Turkey to Lebanon walk to remember Armenian Genocide
15:10, 06 Jan 2015
Vartan Melkonian is one of the conductors of Britain’s Royal
Philharmonic Orchestra. A century ago, his ancestors lived in Mus,
eastern Turkey, until the day Ottoman rulers made a decision to
“deport” Armenians.
Melkonian and his daughter Veronica will be in Turkey in February for
their “Walking for Armenia” project — a 1,000-kilometer (621-mile)
march they plan to start in Van, eastern Turkey, and complete at the
Birds’ Nest Orphanage in the Lebanese capital, Beirut. The Syrian
stretch of the route poses a serious risk for the Melkonians, but they
are determined to walk it despite the threat of war and the Islamic
State (IS), Al-Monitor reports.
In an interview with Radikal Vartan Melkonian speaks about the march
he and his daughter will make from Turkey to Lebanon to commemorate
ancestors who perished in the Armenian genocide.
Radikal: How did you come up with the “Walking for Armenia” project?
Was it your or your daughter’s idea?
Melkonian: It was my daughter’s idea. She suggested we walk the same
distance in the footsteps of our ancestors to commemorate the 100th
anniversary of the Armenian genocide. Just as our ancestors did.
Radikal: Don’t you have security concerns? Don’t you feel any anxiety
over the assassination of Agos editor-in-chief Hrant Dink in Istanbul
in 2007 and the 2008 murder of [Italian activist] Pippa Bacca who had
come to Turkey with her “Peace Bride” project?
Melkonian: I’m aware of the murders of both Hrant Dink and Pippa
Bacca. Those are very sad incidents. But when my daughter first
proposed this idea a year ago, she had no security concern. Being a
university student, she is aware she is leaving a safe life behind in
Britain for this project.
Radikal: But the danger today is not limited to Turkey. The war in
Syria is going on and there is the threat of IS.
Melkonian: The circumstances were different when she first came up
with the project. Naturally, the reports of people being kidnapped,
beheaded and raped are not part of her daily life. Today the region
has become polarized.
Radikal: Are you going to stick to this route in February?
Melkonian: That’s our plan.
Radikal: According to your road map, you will enter Syria from
Kobani. Are you going to change your plan in line with the latest
situation?
Melkonian: When we started the project IS was not there. We are not
planning to change our route at this stage.
Radikal: What reactions do you think a project evoking the genocide
on its 100th anniversary will generate in Turkey?
Melkonian: I think that all peoples, everybody, should be prepared
for such projects. This project will be a modest and graceful way to
remember our loved ones. My daughter and I will be only remembering
our ancestors.
Radikal: What are the initial reactions? Have people contacted you
through your website?
Melkonian: All in all this is an individual effort. Our sole purpose
is to commemorate family members who died 100 years ago without
leaving a trace. We have been flooded with messages of support from
all over the world. And we are grateful to all of them.
Radikal: The Catholicos of Cilicia, Aram I, also lent support to your project.
Melkonian: Yes, he did. But he is worried about the security
conditions of our march. Still, he conveyed a message to the world in
the letter he wrote us. We have posted it on our website,
He says in his message that our project is
an important initiative that will remind the world that the genocide
perpetrated against the Armenians by the Ottoman-Turkish government
must never ever happen again.
Radikal: Are you going to make any statements or convey any messages
during the march?
Melkonian: I won’t have any political, religious or philosophical
messages to convey. I will be only walking with questions still
burning inside me. What happened to my ancestors 100 years ago? Why
did my parents lose their family at a very early age and live in an
orphanage away from their homeland, away from home?
Radikal: Why did you choose Van as the starting point for the march?
Why not Erzurum, Harput or Diyarbakir, which is closer to the border?
Where were you ancestors from?
Melkonian: We chose Van for practical reasons. My family members were
not born in Van. They were born in Mus, the hometown of Vartan
Mamigonian, an important historical figure for Armenians. Anyway, our
purpose is to trace the route of 100 years ago.
Radikal: What stories are left for you from 1915?
Melkonian: I know nothing about my grandmothers and grandfathers,
neither their names nor their ages in 1915, nothing. … I’ve listened
to very few memories from my father about his parents. He remembered
large gardens and houses. He was only 6 at the time, though he was the
family’s eldest child. His only memory of his parents was the last
time he saw them, surrounded by soldiers.
Radikal: Your route ends at the Birds’ Nest orphanage in Beirut where
you grew up.
Melkonian: My parents got married in a refugee camp in Beirut. My
mother died when I was 4. That’s why I was sent to the Birds’ Nest
orphanage [run by] Danish missionaries. One of the people in the
orphanage, Maria Jacobsen, had witnessed the aftermath of the
massacres in 1915. That’s the reason why we’ll end the march at the
orphanage, my home, the only home I’ve known.
Radikal: What does Turkey and Eastern Anatolia mean to you today?
Melkonian: For me, Eastern Anatolia is a mournful land. I am moved at
any mention of it. After all, Mus, a part of Greater Armenia, was the
homeland of my ancestors.
Radikal: Lastly, what is your message to Turkey and its people?
Melkonian: Just as the good things your family could have done in the
past doesn’t make you a good person, the bad things they could have
done doesn’t make you a bad one. But the denial of historic facts is
something to have a negative impact on you and torment your soul.
http://www.armradio.am/en/2015/01/06/turkey-to-lebanon-walk-to-remember-armenian-genocide/
www.walkingforarmenia.com.