Kathryn Cook

Memory of Trees

In the early 1900s, as the Ottoman Empire was disintegrating, a fiercely nationalistic "Young Turks" movement took power. With the Empire’s fall, the multi-cultural attitude that had made it one of the world’s great cosmopolis became eclipsed by the fledgling government's dream of a "pan-Turkic" country - a Turkish-speaking nation extending far beyond the Caspian Sea to the Siberian steppe. As with all ideologies, their taking hold and taking root means the termination of what doesn’t fit into the new identity. On April 24, 1915 the Committee of Union and Progress issued a deportation order to have hundreds of Armenian intellectuals rounded up, removed and murdered. The act set in motion the extermination of Turkey’s Armenian population.

Recognized as "genocide" today by more than a dozen countries, Turkey still vigorously rejects that claim. Memory of Trees" follows the remains and traces of an ambiguous, dark history - the definition of which is still being fought over nearly a century later.

In 2008 I visited the village of Agacli, which in Turkish means “with trees” or, “place of trees.” Recently, the Kurdish inhabitants of this former Armenian village revived an Armenian scarf-weaving tradition that cultivates silkworms in the same trees used nearly 100 years ago. The trees are all that remain of the Armenians’ time, here. Their continued existence and renewed importance of old, symbolize the enduring legacy of their former owners and the re-grafting of their cultural influence to the region that was once their home. The title for this body of work was born of this evocative fact.

A boy runs down a path through a field as a dust storm covers the sky between Aleppo and Raqqa, Syria. This was a common deportation route for Armenians who were force-marched through northern Syria by Ottoman Turkish troops in the early 1900s.
  
Rolling hills and farmland can be seen around the mountain of Musa Dagh near Vakifli‭, ‬the last ethnic Armenian village in Turkey‭. ‬About‭ ‬30‭ Armenian families populate the small town‭ and surrounding area, ‬which is located near the Turkish border with Syria‭. ‬In 1915‭ ‬about 5,000‭ ‬Armenians‭ ‬organized a defense of their community against the deportation edicts issued by the Young Turks‭, ‬a fiercely nationalistic group said to have orchestrated the Armenian Genocide‭.‬
  
The Armenian Holy Cross Church‭, ‬built in the 10th‭ ‬century by an Armenian King‭, ‬is seen from‭ ‬a ferryboat on the island of Akhtamar in Lake Van‭, ‬Turkey‭. ‬The church is possibly the most precious symbol of Armenian presence in Turkey and is a popular pilgrimage site today‭.‬
     
  
The shadow of a train that runs from Adana to Istanbul, Turkey, is seen projected on land between the cities of Konya and Adana, Turkey. A German company won concessions to build part of the railway back in the early 1900s, then called the Baghdad Railway, and in 1915 the Turkish government began to use it to deport thousands of Armenians to Syria. According to eyewitness accounts, concentration camps sprung up along the sides of the train track, particularly between the cities of Konya and Gaziantep. Defending themselves from bandits and starvation, thousands perished in the camps or in route to Syria.
   
A photo taken during the Armenian deportations from Turkey shows a line of people on their way through the desert heading to Aleppo, Syria. As the Ottoman Empire disintegrated, the new nationalistic "Young Turks" government took power and issued orders for the deportation of hundreds of thousands of its Christian subjects and resulted in the deaths of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians. These atrocities have been recognized "genocide" by dozens of countries, but is still rejected by the Turkish government.
   
A photo of slain Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink is seen in the reflection of the hearse carrying his flower-covered coffin during a funeral procession in Istanbul‭, ‬Turkey on January 23‭, ‬2007. Dink was shot in broad daylight outside of his newspaper's office in‭ ‬Istanbul‭.‬ Dink‭, ‬a defender of his Armenian past‭, ‬was charged with breaking Law 301 of the Penal Code which makes it illegal to‭ ‬“insult”‭ ‬the Republic or being a Turk‭.‬‭ ‬His killer‭ ‬admitted that‭ ‬he‭ ‬did‭ ‬it because Hrant had‭ "‬insulted Turks‭." ‬Many Armenians in Turkey fear asserting their ethnic origins‭, ‬which means living in near silence to avoid trouble‭. ‬
     
  
A woman holds a small Armenian bible during a service at the Holy Mother of God church in Vakifli‭, ‬Turkey‭.‬ About‭ ‬30‭ ‬Armenian families populate the small town‭ and surrounding area, ‬which is located near the Turkish border with Syria‭. ‬Although Armenians are allowed to celebrate their traditions in Turkey, many fear asserting their ethnic origins‭, ‬which means living in near silence to avoid trouble‭. ‬
   
A neglected tombstone marking an Armenian grave is seen in a cemetery in the last ethnically Armenian village of Vakifli, Turkey. Vakifli and six other Armenian villages in the area were completely deserted during 1915 as the Armenians resisted the Ottoman army against deportation and escaped from Turkey. It was only many years later that some of the Armenians' relatives returned to Vakifli to live again. However, a dwindling number of only 30 Armenian families populate the small town and surrounding area, which borders Syria.
   
Children play in the courtyard of the old Ihlasiye Madresesi, or religious school, in Bitlis, Turkey. Bitlis's population was half Armenian before 1915, when the Russians advanced on Bitlis and the Ottoman Turks emptied the town of Armenians, most of who were deported to Syria.
     
  
Tables and chairs are set up before the start of an Armenian celebration in Vakifli, Turkey. Vakifli and six other Armenian villages in the area were completely deserted during 1915 as the Armenians resisted the Ottoman army against deportation and escaped from Turkey. It was only many years later that some of the Armenians' relatives returned to Vakifli to live again, where they can celebrate traditional Armenian holidays.
   
A portrait of a genocide survivor who escaped Ottoman Turkey to what is now Armenia.
   
A genocide survivor at his home in Armenia.
     
  
Pigeons roost in the ruin of a building that was formerly an Armenian orphanage in the old city district of Aleppo, Syria. The compound is now half a house and half a ruin, which the owner uses to keep his pigeons.
   
An unused train wagon is seen from the Toros Express train that runs from Istanbul to Gaziantep, Turkey. A German company won concessions to build part of the railway back in the early 1900s, then called the Baghdad Railway, and in 1915 the Turkish government began to use it to deport thousands of Armenians to Syria. According to eyewitness accounts, concentration camps sprung up along the sides of the train track, particularly between the cities of Konya and Gaziantep. Defending themselves from bandits and starvation, thousands perished in the camps or in route to Syria.
   
An Armenian woman attends a service at the Holy Mother of God Armenian Church in Vakifli‭, ‬Turkey‭.‬ About‭ ‬30‭ ‬Armenian families populate the small town‭ and surrounding area, ‬which is located near the Turkish border with Syria‭. ‬Although Armenians are allowed to celebrate their traditions in Turkey, many fear asserting their ethnic origins‭, ‬which means living in near silence to avoid trouble‭. ‬
     
  
Birds fly over a craggy mountain cliff near the city of Raqqa, Syria, where eyewitness accounts say that Armenian fell to their death during forced marches through the desert in the early 1900s. The trail along the Euphrates was used by the Ottoman Turks to deport Armenians, most of who perished on the way to the northeastern city of Deir Zor.
   
A priest's frock dries in the sun at the Armenian abbey in Jerusalem. Thousands of Armenian refugees arrived in Jerusalem after surviving deportations from Ottoman Turkey in 1915, arriving at the convents and churches for shelter.
   
A visitor to the Holy Sepulchre church in Jerusalem runs his hand across crosses that pilgrims have engraved on a wall in the Armenian section of the church. Thousands of Armenian refugees arrived in Jerusalem after surviving deportations from Ottoman Turkey in 1915.
     
  
Young Armenian boys run around the grounds of the abandoned seminary that stands in the Armenian quarter of the old city area of Jerusalem. Thousands of refugees arrived in Jerusalem after the Armenian deportations in 1915, seeking shelter in churches and convents, one of the primary being the St. James convent in the Armenian quarter.
   
A grove of trees is seen through a window from the Toros Express train that runs from Istanbul to Gaziantep, Turkey. A German company won concessions to build part of the railway back in the early 1900s, then called the Baghdad Railway, and in 1915 the Turkish government began to use it to deport thousands of Armenians to Syria. According to eyewitness accounts, concentration camps sprung up along the sides of the train track, particularly between the cities of Konya and Gaziantep. Defending themselves from bandits and starvation, thousands perished in the camps or in route to Syria.
   
A young girl stands on the ruin of an Armenian church in Diyarbakir, Turkey. A significant Armenian community once flourished in this southeastern city.
     
  
Tall grasses overtake the ruins of the Snake Castle (Yilankale) near the city of Adana, Turkey. The castle dates back to the 11th century when the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia was flourishing in central Turkey. Armenians inhabited what is now Turkey for centuries, but traces of their past is slowly disappearing and tourist information omits information pertaining to the Armenian heritage or disappearance. Churches and monasteries were destroyed in the early 20th century, or re-inhabited by Turks and Kurds.
   
The decaying ruins of an old traditional Armenian house are seen in Gaziantep, Turkey. Gaziantep's Armenian community, once very wealthy and influential, fled or were deported during the time of the Armenian genocide, which preceded Turkey's independence. Today the only traces of their existence are the homes and churches that are now inhabited by Turkish families, or which still lay in ruin.
   
A child plays in the rubble of Sancak (Sanjak) camp in the Bourk Hamoud district of Beirut, Lebanon. Sancak was originally an Armenian refugee camp and is now a very poor neighborhood. The municipality has demolished part of the camp in hopes of eventually building a modern shopping/apartment building in its place.
     
  
A man collects torches used during a procession in commemoration of the Armenian Genocide at the path toward the genocide monument on the night before the anniversary date of April 24th.
   
Snow blankets the countryside along a road between Van and Dogubayazit‭, ‬Turkey‭, ‬close to the border with present-day Armenia‭. ‬The region of Eastern Turkey is where the largest population of Turkey's Armenians had been living for centuries‭. ‬The region of Lake Van was hit hard by violence during conflicts between Armenians and Turks in the late 1800s to early 1900s‭, ‬as well as during WWI‭. ‬After the deportation decree of April 24‭, ‬1915‭ ‬was issued‭, ‬almost all of the Armenian communities in the area were wiped out‭.‬
   
A statue stands over a grave in the Armenian cemetery in the Armenian quarter of the old city area of Jerusalem. Thousands of Armenian refugees arrived in Jerusalem after surviving deportations from Ottoman Turkey in 1915, arriving at the convents and churches for shelter.
     
  
Visitors are seen in front of the Armenian genocide monument in Yerevan, Armenia to pay their respects on the evening of the anniversary - April 24th.
   
A dirt track disappears off into the hills of the Turkish countryside as it is seen from a train that runs from Istanbul to Gaziantep‭, ‬Turkey‭. ‬A German company won concessions to build part of the railway back in the early 1900s‭, ‬then called the Baghdad Railway‭, ‬and in 1915‭ ‬the Turkish government began to use it to deport thousands of Armenians to Syria‭. ‬According to eyewitness accounts‭, ‬concentration camps sprung up‭ ‬along the sides of the train track‭, ‬particularly between the cities of Konya and Gaziantep‭. ‬Defending themselves from bandits and starvation‭, ‬thousands perished in the camps or in route to Syria‭.‬
   
An old cemetery is seen from a train that runs from Istanbul to Gaziantep, Turkey. According to eyewitness accounts, concentration camps sprung up along the sides of the train track, particularly between the cities of Konya and Gaziantep. Defending themselves from bandits and starvation, thousands perished in the camps or in route to Syria.
     
  
A young Christian pilgrim to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, in the Christian quarter of old Jerusalem, is covered with a traditional veil at the entrance to the church on Good Friday, March 21, 2008. Thousands of Armenian refugees arrived in Jerusalem after surviving deportations from Ottoman Turkey in 1915, arriving at the convents and churches for shelter.
   
People walk towards the entrance of the Armenian genocide monument in Yerevan, Armenia to pay their respects on the evening of the anniversary - April 24th.
   
People walk in a procession in commemoration of the Armenian Genocide on the path toward the genocide monument in Yerevan, Armenia on the night before the anniversary date of April 24th.
     
  
Cargo wagons are seen parked at Akshehir town station from a window of the Toros Express that runs from Istanbul to Gaziantep, Turkey. A German company won concessions to build part of the railway back in the early 1900s, then called the Baghdad Railway, and in 1915 the Turkish government began to use it to deport thousands of Armenians to Syria. According to eyewitness accounts, concentration camps sprung up along the sides of the train track, particularly between the cities of Konya and Gaziantep. Defending themselves from bandits and starvation, thousands perished in the camps or in route to Syria.
   
A horse wanders through a meadow outside of the formerly Armenian town of Arapgir, Turkey.