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Syria Times, Syria
April 30 2013
Syria: An Armenian Story
Created on Tuesday, 30 April 2013 07:32 | Published Date | | | Hits: 1340
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 in 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 , Yerado too , one day will return to her
house in Jobar with its blackened walls and its shattered windows! And
Jack too ,will feel safe enough as the shadow of menacing Turkey
diminishes, to teach his children Armenian.
Reem Haddad
http://syriatimes.sy/index.php/analyses-and-studies/4737-syria-an-armenian-story
From: Baghdasarian
April 30 2013
Syria: An Armenian Story
Created on Tuesday, 30 April 2013 07:32 | Published Date | | | Hits: 1340
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 in 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 , Yerado too , one day will return to her
house in Jobar with its blackened walls and its shattered windows! And
Jack too ,will feel safe enough as the shadow of menacing Turkey
diminishes, to teach his children Armenian.
Reem Haddad
http://syriatimes.sy/index.php/analyses-and-studies/4737-syria-an-armenian-story
From: Baghdasarian