several different platforms. During one of his speeches hundreds of Armenians gathered outside the conference room and protested Turkey. He explained:

"They were carrying banners and shouting slogans against us but in front of the protestors, I noticed a handsome young man. He was also carrying a protest banner but once we looked into each others' eyes, he shouted at me in Turkish, 'May you protect the Armenians of Istanbul; we trust you."

At that moment I saw tears in Ecevit’s eyes and I felt emotional as well.

All these things show us the real relationship between Turks and Armenians. If the diaspora wasn't trying to provoke and spread hatred among the two peoples, things would definitely be a great deal better than now and of course the Armenians in Armenia would be a lot happier.

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.