Finding Bingyol: The Story Behind My MUS130A Final Project
One day while looking through my Instagram, my eye caught on one story.
It was my Armenian friend H (name obscured for the privacy and the safety of my friend); it had something I never though I would read. Azerbaijan had invaded Armenia.
I slid/fell down from my bunk bed in my dorm room in the Gila Residence Hall. I could not imagine terrified feeling that the people of Armenia was feeling, with the pandemic and now an armed conflict. Wanting to help my friends, I decided to take the time to research the history of this situation.
Armenia is a country located in Transcaucasia. It is neighboured by Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Iran. At the height of the Armenian Empire, its territory stretched from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea and from the Mediterranean to Urmia a lake in current-day Iran. In the 14th century (CE) the Armenian Empire fell into the hands of the Ottoman Empire. (https://www.britannica.com/place/Armenia)
The Ottomans were Muslim unlike their newly captured Armenian population that was Christian. This difference in religion created disparity within the population of the Ottoman Empire. Armenians were treated as “second class” citizens. This meant that they were subject to legal restrictions. The government denied them basic protections further creating disparities between the Ottomans and Armenian minority. As the years passes the resentment within the minority increased and created an increase in the aspirations into wanting representation in government. The arising suspicions and the increase of Turk political extremist created a new nationalistic view of the majority Turkish population. The extremists were called the Young Turks. The Young Turks believed the ultranationalist idea that pushed for the creation of a exclusively Turkish state. The Armenians were simply in the way and the Turks sought to erase them completely. (https://www.armenian-genocide.org/genocide.html)
World War I became the guise in which the Ottomans started their genocide. The Ottomans joined the Triple Alliance and waged war on the Western Allies and the Russians. During this time, the Ottoman government quietly started their genocide. Disguised as a resettlement programme, the Ottomans deported thousands of Armenians from their homes into the Syrian desert. They were able to succeed as the resistance remained weak within the Armenian population. (https://www.armenian-genocide.org/genocide.html)
The Armenian people faced many atrocities. These deportation convoys were attacked by killers contracted by the Ottoman government. These government-contracted killers killed indiscriminately. Children were kidnapped and thrown into Muslim Turkish households. Women were also taken to be unpaid slaves required to take the Turkish language and Muslim religion. Armenian soldiers in the Ottoman military were disarmed and worked to death or executed. Most of these killings were done by sword. If they didn’t die by sword, they were killed by overheating, starvation, dehydration, exhaustion, or other complications due to the deportation. By 1918, one million of the approximate two million Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire had been killed by the hands of the Turkish. By 1923 the entire Armenian population on the Anatolian peninsula had been executed. Most if not all of the crimes considered internationally to be war crimes were committed. None were never persecuted.(https://www.armenian-genocide.org/genocide.html)
To this day, Turkey denies the Armenian Genocide, so does Azerbaijan. Some Turkish and Azerbaijanis believe that the Armenians perpetuated a genocide of Turkish people. This belief is further perpetuated by President Erdogan who has been quoted on saying that he wants to recreate the Turkish Empire and finish the job of ethnically cleansing the Armenians off of this Earth. (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8813791/Erdogan-trying-reinstate-Turkish-empire-continue-Armenian-genocide-countrys-PM-says.html)
A region that has always been in conflict is Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenia believes that the territory is theirs, Azerbaijan believes it is theirs. This inevitably caused tensions between the two countries, leading to invasions by the Azerbaijanis into a territory that predominately believes to be part of Armenia and has a majority Armenian population. The tension had boiled over in 2020, leading to war. (https://www.britannica.com/place/Nagorno-Karabakh)
Neither side is guilt-free. Azerbaijan had used illegal “dirty bombs” against villages in Armenia. Allegedly, to retaliate, the Armenian army also used these bombs as well. Regardless of this, many significant war crimes were committed by the Turkey-backed Azerbaijan military. With the addition of Russian intervention, the two sides came to an agreement. This agreement saw many Armenians tearfully saying goodbye to their birthplace or homeland of Artsakh, otherwise known as Nagorno-Karabakh. (https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/12/armenia-azerbaijan-decapitation-and-war-crimes-in-gruesome-videos-must-be-urgently-investigated/)
I did my best to support H. I gave him the most comfort I could. I felt it was unfair, how I could be sitting comfortably in a dorm room, without a care in the world. H confided in me about many of his worries. He told me about how worried he was for his friend who was drafted into the military. He worried that his friend would not come home. He worried that he would be next to be drafted and taken to the front lines. He worried that he would end up dead because of the conflict. It seemed each day another atrocity was committed on the frontlines. More Armenians seemed to end up as each day passed. As the days passed it seemed like the Azerbaijan military found new ways to try to destroy Armenia and its people. Bombs being dropped on Armenian maternity wards, villages, churches, and general hospitals and many other places seemed to happen constantly.
I felt helpless. I wanted to do more, but what could one person do? Especially one who has little to no power, or so I thought. I did what I felt that I could do. I signed petitions. I kept posting news about the conflict on my Instagram stories hoping that my friends and followers would listen.
A couple weeks after the first conversation I had with H, I received a message from him. He asked if I was interested in taking part in an interview with his friend A. I readily agreed. I was put in contact with A and did my first interview. I felt incredibly happy afterwards. I felt like I truly did something to take a stand. Right around the same time, my first semester at university was ending. Finals was coming up fast. For my MUS130A final, I was instructed to create a presentation talking about music and a certain theme related to it. Originally, I had planned to do my final on musicians who had perished in the Holocaust. I realised that this was a perfect opportunity to spread awareness. I immediately contacted A and H to get information. They were overjoyed and immediately agreed to help with anything I needed. A then shared with me her favourite folk song, Bingyol.
Bingyol used to be the name of a city. Now this city is within the borders of Turkey. Translated, Bingyol means “a thousand lakes” (https://musicofarmenia.com/song-number-sixteen-bingyol). This folk song was written by Avetik Isahakyan. Avetik Isahakyan was an Armenian poet, writer, academician, and member of the Armenian Academy of Sciences. Isahakyan was a known skeptic and outspoken political activist against the Young Turks. He survived the Armenian Genocide and lived the rest of his life in Soviet Armenia. (http://armenianhouse.org/isahakyan/bio-en.html) Bingyol illustrates the singer’s longing to return to his beloved and his beloved town of Bingyol.
I want to show my appreciation towards A and H for allowing me to tell this story again. I cannot describe in words how special A and H are to me. How supportive and lovingly patient they have been with me throughout this entire time. I cannot thank them enough.
