“WE WON’T PUT OUR HANDS DOWN UNTIL TURKEY RECOGNIZES ARMENIAN GENOCIDE,” URFA ARMENIANS DECLARE

Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Sept 27 2005

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 27, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. On September
23-25, events dedicated to the 90th anniversary of Urfa heroic
struggle were held in Armenia on the initiative of RA National Academy
of Sciences and Urfa Compatriot Union. Urfa Armenians that arrived
from South America, the US, Lebanon, Syria on those days visited the
Tsitsernakaberd memorial complex to victims of Armenian Genocide,
Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, as well as participated in the
opening of the S.Astvatsatsin church founded by Mihran Safarian’s
family and the reservoir built by Vazgen Gasparian’s benefaction in
the settlement of Nor Yedesia of Aragatsotn region.

Urfa Compatriot Union was founded in 1975 in the US and Lebanon. As
Karpis Gazanchian, Chairman of Urfa Compatriot Union of US, noted
in his interview to Noyan Tapan’s correspondent, the Union also has
branches in Syria and South America.

Armenians lived in Urfa since ancient times. For centuries Urfa
has been a center of trade and communication. The trade of Turkey’s
internal provinces was carried out through Urfa. Before the First
World War the population of the town of Urfa was nearly 55 thousand
people. Armenians, Turks, Kurds, Arabs, Jews lived there. The number
of Armenians living in the town fluctuated from 12 to 20 thousand
people. They were engaged in small trade, crafts and agriculture.

There were three Armenian churches and three Armenian schools in the
town. In the period of Abdul Hamid’s reign the Urfa Armenians felt
the consequences of the destructive policy carried on by Turkey on
their back. In 1895 Urfa like other regions of the Ottoman Empire
populated with Armenians became a place of slaughter. Cruelly killing
many Armenians, the Turks robbed their property, destroyed their houses
and cultural centers. After 1895 a great migration of Armenians started
in the Ottoman Empire. But the Urfa Armenians didn’t abandon their
houses and managed to have the 1915 heroic struggle with joint efforts.

After the 1915 massacres the Urfa Armenians spread all over the
world, they also repatriated to Soviet Armenia where they founded the
settlement of Nor Yedesia. According to K.Gazanchian, by approximate
calculations, at present 15 thousand former residents of Urfa live in
different countries of the world, 3.5 thousand of them live in Lebanon.

K.Gazanchian noted that today Urfa Armenians living in Spyurk want to
make friends with the residents of the village of Yedesia, as well as
try to assist the village. “Nor Yedesia seems to be the native land
of our parents to us. We want our children to visit this settlement
frequently so that they will know their past and history as the more
they stick to their roots the more Armenian they will remain,” Karpis
Gazanchian mentioned.

Touching upon preservation of the Armenian nation, he mentioned
that the number of those speaking Armenian reduces year by year in
Spyurk, as well as marriages of Armenians with foreigners have become
frequent. “The new generation is assimilated with different nations
and we can’t oblige our children to marry only Armenians as starting
from school they mix with representatives of different nations.”

Speaking about the Armenian-Turkish relations, Mihran Safarian,
member of Urfa Compatriot Union of South America, gave assurance
that the Turkish government must condemn the Armenian Genocide: “We
demand justice. We won’t put our hands down until Turkey recognizes
the Armenian Genocide.”

According to M.Safarian, today Turkey spends enormous sums on
anti-propaganda and Turkish ambassadors and intellectuals try to
deny the crime committed by their grandfathers at the beginning of
the 20th century. “If there hasn’t been a genocide, from where have
the Armenians spread all over the world come? Nearly 2-3 thousand
Armenians lived in South America before 1915 and after 1915 their
number reached 200-300 thousand,” he highlighted.