Turkey’s last Armenian village, Vakef, endures – but for how long?

2026-02-20 - 20:04

The Hamidian massacres, the Adana carnage and the Armenian Genocide were responsible for the near-total erasure of the millennia-old Armenian presence in what is now Turkey. Today, few traces of this historic community remain, such as the ruined city of Ani. The historic towns and villages of Western Armenia and Cilicia — including Kars, Van, Ardahan, Sis, Adana and Ayas — are no longer inhabited by Christian Armenians. The only exception is the small hamlet of Vakef (Turkish: Vakıflı), located in the Samandağ district of Hatay Province. There, a handful of houses, kissed by the Mediterranean sun, carry the legacy of a long and often painful history. Historically, the territory of Antioch (Antakya) hosted a large Armenian minority; needless to say, this community was affected by Ottoman deportations during the Medz Yeghern. However, the region was also the theater of a famous act of resistance, an event that inspired Franz Werfel to write the novel The Forty Days of Musa Dagh. In July 1915, the Ottoman forces tried to capture the civilian population of six villages: Kabusie (Kapısuyu), Yoghunolukh (Yoğunoluk), Bitias (Batıayaz), Khederbeg (Hıdırbey), Haji-Habibli (Eriklikuyu) and Vakef. As Turkish soldiers approached, residents took refuge on Mount Musa, deciding to resist with their weapons. The Armenian partisans repelled assaults for 53 days, until they were rescued in September by the French navy, which spotted a banner on the mountain with the words “Christians in distress: rescue.” The populace returned to their homes only in 1918, when France assumed control of the Sanjak of Alexandretta as part of the Syrian Mandate. Under French rule, the region of Antioch enjoyed an autonomous status, as provided by the Treaty of Ankara, signed in 1921 between the Kemalist government and France. The territory was characterized by the presence of distinct religious and ethnic groups: according to the 1936 census, Turks represented the largest community (39%), followed by Alawites (28%), Armenians (11%) and Sunni Arabs (10%). The remaining 12% included Arab Christians, Jews, Kurds and Greeks. However, Mustafa Kemal Pasha sought to reunify the region with Turkey. While many Turkish inhabitants of the Sanjak supported reattachment, Armenians, Greeks and Arabs largely opposed the idea. On Sept. 2, 1938 a regional assembly — dominated by the Turkic component — proclaimed the Hatay Republic, which fell under joint French and Turkish supervision. Though nominally independent, the territory was effectively controlled by Ankara: its president, Tayfur Sökmen, and prime minister, Abdurrahman Melek, were both members of the Turkish parliament in the late 1930s. On June 29, 1939, authorities organized a referendum on union with Turkey. Widely considered rigged due to numerous irregularities, the vote resulted in a decisive victory for unionists. France tolerated the outcome in hopes of maintaining favorable relations with Ankara and preventing its alignment with Nazi Germany. By July 1939, the region was fully integrated into Turkey, provoking a major demographic shift. The Armenian community — along with many Arabs — left, fearing discrimination and persecution. All six villages near Mount Musa migrated to Lebanon, except for Vakef, whose residents decided to stay. Those who remained preserved their mother tongue, faith and traditions. In 1964, Vakef had 320 residents. Today, however, fewer than 140 remain. The future of the local Armenian community seems uncertain. Limited job opportunities have driven many — especially young people — to migrate to other cities or even abroad, accelerating the demographic decline of the region. In Istanbul alone, there are about 1,000 former residents, many of whom periodically visit their hometown. Migration and aging are not the only threats Vakef faces. Indeed, linguistic assimilation is a serious concern. The indigenous dialect of the Western Armenian language — traditionally spoken in the Ottoman territories —is gradually fading. Armenian is still used in daily life and religious services, but the community remains an isolated island in a sea of Turkish and Arabic speakers. Turkish is the only official language recognized by the state and dominates public administration, the military, the job market, media and education. Since the village lacks its own school, local pupils must study in neighboring communities, where they receive instruction in Turkish. Surrounded by non-Armenophone settlements and with limited contact with Armenia or the diaspora, the conditions increasingly favor language shift. In recent years another threat has emerged, seriously jeopardizing the future of Turkey’s last Armenian village. The 2023 earthquake destroyed or damaged many traditional buildings, forcing some residents into temporary shelters or prompting them to leave altogether. After the disaster, Turkey’s Housing Development Administration (TOKİ) introduced a large-scale reconstruction plan. The project provides for the construction of 1,353 housing units, some of which would be built on land belonging to Vakef — placing nearly half the village at risk of expropriation and threatening its Armenian identity. In January 2025, representatives of Vakef — most notably, the village mukhtar — engaged in direct talks with provincial authorities regarding the proposed expropriations. Following a meeting with the governor of Hatay, it was announced that no expropriation would take place in Vakef, citing its cultural and demographic distinctiveness. Nevertheless, the broader development project has continued to affect neighboring villages and agricultural land, and no legally binding guarantees seem to have been issued to permanently exclude Vakef from future phases. In the months that followed, bulldozers — escorted by police — entered privately owned land in Kurtderesi, Mağaracık and Hıdırbey, cutting down fruit trees, damaging wells and irrigation channels. Some residents reportedly fell ill at the sight and were taken to the hospital. These actions, carried out without prior notice, sparked outrage among local communities, who oppose any seizure of their land. In October, villagers from Vakef and the nearby communities of Kapısuyu, Mağaracık, Kurtderesi and Tekebaşı — affected by the same project — organized protests against the expropriation of their lands by TOKİ, which seized their properties without prior notification. Protestors warned that, if materialized, the housing project would endanger agricultural production, ecological balance and the region’s cultural heritage. Demonstrators were joined by environmental activists and supported by the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM), the Republican People’s Party (CHP), the Socialist Refoundation Party (SYKP), the Social Freedom Party (TÖP), the Workers’ Party of Turkey (TİP), the Labour Party (EMEP) and the Kaldıraç movement. For this reason, they called for an immediate halt to expropriations and the restitution of seized properties. Thus, Vakef — already the last Armenian village in Turkey — now faces the risk of losing not only its land, but the very conditions that allowed its survival for more than a century, along with a unique cultural and linguistic heritage that stands as a living testament to Armenia’s millennia-old presence in the region.