Levon Zobian

🇦🇲

[Levon Zobian @Zobian]

Why is Kanye wearing a leather skirt

[Levon Zobian @Zobian]

Is bug juice just red Gatorade?

[Levon Zobian @Zobian]

Ye @Timbaland is one of the top 10 producers of all time

[Levon Zobian @Zobian]

@MIAuniverse Can I send you a pack of beats?

[Levon ♰ 🇩🇪 @itslevon]

The Lost Brides of Armenia

Today I had an encounter with an older man from Sivas, Gemerek (Գամիրք), from the Çepni district. As background, Nisanyan’s Inventory of Settlement in Turkey (@NisanyanHimself) informs us about the Çepni district:

“At the beginning of the 20th century: Armenian settlement.
Currently: partial Alevi Turk (Çepni) settlement.
At the end of the 19th century, it was a large village with about 1,000 Armenians in 160 households.
There is no indication of the presence of Çepni Turks in this region. Although it was always recorded as Çepni, the village has Armenian roots.
A few Armenian households remained, having converted to Islam, while the rest of the population left.
Later, Alevi and Sunni Turks from nearby areas settled there.”

The man had a story to tell me about 1915.

During the 1915 Genocide, people used to “take wives” from the Armenian nation and adopt Armenian children. This happened for various reasons: sometimes because the Armenian family was wealthy — and marrying into it meant taking their property; sometimes because the Turkish government would pay families to take in Armenian children, convert them to Islam, and raise them as Turks. Others took second wives as sex slaves, or adopted children to work in the fields.

In some cases, it was more “humane”, a way to save people from being murdered or deported (which usually ended in death). I explained these motives in more detail in my earlier research:
(https://t.co/gkuG9pXC94)

This old man told me that his village had a significant Armenian population before 1915, as confirmed by Nisanyan’s record. His uncle was one of the people who took an Armenian wife. I don’t know the motivation (and the uncle has passed away) but he shared this much: the uncle’s family told the Armenian woman she had to convert to Islam in order to marry him and save her life from Turkish persecution.

The woman agreed immediately and began living as a Muslim.

Years went by. The Armenian bride became ill and lay on her deathbed. The family urged her to recite the Shahada (the Islamic declaration of faith) so she could die as a Muslim. She refused. Instead, she made the sign of the cross… and passed away.

The old man also said there were many cases where Armenian children had been adopted. Some of them, once grown, realized what had happened to them. Some reached out to the Armenian Church in Constantinople and left. Others continued to live as who they had been raised to be.

The uncle and the Armenian bride had children, who lived as devout Muslims and even made the pilgrimage to Mecca.

The Turkish state’s policy has always been the same, and it remains the same. They renamed Armenian villages with Turkish tribal names like “Çepni,” encouraged Muslims to adopt Christian children to assimilate them into Turkish and Islamic culture, and converted Christian sacred spaces into mosques.

When I asked the old man about the current state of the village, he said there’s still an Armenian church, but they use it as a “depot” now…

I bow in front of our martyrs who were persecuted for their faith.
Their memory lives on even in villages renamed, churches repurposed, and identities erased.

Photo: Surp Sarkis Church in Çepni

[Humanoid History @HumanoidHistory]

Interfaces in BLADE RUNNER, 1982.

[301🇦🇲 @301arm]

The cycle continues…

#ArmenianGenocide

[301🇦🇲 @301arm]

The Flag of Artsakh was raised during the Easter vigil at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem — one of Christianity’s holiest sites, believed to be the location of Jesus Christ’s crucifixion, burial, and resurrection — symbolizing resilience and remembrance amidst sacred tradition.

[Tra @deadspider98]

The “YOU WHAT!?!” always gets me

[The Uncivilised One @Sea2Sea1Way]

Mel Gibson speaking about the Ethnic Cleansing and Genocide of 120,000 Christians ✝️ from Artsakh🇦🇲 at the hands of the “father to son terrorist dictatorship of azerbaijan🇦🇿”

[Humanoid History @HumanoidHistory]

Interfaces in BLADE RUNNER.

[Pigeons & Planes @PigsAndPlans]

Madlib making beats on a train (with a seat for his records too)

[Lindsey Snell @LindseySnell]

Azerbaijan put a Christmas market in Stepanakert, after ethnically cleansing the entire Christian Armenian population of the city

[Obsolete Sony @ObsoleteSony]

Still looks like it's from the future.

[Robert F. Kennedy Jr @RobertKennedyJr]

After the ethnic cleansing of Artsakh, the Azeri regime is still holding onto the civilian political leadership of Artsakh: its prior presidents, ministers, and parliament members, as well as dozens of others as hostages to coerce further territorial concessions from Armenia.

The regime threatens to invade Armenia if they don't cede several towns and villages inside Armenia's territorial boundaries. Today, Azerbaijani bulldozers are destroying what remains of Armenian heritage in Artsakh. If left without international support, the Armenian Genocide of 1915 will be finalized in the coming weeks and months.

We must act now to hold Azerbaijan accountable by calling for the release of the hostages and enforcing sanctions until a safe and viable path for the return of the indigenous Armenians to Artsakh is achieved. Though today we commemorate the 109th anniversary of the beginning of the Armenian Genocide, the plight of the Armenians is not over – and we must recommit ourselves to end the ethnic cleansing and defend Armenians’ right to self-determination.

[Landlord 🇺🇸 @live_free_603]

Imagine not living in New Hampshire

[301🇦🇲 @301arm]

The Khanasor Expedition was a raid launched by Armenian freedom fighters against the Kurdish Mazrik tribe on July 25, 1897. Organized and executed by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, its aim was to eliminate the Mazrik tribe's influence in the Van region.

The expedition was sparked in 1896 when the Kurdish Mazrik tribe, following orders from Sultan Abdul Hamid (known as the "Bloody Sultan"), attacked Armenian fighters during their self-defense in Van. In response, Nikol Duman proposed a retaliatory expedition to Khanasor, the Mazrik tribe's dwelling place.

On July 25, 1897, around 250 freedom fighters led by Nikol Duman, Khanasora Vardan, and Ishkhan Arghutyun launched a surprise attack on the Mazrik tribe at dawn. The Armenian fighters succeeded in eliminating a significant number of Mazrik militants, while showing mercy to the women and children. Sharaf Bek, the Mazrik tribe's commander, fled the battlefield in disguise, dressed as a woman. The expedition concluded on July 27, 1897.

The Khanasor Expedition ended triumphantly for the Armenians, boosting the confidence of the Armenian freedom fighters who had long been facing attacks from the "Bloody Sultan's" troops and Kurdish nomadic groups. Throughout the expedition, 25 Armenians lost their lives, including Karo, the brother of Rostom, the founder of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation.