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Aztag, Armenian Daily, Lebanon
February 2006
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 - 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 - who were blaming the parents of the Turkish and Kurdish
students of having killed their parents - 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 - 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 - Turkification, which was nothing else but another
portion of the general plan of annihilating the Armenian nation.
For more details and to view the photos visit our aztagdaily
english version:
February 2006
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 - 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 - who were blaming the parents of the Turkish and Kurdish
students of having killed their parents - 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 - 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 - Turkification, which was nothing else but another
portion of the general plan of annihilating the Armenian nation.
For more details and to view the photos visit our aztagdaily
english version:
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