Testimonies of the Armenian Genocide Survivors (Part 3)

• 02.12.2015, 15:08
•  Armenia

"Armedia" Information, Analytical Agency introduces true stories collected by joint efforts of "European Integration" Non-Governmental Organization and "Armedia" IAA with the support of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the United Kingdom within the project "The Turk Who Saved Me". The partner in Turkey is "tursu.tv production".

The project aims at contributing to the development of dialogue and trust-building between the Armenian and Turkish societies.

The stories have also been published in the form of a book called "100 Years…True Stories" and are available in Armenian, English and Turkish. 

 

Part 1, Part 2

 

"Grandfather’s Two Brothers Were Recruited to the Turkish Army; Had No More News from Them"

Tells Avetis Khachatryan

I am Avetis Saribek Khachatryan. I was called in honour of my Grandfather whose name was Avé (perhaps it was short for Avetis).

The family name of our dynasty was Jamharyan [jamhar in Armenian means bell ringer, tr.]. We come from the city of Bayazet in Western Armenia. My Grandmother Mariam’s family also comes from Bayazet, their family name is Hunanyan.

Grandfather Avé was born in 1901. His family was mainly involved in farming and cattle breeding. His father Khachatur’s first wife died and then he married Grandfather’s Mother Makhmur. My Father took his Father’s name as surname Khachatryan. Khachatur had 7 sons – Arshak, Artashes, Sargis, Arsen, Vahan, Avé, and one daughter – Margarít. My Grandfather was the youngest in the family.

My Grandmother’s family were tanners, who continued their craft even in Eastern Armenia. Grandmother Mariam was born in 1909. As she told they used to live nearby the Bayazet castle walls. She always said, "Even if I go now I can find where our house was."

They were in good relations with local Turkish officials. They were obedient citizens and paid taxes. Grandfather made trade with Kurds.

The situation was relatively calm in Bazyazet but the news gradually spread about massacres of Armenians in various regions of the country. A Turkish official soon came up to my Grandfather’s Father and said, "There’s going to be zulum [zulum in Turkish means cruelty, persecution and is sometimes used by Armenians, tr.]" and advised Grandfather to flee. He also said that Grandfather’s eldest brother Arshak, who was physically the strongest, would be recruited to the army. My Great Grandfather was already an old man then. He said Arshak, as the eldest son, supported the family because the others were too young and if he was taken away the others would not survive. The official proposed to leave Arshak and to take next two sons – Arsen and Vahan. We have heard that these boys were very handsome and had really good voices. The official insisted on this option as the only one. After long hesitations the family had to agree. So Arsen and Vahan were recruited to the army and had no more news from them.

Grandfather’s brother Artashes was a Fedayeen and fought in different self-defense groups. There is no information about him either.

Great Grandfather Khachatur died in Bayazet his natural death.

After these events and taking into account the Turkish official’s warning, Armenians had nothing else to do but move to Eastern Armenia.

From the Jamharyans only my Grandfather’s mother, Grandfather Avé, his brothers Arshak and Sargis, sister Margarit and their uncle Navo, who was blind, managed to cross the border. They brought movables with them and some cattle. They brought even some copper saucepans that are still preserved.

My Grandfather’s and Grandmother’s families settled in various places in Armenia after crossing the Araks River. Grandmother said they were looking for a place where "the climate would be similar to that of their native town". They were in Aparan, Bjní, Meghradzor, Nor [nor in Armenian means new, tr.] Bayazet. In the end they settled down in Tsakhkadzor.

In those times it was customary to go matchmaking only to families one knew. Grandfather’s family knew well the Hovnanyans who had migrated from Bayazet. Thus, Grandfather Avé’s brothers asked my Grandmother to marry their brother. They got married in 1929 and had four children – my Father Saribek Khachatryan, uncles Volodya Khachatryan and Aghvan Jamharyan, and aunt Lida Khachatryan.

My Grandfather Avé died in the Second World War.

 

"Grandmother Soon Learned Everyone Was Killed in Her Paternal House"

Tells Martha Simonyan

 

My Grandmother Hripsimé Gevorg Khangeldyan’s paternal family was quite rich. They lived in the village of Sharur, Nakhijevan district. Her Father Gevorg Khangeldyan was head of 12 village communities and had a large number of forests, lands under his authority. He had a very close Turkish friend who came and warned before the massacres that Turks were going to attack. He offered to help Khangeldyan’s family escape to Armenia. But Gevorg refused saying he had to help all Armenians flee first, and only then he could move his own family. By that time my thirteen-year-old Grandmother was married to Ashot Melik-Arakelyan, the son of a wealthy family in that village. He had shoe factories and was involved in trade; he often took his production to sell in foreign countries. At that very time he and his servant were in the USA on business. And my Grandmother already had my elder aunt who was a baby then.

Soon Grandmother learned everybody was slain in her paternal house. She told us her father was cruelly killed by having put his head under the watermill stone, while Grandmother’s two brothers were tied to the tails of horses and were dragged until they died. Grandmother also lost her sister. She must have managed to flee during the carnage but they didn’t have any contact afterwards. However, Grandmother learnt all tis after the Turk who had been close to her Father came to her house to warn her that Turks were going to visit her house that very night. He helped my Grandmother to cross the border secretly at night and reach Armenia.

My Grandmother hardly had time to wrap her baby in a carpet, take some jewelry in a small box, some trifles and to run away (that box has been handed down to us and we still preserve it). Grandmother also used to say that she put some of their gold in a jug and dropped it into the well nearby their house hoping they might return some day and pick it up. This is how Grandmother managed to flee and get to Yerevan. There were private houses near the square then and my Grandmother sold her gold to live in a rented house. She also did washing for some money to support herself and her child.

While in the USA, Grandmother’s husband heard that all Armenians had been slaughtered and perhaps presumed his own family had been exterminated as well. Thus he decided to remain in the USA. In a word, Grandmother never had any contact with him. Many years later, she made enquiries and applied to some intelligence services and found out that after learning about what had happened he hadn’t returned from the USA where he died in the 1960s.

We were able to find only Grandmother’s sister. Some years after the Genocide my Father went to Tbilisi and met Grandmother’s sister at home of some acquaintance of his friend’s. Until that we considered her missing but actually she had fled and settled in Georgia.

 

"My Reminiscences Are Undone Like a Ball of Wool..."

Tells Naira Mkrtchyan

Veronika Gaspar Berberyan (1907-1999)

I will present the story of my fraternal Grandmother Veronika Gaspar Berberyan. Her family was able to run away first to Nakhijevan, and then moved to Yerevan. I have heard her stories since childhood. She used to say, "When you ask me questions my reminiscences undo and open like a ball of wool."

  "My Father’s Family Was Warned about the Expected Massacre by Their Turkish Friend"

Tells Sargis Torosyan

 

Both of my parents were survivors of the Genocide. My Father was 8 or 9 when, escaping the massacres with his family, he managed to run away to Greece. And my Mother was only one year old.

My Father’s family first moved to Greece then, in 1927, to Armenia. My Father was 14 at that time. His surname initially was "Sulyan". When getting a passport he asked to change his surname and took his Grand-Grand-Grandfather’s name as surname "Torosyan". He didn’t like "Sulyan" surname as it came from the Turkish word "water".

Before the massacres my Father's family lived in the town of Bilejick nearby Constantinople. My Mother’s family, the Mutafyans also lived in the same town, in the same street. My two Grandfathers used to be friends. When escaping the carnages they happened to be on the same ship. My parents’ families were lucky to avoid the massacre. They left their town but remained in the country and some time later returned to their native Bilejick.

However, during the second wave of the carnage my fraternal Grandfather’s Turkish friend warned him that massacre was going to start again the following day and he had to flee the country. My Father didn’t tell me and I don’t know who that "friend of my Father’s" was – a neighbor, a partner or just a close acquaintance. It is only known that as soon as my Grandfather got the news he called a cart, seated my Father there and paid to take the boy to the port. My Grandfather and Grandmother were supposed to join my Father later. Just as the cart started Grandfather Sargis ran after it and shouted, "Torgom, catch this," and threw a bundle in his direction. All the way my Father kept that bundle not knowing what was in it. Only after getting off the cart he was amazed to find out that it contained his one-year-old sister.

My Aunt isn’t alive now but she used to repeat, "Had it not been for my brother, God knows what would have happened to me…"

My Father was 8-9 then…

Father said that they paid the captain in gold to take them to Salonika, Greece. But ''hunt for Armenians'' had already started in Turkey and men of Armenian nationality would be detained even from ships.

My Mother's Father and brother were caught, but my Grandfather Sargis used his wits and managed to avoid captivity.

But another incident happened before getting to Greece. The Turkish captain tried to turn the ship back to take the Armenians to the Turkish coast again. My Father told that turbulence started then and it became impossible to sail in the opposite direction. And the captain said, ''In any case, you have God...'' Father always remembered those words.

With God's blessings the ship reached Greece. My Mother's family settled in Serres. Meanwhile, my Grandfather and uncle were able to flee captivity and joined their family in Serres where they lived until 1947. Then they moved to Armenia.

My Father's family came to Armenia earlier, in 1927. My parents met in Yerevan and married here.

 

"During the Massacres my Grandfather's Brother Was Butchered Right before Their House"

 Tells Eleonora Yazichyan

My Mother's family comes from Van. My Grandfather was born in the 1850-60s, unfortunately, I can't remember the exact date of his birth. Grandfather's family, the Melikyans were much respected. My Grandfather's father was the head of the village community. Their village lay on the road leading to Ktuts Island of Lake Van (at that time Ktuts was a peninsula). My Grandfather's brother was a member of Mejlis and had his own ship, which he later gave to my Grandfather. Grandfather's family was able to save the lives of several Armenians with that very ship.

My Grandfather was an ally of Aghbyur Serob [a famed Armenian military commander who organized a guerrilla network that fought against the Ottoman Empire during the latter part of the 19th century, tr.]. My Grandmother also took part in the self-defense of their village. Our relatives told so many stories about her heroism. They told that one day, when men were in the mountains and there were only women in the village, Kurds attacked the village. Without hesitation, Grandmother put on masculine clothes, got on a horseback, took arms and began to follow the attackers. As a result, the killers were horrified: they left their trophy and ran away. Hearing this story, the Sheikh of Kurds came to my Grandfather's Father Melik to see "who that bravest was to dare to frighten his heroes". My Grand-grandfather asked to bring some tea. My Grandmother brought the tea, served it, and then stood in the doorway to pick up the cups. After having some tea the Kurdish Sheikh again demanded to see "the one who frightened his heroes" and my grandfather said, "That bravest has been standing before you for already 15 minutes." And the Kurdish Sheikh left amazed. My Aunt told that everybody in Van fought like my Granny and everybody knew how to fight, whether woman or child.

During the massacres my Grandfather's brother, who was a member of Mejlis, was butchered right before their house. Relatives were unable to save also two daughters of my Grandfather's sister who were kidnapped although during the escape Armenian women usually put soot on their faces to look ugly and to avoid being captured.

 

"A Turk They Knew Warned My Father and Grandfather the Church Would Soon Be On Fire"

Tells Darikó Melkonyan

When in 2000 I went to Kars and looked around from the fortress of Kars the lines of the deportees appeared before my eyes… I have been crying since that day: I realized what sufferings my parents had gone through…

My Mother was a Genocide witness but she told about what she had seen and lived through so little that I did not understand much until I visited Kars… She was from Sarıkamış (Sarighamish). During the Genocide, like many other children, she also appeared in an American orphanage. My Mother’s uncle (Mother’s brother) was a translator and it was him that found her. When reading the list of the children’s names he came across "Tirun Torosyan" he realized that was his nephew.

My Mother moved to her uncle while her sister Margarit had already been transported to the USA. There is, unfortunately, no information about my Mother’s brothers…

My Father Seno Vahradyan was born in 1907 in the village of Noraber – then Qyalalí, on the territory of which a reservoir has been built. My Father was also a Genocide witness. Turks attacked and deported all the residents of the village without taking into account their age or sex. At that time Father was ill. When one of the soldiers wanted to fire at him another soldier said, "Do not waste a bullet, can’t you see that gyavur (giaour) is dying?" that is how Father remained alive. He always remembered with astonishment that the whole village was deported by some seven-eight janissaries but the Armenians, although their number was much bigger, didn’t protect themselves.

On the roads of deportation my Father’s mother got lost and we never had any information about her. My Father and Grandfather, along with other Armenians who had survived were locked in a church. Here, a Turk they knew, warned them that that the church would soon be burnt down. They managed to run away and survived… 

 

Commanders Had Planned to Slaughter All Armenian Soldiers at Dawn

Tells Sona Chalgushyan

 

Before the start of Turkish-Russian war the whole family of my Mother’s Grandfather was living in Adana. When the war started, my Grandfather, Gevorg Hovhannisyan left his pregnant wife Lyusya and his daughter (my mother Haykanush) and went to war.

In the Turkish army my Grandfather was taken as a second class soldier. Second class soldiers could only be, for example, in the army kitchen and were not allowed to wear weapons. Later, however, being skilled and mastering different military techniques, my Grandfather, as an exception, was given a weapon and was taken for full military service. 

One night, when my Grandfather was sleeping in the military unit, a Turkish soldier sleeping beside him, known as Ali in the army, awakened him and urged him to run away with another Armenian friend. He informed him that the Turkish commanders had decided to slaughter all the Armenian soldiers at dawn. Ali told my Grandfather that he warned them because he could not stand there and see them being stabbed. He could neither bear to be given a bayonet and be made to kill his friends himself.

Trusting his Turkish friend my Grandfather awakened another Armenian soldier and they decided to run away together. Before running away my Grandfather asked Ali to inform also his other Armenian friends.  In response Ali stated that that he couldn’t do that as he had arranged the escape of only two Armenian soldiers beforehand. Later it turned out that not only Ali had undertook the task of saving Armenian soldiers, many other Turkish soldiers had also joined him and had warned as many of their Armenian friends as possible.

Ali managed to take my Grandfather and his friend safely out of the military unit. After that he told them that he would not be able to help them any longer because he feared that the Turkish commanders would kill him as well, in case they learnt he had helped the Armenians. Thus my Grandfather, together with his friend, started his way having nothing but his gun with him.

After walking some 10-15 kilometers, they noticed a military unit approaching them. They hid themselves behind a rock. But the soldiers noticed them. Fortunately, it turned out that they were one of the military units of Zoravar [Commander, tr.] Andranik.

Because there was a weapon with my Grandfather, the Armenian soldiers, at first, did not realize that my Grandfather and his friend were also Armenians, thus they took them as captives. After they questioned them and realized their being Armenians, they took my Grandfather and his friend with them. Afterwards, they fought together in a number of volunteer battles. After Zoravar Andranik decided to dissolve his military unit he took his soldiers to Eastern Armenia and set them free.

Thus my Grandfather moved to Tbilisi. In Georgia, after losing connection with his family and having no hope to find them, my Grandfather got married to an Armenian girl for the second time. Later my mother managed to find her father and they met in Armenia. I remember that afterwards my Grandfather kept contact with our family and often visited us. 

 

"In 1915 my Grandfather's Hair Turned Grey In a Day..."

Tells Ruben Safrastyan

 

My Grandfather Aram Safrastyan was from the city of Van. In 1909 he left Van and worked as a teacher at various schools in Western Armenia. Later he moved to Constantinople and entered the University of Polis. At that time he was also engaged in public activities and published a number of articles in periodicals. Since his student years Grandfather began to publish the first journal on pedagogics in Constantinople. He was also a member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation- Dashnaktsutyun (ARF).

In April 1915 Armenian students at the University of Polis were arrested. They were taken to the police station. But one of their lecturers Zaqí Bey managed somehow to release the arrested Armenians students.

I can remember Grandfather said that besides this case an attempt was made to poison Armenian students studying at the University of Polis. They were the first Armenian students as Armenians were not allowed to study at the University of Polis until 1911.

Later my Grandfather became the leader of the Dashnaktsutyun Party functioning underground in Polis. In 1919 he moved to Armenia and became a Member of Parliament of the first Republic of Armenia. Then he took up science. He was a Turkologist, published several works; during the Soviet period he was persecuted, arrested and exiled.

Grandfather’s brother Albert Safrastyan and sister Araksý Safrastyan participated in the defense of Van, then moved to Armenia. Their parents also moved to Armenia but died during the epidemic of 1915.

Aram Safrastyan’s diaries have preserved. One of the notebooks comprises events of 1913-1916 and it is symbolic that some pages related to 1915 are written in red ink.

I can still remember they told that when the news of mass killings of Armenians spread, my Grandfather’s hair turned grey instantly.

And my Grandmother was from Trabzon and most of her relatives were exterminated. Armenians were mainly drowned in the sea in Trabzon.

My Grandfather published works related to the hard conditions of Armenians in Turkey. And, actually, Zeqí Bey saved somebody who published "Turkish Sources about Armenia and Armenians" in four volumes.

 

 "The Mystery of Tokat Golden Wells"

 Tells Nune Bekaryan

My Father’s family, as it is said in Armenia, is a family of refugees/migrants. They came to Eastern Armenia in 1924. Before that they used to live in Western Armenia. After the massacres in Cilicia they migrated to Sebastia and settled there. I heard all those stories from my Grandmother. She became a Genocide witness at the age of seven.

My Grandmother’s family was a respected one in Sebastia. They had houses both in Sebastia and Polis. They also had a summer house in a small village – Tokat – nearby Sebastia. My Grandmother's paternal Grandfather was a famous person among the church community of Sebastia; he was called Ter (Master) Bzek for his family name Bzekyan. Naturally, as a respected person he had several Turkish friends. Prior to the massacre the whole family was in Tokat when one of the high-ranking officials of the vilayet, as my Grandmother called him ''the second person'' came to Tokat and called upon my Grandmother's Grandfather. My Granny told the elderly people sat and talked for quite a long time. The hosts offered the Turkish official coffee, sweets but he refused. As my Grandma told, after talking to the Turk, her Grandfather came out too gloomy, sad, called all the family members into the big room, brought all the jewelry in the house on tenekes [big copper trays, tr.] and said: ''Everyone should put as much as they can on themselves.''

My Granny used to say: ''That was something we had never been allowed before. Fist-large golden spherical earrings had been made for us; those earrings were hung on our ears.'' In my Grandmother's words, she had heard the Turk official say: ''Master Bzek, carnage is expected, big carnage. You have an opportunity, you are a rich man, you can take your family and get off.''

My Grandmother said: ''My Grandfather dropped all the remaining gold into the well in the house, ordered us all to stand near the well and said that the survivors should come and find the gold.''

My Grandmother told us that in Tokat wells were built inside houses so that people didn't have to leave homes during attacks but could have water.

''In the morning everybody went to their homes, some to Sebastia and others to Polis,'' my Grandmother told.

My Granny's family went to Polis; her father was a police officer in Polis. My Grandma told that the tension was great; various rumors circulated… the grown-ups sat in the room, spoke, cried and the children weren’t allowed in. ‘’One day one of my Father’s policemen friends called on us secretly. My sister Satenik was two years younger than me. In all that fuss we were forgotten and I managed to eavesdrop. I heard the policeman say that it was going to start here also within a week… "The massacre is coming up, take your wife and run away. You are still young, you can have children. Is there anyone who doesn't know these aren't your children? I will organize everything for you to leave Polis," my grandma remembered the Turkish policeman’s words. Until that my Grandmother didn’t know that they were their mother’s children from her first marriage and their father was somebody whom they didn’t even know. Too shocked by what they had heard, my grandmother and her sister decided to run away from home.

"There was an American orphanage at the end of our street, so in the morning I got dressed, took my sister and went to the orphanage. Some time later we were found. My father was awfully angry, but soon they realized that the idea of giving us to the orphanage was the best option, which hadn’t occurred to anyone so far. From the orphanage my parents learned where we would be taken and promised to find us by all means. My Mother hung as much gold as possible on us and told us not to spare it but to exchange for bread, clothes… everything we needed. So, on a French ship we were transported from Polis to Salonika where we stayed until 1924. I can still remember that, when getting aboard the ship, a policeman pulled the golden earring from my sister’s ear and tore her ear with it. She was bandaged somehow and put aboard the ship still bleeding.

My Father, as he had promised, found us and brought us up like his own children. The reminiscences of the Genocide years never left him," my Grandmother used to tell.

My Grandmother knew French and Turkish very well. She was in Tokat in her thoughts. She said one day she would go and find their house in Tokat. Before death she had even got permission to go to Turkey but didn't have time to make her dream come true. She always told me she could draw the plan of their house and point the place of the well so that I could go and find their gold...

 

 

"My Grand-Grandmother Was Forced to Leave Her House" 

Tells Sona Poghosyan

 

My Grand-grandfather Khachik Partev and Grand-grandmother Aghavní Meyisyan lived in the city of Erzurum during the years of the Genocide. Grand-grandfather worked as a military doctor in the Turkish army and was revered by Turkish soldiers. He had to be away from home on business quite often.

When the Turkish government began mass displacement of Armenians from Erzurum, soon it was the turn of my grand-grandparents’ family. One day, when Grand-grandfather was again away on business, Turks broke into their house and forced the family to leave. Grand-grandmother took her only daughter in panic and left, abandoning her sick mother-in-law who, despite the pressure by the Turks and her daughter-in-law’s appeals, refused to leave her house unable to take up the road of exile. Unfortunately, my Grand-grandfather was never able to find his parent.

In all that mess Grand-grandmother wasn’t even able to contact her husband and to ask for help. Thus, under the Turks’ pressure, my Grand-grandmother and her daughter had to take up the road of exile without her husband’s knowledge and with no idea what was ahead.

Luckily, on the way she met a Turkish woman who knew my Grand-grandfather and advised my Grandmother to use her husband’s authority and avoid forceful displacement. So, following that kind woman’s advice, my Grand-grandmother told the Turkish soldiers who her husband was and asked them to help her find her husband.

The Turkish soldiers, knowing my Grand-grandfather and for the respect they felt for him, helped my Grand-grandmother to avoid forceful displacement and to find her husband. Thus, my Grand-grandfather’s family was able to run away with the help of Turkish soldiers and find shelter in the village of Orjonikidze in the district of Imeret, Georgia.

After living in Georgia for a few years, their family moved to Eastern Armenia and settled in Leninakan. Grand-grandfather continued to practice his profession here also. They had two more children.