Armenian Missionary Association of America
Louisa Janbazian PR/Communications Coordinator
31 West Century Road
Paramus, NJ 07652
Cell: 201.745.7496
Launching of the English Translation of Hrant Guzelian’s Book
The Youth Home of Istanbul: A Story of the Remnants’
By Elzie Kalfayan
GLENDALE, April 7, 2015 – The Youth Home of Istanbul: A Story of the
Remnants’ Homecoming release in English on the cusp of the Armenian
Genocide Centennial fittingly honors author Hrant Guzelian’s battle
against the last stages of Genocide. Guzelian rescued hundreds of
Armenian youth decades after the genocide, including a young protégé
Hrant Dink, who became a fearless journalist in Turkey.
The book’s publication by the Armenian Missionary Association of
America (AMAA) was made possible by a donation from Dr. H Steven and
Julie Aharonian and Dr. Vicken and Sossy Aharonian, in loving memory
of their father Rev. Dr. Hovhannes Aharonian, who was a staunch
supporter of Hrant Guzelian’s mission and Godfather to the name `Youth
Home of Istanbul.’
`Reading this book in 2007, I was convinced that there was an
obligation to share it beyond an Armenian readership,’ said Zaven
Khanjian, Executive Director/CEO of the AMAA. `Scholars and historians
should read Guzelian’s eye-witness account of cultural destruction in
the countryside of Western Armenia, encounters with inhumane Turkish
officials bent on denial and oppression, and conviction and action in
countering an existential threat.’
The Joint Armenian Genocide Centennial Committee of the AMAA and the
Armenian Evangelical Union of North American launched the English
translation of the book in a program attended by close to 200 people,
held at The Armenian Society of Los Angeles April 7. Hasmig Baran,
Ed.D., served as the Mistress of Ceremonies.
The program’s speakers stressed three themes: ACT, PACT, and
IMPACT. ACT, covered by Edwin Minassian, Esq., Chair of the Istanbul
Armenians Board of Trustees and Executive Board Member of the Armenian
Bar Association, set the scene for Guzelian’s work. Turkey in the
1940s and 50s oppressed minorities with high taxes, property seizures,
and police state surveillance. `Right after pogroms targeting
Armenians and Greeks in the mid-50s, Guzelian launched his mission,
despite the environment. He had resolve, and strong faith that his
mission was essential. He knew that this was an existential struggle.’
Minassian noted, `There’s a lot in the book about how Guzelian dealt
with his arrest in 1980, and about Hrant Dink.’
PACT, explained by Rev. Vatche Ekmekjian, AEUNA representative on the
Syrian Armenian Relief Fund and Member of the AEUNA Armenian Heritage
Committee, describes an interaction between two parties. `Hrant
Guzelian entered a pact of grace with God. He knew he was the weaker
party, and faith is the most elemental aspect of this kind of
pact. Guzelian countered the `Turkification’ of Armenian youth; he was
fighting against the forcible transfer of children away from their
ethnic identity [defined in Article 2 of the Geneva Convention as a
genocidal act]. He went to search for the lost and the hopeless,
paralleling the gospel story.’
Ekmekjian told the audience that his short encounter with Guzelian, in
Yerevan in 2006, had `a magnificent psychological and emotional impact
on me. Even before my encounter with him, my reading of his book in
Armenian was a blessing, and I had encountered many people who had
been blessed and served by his ministry.’
Zaven Khanjian summarized Guzelian’s IMPACT. He recited a passage in the
memoir:
`The state has been unfair, evil, oppressive, unfeeling and
biased. Envying our mores, instead of following with virtuous
jealousy, learning and attaining high level, the Turk wanted to
annihilate us, usurping, appropriating, insulting, and depriving us of
our most basic rights, the language, the faith, the culture=85I
thought, what can I do in some measure to do my share and be useful to
the remnants of my nation?’
`Useful, he was!’ said Khanjian. `The impact this man had was
tremendous, not only on the life of a few thousand Armenian youngsters
who passed through the gates of The Youth Home of Istanbul, but on
Turkish society and politics, the reverberations of which will
continue for times unknown.’
Khanjian noted that Guzelian took Hrant Dink, whose parents were
divorced and whose father’s whereabouts were unknown, into the Gedik
Pasha Armenian Evangelical School’s Youth Home of Istanbul at the age
of seven. For twenty years, 1961-1981, Dink was under the patronage of
Guzelian, and for five additional years, he carried the torch of the
church and the mission. Dink became editor-in-chief of the bilingual
Turkish-Armenian newspaper Agos;
advocated for human and minority rights in Turkey; and criticized
Turkey’s denial of the Armenian Genocide. His assassination in 2007 in
Istanbul outraged many Turkish citizens, caused widespread protests,
and brought world-wide attention to continuing persecution of
minorities in Turkey.
Of the book, Khanjian noted, `Narrated by Guzelian in simple language
and a humble Christian spirit, it is not literary nor is it written in
glowing style.’ These limitations are more than balanced out by the
power of Guzelian’s memories. He captures the Catch-22 tenor of
confrontations with intolerant officials, inspires the reader with
frequent references to scripture as his primary guide to action, and
shows great insight on ways to `fly under the radar’ in a hostile
political environment.
The AMAA was a long-standing supporter of The Youth Home of Istanbul,
and in the book Guzelian credits its leaders, as well as leaders of
the Union of the Armenian Evangelical Churches in the Near East, for
their faithful and generous support of the Home and of the summer camp
he established in Tuzla.
The Joint Armenian Genocide Centennial Committee celebrates the life
and work of a worthy, unsung Armenian Evangelical hero with the
publication of this book in English and has succeeded in bringing the
story of his fight against the genocidal crimes of Turkey to the
attention of the world.