2008-10-14

MALAKAN BELGESELİNE ÖDÜL

The Fading Color of Kars:
Spiritual Christians

Kars News

October 14, 2008

Award to the Spiritual Christian Documentary Film

http://www.karshabergazetesi.com/article_view.php?aid=2057

Gazetemiz yazarlarından Vedat Akçayöz’ün proje sahipliğini ve finansörlüğünü yaptığı “Kars’ın Solan Rengi: Malakanlar” adlı belgesel film ilk kez katıldığı 9. Uluslararası Altın Safran Belgesel Film Festivali'nde birincilik ödülü aldı.

The documentary film "The Fading Color of Kars: Spiritual Christians" received first prize at the 9th International Golden Saffron Documentary Film Festival, in which it was entered for the first time. The producer and financial sponsor was Vedat Akçayöz (Ukchuyez), one of our newspaper journalists. [In 2007 the first Turkish film about Spiritual Christians, "The Guest", was shown.]

Tarihi danışmanlığını Av. Erkan Karagöz ile Prof. Dr. Bingör Sönmez’in yaptığı, çekimlerini Kars’ta ve Rusya’da Vedat Akçayöz’ün gerçekleştirip Yalçın Yelence’nin hazırladığı “Kars’ın Solan Rengi: Malakanlar” adlı belgesel film, Kars’ta düzenlenecek Altın Kaz Film Yarışması yanı sıra, İngiltere ve Almanya’daki yarışmalara da katılacak.

The documentary film "The Fading Color of Kars: Spiritual Christians" will also be entered into competitions in England and Germany in addition to the Golden Goose Film Competition that will be held in Kars. The film's historic consultants were the Lawyer Erkan Karaguz and Professor Doctor Bingur Sonomez. Filming was done by Vedat Akçayöz in Kars and in Russia, and director Yalchin Yelence.

Akçayöz (pronounced: Ahk-tchah-yez) filming in the Stavropol Regional Museum of Fine Art, Novokumskoe Branch. March 10, 2008.

Click on photos to go to Akçayöz's photo album, then click on album photo to enlarge futher.

Akçayöz (Ahk-tchah-yez) with Olga Samarina, museum director and curator of Spiritual Christian exhibits. The elder is translating.

Yeni hazırlanan belgesel filmin ilk kez katıldığı bir yarışmada birincilik ödülü almasının önemli ve anlamlı olduğunu bildiren Akçayöz, “Malakanlar’la ilgili şu ana kadar çok şey yazıldı çizildi. Ama savaş istemeyen, barıştan yana olan bu halkı yazıp çizmelerle anlatmak yetmiyordu. Bunun belgesel olarak hazırlanması gerektiğini düşündüm ve çekimler için önce Kars’tan başladım. Daha sonra Rusya’ya giderek orada çekimler yaptım. Av. Erkan Karagöz ve Prof. Dr. Bingür Sönmez’in desteğiyle Yalçın Yelence’nin hazırladığı güzel bir belgesel film ortaya çıktı.” dedi.

Akçayöz said that it's very important and meaningful for a newly produced documentary film to get the first prize in a competition that it has entered for the first time. Until now there has been a lot of things written and discussed about the Molokans, but it wasn't just enough to write and talk about this nation [these people] who don't want war and is peace-loving. I thought that it should be produced as a documentary, so I first started shooting in Kars, then I went to Russian and continued shooting the film. With the support of Lawyer Erkan Karaguz and Professor Dr. Bingur Sonomez, and director Yalchin Yelence, a beautiful film materialized [came to be].

30 ve 60’şar dakikalık olarak hazırlanan “Kars’ın Solan Rengi: Malakanlar” adlı belgesel filmde, ağırlıklı olarak Malakanlar’ın Rusya’dan Kars’a sürgünlerini, daha sonra yeniden Kars’tan Rusya’ya göçlerini anlatıldığını ifade eden Akçayöz, “Malakanlar’ın en önemli özelliği savaş karşıtı olmalarıdır. Askere gitmedikleri ve Ruslar tarafından dağıtılan tüfekleri yaktıkları için Kars’a gönderildiler. Daha sonra Kars’ta da askerlik yapma teklifini reddettikleri için bu kez yeniden Rusya’ya göçe zorlandılar. Bu, Malakanlar’ın barışçıl yönüdür. Diğer bir yönleri ise tarımcılıktır. Belgeselde Malakanlar başta barışçıl yönleri olmak üzere tüm yönleriyle detaylı anlatılmıştır. Belgeselin en önemli bölümü de Kars’taki yaşamlarıdır.” diye konuştu.

Akçayöz stated that this documentary film "The Fading Color of Kars: Molokans", which was produced as a 30 minute and a 60 minute film, deals mainly with the exile of the Spiritual Christians ~~Molokans~~ from Russia to Kars, and later their migration from Kars to Russia. The most important feature of the Spiritual Christians ~~Molokans~~ is that they are against war. They were sent to Kars from Russia because they did not join the military*, and they burned their rifles that were distributed to them by the Russians.** Later they were forced to migrate to Russia again because they rejected the request to do their military service in Kars [Turkey].*** This is the peaceful side of the Molokans, another feature of them is their farming [agriculture]. In the documentary film, Spiritual Christians ~~Molokans~~ are explained in great detail with all their features, but primarily as peaceful [peace-loving] people. The most important part of the documentary film is their life in Kars.

Corrections

* Most Spiritual Christians voluntarily relocated to Caucasus provinces for economic reasons. See Breyfogle's thesis and book. Originally Spiritual Christians objected to the military because soldiers were required to perform Russian Orthodox religious rituals. See: Narrative of the Visit of Isaac Robson (1867), page 13. After contact with Germans Protestants in Ukraine, many Spiritual Christians expanded their objection to include war. See: Zhuk: Russia's Lost Reformation, page 156; and Hoover and Petrov: Russians' Secret, Chapter 10.

** Only Doukhobors burned rifles, and were punished for 3 gun-burning demonstrations in the Caucasus in 1895, one of which occurred north of Kars between Spasovka and Terpenie [Терепение] villages, Shuragel district, Kars Province, Russian Empire. Terpenie village was renamed Plodorodnoe [Плодородное] and abandoned in 1921. Location today is about 1.5 km. east of Karhan village, Akyaka district. The severe punishment of the demonstrators initiated a mass migration of about one-third of all Doukhobors to central Canada by 1900. Within 10 years, less than 1% of all non-Doukhobor Spiritual Christians, who fled the Caucasus, intended to follow the Doukhobors to Canada but got diverted to California USA. Some left because the 50-year military exemption given to colonizers of new Russian territory had expired.

*** Most all Spiritual Christians who remained in Kars and were drafted served in the Turkish military.
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Big thanks to Odil Tunali-Payton for translation.

See the film documentary online
Spiritual Christians in Turkey
Spiritual Christians Around the World