AUTHOR PAYS TRIBUTE TO RESCUERS OF ARMENIANS DURING THE GENOCIDE OF WORLD WAR I
The Republican By Anne-Gerard Flynn
Published: Wednesday, May 30, 2012, 2:00 PM
Updated: Friday, June 01, 2012, 2:17 PM
The genocide of Armenians is one of history’s horrors. The slaughter
of 1.5 million of them during World War I was orchestrated to empower
a declining Ottoman empire by murdering all non-Muslims.
Its start is observed as April 24, 1915 when hundreds of Armenian
intellectuals were arrested and later executed.
Armenians in the military were disarmed and forced into labor
battalions. Many were executed in mass graves. Women were kidnapped
from their homes and raped; families marched across desert terrain
to concentration camps. Many died from starvation.
The man who would coin the word “genocide” investigated what was
done to the Armenians, and Hitler emboldened his generals and their
extermination campaign against those not part of his master race with
the words: “Who today remembers the annihilation of the Armenians?”
Turkey has yet to acknowledge the extent of what was done during
World War I, though its own courts held the Young Turk government
responsible. France recognizes the mass murders as genocide, unlike
the United States, and has been debating legislation that would makes
its denial a punishable crime.
Recently, Maryland Democratic Congressman John Sarbanes made remarks
in support of formal U.S. recognition of the Armenian Genocide. The
U.S. has backed away from this in recent years, regarding Turkey as
an ally in the Middle East.
In 2002, the now closed Hatikvah Holocaust Education Center in
Springfield hosted the traveling exhibit, “The Armenians: Shadows of
a Forgotten Genocide,” assembled in part by the Armenian Library and
Museum of America in Watertown.
The Armenian Genocide will be the topic of a talk free to the public
on June 3 from 12 to 2:30 p.m. at T. Neshan Omartian Hall of St. Mark
Armenian Church, 2427 Wilbraham Road, Springfield.
A free buffet, featuring a variety of dishes including lamb kebab and
rice pilaf, organized by parishioner Ramela Abramian, of Springfield,
will be served at 12:15 p.m. There will also be a selection of homemade
Armenian desserts.
Hosted by the church, which has its own memorial stone to those who
died in the genocide, the presentation at 1 p.m. by Shahkey Yaylaian
Setian deals with a little discussed aspect of that genocide – Turks
who put their lives at risk to rescue Armenians.
Setian, 79, is the daughter of genocide survivors. She grew up in
Whitinsville and Indian Orchard, speaking Armenian as her first
language. She moved to Wilbraham after her marriage and now makes
her home on Cape Cod.
She holds a doctorate in education from the University of
Massachusetts-Amherst, and is author of the book, “Humanity In The
Midst of Inhumanity,” a collection of interviews with Armenians who
were rescued by Turks. Her book is available on amazon.com, and signed
copies are available by emailing [email protected]
A mother, grandmother and life-long educator, she was asked to share
her interest in publishing the book, her Armenian heritage and the
importance of international recognition as genocide of what was done
to three-quarters of the Armenian population at the time.
She was also asked about Nagorno-Karabakh, where a bloody war was
fought betweem 1991 and 1994 between Azerbaijani troops and Armenian
secessionists. A truce left Nagorno-Karabakh, which lies in Azerbaijan
but regards itself as an independent state, in the hands of ethnic
Armenians but a permanent peace has yet to be brokered.
Q. Why a book about Muslims who rescued Christian Armenians?
A combination of my religious beliefs and being the daughter of
genocide survivors. My belief as a Unitarian Universalist calls us
to covenant together to affirm and promote the inherent dignity and
worth of individuals.
I could not ignore the unjust prejudice against Muslims worldwide. I
knew there were Muslims who saved Armenian lives despite the penalty
of death imposed by the government for the Muslim and his family who
helped Armenians during the genocide.
Q. How did you find people to interview and can you name a few?
I advertised in Armenian-American newspapers for descendants of
survivors who had any stories told by survivors who were saved by
Muslims. Sixteen stories are included in the book with some photos.
One is the story of Azniv whose family was pulled out of a deportation
march – the euphemism for a death march through the desert of Der
el Zor – just as the march started by a Turkish commander and his
son-in-law.
There is also the family story of Harry Arzouman, of Glendale, Calif.,
whose father was saved by a Turkish neighbor, Dae-Oghloo Nuri Bey,
who at great risk to himself and his family hid Arzouman’s father in
his house and later helped him escape.
Lufti Efendi, a high ranking Muslim in the military, hid in his house
and saved 25 to 30 of his neighbors.
Q. Were you able to interview any of the rescuers as to why they put
their own lives at risk?
Unfortunately, we have no access to those Muslims who helped, only
the stories told to descendants of survivors.
Q. Who does the man on the cover of your book represent?
The man on the cover represents a Muslim with a tear running down
his cheek inspired by an excerpt in my book: “Sympathetic Muslims
disapproved of the treatment of the Christians in their midst, not
even trying to hide their tears as they saw them being beaten by
soldiers as they marched them through a town.” The background of the
cover is a map of the deportation route.
Q. What happened to your parents during the genocide?
My mother, Akaby Ajemian KenderianYaylaian, and her little brother
were in a drugstore when a servant from their home rushed in and said:
“Don’t send the children home. The family is being rounded up for
deportation.” Her large family all died on the death march. She and
her brother were whisked away to Marseille, France.
As for my father, Mourad Yaylaian, the people in his village of Prapert
were rounded up in front of the village church. My father’s young
fiance was shot before his eyes. My father was taken by a Turk who
said, “Don’t kill him. He looks strong and can work on my farm.” My
father escaped from that farm after being severely abused for a year.
He was taken in by a Turkish family and worked their farm. They were
good to him. He called one of the women, “Aunt.” Later he had to leave
because the authorities were searching for young boys. He joined a
group of young boys who were also hiding from the authorities. They
traveled at night, hiding in caves and abandoned buildings until they
managed to reach Le Havre, France.
My father came to Whitinsville, where he heard he could get a job in
the mills like his compatriots, which he did. My mother lived there
with her first husband who later died of tuberculosis.
What is your own interpretation of the Armenian Genocide and will
Turkey ever acknowledge it as genocide?
The main reason for the genocide was that the Ottoman Empire had
experienced dire economic and territorial losses and needed a scapegoat
to blame. The Armenians became that scapegoat, fueled by malicious
propaganda by the government to incite the Muslim citizens.
The government had a goal of “Turkey for Turks only.”
They spread rumors that Armenians were terrorists who aimed to
destroy the Ottoman Government and the Muslim citizenry. The Koran
commands war only in self-defense, so Muslims fought for what they
were told was self-defense (not to minimize killings by Christian
haters, those jealousy of successful Armenians or other mob-mentality
reasons.) Greeks, Assyrians and Jews were also tortured and murdered
because they were not Muslims.
I do not expect Turkey to acknowledge that they were responsible for
the genocide because they would then be liable for reparations and
restitution. I would like the case of the Armenian Genocide to be
adjudicated by an International Court of Crimes against Humanity.
I would also like the world to know that today the United States
government will not use the word genocide to describe what happened
as they did in the document that they filed dated May 28, 1951 with
the International Court of Justice. Also, the U.S. Congress adopted
Resolutions 247 and 148 in 1975 and 1984, respectively, to commemorate
the Armenian Genocide.
My life-long goal is to debunk Turkey’s denial that the genocide
occurred. There is irrefutable evidence that Turkey is responsible
for the genocide.
It is telling that on June 18, 1987, the European Parliament’s
resolution “On a Political Solution to the Armenian Question” reported
the following: “The Young Turk government is guilty of this genocide,
with regard to the acts perpetrated between 1915 and 1917 .
. . and that crime of genocide is not subject to statuary
limitations.” It further states “the Turkish state must assume
responsibility, without using the pretext of any discontinuity in
the existence of the state to elude that responsibility.”
Q. What do you and others celebrate about your heritage?
As a people whose history of genocide saw the destruction of their
culture and their homeland being given over to the perpetrators of
that genocide, the hallmark of being Armenian is keeping our culture
alive in the diaspora. The Armenian Church is central to keeping the
culture alive.
In 1998, I lived for one year as an independent volunteer in Nagorno
Kharabakh, a small Armenian enclave bordering Azerbaijan. The enclave’s
war torn buildings were mostly not repaired because Azerbaijan had
placed a blockade whereby they couldn’t get supplies in.
I lived with the people of Artsakh (their reclaimed ancient Armenian
name) and learned of their strength and love of country. I learned
to know them and love them. The situation with Azerbaijan is, in my
opinion, a continuation of the Armenian Genocide.
Related links:
The Aremnian Genocide Museum-Institute,
Armenian Genocide of 1915: An Overview,
Frequently asked questions about the Armenian Genocide,
Regions and Territories: Nagorno Kharabakh,
The Armenian Library and Museum of American,
Related topics: Armenian Genocide, Humanity in The Midst of
Inhumanity., living, Shahkey Yaylaian Setian
http://www.masslive.com/living/index.ssf/2012/05/author_pays_tribute_to_rescuers_of_armenians_during_the_genocide_of_world_war_1.html
http://www.genocide-museum.am/eng/online_exhibition_2.php
http://www.nytimes.com/ref/timestopics/topics_armeniangenocide.html
http://www.armenian-genocide.org/genocidefaq.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/country_profiles/3658938.stm
http://www.almainc.org/