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Homecoming Part Two: The Baptisms

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  • Homecoming Part Two: The Baptisms

    Homecoming Part Two: The Baptisms

    EDITORIAL | AUGUST 21, 2014 11:03 AM
    ________________________________

    By Raffi Bedrosyan

    The homecoming trip of the (no longer) hidden Armenians from
    Diyarbakir to Armenia finally began this week, after months and months
    of planning, preparation, resolving issues, emerging new issues,
    seemingly endless three-way long distance discussions from Diyarbakir
    to Yerevan through Toronto.

    And now, the 'new' Armenians of Diyarbakir are strolling in the
    streets and museums of Yerevan, tiptoeing into the various churches
    scattered all over Armenia. Emotions are very near the surface... One
    moment they burst into dancing in the streets as soon as they hear a
    playful tune; the next moment they cry uncontrollably at a scene that
    may mean nothing to passersby but has reminded them of something or
    someone, all the way back in 1915.

    Yerevan is full of Armenian kids from all over the world as part of
    the Ari Dun [Come Home] program at the invitation of the Ministry of
    Diaspora of the Republic of Armenia, which has also helped organize
    our itinerary. The government officials arranged to meet the
    Diyarbakir group on our first day along with hundreds of the Diaspora
    children. The Diyarbakir group was extremely anxious about how they
    will be greeted. The Armenian officials were equally curious about
    these Turkish/Kurdish-speaking individuals, ranging in age from 18 to
    83 but mostly middle-aged people from all socioeconomic and
    educational levels, including teachers, students, doctors, housewives
    and retired people. Some of them are sophisticated urban dwellers,
    others are going abroad for the first time.

    I am acting as the translator from Armenian into Turkish and back, but
    my task needs to be more than just to relay statements and messages. I
    have to be able to convey, from Turkish into Armenian, the incredible
    desire and courage of these people in becoming new Armenians, and also
    to be able to convey, from Armenian into Turkish, the honest sincerity
    of welcome of the government officials. But I am happy to report that
    by the end of the meeting, the previously anxious Diyarbakir Armenians
    and the previously serious-looking government officials were dancing
    the Diyarbakir halay together to Armenian music, while the kids from
    the Diaspora, including Russia, US, France and Iran, watched these
    grown-up kids in amazement. A government official says his parents are
    from Mush, another one says from Sasun, then one of the Diyarbakir
    people screams "My father is from Sasun, too." Then the stories
    remembered in common from Sasun begin. They don't need my translation
    any more. They have already started comparing Sasun village names and
    hugging each other...

    I was a bit apprehensive when the Diaspora Ministry people had told me
    they had planned two hours of Armenian language lessons each day as
    part of the itinerary, thinking that our group would be more
    interested in seeing places. To my surprise, they all burst into
    enthusiastic applause and were deeply grateful for the lessons.

    When we visited the Madenataran's manuscript treasures and Oshagan
    where Mesrob Mashdots, the creator of the Armenian alphabet, is
    buried, they understood better the mystery of the strange letters that
    they saw for the first time in their lives just two years ago.

    As I reported in previous articles, almost all of the group members
    have some degree of 'Armenianness' in their family, some from one
    parent, some from both. They have mostly decided to come out as
    Armenians, but not as Christians --yet. Two of them have already been
    baptized in Diyarbakir's Surp Giragos Church, changing names, identity
    and religion. Gafur Turkay has become Ohannes Ohanian and his wife
    Nurcan has become Knar, proudly wearing not one but all three cross
    necklaces given to her as presents after her christening. One of the
    teachers in the group is determined to be baptized at Echmiadzin. The
    risks he is taking are enormous. He is a primary school teacher in a
    government school. He may lose his job, friends' circle, or worse, but
    his mind is made up. In addition, if he is baptized in Echmiadzin
    instead of back home at Surp Giragos, he will gain bragging rights
    over Gafur/Ohannes as being a more complete Christian Armenian... I have
    arranged for the ceremony beforehand with Bishop Pakrad Galstanian of
    Echmiadzin, formerly the Canadian diocesan Primate.

    We also have a lady who has spent many sleepless nights trying to
    decide whether she should get baptized too. Her dilemma is even more
    dangerous. She feels she has an obligation to her long-suffering late
    father, a hidden Armenian, who had encouraged her to become a
    Christian Armenian before he passed away. But her devoutly Moslem
    Kurdish husband has forbidden her from taking this step. The night
    before our trip to Echmiadzin, she tells me she will not be able to go
    ahead with the baptism.

    In the morning we are off to Sardarabad, visiting the Victory Museum,
    understanding the significance and consequences of the 1918 events. As
    we approach Echmiadzin, the lady with the dilemma walks from the back
    of the bus to where I am sitting, and tells me her final decision: "My
    father suffered a lot, I know he is still suffering even though he is
    dead, I need to do this to end his suffering. If I will suffer as a
    result of this, I am prepared for it."
    So we end up having a double christening ceremony at Surp Asdvadzadzin
    Church in Echmiadzin for the 'new' Stepan who took his Armenian
    grandfather's name, and for the new 'Anzhel' who took her Armenian
    grandmother's name. I am certain this was the first time in
    Echmiadzin, or all of Armenia, where the Armenian christening ceremony
    was carried out in both Armenian and Turkish translation word for
    word. At the end, Pakrad Srpazan concluded with the statement: "To
    become a Christian, one needs to be brave, to become both an Armenian
    and a Christian, one needs to be doubly brave." Everyone had tears in
    their eyes, including Pakrad Srpazan.

    Isn't it ironic that these people chose to become Armenian on the same
    day when Turkish Prime Minister and presidential candidate Erdogan
    stated on national TV: "They [the opposition] said I was of Georgian
    origin. Even uglier, they accused me of being an Armenian, sorry to
    say?"

    And isn't it doubly ironic that if Erdogan does become President, the
    presidential mansion that he will reside in was once owned by an
    Armenian family known as the Kasapyan family?

    Our reporting of the journey through Armenia toward a new life for the
    (no longer) hidden Armenians will continue.

    Raffi Bedrosyan is a civil engineer as well as a concert pianist,
    living in Toronto, Canada. For the past several years, proceeds from
    his concerts and two CDs have been donated to the construction of
    school, highway, water, and gas distribution projects in Armenia and
    Karabagh--projects in which he has also participated as a voluntary
    engineer. Bedrosyan was involved in organizing the Surp Giragos
    Diyarbakir/Dikranagerd Church reconstruction project, and in promoting
    the significance of this historic project worldwide as the first
    Armenian reclaim of church properties in Anatolia after 1915. In
    September 2012, he gave the first Armenian piano concert in the Surp
    Giragos Church since 1915.

    - See more at: http://www.mirrorspectator.com/2014/08/21/homecoming-part-two-the-baptisms/#sthash.OjUaXyou.dpuf

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