Yozgat
Yozgat (Եոզղաթ/Yozghat, Եոզղատ/Yozghad, Յոզղաթ/Yozghat,Յոզկաթ/Yozgat, Յոզկատ/Yozgad, Յոզղադ/Yozghat, Յոզղատ/Yozghad, Յոզղատե/Yozghade) is a city in historical Lesser Armenia (Փոքր Հայք), in Sebastia state, and is the adminstrative center of Yozgat province. It's located 190km west of the city of Sebastia on towards Ankara, in today's Turkey.
In 1872-73 there were 1220 Armenian households, 2500 Turkish households, and 200 Greek households. Prior to the [[Armenian Genocide|genocide}} in 1915, the city's population was 38,000, of which 12,000 were Armenian. Armenians and Greeks worked primarily in business and crafts, especially smithcrafts (blacksmithss) and tailors. The church was called The Mother of God (Աստուածամայր). The Aryudzian and Vahanian schools had 620 students, 40 of whom were girls. In 1915 Yozgat's Armenians were driven out and massacred. A large group of refugees settled in Lebanon and established the New Yozgat neighborhood in Beirut, while many others ended up in Aleppo. There were about 500 Armenians living in Yozgat by 1931. The famous orator and academic Sarkis Hovannes Kashkashian (Սարգիս Խաշխաշեան) was born here in 1891. (Խաշխաշեան seems to have prefered "Kashkashian" as the transliteration of his name http://bit.ly/1MC2UVQ).
Sarıkaya district
Burunkışla village
Villagers in Central Anatolia look after Armenian cemetery
YOZGAT – Anadolu Agency
AA Photo
The Burunkışla village in the Sarıkaya district of Yozgat sets an example for tolerance and shows the peaceful attitudes of Turks and Armenians living together for centuries by voluntarily maintaining a cemetery left behind by Armenians who used to live in the village.
Burunkışla’s Village Headman Necati Yalçın said his ancestors emigrated to Yozgat in 1924 from Greece’s Thessaloniki following the barter between Turkey and Greece and started living together peacefully with Armenians in the region, until they began leaving after 1966.
“Our Armenian friends come here every year in groups of 60 to 70 people and visit both our village and the cemeteries. Our connection [with them] continues; we visit each other. Thanks to our former district governor, the cemetery left behind by our Armenian siblings was fenced. As a village unit, residents of the village care for small issues, including cleaning, maintenance and reparation. Ultimately, our friendship is enduring,” said Yalçın.
Sembiya Arıkan, a 78-year-old villager, said she had Armenian neighbors and friends at school, adding that they were all friends.
“Our life was really good. There would be weddings and we would go together. We were friends with all of them,” said Arıkan, adding that their Armenian friends came to visit them every summer and they cherished their old memories together.
December/24/2014
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Turkey imam takes care of abandoned Armenian church
09:35, 18.10.2016
A local mosque imam is taking care of the Armenian church in Sarıkaya town of Turkey’s Yozgat Province.
Once the Armenians in the area had left, this historical Armenian church was abandoned. But now, Metin Halıcı, the imam of the local mosque, has started taking care of this church, according to Dünya Bülteni (World Bulletin) news portal of Turkey.
The imam noted that when he was appointed for spiritual service in Sarıkaya, he was very surprised to see this abandoned Armenian church. He said he began to care for and clean this house of Christian worship, with pleasure.
“We keep the church so clean that Armenians can come and say their prayers [here] at any time,” said the imam. “My wife and children help me take care of the church.”
In Halıcı’s words, the Armenians visiting this church are satisfied with its state, and they thank him.
https://news.am/eng/news/352189.html
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