The Decatur Daily, AL
April 1 2007

`Skylark Farm’ illustrates genocide of Armenians

By William S. Allen
Special to THE DAILY

This book has been compared to `Schindler’s List.’ In the sense that
both books contain descriptions of genocide, that is true. In other
ways, they are not at all alike. `Skylark Farm’ is more personal,
and, if you can believe it possible, more intense.

Antonia Arslan, an ethnic Armenian, has lived her entire life in
Italy and this novel was originally written in Italian. The
translator has done a wonderful job of capturing the melding of
Armenian and Italian word imagery and thought patterns.

Even the voice of the narrator, which at first seems overly
intrusive, soon becomes more like that of your favorite aunt telling
stories of the old days.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the Ottoman Empire was in
decline. It had become known as `The sick man of Europe.’ The
government, as is often the case, chose a scapegoat to divert
attention from its failings. Not for the first time, the scapegoats
were the Armenian citizens of Turkey. The Armenians had endured
violence and pillaging in the past, but had remained in the empire.
It was home.

In 1915, leaders of the empire began a new program, one of
`relocation.’ Armenian men and boys were rounded up and slaughtered.
Women, girls and the elderly were forced from their homes and sent on
long marches toward Syria with the false hope they would be safe
there. Thousands died on the way, many of starvation and exhaustion.

Kurdish bandits and the Turkish guards escorting the columns looted
the women’s belongings, practiced wholesale rape and killed
indiscriminately.

Story in two parts

In telling this story, Arslan has divided `Skylark Farm’ into two
main sections. In the first, the reader is introduced to Sempad, a
prosperous pharmacist, and his extended family. Sempad looks forward
to a planned visit by his brother, Yerwant, who left home forty years
earlier at the age of thirteen and has become a doctor in Italy.
Sempad spends much of his time making improvements to the family
homestead, Skylark Farm, in anticipation of this visit.

Like many Armenians of the time, Sempad chooses to downplay the
lessons of history. No one imagines the reality that they will soon
face. In vivid detail, the ending of part one reveals how wrong they
are.

The second section of the book describes the journey of the survivors
of Sempad’s family following the initial massacres.

Their goal is to escape to Italy and join Yerwant. Individual Turks,
Greeks and others assist the steadily dwindling family during their
ordeal and Arslan gives credit where it is due.

She does not engage in blanket condemnation of any group, although
the temptation to do so must surely have been great.

This is a novel, but one which is based on the real experiences of
members of the author’s family. It is well worth reading both for its
literary value and as a reminder that many peoples have suffered the
cruelties of genocide in the past. Sadly, that cruelty continues in
parts of the world today.