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Richmond Times Dispatch
April 18 2015
Armenian community looks to 100-year commemoration
By TED STRONG Richmond Times-Dispatch Richmond.com
A century ago, horror came to Armenia.
The Armenians, a Christian minority in the soon-to-disintegrate
Ottoman Empire, died in droves at the hands of authorities.
Some survived and filtered to safety: first to Jordan, or Aleppo, or
Marseille in France, or somewhere else, and then often to the United
States.
Today, their sons, daughters and other descendants will remember the
survivors, as well as those who died in the first genocide of the 20th
century.
Through next week, there will be remembrances in Richmond, across
Virginia and the nation. This morning, there will be an over-capacity
service at St. James Armenian Apostolic Church on Patterson Avenue.
The church is home to an active community and culture that many
Richmond-area residents know best through an annual food festival. St.
James was established in 1956, but the Armenian diaspora reached
Richmond decades earlier, and its descendants long for closure over
the suffering of their ancestors.
The genocide remains a sensitive topic on the world stage. The Turkish
government continues to deny the killings were a genocide and reacted
angrily when Pope Francis recently called for the deaths to be
recognized as such.
Turkey maintains that the deaths were far fewer, and the result of
civil war and upheaval, rather than an organized program of
extermination, but the claims are not widely accepted.
The U.S. has not formally declared the killings to have been a
genocide, but Armenian-Americans have pushed for official recognition.
Turkey's position as a strategic ally in a troubled region has been
viewed as an obstacle.
"There is no doubt that the killings of one and a half million people
is factual and did occur," said Mayda Topoushian, who is of Armenian
descent and an instructor in Virginia Commonwealth University's world
studies school and political science program.
Topoushian said it's true that the killings were not called a genocide
at the time, but she explained that it is because the term, which
refers to the targeted killing of a people, had not yet been invented.
When the word genocide was coined decades later, the events in Armenia
were held up as a prime example.
Children of survivors live in the Richmond area today. Gathered around
one table recently, the family histories they retold were variations
on the theme of displacement, hardship and death.
Marni Pilafian, 62, said her grandmother fed her infant son urine to
avoid dehydration as they fled across the desert. She said that made
the baby sick but kept him alive. He grew up to become Pilafian's
father.
John Baronian, 88, recalled that his maternal grandmother left in
1914, when killings were still sporadic. She traveled across the
desert on foot, losing three children and her husband. Two of the
children starved; her husband and the other child were killed outright
by Turkish authorities.
His mother told him of watching Turks throwing the dead into mass
graves. He also recalled her description of the last time she saw her
own father, who had been released from the cage where he was being
held to see his family.
"The men were singing the Lord's Prayer, and that's the last that she
(had) seen of my father," he said.
Bedros Bandazian's father, about 5 years old, was seized from the
family and taken to a janissary school to be educated for service to
the Ottoman Empire.
"They had brainwashed him," said Bandazian, 77. "He didn't even speak
Armenian any more."
But the family was able to snatch him away from the authorities.
"They kidnapped him back," he said.
He showed off an old pocket watch with an Ottoman coin decorating the
other end of the chain. His grandfather left it at home when he
departed to work abroad, but he never made it out of the country.
"This is the only thing left from my grandfather," he said.
Florence Soghoian, 80, recalled the story of her great-grandfather's
death. He knew he would not hold up much longer during a forced march
and that the dead were unceremoniously dumped in mass graves.
"He said he did not want to leave the world that way," she said.
So when he died, the family managed to read from Timothy in the New
Testament before his body was taken away.
More than half of the Armenians living in their historical homeland
were killed, Topoushian said. Beyond the loss of life, she said, the
genocide would encourage future tyrants.
"It set the precedent of what had yet to come in the 20th century,
because the perpetrators were not punished and no restitution was made
to the victims," she said. "Then comes Adolf Hitler, who saw this as a
valid precedent for his plan to wipe out the Jews of Europe.
"In a speech before invading Poland, in August of 1939, Hitler spoke
proudly of his intention to kill mercilessly, saying, and I quote,
'Who after all speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?'"
While recognition of the Holocaust is profound and accepted, she said,
Armenians are still struggling to bring attention to their losses.
"The Turkish government has yet to recognize the Armenian genocide, so
raising awareness is a way of denouncing the collective amnesia,"
Topoushian said.
Added Baronian: "The reason that we are so adamant about our situation
is we have yet to have closure."
Bandazian drew a distinction between the modern Republic of Turkey and
the historical Ottoman Empire.
"I'm not saying today's Turkey did it," he said, and then pointed
around the table at other children of survivors. "He's not going back
to his father's village; you're not going back to the villages."
Today's world conflicts continue to grip those of Armenian descent.
Many continue to support orphanages that were established by western
missionaries who helped their ancestors. They point out that Armenians
abroad are also among the populations being attacked by the Islamic
State.
But Topoushian said Armenians recognize that many minorities the world
over continue to be the victims of atrocities.
"Beheadings, raping of women, the mass graves of innocent people, the
enslaving of women as sex slaves, does it matter, or should it matter,
that these are committed a few miles away from where we live, or
10,000 miles away?" Topoushian said. "Should we not be able to uphold
the dignity of human life, no matter where it occurs?"
http://www.richmond.com/news/local/article_3bef1086-be49-5615-b5bb-d54d0ab0d734.html
April 18 2015
Armenian community looks to 100-year commemoration
By TED STRONG Richmond Times-Dispatch Richmond.com
A century ago, horror came to Armenia.
The Armenians, a Christian minority in the soon-to-disintegrate
Ottoman Empire, died in droves at the hands of authorities.
Some survived and filtered to safety: first to Jordan, or Aleppo, or
Marseille in France, or somewhere else, and then often to the United
States.
Today, their sons, daughters and other descendants will remember the
survivors, as well as those who died in the first genocide of the 20th
century.
Through next week, there will be remembrances in Richmond, across
Virginia and the nation. This morning, there will be an over-capacity
service at St. James Armenian Apostolic Church on Patterson Avenue.
The church is home to an active community and culture that many
Richmond-area residents know best through an annual food festival. St.
James was established in 1956, but the Armenian diaspora reached
Richmond decades earlier, and its descendants long for closure over
the suffering of their ancestors.
The genocide remains a sensitive topic on the world stage. The Turkish
government continues to deny the killings were a genocide and reacted
angrily when Pope Francis recently called for the deaths to be
recognized as such.
Turkey maintains that the deaths were far fewer, and the result of
civil war and upheaval, rather than an organized program of
extermination, but the claims are not widely accepted.
The U.S. has not formally declared the killings to have been a
genocide, but Armenian-Americans have pushed for official recognition.
Turkey's position as a strategic ally in a troubled region has been
viewed as an obstacle.
"There is no doubt that the killings of one and a half million people
is factual and did occur," said Mayda Topoushian, who is of Armenian
descent and an instructor in Virginia Commonwealth University's world
studies school and political science program.
Topoushian said it's true that the killings were not called a genocide
at the time, but she explained that it is because the term, which
refers to the targeted killing of a people, had not yet been invented.
When the word genocide was coined decades later, the events in Armenia
were held up as a prime example.
Children of survivors live in the Richmond area today. Gathered around
one table recently, the family histories they retold were variations
on the theme of displacement, hardship and death.
Marni Pilafian, 62, said her grandmother fed her infant son urine to
avoid dehydration as they fled across the desert. She said that made
the baby sick but kept him alive. He grew up to become Pilafian's
father.
John Baronian, 88, recalled that his maternal grandmother left in
1914, when killings were still sporadic. She traveled across the
desert on foot, losing three children and her husband. Two of the
children starved; her husband and the other child were killed outright
by Turkish authorities.
His mother told him of watching Turks throwing the dead into mass
graves. He also recalled her description of the last time she saw her
own father, who had been released from the cage where he was being
held to see his family.
"The men were singing the Lord's Prayer, and that's the last that she
(had) seen of my father," he said.
Bedros Bandazian's father, about 5 years old, was seized from the
family and taken to a janissary school to be educated for service to
the Ottoman Empire.
"They had brainwashed him," said Bandazian, 77. "He didn't even speak
Armenian any more."
But the family was able to snatch him away from the authorities.
"They kidnapped him back," he said.
He showed off an old pocket watch with an Ottoman coin decorating the
other end of the chain. His grandfather left it at home when he
departed to work abroad, but he never made it out of the country.
"This is the only thing left from my grandfather," he said.
Florence Soghoian, 80, recalled the story of her great-grandfather's
death. He knew he would not hold up much longer during a forced march
and that the dead were unceremoniously dumped in mass graves.
"He said he did not want to leave the world that way," she said.
So when he died, the family managed to read from Timothy in the New
Testament before his body was taken away.
More than half of the Armenians living in their historical homeland
were killed, Topoushian said. Beyond the loss of life, she said, the
genocide would encourage future tyrants.
"It set the precedent of what had yet to come in the 20th century,
because the perpetrators were not punished and no restitution was made
to the victims," she said. "Then comes Adolf Hitler, who saw this as a
valid precedent for his plan to wipe out the Jews of Europe.
"In a speech before invading Poland, in August of 1939, Hitler spoke
proudly of his intention to kill mercilessly, saying, and I quote,
'Who after all speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?'"
While recognition of the Holocaust is profound and accepted, she said,
Armenians are still struggling to bring attention to their losses.
"The Turkish government has yet to recognize the Armenian genocide, so
raising awareness is a way of denouncing the collective amnesia,"
Topoushian said.
Added Baronian: "The reason that we are so adamant about our situation
is we have yet to have closure."
Bandazian drew a distinction between the modern Republic of Turkey and
the historical Ottoman Empire.
"I'm not saying today's Turkey did it," he said, and then pointed
around the table at other children of survivors. "He's not going back
to his father's village; you're not going back to the villages."
Today's world conflicts continue to grip those of Armenian descent.
Many continue to support orphanages that were established by western
missionaries who helped their ancestors. They point out that Armenians
abroad are also among the populations being attacked by the Islamic
State.
But Topoushian said Armenians recognize that many minorities the world
over continue to be the victims of atrocities.
"Beheadings, raping of women, the mass graves of innocent people, the
enslaving of women as sex slaves, does it matter, or should it matter,
that these are committed a few miles away from where we live, or
10,000 miles away?" Topoushian said. "Should we not be able to uphold
the dignity of human life, no matter where it occurs?"
http://www.richmond.com/news/local/article_3bef1086-be49-5615-b5bb-d54d0ab0d734.html