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Today's Zaman, Turkey
May 26 2013
An exhibition about a family forced to leave their home
26 May 2013 /RUMEYSA KIGER, İSTANBUL
Armen T. Marsoobian is a professor of philosophy at Southern
Connecticut State University in the US and teaches several courses
including American philosophy, aesthetics, moral philosophy and
genocide issues.
He is also a descendant of an Armenian family who lived in Anatolia
for generations but were forced to leave their home and properties or
be killed.
İstanbul's Tophane neighborhood is currently home to an archival
exhibition featuring the family history of Marsoobian's relatives
between 1872 and 1923. Titled `Bearing Witness to the Lost History of
an Armenian Family: Through the Lens of the Dildilian Brothers,' the
show consists of the records and photographs of the members of the
Dildilian family who documented their lives in Sivas, Merzifon and
Samsun and the surrounding areas of Anatolia in a period that was full
of suffering for Armenians.
Marsoobian's uncles, Humayag and Ara Dildilian, tried to write down
the family's story but they died before finishing it, and all the
documents, letters and memoirs passed down Armen; it took him 20 years
before assembling them into this exhibition.
>From shoemaking to photography
Tsolag Dildilian's father, Krikor, was well known for the shoes he
made that were `as light as a butterfly' in Sivas, and many prominent
figures including Governor Memduh Mehmet Pasha, who later became the
minister of the interior, bought his shoes. Tsolag, however, did not
want to continue with his father's profession since he was passionate
about photography. Photographer Mikael Natourian from İstanbul joined
Tsolag in Sivas to open a photography studio, and the two men took
turns to visit villages and towns to take photographs.
Moving to Anatolia College in Merzifon
When the studio's fame reached the American Anatolia College in
Merzifon, they were asked to photograph students and staff. After a
while, Tsolag was asked to be the school's official photographer and
moved to Merzifon with his family. This was a time the Armenian
communities were suffering from constant massacres in the region, but
the family was protected due to their association with the school.
Tsolag also took shots of people, places, events and rural landscapes
in Merzifon, some of which were turned into postcards. Tsolag's
brother, Aram, who had an amputated leg, assisted him.
World War I and 1915
In 1914, there was no graduation ceremony at the school because after
the war broke out, eight Armenian and Greek members of the faculty
were drafted and the number of the students was halved. A year later,
many Anatolian Armenians were killed and their villages plundered.
Armenian soldiers in the army were disarmed and then forced to help
with road construction and transportation before being massacred, or
just left to starve or freeze. Also in İstanbul, the intellectual and
political Armenian elite were arrested and then shot. After a while,
the deportation of Armenians from Anatolia began. Males were separated
and killed, and the women and children were led towards the Syrian
desert. Throughout their journey, women were raped and abducted to
become maids, or died due to starvation or disease, their bodies
dumped on roadsides and in rivers.
The Dildilian brothers were saved because state officials used them to
take photographs of prominent figures and events in Sivas and
Merzifon. One day, a military officer warned Tsolag about the danger
for his family and that same day they went to the municipality and
converted to Islam in front of the mufti.
Founding the Orphanage
After World War 1, Aram went to Samsun and was horrified by the sights
he saw: homeless orphans all around the city. He began to take
pictures of them and wrote numerous letters to people he knew to build
an orphanage for them. There were about 2,500 orphans in Merzifon at
the time. The brothers photographed them and helped to organize a
school for them.
Leaving home
In 1921 the school was shut down amid the massacres of Greeks and
Armenians in Merzifon. Aram got the assurance of the Near East Relief
officials to transport all the orphans to Greece. The Dildilians also
decided to leave their homeland on the same ship.
The exhibition features information taken from Tsolag and Aram
Dildilian's and their niece Maritsa Der Medaksian's journals,
photographs of family members that the brothers took in Sivas,
Merzifon, Samsun, Konya and Amasya over the years, along with memoirs
of the Anatolia College faculty and photo archives of the school.
`Bearing Witness to the Lost History of an Armenian Family' will run
until June 8 at the Depo in İstanbul's Tophane neighborhood. For more
information, visit www.depoistanbul.net.
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-316611-an-exhibition-about-a-family-forced-to-leave-their-home.html
May 26 2013
An exhibition about a family forced to leave their home
26 May 2013 /RUMEYSA KIGER, İSTANBUL
Armen T. Marsoobian is a professor of philosophy at Southern
Connecticut State University in the US and teaches several courses
including American philosophy, aesthetics, moral philosophy and
genocide issues.
He is also a descendant of an Armenian family who lived in Anatolia
for generations but were forced to leave their home and properties or
be killed.
İstanbul's Tophane neighborhood is currently home to an archival
exhibition featuring the family history of Marsoobian's relatives
between 1872 and 1923. Titled `Bearing Witness to the Lost History of
an Armenian Family: Through the Lens of the Dildilian Brothers,' the
show consists of the records and photographs of the members of the
Dildilian family who documented their lives in Sivas, Merzifon and
Samsun and the surrounding areas of Anatolia in a period that was full
of suffering for Armenians.
Marsoobian's uncles, Humayag and Ara Dildilian, tried to write down
the family's story but they died before finishing it, and all the
documents, letters and memoirs passed down Armen; it took him 20 years
before assembling them into this exhibition.
>From shoemaking to photography
Tsolag Dildilian's father, Krikor, was well known for the shoes he
made that were `as light as a butterfly' in Sivas, and many prominent
figures including Governor Memduh Mehmet Pasha, who later became the
minister of the interior, bought his shoes. Tsolag, however, did not
want to continue with his father's profession since he was passionate
about photography. Photographer Mikael Natourian from İstanbul joined
Tsolag in Sivas to open a photography studio, and the two men took
turns to visit villages and towns to take photographs.
Moving to Anatolia College in Merzifon
When the studio's fame reached the American Anatolia College in
Merzifon, they were asked to photograph students and staff. After a
while, Tsolag was asked to be the school's official photographer and
moved to Merzifon with his family. This was a time the Armenian
communities were suffering from constant massacres in the region, but
the family was protected due to their association with the school.
Tsolag also took shots of people, places, events and rural landscapes
in Merzifon, some of which were turned into postcards. Tsolag's
brother, Aram, who had an amputated leg, assisted him.
World War I and 1915
In 1914, there was no graduation ceremony at the school because after
the war broke out, eight Armenian and Greek members of the faculty
were drafted and the number of the students was halved. A year later,
many Anatolian Armenians were killed and their villages plundered.
Armenian soldiers in the army were disarmed and then forced to help
with road construction and transportation before being massacred, or
just left to starve or freeze. Also in İstanbul, the intellectual and
political Armenian elite were arrested and then shot. After a while,
the deportation of Armenians from Anatolia began. Males were separated
and killed, and the women and children were led towards the Syrian
desert. Throughout their journey, women were raped and abducted to
become maids, or died due to starvation or disease, their bodies
dumped on roadsides and in rivers.
The Dildilian brothers were saved because state officials used them to
take photographs of prominent figures and events in Sivas and
Merzifon. One day, a military officer warned Tsolag about the danger
for his family and that same day they went to the municipality and
converted to Islam in front of the mufti.
Founding the Orphanage
After World War 1, Aram went to Samsun and was horrified by the sights
he saw: homeless orphans all around the city. He began to take
pictures of them and wrote numerous letters to people he knew to build
an orphanage for them. There were about 2,500 orphans in Merzifon at
the time. The brothers photographed them and helped to organize a
school for them.
Leaving home
In 1921 the school was shut down amid the massacres of Greeks and
Armenians in Merzifon. Aram got the assurance of the Near East Relief
officials to transport all the orphans to Greece. The Dildilians also
decided to leave their homeland on the same ship.
The exhibition features information taken from Tsolag and Aram
Dildilian's and their niece Maritsa Der Medaksian's journals,
photographs of family members that the brothers took in Sivas,
Merzifon, Samsun, Konya and Amasya over the years, along with memoirs
of the Anatolia College faculty and photo archives of the school.
`Bearing Witness to the Lost History of an Armenian Family' will run
until June 8 at the Depo in İstanbul's Tophane neighborhood. For more
information, visit www.depoistanbul.net.
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-316611-an-exhibition-about-a-family-forced-to-leave-their-home.html