Memoirs of a survivor

[Gavur]

Kevork Arslanian, 100, Survived Wwi Massacre

Richard M. Peery
Plain Dealer Reporter

Cleveland Plain Dealer, OH
March 30 2006

Garfield Heights- Kevork "George" Arslanian, 100, a survivor of the
slaughter of Armenians in Turkey during World War I and a Cleveland
barber since 1928, died Monday at Marymount Hospital.

Arslanian was living in Malatia, Turkey, when he and two siblings
were rescued by an uncle who had converted to Islam and a Muslim woman.

Their parents and other family members died in the massacre that took
an estimated 1.5 million Christian Armenians' lives.

Although 24 nations have labeled it an act of genocide, the Turkish
government denies responsibility for the deaths.

The children were placed in a Red Cross orphanage in Syria.

Another uncle in Cleveland tried to send for them but was blocked by
immigration quotas. The uncle provided passage to Cuba, where the
children shined shoes and did odd jobs for several years. In 1927,
prohibition-era rum runners smuggled them into the United States.

Arslanian never attended school beyond kindergarten, but he taught
himself to read using a dictionary and newspapers. He enrolled in
Miller Barber College and was awarded the 11th license issued in
Ohio. In 1932 he opened a barbershop with his brother.

Four years later, a friend wrote Arslanian to tell him about a young
woman in another city. She was Vergin "Virginia" Sarkisian, who had
also lived through the massacre and fled to Syria as a child.

He married her and brought her to Cleveland in 1936. They lived in
Garfield Heights for many years.

In 1955, Arslanian and his brother moved their shop to the former
Milo Theater at East 100th Street and Miles Avenue. His sons began a
rug-cleaning business in the back of the building in 1959 that grew
into one of the industry's leaders under the Arslanian Brothers name.

Although two years ago Arslanian stopped driving to the barbershop
to cut hair each Friday, he continued to help repair rugs one or two
days a week.

Arslanian was a founding member of St. Gregory of Narek Armenian
Church. The congregation built the area's first Armenian Orthodox
church in Richmond Heights in the 1960s. He remained one of its
leaders throughout his life.

He was often asked to speak at weddings, birthdays, anniversaries
and funerals. He was also active in the Armenian General Benevolent
Union and the Tekeyan Cultural Association.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:

[email protected], 216-999-4807

Kevork Arslanian

1905 - 2006

Survivors: Ted of Aurora, Henry of Solon and Armen of Independence;
nine grandchildren; and 22 great-grandchildren.

Services: 10:30 a.m. Friday at St. Gregory of Narek Armenian Church,
678 Richmond Road, Richmond Heights 44143.

Contributions: St. Gregory of Narek Armenian Church; Tekeyan Cultural
Association, Armenian Benevolent Union; all same address as the church.

Arrangements: Johnson-Romito of Bedford.

[Tongue]

Shushan Sahakyan-Mkrtchyan



“There were so many corpses in the river that it flooded and changed its route and began flowing to the South,” recalls 102-year old Shushan Sahakyan-Mkrtchyan.


“…Turks attacked … and began slaughtering us.”

She witnessed the Genocide when she was only nine.

The family lived in Van, when her father came home one evening and told to make bread and gata (Armenian kind of sweet cake) as they were to flee the next day. The next morning they gathered belongings and took off.

“We had a horse and a donkey,” recalls Shushan. “My father mounted my mother on the horseback, put my youngest brother on her lap, sat me on the donkey with my second brother on my lap. My father held the horse by the bridle, with that of the donkey in our third brother’s hand and we took the way.”

No one could even imagine what was waiting or where were they were going.

“Everybody in the street went, so did we. We were fleeing.”

Turks attacked them when they reached the River Tghmut.

“We were already on the bridge, when Turks attacked us from the mountain and began slaughtering us – Armenians. Many were killed and fell into the river. We escaped by a miracle,” Shushan says, adding that the family followed Russian soldiers and reached Igdir. Two years later they moved to Yerevan.

There were eleven of them living in just one room in the building neighboring the maternity house. Once, when they were walking with her brother to church on Abovyan Street, the principal of the school by the church noticed them and seeing the children had not a single notion of school took them to school where they studied for three years.

The young Shushan was taken to a boarding school run by her mother’s friend. There, she learned embroidery.

“Then, when the boarding school closed and the orphans were sent to Stepanavan, my mother took me home and I did embroidery for money.”

There was also an American School, where Shushik finished her ten-year education. She married an army officer and they moved to Leningrad (Saint Petersburg). There her husband Melik Harutyunyan got his higher military education. In five years, when they returned to Yerevan, her husband was assigned as secretary of the Spandaryan Regional Communist Party Committee.

The peaceful life was not long and in 1942 her husband went voluntarily to war. And Shushik began showing her motherly support to the wounded.

“A military hospital was acting neighboring the Catoghike′ Church: I would go there in the morning, took care after the wounded, cooked, fed and cleaned up.”

Today Shushan lives with her younger sister Mayis and her granddaughter Marjan’s family. She has already seen her four great grandchildren, but is unable to see their two children because of poor eyesight.

She has survived life’s threats and hardships and somehow Shushan remains optimistic and joyful, expressed in veiled eyes that barely open.

http://www.armenianow.com/?action=viewArticle&AID=1477&lng=eng&IID=1078

[Gavur]

Vineyard owner remembers the Armenian Genocide

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

By Ramona Frances - Tribune Writer / Photographer

Sarkis Sahatdjian stands under an arbor at Victor Packing, a family owned raisin packing plant in south Madera County. The plant is located in the area where his parents first settled from Armenia. Armenians are credited with having domesticated the grape vine thousands of years ago.
Photo by: Ramona Frances — Tribune Writer
Leaving Armenia when he was 4 years old, Sarkis Sahatdjian traveled with his parents, Vagharshag and Makrouhi Sahatdjian and newborn brother, Hiag, to arrive in Madera in April, 1924. Sickened by the high seas, the trip was difficult, particularly for his mother.

"The immigrants were down in the hold. They didn't have first, or second class, and the ships weren't the best," Sarkis said. "The people stayed down with the sacks of wheat and barley and what not."

Sarkis said his family didn't speak English.

"They knew how to speak French; that was the international language at the time," he said.

The Sahatdjians arrived in North America first traveling through South America, where Vagharshag in desperation learned to make shoes, a skill he later used in the San Joaquin Valley.

Eventually settling in the San Joaquin Valley, the Sahatdjians were among many Armenians who adopted Fresno as a home base. And although the Sahatdjians live in Fresno today, they continue to run a raisin packing business in south Madera County, where the family first settled. Sarkis remembers living and working in the canneries.

"Whenever the Armenians went outside of town to work, they pooled their resources," he said. "As the migrant workers of the era, they went from one cannery to another. When the workers came home after the peach season, they would come back to Fresno. During the winter, the people worked in figs and dates packing."

Sarkis and his brother moved from cannery to cannery with their parents.

"The Del Monte cannery had the most modern cottages. In Rio Vista, there were maybe 50 cottages all in a line," Sarkis said. "The cottage doors opened into two rooms, a kitchen and bedroom. That was it.

"When I talk about it, I remember. I see it before my eyes. We had to supply our own burners since there were no stoves. When the burners, or premis, built up pressure, you light it. It burned like a Coleman stove using coal oil."

Sarkis said the family business in Armenia was a leather tannery where they cured hides.

"Some of our relatives in France in the 1700s had Middle East distributorships," he said. "Each of my father's brothers were distributors.

"In America, my father put up a sign at the canneries that said, 'shoe repair.' I admired what he did over the lunch hour to pick up an extra dollar. By doing that he made the money to buy a vineyard."

Together, he and his brother-in-law invested in a Madera vineyard. Sarkis said there was much prejudice in his homeland, something felt deeply among his own family.

"I never dreamed we would prosper in this country, a place where there was no sword on the necks of the people," Sarkis said. "My grandfather was beheaded in 1895. My poor mother, when she was born, didn't have a father. That's what I call hardship, being under the threat of a sword."

Sarkis said his family came to America to find freedom when a civil war was occurring in his home country. Many Armenians say atrocities committed against Armenians have compelling proof, Sarkis said. Worldwide, Armenians have sought acknowledgment from their respective governments of the crimes committed during World War I.

France, Argentina, Greece, and Russia have officially recognized the Armenian Genocide. The present-day Republic of Turkey, however, adamantly denies genocide against the Armenians during the war. Turkey dismisses evidence as mere allegations. The discrepancy continues to be an issue of international significance.

The Armenians believe the recurrence of genocide in the 20th century has made the reaffirmation of the historic acknowledgment of the criminal mistreatment of the Armenians by Turkey an obligation of the international community.

"Our government doesn't want to accept the fact a genocide happened," Sarkis said. "They don't even want to use the word genocide. I shouldn't have to live with this in my heart. I served time in the American military. The Armenians know what happened."

Sarkis said the Turkish government took their land and valuables.

"Families were taken and shot," he said. "They shot the innocent because they wanted the land, the riches of a 4,000-year Armenian history. The Armenians were the original people there. They can't keep denying this and succeed, or they will hear from us every year on April 24. We have a Memorial Day for wars. April 24 is the Memorial Day for the Armenian people that gave their lives."

Sarkis Sahatdjian is married to his wife, Iris and together they have three children, Victor, Margaret and Bill.











Sarkis Sahatdjian stands under an arbor at Victor Packing, a family owned raisin packing plant in south Madera County. The plant is located in the area where his parents first settled from Armenia. Armenians are credited with having domesticated the grape vine thousands of years ago.
Photo by: Ramona Frances — Tribune Writer

[Gavur]

Remembering who they are

Local dynasty rose from parents' escaping slaughter of 600,000 to 1.5 million Armenians
This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press on Sunday, May 14, 2006.
By TITUS GEE
Valley Press Staff Writer

http://www.avpress.com/n/14/0514_s10.hts

Adolf Hitler did not invent genocide. He only made it famous by exporting it.
Few understand this better than Lou and Ralph xxxigian of Lancaster.

The xxxigian family immigrated from Armenia - the Eastern European kingdom that became the smallest Soviet republic, and the site of what has been called the first genocide of the 20th century.

The small but ancient country of Armenia spent much of its long history doing battle with large neighbors that wanted to overrun it (and often succeeded).

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Ottoman Empire controlled a large portion of the country. According to many historians, that government harassed and killed hundreds of thousands of Armenians by military massacre and by marching them into the deserts of northern Syria to die of exposure. In all, between 600,000 and 1.5 million Armenians died.

One of the latest and largest pogroms occurred on April 24, 1915, so many Armenians organize memorials of the tragedy on April 24 each year. The Armenian Apostolic Church of the Antelope Valley had a vigil on April 21 to mark the 91st anniversary of that brutal day.

The xxxigian family survived the genocide unscathed, mainly because their tiny village, Molagokcha, lay deep into the remains of non-Ottoman Armenia, but they saw the suffering of their countrymen.

"They weren't in the thick of it, and when they were on the edge of it they hid in the hills," Lou xxxigian said.

They passed down stories of watching from a distance while Ottoman soldiers on horseback slashed through villages and seeing the invaders toss babies in the air and catch them on the ends of their bayonets.

"I believe those stories are true," Ralph xxxigian said.

Armenian historians and descendents of those who survived still struggle for public recognition of the slaughter.

Turkey denies any suggestion of official killings, blaming those deaths on the First World War.

After the Turkish defeat in that war, the Republic of Armenia declared independence May 28, 1918.

But the flush of victory faded quickly. On Nov. 29, 1920, the country was annexed by the Soviet Army.

During the brief window of post-war independence - enforced by Europe and the United States - Vahan and Araxie xxxigian married and applied to emigrate to the U.S.

He was 17. She was not quite 13.

They spent six months in Constantinople, Turkey, while the paperwork cleared and the Soviets took over their homeland.

Their third child, a daughter, was born while they waited. They named her Amelia . She would be the first to survive infancy.

The tiny family finally boarded a transport ship, the Macedonia, for the long trans-Atlantic voyage.

"When they saw the Statue of Liberty and landed … he got down and kissed the ground," Lou xxxigian said.

"You hear that a lot, but with my father it is the truth."

The xxxigians moved to California to join their cousin, John Oganesoff , who sponsored their immigration. Oganesoff transported fertilizer at the Vernon Stockyards. He gave Vahan a job driving trucks.

Lou was born while they still lived in a tiny apartment with apple crates for chairs and tables.

"Right away, (my father) went to night school," Lou said. "He learned all about the Constitution, learned the language." Vahan became a U.S. citizen in 1927, and Araxie swore her oath a year later.

By 1930, the family had bought a home and an old Moreland truck with hard rubber tires and no doors to haul the fertilizer.

The next year, Ralph was born.

The xxxigian brothers, now in their 70s, describe their young lives as poor but pleasant. Their mother and father taught them to work hard and hold their heads up.

"Our shoes were always shined," Lou said. "They might have a little hole in the bottom, but they were always shined. In those days everyone had nothing - everyone that we knew … It was a very friendly life. People had time and no money."

The family worked its way through the Great Depression and World War II. During the second world war, Vahan bought some small farms from Japanese-American customers who had to move to internment camps, and the xxxigians became farmers.

The business grew steadily. They bought an alfalfa farm and ranch in West Rosamond , and in 1954 Lou bought a house in the Antelope Valley so he could be nearer to it.

"Little by little, we made something of it," Lou said.

He had married Nellie Ananian , another Armenian American. Their mortgage payment was about $100 per month. Soon Ralph moved in down the street and later married Virginia Simonian , another daughter of Armenia.

Lou went into real estate in 1979, while Ralph continued to run the ranch. A few years later they bought a real estate business together. In 1997, they sold the ranch and devoted all their time to what is now Coldwell Banker xxxigian Realty in Lancaster.

The brothers built up their staff from 15 agents to 43 and rode the sometimes bumpy swell of development in the Valley.

They raised children and grandchildren, watching the values and work ethic of their parents "trickle down" through the generations.

"We didn't know what was happening," Lou said. Suddenly, "we had a little extra money."

As they started getting ahead, the xxxigians also began giving back by getting involved with the community and giving to local charities. Their support of Desert Haven Enterprises, a nonprofit organization that assists adults with physical and mental disabilities, has been especially generous.

On a recent afternoon, Lou, the boy who started life in a tiny room with apple-crate furniture, paused for a moment to reflect on his family's success, before climbing out of his Mercedes-Benz.

His eyes grew distant, perhaps thinking of how far they had come.

"Now we got a couple bucks and things are fine," he said.

For them the Armenian genocide is history - important history, but history nonetheless.

Even the old folks from the "old country" spoke of it rarely. "We would hear the older folks talking about the Kurds and the Turks," he said. But "mostly the discussion was about better times, better things."

[email protected]

[Joseph]

NEW REVELATIONS ON THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
The French College in Aintoura, Lebanon or Jemal Paha‚s orphanage where Armenian children were to be turkified
ARTICLE BY: Nora Parseghian
ENGLISH ADAPTATION: Simon Beugekian
The Armenian nation lived the most horrible phase of its history in 1915. The Ottoman authorities executed the Genocide which resulted in the killing of over 1 million Armenians, while most of the Armenians remaining on the western parts of historic Armenia were compelled to leave there cities and villages and deported, marched towards the deserts of Iraq and Syria.
Parts of the deported Armenians reached Lebanon where they believed that they were left in peace without realizing that in one of the not-so-far villages of Lebanon, namely Aintoura, near Zouk, Keserwan, which is about half an hour drive from the capital city Beirut, a plan of Turkification of Armenian orphans had been put in motion in 1915.
Such a new page in the history of the Armenian Genocide was recently discovered by Missak Keleshian, who is an avid collector of all kinds of photos of the Armenian Genocide. This is how he speaks about this most recent discovery: „A few months ago I was reading a book entitled "The Lions of Marash" by Stanley E. Kerr, (President of the American Univerity of Beirut) who tells about his personal experiences with Near East Relief during the years 1919-1922. In the book I came across a shocking photo with the following caption: „Jemal Pasha...on the steps of the French College at Aintoura, Lebanon. Jemal Pasha had established an orphanage for Armenian children in the college building and had appointed Halide Edib to be its directress‰. Halide Edib Hanum was a famous Turkish feminist and very well known for her efforts to turkify Armenian orphans. Beside being shocking, the photo was the first step that lead to a new discovery.
„On December 8, 2005 I visited the village of Aintoura and located the school where the photo was taken. It‚s a famous French College and it was established by the Jesuit priests 1657-1783 and Lazarist priests 1783-1834. I met with the school principal Superior Lazarist Father Jean Sfeir and after showing him the photo, I asked for his permission to research the school‚s archives for additional information about it and reveal its entire history. He was also amazed by the photo and asked the archivist of the school to assist me.‰
The archivist of the school Mr. Jean Sebastian Arhan, a Frenchman who came to Lebanon 43 years ago and has been since working in the archive of the French College in Aintoura. I showed him the photo and explained to him what I was looking for. To my amazement he was not only well aware of that part of the school‚s history that I was interested in but he had also gathered all the archival material pertaining to that period in a separate file which he gave to me.‰
According to Missak Keleshian, the most important revelation of the photo is the presence of Jemal Pasha and Halide Hanum beside Armenian orphans. Halide Hanum (Halide Edib Adivar 1884-1964) was one of the world renowned feminists of her times. She had received higher education American College for Women in1901. Best known for her novels criticizing the low social status of Turkish women; her first novel Seviye Talip, was published in 1909, Her first husband, Salih Zeki, then she remarried Dr. Adnan Adivar in 1917.
She served as a sergeant in Turkey‚s nationalist military. Lived in UK, France, and as one of the early feminists met with Gandhi and visited the United States of America for meeting with the leaders of the feminist movement there. She fell in love with Kemal Atatourk but the latter rejected her. Halide Hanum was a strong supporter of the pashas who planned, organized and executed the Armenian Genocide and played a crucial role in the efforts to turkify the remnants of the Armenians and was one of the leaders of that effort with Nigar Hanum.
Halide Adivar was Member of Parliament 1950-1954.
On October 29, 1914 the Ottoman Empire declared war against France, Great Britain and Russia. Therefore the agreement signed between the great powers and the Ottomans giving Mount Lebanon special status on June 9, 1861 was voided. The last christian governor of Lebanon, Ohannes Kouyoumdjian Pasha, is replaced by Ali Mounif Bey, during whose reign Lebanon lived horrible condition including hunger, very harsh economic conditions and a surge in the number of executions.
At the end of 1915, the kaymakam (district governor) of Jounieh informs the responsible of the Aintoura College that they must close it down. The clergy are compelled to leave to another monastery on a higher altitude, others are taken to Anatolia and Ourfa while a few older priests, who are unable to travel, remain in Aintoura.
Following the expulsion of the Lazarist priests the school is transformed into an orphanage for Armenian, Turkish and Kurdish children. In 1915 the school housed 800 orphans and 30 soldiers who guarded the school. The staff consisted of 10 Lebanese and the director was Nebih Bey. This is when efforts to turkify the Armenian orphans start to be implemented. The boys are circumcised and they are given Arabic and Turkish names by keeping the first letters of their Armenian names. This is how Haroutiun Najarian becomes Hamid Nazim, Boghos Merdanian becomes Bekim Mohammed, Sarkis Sarafian becomes Safwad Suleyman. Poor sanitary conditions, lack of nourishment and diseases prevail in the school and as a result a big number of children die. Turkish responsibles visiting the school blame Nebih Bey and accuse him of incompetence. In 1916, the commander of the Fourth Turkish Army Jemal Pasha decides to visit the orphanage. Upon being informed that the official who had appointed him to his position and charged him with the responsibility of turkifying the orphans is planning a visit, Nebih Bey orders the statues of St. Joseph and the statue of father Saliege removed from the school‚s entrance. Jemal Pasha arrives at the school accompanied by feminist Halide Hanum, who is immediately appointed to replace Nebih Bey as the principal of the orphanage. Halide Hanum is assisted by five Lebanese nuns from the Sacred Heart Order, who are responsible of the sanitation and nutrition of the orphans and other chores. Beside the Aintoura orphanage, Halide Hanum is also responsible of the Sister Nazareth school in Beirut, which is closed down in 1917.
400 new orphans between the ages 3-15 are brought to Aintoura with Jemal Pasha. They are accompanied by 15 young women from Turkish elite families, who join the team of 40 people working towards the islamization and turkification of the orphans. Halide Hanum, the principal of the school, was the highest authority and was supervising all the activities aiming at the full turkification of the orphans in the shortest possible interval. Her goal was to transform the Aintoura College into an idea Turkish institution.
While famine was prevailing in Beirut and other parts of Lebanon and the Turkish plan to exterminate the Armenians by the sword and the Arabs by famine was being carried on, cows, sheep and flour were abundant in the Aintoura orphanage. The goal was to have well fed and healthy newly turkified children. Lebanese outside the compound walls used to gather and beg for food.
Teaching at the orphanage was in Turkish. Older orphans were trained in trades ˆ shoemaking, carpentry and others and the mullah assigned to the schools called the children to prayer five times a day. Every night the band used to play „Long live Jemal Pasha‰.
In the summer of 1916 leprosy starts spreading within the orphanage while the Ottoman Armies start loosing on the fronts in the Balkans and in Palestine. Lutfy Bey, Rashid Bey and Halide Hanum abandon the school and the orphanage starts falling into chaos. Students start leaving the school compound and disorderly conduct leads to fights between the Turkish and Kurdish students on one side and the Armenian orphans ˆ who were blaming the parents of the Turkish and Kurdish students of having killed their parents ˆ on the other. It is only through the interference of the Turkish soldiers stationed at the school that killings are avoided.
From the 1200 orphans kept at the Aintoura orphanage one thousand are Armenians and the remaining 200 are Turkish and Kurdish. The Armenian orphans used to keep forks and other sharp objects to defend themselves. When the Ottomans retreat and the French and British arrive in the region, accompanied by members of the clergy, they find a chaotic situation in the school. One of the Lazarist leaders approaches Bayard Dodge, an officer of the American University of Beirut for assistance, who immediately complies with the request and arrange for shipments of food through the American Red Cross.
On October 1, 1918 the Turkish Army abandons Lebanon. On October 7 Father Sarlout returns to Aintoura and realizes that the situation is untenable. He arranges for the Turkish and Kurdish orphans to be transported to Damascus to ease the tension within the orphanage. He then gathers the Armenian orphans and starts working with them to remember their Armenian names and tries to explain to them that the turkification process they were going through is no longer in force. Once convinced, the Armenian orphans start calling each other by their original names then they gather all the forks and sharp items they were hiding and „surrender‰ them to the school officials. The statue of St. Joseph is returned to its podium and the French flag flies over the school. But father Sarlout realizes that his resources are limited and he cannot support that many orphans. He calls upon Bayard Dodge and the American Red Cross to support the school and the orphans. Mr. Crawford is then appointed principal of the Aintoura school, the staff of the school is replaced by Armenian teachers and the orphans are offered lessons in Armenian and English. Later „Near East Relief‰ takes over the school and keeps it until the fall of 1919, when the male orphans are sent to Aleppo and the females to the Armenian orphanage in the village of Ghazir, Lebanon.
While the school was under Turkish control, as a result of malnourishment, lack of sanitary conditions and diseases (mainly typhus), 300 Armenian orphans die. They are buried during 1916 in the backyard of the school. In 1993 the school directors decide to build an extension in that same backyard. When they start digging the ground they come across human remains which they gather and rebury in a few joint graves in the cemetery belonging to the Aintoura priests.
When the Turks leave and Father Sarlout returns to the school, he finds there 670 orphans ˆ 470 boys and 200 girls.
"Wondering in the different parts of the school, one corner looked very familiar to me. At a first glance I couldn‚t remember where or how I had seen that spot but I was sure that this was not new to me. When I returned home I started working in my collection of photographs and after three hours I found what I was looking for: it was the photo of a young orphan, which was actually taken in the same corner of the Aintoura school that looked familiar to me. The original of the photo was in the archives of the Catholicosate of the Holy See of Cilicia in Antelias, Lebanon, in the documents and photos belonging to Maria Jacobson. The writing on the side of the photo notes: „Armenian orphan, clean-cut and bright‰. The seal of „Near East Relief‰ is still visible at the bottom-left of the photo. At the time, the photo in question did not seem that important but toady, following the newly discovered facts about the Aintoura college, it was another piece of the puzzle I was faced with‰,- says Keleshian.
By putting the photos side by side and researching the archives of the Aintoura College, Missak Keleshian succeeded in reconstructing one of the most horrifying phases in the life of the orphans of the Armenian Genocide ˆ Turkification, which was nothing else but another portion of the general plan of annihilating the Armenian nation.

[Gavur]

I Know That One Day the World Will Condemn the Genocide

[April 23, 2007]

http://www.hetq.am/eng/society/0704-h_abrahamyan.html

Painter Heghine Abrahamyan is a Genocide survivor. She is 95 years old, born in Kars. Heghine was a witness to the deportation of Armenians from Ardahan and Kars. In 1921, when Heghine was eight years old, her family left Kars forever, emigrating to Gyumri, and then to Yerevan.

[Joseph]

Part 1

April 23, 2007

Remembering the Armenian Genocide; Massachusetts Newspaper Chronicles One Family's Journey to Safety in U.S.

By Bill Millhomme
Special to Huntington News Network

On April 24, 1915, the Turkish government issued an order for the extermination of the Armenian people in their own land, where they had lived for centuries. On that date, writers, composers, intellectuals and priests were rounded up and killed.

Their death presaged the murder of an ancient civilization. April 24 is therefore commemorated as the date of the unfolding of the Armenian Genocide.

Between the years 1895 and 1923 the Armenian people was subjected to deportation, expropriation, abduction, torture, massacre, and starvation. The great bulk of the Armenian population was forcibly removed from Armenia and Anatolia to Syria, where the vast majority was sent into the desert to die of thirst and hunger.

Large numbers of Armenians were methodically massacred throughout the Ottoman Empire. Women and children were abducted and horribly abused. The entire wealth of the Armenian people was expropriated. As a result some 600,000 Armenians were killed or died of starvation.

These events may seem to be far removed from local residents, but they are not. Throughout greater Boston and southeastern Massachusetts, the children of first generation Armenians who survived the genocide live among us. This is the story of one of the surviving families and the town that embraced them.


* * *

In 1889, at the age of 24, Samuel Sakaian, an Armenian, left his young wife and children and emigrated to the United States. Several months later, responding to the need for skilled tradesmen in the local manufacturing industries, Sakaian relocated to Foxboro.

During the ensuing three decades he would travel back to Armenia several times in search of his family members who remained in his native land. The archives of the Foxboro Reporter is a window to the past of the heartfelt love and concern of the residents of the town for the adopted son as he journeyed into to danger. His final journey was celebrated by the return of his niece who was captured by Arab slave traders and sold into domestic servitude.

In 1894 when word of the fighting between the Turks and Armenians reached Samuel Sakaian, the Foxboro Reporter began recording the unfolding events.

On August 24, 1894 in an article titled Off for the Holy Land, it was reported that “Samuel H. K. Sakaian left Foxboro on Tuesday of this week for Worcester, from whence he will go to New York, and from there he sails on Wednesday, August 29th, for London. From London, England he goes to Paris, France, from Paris to Marseilles, France, and from Marseilles he boards a ship, which will carry him to Antioch, in the Holy Land. At Antioch, he will buy a horse at an expense of about $25, on which he will be obliged to ride for 15 long days before he reaches his home in Central Armenia, near Mount Ararat. At Antioch he will also hire an ass and its owner. On the back of the animal will be carried his carpenter tools, which weigh several hundred pounds. These will be divided and packed in two boxes, each holding about an equal number of pound in order that they may be carried to better advantage. All along the route are located inns, at which travelers purchase necessities for man and beast.

"Samuel has resided in Foxboro for 4 years and it is 4 ½ years since he left his native land. During his absence a daughter 6 ½ years of age has died. He has three brothers and one sister, all married and all residing in the same house with his family. He was 55 days on his journey to this country, but expects to return in 40 days, under increased facilities, and with less delay along the route. During his residence here he has been nearly or quite all the time in the employ of Deacon Thomas B. Bourne, and engaged as a carpenter. He has gained many friends and carries back to his country the best wishes of all who know him. He also carries back a knowledge of various things as done in this country, which will be of great value and lasting benefit to him. He wishes to extend his thanks to Deacon T. B. Bourne, Robert S. Carpenter and their families, and to the many people here who have befriended him either by word or deed. It is a long and tedious journey, which he starts upon, and one beset by more or less danger.”

Unfortunately, Sakaian’s journey ended in Marseilles, France , for according to the Foxboro Reporter in September 1895, Sakaian started a second time for Armenia.

The article recorded that, “Samuel leaves many friends in Foxboro, who have learned to respect him; the prayers and best wishes of many people here accompany him on his long journey, and will be with him after he reaches his home. He has been absent from wife and children 5 years and 7 months, a daughter having died during his absence.

"Once before he started on this journey but met with misfortune before sailing from Europe, and returned to America. He will carry his carpenter tools with him, which he has purchased since his return to America, his first chest of these necessaries having been stolen from him during his previous journey. Samuel wishes us to say that his heart is filled with thankfulness to the people of Foxboro for their many and great kindnesses to him during his stay among us, and we realized that his heart was filled with tender thoughts for our people who had befriended him, which could not be expressed.”

Three months later, in December 1895 the Foxboro Reporter informed residents of the town that a letter had been received by Sakaian’s former employer, Thomas B. Bourne. In the article Bourne stated that Sakaian was in Marseilles, France, “in company with quite a body of his countrymen, all being detained there on account of the terrible ravages, which are taking place in Armenia, in which over 18,000 of his people, have been massacred. It is impossible for any of them to get passports to proceed. Samuel does not know whether his family are alive or dead, as no word of any kind has been received from them. The nearest post-office has been visited by marauders, and their fearful work of murder has been going on there. He still retains his chest of carpenter tools, and will probably be able to find something to do in this line to pay for his expenses.”

The article went on to mention that Sakaian “was followed from Foxboro by many prayers, and kind wishes, and it would be a comfort for him to know that he has still a warm place in the hearts of many in this town.”

Soon after, in February 1896, the Foxboro Reporter recorded that a “meeting in town hall Monday evening to raise money for suffering Armenia was fairly attended. Rev. J. W. Flagg presided. The speaker of the evening was Rev. E. P. Allen of Portland, Maine, who was a missionary at Harpoot, Turkey. His lecture was intensely interesting, and a generous collection was taken.”

Several weeks later, on March 14, 1896, the Foxboro Reporter mentioned that Sakaian had safely arrived again in Foxboro from Marseilles, France. The article went on to state that Sakaian’s arrival “was closely followed by a registered letter, from his home in Armenia, receiving it on Saturday. It was the fourth, which has been received by him, out of seven letters written to him by his people. The others have probably been intercepted. He wrote fifteen letters from France to his home and o those acquainted with his people in other parts of Turkey. Nearly all of these have doubtless failed to reach their destination.

"The letter received Saturday was, as stated, forwarded to him from France, where he left his address upon leaving for his last journey back to the United States. It was written on Wednesday, January 15th and stated that his wife and son, his three brothers and their families, 15 persons in all, were alive. This was cheering news to Samuel although the letter received was written nearly two months ago.”

Sakaian remained in town for several more years , but in 1900 he left Foxboro for his native Armenia. But ten years later, on June 25, 1910 the Foxboro Reporter recorded that “Samuel Sakaian, who again arrived in this country from Armenia a week ago and who has once again settled in Foxboro, will bring his wife and other members of his family here as soon as he secures the necessary funds for them to make the long journey. Samuel has been absent ten years. He has four children living of the ten children born to them. One of these is a soldier in the army of his country. He with his wife also desire o come to America, but considerable money is required to secure his release from the army. Samuel has had varied and sad experiences since he left Foxboro, and at times has been in imminent danger of losing his life at the hands of the treacherous and wily Turks. He says he never desires to return to his native land, and life will seem worth living when his family are again here.”

Apparently Sakaian’s family never arrived in Foxboro for almost a decade later on July 19, 1919 the Foxboro Reporter recorded that Sakaian had received his passport and that he was traveling to Armenia “to locate if possible his wife and family, not a word from whom has he heard for years.”

The article also mentioned that, “...He had a large number of relatives and has always held the opinion that many of them were victims during the Armenian massacre. He is undecided as to his future labors, but may devote his remaining year to the interests of his Armenian country and people.”

On November 29, 1919, Foxboro Reporter recorded that “The many friends of Samuel K. H. Sakaian will be pleased to learn that he has reached his native land in safety. We present our readers with a letter received from him by Thomas B. Bourne, dated Constantinople, October 20th, which is as follows: ‘I am in Constantinople. New York to Constantinople twenty-one days on the water. We had a nice journey, nice food, nice bed; everything was good. My fare from New York was $305. My health is good. By and by I will go to the English Consul to show my passport. Went to the American Consul, but he told me to go to the English Consul, because everything is in English powers hands. I think I will stay here this winter, but sometime I will see the English Consul to get advice to go to Aleppo. I found my brother’s daughter. All the Armenian people have been without any clothing: all women, girls and boys, have been undressed: nothing to cover themselves. I do not want to write all the things, and I am not able to write. Thousands die of hunger and thirst, and many of them throw themselves into the river and kill themselves. I am sorry I am not able to write long letters, but I hope you will be satisfied. Best regards to you all. You cannot send any letters to me now.’”

Apparently Foxboro residents were unaware of Sakaian’s whereabouts for the next three year and a half years. It was not until May, 1923 that he returned to Foxboro and told his incredible story. As recorded in the May 12, 1923 Foxboro Reporter, “Mr. Samuel Sakaian, a former resident of Foxboro, returned Wednesday after a sojourn of almost four years in Turkey. Mr. Sakaian left here in June 1919. The ‘Black Arrow’, on which he sailed, left New York on September 26, 1919 and was 22 days on the way to Constantinople.

"He experienced numerous difficulties in securing passports for passage both ways, notwithstanding, the fact that he was an American Citizen, the trouble Armenians and Turks since the war has made it practically impossible for an Armenian to live in Turkey."

"His plan was to go to Harpoot in Asia Minor to locate his family. When he arrived, he learned that all members of his family, numbering 25 in all,which included his four brothers and their families, had been “sent down South”; in other words, massacred by the Turks. Mr. Sakaian does not want us to think, however, that all Turks are cruel as he tells us that some are humane.

[Joseph]

Part 2

In a small village, called Kuckuk Chekmeja, which is just outside of Constantinople, he found a few remaining relatives, who used to live there years and years ago.

One of his cousins had been shipped South to Aleppo by the Turks and there met one of his nieces, who had been claimed in the desert by an Arab. The procedure was to ship all Armenians to the desert where the Arabs overtook them and seized the girls and young women, all others being massacred or left to die of starvation and thirst. To quote Mr. Sakaian, ‘My niece, who comes from Harpoot, was shipped with the others to the desert by the Turks. There a crowd of Arabs came and took the girls. My niece, at that time only fifteen years old, was taken with two other girls by an Arabian and kept by him for three years. Fortunately, he was very kind, gave them work in the kitchen and did not trouble them. When the Armistice was signed, and everything was under English control, the Arab asked the girls whether they wanted to stay in his house or go into English hands. The girls wanted to go, so he took them over to the English. There, the refugees were in one large building, under English hands. There my niece met her uncle (above mentioned) who did not recognize her at first, as she was a little girl the last time they had met. She remembered him and told him of her experiences and thus were reunited. They were both sent to Constantinople by the English representatives and there I found her, the only one I have left. She was penniless and had only on robe which an Arab had given her to wear. I left her passage money and expect her to reach Foxboro some time next month where she will make her home with me.

The girl was shipped by the Turks South together with thousands and thousands of women and children from the villages, cities and towns. On their march thru the desert, they passed the dead bodies of hundreds of fellow countrymen who had been massacred. The Turks did not give them a chance to take their own children with them. Women, who had their babies with them, stopped to rest by the road and were killed as they sat there, for they stopped the progress of the march. Many children and women died of thirst, when they were driven into the desert. The girl’s mother had no water for days and when they came at last to water, she drank too much of it and died. The same fate befell thousands of other women.’

Mr. Sakaian stayed in Constantinople for three years, waiting for a chance to go to Harpoot. After the Greeks had driven the Turks back and Smyrna was burned, the Turks got power enough to drive all foreigners of every nationality out of Constantinople. Many Americans, English, Italian and French were rushed out of Constantinople by train and boat.

After the foreigners were driven out of Constantinople, there was very little disturbance, so Mr. Sakaian was told by the American Consul that he could stay longer if he wished but that it would be better to come back to America. He experienced many difficulties in securing the passport as it was taken from him by the Turkish government on the grounds that it ‘was against International Law’ for Mr. Sakaian to become an American citizen without notifying the Turkish consul in this country.

In order that Mr. Sakaian might get safely aboard the steamer for New York, he was referred to the American Ambassador, who, when the appointed time came, had his ‘qavas’ or military orderly escort him to his ship. Mr. Sakaian states that he is glad to be back in Foxboro again, and that he proposes to stay this time.

Samuel’s niece, Alma Sakaian’s, her voyage to America was beset with the immigration complications that were common in the post-World War I era. On October 6, 1923 , the Foxboro Reporter, in an article titled, Mr. Sakaian Misses Ship Diverted From New York To Providence: Armenian Immigrant is Finally Admitted, the newspaper recorded the odyssey for the local residents. “Samuel Sakaian, a resident of this town for over 30 years but a native of Armenia, visited several months in his native land where he learned that all his family had been massacred except a niece, Alma Sakaian. He returned last Spring leaving money with the American Consul in Constantinople for the passage later of his niece. She arrived at Ellis Island on June 30, only to find that the quota from her country had already arrived. She was sent back to Europe and her money refunded.

Ex-Representative Ellis and Congressman Frothingham took up the matter and she was allowed an entrance. She took passage again on the steamship Canada due to arrive in New York last Monday. This vessel was diverted to Providence where it docked on Sunday. Samuel Sakaian went to New York on Monday to meet his niece. She landed in Providence on Sunday and came to Attleboro where she was taken care of on Monday night by the Y.W.C.A. and finally arrived here safely on Tuesday.”

Alma Sakaian, was 21 years old when she arrived in Foxboro in 1923. She was born in Arghan, Turkey in 1902. Several months after arriving in Foxboro, she married Archie Shahabian, an Armenian who also was born in the village of Arghan in 1885.

Like Sakaian, Shahabian emigrated to the United States and moved to Foxboro in 1904. Archie and Alma married in 1924 and lived in Foxboro for the rest of their lives. Archie died in 1975 and Alma passed away in 1982.

Several years after the death of her husband, Alma agreed to be interviewed by a local reporter, George Patisteas. For the first time, Alma recalled publicly her recollections of the events that transpired sixty years earlier. On November 9, 1978 the Foxboro Reporter recorded her story.

“...Alma Sakaian was born in the town of Arghan, the youngest in a family of eight children, it was not the best of times. On the verge of the First World War, nationalism was running at a fever pitch. Instigated by years of fighting that resulted in about 200,000 Armenian deaths, the Turks were once again growing resentful of their country’s sizable minority.

What followed as a result were a number of purges of small hamlets and towns throughout the country that began in Alma’s hometown when she was eight. At that time, out-of-town Turkish soldiers, prodded by the Germans, blindfolded and shot all the male members of her church over the age of 16. The group included Alma’s two brothers, father and an uncle…. After the Arghan massacre took place, Turkish harassment of the Armenians continued until a more organized purge began one month later. The Armenian members of the community, Alma recalls, were uprooted from their homes and told to take only what could be carried on their backs and donkeys or horses. Herded from their homes, the refugees were soon stripped of their animals as well, as they headed into the deserts of Mesopotamia.

The reason for the hostility between the two groups of people was singular: religion. The Turks believed in the word of Muhammed. The Armenians followed the teachings of Christ.

Lagging behind the caravan of refugees because she was attending to her younger brother, Alma was beaten by a Turkish soldier with a ball and chain, as was her brother. The beating was so severe that the two were left for dead, even though she was still alive.

What Alma witnessed next, however, was worse than the beating: 10,000-15,000 Armenian refugees, including her mother and brother were being burned in their shelters while soldiers stood guard ready to shoot any person trying to escape. All remaining members of her family were killed in the blaze save for her two older sisters, who had married and moved to Russia before the purges began.”

Alone in the deserts of Arabia, where the Armenians had been herded, Alma was picked up by Arab slave traders and deposited in the household of a rich sultan and his wife, where she became personal maid to the lady of the house. Her name and origin was then placed in area newspapers, including the Boston Globe. It was in that paper that Samuel Sakaian, visiting a friend in Watertown, was told of Alma. Sakaian stayed with his niece for four years, married, then decided to return to Foxboro. Because of his marital status, immigration officials recommended he leave his niece and then send for her a few months afterward.

Alma’s attempts at emigrating, however, were a bona-fide disaster. Aboard a Greek ship that docked in Ellis island in New York, she and about 50 other Armenians were denied entry because of filled quotas. The boat returned across the Atlantic, not to her home but to the home of the ship.

In Greece for a month with little money, Alma managed to scrape by until it was time for another try. However, when custom officials looked at her passport, taken early in Alma’s life, they balked, thinking it was a forgery. They were convinced that the woman they saw was not the child of the picture, even though only a couple of years had elapsed. ‘If you were in my place, you’d look older, too,’ Alma recalls telling them. Allowed to proceed, she this time landed in Providence…Unable to speak a word of English except “Foxboro” and “Sam”, Alma found her way to town with the assistance of helpful attendants and train conductors.”

After residing in Foxboro for a few months she met Archie Shahabian and they were married soon after in 1924. Archie, like Alma, was a former resident of Arghan…Archie came to this country as a stowaway to escape what he correctly predicted would be bloodshed in his native land.” Alma and Archie Shahabian raised two sons in Foxboro, John and George. The former resides in California and George still lives in his hometown of Foxboro with his wife, Rose.

The Sakaian/Shahabian story, as recorded in the Foxboro Reporter archives, makes very personal an international story of remembrance that may seem at times to be far removed from our local events and memories.

[Joseph]

http://www.hetq.am/eng/society/0704-h_abrahamyan.html

I Know That One Day the World Will Condemn the Genocide

[April 23, 2007]

Painter Heghine Abrahamyan is a Genocide survivor. She is 95 years old, born in Kars. Heghine was a witness to the deportation of Armenians from Ardahan and Kars. In 1921, when Heghine was eight years old, her family left Kars forever, emigrating to Gyumri, and then to Yerevan.

“I was three years old when my family was deported for the first time. At the time we were living in Ardahan. My father worked in the military. He was assigned to work as military supplier in Yerevan. My father took us with him to Yerevan. We rented a house in the area of the current Opera House. Back then, it was an empty place with few houses and gardens. I remember once the neighbor's daughter and I were eating apricots in one of those gardens. My hands got dirty. I wanted to kneel down and wash them in the river, but fell into the river instead. The river took me. I was saved by our landlord's son. In 1918 my mother died and our aunts took me and my brother to Kars,” Heghine recounted

Heghine enrolled in the girls' school in Kars. But in November 1920, Kars was again attacked by the Turks. “The Turks did not allow Armenians to leave the city. But, my father, as a serviceman in the Russian Army, was given a van so that we could take our belongings and leave. My aunt went to the train station to pack our things. All of a sudden she came back and told us that the Turks had taken the station, and that the train had departed with our things in it. It was the second time since Ardahan that we lost our belongings.”

“At the time my father wasn't with us; maybe he was at the military base. We got into a car and hurried to the canyon road, so we could escape. The canyon was full of frightened people. Everyone was fleeing—some on foot, others with horses, carts, whichever way. After a while, the road was so full of people that it was impossible to move forward. Our car stopped. At that time, the Turks noticed that it was a good excuse to slaughter people; they took positions on either side of the canyon and started shooting people. When I saw the first dead, the scene was unbearable, and I probably lost consciousness. When I woke up, our van was empty, and my relatives had left, leaving me alone. Under the van a Kurdish woman was hiding with a child in her arms. Next to me was lying my uncle's four-year-old daughter, with her hips and pelvis broken. She bled to death before my eyes. The Kurdish woman took me and we walked on together, hoping to find my relatives.


“There was a bridge over the canyon. The locals called it the Hair Bridge, because it was narrow and not many people could use it at the same time. People had to cross this shaky bridge. The Turks were shooting from the other side, and it was impossible to cross back because of the crowd behind. People were falling into the river; the river was red with blood. In front of me was a man with a big bag on his back. All of a sudden he collapsed from exhaustion. I don't know how I passed him—maybe I walked over him—but I found myself on the other side. I was looking for someone I knew when suddenly the earth underneath me exploded. The Turks were shooting. A man came up to me and hid me in his uniform and started to run. I was hitting him and kicking him, trying to escape. I didn't realize he was my savior. Then he reached a half-ruined building and threw me inside through a broken window.

“In the rooms inside there were groups of people, wounded, with torn clothing. I found my family among them. After some time the gunfire stopped and we found that the Kars road was open. We returned to the town, leaving in that cursed canyon the bodies of my grandmother and my uncle's daughter.”

In the spring of 1921, the children living in the orphanage were transported by railroad to Leninakan. Heghine and her brother were among them. “The Kars-Leninakan road is not long, but I had the feeling that we were going and going but not getting anywhere. We were loaded like cattle into train compartments, which were locked from outside. There was an epidemic inside. I don't remember, but my aunt told me later that the bodies of dead children had been thrown from the windows so the epidemic wouldn't spread,” Heghine said.

After living in Gyumri for some time, they moved to Yerevan. Heghine went to school and discovered a lifelong interest in painting. She went to a local art school, and then to Leningrad to continue her studies at the Leningrad's Academy of Arts.


When she returned to Yerevan, Heghine Abrahamyan went to work at the Phanos Terlemezyan School, where she taught art for thirty years, passing her knowledge and experience on to her students, among whom were the painters Grigor Khanjyan, Onik Minasyan, Levon Kojoyan, Rafayel Atoyan, and others.

Even today at almost 100-year-old Heghine continues to paint. She has many unfinished pieces, which she has to complete. There is one pain that lingers on– her longing for her lost homeland.

“I know that one day the world will condemn the Genocide, ” Heghine Abrahamyan said. “Europe must know the Turks and their devious politics, because if Turks enter European Union with the weight of the Armenian Genocide weight on their shoulders, they will soon destroy Europe, too. “

Ani Gasparyan

[Joseph]

April 24, 2007
(April 24, 2007)

History of Surviving: Collection encourages readers to remember and recognize
By John Hughes
ArmeniaNow editor
On April 23, ArmeniaNow announced the release of “Remember 24”, a 56-page collection of profiles chronicling the lives of 24 survivors of the Armenian Genocide.

{ai215101.jpg|left}Hosted by Artbridge bookshop/café, staff of ArmeniaNow distributed free copies of the book to representatives of various Non Governmental Organizations, clerics, and to Hayk Demoyan, director of Armenia’s Genocide Museum-Institute.

The book announcement was highlighted by the participation of Shmavon Sahakyan, one of the featured survivors, who spoke to the group and in private about his escape from Kars to a Gyumri orphanage where his life in contemporary Armenia began.

Like Shmavon, all the profiles are of those who escaped Ottoman Empire Turkey to modern-day Armenia. As noted in the book, 7 of the 24 featured survivors have died since they were interviewed, a detail noted in the book’s stark black centerpiece: “There are 24 faces and memories here. History holds 1.5 million. Since these interviews, only 17 of ours are still living. Shouldn’t there be an apology while even one can hear it?”

“Remember 24” was released in 1,000 copies, published through the financial support of Hovig Kurkjian, of Berlin.

The book is based on articles that also appeared on ArmeniaNow’s “1915-2005” section in commemoration of the 90th anniversary of the Genocide. Published in English, 500 copies of the book have been sent to Washington, D.C., where the Armenian National Committee of America has agreed to distribute them to members of the US Congress, as they consider approval of a House Bill that would adopt an official policy of recognition.

Family members of Genocide survivors will receive the book, with remaining copies given to embassies in Armenia whose countries have adopted resolutions recognizing the Armenian Genocide.

ArmeniaNow is presently seeking partners who would fund the publication of “Remember 24” in Armenian, French and Russian.

Click here for the downloadable PDF file.

http://armenianow.com/?action=printable&AID=2151&CID=2200&lng=eng