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The Gazette (Montreal)
April 24, 2005 Sunday
Final Edition
Armenians gather to remember: Open wounds. After 90 years there is
still no closure
ROBERTO ROCHA, The Gazette
Kartine Divanian was 4 when Ottoman soldiers burst into her home,
chained up the men and took them away to be shot. The soldiers then
came back to burn her house and everything else in the Turkish
village of Marzevan.
Her mother, fearing for her life, sent her to Greece with 16,000
other Armenian orphans. They never saw each other again.
Divanian's wounds haven't healed over the past 90 years, wounds she
passed on to her children and grandchildren now living in Canada.
And none of the 60,000 Armenians in the country will feel healed
until they get the closure they seek: for the Turkish government to
recognize what many historians and governments agree was a genocide
in which 1.5 million Armenians were killed or disappeared.
Last night, Montreal Armenians filled St. Joseph's Oratory to
capacity to observe the 90th anniversary of the alleged genocide.
But they were also observing 90 years of denial by the Turkish
government.
"It's time for closure. We still have to fight the fight," said Taro
Alepian, president of the Congress of Canadian Armenians.
Last night's event was a deeply devotional, multi-denominational
service exalting martyrdom and denouncing indifference.
"Our ancestors fell knowing that 90 years later we would be meeting
in churches," said Azad Chichmanian, an Armenian community leader who
began the service.
"They knew that kind of life could not be taken away, no matter how
organized the killing or how much the Turkish government denies it."
A choir ushered in the handful of survivors from that era, most of
whom rely on wheelchairs and are at a loss for words when
describing what they witnessed.
"Your wounds are my wounds," said Bishop Ibrahim Ibrahim of the
Malkite Greek Catholic Church of Montreal to the survivors. "The
blood of your martyrs is immortal."
Officials from Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Buddhist faiths followed
with their own sympathies and condemnations.
Last year, Canada became the 17th government to recognize the
genocide, and other countries followed.
Alepian said that's a good start.
"We want Canada to join Europe to pressure the Turkish government to
recognize the genocide," he said.
"They need to face the truth like Germany did, and it's a better
country for it," he added. "Just like today's Germans aren't Nazis,
today's Turks aren't the killers. Why can't they see this?"
For Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay, last night's service transcended
politics.
"I'm here to pray for our future, to recognize that tragic things
happen," Tremblay said.
"If every leader in our society took the time to do the same, they
would adhere to our true job, which is to respect the values of the
people who vote for us."
[email protected]
GRAPHIC:
Colour Photo: IAN BARRETT, THE GAZETTE; Aroussiag Aghazarian, 99, is
comforted by her daughter before last night's service.
April 24, 2005 Sunday
Final Edition
Armenians gather to remember: Open wounds. After 90 years there is
still no closure
ROBERTO ROCHA, The Gazette
Kartine Divanian was 4 when Ottoman soldiers burst into her home,
chained up the men and took them away to be shot. The soldiers then
came back to burn her house and everything else in the Turkish
village of Marzevan.
Her mother, fearing for her life, sent her to Greece with 16,000
other Armenian orphans. They never saw each other again.
Divanian's wounds haven't healed over the past 90 years, wounds she
passed on to her children and grandchildren now living in Canada.
And none of the 60,000 Armenians in the country will feel healed
until they get the closure they seek: for the Turkish government to
recognize what many historians and governments agree was a genocide
in which 1.5 million Armenians were killed or disappeared.
Last night, Montreal Armenians filled St. Joseph's Oratory to
capacity to observe the 90th anniversary of the alleged genocide.
But they were also observing 90 years of denial by the Turkish
government.
"It's time for closure. We still have to fight the fight," said Taro
Alepian, president of the Congress of Canadian Armenians.
Last night's event was a deeply devotional, multi-denominational
service exalting martyrdom and denouncing indifference.
"Our ancestors fell knowing that 90 years later we would be meeting
in churches," said Azad Chichmanian, an Armenian community leader who
began the service.
"They knew that kind of life could not be taken away, no matter how
organized the killing or how much the Turkish government denies it."
A choir ushered in the handful of survivors from that era, most of
whom rely on wheelchairs and are at a loss for words when
describing what they witnessed.
"Your wounds are my wounds," said Bishop Ibrahim Ibrahim of the
Malkite Greek Catholic Church of Montreal to the survivors. "The
blood of your martyrs is immortal."
Officials from Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Buddhist faiths followed
with their own sympathies and condemnations.
Last year, Canada became the 17th government to recognize the
genocide, and other countries followed.
Alepian said that's a good start.
"We want Canada to join Europe to pressure the Turkish government to
recognize the genocide," he said.
"They need to face the truth like Germany did, and it's a better
country for it," he added. "Just like today's Germans aren't Nazis,
today's Turks aren't the killers. Why can't they see this?"
For Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay, last night's service transcended
politics.
"I'm here to pray for our future, to recognize that tragic things
happen," Tremblay said.
"If every leader in our society took the time to do the same, they
would adhere to our true job, which is to respect the values of the
people who vote for us."
[email protected]
GRAPHIC:
Colour Photo: IAN BARRETT, THE GAZETTE; Aroussiag Aghazarian, 99, is
comforted by her daughter before last night's service.