ARMENIAN GENOCIDE SURVIVOR PASSES AWAY AT 106

NewsBlaze
March 19 2008
CA

106-year old Hayganoush Markarian was one of last two known Bay
Area survivors

Hayganoush Markarian, one of only two known remaining survivors of
the 1915 Armenian Genocide living in the Bay Area, passed away at
the age of 106 on March 13.

Last October, Markarian’s story of survival was presented by Rep.

Lynn Woolsey to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs during a hearing
regarding a resolution officially recognizing the Armenian Genocide by
Congress. Rep. Woolsey showed committee members Markarian’s photograph
and urged her colleagues to pass the resolution. The resolution passed
in committee and awaits a vote by the full House of Representatives.

Markarian was born Hayganoush Azarian on January 24, 1902 in the city
of Kharpert in current-day eastern Turkey. The area was the historic
homeland of Armenians until the Ottoman Turkish government began a
systematic campaign to exterminate the Armenian population in 1915,
which culminated in the death of 1.5 million Armenian men, women and
children through massacres and forced deportations.

In Kharpert, Markarian lived with her parents, older brother,
and four sisters. When the Turkish government began the Armenian
Genocide, first through the conscription of Armenian men and boys
into special army units, Markarian’s brother and father fled into
hiding. Her brother, Karekin, dressed as a girl in order to safely
cross dangerous areas. He made his way to Russia, then Sweden,
and finally to the United States. Her father, Minas, who had been
a successful businessman, hid among some of his Kurdish clients,
moving from residence to residence to avoid detection. Meanwhile,
Markarian’s mother found a way to keep the rest of the family together
in Kharpert during the mass deportations, avoiding massacre until
the end of WWI when they were reunited with Markarian’s father.

Unfortunately, Minas suffered an early death as the result of the
difficult conditions he had faced hiding in water wells for long
periods of time.

In 1923, Markarian’s mother moved the family to Aleppo, Syria, where
Hayganoush married Markar Markarian in 1925. They remained in Aleppo,
raising five children, until 1956 when the entire family moved to
Lebanon. In the meantime, their eldest son, Armen, migrated to the
United States to pursue an education, and remained in America to
teach. In 1969, the rest of the Markarian family followed Armen to
the United States.

In both Syria and Lebanon, Markarian was an active member of the
Armenian Relief Society, the oldest Armenian women’s organization
operating in the world. The organization was established in 1910
in New York City to provide humanitarian assistance to Armenians in
need. Markarian continued her membership until her death this week.

Hayganoush Markarian’s funeral will take place on Wednesday, March
19, at 11 am, at St. Gregory Armenian Apostolic Church in San
Francisco. She is survived by Armen and Victoria Markarian, Arsen
and Alice Gregorian, Zohrab and Elizabeth Markarian, Sinan and Seta
Yazejian, Constantine and Nayiri Bouboussis, and six grandchildren.