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ON THE RUN AGAIN: SYRIA: AN ARMENIAN STORY
CounterPunch
May 3 2013
by REEM HADDAD
She had lost a lot of weight and her eyes had a haunted look about
them. She had lost her house and everything in it. In that she was like
many Syrians, who had suffered the same fate. Her house was in Jobar (
one of the hot spots of Damascus countryside) and in the beginning she
had seen the armed men a street away from her house brazenly walking
around brandishing guns. She had informed the checkpoint also around
the corner of her house, but they told her it wasn't their business to
interfere! When a bullet just missed her brother , who was standing
in his bedroom, they decided to leave the house until the area was
a bit safer. At that point she never thought that she wouldn't sleep
another night in her house.
Days later a soldier from the same checkpoint called her to tell her
that armed men had entered her house and robbed it ! They had stolen
everything worth stealing. The accumulation of years of toil and hard
work. The house it seemed was lost even though the Syrian army helped
her retain some of her belongings. A fortnight later she heard that
her house was being used as headquarters. Now nothing remains of what
was - no memories, no comfort and no place to call home.
What makes this story particularly poignant is that the ancestors of
this women in question had fled to Syria seeking sanctuary. They had
been pursued and massacred by the Turks and had walked for endless
days over mountainous terrain until they reached Syrian soil. Syria
opened its arms wide for them and they were accepted and indeed became
an integral part of the Syrian mosaic.
They are the Armenians of Syria and the women in question is Yerado
Krikorian, a Syrian of Armenian origin, who works for Syrian Arab
Television. The Armenians had long suffered under Ottoman rule and it
was because of the Armenian massacre, systematically denied by Turkey,
that the Armenians fled to neighboring Syria.
The many Armenians who live in Syria, live in close knit societies.
They are known to be hard working and professional and they all carry
the scars of what happened to them by the Turks deep inside. Another
Armenian - Syrian Armenian - Jack, who was a university professor
at Damascus University, was never taught his language by his father,
for fear that his language, Armenian, would awaken national pride in
him and possibly a thirst for revenge. The scars left by the Turks
ran too deep for Jack's father to take such a gamble.
And now the Armenians find themselves in a similar situation having to
flee from the country that has long hosted and loved them. Targeted by
armed groups some have little choice but to escape to Armenia. They
do so with heavy heart and all our hopeful that they will return
to Syria and soon - to the extent that the Armenian government has
made an exception for those Armenian children fleeing from the armed
groups in Syria and has allowed them to study the Syrian curriculum
in Armenian schools. They carried their Syrian textbooks from Syria
to Armenia so desperate are they not to fall behind in their school
schedule when they return to Syria. There is no " if " here - for
they want to return.
Hopefully , they will return and return soon to enrich once again
the Syrian mosaic and who knows, perhaps Yerado too, one day will
return to her house in Jobar with its blackened walls and its shattered
windows! And Jack also, will feel safe enough as the shadow of menacing
Turkey diminishes, to teach his children Armenian.
Reem Haddad can be reached at [email protected]
http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/05/03/syria-an-armenian-story/
CounterPunch
May 3 2013
by REEM HADDAD
She had lost a lot of weight and her eyes had a haunted look about
them. She had lost her house and everything in it. In that she was like
many Syrians, who had suffered the same fate. Her house was in Jobar (
one of the hot spots of Damascus countryside) and in the beginning she
had seen the armed men a street away from her house brazenly walking
around brandishing guns. She had informed the checkpoint also around
the corner of her house, but they told her it wasn't their business to
interfere! When a bullet just missed her brother , who was standing
in his bedroom, they decided to leave the house until the area was
a bit safer. At that point she never thought that she wouldn't sleep
another night in her house.
Days later a soldier from the same checkpoint called her to tell her
that armed men had entered her house and robbed it ! They had stolen
everything worth stealing. The accumulation of years of toil and hard
work. The house it seemed was lost even though the Syrian army helped
her retain some of her belongings. A fortnight later she heard that
her house was being used as headquarters. Now nothing remains of what
was - no memories, no comfort and no place to call home.
What makes this story particularly poignant is that the ancestors of
this women in question had fled to Syria seeking sanctuary. They had
been pursued and massacred by the Turks and had walked for endless
days over mountainous terrain until they reached Syrian soil. Syria
opened its arms wide for them and they were accepted and indeed became
an integral part of the Syrian mosaic.
They are the Armenians of Syria and the women in question is Yerado
Krikorian, a Syrian of Armenian origin, who works for Syrian Arab
Television. The Armenians had long suffered under Ottoman rule and it
was because of the Armenian massacre, systematically denied by Turkey,
that the Armenians fled to neighboring Syria.
The many Armenians who live in Syria, live in close knit societies.
They are known to be hard working and professional and they all carry
the scars of what happened to them by the Turks deep inside. Another
Armenian - Syrian Armenian - Jack, who was a university professor
at Damascus University, was never taught his language by his father,
for fear that his language, Armenian, would awaken national pride in
him and possibly a thirst for revenge. The scars left by the Turks
ran too deep for Jack's father to take such a gamble.
And now the Armenians find themselves in a similar situation having to
flee from the country that has long hosted and loved them. Targeted by
armed groups some have little choice but to escape to Armenia. They
do so with heavy heart and all our hopeful that they will return
to Syria and soon - to the extent that the Armenian government has
made an exception for those Armenian children fleeing from the armed
groups in Syria and has allowed them to study the Syrian curriculum
in Armenian schools. They carried their Syrian textbooks from Syria
to Armenia so desperate are they not to fall behind in their school
schedule when they return to Syria. There is no " if " here - for
they want to return.
Hopefully , they will return and return soon to enrich once again
the Syrian mosaic and who knows, perhaps Yerado too, one day will
return to her house in Jobar with its blackened walls and its shattered
windows! And Jack also, will feel safe enough as the shadow of menacing
Turkey diminishes, to teach his children Armenian.
Reem Haddad can be reached at [email protected]
http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/05/03/syria-an-armenian-story/