stringtranslate.com

Garnik Asatrian

Garnik Serobi Asatrian (Armenian: Գառնիկ Սերոբի Ասատրյան; born March 7, 1953) is an Iranian-born Armenian professor who studies and teaches Kurdish culture at Yerevan State University in Yerevan, Armenia.

Asatrian became well-known for his extensive research in the field of the study of Kurdish tribal and linguistic tradition and also for the establishment of the Center of Contemporary Kurdish Studies.[1][2]

Biography

Asatrian was born on March 7, 1953, in Tehran, and immigrated to Yerevan in 1968. In 1976, he graduated from the Department of Kurdish Studies at the Iranian Studies Branch of Yerevan State University.

From 1977 to 1986, he was a PhD student and then a senior lecturer at the Institute of Oriental Studies, Academy of Soviet Sciences in Leningrad in the field of ancient Iranian culture and languages (Avestan, Sogdian, Pahlavi, Persian, Kurdish, and Iranian ethnology). Asatrian earned a doctorate from the University of Leningrad in 1984 and an excellent doctorate in 1990 from the Soviet Academy of Sciences in Moscow.[3]

He has authored 11 books and more than 125 scientific articles in Armenian, Russian, English, German, French, Turkish, and Kurdish languages.[4] From 1985 to 1999 he was a professor at the University of Copenhagen and participated in various international conferences in Berlin, Moscow, Copenhagen, Oslo, Aarhus, New York, London, Washington, Tehran, and Paris.

He is the founder and editor of three journals: Iran-Nameh, founded in Yerevan in 1993; Acta Kurdica, founded in London in 1994; and Iran and the Caucasus, founded in 1996.[1][5]

Views and criticism

According to Dutch anthropologist Martin van Bruinessen, the inclination of "the Armenian scholars around Garnik Asatrian" to separate Zazas from Kurds comes from a "definite political agenda".[6]

In a 1998 interview with Onnik Krikorian, Asatrian argued that the concept of Kurds as a unified nation is incorrect and only emerged in the early 20th century through political circles in Germany and England. He stated that Kurmanji speakers in regions such as Western Armenia (Turkish Kurdistan) identify more with their tribal affiliations than as Kurds, lacking a genuine Kurdish national identity. According to Asatrian, radio and mass media have helped Kurds identify as a unified group, though this identity is still evolving, including among the Yazidis. He also pointed out that Yazidis are not Kurds due to their different religion, and that the Kurds of Iran differ from Kurmanjis in language and ethnicity and are a distinct people, although they are also called Kurds.[2]

Researcher and expert on Yazidis Artur Rodziewicz argues that it was difficult not to consider the divergent opinion of Asatrian on Kurds, Yazidis and the relationship between the two groups as politically motivated arising from "the Armenians' attitude towards... Kurds."[7]

In an interview with Golos Armenii in December 2006, Asatrian stated that:[8]

The creation of a Kurdish state—whether on the territory of Turkey or Iraq—is a great threat to our national interests. Attempts are now being made to dismember Iraq and create a Kurdish state on its territory, which will become a front structure for the West. It should be taken into account that if some constructive dialogue is possible with modern Turkey—an established state aspiring to the European Union, then the Kurdish massif is an unpredictable and uncontrollable element, and unambiguously anti-Armenian. And there can be no illusions on this score.

He reiterated this belief to Golos Armenii in November 2009 and further stated that:[9]

Today, Turkey's territorial integrity and stability are in Armenia's best interest. The disintegration of Turkey and the creation of a Kurdish state to our west [Turkish Kurdistan] would pose a serious threat to Armenia's national security. We must remember that the ethnic group seeking to establish a state on our historic lands has, over the past 400 years, committed countless acts of plunder and massacres against innocent Armenians, desecrated our holy sites, and attempted to de-Armenianize Western Armenia. Losing Western Armenia would mean losing sacred symbols like Ararat and Akhtamar to a new Kurdish state. I urge those who do not see how Turkey's stability benefits Armenia to review the programs and claims of Kurdish organizations, such as linking Urartian heritage to Kurdish ancestry and referring to the "Armenian mountain range" as "Kurdistan." Our Armenian society and some political circles clearly underestimate the role of the Kurdish factor in the past and its danger in the future.

Selected works

References

  1. ^ a b Arakelova, Victoria (2006). "Iran and the Caucasus". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica, Online Edition. Encyclopædia Iranica Foundation. Retrieved June 11, 2024.
  2. ^ a b Krikorian, Onnik (June 8, 1998). "An Interview with Professor Garnik Asatrian". Armenian News Network/Groong. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016.
  3. ^ Bläsing, Uwe; Arakelova, Victoria; Weinreich, Matthias (January 1, 2015). "Select Bibliography of Prof. Garnik S. Asatrian". Studies on Iran and The Caucasus: In Honour of Garnik Asatrian. Brill. pp. 693–700. doi:10.1163/9789004302068_040. ISBN 9789004302068.
  4. ^ Asatrian, Garnik (2009). "Prolegomena to the study of the Kurds". Iran and the Caucasus. 13: 1–57. doi:10.1163/160984909X12476379007846.
  5. ^ Zekiyan, Boghos Levon (January 1, 2015). "Garnik Asatrian – A Scholar, a Master, a Friend". In Bläsing, Uwe; Arakelova, Victoria; Weinreich, Matthias (eds.). Studies on Iran and the Caucasus: In Honour of Garnik Asatrian. Brill. pp. 1–7. doi:10.1163/9789004302068_002. ISBN 978-90-04-30206-8.
  6. ^ Van Bruinessen, Martin (2020). "Review article: Kurds, Zazas and Alevis". Kurdish Studies. 8: 371-378. doi:10.33182/ks.v8i2.574 (inactive 2024-09-27).{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of September 2024 (link)
  7. ^ Rodziewicz, Artur (2016). "The Armenian Portrait of the Peacock Angel: A polemical review of Garnik Asatrian and Victoria Arakelova's The Religion of the Peacock Angel. The Yezidis and Their Spirit World" (PDF). Fritallaria Kurdica. 13–14. Kraków: 156. ISSN 2353-4052.
  8. ^ Sarmakeshyan, Gayane (21 December 2006). Политика государства должна строиться на основе научных знаний. Golos Armenii (in Russian). Archived from the original on September 17, 2011. Retrieved February 16, 2021.
  9. ^ Sarmakeshyan, Gayane (19 November 2009). "Создание курдского государства на западе – серьезная угроза национальной безопасности Армении?". Golos Armenii (in Russian). Archived from the original on 23 April 2021. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
  10. ^ Zeighami, Amin. ایران کجاست‌؟ ایرانی کیست؟ پروفسور گارنیک آساطوریان [Where is Iran? Who is Iranian? Professor Garnik Asatrian]. Iran Liberal (in Persian). Archived from the original on March 27, 2019.
  11. ^ آموزش زبان مادری (گفتگویی با گارنیک آساتوریان) [Mother tongue instruction (interview with Garnik Asaturian)]. Iranchehr (in Persian). December 10, 2017.

External links