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MassisWeekly.com -
Vol. 25, No. 20 - May 28, 2005
- Aram Sarkisian To Visit United States
- Armenian Civic Groups Slam Election Law Reform
- Antonio Villaraigosa's Landslide Victory In Los Angeles
- Back To Yerevan And Reflections On The Armenian Genocide
- Invited By Social Democratic Hunchakian Party, Aram Sarkisian To Visit
United States
YEREVAN -- Aram Sarkisian, the leader of Armenia's `Hanrapetutyun'
opposition party, is scheduled to travel to the U.S. on June 7, at the
invitation of Social Democratic Hunchakian Party.
He will be the keynote speaker at an event dedicated to the 90th
anniversary of the hanging of 20 Hunchak party leaders by the Ottoman
Turks in 1915. The event will be held in Glendale on June 11th.
During his visit to the US, Sarkisian will meet with community leaders,
government officials, as well as members of the U.S. Congress both in
California and Washington DC. Sarkisian, who briefly served as Armenia's
prime minister in 1999-2000, after the assassination of his brother
Vasken Sarkisian, would not say if meetings with officials from the
White House or the State Department are also planned. But he did put his
visit in the context of recent U.S. calls for democratization in the
South Caucasus and elsewhere in the world. `Why not. It will be within
that framework as well,' he said. `Western governments are always
elected by the people and that is called democracy,' he said. `The
Russians, on the other hand, support the likes of Saddam Hussein,
[Belarus President Aleksandr] Lukashenko, [Armenian President Robert]
Kocharian who is totally rejected by our people. That is why Russia is
losing.
`Russia is offering us nothing, while the West is urging us not to rig
elections and to form legitimate judicial, legislative and executive
bodies.' Sarkisian and other prominent oppositionists have been buoyed
by U.S. support for a series of anti-government revolts across the
former Soviet Union. Visiting Tbilisi earlier this month, President
George W. Bush made an emphatic endorsement of Georgia's 2003 `rose
revolution,' saying that it should serve as an example for other, less
democratic nations.
Speaking at the International Republican Institute in Washington on May
18, Bush declared that the revolutions in Georgia, Ukraine and
Kyrgyzstan are `just the beginnings.' `Across the Caucasus and Central
Asia, hope is stirring at the prospect of change - and change will
come,'he said. `Democratic change can arrive suddenly - and that means
our government must be able to move quickly to provide needed
assistance,' Bush added, announcing the creation of an `active response
corps' within the State Department that will deal with such situations.
Sarkisian said his Hanrapetutyun (Republic) party, which is a key member
of Armenia's largest opposition alliance, will continue to fight for
`regime change through a popular revolt.' But he would not say when and
how it plans to launch it.
- Armenian Civic Groups Slam Election Law Reform
YEREVAN -- Armenia's leading nongovernmental organizations advocating
political reform described on Tuesday the latest amendments to the
Armenian electoral legislation as a sham, saying that the authorities
will continue to fully control the conduct of all elections.
The Partnership for Open Society, a grouping of some three dozen NGOs,
said the amendments approved by the Armenian parliament last week will
in no way complicate chronic vote rigging in the country. It also
slammed European experts for welcoming the changes as a step forward.
`The Partnership for Open Society is calling on the country's
authorities to reconsider the adopted law and bring it into full
conformity with international standards for free and fair elections,' it
said in a statement. The statement singled out legal provisions
regulating the formation of various-level commissions holding elections.
The current Central Election Commission and its territorial divisions
each have nine members, three of whom were appointed by Robert
Kocharian. The other commission seats are controlled by the six Armenian
parties and blocs represented in the National Assembly. Only two of them
are in opposition to Kocharian. Kocharian will now be able to name only
one member of each commission, the two other seats being given to
Armenia's Court of Appeals and a nonpartisan group of lawmakers loyal to
the head of state.
`The mechanism for the formation of the commission set by the law does
not make the electoral bodies impartial and balanced,' read the
statement by the Partnership for Open Society.
`Given that the judiciary is still directly dependent on the executive
branch, it is obvious that the president of the republic and the
authorities as a whole will continue to control the entire electoral
process,' one of the leaders of the NGO coalition, Hrair Tovmasian, told
journalists.
He said Kocharian, whose disputed reelection in 2003 was strongly
criticized by Western monitors, will control at least two thirds of all
commission members. Tovmasian and another coalition leader, Vartan
Poghosian, also argued that giving Armenia's highest court
representation in the electoral commissions contradicts a constitutional
clause that bans judges from holding any other `state position.' The two
men further criticized experts from the Council of Europe's Venice
Commission and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
for reportedly concluding that the amended election is an improvement
over its previous version.
Poghosian complained that the Venice Commission has itself admitted in
its reports that Armenian courts are not independent. `We don't see any
logic here and we intend to convey our concerns and our statement to the
Council of Europe so that they reconsider their approach and correctly
assess the new mechanism for commission formation,'he said.
This is not the first time that the Partnership for Open Society
criticizes the Council of Europe for its perceived leniency toward the
Armenian authorities. Last year, for example, the NGOs criticized
a resolution by the council's Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) which made a
largely positive assessment of Yerevan's human rights record.
- Antonio Villaraigosa's Landslide Victory In Los Angeles Mayor's Race
ACA Congratulates The New Mayor
Antonio Villaraigosa romped past incumbent James K. Hahn to make history
last Tuesday, winning election as the first Latino mayor of Los Angeles
since the city's pioneer days. Riding a huge wave of voter discontent,
the challenger avenged his 2001 loss to Hahn, who possessed an iconic
family name but never connected strongly with voters during a rocky
four-year term.
Villaraigosa's landslide represented a crowning symbol of Latinos'
growing clout in California, with 25 percent turnout, but his decisive
victory over Mayor James Hahn saw him claim significant
support across a wide range of demographic and geographic groups, an
exit poll found.
Shortly before midnight, a beaming Villaraigosa greeted chanting
supporters to claim victory and restate his campaign's theme of unity.
`It doesn't matter whether you grew up on the Eastside or the Westside,
whether you're from South Los Angeles or Sylmar,' he said. `It doesn't
matter whether you go to work in a fancy car or on a bus, or whether you
worship in a cathedral or a synagogue or a mosque.
We are all Angelenos, and we all have a difference to make.' Antonio
Villaraigosa had received the endorsement of Armenian Council of America
prior to the run-off elections based on his strong commitment to issues
of interest to Armenian-Americans.
Villaraigosa has acknowledged the important role of the community
stating, `the [Armenian] community is playing an increasingly pivotal
role in Los Angeles politics.'
He has promised, if elected, he `will establish regular ties and
communication between the Mayor's office and the Armenian American
community through town hall meetings, one-on-one sessions,
and appointments to boards and commissions, as well as staff that
includes Armenian-American representation.'
On the occasion of his election the ACA has sent a letter congratulating
the Mayor elect. ACA representatives also attended Antonio
Villaraigosa's victory party on election night and personally
congratulated him.
- E-mail From The Homeland
"Back To Yerevan And Reflections On The Armenian Genocide"
I am finally back in Yerevan after a two week adventure through Syria,
Western Armenia (Present day Turkey), and Georgia. What can I say... It
has been a great trip. A little emotional at times, but totally worth it.
Our trip started symbolically on April 24th 2005, which was the 90th
anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. We had spent that evening walking
up Tsitsernakaberd Hill to the Armenian Genocide memorial monument. This
year a million people visited the monument on the 24th, that's not too
shabby considering that Yerevan has a population of about a million
people. All day long on the Armenian television station thousands and
thousands of people could be seen making the trek to the monument. It is
a tradition for the commemorators to take flowers to the monument and
place them around the eternal flame that burns in the center. We went to
the monument in the evening at about 7 o'clock and a wall of flowers had
been built up so high that the flame was barely visible.
Later that evening at about 11 o'clock we boarded a plane to Haleb
(Aleppo), Syria. Haleb is an important city to Armenians because it was
a starting point for many Genocide survivors that had been on the death
marches through the Syrian Desert. On our second day in Syria, we
visited Der Zor, which is a couple of hundred Kilometers east of Haleb
in the Syrian Desert. This is like the Armenian Genocide's version of
Auschwitz, where hundreds of thousands of Armenians were housed in
concentration camps and later taken further into the dessert to be
killed. We spent a total of 14 long silent hours driving for only about
an hour of time visiting the sites, but it was well worth the drive. We
went to a place called Mrcada where a small church has been erected in
front of the site where one of the largest massacres took place. Mrcada
is well known as a large burial place where Armenian bones can be dug up
without moving more than a few inches of gravel. We dug up a hand full
of shattered long bones and decided to not dig much further.
Our trip through Eastern Anatolia, which is historic Western Armenia,
was equally moving.
We started the trip by visiting a village called Vakif, which is the
only remaining Armenian Village in Turkey. The village is the home to 11
Armenian families and most of the remaining population is well into
their retirement age. The lack of opportunities in this remote area has
led much of the youth to move either to Istanbul or abroad. This cozy
little village is located just east of Musa Dagh, which is the famous
hill from Franz Warfel's novel Forty Days of Musa Dagh.
During the 1915 Armenian Genocide 5 thousand Armenians camped at the top
of this hill in order to fight off invading Turks until a passing
French ship rescued them all with the exception of 18 casualties. A
90-year-old Vakif resident, Avedis Demerjian, was born on Musa Dagh
during those forty days. We sat and listened as he told us stories and
sang a few Hunchag (Armenian political party) songs for us. Our tour
guide, who has been doing this for 16 years, told us that he had not
heard of any tourists climbing to the top of Musa Dagh, where Armenians
who had returned during the French occupation after WWI had erected a
monument.
So of coarse, we decided that we had to be the first group to make the
historic hike. It took us seven hours to reach the top of Musa Dagh and
when we got to the top we discovered a mess of concrete blocks, where
once stood a monument in the shape of a ship. It wasn't much of a
mystery that the Turks had destroyed the monument, much like many other
important Armenian historic sites.Next we visited the village of Antep
where my Vartouhi Nene (grandmother) was from. I think it was in Antep
that it really sunk in that this place was once home to my family. I
noticed that all the food that we saw in the restaurant and bakery
windows were all too familiar. We stopped at one bakery and we ate
subureg, which was one of those dishes famous to Antep. It was weird
because I have eaten subureg at so many Thanksgiving dinners, but I
don't think that one can buy subureg at a bakery anywhere else in the
world. I found myself asking our Antepsy Turkish bus driver Jemal about
other dishes well known to Antep. His reply was Monte. Monte is a soup
that was my late grandmothers' famous dish.
At that moment, I was overwhelmed with memories of my grandmother's
dinner table. Yes, this was definitely the place my family came from.
In Antep we visited a very large Armenian church that has since been
turned into a mosque. In the surrounding neighborhood, which was
predominantly Armenian before 1915, we visited the home of a wealthy
Armenian named Nazaretian. It was once a beautiful two story hotel and
house with a central patio. Since then it has been converted into a
coffee shop. The owner of the shop knows of its Armenian history and
showed us some Armenian writing on the walls. The owner then gave us his
card, which in large letters states `this is the historic place where
Ataturk once stayed'. Ataturk means the father of all Turks and was the
nickname for Mustafa Kemal, the founder of present day Turkey. Ataturk
was also famous for finishing the Armenian Genocide that his
predecessors had started.
>From 1918- 1923 Ataturk went house to house killing the remaining
Armenians in Turkey with the rest of the world looking the other way.
Anyways, I thought it was really ironic how this coffee shop that was
obviously in a beautiful Armenian home made no mention of Armenians.
Instead it made light of the fact that one of the key players in the
Armenian Genocide and Turkey's current denial campaign of the Genocide
had stayed at this place.
Next we went to the village of Marash, where my Manuel Dede(grandfather)
came from. We went straight to Kuyoujagh, the street where my
grandfather's house once stood. We had no problem finding the street and
we attracted lots of attention from local Kurds who were now living in
Armenian homes or had destroyed Armenian homes to build newer brick houses.
A group of four of five local residents walked us around and showed us
the unique Armenian homes, which were made of a combination of clay
bricks and wood. Most of the homes were very run down, but some still
had there classic wooden balconies.
We were unable to find my grandfathers house, but we instead visited the
home of the Gherlakians, who where the richest Armenians in Marash at
one time. A Kurdish man now rents the home and he was very proud of its
history. He gave us a tour of the home, which included its own outdoor
oven to bake lavash bread, and a large stepping stone to help mount a
horse.
On our way to the tour bus on Kuyoujagh Street we randomly walked into a
photo print shop to ask about transferring some pictures from a camera
to my friend Shant's laptop. The place was nothing special, but one
thing stuck out to us in that small shop. On the wall behind the store
clerk was a picture of a group of Turkish chetes with turbans on their
heads and rifles and swords in hand. The chetes were a group consisting
mainly of ex-cons released from prison in order to perform most of the
killing during the genocide. The Turkish military, which is called the
Gendarme, first would go around the villages and search and remove any
weapons from Armenian homes.
Next the Gendarme would round up all unarmed Armenian males and shoot
them all outside the village. Later the women and children would be
rounded up and forced on deportation marches. The chetes would be
waiting along the route to brutally beat, rape, and kill innocent
Armenian women and children. Pregnant women would have their abdomens
ripped open and the fetuses would be killed to ensure completion. It was
the picture of a group of chetes on the wall of this photo shop that was
very disturbing to me. The picture was obviously displayed to show pride
for these individuals and their actions.
The clerk at the shop said he did not know anything about the picture
and that it was not his. During the rest of our trip we visited many
historic Armenian sites, some in better condition than others. But the
one site that left a lasting impression was the Surp Garabed Monastery,
which has a history that dates back to the fourth century ad. But, I
will not remember this place for its beauty. I will remember it because
it's destruction within the last 90 years was so pronounced. The
monastery is in the middle of a Kurdish hot bed near the city of Mush.
When we approached the village at a security check point we were told
that we would need to have the Turkish Gendarme (Military) escort us to
the village because of Kurdish aggression.
After that point, we had a military vehicle following us to the village
fully armed with automatic weapons and magazines filled with so much
ammunition that they could have wiped out the entire village. Anyways,
we got to the village and we were greeted by large groups of Kurdish
children who were all very excited about getting their pictures taken.
It was a rainy day and the village streets were extremely muddy, that is
how the villagers explained why these village children were not in
school. When we approached the first couple of stone shacks, our tour
guide pointed out that some of the bricks used to build the villagers
houses had Armenian inscriptions on them. It was kind of confusing at
first, but then it all made a lot more sense as we walked through the
village. We saw that these villagers had used bricks from a famous
historic Armenian monastery to build their homes. Some of these bricks
were katchkars, which are carved stone crosses that are unique to
Armenian religious artwork. In some homes large katchkars that probably
date back to 1000 ad were broken into pieces and placed upside down or
sideways in the walls of this shacks. We all went walking from shack to
shack taking pictures of these ancient stone carvings and then we
approached the monastery or what was left of it. There was one 15 foot
long stonewall that looked nothing religious and at the opposite end was
what our tour guide said might have been the main alter because it was
facing east. The rest of the building was gone.
Our entire tour group huddled around the remains of theater and listened
to a sermon given by a couple of deacons from an Armenian church in
Racine, Wisconsin that were on the tour with us. After the service,
Shant began digging up some soil from around the alter to take home as
he had done from most of the important cities and religious sites. At
that point, one of the Gendarme solders told Shant to stop digging and
that he could not take anything out of this area because it was an
official Turkish historic site. Later in the bus, we all got a laugh
about how well the Turks preserve their historic sites.
The last stop on our trip was the Armenian city of Ani, which was the
historic capital of Armenia. Ani was probably the most beautiful place I
have ever seen. It is the city of a thousand and one churches. Today
only a handful of these churches and structures remain and collectively
they are breathtaking. Imagine green rolling hills with scattered
ancient building that seem to be damaged in an almost artistic way.
Perched on the highest peak is a Fortress. Behind the fortress lies a
deep ravine that houses the Arax River. The Arax River is the natural
boarder between Turkey and Armenia and guess what? Ani is on the Turkish
side.
I don't think that the fact that Turkey has taken the most significant
Armenian historic site right on the border of Armenia upsets me, as much
as, the fact that Turkey tries to pretend that Ani has nothing to do
with Armenia. As you walk through the city all the structures have
placards with information about each, but not a single placard in the
entire place mentions the word Armenia. It is like Turkey wants to erase
anything Armenian from its country. Well I guess that would go well with
the whole genocide thing.
Mano.
-----------------
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MassisWeekly.com -
Vol. 25, No. 20 - May 28, 2005
- Aram Sarkisian To Visit United States
- Armenian Civic Groups Slam Election Law Reform
- Antonio Villaraigosa's Landslide Victory In Los Angeles
- Back To Yerevan And Reflections On The Armenian Genocide
- Invited By Social Democratic Hunchakian Party, Aram Sarkisian To Visit
United States
YEREVAN -- Aram Sarkisian, the leader of Armenia's `Hanrapetutyun'
opposition party, is scheduled to travel to the U.S. on June 7, at the
invitation of Social Democratic Hunchakian Party.
He will be the keynote speaker at an event dedicated to the 90th
anniversary of the hanging of 20 Hunchak party leaders by the Ottoman
Turks in 1915. The event will be held in Glendale on June 11th.
During his visit to the US, Sarkisian will meet with community leaders,
government officials, as well as members of the U.S. Congress both in
California and Washington DC. Sarkisian, who briefly served as Armenia's
prime minister in 1999-2000, after the assassination of his brother
Vasken Sarkisian, would not say if meetings with officials from the
White House or the State Department are also planned. But he did put his
visit in the context of recent U.S. calls for democratization in the
South Caucasus and elsewhere in the world. `Why not. It will be within
that framework as well,' he said. `Western governments are always
elected by the people and that is called democracy,' he said. `The
Russians, on the other hand, support the likes of Saddam Hussein,
[Belarus President Aleksandr] Lukashenko, [Armenian President Robert]
Kocharian who is totally rejected by our people. That is why Russia is
losing.
`Russia is offering us nothing, while the West is urging us not to rig
elections and to form legitimate judicial, legislative and executive
bodies.' Sarkisian and other prominent oppositionists have been buoyed
by U.S. support for a series of anti-government revolts across the
former Soviet Union. Visiting Tbilisi earlier this month, President
George W. Bush made an emphatic endorsement of Georgia's 2003 `rose
revolution,' saying that it should serve as an example for other, less
democratic nations.
Speaking at the International Republican Institute in Washington on May
18, Bush declared that the revolutions in Georgia, Ukraine and
Kyrgyzstan are `just the beginnings.' `Across the Caucasus and Central
Asia, hope is stirring at the prospect of change - and change will
come,'he said. `Democratic change can arrive suddenly - and that means
our government must be able to move quickly to provide needed
assistance,' Bush added, announcing the creation of an `active response
corps' within the State Department that will deal with such situations.
Sarkisian said his Hanrapetutyun (Republic) party, which is a key member
of Armenia's largest opposition alliance, will continue to fight for
`regime change through a popular revolt.' But he would not say when and
how it plans to launch it.
- Armenian Civic Groups Slam Election Law Reform
YEREVAN -- Armenia's leading nongovernmental organizations advocating
political reform described on Tuesday the latest amendments to the
Armenian electoral legislation as a sham, saying that the authorities
will continue to fully control the conduct of all elections.
The Partnership for Open Society, a grouping of some three dozen NGOs,
said the amendments approved by the Armenian parliament last week will
in no way complicate chronic vote rigging in the country. It also
slammed European experts for welcoming the changes as a step forward.
`The Partnership for Open Society is calling on the country's
authorities to reconsider the adopted law and bring it into full
conformity with international standards for free and fair elections,' it
said in a statement. The statement singled out legal provisions
regulating the formation of various-level commissions holding elections.
The current Central Election Commission and its territorial divisions
each have nine members, three of whom were appointed by Robert
Kocharian. The other commission seats are controlled by the six Armenian
parties and blocs represented in the National Assembly. Only two of them
are in opposition to Kocharian. Kocharian will now be able to name only
one member of each commission, the two other seats being given to
Armenia's Court of Appeals and a nonpartisan group of lawmakers loyal to
the head of state.
`The mechanism for the formation of the commission set by the law does
not make the electoral bodies impartial and balanced,' read the
statement by the Partnership for Open Society.
`Given that the judiciary is still directly dependent on the executive
branch, it is obvious that the president of the republic and the
authorities as a whole will continue to control the entire electoral
process,' one of the leaders of the NGO coalition, Hrair Tovmasian, told
journalists.
He said Kocharian, whose disputed reelection in 2003 was strongly
criticized by Western monitors, will control at least two thirds of all
commission members. Tovmasian and another coalition leader, Vartan
Poghosian, also argued that giving Armenia's highest court
representation in the electoral commissions contradicts a constitutional
clause that bans judges from holding any other `state position.' The two
men further criticized experts from the Council of Europe's Venice
Commission and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
for reportedly concluding that the amended election is an improvement
over its previous version.
Poghosian complained that the Venice Commission has itself admitted in
its reports that Armenian courts are not independent. `We don't see any
logic here and we intend to convey our concerns and our statement to the
Council of Europe so that they reconsider their approach and correctly
assess the new mechanism for commission formation,'he said.
This is not the first time that the Partnership for Open Society
criticizes the Council of Europe for its perceived leniency toward the
Armenian authorities. Last year, for example, the NGOs criticized
a resolution by the council's Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) which made a
largely positive assessment of Yerevan's human rights record.
- Antonio Villaraigosa's Landslide Victory In Los Angeles Mayor's Race
ACA Congratulates The New Mayor
Antonio Villaraigosa romped past incumbent James K. Hahn to make history
last Tuesday, winning election as the first Latino mayor of Los Angeles
since the city's pioneer days. Riding a huge wave of voter discontent,
the challenger avenged his 2001 loss to Hahn, who possessed an iconic
family name but never connected strongly with voters during a rocky
four-year term.
Villaraigosa's landslide represented a crowning symbol of Latinos'
growing clout in California, with 25 percent turnout, but his decisive
victory over Mayor James Hahn saw him claim significant
support across a wide range of demographic and geographic groups, an
exit poll found.
Shortly before midnight, a beaming Villaraigosa greeted chanting
supporters to claim victory and restate his campaign's theme of unity.
`It doesn't matter whether you grew up on the Eastside or the Westside,
whether you're from South Los Angeles or Sylmar,' he said. `It doesn't
matter whether you go to work in a fancy car or on a bus, or whether you
worship in a cathedral or a synagogue or a mosque.
We are all Angelenos, and we all have a difference to make.' Antonio
Villaraigosa had received the endorsement of Armenian Council of America
prior to the run-off elections based on his strong commitment to issues
of interest to Armenian-Americans.
Villaraigosa has acknowledged the important role of the community
stating, `the [Armenian] community is playing an increasingly pivotal
role in Los Angeles politics.'
He has promised, if elected, he `will establish regular ties and
communication between the Mayor's office and the Armenian American
community through town hall meetings, one-on-one sessions,
and appointments to boards and commissions, as well as staff that
includes Armenian-American representation.'
On the occasion of his election the ACA has sent a letter congratulating
the Mayor elect. ACA representatives also attended Antonio
Villaraigosa's victory party on election night and personally
congratulated him.
- E-mail From The Homeland
"Back To Yerevan And Reflections On The Armenian Genocide"
I am finally back in Yerevan after a two week adventure through Syria,
Western Armenia (Present day Turkey), and Georgia. What can I say... It
has been a great trip. A little emotional at times, but totally worth it.
Our trip started symbolically on April 24th 2005, which was the 90th
anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. We had spent that evening walking
up Tsitsernakaberd Hill to the Armenian Genocide memorial monument. This
year a million people visited the monument on the 24th, that's not too
shabby considering that Yerevan has a population of about a million
people. All day long on the Armenian television station thousands and
thousands of people could be seen making the trek to the monument. It is
a tradition for the commemorators to take flowers to the monument and
place them around the eternal flame that burns in the center. We went to
the monument in the evening at about 7 o'clock and a wall of flowers had
been built up so high that the flame was barely visible.
Later that evening at about 11 o'clock we boarded a plane to Haleb
(Aleppo), Syria. Haleb is an important city to Armenians because it was
a starting point for many Genocide survivors that had been on the death
marches through the Syrian Desert. On our second day in Syria, we
visited Der Zor, which is a couple of hundred Kilometers east of Haleb
in the Syrian Desert. This is like the Armenian Genocide's version of
Auschwitz, where hundreds of thousands of Armenians were housed in
concentration camps and later taken further into the dessert to be
killed. We spent a total of 14 long silent hours driving for only about
an hour of time visiting the sites, but it was well worth the drive. We
went to a place called Mrcada where a small church has been erected in
front of the site where one of the largest massacres took place. Mrcada
is well known as a large burial place where Armenian bones can be dug up
without moving more than a few inches of gravel. We dug up a hand full
of shattered long bones and decided to not dig much further.
Our trip through Eastern Anatolia, which is historic Western Armenia,
was equally moving.
We started the trip by visiting a village called Vakif, which is the
only remaining Armenian Village in Turkey. The village is the home to 11
Armenian families and most of the remaining population is well into
their retirement age. The lack of opportunities in this remote area has
led much of the youth to move either to Istanbul or abroad. This cozy
little village is located just east of Musa Dagh, which is the famous
hill from Franz Warfel's novel Forty Days of Musa Dagh.
During the 1915 Armenian Genocide 5 thousand Armenians camped at the top
of this hill in order to fight off invading Turks until a passing
French ship rescued them all with the exception of 18 casualties. A
90-year-old Vakif resident, Avedis Demerjian, was born on Musa Dagh
during those forty days. We sat and listened as he told us stories and
sang a few Hunchag (Armenian political party) songs for us. Our tour
guide, who has been doing this for 16 years, told us that he had not
heard of any tourists climbing to the top of Musa Dagh, where Armenians
who had returned during the French occupation after WWI had erected a
monument.
So of coarse, we decided that we had to be the first group to make the
historic hike. It took us seven hours to reach the top of Musa Dagh and
when we got to the top we discovered a mess of concrete blocks, where
once stood a monument in the shape of a ship. It wasn't much of a
mystery that the Turks had destroyed the monument, much like many other
important Armenian historic sites.Next we visited the village of Antep
where my Vartouhi Nene (grandmother) was from. I think it was in Antep
that it really sunk in that this place was once home to my family. I
noticed that all the food that we saw in the restaurant and bakery
windows were all too familiar. We stopped at one bakery and we ate
subureg, which was one of those dishes famous to Antep. It was weird
because I have eaten subureg at so many Thanksgiving dinners, but I
don't think that one can buy subureg at a bakery anywhere else in the
world. I found myself asking our Antepsy Turkish bus driver Jemal about
other dishes well known to Antep. His reply was Monte. Monte is a soup
that was my late grandmothers' famous dish.
At that moment, I was overwhelmed with memories of my grandmother's
dinner table. Yes, this was definitely the place my family came from.
In Antep we visited a very large Armenian church that has since been
turned into a mosque. In the surrounding neighborhood, which was
predominantly Armenian before 1915, we visited the home of a wealthy
Armenian named Nazaretian. It was once a beautiful two story hotel and
house with a central patio. Since then it has been converted into a
coffee shop. The owner of the shop knows of its Armenian history and
showed us some Armenian writing on the walls. The owner then gave us his
card, which in large letters states `this is the historic place where
Ataturk once stayed'. Ataturk means the father of all Turks and was the
nickname for Mustafa Kemal, the founder of present day Turkey. Ataturk
was also famous for finishing the Armenian Genocide that his
predecessors had started.
>From 1918- 1923 Ataturk went house to house killing the remaining
Armenians in Turkey with the rest of the world looking the other way.
Anyways, I thought it was really ironic how this coffee shop that was
obviously in a beautiful Armenian home made no mention of Armenians.
Instead it made light of the fact that one of the key players in the
Armenian Genocide and Turkey's current denial campaign of the Genocide
had stayed at this place.
Next we went to the village of Marash, where my Manuel Dede(grandfather)
came from. We went straight to Kuyoujagh, the street where my
grandfather's house once stood. We had no problem finding the street and
we attracted lots of attention from local Kurds who were now living in
Armenian homes or had destroyed Armenian homes to build newer brick houses.
A group of four of five local residents walked us around and showed us
the unique Armenian homes, which were made of a combination of clay
bricks and wood. Most of the homes were very run down, but some still
had there classic wooden balconies.
We were unable to find my grandfathers house, but we instead visited the
home of the Gherlakians, who where the richest Armenians in Marash at
one time. A Kurdish man now rents the home and he was very proud of its
history. He gave us a tour of the home, which included its own outdoor
oven to bake lavash bread, and a large stepping stone to help mount a
horse.
On our way to the tour bus on Kuyoujagh Street we randomly walked into a
photo print shop to ask about transferring some pictures from a camera
to my friend Shant's laptop. The place was nothing special, but one
thing stuck out to us in that small shop. On the wall behind the store
clerk was a picture of a group of Turkish chetes with turbans on their
heads and rifles and swords in hand. The chetes were a group consisting
mainly of ex-cons released from prison in order to perform most of the
killing during the genocide. The Turkish military, which is called the
Gendarme, first would go around the villages and search and remove any
weapons from Armenian homes.
Next the Gendarme would round up all unarmed Armenian males and shoot
them all outside the village. Later the women and children would be
rounded up and forced on deportation marches. The chetes would be
waiting along the route to brutally beat, rape, and kill innocent
Armenian women and children. Pregnant women would have their abdomens
ripped open and the fetuses would be killed to ensure completion. It was
the picture of a group of chetes on the wall of this photo shop that was
very disturbing to me. The picture was obviously displayed to show pride
for these individuals and their actions.
The clerk at the shop said he did not know anything about the picture
and that it was not his. During the rest of our trip we visited many
historic Armenian sites, some in better condition than others. But the
one site that left a lasting impression was the Surp Garabed Monastery,
which has a history that dates back to the fourth century ad. But, I
will not remember this place for its beauty. I will remember it because
it's destruction within the last 90 years was so pronounced. The
monastery is in the middle of a Kurdish hot bed near the city of Mush.
When we approached the village at a security check point we were told
that we would need to have the Turkish Gendarme (Military) escort us to
the village because of Kurdish aggression.
After that point, we had a military vehicle following us to the village
fully armed with automatic weapons and magazines filled with so much
ammunition that they could have wiped out the entire village. Anyways,
we got to the village and we were greeted by large groups of Kurdish
children who were all very excited about getting their pictures taken.
It was a rainy day and the village streets were extremely muddy, that is
how the villagers explained why these village children were not in
school. When we approached the first couple of stone shacks, our tour
guide pointed out that some of the bricks used to build the villagers
houses had Armenian inscriptions on them. It was kind of confusing at
first, but then it all made a lot more sense as we walked through the
village. We saw that these villagers had used bricks from a famous
historic Armenian monastery to build their homes. Some of these bricks
were katchkars, which are carved stone crosses that are unique to
Armenian religious artwork. In some homes large katchkars that probably
date back to 1000 ad were broken into pieces and placed upside down or
sideways in the walls of this shacks. We all went walking from shack to
shack taking pictures of these ancient stone carvings and then we
approached the monastery or what was left of it. There was one 15 foot
long stonewall that looked nothing religious and at the opposite end was
what our tour guide said might have been the main alter because it was
facing east. The rest of the building was gone.
Our entire tour group huddled around the remains of theater and listened
to a sermon given by a couple of deacons from an Armenian church in
Racine, Wisconsin that were on the tour with us. After the service,
Shant began digging up some soil from around the alter to take home as
he had done from most of the important cities and religious sites. At
that point, one of the Gendarme solders told Shant to stop digging and
that he could not take anything out of this area because it was an
official Turkish historic site. Later in the bus, we all got a laugh
about how well the Turks preserve their historic sites.
The last stop on our trip was the Armenian city of Ani, which was the
historic capital of Armenia. Ani was probably the most beautiful place I
have ever seen. It is the city of a thousand and one churches. Today
only a handful of these churches and structures remain and collectively
they are breathtaking. Imagine green rolling hills with scattered
ancient building that seem to be damaged in an almost artistic way.
Perched on the highest peak is a Fortress. Behind the fortress lies a
deep ravine that houses the Arax River. The Arax River is the natural
boarder between Turkey and Armenia and guess what? Ani is on the Turkish
side.
I don't think that the fact that Turkey has taken the most significant
Armenian historic site right on the border of Armenia upsets me, as much
as, the fact that Turkey tries to pretend that Ani has nothing to do
with Armenia. As you walk through the city all the structures have
placards with information about each, but not a single placard in the
entire place mentions the word Armenia. It is like Turkey wants to erase
anything Armenian from its country. Well I guess that would go well with
the whole genocide thing.
Mano.
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