AT ARM'S LENGTH: HISTORICAL ETHNOGRAPHY OF PROXIMITY IN HARPUT by Ali Sipahi A ...

463 Pages·2015·5.39 MB·English

AT ARM'S LENGTH:
HISTORICAL ETHNOGRAPHY OF PROXIMITY IN HARPUT
by
Ali Sipahi

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
(Anthropology and History)
in the University of Michigan
2015

Doctoral Committee:
Professor Andrew J. Shryock, Chair
Professor Fatma Müge Göçek
Professor Paul C. Johnson
Associate Professor Brian Silverstein
© Ali Sipahi
All Rights Reserved, 2015
Dedication

to Sinemis

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Acknowledgements
My research project has turned into this dissertation first and foremost thanks to my
advisor Andrew Shryock, whose endless support encouraged me to follow numerous exciting but
highly open-ended threads during the research process. He never dissuaded me from taking risks
and experimenting with the complex world the archives opened to me; he helped me to write a
dissertation on Ottoman history with strictly anthropological questions in mind. I am deeply
grateful to my committee, too. Paul C. Johnson introduced me to the world of anthro-history and
of the philosophy of history; as the director of the Anthro-History program, he has helped
shaping my project since my first day in Ann Arbor. Fatma Müge Göçek was never tired of
giving me suggestions, introducing me to colleagues all around the world, and strengthening the
theoretical structure of the dissertation. Brian Silverstein kindly joined the committee in its later
stages and provided invaluable comments on ways to improve my analysis.
I could not accomplish my research and writing without the support of various
institutions. The Rackham Graduate School of the University of Michigan provided me Graduate
Student Research Grant (2011), Centennial Fellowship Award (2012), International Research
Award (2012), Humanities Research Fellowship (2012-13) and One-Term Dissertation
Fellowship (2014). In 2012, I was a research fellow at the American Research Institute in Turkey
(ARIT). In 2012-13, the Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations (RCAC) at Koç University
supported me as a junior fellow. Regarding the archives I have benefitted from, I am grateful to
the Prime Minister Ottoman Archives, the microfilm archives of the American Board of
Commissioners for Foreign Missions kept by the Boğaziçi University Library, the Naim Arnas’
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Elazığ City Museum Collection, and the Staatsbibliothek in Berlin. I would like to thank Seyfi
Berk and Kamber Yılmaz for their great work in the Boğazici Library.
I would like to acknowledge the importance of a number of people and places for this
dissertation. There are four sites that have been crucial for the research and writing processes.
The old building of the Ottoman Archives in Sultanahmet, Istanbul, turned the research into a
joyful experience; its beautiful courtyard introduced me to old stagers as well as to the
inexperienced new comers. One of the former, Burcu Kurt, not only shared her invaluable
experience but also became a dear friend. The beginners, especially Ceyda Karamürsel,
Elizabeth Williams, Murat C. Yildiz and I, met there for the first time and created a PhD
comradeship in 2011-12. With Ceyda and Murat, we also formed our study group for learning
Armenian under the tutorship of beloved Şuşan Özoğlu. The staff in the archive was kind and
helpful; they did their job excellently and we know that they could choose not to.
Second, the RCAC building in Beyoğlu, Istanbul, provided me an excellent study place
and a vibrant, inter-disciplinary intellectual environment. Part II and III of the dissertation were
drafted and presented in this building in 2012-13. Besides the study and dining rooms, our
terrace with its fantastic view bred lifelong friendships in the long nights. Denise Klein became a
special friend and also helped me in dealing with German language resources. In the later years,
the public library in the same building served as my primary writing space, too. Özge Ertem and
Akın Özarslantürk were overly helpful as librarians and friends. Moreover, I have had daily
exchanges about my dissertation with Helin Burkay, Edip Gölbaşı, Zozan Pehlivan, Yavuz
Sezer, and many others.
Berlin was the third non-human actor that carries weight with this dissertation. Thanks to
Ulrike Freitag’s invitation, I spent one year (2013-14) in Berlin as a visiting scholar at the
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Zentrum Moderner Orient. Nora Lafi and Florian Riedler warmly welcomed me to the ZMO
Urban Studies Seminar series, where I learned a lot and presented an early version of Part II. The
Staatsbibliothek was the real working place for me and my partner. We were lucky to have the
company of Burak Onaran and Başak Tuğ; I regularly benefitted from their deep knowledge and
experience as Ottomanists and as historians. The first draft of the dissertation was finished in
Berlin.
Finally, the Anthro-History Lounge in Haven Hall, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor,
is responsible for almost the entire intellectual journey that I went through during my PhD. I took
courses, met with professors, had conversations with friends and colleagues for long hours, read,
wrote and occasionally slept in this room (which has the most comfortable couch in the world).
Having known many other programs and scholars all around the world, I am now convinced
more than ever that I could not be luckier than to be in the Anthro-History, to have Professor
Johnson as the director of the program, and to have Ismail Alatas, Jeremy Johnson, Shana
Melnysyn, Davide Orsini, Kimberly Powers, Bruno Renero, Edgar Taylor and Joseph Viscomi as
my cohort. Davide and Edgar never left me alone in the lounge; they were the best inspiration for
me. Joseph and I kept exchanging emails about our projects over the years and ended up
collaborating in organizing a panel on abandoned cities at the MESA conference in October
2013.
Specifically about the recent works in Ottoman and Armenian studies, I have learned a
lot from Dzovinar Derderian and Yaşar Tolga Cora. The Armenians Studies Program (ASP) at
the University of Michigan was also supportive of my project; I have participated in the ASP
workshop series as organizer and presenter. I have also had a chance to visit Elazığ and Dersim,
and know the present state of my research area. Mehmet Fatih Uslu always encouraged me about
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my project and introduced me to a great deal of people in Elazığ, including Aytaç Kişman, who
hosted me more than once, and Mustafa Balaban, who was no less than an unofficial supervisor
for me about everything related to the history of Harput and Elazığ. And, Rachel Harrell-Bilici
carefully edited the dissertation; her comments were of great value for me.
During this intellectual journey, I have been shown constant moral support by Mustafa
Avcı and Erdem Yörük. Nurçin İleri was always a comrade, and so was Mehmetcan Türkölmez.
Ohannes Kilicdagi selflessly shared with me his Yeprad collection. For their comments,
suggestions, guidance and support, I would also like to thank Erkan Aktakka, Fatih Artvinli,
Ebru Aykut, Aysu Berk, Ergin Bulut, Başak Can, Frank Castiglione, Haydar Darıcı, Mehmet
Evren Dinçer, Fuat Dündar, Selin Gülgöz, İbrahim Günay, Cihangir Gündoğdu, Mehmet Polatel,
Özgür Ünveren, Emre Yeksan and Seçil Yılmaz. And, for their friendship, I thank my SOG
friends.
Fadıl Kocagöz was an ambitious believer in my work. His untimely death prevented him
from seeing the final product; I consider this dissertation as a gift for him.
Finally, my family deserves the biggest thanks for their endless support.

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Table of Contents
Dedication ...................................................................................................................................... ii
Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................... iii
List of Figures ............................................................................................................................. viii
Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... ix
Introduction: On Short-Distance Relations................................................................................ 1
Part I: The Making of Mezre ..................................................................................................... 26
Chapter 1: Place-making in the Harput Area .................................................................... 27
Chapter 2: Ruination and Home-making .......................................................................... 56
Chapter 3: Money, Family and Politics ............................................................................ 85
Part II: Duality in the City ....................................................................................................... 111
Chapter 4: Relocation of Towns ..................................................................................... 112
Chapter 5: Mezre and Harput: A Dual Town.................................................................. 140
Part III: Disrespectful People, Respectful Relations ............................................................. 188
Chapter 6: The Making of Harput Mission Station ........................................................ 189
Chapter 7: Colonial Intimacy in Harput.......................................................................... 222
Chapter 8: On Cultural Distance ..................................................................................... 242
Chapter 9: The Natives’ Attitude towards Armenian Protestants ................................... 275
Part IV: Distance and Mediation in the Conduct of Conduct .............................................. 297
Chapter 10: The 1895 Massacres: Rumors, Violence and Collective Feelings .............. 298
Chapter 11: Deceiving the Unprovokable....................................................................... 332
Part V: The End of Duality ...................................................................................................... 375
Chapter 12: The Making of a National Town: Elazığ..................................................... 376
Chapter 13: Nostalgia for the Dual City ......................................................................... 413
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 431
Bibliography .............................................................................................................................. 435

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List of Figures
Figure 1-1: Karpout [Harput] and Kaban [Keban] in the Map of Catholic Mission in
Mesopotamia and Armenia. .............................................................................................. 27
Figure 2-1: The plan of the new government complex, Mezre, 1844........................................... 70
Figure 2-2: The house of the Pasha in Harput, 1847. ................................................................... 77
Figure 2-3: The collective petition about the unlawful enlargement of church buildings in Harput,
1851................................................................................................................................... 79
Figure 2-4: Surp Karabet Church in Harput and the priest’s house in Mezre. ............................. 80
Figure 5-1: Harput, from the South-West. .................................................................................. 140
Figure 5-2: Mezre, from the North. ............................................................................................ 140
Figure 5-3: The mansion of the Fabrikatoryan Brothers in Mezre. ............................................ 153
Figure 5-4: The Plan of Mezre, 1894-95. ................................................................................... 179
Figure 5-5: The Map of Downtown Elazığ, 2015. ...................................................................... 179
Figure 5-6: A scene from Harput. ............................................................................................... 186
Figure 5-7: A scene from Mezre, 1914. ...................................................................................... 186
Figure 6-1: The Harput Missionary Trio: O.P. Allen, C.H. Wheeler, H.N. Barnum. ................. 214
Figure 8-1: The Euphrates College Complex. ............................................................................ 259
Figure 8-2: General Plan of Harput's Euphrates College. ........................................................... 269
Figure 9-1: The emigration of the Keşişyan family from Çarşı Neighborhood in Mezre. ......... 281
Figure 9-2: Tlgadintsi with the graduates of the St. Hagop Central School, 1910. .................... 287
Figure 12-1: People's House in Elaziz, 1937. ............................................................................. 398
Figure 12-2: National celebrations in front of Five Brothers' Houses in Elaziz, 1930s. ............ 402
Figure 12-3: Elaziz's main street, 1940s. .................................................................................... 403
Figure 12-4: The student #976 named Fodul at Elazığ Girls’ Institute. ..................................... 411
Figure 13-1: Special issue of Yeni Harput on future Elazığ as a factory town. .......................... 419
Figure 13-2: The headstones of Emma Barnum Riggs (1864-1917) and Julia Farr Parmelee
(1840-1916) in the garden of the summer resort of the American missionaries. ........... 428
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Abstract
In recent years, the multifaceted nature of cultural otherization in trans-regional
encounters has attracted renewed interest by anthropologists. Epistemological distance has
ceased to be an object of unhesitant condemnation; instead, scholars have begun exploring the
diverse forms of distancing the other. This dissertation expands the analytical framework for
understanding otherization by focusing on spatial and social proximity in and of a provincial dual
town, Harput-Mezre, in the eastern provinces of the Ottoman Empire and Turkey in the
nineteenth and early twentieth century. It scrutinizes the reverberations of social distance in
relatively close and intimate relations—‘short-distance relations’—between suburban and urban
people, between missionaries and converts, and between Armenians and Kurds from the locals’
point of view. Moreover, it traces the history of spatial duality and proximity in Harput region by
underlining the local origins of place-making strategies and spatial separation. The dissertation
thus contributes to the literature on bringing back ‘the other’ into theory of anthropology, on the
one hand, and on provincializing imperial and global centers, on the other.
The dissertation consists of five parts; the first and the last part unravel the rise and
demise of Harput-Mezre as a dual town, while the other three deal each with a specific form of
short-distance relations. Part I sets the socio-historical scene for the emergence of Mezre in the
1830s-50s. Part II addresses the socio-spatial relationship between Harput and Mezre and reveals
the suburbanization process in the entire region in the nineteenth century. Part III reconstructs
the emergence of a highly powerful group of American missionaries—the Harput clique—in the
1850s and 60s, and discusses their distancing relationship with Protestant Armenians in the city.
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