Syrian Armenians in the Crossfire: The Syrian Uprising and the Future of a Shrinking Minority
Panel 200, sponsored bySyrian Studies Association (SSA) and Society of Armenian Studies (SAS), 2014 Annual Meeting
On Monday, November 24 at 5:00 pm
Panel Description
Armenians have lived in the lands that would become Syria for centuries, yet most arrived as refugees after the Armenian Genocide in 1915 when the newly formed nation received more than 100,000 Armenians by the 1920s. Naturalized as Syrian nationals, Armenians thrived in Syria and were touted as a community loyal to Asad's regime. This panel sets out to critically explore issues facing the Armenian community three years after the initial Syrian uprising. As one paper shows, the Armenian community was in a state of decline prior to the Syrian uprising in March, 2011, when the population decreased to less than 60,000 residents. Factors such as chronic political instability, lack of economic opportunities, and compulsory military service, among other causes, contributed to emigration and precipitated decline. The current conflict has challenged the shrinking Armenian community that remains in Syria today. Another paper examines the ta'ifa or communal system under which modern Syria operates: a carry-over from the Ottoman millet system. The author asks: how well did this system really serve Armenians in the ongoing conflictl Did these networks help or fail the Armenian community during the Syrian uprisings The paper explores possible outcomes from the conflict and the overall affects it could have on the future Armenian community. Another paper examines the role of the Armenian diaspora in the current conflict in Syria. Dividing the conflict up into phases, the paper assesses the positive, neutral, and negative roles that the Armenian diaspora has played in Syria over the last three years. Panelists include a range of academics and journalists who have covered the uprising turned war from the outset. Panelists will discuss these issues in the broader context of the now Syrian civil war and the possibility of resolution. Importantly, presenters will elaborate on the extent to which the Armenian community stands a chance of survival given the increased sectarian violence and dim prospects for resolution.
Sectarianism as timeless, a-historical essence, which figures so prominently in the popular accounts of the war in Syria (and elsewhere) has been effectively challenged by historians of the Modern Middle East. Nonetheless, sectarian identification is a reality in the Syrian conflict and sub-national communal organizations and groups are making decisions to fight or remain neutral. Religious and ethnic identification is a reality of the conflict and especially so amongst vulnerable minority communities like that of the descendents of Armenian-genocide era Armenian refugees. This paper seeks to explain choices made by that community in the present with reference to the “régime de cloisons étanche” of interwar French colonial politics and makes the argument that Armenian communal relationships to power and authority in Syria were first developed in that context and have remained similar, even though those in power have changed.
The Armenian experience in Syria illustrates the process of diasporic community decline and reconstruction, a subject that has attracted little scholarly attention in ethnic and diaspora studies. The authoritarian system established since independence in 1946 rendered the community politically marginalized and in times of political crises used various forms of political violence. Upon assuming power in 2000, Bashar al-Asad maintained absolute command in party and military authority, which permitted little room for participation in the political process by ethnic communities. Nevertheless, in the mid-1990s the Armenian community appeared to have yet again recovered its cultural vitality, largely because of its good relations with the Asad regime. Its close ties with the state notwithstanding, the Armenian population in the country declined from an estimated 150,000 in the 1950s to no more than 60,000 prior to the current civil war. Chronic political instability, lack of economic opportunities, and compulsory military service, among other causes, are identified as contributing to emigration and decline. The crisis since March 2011 has accelerated the Armenian community’s attrition, giving rise to speculations regarding its future. This paper examines the causes of the community’s decline and the extent to which it can survive and rebuild after the current civil war.
This research examines and analyzes the role of the Syrian Armenian diaspora in the Syrian conflict that occurred in an unstructured environment. The conflict parties in Syria are in a zero-sum situatioin. Each party considers the other as a threat and is prepared to act violently against the other. This article examines the conflict dynamics and the role of the Syrian Armenian diaspora that would depened on many factors, such as its strength and level of political organization in the host country, the issues at stake in the conflict, its ability to exert political pressure in the home country, and the international attention given to the conflict. The best way to explain its role in the conflict is to think about the various phases of the conflict and then evaluate the role that the diaspora played in each phase. The diasporic community's effects on the conflict can be defined as positive, negative and neutral. Combining the phases of the conflict with the possible arenas (political, military, economic and socio-cultural) and the effects of the diaspora on the conflict, this article provides a comprehensive framework for analyzing the role of the diaspora in the Syrian conflict.
This paper examines and analyzes the political, social and cultural development of the Syrian Armenian community under Baath party rule (from 1963 until present), its transformation during the presidency of Bashar Assad since 2000, and its dilemma during the present Syrian conflict. Armenians had centuries-old presence in the Levant. The Syrian Armenian community functions largely according to the principles of the Ottoman Millet System, which itself was transformed by the modern nation state. Economic, cultural, and political changes since the sixties have altered the nature of the Armenian community. The Arab-Israeli wars (1967, 1973), Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990) and the two Iraq Wars (1991 and 2003) caused demographic changes in the community. Migration and brain drain have shrunk the population.The introduction of the first hereditary presidents in the modern Arab world, and last, but not least, the Syrian Uprising (2011-present), have also altered the community system by making it more similar to the political regime in the country.
Within a very complex web of decades-old alliances among sects, clans, businesses and a security apparatus in Syria, Armenians have forged both as a community and as individuals relations with the regime through its army, security agencies, and influential Baath party officials. Did these networks help or fail the Armenian community during the Syrian Uprising? Were the representatives of the reigie honest partners or they were exploiters.? How will the Armenian community survive, transform, or cease to exist after the collapse of or change in the political system in Syria.
