April 12, 2015
The Armenian Genocide and The Middle East Today
By Nancy Eskijian
Friday the week after next, April 24, marks the hundredth anniversary
of the Armenian Genocide. While some nations of the world recognize
the Genocide, there are many deniers. Yes, the nation of Turkey denies
there was a Genocide; they were merely putting down nationalist
uprisings from a population that was largely disarmed and unarmed. Of
course, this happened during WWI while the rest of the world was
distracted. What Turkey does not answer is, how did 1.5 million
Armenians die as well as hundreds of thousands of other Christians,
through mass starvation, disease, a multitude of forms of murder, such
as beheadings, crucifixion, drowning and other brutalities? How was a
nation of orphans created? Why were thousands of women and children
Islamized, taken into Turkish homes, orphanages, and harems? Why were
churches burned and others turned into mosques, and a people’s wealth
confiscated, and dispersion throughout the world of all survivors? Why
do very few Armenians remain in a homeland that was theirs for
thousands of years?
The Armenian Genocide generally proceeded in the following phases[i]:
`The first phase of the Armenian Genocide was the conscription of
about 60,000 Armenian men into the Ottoman army, their disarmament and
murder by their Turkish fellow soldiers.’`The second phase of the
extermination of the Armenian population started on April 24, 1915
with the arrest of several hundred Armenian intellectuals and
representatives of national elite (mainly in the capital of the
Ottoman Empire, Constantinople) and their subsequent elimination.
Hereinafter, Armenians worldwide started to commemorate the Armenian
genocide on April 24 (1915).’ This is considered the beginning of the
Genocide by most Armenians, hence the hundred year commemoration.`The
third phase of the genocide is characterized with the exile of the
massacres of women, children, elderly people to the desert of
Syria. Hundreds of thousands of people were murdered by Turkish
soldiers, police officers, Kurdish bandits during the deportation. The
others died of epidemic diseases. Thousands of women and children were
subjected to violence. Tens of thousands were forcibly Islamized.’
Yes, forced conversion is part of genocide.
=80=9CThe fifth phase is the universal and absolute denial of the
Turkish government of the mass deportations and genocide carried out
against Armenians in their homeland.’
I am not a Genocide scholar, but like most Armenians I am a descendant
of a Genocide survivor, so I can tell a story that may capture some of
the scope and breadth of the tragedy and, importantly, the tragedy
that is repeating itself today.
This story surrounds a man I never met, and one who died in that
Genocide at the age of 34 years old. That man is my grandfather,
Rev. Hovhannes Eskijian. His compassionate efforts to save Armenians
was the subject of a book published in 2001, At the Crossroads of Der
Zor, by Hilmar Kaiser, which is currently being translated into
Armenian for the hundred year anniversary of the
Genocide. Rev. Eskijian himself was an orphan, his father having been
beheaded in front of his mother in 1895 during Turkish massacres of
the Armenians during the period of 1895-1896, including the city of
Urfa.
He survived by hiding in a ditch for three days with his brother and
others, and then was rescued to grow up in a Christian orphanage
himself. Later he would dedicate his life to Christ, go into the
ministry, be married, settle near Armenian villages in the Kessab area
of Syria as their mutual pastor, start the building of a church in the
village of Ekiz-Oluk, where my father was born, and then move to the
city of Aleppo in 1913 where he was called as a pastor.
Consequently, Rev. Eskijian was a Protestant minister in the city of
Aleppo, Syria, during the Genocide. His activities during this
critical time included many ways to assist the Christian
Armenians. `The deportations of 1915 opened vast avenues of service
before him and his assistants. Aleppo was the crossroads on the
highway of deportation. Thousands of Armenians were brought in by
various means to be by deported to the slaughterhouses of Der Zor, Ras
ul Ain, Sheddade and elsewhere to die of starvation and fatigue.
Buildings in Aleppo were filled with refugees and emptied to be filled
again by newcomers, persecuted, half-naked and starving.
Rev. Eskijian, and my grandmother, Mrs. Gulenia Eskijian, were busy
every day with these people. Not only did they welcome many of these
Armenians into their own home, but also served them outside their home
in many hiding places. They administered food, medicine, money and
protection to their utmost capacity, and opened orphanages for the
children that could be saved.'[ii]
The following is summarized from the compilation of M.H. Shnorhokian:
In 1915 Armenians poured into Aleppo setting up makeshift tents,
perhaps their last homes, amid filth, lice, corpses, and starving,
sick people waiting to be sent to the desert. At two notorious
deportation centers Karlik and the Railway Station in Aleppo,
Rev. Eskijian helped destitute Armenians. Rev. Eskijian would find
hundreds of these desperate Armenians and save them from the death
marches.
He had a special passport to enter these death stations and give help
to the Armenians, which permit he utilized to the fullest. Giving up
sleep, he listened for the sounds of the trains and headed to the
stations. He went through the wagons and picked up the children,
young girls and young men and brought them into town.
>From a testimony of Rahel Megerdichian: Rev. Eskijian would also go to
Karlik at night, picking up Armenian orphans, bringing them to his
home under his coat. Mrs.
Eskijian washed, clothed and fed them. He had agents who helped many
Armenians to escape from Karlik, personally making a trip there to
save Mrs. Megerdichian’s brother.[iii]
Rev. Eskijian obtained financial assistance, which was transmitted to
the needy, from different sources, including the American Embassy in
Aleppo. He found employment for many boys, girls and young women as
servants in different Arab families. He found employment for many
young Armenians with the German Railroad Company, opening tunnels for
the Berlin-Baghdad railway. He sent quinine and financial assistance
to Armenian refugees.[iv]
He corresponded with the Mr. Jesse Jackson, the charge de affairs of
the American Embassy to alleviate the suffering to the Armenians and
tell the world. Soon after that came organized relief…thousands and
thousands of lives were saved by his letter relief work.[v] The
stories of his efforts and those with whom he labored, probably could
fill volumes.
During the months when Protestant Armenians were immune from
deportation, Rev. Eskijian used that opportunity to its fullest
capacity. (He would go through the trains passing through Aleppo, and
pick up the children, young women and men–whether Protestant or
non-Protestant and bring them into town.[vi]
Then as now, the Christian Armenians had the opportunity to convert to
Islam. As he said in one of his messages to his church as the dark
clouds of war and Genocide fell on Aleppo: “Dear friends, be
courageous. Let us die, but let no one deny his Lord. This honorable
opportunity does not come to us often. I myself am ready for the
gallows.”[vii] He died the day before he was to be publicly hanged by
the Turks for his activities. He had been warned several times by
Turkish authorities to stop his humanitarian mission regarding
incoming Armenian refugees. But he challenged that brutal order
according to Bible truth: Obey God rather than men. Acts 5:29.[viii]
At the time of this writing, the same spiritual and political forces
that operated to destroy the Armenian people and other Christians in
Turkey one hundred years ago, are at work to annihilate Christians in
the Middle East, Pakistan, the Sudan, Nigeria, Kenya, Indonesia, among
other places, and in the same brutal manner. Christians, and others,
are beheaded, crucified, abducted, enslaved, raped, murdered, and
tortured, forced to convert to Islam, and a refugee population is
created again. There is nothing new under the sun.
In 2014 alone the Der Zor memorial to the Armenian Genocide in Syria,
an area where hundreds of thousands died, was destroyed by the Islamic
State (ISIS). Churches and ancient manuscripts have been destroyed and
burned in Syria, Iraq, and other places, crosses broken, graves
destroyed. Grandfather’s grave in Aleppo was desecrated three times
that I know of in the past. The first church Rev. Eskijian started to
build as a pastor in the village of Ekiz-oluk (which my father
completed) was bombed by the Al Nusra front — an Al Qaeda
faction. The city of Kessab, an Armenian enclave where he started
ministry over 100 years ago, was emptied of Armenians in 2014.
Aleppo, where Rev. Eskijian served, has become a war zone. Lately, in
corresponding by email with a pastor in Syria, he reported nearby
bombings, blown out windows, shortages, lack of food and water and
electricity and terror. His quote, `we are living in the stone age.’
And this is just a small picture of what is happening on a massive
scale and history repeating itself.
The Genocide caused the death of 1.5 million Armenians, the dispersion
of hundreds of thousands, including my father, grandmother, his
brother, and several relatives both from my mother’s and father’s side
of the family, the creation of over a hundred thousand orphans, many
experiencing terrible fates, and a world of heinous crimes. I heard
stories from my youngest years about miraculous escapes and
tragedies. My cousin’s grandfather was burnt alive in a church with
other ministers, and her other grandfather was burnt alive in a
building. Another cousin’s grandmother refused to convert to Islam and
her children died of starvation.
My sister-in-law’s father and aunt miraculously escaped death, two
young children in the Syrian desert. My great grandmother escaped the
City of Van, where the Turks were exterminating the Armenians with her
son on her back walking into Russia. The Turks came three times to
kill my young father and his remaining family. It wasn’t just a few
Armenians that had these stories; nearly every Armenian family had
such stories. These narratives had impact on my view of life, as well
as my siblings. We learned that life is serious and that massive pain
can be inflicted, that our forefathers suffered greatly, and to be
thankful for our safe, free and prosperous lives in the United States,
using the opportunity to help others.
However, we also learned of the triumph of Rev. Eskijian’s life in
Christ, and the many who served with him in his underground efforts,
in the middle of suffering and under great pressure. John Minassian,
his young assistant, estimated that thousands of Armenians were saved
from death by his efforts, and the efforts of those who joined him in
this endeavor.
Several years ago and two generations later, I attended a conference
as a pastor for my church. There were leaders from all over the world,
including a Turkish minister. I was curious about this man, such an
anomaly, a Turkish convert from Islam now a minister, and prayed that
I could meet him. I wanted to tell him what had happened to the
Armenian people, see his response to the horrible crimes against
humanity committed by his country and people, but also see what common
ground we had in Christ.
One morning I had an opportunity to meet him. I went to him and
explained how my grandfather, Rev. Hovhannes Eskijian had served his
people in Aleppo, that he perished during the Armenian Genocide, the
unfolding tragedy that he and others, tried to alleviate, that my
family knew of many people who had died or whose lives were disrupted
by this horrific event. Unexpectedly, I began to weep. At that point
the pastor did what the prophets of old did in scripture, he repented
with a true heart on behalf of the Turkish people, standing in the
gap, and he did, as a brother in Christ would do, embraced me in his
arms.
Perhaps such an event many years after the Genocide is a foretaste of
the only way, I believe, there will be conclusion of this sad and
terrible history, a God conclusion, not a man conclusion. As all
Armenians, I personally feel grief and anger, and want to see
admission of guilt by the Turkish government, justice and restitution
on earth. I have no right to forgive on behalf of those who perished
and suffered. But by standing in the gap as a Christian there is a
resolution. Someday God will settle all scores on earth at the great
white throne judgment, and someday He promises to wipe away all
tears-no looking back. Right now it is our job to pray for and assist
our brothers and sisters. I think this is how Rev. Eskijian would have
viewed it.
The author may be reached at [email protected]
[i] Website of the Armenian Genocide Museum Institute, National
Academy of Sciences, Republic of Armenia
[ii] Garabed Keverian, Tchanasser, No. 24, 1951
[iii] Testimony of Rahel Megerdichian. Her husband Dr. Samuel
Megerdichian of Kessab, was a classmate of Rev. Eskijian in Central
Turkey College.
[iv] Keverian, Tchanasser.
[v] From an article written by John Minassian on the 10th anniversary
of Rev. Eskijian’s death. Mr.
Minassian’s life was saved through the efforts of Rev. Eskijian.
[vi] Rev. E. Elmajian testimonial.
[vii] Letter of Mrs. Yvenigi Jebijian, March 15, 1953, Aleppo, Syria.
[viii] The statement of the policeman is taken from a letter of
Mrs. Rahel Megerdichian, dated January 20, 1959.
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/04/the_armenian_genocide_and_the_middle_east_today_.html