At the first the voices that were accompanied by silent screams have been silenced , then the houses were evacuated , the furniture threw away , and was sold on the public auction or remained in the hands of the thieves . Churches and schools were evacuated . The voices of Krikor , Hovanness , Santukh , Dikran and Anush stopped . Those who were forced to leave had to leave behind not only their homes , possessions and belongings , but also a whole memory . And Anteb lost its memory . . The process of deportation of Anteb Armenians starts at a much later than the Armenians in other Anatolian provinces 30 July - 1 August 1915. However , Anteb has been kind of transit zone for Armenians who were exiled from regions such as Zeytun , Marash , Sivas , Elbistan , Gurun and Furnuz until this date . Armenians are sent to Aleppo from Akçakoyun and Katma train stations . Therefore , the Armeni ans of Anteb are aware of what will happen . On May 3 , 1915 , an Armenian exile convoy of 300 people arrived to Anteb . These exiles , which were all women and children , coming from Zeytun , are kept in an area known as Kavaklik within 15 minutes from Anteb . It is necessary to pay bribes to the gendar mes to help the exiles or to allow them to approach the city . When night falls , the exiles which kept here were got attacked and their possessions got plundered and robbed The attacks against these convoys , which continued to come to the city until the last week of July , were organized by Ali Bey , one of the guarded , high - ranking members of Teşkilat- Mahsusa , who came to the city at the end of April 1915 Anteb Governor Mr. Şükrü and the military commander of Kaza Mr. Hilmi have a share in the fact that Anteb is not included in the areas to be deported until the end of July .
As a matter of fact , This picture clearly shows us that there is no absolute harmony between the center and local administrators during the genocide process . Despite this attitude of the administrators , especially Mr. Ali Cenani and Mr. Fadil , who are the notables of the city , have made great efforts to work against the Armenians and to persuade them about central exile since March 1915 . By sending telegrams to Istanbul , they send telegrams to the government saying that " Armeneed to be forgotten while creating its own history , creates new factors and makes some people forget and trivialize in order to create a new vision of society for a new regime . This nians are making preparations to attack mosques here , attending to kill Turks , rape women and to destroy and plunder Turkish houses " . Thereupon , the Minister of the Navy , Jernal Pasha , sends his deputy Fahri Pasha to the region to examine the situation on the spot . Fahri Pasha reports that no evidence was found to confirm the events that have written in the telegrams . Towards the end of July , The Aleppo Responsible Secretary of the Committee of Union and Progress , Cemal Bey comes to Anteb . The purpose of sending him to Anteb is to request from the well - known and respected people of Anteb to convince the Armenians in Anteb to exile due to the decision of Istanbul . These efforts yield results and on July 29 , Istanbul receives the deportation order .
The Unionists gathered in the city immediately prepare the list of the first Armenians who will be sent from Anteb . Meanwhile , governor Mr. Şükrü and military commander Mr. Hilmi who were resisting the deportation of Anteb Armenians resigned . On July 30 , the exile order is announced by the bearer of ominous tidings . On 1 , 4 , 8 , 11 , 13 August 1915 , a total of 6 convoys , mainly Grego rian Armenians from Anteb , were exiled . These were followed by the deportation of Catholic Armenians in September 1915 and the deportati on of Protestant Armenians in December 1915 . And the city is " cleaned " of its Armenians and Turkish - Islam has announced as victorious . One of the places where the official Turkish historical narrative was embodied on a small scale was Anteb . We are talking about the story of a city that evolved from Ayntap to Antep and finally to Gaziantep as the official Turkish histori ography sees fit . While the identity of Antep and Antep was transformed into Gaziantep , it also gained the qualification of being a Turkish and Sunni city . Actually , it was an identity creation and construction process . Both the city itself and the historical factors that make up the material and spiritual face of this city were also affected by this construction process . Essentially , national history or the official narrative of history puts aside some events that narrative , constructed at the national level , also has its manifestations and receptors at the local level .
Turkish national historiography is also an identity creation process , and these processes go hand in hand , Turkish , meaning that it has a Turkish character and the other is that it belongs to a Sunni Islamic There are two characteristics that define this created identity . One of them is that it is belief , that is , a Sunni Muslim community . This history and identity building has also found its . , actually written by the creators of this identity and its local ( educated ) literature based on the aforementioned great historical narrative and the identity this novel built According to this literature , Anteb was " a typical Turkish city in terms of its economic and ethnic structure alike It renewed Turkish traditions and customs without breaking them and kept minorities under cultural pressure without being under Arab influence .
" However , there are very important social actors missing from this narrative . These representatives have made major contributions to the historical texture , color and climate of Anteb in a long period of time . Indeed , it was once a symbol of richness of the city's identity and played a dominant and pioneering role in shaping all the historical classes of the city , especially the political , economic , religious , social and cultural infrastructure . One of these actors , and perhaps the most important of them , is Anteb's memories of the Armenians and the memories they had to leave behind , the memories that were deleted and , and the places where this memory turned into flesh and bone . The places we are talking about are living spaces rooted in the texture of Anteb , full of experiences and made serious contributions to its historical depth . These are the places that are the most important subject of the collective memory of the city of Anteb . The project " The City That Lost its Memory : Anteb ".
Was implemented with the support of Spaces of Culture , was launched to end the oppressive silence of these places for years and to inform and transmit the story , history and memory of this city in their own language . This project came to life thanks to four people who wanted to share their knowledge and experience about the city : Mustafa Çirkin , Deniz Özgür Özdemir , Murat Uçaner and Ümit Kurt . Looking back on its history , hundreds of stories can be heard about this city , which has a multicultural structure with its buildings , settlements , public and communal areas , and people . At the same time , the places where these stories take place can be seen when walking its streets . When all these possibilities combined and a little curiosity and a passion for sharing , this project emerged .
Our goal here is to revive and share these stories , places , and places that the city and its people have forgotten . As a result of our field research , I deeply influenced the history of the city ; To enrich old and new images of ancient places that added richness / value to his soul and identity with space stories .
-DR. ÜMİT KURT.
Project Consultant.
