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LOST DAUGHTER OF DERSIM - RADIKAL
tert.am
15.05.12
The Turkish Radikal has interviewed Salihan Kiremijian, an Islamized
survivor of the Dersim massacres, who turns out to be the only Armenian
to speak of the tragedy after years' silence.
"The ethnic Armenian girl, Salihan, is one of the witnesses of the
Dersim pogroms. She was five or six at the time of the exile, and
her name had already changed to Fatma," says the paper.
According to the publication, Fatma was married off at age 13. Her
three cousins are also said to have been forcibly converted to Islam.
She was silent on her Armenian origins for many years, and even her
grandchildren thought her to be a Kurd.
"Salihan broke the Halivor monastery's 72-year silence, thus letting
her children study her roots. They first found relatives scattered here
and there, and later met people who had survived the Dersim massacres,
sharing the same fate," Radikal adds.
It says further that studies in 30 provinces had helped find 150 other
"lost daughters".
"Every new story is of interest to us, but what Salihan recounted is
really very sad. So far, we have found women of Alevi, Kurdish and Ezid
origins, but Salihan appears to be the only Armenian in the region,"
says the paper.
In the interview which lasted about three hours, the "lost daughter
of Dersim" detailed her life, admitting with difficulty that she is
an Armenian.
She spoke of the ordeals she experienced after being adopted by a
family in Beysehir.
"I later settled in another family. But there too, I was subjected
to violence. When I was 13, I was finally married to a man of 35,
who converted me to Islam. I was still a child, homeless, jobless
and without anyone to take care of me. And I raised my children in
such condition," the woman told the paper.
Salihan said she didn't remember her being an Armenian well, but did
everything possible to conceal the fact.
"My children knew about it in 1995. We worked very hard to find my
family but had no success. As early as in 2010, my daughter found out
that my surname had been changed, and I knew about the village I came
from. We learned that my father was an Armenian who served as a priest
in the Halivor Monastery. And I learned that he had died in exile,"
she said.
Salihan Kiremijian still suffers from the dim recollections her
childhood torments. She is now raking up the past and has even
turned to the court to return the seized property of her father,
Hakob Kiremijian, and demand an apology from the Turkish state.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
tert.am
15.05.12
The Turkish Radikal has interviewed Salihan Kiremijian, an Islamized
survivor of the Dersim massacres, who turns out to be the only Armenian
to speak of the tragedy after years' silence.
"The ethnic Armenian girl, Salihan, is one of the witnesses of the
Dersim pogroms. She was five or six at the time of the exile, and
her name had already changed to Fatma," says the paper.
According to the publication, Fatma was married off at age 13. Her
three cousins are also said to have been forcibly converted to Islam.
She was silent on her Armenian origins for many years, and even her
grandchildren thought her to be a Kurd.
"Salihan broke the Halivor monastery's 72-year silence, thus letting
her children study her roots. They first found relatives scattered here
and there, and later met people who had survived the Dersim massacres,
sharing the same fate," Radikal adds.
It says further that studies in 30 provinces had helped find 150 other
"lost daughters".
"Every new story is of interest to us, but what Salihan recounted is
really very sad. So far, we have found women of Alevi, Kurdish and Ezid
origins, but Salihan appears to be the only Armenian in the region,"
says the paper.
In the interview which lasted about three hours, the "lost daughter
of Dersim" detailed her life, admitting with difficulty that she is
an Armenian.
She spoke of the ordeals she experienced after being adopted by a
family in Beysehir.
"I later settled in another family. But there too, I was subjected
to violence. When I was 13, I was finally married to a man of 35,
who converted me to Islam. I was still a child, homeless, jobless
and without anyone to take care of me. And I raised my children in
such condition," the woman told the paper.
Salihan said she didn't remember her being an Armenian well, but did
everything possible to conceal the fact.
"My children knew about it in 1995. We worked very hard to find my
family but had no success. As early as in 2010, my daughter found out
that my surname had been changed, and I knew about the village I came
from. We learned that my father was an Armenian who served as a priest
in the Halivor Monastery. And I learned that he had died in exile,"
she said.
Salihan Kiremijian still suffers from the dim recollections her
childhood torments. She is now raking up the past and has even
turned to the court to return the seized property of her father,
Hakob Kiremijian, and demand an apology from the Turkish state.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress