Turkey's last Armenian village struggles to survive after earthquake

Nestled in the hills a 45-minute drive from the ancient city of Antakya, Vakıflı, Turkey, welcomes visitors with a gentle breeze and lush greenery. This serene village is one of the last remaining Armenian settlements in Turkey, offering a sense of peace and tranquility.

Towering orange trees stand tall, interspersed with small gardens and greenhouses. Even in February, the roadside blooms with flowers, highlighting the village's charm. Vakıflı feels like a world apart from Antakya, the capital of Hatay province, which is still reeling from the devastating earthquakes of February 6, 2023.

The twin earthquakes claimed over 48,000 lives in southern Turkey, including 24,000 in Hatay province alone. Today, Antakya is shrouded in dust, with ancient churches, mosques, bazaars, and historical buildings reduced to rubble. The continuous construction of new housing adds to the city's disarray, making it barely habitable and a constant reminder of the disaster's destructive power.

Even in this tranquil oasis, the earthquakes left their mark, destroying 15 traditional stone houses and damaging another five. Some villagers now reside in temporary container homes, a lasting consequence of the disaster. Cem Çapar, the head of the Vakıflı Armenian community, stated that two families moved away after the earthquakes due to the destruction of their homes.

Like other parts of Hatay province, the village is still awaiting government reconstruction of the 15 destroyed houses. "But they won't be traditional stone houses," Çapar lamented, "Those are gone." The village also houses the Church of the Virgin Mary, rebuilt in 1997. Its restoration garnered significant media attention as it was the first time a Christian place of worship had been restored since the founding of the Turkish Republic. The church sustained partial damage in the earthquakes, but the local community repaired it through public donations, raising thousands of dollars. However, a separate building next to the church remains severely damaged. The local governor has promised to restore it, but has yet to provide a timeline.

Recently, a potential threat thrust the village into the national spotlight. The government planned to expropriate part of the village's land to build housing for earthquake survivors in the surrounding area. Village representative Berk Kartun told Middle East Eye that the issue had been resolved after a meeting with officials from the Hatay Governor's office. The governor assured him that the village's land would continue to be protected. "A regional officer accompanied us to identify the boundaries of the village," Kartun said. "They will only reuse public land. We trust the governor's promise." When asked if he had received written assurances, Kartun said no, a detail that leaves a lingering sense of uncertainty.

The 2023 earthquakes are not the first disaster Vakıflı has faced; its history is filled with exile, loss, and survival. In 1915, when the Ottoman Empire ordered the forced deportation of Armenians from Anatolia to Syria and beyond, more than 4,000 Armenians from Vakıflı fled to the mountains. During this period, thousands perished, an event that modern Turkey acknowledges as a loss of life "under the conditions of World War I" but refuses to characterize as genocide.

Historians believe that approximately 2,000 Vakıflı Armenians complied with the deportation orders at the time. These events remain a highly sensitive topic in Turkey today. Those who resisted survived in the mountains for two months, after which three French warships discovered them and transported them to Port Said in Egypt. There, they established 19 "neighborhoods" in a refugee camp that housed 4,200 people. According to local historians, the community lived in the camp for four years before returning to Musa Dagh in November 1919, which was then under French mandate.

However, after Hatay province was annexed by Turkey in 1939 following a referendum, thousands more left. Fearing a repeat of their past experiences under Ottoman rule, many Armenians chose to relocate. Those who remained continued to maintain their traditions, sustaining themselves through agriculture and citrus cultivation. This history is preserved in a village museum, which welcomed 50,000 visitors annually before the earthquakes. Now, it receives only a handful of visitors each week. "We cannot afford to pay the salaries of the people who take care of the museum's daily needs," Çapar said. "It is the only museum open in Hatay province, and the local government has asked us to maintain it as a source of pride for the region."

An old guesthouse, a registered historical building, is also awaiting reconstruction, but a sense of helplessness still hangs over the village. Recently, 20 young villagers have moved to other cities for work or education, leaving the village quieter and less vibrant than before. "I used to have high hopes for the village—we built a community center and a museum," Çapar said. "But first, the pandemic hit us, and then this terrible earthquake. Now, we are all questioning why we should even stay in Hatay."

Çapar, a veterinarian, also had his clinic destroyed in the disaster. He explained that citrus cultivation alone is no longer sufficient to sustain the community, so the women of the village have formed a cooperative to sell jams and other local products to help make ends meet. While his tone may not sound optimistic, a warm smile spread across his face as he looked at his neighbors. "We will find a way to survive," he said, just as his people have done for over a century.