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Moorestown Author Recalls Armenian Genocide

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  • Moorestown Author Recalls Armenian Genocide

    MOORESTOWN AUTHOR RECALLS ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

    Courier Post
    April 2 2015

    Celeste E. Whittaker, Courier-Post

    MOORESTOWN - Storytelling is a gift for Irene Vosbikian, an
    Italian-American who grew up in South Philadelphia and married an
    Armenian.

    Vosbikian, 70, is a longtime Moorestown resident and author, a
    mother of four and a grandmother of 11, so there is no shortage of
    interesting stories.

    She recently re-released her book "Bedros," originally published more
    than two decades ago. The book, based on the life of her father-in-law,
    is about a young man who escapes just before the horrific Armenian
    Genocide, considered the first genocide of the 20th century.

    April 24 marks the 100th anniversary of the event, in which more than
    1.5 million Armenians were slaughtered by the Turkish government.

    "I'm not Armenian but I was introduced to this family via marriage
    and my father-in-law," Vosbikian said. "My purpose was to relaunch,
    not for the Armenian community, because the Armenian community has
    been hearing this awful story for 100 years, literally. My purpose
    was to get it into the mainstream."

    Vosbikian's father-in-law, Bedros Vosbikian, was fortunate enough to
    escape before the atrocities began in 1915.

    "He happened to have been in the Turkish army and he was actually
    very loved by his captain, who was a Turk," she said. "He had
    the vibrations, the insight to know that something terrible is
    going to happen. The accounts that are in the book are twofold. My
    father-in-law, thank God, got out one year before. His family was saved
    on the other side by this Turkish captain who adored him and said to
    him, 'I will take care of your family until you get them to America.' "

    He kept his word and Bedros escaped first to France, then the
    Philadelphia area, during the buildup to the genocide.

    Good timing

    Irene Vosbikian says accounts of the genocide in her book came from
    her personal research. Henry Morganthau, who was U.S. Ambassador to
    the Ottoman Empire from 1913 to 1916, had volumes on the horrendous
    acts that took place.

    "I did other research as well," said Vosbikian. " ...Some of the
    other accounts are from him (her father-in-law), such as how he fled
    Istanbul, which is a very funny story. He basically dressed as a
    woman and stowed away from Istanbul and ended up in Marseille, France."

    Vosbikian decided about a year ago that she would relaunch her book.

    It required countless hours of re-editing and repackaging.

    Her son David said it's a great time for his mother to re-release her
    work. There's more awareness about the genocide today. Amal Clooney,
    the human rights lawyer who married actor George Clooney, recently
    became part of a legal team representing Armenia in a case involving
    denial of the genocide by a Turkish politician.

    "The timing is great because as we've grown up, it was always, 'What's
    Armenia? Is that Middle Eastern?' All my life you had to go through
    pains to explain to people what it meant, where it was," David said.

    "Through social media and communication being what it is today, you
    have all the Armenian folks on Facebook putting posts up about the
    100-year genocide."

    Family close by

    Irene Vosbikian and her husband, Peter, raised their family in
    Moorestown -- two daughters, Terry Vosbikian Testa and Mary Vosbikian
    Schlindwein, and two sons, Paul and David. All four are married and
    reside near their parents, who have been married for 50 years.

    "We're so proud of her," Vosbikian Testa said of her mother. "She's
    doing this for nothing except to get the message out there about the
    genocide. She's of Italian descent, married into the Armenian family
    and just really kind of became an Armenian herself, in spirit, if
    not in blood. She just really felt that this story was an important
    one to tell.

    "She's not in it for any kind of monetary gain. She's just in it to
    get the very important story out there to the public."

    Irene, a former freelance journalist and public relations specialist,
    says her husband is "very emotional and proud" with her decision to
    relaunch "Bedros."

    "When we met, he (Peter) was the youngest of seven children, all of
    whom married Armenians," Vosbikian said. "It was a very difficult
    courtship. We wanted to give up many times and just say forget
    about it. The family, they were just frightened because they were
    all immigrants. They just didn't understand about anybody outside of
    their little cocoon.

    "It took a little time. I learned to speak the language. I spent a lot
    of time with them. Eventually it became a very beautiful relationship.

    It was just a little tough at first."

    http://www.courierpostonline.com/story/news/local/south-jersey/2015/04/02/moorestown-escape-armeniam-genocide/70804824/

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