RUNNING FROM TURKS
Javno.hr
enians-remember-the-massacres_277560
October 08, 2009 10:35h
A century later, Armenians remember the massacres
Noyemi Zhamkochian can still remember perching on her father’s
shoulders during the march as her family fled massacres of Armenians.
Nearly a century later, Noyemi Zhamkochian can still remember perching
on her father’s shoulders during the long, agonising march as her
family fled massacres of Armenians in eastern Anatolia.
As Armenia and Turkey prepare to sign Saturday protocols establishing
diplomatic relations, many Armenians like Zhamkochian still remain
passionate about what they consider to have been a genocide, indicating
real reconciliation is some time away.
Told by their Turkish neighbours to leave their homes or be killed,
Zhamkochian’s family packed a few belongings and fled with hundreds
of others from their hometown of Van toward what is now the ex-Soviet
republic of Armenia.
– With the other Armenians we travelled for so long, I don’t how many
days, but everyone was so tired, and so hungry – the 99-year-old said,
her voice clear and strong despite her years.
– Many could not survive and died on the road. We were afraid to
stop so we kept going, because we knew the Turks wanted to catch us –
she said.
When the bone-tired refugees finally arrived at the border and stopped
to rest, she said, many simply dropped dead of exhaustion. They were
buried in mass graves at the side of the road.
Tin BaniÄ~G-.–.-I am afraid, very afraid of the Turks
Today Zhamkochian lives in a sprawling home in the Armenian capital
Yerevan, surrounded by some of her six children and 47 grandchildren,
great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.
But though more than nine decades have passed, her fear of Turkey
remains as strong as when she was a girl.
Asked about ongoing efforts for Armenia and Turkey to finally establish
diplomatic ties and re-open their border after years of hostility,
Zhamkochian was aghast t be after what we went through – she said.
– The Turks cannot be our friends, it’s impossible to trust them. They
are bad neighbours, I do not want the border to open – she said.
Zhamkochian is hardly alone. Many Armenians have reacted warily to
the reconciliation efforts and insisted that Turkey should admit that
the massacres constituted genocide — as Armenians have long argued —
before Yerevan strikes any deal.
But the efforts have nonetheless gathered pace, with supporters saying
that opening the border will end Armenia’s long isolation and give
the country’s struggling economy a much-needed boost.
Historical fact of the Armenian genocide
Hayk Demoian, the director of the Armenian Genocide Museum in Yerevan,
said it’s hardly surprising that many Armenians harbour lingering
suspicions of Turkey.
– We have a very large psychological barrier, because genocide is
the ultimate crime, a crime that targets an entire nation – he said.
But Demoian is among those supporting the reconciliation efforts and
says that establishing ties and opening the border in no way calls
into question Armenia’s historical claims.
– No single Armenian could put under question the historical fact of
the Armenian genocide – he said.
Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kin were systematically
killed between 1915 and 1917 as the Ottoman Empire, the predecessor
of modern Turkey, was falling apart. Several countries, including
France and Canada, have recognised the massacres as genocide.
-.-Dz-rs.si-.-Armenia’s ruling coalition has backed the protocols on
establishing diplomatic ties
Turkey rejects the genocide label and argues that 300,000-500,000
Armenians and at least as many Turks died in civil strife when
Christian Armenians took up arms against their Ottoman rulers and
sided with invading Russian troops.
Turkey has refused to establish diplomatic relations with Yerevan
because of the debate and in 1993 also closed its border with Armenia
in solidarity with ally Azerbaijan over Yerevan’s backing of ethnic
Armenian sep ratists in the disputed Nagorny Karabakh region.
After months of talks, Armenia and Turkey announced in late August
they had agreed to present two protocols on establishing diplomatic
ties and developing bilateral relations to their respective parliaments
by mid-October for approval.
Turkish officials have said the protocols are to be signed by the two
countries’ foreign ministers in Switzerland on Saturday, but Armenia
has refused to confirm the meeting.
Despite some vocal opposition, Armenia’s ruling coalition has backed
the protocols, making their approval by the country’s parliament
almost a guarantee.
This has led some, especially among Armenia’s nine-million-strong
worldwide diaspora, to accuse the government of betraying the memories
of those killed during the massacres.
– If we recognise the existing border of Turkey as it stands right
now, couldn’t that be like saying we don’t recognise the genocide
ourselves? If we agree to it, then the whole thing is a sham
-Armenian-American Sona Jones said during a visit to a towering
memorial in Yerevan to the massacres.
http://www.javno.com/en-world/a-century-later-arm