ARMENIAN - Erevangala500

The Ottoman Sultan-Caliphs lovingly called them their
"most loyal subjects". Under the rule of the Seljuks and
the Ottomans, from the eleventh to the nineteenth century,
the Armenians enjoyed their happiest time, their
golden age.
Today, the Armenians are still Turkey's largest minority,
and they are still highly respected as businessmen, artists,
engineers, doctors, traders, and craftsmen. They also enjoy
the same rights and have the same responsibilities as
all other Turkish citizens, regardless of national origin.
The Armenian Question was created by the Russian dictate
of San Stefano in 1878. Before that time, the
Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire was made
up of four very distinct groups. In Istanbul and Izmir
lived the influential Amiras, who were prosperous and
highly educated Armenians. Anatolia was home to the
Kavaragan. These were well-to-do, provincial craftsmen
and traders, whose influence could be felt in the cities as
well. The Armenian peasants had largely the same way of
life as their Islamic counterparts. Last but not least were
the mountain-dwellers, who had special rights. Even
within the autonomy of the Armenian millet, they enjoyed
special rights, one could even call it semi-independence.
As long as it was possible, the central Ottoman government
left the Armenians alone. Unfortunately, there were
a few Armenian revolutionaries and Protestant zealots
whose nationalistic fervor knew no bounds. These people
used all available means of demagoguery to stir up unrest
in the semHndependent rural communities. The
Armenian uprising in Zeitun is an example of what resulted.
Every national/religious community (in Turkish "millet")
within the Ottoman Empire enjoyed extensive
autonomy and took care o f its own administration.
Patriarch Snork Kalutsyan, spiritual leader o f the
Armenians o f Turkey. In the Ottoman Empire, the patriarch's
power was that o f a "national king". All
Monophysitic Christians of the Empire -and all gypsies -
were subject to his rule.
The Armenian Orthodox Patriarchate
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