ARMENIAN-TURKISH GROUP PAY VISIT TO THEIR FAMILY’S HOMETOWN

Today’s Zaman

Aug 29 2012
Turkey

A 60-person group of Turkish Armenians, whose parents migrated from
Yozgat’s Sarıkaya district to Ä°stanbul many years ago, have come
to Sarıkaya to see the places where their families used to live.

Ä°stanbul KocamustafapaÅ~_a BurunkıÅ~_la Armenian Association
President Hovsep Arzuman said that they have been organizing these
visits for four years. “The parents of most of the people in the
group were born in Sarıkaya. My father was born in [Sarıkaya’s]
BurunkıÅ~_la village in 1922. We, the children of families that
migrated from here many years ago, regularly visit this place where
our fathers and mothers used to live to keep the sense of tolerance
and solidarity alive.”

Noting that they are planning to make these visits a tradition,
Arzuman said: “Firstly, we visited graveyards and carried out our
religious duties. There is a very old surviving chapel in the town
of Terzili. We performed our religious duties with the guidance of
religious officials there. We remembered the old days. When we saw
our villages and old neighbors, our memories were revived.”

“We have been organizing this visit for four years. I first came
here with my own family. And when I saw that the locals in Sarıkaya
are such warm, sincere and hospitable people, our visits became a
tradition,” Arzuman said.

Beyond its Ä°stanbul-based participants, the group also included
Armenians living in Germany, France and the US.