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Posted on 16 January 2012. Tags: armenia, ottoman empire, Women and girls
Women's Views on News
http://www.womensviewsonnews.org/2012/01/armenian-filmmaker-looks-into-story-of-her-grandmas-tattoos/
By Sue Tapply
Summary of story from AlJazeera, January 12, 2012
Filmmaker Suzanne Khardalian makes a journey into her own family with
a film that investigates the terrible truth behind her late grandma's
odd tattoos.
During the First World War, millions of Armenians were forced out of
their homes in the then Ottoman empire, into the deserts of Syria and
Iraq.
More than a million people died in what Armenians describe as a
genocide, although Turkey rejects this accusation. Many of the women
and young girls who did not die were made slaves, or concubines.
Her grandma was always a bit strange, never liking physical contact,
and was covered with unusual - Turkish - marks.
Everybody in Khardalian's family seemed to know the story, but no-one
ever spoke about it.
So when grandma's mystery is slowly unveiled, family taboos are broken
down and Khardalian exposes the bigger story - the fate of the
Armenian women driven out of Ottoman Turkey during the First World
War.
The painful journey behind her grandma's tattoos unfolds through
Armenia, Lebanon, Sweden and Syria, finally bringing out the truth.
Sue Tapply may be contacted at [email protected] or
[email protected]
Women's Views on News
http://www.womensviewsonnews.org/2012/01/armenian-filmmaker-looks-into-story-of-her-grandmas-tattoos/
By Sue Tapply
Summary of story from AlJazeera, January 12, 2012
Filmmaker Suzanne Khardalian makes a journey into her own family with
a film that investigates the terrible truth behind her late grandma's
odd tattoos.
During the First World War, millions of Armenians were forced out of
their homes in the then Ottoman empire, into the deserts of Syria and
Iraq.
More than a million people died in what Armenians describe as a
genocide, although Turkey rejects this accusation. Many of the women
and young girls who did not die were made slaves, or concubines.
Her grandma was always a bit strange, never liking physical contact,
and was covered with unusual - Turkish - marks.
Everybody in Khardalian's family seemed to know the story, but no-one
ever spoke about it.
So when grandma's mystery is slowly unveiled, family taboos are broken
down and Khardalian exposes the bigger story - the fate of the
Armenian women driven out of Ottoman Turkey during the First World
War.
The painful journey behind her grandma's tattoos unfolds through
Armenia, Lebanon, Sweden and Syria, finally bringing out the truth.
Sue Tapply may be contacted at [email protected] or
[email protected]