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Detroit Free Press, MI
April 18 2015
Metro Detroit Armenians remember massacre 100 years ago
Niraj Warikoo, Detroit Free Press 10:50 a.m. EDT April 19, 2015
The Armenian massacre 100 years ago is being recalled by thousands of
Armenian Americans and others across metro Detroit to make sure
history doesn't repeat itself.
She was a 7-year-old girl in a small village in Turkey, unaware of the
political turmoil around her.
And so when Turkish police ordered Tourvanda Ahigian and her family to
line up outside their home in Divirig and start walking on a warm day
in July 1915, she thought it was a field trip.
But as the walk progressed, some started to crumple up to die from
weariness and thirst as the police yelled at them to keep moving.
Tourvanda -- who would later end up in Michigan -- started to realize
the horror unfolding as they trudged for miles through fields and
deserts.
"They walked under the hot sun, over dead bodies," said Virginia
Haroutunian, 78, telling her mother's story in the kitchen of her
Bloomfield Township home, surrounded by photos of family members who
perished. "They walked without water or food."
The death march in what is now Turkey began an ordeal for Tourvanda
that lasted for years. She was caught up in what much of the world
calls the Armenian genocide, a systematic attempt to remove a people
that many historians say was the first massive ethnic cleansing of the
20th Century. From 1915 to 1923, as many as 1.5 million Christian
Armenians were killed under Ottoman rule.
In Michigan -- which has the biggest Armenian community in the Midwest
-- local Armenian Americans have been marking the 100th anniversary
with dozens of events: art exhibits, church services, concerts and
lectures to make sure what happened is never forgotten. Just as Jews
mark the Holocaust with Yom HaShoah -- observed last Thursday --
Armenians consider April 24 the official day to remember the 1.5
million.
Hundreds will gather Friday in an Orthodox church in Livonia for the
centennial. "If we forget our history, we will never have a future,"
said the Rev. Hrant Kevorkian, 29, pastor at St. Sarkis Armenian
Apostolic Church in Dearborn. "This is part of us. ...We can't forget
our roots."
The victims were beaten, tortured, massacred. Hundreds of thousands
forced into barren areas to die from hunger and thirst, according to
the Armenian National Institute. At 7 years old, Haroutunian said,
Tourvanda walked over hot sands with blisters on her feet, passing
bodies shriveled under the sun.
For Armenians, the brutality of ISIS and other extremist groups
targeting religious and ethnic minorities -- including some Armenians
in Syria -- echoes what they suffered a century ago.
"History is repeating," said Manouk Derovakimian, 78, of Livonia. He
lost 33 family members in the genocide. "We have ISIS. We have
terrorist groups beheading people. They're burning villages. They're
removing people. This happened to Armenians 100 years ago on a bigger
scale."
Derovakimian and other Armenians recall the words of Hitler in 1939,
who reportedly referenced the Armenian agony in justifying his plans
for extermination: "Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation
of the Armenians?"
For many Armenians, the genocide is felt in personal terms: It broke
up families and caused emotional scars that carried over generations.
Haroutunian's mother was changed forever by what she saw as a girl.
Tourvanda later became, Haroutunian said, cold, distant and harsh at
times toward her children.
Some survivors "carried these ... unforgettable atrocities with them,"
said Haroutunian, a retired music teacher. She said she, too, had
difficulties forming relationships.
"These imperfect parents produced imperfect children," she said, "and
the cycle continued for generations."
The census says there are more than 15,000 Michiganders of Armenian
descent, the fifth-largest such population in the U.S., and community
leaders say there could be twice as many because some Armenians
identify as other nationalities where they have roots. They've
established four Armenian churches in metro Detroit and the Armenian
Research Center at the University of Michigan-Dearborn.
Detroit's most noted Armenian American, the late businessman Alex
Manoogian -- who donated the mansion used by Detroit mayors -- was a
refugee because of the genocide. And so was Haroutun (Harry) Hagopian,
the founder of a carpet company known across the region.
Every year, the dead are remembered locally with services and the
placing of Christian crosses outside St. John Armenian Church of
Greater Detroit in Southfield. Today, St. John will have a concert,
followed by the opening of an art exhibit titled "Rebirth" by young
Armenian artists.
The few remaining survivors now are about 100 years old. The last ones
in metro Detroit died in recent years, including Olive Mooradian of
Dearborn, who passed away in March at 101.
"Nothing erased the genocide from her memories," said her daughter,
Sandra Mooradian, 73, of Dearborn.
Olive's parents died, probably from cholera contracted in the camps,
said Sandra. Her aunts helped get Olive to safety, carrying her for
long stretches.
"They had to escape through mountainous areas, rushing rivers,"
Mooradian said. "They put her and her sister in saddle bags on some
animal while crossing the rivers."
Recognition and justice
For Mooradian and other Armenians, justice won't come until Turkey
recognizes what happened as a true genocide. The Turkish government
acknowledges that many Armenians died 100 years ago, but says it was
part of the general violence suffered by Armenians and Turks near the
end of the Ottoman Empire. Turkish authorities maintain that the
deaths of the Armenians, while unfortunate, were not the result of an
intentional plan to exterminate them. In Turkey, calling the deaths a
"genocide" is a punishable offense.
For decades, Armenian Americans have been trying to persuade the White
House to recognize the mass deaths as a genocide, but that word has
not been adopted by the U.S. government. On campaign trails, future
presidents, including Barack Obama, have used the word -- but stopped
after taking office.
Part of the reason is that the U.S. sees Turkey as a military ally,
one with U.S. bases. Other U.S. allies, such as the United Kingdom,
Australia and Israel, also don't recognize the deaths as a genocide.
This month, 15 U.S. Senators -- including Michigan's Debbie Stabenow
and Gary Peters -- signed a letter to Obama, asking that the policy
change. And a House resolution once again is calling for use of the
word, though it's unlikely the measure will pass.
The genocide label has received support from such disparate sources as
Kim Kardashian (of Armenian descent) to Pope Francis. He used the word
during services with Armenian clergy last Sunday. That brought a swift
response from Turkish officials, who condemned the remarks and
summoned the Vatican's ambassador to Turkey.
"I'm personally fed up with the tap dancing over a very important
issue," Mooradian said. "We want the recognition. It's just the right
thing to do. ... Speak up against the genocide."
When Mooradian reads about what's happening to minority Yazidis at the
hands of ISIS in Iraq, she worries that the lessons haven't been
learned:
"When will the world stand up and say, you can't do this anymore?"
For decades, many Armenians, like Helen Mempreian Movsesian, 82, of
West Bloomfield, were unaware of what their parents and other family
members suffered. The victims were reluctant to discuss it.
Movsesian's mother, the late Verjin Hagopian, was 5 years old when the
mass killings began.
"She did not want to talk about the genocide because it was so
horrible," Movsesian said. Hagopian's mother and father both died, and
-- like Haroutunian's mother -- she became an orphan. She moved from
orphanage to orphanage across the Middle East.
Other Armenians have similar stories. Some will recount horrific
narratives handed down from their parents or grandparents. Gregory
Vartanian, 64, of Dearborn said that his grandmother, Mary Vartanian,
was made to carry baskets of Armenian men's heads chopped off by
Turkish authorities.
Haroutunian's mother didn't open up to her daughter until after she
was diagnosed with cancer in the late 1970s. That was when Haroutunian
decided to write a book detailing Tourvanda Ahigian's ordeal as a girl
and its impact on her psyche, titled "Orphans in the Sand." It was
published in 1995. Tourvanda died in 2000 at the age of 91.
At the beginning of the death march, Tourvanda's mother held her hand
-- but then became increasingly weak and disoriented. Eventually, she
let go.
"I am numb, don't feel nothing," Tourvanda, who later became Victoria
Haroutunian, recalled in her daughter's book. "I am too weak from
diarrhea, and I need water.
"I try to look for my mother, but I'm so weak, it's hard for me to
even walk. So many people struggling past me, some falling down and
not getting up, others shoving me out of the way. I try to look the
faces, but she is gone. I feel nothing except thirst. My mouth so dry
my lips stick together. At night, I curl up alone on the damp ground,
waiting to die."
Tourvanda was rescued at one point by a Turkish man, but the man's
wife was abusive, beating her often and giving her a Turkish name.
Tourvanda then fled, going from home to home begging people to take
her in.
Over the next few years, she would grow up in orphanages across the
Middle East, at one time staying at an orphanage in Egypt run by
missionaries who gave her an Armenian-language Bible.
She arrived in the U.S. through Ellis Island at the age of 20 after a
cousin had arranged for her to marry an Armenian man living in the
U.S. They ended up in Pontiac, where Haroutunian was raised.
Today, Haroutunian still has the Bible that Tourvanda got in Egypt,
storing it inside a small suitcase that Tourvanda brought to America.
On a table near her kitchen, Haroutunian leafed through the Bible one
afternoon last week, thinking about her mother and the genocide. She
pointed to an enlarged, laminated photo of several of her cousins with
an inscription on top that reads:
"ALL MASSACRED."
"These were my aunts and uncles and cousins who were massacred on the
march," Haroutunian said. "It feels like a part of me is with them.
Because I never had the chance to meet them or see them, or get to
know them.
"And it has left a huge hole in my life, not to have experienced their love."
Contact Niraj Warikoo: [email protected] or 313-223-4792. Follow
him on Twitter @nwarikoo
Remembering Armenian victims of massacre
Today: Requiem during morning services for the genocide victims at St.
John Armenian Church, 22001 Northwestern Highway, Southfield. Services
start at 10:30 a.m., requiem at 11:45 a.m. An art exhibit by Armenian
youth called "Rebirth" opens at 1 p.m. with reception.
Friday: Ecumenical worship service at 7:30 p.m. at St. Mary Antiochian
Orthodox Basilica, 18100 Merriman Road, Livonia, featuring Catholic
Archbishop of Detroit Allen Vigneron and other clergy.
Remembering Jewish victims of Holocaust
Today: Victims of the Holocaust to be remembered for Yom HaShoah
Commemoration Day, at noon in the Holocaust Memorial Center Zekelman
Family Campus, 28123 Orchard Lake Road, Farmington Hills.
U.S. position on commemorating the massacre
The U.S. has not wanted to anger Turkey, which it sees as a valued
strategic ally.
1915: U.S. ambassador to Ottoman Empire describes the Turks' attacks
on Armenians as "an attempt to exterminate a race."
2000: House GOP leaders pull Armenian genocide resolution from floor
minutes before vote under pressure from President Bill Clinton.
2006: President George W. Bush administration cuts short the service
of U.S. Ambassador John Evans after he says Armenian genocide is an
undeniable historical event.
2007: A majority of House members endorse a genocide resolution; under
White House and Pentagon pressure, the resolution stalls after 25
House members withdraw support.
2009-14: President Barack Obama uses the Armenian phrase "Meds
Yeghern" (Great Calamity) to describe the Armenian killings, but stops
short of calling it genocide.
March 2015: 15 U.S. senators, including Michigan Democrats Debbie
Stabenow and Gary Peters, send letter to White House asking that it
label the Armenian killings "genocide."
April 2015: Pope Francis calls killings a "genocide," drawing a strong
rebuke from Turkish officials but praise from others, who hope it can
convince U.S. to change its official position.
http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2015/04/19/armenians-genocide-hundredth-anniversary/25993189/
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
April 18 2015
Metro Detroit Armenians remember massacre 100 years ago
Niraj Warikoo, Detroit Free Press 10:50 a.m. EDT April 19, 2015
The Armenian massacre 100 years ago is being recalled by thousands of
Armenian Americans and others across metro Detroit to make sure
history doesn't repeat itself.
She was a 7-year-old girl in a small village in Turkey, unaware of the
political turmoil around her.
And so when Turkish police ordered Tourvanda Ahigian and her family to
line up outside their home in Divirig and start walking on a warm day
in July 1915, she thought it was a field trip.
But as the walk progressed, some started to crumple up to die from
weariness and thirst as the police yelled at them to keep moving.
Tourvanda -- who would later end up in Michigan -- started to realize
the horror unfolding as they trudged for miles through fields and
deserts.
"They walked under the hot sun, over dead bodies," said Virginia
Haroutunian, 78, telling her mother's story in the kitchen of her
Bloomfield Township home, surrounded by photos of family members who
perished. "They walked without water or food."
The death march in what is now Turkey began an ordeal for Tourvanda
that lasted for years. She was caught up in what much of the world
calls the Armenian genocide, a systematic attempt to remove a people
that many historians say was the first massive ethnic cleansing of the
20th Century. From 1915 to 1923, as many as 1.5 million Christian
Armenians were killed under Ottoman rule.
In Michigan -- which has the biggest Armenian community in the Midwest
-- local Armenian Americans have been marking the 100th anniversary
with dozens of events: art exhibits, church services, concerts and
lectures to make sure what happened is never forgotten. Just as Jews
mark the Holocaust with Yom HaShoah -- observed last Thursday --
Armenians consider April 24 the official day to remember the 1.5
million.
Hundreds will gather Friday in an Orthodox church in Livonia for the
centennial. "If we forget our history, we will never have a future,"
said the Rev. Hrant Kevorkian, 29, pastor at St. Sarkis Armenian
Apostolic Church in Dearborn. "This is part of us. ...We can't forget
our roots."
The victims were beaten, tortured, massacred. Hundreds of thousands
forced into barren areas to die from hunger and thirst, according to
the Armenian National Institute. At 7 years old, Haroutunian said,
Tourvanda walked over hot sands with blisters on her feet, passing
bodies shriveled under the sun.
For Armenians, the brutality of ISIS and other extremist groups
targeting religious and ethnic minorities -- including some Armenians
in Syria -- echoes what they suffered a century ago.
"History is repeating," said Manouk Derovakimian, 78, of Livonia. He
lost 33 family members in the genocide. "We have ISIS. We have
terrorist groups beheading people. They're burning villages. They're
removing people. This happened to Armenians 100 years ago on a bigger
scale."
Derovakimian and other Armenians recall the words of Hitler in 1939,
who reportedly referenced the Armenian agony in justifying his plans
for extermination: "Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation
of the Armenians?"
For many Armenians, the genocide is felt in personal terms: It broke
up families and caused emotional scars that carried over generations.
Haroutunian's mother was changed forever by what she saw as a girl.
Tourvanda later became, Haroutunian said, cold, distant and harsh at
times toward her children.
Some survivors "carried these ... unforgettable atrocities with them,"
said Haroutunian, a retired music teacher. She said she, too, had
difficulties forming relationships.
"These imperfect parents produced imperfect children," she said, "and
the cycle continued for generations."
The census says there are more than 15,000 Michiganders of Armenian
descent, the fifth-largest such population in the U.S., and community
leaders say there could be twice as many because some Armenians
identify as other nationalities where they have roots. They've
established four Armenian churches in metro Detroit and the Armenian
Research Center at the University of Michigan-Dearborn.
Detroit's most noted Armenian American, the late businessman Alex
Manoogian -- who donated the mansion used by Detroit mayors -- was a
refugee because of the genocide. And so was Haroutun (Harry) Hagopian,
the founder of a carpet company known across the region.
Every year, the dead are remembered locally with services and the
placing of Christian crosses outside St. John Armenian Church of
Greater Detroit in Southfield. Today, St. John will have a concert,
followed by the opening of an art exhibit titled "Rebirth" by young
Armenian artists.
The few remaining survivors now are about 100 years old. The last ones
in metro Detroit died in recent years, including Olive Mooradian of
Dearborn, who passed away in March at 101.
"Nothing erased the genocide from her memories," said her daughter,
Sandra Mooradian, 73, of Dearborn.
Olive's parents died, probably from cholera contracted in the camps,
said Sandra. Her aunts helped get Olive to safety, carrying her for
long stretches.
"They had to escape through mountainous areas, rushing rivers,"
Mooradian said. "They put her and her sister in saddle bags on some
animal while crossing the rivers."
Recognition and justice
For Mooradian and other Armenians, justice won't come until Turkey
recognizes what happened as a true genocide. The Turkish government
acknowledges that many Armenians died 100 years ago, but says it was
part of the general violence suffered by Armenians and Turks near the
end of the Ottoman Empire. Turkish authorities maintain that the
deaths of the Armenians, while unfortunate, were not the result of an
intentional plan to exterminate them. In Turkey, calling the deaths a
"genocide" is a punishable offense.
For decades, Armenian Americans have been trying to persuade the White
House to recognize the mass deaths as a genocide, but that word has
not been adopted by the U.S. government. On campaign trails, future
presidents, including Barack Obama, have used the word -- but stopped
after taking office.
Part of the reason is that the U.S. sees Turkey as a military ally,
one with U.S. bases. Other U.S. allies, such as the United Kingdom,
Australia and Israel, also don't recognize the deaths as a genocide.
This month, 15 U.S. Senators -- including Michigan's Debbie Stabenow
and Gary Peters -- signed a letter to Obama, asking that the policy
change. And a House resolution once again is calling for use of the
word, though it's unlikely the measure will pass.
The genocide label has received support from such disparate sources as
Kim Kardashian (of Armenian descent) to Pope Francis. He used the word
during services with Armenian clergy last Sunday. That brought a swift
response from Turkish officials, who condemned the remarks and
summoned the Vatican's ambassador to Turkey.
"I'm personally fed up with the tap dancing over a very important
issue," Mooradian said. "We want the recognition. It's just the right
thing to do. ... Speak up against the genocide."
When Mooradian reads about what's happening to minority Yazidis at the
hands of ISIS in Iraq, she worries that the lessons haven't been
learned:
"When will the world stand up and say, you can't do this anymore?"
For decades, many Armenians, like Helen Mempreian Movsesian, 82, of
West Bloomfield, were unaware of what their parents and other family
members suffered. The victims were reluctant to discuss it.
Movsesian's mother, the late Verjin Hagopian, was 5 years old when the
mass killings began.
"She did not want to talk about the genocide because it was so
horrible," Movsesian said. Hagopian's mother and father both died, and
-- like Haroutunian's mother -- she became an orphan. She moved from
orphanage to orphanage across the Middle East.
Other Armenians have similar stories. Some will recount horrific
narratives handed down from their parents or grandparents. Gregory
Vartanian, 64, of Dearborn said that his grandmother, Mary Vartanian,
was made to carry baskets of Armenian men's heads chopped off by
Turkish authorities.
Haroutunian's mother didn't open up to her daughter until after she
was diagnosed with cancer in the late 1970s. That was when Haroutunian
decided to write a book detailing Tourvanda Ahigian's ordeal as a girl
and its impact on her psyche, titled "Orphans in the Sand." It was
published in 1995. Tourvanda died in 2000 at the age of 91.
At the beginning of the death march, Tourvanda's mother held her hand
-- but then became increasingly weak and disoriented. Eventually, she
let go.
"I am numb, don't feel nothing," Tourvanda, who later became Victoria
Haroutunian, recalled in her daughter's book. "I am too weak from
diarrhea, and I need water.
"I try to look for my mother, but I'm so weak, it's hard for me to
even walk. So many people struggling past me, some falling down and
not getting up, others shoving me out of the way. I try to look the
faces, but she is gone. I feel nothing except thirst. My mouth so dry
my lips stick together. At night, I curl up alone on the damp ground,
waiting to die."
Tourvanda was rescued at one point by a Turkish man, but the man's
wife was abusive, beating her often and giving her a Turkish name.
Tourvanda then fled, going from home to home begging people to take
her in.
Over the next few years, she would grow up in orphanages across the
Middle East, at one time staying at an orphanage in Egypt run by
missionaries who gave her an Armenian-language Bible.
She arrived in the U.S. through Ellis Island at the age of 20 after a
cousin had arranged for her to marry an Armenian man living in the
U.S. They ended up in Pontiac, where Haroutunian was raised.
Today, Haroutunian still has the Bible that Tourvanda got in Egypt,
storing it inside a small suitcase that Tourvanda brought to America.
On a table near her kitchen, Haroutunian leafed through the Bible one
afternoon last week, thinking about her mother and the genocide. She
pointed to an enlarged, laminated photo of several of her cousins with
an inscription on top that reads:
"ALL MASSACRED."
"These were my aunts and uncles and cousins who were massacred on the
march," Haroutunian said. "It feels like a part of me is with them.
Because I never had the chance to meet them or see them, or get to
know them.
"And it has left a huge hole in my life, not to have experienced their love."
Contact Niraj Warikoo: [email protected] or 313-223-4792. Follow
him on Twitter @nwarikoo
Remembering Armenian victims of massacre
Today: Requiem during morning services for the genocide victims at St.
John Armenian Church, 22001 Northwestern Highway, Southfield. Services
start at 10:30 a.m., requiem at 11:45 a.m. An art exhibit by Armenian
youth called "Rebirth" opens at 1 p.m. with reception.
Friday: Ecumenical worship service at 7:30 p.m. at St. Mary Antiochian
Orthodox Basilica, 18100 Merriman Road, Livonia, featuring Catholic
Archbishop of Detroit Allen Vigneron and other clergy.
Remembering Jewish victims of Holocaust
Today: Victims of the Holocaust to be remembered for Yom HaShoah
Commemoration Day, at noon in the Holocaust Memorial Center Zekelman
Family Campus, 28123 Orchard Lake Road, Farmington Hills.
U.S. position on commemorating the massacre
The U.S. has not wanted to anger Turkey, which it sees as a valued
strategic ally.
1915: U.S. ambassador to Ottoman Empire describes the Turks' attacks
on Armenians as "an attempt to exterminate a race."
2000: House GOP leaders pull Armenian genocide resolution from floor
minutes before vote under pressure from President Bill Clinton.
2006: President George W. Bush administration cuts short the service
of U.S. Ambassador John Evans after he says Armenian genocide is an
undeniable historical event.
2007: A majority of House members endorse a genocide resolution; under
White House and Pentagon pressure, the resolution stalls after 25
House members withdraw support.
2009-14: President Barack Obama uses the Armenian phrase "Meds
Yeghern" (Great Calamity) to describe the Armenian killings, but stops
short of calling it genocide.
March 2015: 15 U.S. senators, including Michigan Democrats Debbie
Stabenow and Gary Peters, send letter to White House asking that it
label the Armenian killings "genocide."
April 2015: Pope Francis calls killings a "genocide," drawing a strong
rebuke from Turkish officials but praise from others, who hope it can
convince U.S. to change its official position.
http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2015/04/19/armenians-genocide-hundredth-anniversary/25993189/
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress