Saturday, June 18, 2011

AGATHONAS and CO



I had heard Agathonas before I ever knew who he was. Travelling in my father's car as a young child, my father would play Haris Alexiou's interpretations of rebetika songs. In one of these, where she would relate how she was fed up with life and was going to migrate to America, where she would dwell among the sky-scrapers and drink whisky, her crooning would be interrupted by a terribly masculine and world weary voice proclaiming: «Πάψε τα παλιογινάτια πεισματάρα μου.» Some more strains would follow and an enthusiastic Alexiou would riposte with: «Γεια σου Αγάθωνα, γεια σου πουλάκι μου.» So I had a voice and a name, though I was thoroughly convinced that Agathonas was Alexiou's pet budgerigar. A founding member of the seminal rebetiko group Rebetiko Synkrotima tis Thessalonikis, Agathonas Iakovidis is considered one of the finest proponents of the Rebetiko genre. A self-taught musician proficient in bouzouki, tsoura, mandola, mandolin, guitar and baglama, he is particularly noted for his vocal dexterity and prowess.
Quite apart from his immense musical prowess, Agathonas is significant in another respect. His physical appearance is inordinately arresting. Lean, with a prominent forehead, a rich, drooping moustache and locks of long, thick hair bounding down the sides of his otherwise bald pate, like goats romping down the sides of Mount Gilead, and of course a large aquiline nose, the sounding board whence dulcet sounds issue forth, as well as kindly and piercing, twinkling eyes facilitate a most unmistakeable countenance. Yet slap a beard on the said Agathonas and he could dabble as Greek community stalwart, activist and Karl Marx doppelganger, Christos Tsirkas' brother. I put this to the aforementioned Christos Tsirkas at the recent concert Agathonas gave at the Thornbury Theatre, during his Australian tour. He accepted the comparison without his composure being ruffled and contributed further that in his opinion, Agathonas exactly resembled doyen of academic rebetika studies and erstwhile lecturer in Modern Greek, Professor Stathis Gauntlett. Being already possessed of a similar moustache, Christos Tsirkas theorized, all Stathis Gauntlett would have to do, is grow his hair long in order to perfect the resemblance. Come to think of it, his voice is remarkeably reminiscent to that of Agathonas, both like rebetika and I have never seen then in the same room together. Musician Tony Iliou on the other hand observes that on two separate occasions whilst strolling along Circular Quay after Sunday lunch, sundry Melburnian person's have accosted Agathonas with the greeting: "Hi David," referring to David Crosby of legendary outfit Crosby, Stills and Nash fame. Hmmmm....
Agathonas tour of Australia is exciting not only because of his presence in his own right, or the fact that he brought in his train the amazingly talented, supple and jointless Maria Dikta whose wrist undulations and magical passes as she plays her hand-cymbals are as mesmerizing as her vocal range, but also because with him returned one of the great luminaries of the Australian rebetika scene, violinist Hector Cosmas.
I am unafraid to admit that as a failed violinist, I idolize Hector. In my first year of university, my uncle gifted me Apodimi Compania's CD entitled 'Melisma,' and featuring the Galiatsos brothers, along with Argyris Argyropoulos and the great Hector. I was spellbound, entranced and profoundly moved, all at the same time and set about attempting to master the spells he was casting over his instrument. Sixteen years later, I am still at it.
Hector and his associates can be credited with the creation of a vibrant Rebetiko scene here in Melbourne, centered around the legendary Retreat Hotel. Most importantly, their dedication and virtuosity have propelled Rebetika into the broader Australian musical world as a legitimate and enjoyable genre, open to all. The fact that non-Greek musicians, such as the breath-stoppingly skilled Politiki lyra player Paddy Montgomery are now well entrenched within this scene can in no small part be attributed to the trail blazing work of Hector and other pioneers of the art. Furthermore, Hector is significant, as he has been able to successfully transcend the antipodean divide and establish himself as a highly regarded virtuoso in the more competitive Greek rebetiko scene, where he accompanies the greats, Agathonas included.
What was most moving about Agathonas' performance at the Thornbury theatre, apart from the return from musical prodigality of Hector Cosmas, was the fact that it soon became obvious to all, and indeed to Agathonas, who commented on it, that our own local musicians accompanying our Greek guests are in no way inferior to those of Greece. Indeed, accordion-playing Robert De Niro look-alike George Kyriakidis and the luminous guitarist Tony Iliou, both ubiquitous in the Antipodean music scene, not only proved that they could keep up with Agathonas, but give him a run for his money as well.
The major surprise of the evening was the youthful Fotis Vergopoulos, a master of the bouzouki and possessed of a velveteen voice that slides smoothly and gracefully from his tongue and makes the ear-drum of the listener swoon. The crystal clear clarity of his voice, coupled with the rasping earthiness of that of Agathonas makes for a perfect combination. As an emerging artist, Fotis Vergopoulos, who if he didn't steal the show, made it infinitely more enjoyable, certainly is a man to watch.
What is truly amazing about Agathonas is his self-deprecating humility. After all, the concert was advertised as being about him and yet, he was ever-willing to take a backward step in order to showcase the talents of the Australian members of his team. One could see him mouth to Fotis: "You sing now," nod in encouragement at the musicians, smile at them after having completed a more tortuous section of a song and emerged unscathed and laugh on the few occasions when, owing to the fact that the members of the group had not ever played together, sections were not repeated or suddenly ended.
True rebetika are impromptu, no holds barred, no beg your pardons and totally uncontrived. Agathonas' restrained banter with the audience and the interplay with the members of his group was warm-hearted, genuine and unapologetically, essentially him. As a result, an enormous amount of goodwill was generated, proving that one does not need to book vast venues and arrive here with a multitudinous entourage in order to entertain us. All that is required is respect for the audience, a love of music and the rest will follow. Agathonas' performances in Australia, along with Maria Dikta and Hector Cosmas illustrate this principle perfectly, while also bringing to light Agathonas' uncannily inexhaustible supply of Chuck Norris jokes. What they also illustrate, is that while we hunger for performances by quality Greek artists, we should also, as a community, make a commitment to fostering the development of and supporting our own Greek-Australian artists. They are just as amazing.

DEAN KALIMNIOU



First published in NKEE on Saturday 18 June 2011

Saturday, June 04, 2011

PONTIAN GENOCIDE: RIGHTEOUS MUSLIMS WHO REFUSED TO KILL





May marks the anniversary of one of the most heinous crimes of human history – the genocide of the Pontian people by the by the Ottoman Government, directed by a group of leaders known as the Young Turks. It is well established that in the carnage, in which approximately 350,000 Pontic Greeks, 700,000 Assyrians and 1,500,000 Armenians were killed, simply because they happened to be of the ‘wrong’ race, ordinary Ottoman Muslims participated in the loot and tacitly or actively supported the slaughter. Today, an apology or even an acknowledgment of the genocide of the Christian peoples of Anatolia by the Turkish government is not forthcoming, pouring salt into the wounds of the few survivors and their descendants, who, dislocated from their ancestral lands, have had to save their culture piecemeal, as well as deal with inherited traumas induced by the memory of brutality.
Modern day Greek historiography of the event, patchy as it is, tends to focus on the enormity of the crime. However, while it cannot be doubted that there was mass participation in the genocide, with eyewitness and contemporary accounts attesting to hapless Christians being harassed and killed by their muslim neighbours, it has to be remembered that many ordinary Muslims actually helped Christians and many Ottoman administrators refused to follow orders. Mass participation does not necessarily signify universal participation. Many Muslim groups and individuals including army officers and high ranking public officials either refused to participate, refused to carry out orders and/or assisted any Christians to escape certain death.
Most sources on the genocide readily identify Turks, Kurds, Lazes and Circassians as participants to the massacres of the Chrstians. To this the Persians who attacked Armenians and Assyrians in Salmas and Ourmiah should be added, as well as the Georgian Muslims who were also privy to mass killing of Armenians and Greeks in Ottoman Empire.
Taner Akçam’s narrative concerning Hadji Halil of Urfa who housed seven people of the same family in his attic to save them from the massacres illustrates the humanity of many Ottoman muslims. Hadji Halil promised his Armenian friend that he would protect his family in the event of calamity. Hadji Halil kept his promise and housed the family for months. Hadji Halil had to overcome logistical problems including how to buy food for seven extra people without raising suspicion. There exist many other similar stories.
Many unnamed individuals helped their neighbours to escape. For instance, one Pontian genocide survivor would show interested parties ‘scars’ he carried from that period of his life. Tattoos on his right arm depicted an Arab knife and the Islamic crescent. There were done by local Muslims to disguise Christians as Muslims in order to save them.
There were also such groups as the Mevlevi order in Konya and the people of Dersim, who helped Christians and while many Kurdish tribes carried out the Pontian genocide, others helped Christians by hiding them. For example, in Dersim 20,000 Armenians and Greeks were saved because of Kurdish efforts. In Ras-ul-Ain, while some Chechens attacked Christians, other Chechens “saved around 400 to 500” deportees and the Jabbur Arabs sheltered many of these.
Professor Selim Deringil in his research mentions situations where Christian children were adopted into Muslim families in order to save them, despite the government issuing an order against this. He has also compiled evidence of functionaries who did not obey orders and who for obvious reasons are overlooked in the official narrative in Turkey. For instance, the governor of Konya, Celal Bey, did not permit the Konya Christians to be deported because he knew what would have happened to them if they were sent to the deserts of Deir Zor. Where possible he also tried to prevent Christians from other places to be sent to the deserts. He was removed from his post in October 1915 but he had already saved many lives. He remained unemployed until 1919.



Other examples include, the Governor of Ankara Hasan Mazhar, who was removed from his post for refusing to deport Christians in the August of 1915, the Mutasarrıf of Kütahya Faik Ali Bey, who refused to deport about 2,000 Christians, (later he became permanent undersecretary of the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic) and the mayor of Malatya Mustafa Ağa Azizoğlu. Malatya was a transit place for those who were deported from the Eastern provinces. The mayor did not have authority to prevent deportation but saved people in his house by providing refuge. A true humanitarian, he was tragically killed by his son, a member of Union and Progress, for “looking after infidels”. To this list Reşit, Vali of Kastamonu in Pontus, who was also dismissed for not complying with the extermination campaign and the Mutassarıf of Yozgat, Cemal Bey, should also be added. Last, but not least, Tahsin Bey, Vali of Erzurum should also be remembered as one of the heroes who defied orders, thus saving hundreds of Pontians and ArmeniansIn refusing to follow orders, the governor of Ankara, Hasan Mazhar Bey, , had reportedly said “I am a Vali not a bandit. I cannot do this. Another person may come and sit in my chair. They can do it”. Accordingly, he was removed from office in the August of 1915.
When the tehcir (deportation) orders were issued in Kütahya, Faik Ali Bey refused to implement them. Because of his insubordination, he was summoned to Istanbul. The Kütahya Police Chief, taking advantage of Faik Ali Bey’s absence, called Christian notables of the city to a meeting in which he asked them to convert to Islam, or else, face deportation. The Kütahya Christians decided to apply for conversion to Islam en masse. When Faik Ali Bey returned from Istanbul, he was enraged. He removed the police chief from his post and asked the Christians to tear apart the collective application for conversion to Islam, saying :“till today Kütahya Turks have never participated in any atrocities against the Christians, and will not participate tomorrow either.” Ali Fuat Ender, during the period when he was the Commander of the Fourth Army, wrote that “a telegram arrived from the Provincial Administration of Aleppo: ‘Today the bandits Halil and Ahmet Beys visited me, they told me that the business of the killings in Diyarbakır were completed and now they came to do the same in Syria. I arrested them.” Celal Bey, governor of Aleppo made strenuous efforts to save the Christians in his jurisdiction. When he did so, the Ottoman administration created an autonomous sandjak (in Marash, independent from the Province of Aleppo, thereby truncating Celal Bey’s authority. Celal Bey admitted that originally he believed that the deportations were an internal and temporary measure necessitated by the War. He could not believe that the government would take such measures to actually destroy its own citizens. In any case, as he did not believe any Christian in Aleppo committed an act which would necessitate their exile, he refused to implement the deportation orders. As a consequence, he was removed from his post and transferred to the position of Vali in Konya. The misery he witnessed in Konya caused him to liken himself to “a person sitting by the side of a river, with absolute no means of saving anyone. Blood was flowing in the river and thousands of innocent children, irreproachable old people, helpless women, strong young men, were streaming down this river towards oblivion. Anyone I could save with my bare hands I saved, and the others, I think they streamed down the river never to return.”
In his memoirs Celal Bey also made the following observations to state that the Turks and the Muslims have only been used as tools [by the government]:



1) When I was in Aleppo I saw with my own eyes Muslim helping the Christians who were deported there.
2) Some farm owners came to me and told me that they wanted to house Christians in their properties.
3) Both in Aleppo and in Konya, many members of the ulema (Muslim clerical council)and the notables thanked me many times for my treatment of the Christians and that protecting them was required by the Sharia.
4) Both in Konya and in Aleppo, I have not seen or heard of any Turk usurping Christian property.
5) Among the Turks and the Muslims I met no one who supported these murders and who did not find them shameful.
6) After I returned from Konya many of my acquaintances congratulated me and that they told me it was more honourable to leave my posting.
Many other high ranking officials have paid with their lives for disobeying orders. As well as being responsible for massacres against the Pontians, Armenians and Assyrians, Dr Reşit Şahingiray, the governor of the Province of Diyarbakır, was alleged to have murdered a number of Turkish officials who refused to carry out his orders: “Vali of Basra Ferit, Mutasarrıf of Müntefek, Bedii Nuri, Kaymakam of Lice Hüseyin, Deputy Kaymakam of BeşiriSabit, journalist İsmail Mestan; all socialists and/or humanists”. Dr Reşit also tried to assassinate the Mutasarrıf of Mardin, Hilmi Bey, who was removed from office. His successor Shefik Bey was also removed for not following orders.
The Dominican priest Marie-Dominique Berré in his comprehensive report on the Massacres in Mardin notes that
“[t]owards the middle of May 1915, Doctor Raschid [Reşit] Bey, vali of Diarbékir, sent to Mutasarrif of Mardin, Hilmi Bey, the order to imprison all Christian notables of that city. Hilmi Bey responded by this telegram, the authenticity of which I guarantee: ‘I am not a man without conscience; I have nothing against the Christians of Mardin; I will not execute these orders.’ A few days later Hilmi Bey was discharged.”
Another Dominican source identifies an army officer, Saudki Bey, who helped Christians escape certain death. “In Urfa “Don Jean, leader of the Syrian community escaped death only by the intervention of major Saudki Bey, who removed his name from the list of Christians who were to be arrested and put to death. This Sauki Bey had a great sympathy for the Christians . He also informed Deir Wartan, the leader of the Armenian Catholic Community, to run away to Aleppo.”
The Christian nations that fell victim to the heinous tragedy that was the Genocide of Anatolian Christians must make efforts to further research the laudable acts of those Muslim humanitarians that risked their reputation, social standing, careers and their lives so as not to take part in the depravity of the genocide. By seeking out their descendants, acknowledging them and thanking them, the discourse of the genocide can move from an adversarial one, where the primary focus is centered upon compelling the perpetrators to apologize, to a resolution whereby the presence of dissenters within the perpetrating nation obviates the need for an apology. This type of resolution removes political considerations from the issue of Genocide denial and instead focuses on the humanitarian aspect, emphasizing the importance of people who refuse to follow orders, refuse to harm others for the sake of conformity but, transcending ethnic and religious boundaries, are able to take a principled stand against the acts of their own people. If their deeds were better known, it would be exceedingly more difficult for perpetrators to perpetuate the charade that there was no genocide. Why then, was the sacrifice of these brave people made necessary.
Ayhan Aktar expresses that “I feel proud of having born in the same country as these people and I respectfully bow to their precious memory.” When we remember the slain, we should feel humbled and moved at the sacrifice of the righteous Muslims who assisted Christians to escape slaughter. Jesus’ words, central to the Christian teaching, that “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends," compels the Orthodox Church, as well as the Greek state to erect a monument to these most brave people, whose example is a beacon of humanity in a region riven by religious and ethnic strife. Their memory should give their descendants pause to reflect and resolve that their future, should abound in peace, tolerance and respect. Their righteous ancestors can show them how this can be done. Αιωνία τους η μνήμη.


DEAN KALIMNIOU





First published in NKEE on Saturday 4 June 2011 and 11 June 2011


Please note: the above article is based primarily on the research and writings of Dr Racho Donef, who the author thanks profusely.