IN REMEMBRANCE OF A MILLION WHO PERISHED
By Waveney Ann Moore
St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
April 24, 2007 Tuesday
Survivors’ lives and writings recounted the horror endured by those
caught in the Armenian Genocide.
The women chatted around the dining table, each a witness to her
family’s suffering, a genocide mostly unknown around the world and
vigorously denied by the nation blamed for it.
Mary Enkababian, 86, illustrated her late husband’s story with
sepia-toned photographs and an autobiography he had written. The late
Antranik A. Enkababian was one of only three people in a large family
group photograph to have survived the World War I massacre that is
referred to as the first genocide of the 20th century.
On Sunday — in anticipation of today’s international observance of
Martyr’s Day – Armenians from around the Tampa Bay area gathered in
Pinellas Park to remember those who perished. The memorial service
at St. Hagop Armenian Church honored the 1-million to 1.5-million
men, women and children who died between 1915 and 1923. At the time,
Armenians, a Christian minority in a Muslim community, lived in what
is now eastern Turkey and in the southeastern part of the country,
now occupied principally by Kurds.
In 1915, say historians, the Central Committee of the Young Turk Party
of the Ottoman Empire deported thousands of Armenians, sending them
to starvation and death in the Syrian desert. Many were attacked and
killed and young women were raped and forced into harems or to marry
their abductors.
Sima Palakian and Martha Samuelian said their mother was one of the
many young women forced into marriage. The two Pinellas County women
didn’t find out the details of their mother’s experience until after
her death. She had been forced to marry a Kurdish man and had two
children with him. When she escaped, she was forced to leave the two
children behind.
"She was very sad all the time," recalled Samuelian, 79, a Palm
Harbor resident who only learned what had happened when she visited
an elderly uncle in France.
Her sister too was stunned. "It was unbelievable. It was like how did
Mom ever leave her children and come to America? She must have been a
very brave lady to do this. She wanted her freedom," said Palakian, 78.
In his autobiography, Enkababian’s husband told of his family’s
deportation from their home in north central Turkey in June 1915. His
father was killed, and during the difficult journey, his mother
decided to drown herself and her children in the Euphrates River.
Enkababian’s husband, only 6 at the time, told his mother he didn’t
want to die. "Before dawn, " he wrote, "my mother took my brother and
my sister to the river. As I watched, the heartless waves of water
swept away my 2 -1/2-year-old sister, Araksy." He said his 4-year-old
brother and mother were saved by a Kurd who wanted money to rescue
them. When the family could produce none, his uncle was badly beaten.
Sitting with her friends Thursday in her On Top of the World apartment
in Clearwater, Mary Haydostian said only her mother and her mother’s
younger brother survived the genocide. At the time, said Haydostian,
75, her mother’s father was working for Ford in Michigan to save
money to bring his family to America. "Unfortunately, his wife and
six of his children, his brothers and his cousins died," she said.
During the deportation, Haydostian said her mother had to make
the most difficult decision of her life. With no food and water
and struggling to go on, she was advised to leave her baby girl in
front of an Armenian church in a strange village. The hope was that
someone would take pity on the little girl and care for her. Other
heartbroken mothers did the same. Unlike many survivors, Haydostian’s
mother would later talk about the horrors she experienced.
"She talked about it all the time. She said many of her friends could
not talk about it. She got solace talking about it," Haydostian said.
Like some other Armenian women, her mother would later marry an
Armenian already living in America. Haydostian said her mother
remarried in Cuba and arrived in America through Key West.
Stories such as these notwithstanding, the Armenian Genocide is a
controversial topic. The Turkish government’s position is that it
never happened and its laws forbid discussion of the topic, said
Rouben Adalian, director of the Armenian National Institute in
Washington, D.C.
The U.S. government recognizes that the atrocities occurred, but
current and previous administrations have stopped short of using
the term genocide, because of Turkey’s strategic importance, Adalian
said. In a report commissioned by the Turkish Armenian Reconciliation
Commission, the International Center for Transitional Justice also
labels the World War I occurrences genocide.
Starting in June, the Florida Holocaust Museum will host an exhibition
about the Armenian Genocide. "We really feel that it is important
to talk about other acts of hatred and other genocides, basically
for public awareness and obviously, as we say, over and over again,
to prevent it from happening again," said Erin Blankenship, curator
of exhibitions and collections at the museum.
Few survivors of the genocide remain to tell their story. Palakian
hopes future generations will continue to observe what is referred
to as Martyrs’ Day on Tuesday. "In my family, I know it will go on
with my granddaughter and grandson. I’m hoping and praying that other
grandchildren remember."
IF YOU GO
Exhibit
Bread Paintings by Apo Torosyan, a mixed media exhibit, runs June 2
through Sept. 16 at the Florida Holocaust Museum, 55 Fifth St. S, St.
Petersburg. Call (727) 820-0100 or visit
GRAPHIC: PHOTO, Ted McLaren – Times: Clearwater resident Mary
Haydostian, 75, said only her mother and her mother’s younger brother
survived the genocide. PHOTO, Ted McLaren – Times: Martha Samuelian,
Palakian’s sister, said their mom was "very sad all the time."
Samuelian didn’t learn about her mom’s past until after she died.
PHOTO, Ted McLaren – Times: Sima Palakian, 87, said her mother
was one of the many young women forced into marriage during the
Armenian Genocide during World War I. PHOTO: Photo courtesy of Mary
Haydostian: Only three members in this 1914 Enkababian family photo
escaped death during the World War I genocide, which continues to be
denied or minimized by many nations. Many who did live through it
only reluctantly recounted their experience. PHOTO, Ted McLaren –
Times: Mary Enkababian, 86, left, used family photos to illustrate
the autobiography written by her late husband, Antranik Enkababian,
one of the survivors.