The return of the scarves Rural Kurds revive an old Armenian tradition

Jan 31st 2008
From The Economist

AGACLI- FOR centuries Armenians in the village of Agacli, in south-east Turkey, cultivated silk. With it they wove fine carpets and flowing scarves that were traded all along the silk road from China to Europe. That was until 1915, when Ottoman forces slaughtered most of the villagers, and hundreds of thousands of other Armenians. The village was taken over by Kurds and, in the 1990s, became a target for terrorists from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Residents began to flee when the PKK started raiding the area demanding food and shelter.

Weary of the violence, Agacli's 62-year-old mayor, Yusuf Bayram, decided two years ago to try to revive the silk trade. He was inspired by his wife, the daughter of two Armenians rescued as children by Kurdish neighbours during the 1915 massacres. But a lone pair of gnarled mulberry trees planted by the Armenians were all Mr Bayram had—until the European Union rode to the rescue with a big grant.

New mulberry trees were planted, silkworms and looms brought in. Some 15 teenage girls have been trained to spin, weave and dye the silk. Despite finger-numbing cold, they have just produced their first batch of scarves. Gulay Aslan, a former seamstress who trains the girls, says their biggest challenge is sustainability. “The EU money is finished. We need to stand on our own feet, to find markets,” she declares.

The women have formed a co-operative, but their only customer is Diyarbakir's chamber of commerce. At $35 each, the scarves cost far more than those of competitors in China and India. “They use machine-spun silk, our girls make everything by hand,” boasts Mr Bayram. Just like the Armenians, he adds.

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.