What is it about?
The Republic of Turkey of the 1920s and 1930s was a complex place to live. Kemalism came to nurture and embrace a new citizen who had no other choice but that of being a Turk as stipulated by the 1924 constitution. It was particularly challenging for Christian minorities, or what was left of them, because of ultra-nationalism and the highly ideological nature of the one-party regime of the Kemalist era. Many Armenians, who chose to stay or had to stay in Turkey, were not at ease with the existing state of affairs. Most of them were still looking for ways to leave Turkey for safer places. It became a particular matter of contention in the initial years of the Cold War when the Soviet Union launched a policy of encouraging Turkish Armenians to migrate to Soviet Armenia. Based on Russian, Turkish, and Armenian sources, the article presents hitherto unexplored features of that policy.
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Why is it important?
The article helps to understand how minorities can become victims of geopolitics.
Perspectives
This article bring little-known facts about the suffering of Armenians in Turkey and Soviet Armenia.
Dr. Vahram H. Ter-Matevosyan
American University of Armenia
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Stranded in geopolitics: the question of Turkish Armenians in Soviet-Turkish relations, Middle Eastern Studies, April 2020, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/00263206.2020.1742704.
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