LIU HONORS ARMENIAN GENOCIDE SURVIVORS

Western Queens Gazette, NY
May 18 2006

Arshalous Dadir received a City Council citation from Councilmember
John Liu. Dadir is a survivor of the Armenian Genocide of 1915.

City Councilmember John Liu hosted a commemoration of the Armenian
Genocide at the New York Armenian Home, 13731 45th Ave., Flushing,
on May 9. Liu specifically chose the date because May 9, “Victory
and Peace Day”, celebrates the end of World War ll in Europe and has
special significance for many Armenians.

Between 1915 and 1923, two million Armenians living in Turkey were
driven from their historic homeland through forced deportation or were
massacred. Currently, eight million Armenians live in communities
throughout the world where they were dispersed or to which they
immigrated, but only three million live in Armenia.

Liu presented four Genocide survivors, Israel Arabian, Ornorik Eminian,
Arshalous Dadir and Kristine Naldjian, with City Council Citations
in recognition of their courage and strength in the face of adversity:

+ Israel Arabian was born in Harpert in 1905. He was orphaned early
in life and raised by an older sister. During the Armenian Genocide,
his sister was captured and enslaved. Arabian escaped capture because
his sister screamed to him in Armenian to run away. He hid in a forest
and moved only at night. Eventually, he met other Armenian runaways
who were able to board a ship traveling to Greece, where Arabian was
placed in an orphanage.

Standing (l. to r.): Chuck Apelian, Community Board 7 vice chairman;
Liu; Robert G. Kallem, chairman, New York Armenian Home board of
directors; Aghavni “Aggie” Ellian, New York Armenian Home executive
director; seated l. to r.): Arshalous Dadir, Israel Arabian, Kristine
Naldjian and Onorik Eminian, all recipients of city Council citations
as 1915 Armenian Genocide survivors.

+ Ornorik Eminian was born in 1912. Her parents, sister, and two
brothers were killed in the Armenian Genocide. She was picked up by
the Red Cross and put in an orphanage in Turkey. Turkish soldiers
later came to the orphanage and took away all the teachers. All the
children were later transferred to Greece, where Eminian remained
until she came to the United States in 1930.

+ Arshalous Dadir was born in Shapenkaresar, Turkey. Her father was
murdered in the Armenian Genocide. Her uncle, her father’s brother, a
doctor, was one of 300 martyrs killed on April 24, 1915 when Armenian
leaders, including members of the Turkish parliament, were arrested
and murdered. The resulting lack of leadership was to have a profound
political and emotional effect on the survivors. The loss is felt
even today.

+ Kristine Naldjian was born in 1907 in the village of Boursa,
Turkey. Her entire family was murdered, but before her mother was
killed, she told Naldjian to hide. Naldjian passed out and woke to
find herself surrounded by dead bodies. She was taken in by a Turkish
couple who renamed her Fatima and kept her as a slave for many years.

When she was a teenager, she went to the market one day and met some
friends from Boursa who helped her to escape.

“The lives of the four honorees are a testimony to the triumph of the
human spirit,” Liu declared. “All of them endured horrific loss of
family and country during what is often called ‘the first Holocaust of
the 20th century’. The four citizens we honor were able to rise above
the horrors of the Armenian [Genocide] and go on to lead admirable
and productive lives.”

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