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By Martin B. Cassidy
Staff Writer
Published April 15 2006
Shortly after sending his wife and young son to Constantinople to escape 89 years ago, Elia Boyajian and other unarmed Armenian men in the village of Kharpert were slaughtered by Ottoman Turkish soldiers, Sarah Mushegian said.
Mushegian, a Milbank Avenue resident, said her late father, Fred Boyajian, never recovered from the loss of his father, or from spending years in the protective custody of American authorities in Constantinople during the Armenian Genocide, when 1.5 million to 2 million Armenians living under the rule of Muslim Turks within the Ottoman Empire killed or starved to death during an eight-year period.
"He lost his father and was confined for years with his mother as his only link to the world," said the 50-year-old who grew up near Hartford. "My father had a perpetual sadness and maybe that was part of his personality, but I think some of us are probably unable to recover from a trauma like that and live a joyful life."
Armenians around the world observe National Remembrance Day on April 24 to memorialize those killed during the genocide, which lasted from 1915 to 1923.
For Armenians commemorating the dead, April 24, 1915, is considered the true beginning of the genocide, when Turkish authorities rounded up and executed more than 200 Armenian community leaders in Constantinople.
While many were killed outright, others died slowly in concentration camps or of starvation or disease trying to escape.
"It's a major event for any Armenian-American," said Harry Keleshian, a Greenwich resident whose father escaped the genocide.
"The significance of April 24 is not to forget those who died trying to salvage their lives as they were mass deported into the deserts or massacred," George Leylegian, a Stamford resident whose parents' families were murdered.
On Monday, PBS will air a new documentary called "The Armenian Genocide" at 10 p.m. which Armenian-Americans are hoping will educate younger Armenians about the tragedy.
"I'm well aware of the show," the 75-year-old Leylegian said. "The handful of people who were able to survive have always believed in the need for education and advancement of awareness in the countries that we live in."
Even before its broadcast the documentary created a flap, in part because PBS commissioned a 25-minute panel discussion to run afterward. The panel features two academics who believe that the killings constituted genocide, and two who argued that a holocaust did not occur, according to the Los Angeles Times.
An Armenian group launched an online petition against the panel program and several members of Congress complained to PBS. They argued that the network would never follow a documentary about the genocide of Jews during World War II with a panel discussion featuring holocaust deniers, according to the Los Angeles Times. A PBS affiliate in Los Angeles has refused to broadcast the documentary.
While Armenians and most of Europe have called on the Turkish government to acknowledge, apologize and pay reparations for the genocide, Turkish leaders maintain that the killing and deportations were part of World War I, not a systematic ethnic cleansing program.
Almost without exception, Armenian families living in the United States lost relatives in the widespread persecution and killing, Leylegian said.
"This was a planned governmental action to kill Armenians, not something that happened randomly," Leylegian said. "We never had the luxury of growing up with a normal family life with grandparents, aunts or uncles. So many didn't survive."
Leylegian's father, Arsen, witnessed the decapitation of his father, Donig, by Turkish authorities, and his mother, Sarah, and other adult relatives killed in various ways, Leylegian said.
Both his parents grew up in an American orphanage set up to house Armenian children, the retired executive said.
"My father lived through it and passed away at the age of 90," Leylegian said. "He used to tell the stories and break down and cry."
Following an earthquake that killed 75,000 people in Armenia in 1988, Leylegian has visited the country 24 times, often as part of humanitarian and medical aid missions.
On those trips, the sight of small Armenian children living in post-quake poverty made Leylegian upset, he said, evoking thoughts of the plight of his own orphaned parents.
"We feel a responsibility to our parents," Leylegian said.
Mushegian said she and her husband and four children plan to watch the PBS documentary on Monday night.
While disappointed that the United States has not done more to pressure Turkey to apologize and acknowledge its actions, she hopes the show will contribute toward keeping alive the memory of those who were killed.
"I don't think this has been at the forefront or more people would know and understand this period of history," Mushegian said. "I can't say it (the documentary) is of any comfort other than that perhaps help to make the facts more well known."
Staff Writer
Published April 15 2006
Shortly after sending his wife and young son to Constantinople to escape 89 years ago, Elia Boyajian and other unarmed Armenian men in the village of Kharpert were slaughtered by Ottoman Turkish soldiers, Sarah Mushegian said.
Mushegian, a Milbank Avenue resident, said her late father, Fred Boyajian, never recovered from the loss of his father, or from spending years in the protective custody of American authorities in Constantinople during the Armenian Genocide, when 1.5 million to 2 million Armenians living under the rule of Muslim Turks within the Ottoman Empire killed or starved to death during an eight-year period.
"He lost his father and was confined for years with his mother as his only link to the world," said the 50-year-old who grew up near Hartford. "My father had a perpetual sadness and maybe that was part of his personality, but I think some of us are probably unable to recover from a trauma like that and live a joyful life."
Armenians around the world observe National Remembrance Day on April 24 to memorialize those killed during the genocide, which lasted from 1915 to 1923.
For Armenians commemorating the dead, April 24, 1915, is considered the true beginning of the genocide, when Turkish authorities rounded up and executed more than 200 Armenian community leaders in Constantinople.
While many were killed outright, others died slowly in concentration camps or of starvation or disease trying to escape.
"It's a major event for any Armenian-American," said Harry Keleshian, a Greenwich resident whose father escaped the genocide.
"The significance of April 24 is not to forget those who died trying to salvage their lives as they were mass deported into the deserts or massacred," George Leylegian, a Stamford resident whose parents' families were murdered.
On Monday, PBS will air a new documentary called "The Armenian Genocide" at 10 p.m. which Armenian-Americans are hoping will educate younger Armenians about the tragedy.
"I'm well aware of the show," the 75-year-old Leylegian said. "The handful of people who were able to survive have always believed in the need for education and advancement of awareness in the countries that we live in."
Even before its broadcast the documentary created a flap, in part because PBS commissioned a 25-minute panel discussion to run afterward. The panel features two academics who believe that the killings constituted genocide, and two who argued that a holocaust did not occur, according to the Los Angeles Times.
An Armenian group launched an online petition against the panel program and several members of Congress complained to PBS. They argued that the network would never follow a documentary about the genocide of Jews during World War II with a panel discussion featuring holocaust deniers, according to the Los Angeles Times. A PBS affiliate in Los Angeles has refused to broadcast the documentary.
While Armenians and most of Europe have called on the Turkish government to acknowledge, apologize and pay reparations for the genocide, Turkish leaders maintain that the killing and deportations were part of World War I, not a systematic ethnic cleansing program.
Almost without exception, Armenian families living in the United States lost relatives in the widespread persecution and killing, Leylegian said.
"This was a planned governmental action to kill Armenians, not something that happened randomly," Leylegian said. "We never had the luxury of growing up with a normal family life with grandparents, aunts or uncles. So many didn't survive."
Leylegian's father, Arsen, witnessed the decapitation of his father, Donig, by Turkish authorities, and his mother, Sarah, and other adult relatives killed in various ways, Leylegian said.
Both his parents grew up in an American orphanage set up to house Armenian children, the retired executive said.
"My father lived through it and passed away at the age of 90," Leylegian said. "He used to tell the stories and break down and cry."
Following an earthquake that killed 75,000 people in Armenia in 1988, Leylegian has visited the country 24 times, often as part of humanitarian and medical aid missions.
On those trips, the sight of small Armenian children living in post-quake poverty made Leylegian upset, he said, evoking thoughts of the plight of his own orphaned parents.
"We feel a responsibility to our parents," Leylegian said.
Mushegian said she and her husband and four children plan to watch the PBS documentary on Monday night.
While disappointed that the United States has not done more to pressure Turkey to apologize and acknowledge its actions, she hopes the show will contribute toward keeping alive the memory of those who were killed.
"I don't think this has been at the forefront or more people would know and understand this period of history," Mushegian said. "I can't say it (the documentary) is of any comfort other than that perhaps help to make the facts more well known."
