Thread by @Turtlestein, THREAD/I want to address common accusations I've seen online of "Armenian anti-Semitism": [...]

THREAD/

I want to address common accusations I've seen online of "Armenian anti-Semitism":

(1) For starters, I can personally say as someone openly Jewish who has for months been writing on the ARM-AZ conflict, I've experienced virtually no antisemitism from Armenians.
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To the contrary, many have been very cordial and inviting, despite some of my articles, like the latest one on my blog about an Azerbaijani Jewish refugee, being able to be perceived as quite critical.

(2) Anecdotally, one of the nicest people I've ever come across is...
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my Arabic tutor, who is Lebanese-Armenian & definitely knows I'm Jewish.

(3) Also wish to address 3 areas I've seen as supposed evidence of this anti-Semitism:
1. Statue of Nzhdeh
2. ADL poll about Armenian antisemitism
3. Vandalism of a Holocaust memorial in Yerevan
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Regarding Nzhdeh: There's def no excuse for him siding with Nazi Germany, but people omit *a lot* of broader context. For instance, that Nzhdeh is celebrated for his contribution to Armenian national liberation and not for any anti-Semitism. There's also no evidence...
4/25

that he held any anti-Semitic beliefs, that he was involved in any round-up of Jews, or that he made this alliance for any reason other than national interests having to do with Eastern Anatolia (Allies vs Axis realpolitik alignment was endemic to the world back then).
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Now, it is true that in places like Ukraine and other eastern European countries, many controversially memorialized war heroes are also celebrated for their national struggle & not for their anti-Semitism/collaboration with Nazis, but there are important distinctions there.
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In Ukraine et. all, these figures' involvement in the persecution, round-up, & massacre of Jews is indisputable. Moreover, a number of current political parties + figures involved in these memorilizations have made anti-Semitic comments. All this isn't the case for Nzhdeh.
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For a tl;dr regarding the lack of nuance around the "Nzhdeh was a Nazi" rhetoric, see: https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.jpost.com/opinion/armenias-antisemitism-the-truth-is-different-615588/amp
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Armenia’s antisemitism? The truth is different

Armenia sent its highest-ranking citizen to the World Holocaust Forum in Jerusalem, H.E. Armen Sarkissian, the president of Armenia.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.jpost.com/opinion/armenias-antisemitism-the-truth-is-different-615588/amp

I should also note that it isn't like AZ had no parallels to this concept. For ex:, Mammad Amin Rasulzade, considered the founding father of the First Azerbaijani Republic, also at a point contemplated a similar tactical alliance with the Germans: https://azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/73_folder/73_articles/73_rasulzade.html
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At the end of the day, hundreds of thousands of ARMs+AZs –
*the vast majority* of their WW2 participants – fought for the Soviets against Nazis. Of the minority who fought for the Nazis, this occurred on both sides & was mostly former POWs desiring national independence.
10/25

Regarding the ADL poll about Armenian anti-Semitism: Yes, unfortunately it's true that Armenia polled at 58%, which is one of the highest in the entire Eastern Europe/Eurasia area (the Azerbaijani # is 37%, whereas the global # is 26%). More on this in next tweet.
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I suspect this # is in part due to the general region (former USSR) & Eastern Orthodox Christianity, which has a history of anti-Semitic church rites, etc. However, even so, the #'s are still particularly high, & I suspect an additional factor may be diaspora's location...
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The Middle East/N.Africa region has a very high anti-Semitism index (74% overall, incl. 64% from MENA Christians), and there's a large Armenian diaspora in/from Syria and Lebanon (no data on former presumably due to Civil War; latter has a 78% index, incl. 75% Christians).
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Finally, I'm assuming that Israel's military support for Azerbaijan, & to a lesser extent non-recognition of the Armenian Genocide, contribute to this as well.

This is no excuse; just candidly laying out what I believe the main factors are. Btw, here's the poll's method:
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I think it's also worth noting that believing harmful stereotypes doesn't necessarily directly correlate to interpersonal hostility. I for ex: saw some countries on there w/ lower indexes that I know most Jews would feel far less safe & comfortable being openly Jewish in.
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In terms of the Yerevan Holocaust memorial vandalism: It's worth noting that this memorial exists on a state-funded level in the first place (in contrast, Israel's Armenian Genocide memorial in Petah Tikva is 100% communally funded since Israel is neutral per state policy).
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This also was a single individual & was during the height of the Karabakh War when emotions were undoubtedly running high against Azerbaijan's allies (and w/ Israel, a perception of "hypocrisy" re: recognition of genocide), and the government strongly condemned it.
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To my knowledge, the memorial had been up for years, and had never been vandalized beforehand. I'm assuming it was quickly cleaned up & restored.

Last but not least, in terms of the general relationship b/w Armenians & Jews: Despite sharing a very similar experience,...
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which I elaborated upon in detail on my blog (see: https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/israel-and-armenia-parallel-experiences-divergent-interests/), the simple fact of the matter is that there was never a significant Jewish prescence in what is now the Republic of Armenia for centuries. The lack of a sizable Jewish population... 19/25

in the country has more to do with this fact than anything else. The small Jewish population left in the late '80s/early '90s due to an array of factors: 1988 earthquake, collapse of the USSR, economic woes following the Karabakh war, etc. Notably, however, while... 20/25

"Armenian Jews" were never much of a thing the way "Azerbaijani Jews" were (whatever one wants to say, there's no denying Azerbaijan has a strong Jewish history & tolerance to this day), Jewish-Armenian marriages weren't uncommon in Soviet times, and Jews & Armenians... 21/25

comprised much of the aristocratic class even in cities like Baku, but also historically in the Russian Empire and the later Soviet Union generally. World chess master Gary Kasparov, born to a Jewish father & Armenian mother, is one such figure. Here are a few others:
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But yes, long story short: Jews for the most part weren't "pushed out" of Armenia; instead there weren't many there to begin with, and most left due to other reasons I mentioned above.

There's also a very strong relationship b/w the Jewish & Armenian communities in LA.
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For example, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) is a Jewish American whose district represents the largest Armenian district in the US, and has been a staunch ally to Armenian causes. The same is true for many Jewish & Armenian organazational collaboration in California more broadly.
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To end the last tweet in the thread, yes, there are some genuine issues in Armenia that need to be noted. But aspects of truth & genuine criticism doesn't = the entirety of the incendiary narrative that gets thrown around, which frankly doesn't hold up to scrutiny.
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