Armenian=European?

[E30?]

Wow this thread describes me. Im an Armenian born in Istanbul (european side aka Bakirkoy)

So I'm Armenian=European.

[Kershaw]

ottoman turks were ridiculously genocidal. my grandmother is from smyrna. which was obliterated by the turks. they basically killed the entire greek population on the east coast of the aegean, in what is now modern day turkey. it had been part of greece for thousands of years...

<---- 1/2 greek

[freeride53]

a "real Armenian" from Armenia pronounce's it: Basturma, tolma, lamajun and kufta

haha, I love foods from the reigon. However- nothing beats persian kabob. dammit.

[E30Kaiser]

ottoman turks were ridiculously genocidal. my grandmother is from smyrna. which was obliterated by the turks. they basically killed the entire greek population on the east coast of the aegean, in what is now modern day turkey. it had been part of greece for thousands of years...

<---- 1/2 greek

Didn't the Greeks massacre the population of Troy to gain control of that land?

[T Verdier]

haha, I love foods from the reigon. However- nothing beats persian kabob. dammit.

So do the ladies love your Persian kabob?

[freeride53]

So do the ladies love your Persian kabob?

haha. I never really bring up the fact that I'm persian, unless they ask. Current biatch at hand is eastern european.

[Emre]

Didn't the Greeks massacre the population of Troy to gain control of that land?

The "population exchange" that took place between Greece and Turkey was a pretty horrible time all around. Lots of Christians were killed (mostly in the Eastern Mediterranean); lots of Muslims were killed (mostly in the Balkans). There were hundreds of thousands of refugees on both sides. My family was also caught up in it: they fled Macedonia/Bosnia and ended up in Istanbul.

It was a very chaotic time.

Looking at events that happened 100 years ago and trying to judge them by modern standards isn't very fruitful. These were the crazy days of early nationalism in the region, which soon lead to frank fascism that culminated in WWII. You need to look at the big picture to even try to make sense of it all.

my grandmother is from smyrna. which was obliterated by the turks. they basically killed the entire greek population on the east coast of the aegean, in what is now modern day turkey.

No doubt the Ottomans killed tons of ethnic Greeks in the area. But most historians agree that the fires (which were responsible for a huge proportion of the deaths) were set by retreating Greek soldiers. That doesn't excuse the Turks, of course. But there is definitely more to the story.

it had been part of greece for thousands of years...

I guess nationalism is still alive and well in your family! There was no such thing as "Greece" even two hundred years ago...let alone thousands of years ago. It's a thoroughly modern invention. And it was invented by the Europeans, BTW (the British in particular). So, it's not even a "Greek" invention.

Nevertheless, most modern Greeks seem to buy into the story, just as most modern Turks seem to buy into their story. If you look just a tiny bit beyond the last 100 years, you'd appreciate how recently these concepts were made up.

[ACMF74]

I was not talking to you. I was talking to ACMF74 or whatever his name is.

Armen

[Kershaw]

I guess nationalism is still alive and well in your family! There was no such thing as "Greece" even two hundred years ago...let alone thousands of years ago. It's a thoroughly modern invention. And it was invented by the Europeans, BTW (the British in particular). So, it's not even a "Greek" invention.

ok. then the use the standard on what greece is by where ethnic greeks lived. and ethnic greeks have lived on the coast of modern day turkey for thousands of years.

[Farbin Kaiber]

So "greek" is a recent invention? I'd like you to delve deeper into this subject.

[YAN-3]

I love basturma!

so do I baby!!!

I'm not racist but 9 times out of 10 I hate Armenians.

am i #10 ?

[E30Kaiser]

So "greek" is a recent invention? I'd like you to delve deeper into this subject.

To defend his point, the Greek city states haven't existed for two and a half thousand years, and there really isn't any viable claim that the ethnicity is the same as 2.5k years is a lot of breeding with barbarians. The modern Greek state was a tool against the Turks.

[Farbin Kaiber]

Good, I was actually asking to hear it from him/his prospective.

[Kershaw]

To defend his point, the Greek city states haven't existed for two and a half thousand years, and there really isn't any viable claim that the ethnicity is the same as 2.5k years is a lot of breeding with barbarians. The modern Greek state was a tool against the Turks.

however, when there was a common enemy, all the city states (such as athens, sparta, corinth, etc) would band together to fight them off. why would they do that if they didnt recognize each other as related in some form, whether it be ethnicity or culture, or geographic?

while they may have been independent and heavily inter-warring, they recognized each other as greeks.