The issue of Islamized/Alevized Armenians has stirred a
great deal of controversy and debate recently in academic, political, and
social circles. For Armenians, Dersim—also known as Tunceli in modern-day
Turkey, a place where hundreds of Islamized/ Kurdified/ Alevized Armenians are
supposed to reside—is a region in eastern Anatolia surrounded by myths and
secrets.
The cover of ‘Les Fils du Soleil’The cover of ‘Les Fils
du Soleil’
Throughout history, the interests of various regional and
global powers converged in Dersim. It was known as a land of diversity and
tolerance, where various cultures and languages—including Kurdish, Zaza, and
Armenian—met and found solace throughout the centuries that shaped it. It is
where the love of natural elements echoed, churches sanctified the land, and
monasteries embellished it with a sense of mysticism still unknown to many.
It was those features of Dersim that pushed author Erwan
Kerivel to publish his latest book, “Les Fils du Soleil: Armeniens et Alevies
du Dersim” (SIGEST, 2013; translated as “The Sons of the Sun: The Armenians and
Alevis of Dersim”). This article is an attempt to assess Kerivel’s work, a
comprehensive and meticulous study of the origins of Alevism (a sect in modern
Turkey), and the way in which Armenian paganism and, later on, various elements
of Armenian Christianity helped shape the Alevi cult.
Divided into seven chapters, the book opens with a
historical overview of Dersim and a description of the indigenous population.
Regional conflicts, massacres, persecution, and the mass exodus of people
mainly from north-western Persia (current-day Iran) into eastern Anatolia
turned this region into an amalgam of various cultures. This cluster of
newcomers were called Desiman or Dersiman, thus giving the region its name.
Kerivel explains that the deportation of these people from Persia gave birth to
a tribal system, the ashiret, that spread into Dersim, and outlines the most
significant tribes of the region. He concludes the chapter by arguing that the
inhabitants of Dersim ought to be identified as “Alevis Dersimis” (Alevis from
Dersim) rather than Kurdish or Zaza Alevis.
Referring to the scientific works of well-established
scholars such as Seta Dadoyan, the author tracks the link between the Alevism
of Dersim and Armenian paganism, and demonstrates that the origins of the
former ought to be sought in elements of the latter, and also in Iranian
Mithraism. He contends that most of the cultic elements of Alevism in Dersim
are adopted from an Armenian pagan tradition called “Arevordik,” or “Sons of
the Sun”—hence the title of the book. Tracing the term “alev” back to its
origins, Kerivel, having studied the features of Armenian paganism, explains
that the use of the term “alev” or “alevi” actually comes from the Farsi
“alaw,” which means sun (or “arev” in Armenian). After examining other rituals
and cultic elements, Kerivel draws a clear parallel between Armenian paganism
and Alevism, and the way in which one influenced the other. Therefore, despite
the assumption that Alevism was strongly influenced by the Kizilbash movement
of the 15th and 16th centuries that introduced Shiism, the second chapter concludes
that the real origins of Alevism ought to be sought in the Armenian pagan
rites, whose features were mostly influenced or directly derived from the
Iranian Mithra tradition.
What is, then, so special about Dersim? Kerivel attempts
to provide an answer to this question in the third chapter of the book, where
the focus is on the cults, ceremonies, and rituals of the Alevism of Dersim,
known as the Rae Haq, translated as the Path of Truth. The chapter identifies
some of its most significant sanctuaries and pilgrimage sites—where, according
to the author, natural elements are entangled with the religious, hence
mystifying the region even more. One interesting religious feature that Kerivel
highlights is the ocak (ojak or ojakh) system. An ocak is a geographical and
historical center to which the Alevis are connected, he explains. It is where
the first ancestors of a given tribe lived; there is a sense of attachment to
the ocak, as they are named after religious figures supposedly linked to
Prophet Muhammad through Imam Ali’s lineage. The author goes on to identify a
significant number of ocak’s still in existence in Dersim, and explains the way
in which the religiosity affiliated with these ocak’s manifests itself as the
Path of Truth, or Rae Haq.
The fourth chapter is a compilation of eye-witness
accounts from Western travelers, scholars, ethnographers, and geographers who
passed through Dersim from the mid-19th century to the early-20th century, and
witnessed first-hand the religious culture of the area. Starting from the
mid-19th century, a large number of publications appeared about the existence
of the Kizilbash culture in eastern Anatolia. Kerivel highlights a few passages
that elucidate the overall features of the Alevi culture. One noteworthy hypothesis
was by Prof. Hans-Lukas Kieser, who wrote of a national awakening among the
Alevis that took place just years before World War I. This chapter importantly
bridges the ancient history of Anatolia underscored in the earlier chapters to
modern times, and lets the reader think about the mutual fate that the
Armenians and Alevis shared in 1915 and 1938, respectively.
Shifting from the Alevism of Dersim, the fifth chapter is
an overview of Armenian Christianity, which officially began in 301 with St.
Gregory the Illuminator. Throughout the first decades of its establishment, the
Armenian Church underwent great difficulties and conflicts as it struggled for
religious hegemony over the Armenian people against its counterpart, Persian
Zoroastrianism. The chapter reviews the overall religious structure of the
Armenian Apostolic Church, and outlines its clerical hierarchy. The author then
provides a picture of the monasteries and churches spread throughout Dersim.
The large number of Armenian religious institutions in Dersim implies that a
significant number of Christian Armenians populated the region before the
genocide. As he did before with the case of Armenian paganism, Kerivel draws a
parallel between Armenian Christianity and the Alevism of Dersim, identifying
some of the religious rituals present in both. He thus demonstrates the depth
of the syncretism of the Alevism of Dersim. An important aspect of this chapter
is its reference to the conversions to Alevism that took place throughout the
centuries, and that accounts for the hundreds of Armenian Alevis now living in
Dersim. This number grew significantly during and after the genocide, as
discussed in subsequent sections. Referring to historical documents, academic
works, and survivor accounts from Dersim, Kerivel highlights the primary
reasons many Armenians converted to Alevism throughout history.
Chapter six deals with the transition from the religious
features of the Alevism of Dersim to the actual social and political events
that shaped modern Alevism, during and after the genocide of the Armenians in
1915. Many historical sources claim that the Dersim area served as a shelter
for Armenians escaping from the Ottoman massacres and deportations. They also
converge on the fact that many Alevis of Dersim hid survivors and refused to
surrender them to the Ottoman authorities. According to Prof. Lukas-Kieser’s
work, 30,000 Armenians succeeded in escaping the horrendous massacres by the
Turks. The chapter provides numerous examples of the heroic acts by tribal leaders
who refused to hand over the Armenians. Moreover, when the Russian forces were
on the offensive in May 1915, and when the Turkish authorities called upon the
Alevi clans of Dersim to join the Ottoman Army for a jihad against the enemy,
the majority of Alevis rejected it. Thus, we may say that this chapter is
dedicated to the brave Alevis who helped many Armenians survive the
genocide—often at great risk—and is an homage to those who lost their lives.
Yet, keeping his objectivity as a historian, Kerivel also points out that
despite the fact that many helped the Armenians survive, some tribes
collaborated with the Ottoman authorities and participated in the massacres—an
important fact to bear in mind, he says, when assessing the overall role of the
Alevis of Dersim during the genocide.
Of course, sheltering the Armenians came at a high price,
and the Alevis paid it no later than 1938. The massacres of the Alevis of
Dersim by the Kemalist regime constituted the primary focus of the seventh and
final chapter of the book. As the author rightly points out, the Armenians and
the Alevis had a common, cruel fate—they were the victims of a genocidal policy
as well as a racist ideology. Interestingly, he argues that the annihilation of
the Alevis of Dersim had been planned long before 1938. Moreover, the chapter
is an attempt to illustrate the way in which the military operations of the
Kemalist Army that led to the massacres of the Alevis were legitimized through
a legislative arsenal put into practice by the regime. The objective, it turns
out, was not only the extermination of the Alevis from the semi-autonomous
Dersim region, but also the eradication of the remaining Armenians who had
found shelter there after the genocide. Referring to survivor accounts, the chapter
provides a vivid description of the massacres that took place in Dersim and
that eradicated the mystic culture and the religious diversity that had long
characterized this land.
Erwan Kerivel’s Les Fils du Soleil is a comprehensive
work that not only displays the parallels between Armenian Christianity and the
Alevism of Dersim, but attests to the commonalities in the mutual, gruesome
fate of both cultures. In addition to being an historical work that deals with
the evolution of Alevism, it is a study that makes us think about the present
and, certainly, the future. The very informative aspect of each chapter helps
us realize that despite our linguistic and religious differences, we share a
common history and a collective memory.
As the author says in the end, “the chains of friendship
between Armenians and Alevis were shattered by the tragic events of the past,
and it is for the sake of reforming those lost chains, that I set about to
write this book.” Kerivel’s work helps us to better understand the urgent need
for joint programs and cooperation, because when it comes to genocide
recognition and the acknowledgment of crimes against humanity, we both have a
common interest.
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