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WALKING FOR ARMENIA TO REMEMBER THE MASSACRED
Get Bucks, UK
Jan 14 2015
Jan 14, 2015 15:24
By Laura Mowat
A Chenies musician explains to Laura Mowat why he will be walking
1,000km from Turkey to Lebanon
It was the biggest massacre in history before the Holocaust. It was
barbaric in the most cruel way, says Armenian Vartan Melkonian.
In 1915, leaders of the Turkish government massacred around 1.5million
Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire.
Vartan's grandparents were killed in the massacre while his parents,
as children, grew up in a refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon, where
Vartan was born.
As a child Vartan lived in an orphanage and on the streets of Beirut
after his parents died in the camp.
He said: "I want to remember my grandparents who perished and my
parents who, as children, walked 1,000km to go to Lebanon in refugee
camps, so I am remembering them rather than making any political
agenda."
Vartan and his 21-year-old daughter Veronica will complete the walk,
some time between February and April.
The walk will start in the former Armenian, Van in Turkey and the
route will continue to Lebanon.
It will retrace the steps that thousands of Armenians took in search
of a better life in Lebanon.
They are determined to complete the walk even though it stretches
over war-torn Syrian, although he does admit to being very concerned
about his daughter's welfare and the threat of ISIS.
The walk was university student Veronica's idea and the father and
daughter team plan to stay in inns and a tent during their six-week
trek.
Vartan will meet the Turkish ambassador about any possible security
issues during the walk.
Vartan said: "If people want to donate then that is welcome and it
will go to the orphanage where I was in Lebanon.
"It is like when people put flowers on graves to remember.
"This is what we want to do, we want to remember them and see the
treacherous, barren land through which they walked. Veronica doesn't
know anything about her grandparents, nothing of our history and she
wants to know."
Vartan, who is in his sixties, but has no birth certificate to give
an exact year, said: "My father was rescued by American missions and
him and my mother were brought to a refugee camp in Lebanon.
"Both sets of their parents passed away during the massacre."
The father-of-two said: "When we finish and arrive in Lebanon,
I think that the Armenian community will make a big noise of it.
"They said that they will come with trumpets and drums."
After living on the streets of Beirut for 10 years, Vartan fled
during a civil war to come to England where he has had a successful
music career.
In a YouTube clip on the team's Virgin Money Giving page for the
walk, Veronica said: "I know nothing about my family history beyond
my father.
"As it is coming up to the 100th anniversary of the massacre, I thought
it was only natural to do the walk to trace the route that our father's
parents took in exile to experience the same plight as they did."
See the route at www.walkingforarmenia.com.
To sponsor them visit
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/WalkingForArmenia.
http://www.getbucks.co.uk/news/local-news/walking-armenia-remember-massacred-8446873
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Get Bucks, UK
Jan 14 2015
Jan 14, 2015 15:24
By Laura Mowat
A Chenies musician explains to Laura Mowat why he will be walking
1,000km from Turkey to Lebanon
It was the biggest massacre in history before the Holocaust. It was
barbaric in the most cruel way, says Armenian Vartan Melkonian.
In 1915, leaders of the Turkish government massacred around 1.5million
Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire.
Vartan's grandparents were killed in the massacre while his parents,
as children, grew up in a refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon, where
Vartan was born.
As a child Vartan lived in an orphanage and on the streets of Beirut
after his parents died in the camp.
He said: "I want to remember my grandparents who perished and my
parents who, as children, walked 1,000km to go to Lebanon in refugee
camps, so I am remembering them rather than making any political
agenda."
Vartan and his 21-year-old daughter Veronica will complete the walk,
some time between February and April.
The walk will start in the former Armenian, Van in Turkey and the
route will continue to Lebanon.
It will retrace the steps that thousands of Armenians took in search
of a better life in Lebanon.
They are determined to complete the walk even though it stretches
over war-torn Syrian, although he does admit to being very concerned
about his daughter's welfare and the threat of ISIS.
The walk was university student Veronica's idea and the father and
daughter team plan to stay in inns and a tent during their six-week
trek.
Vartan will meet the Turkish ambassador about any possible security
issues during the walk.
Vartan said: "If people want to donate then that is welcome and it
will go to the orphanage where I was in Lebanon.
"It is like when people put flowers on graves to remember.
"This is what we want to do, we want to remember them and see the
treacherous, barren land through which they walked. Veronica doesn't
know anything about her grandparents, nothing of our history and she
wants to know."
Vartan, who is in his sixties, but has no birth certificate to give
an exact year, said: "My father was rescued by American missions and
him and my mother were brought to a refugee camp in Lebanon.
"Both sets of their parents passed away during the massacre."
The father-of-two said: "When we finish and arrive in Lebanon,
I think that the Armenian community will make a big noise of it.
"They said that they will come with trumpets and drums."
After living on the streets of Beirut for 10 years, Vartan fled
during a civil war to come to England where he has had a successful
music career.
In a YouTube clip on the team's Virgin Money Giving page for the
walk, Veronica said: "I know nothing about my family history beyond
my father.
"As it is coming up to the 100th anniversary of the massacre, I thought
it was only natural to do the walk to trace the route that our father's
parents took in exile to experience the same plight as they did."
See the route at www.walkingforarmenia.com.
To sponsor them visit
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/WalkingForArmenia.
http://www.getbucks.co.uk/news/local-news/walking-armenia-remember-massacred-8446873
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress