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THE DEGHATSI ARMENIAN-CYPRIOTS:AN IMPORTANT DISCOVERY
Gibrahayer e-magazine - Nicosia 22 April, 2010
Alexander-Michael Hadjilyra - About a month ago, Gibrahayer e-magazine
Chief Editor Simon Aynedjian went for a walk to the Turkish-occupied
part of old Nicosia with a few friends. Meandering its narrow streets,
he stumbled upon an interesting inscription. It has three years (1791,
1801, 1805), all accompanied with a date in September. Although the
script is Armenian, the language is Turkish, as the first reference is
`Sepdemper 1in de' (on the 1st of September). Another Turkish
inscription in Armenian letters can be found at the old cemetery for a
certain Sdepan Papazian, who died on 20 August 1875.
Upon seeing the first inscription, I consulted with my good
friend and educator Vartan Tashdjian, who was able to understand that
it was in Turkish, then my also good friend and half-deghatsi Elsie
Utidjian, who supplied me with important information about the house,
as well as my also good friend and half-deghatsi Berge Kouyoumdjian,
for more information. I finally contacted dear Eliz Keshishian at the
Arachnortaran to collect some final information. And here's what I
found:
The house on which the inscription is was owned by Yevnige
Sinanian, who lived there with her sister Eojenie. They inherited it
from their parents, Apraham and Sima Sinanian; Apraham (1844-1894) was
from Yozgat, whereas Sima (1859-1929) was an Armenian-Cypriot of
unknown surname; there is mention that some of her ancestors perhaps
came from Caesarea at an uncertain period. When in 1913 Sima's son
Philip Sinanian, a civil servant stationed around the island, returned
to Nicosia, Sima's sister Anna gave him what was then the garden of
the original house, to build his own house, in which he lived with his
four daughters and his wife Gulenia Boudakian, Artin Bey Melikian's
niece. After Gulenia died in 1927, he married her sister Marie. And of
the four daughters of Philip Sinanian (1880-1958), only one was
married and had children: Alice Keukdjian (1911-2009), the mother of
Elsie Utidjian and the grandmother of Haig Utidjian.
What the dates mean is uncertain, but perhaps 1791 is the year
that Sima's family first came to Cyprus. The lives and stories of the
deghatsi are always very intriguing, especially because they are lost
in time. Whatever the truth of the matter is, I am sure that they
would be proud of their descendants, but also sad because their house
is now under the Turks, from whom they perhaps fled in 1791. But their
mark has been left there, untouched, a reminder and proof of Armenian
presence in Cyprus long before the Genocide".
From: A. Papazian
Gibrahayer e-magazine - Nicosia 22 April, 2010
Alexander-Michael Hadjilyra - About a month ago, Gibrahayer e-magazine
Chief Editor Simon Aynedjian went for a walk to the Turkish-occupied
part of old Nicosia with a few friends. Meandering its narrow streets,
he stumbled upon an interesting inscription. It has three years (1791,
1801, 1805), all accompanied with a date in September. Although the
script is Armenian, the language is Turkish, as the first reference is
`Sepdemper 1in de' (on the 1st of September). Another Turkish
inscription in Armenian letters can be found at the old cemetery for a
certain Sdepan Papazian, who died on 20 August 1875.
Upon seeing the first inscription, I consulted with my good
friend and educator Vartan Tashdjian, who was able to understand that
it was in Turkish, then my also good friend and half-deghatsi Elsie
Utidjian, who supplied me with important information about the house,
as well as my also good friend and half-deghatsi Berge Kouyoumdjian,
for more information. I finally contacted dear Eliz Keshishian at the
Arachnortaran to collect some final information. And here's what I
found:
The house on which the inscription is was owned by Yevnige
Sinanian, who lived there with her sister Eojenie. They inherited it
from their parents, Apraham and Sima Sinanian; Apraham (1844-1894) was
from Yozgat, whereas Sima (1859-1929) was an Armenian-Cypriot of
unknown surname; there is mention that some of her ancestors perhaps
came from Caesarea at an uncertain period. When in 1913 Sima's son
Philip Sinanian, a civil servant stationed around the island, returned
to Nicosia, Sima's sister Anna gave him what was then the garden of
the original house, to build his own house, in which he lived with his
four daughters and his wife Gulenia Boudakian, Artin Bey Melikian's
niece. After Gulenia died in 1927, he married her sister Marie. And of
the four daughters of Philip Sinanian (1880-1958), only one was
married and had children: Alice Keukdjian (1911-2009), the mother of
Elsie Utidjian and the grandmother of Haig Utidjian.
What the dates mean is uncertain, but perhaps 1791 is the year
that Sima's family first came to Cyprus. The lives and stories of the
deghatsi are always very intriguing, especially because they are lost
in time. Whatever the truth of the matter is, I am sure that they
would be proud of their descendants, but also sad because their house
is now under the Turks, from whom they perhaps fled in 1791. But their
mark has been left there, untouched, a reminder and proof of Armenian
presence in Cyprus long before the Genocide".
From: A. Papazian