CHURCH THROWS SUPPORT BEHIND COUPLE FACING DEPORTATION
By Veronica Nett
The Charleston Gazette
Apr il 15 2009
WV
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Victims of war and target of ethnic cleansing,
Ivan and Violetta Petrosyan fled their native country of Azerbaijan
in the 1980s.
For nearly two decades, ethnic prejudice and violence continued to
follow the family until a South Charleston mission group led them to
settle in West Virginia in 2006.
"We couldn’t find a country [where] we belong," Violetta Petrosyan
said Tuesday. " We were harassed and treated wrongly. We had hoped
that in America that proclaims freedom and human rights, we might
get the chance to have a country where we belong."
The couple found what they had been seeking in Charleston, and soon
after arriving on a tourist visa in December 2006 they applied for
political asylum.
Today, an immigration judge in Washington, D.C., will decide whether
the couple can stay in the country that has become their home.
The couple will not face the judge alone. Sixty-nine members of the
First Church of the Nazarene in South Charleston will accompany them
to Washington and if selected will testify on behalf of the Petrosyans.
"The group that is going ranges from 8 years old to 82," said Jenny
Miller, executive assistant of the First Church of Nazarene.
"We have parents who are taking their children out of school that
just feel this experience is something they need to be a part of —
be a part of something that is so much greater themselves."
Ivan, 59, and Violetta, 50, are of Armenian decent. The couple and
their two daughters were born in Azerbaijan, the country bordering
Armenia. Ivan worked as an engineer and Violetta as a teacher.
They were born the "wrong race" in the "wrong country," Miller said.
Even in Azerbaijan, where they made their home, they endured
discrimination because of their race. They remained in the country
until racial tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan escalated in
1988 and the Nagorno-Karabakh War broke out.
Thousands of people were murdered because of their race and about
300,000 Armenians fled the country.
The couple and their daughters, ages 4 and 7, lived in hiding for 13
months before fleeing the country in 1989.
"We waited another year because we loved the country… We just enjoyed
our life even though we were always second-rate people," Petrosyan
said. "[Despite] all of that, it was still our home country. We
couldn’t even imagine leaving. We waited and waited hoping the war
would stop."
It didn’t and the family was forced to flee with just the clothes on
their backs and what little they could fit in backpacks.
After the family fled, a mob ransacked their home and burned their
books and furniture.
"When you’re running, you’re running," Petrosyan said. "We only
left with backpacks. Everything we gained in our happy life there we
left there."
The family fled to Russia, then Ukraine, and even to their home country
of Armenia, but were not welcomed and continued to face discrimination
and racial prejudice.
"We tried to go to Armenia, because it’s our native country," Petrosyan
said. "The Armenians did not believe that we were Armenian anymore. We
had lived in Azerbaijan too long. [They said] we had lived with the
Turkish too long.
"We stayed eight days, and that was enough for us," she said. "We
realized we would never be accepted."
Eventually, the family settled in Volgograd, Russia, and remained
there for 16 years, despite continued racial prejudice.
"The same problems started again. No proper lodging, no jobs, no
money and the people being very hostile because we were ‘black,’"
Petrosyan said.
While living in Volgograd, the family met a group of missionaries from
the First Church of the Nazarene in South Charleston in 1999. The group
helped to build the family’s home and established a relationship that
would span nearly a decade.
The family remained in Russia until 2006 when they again became the
subject of racial oppression.
"Every year the situation would get worse and worse," she said.
In 2006, the Russian government seized their property and once again
their lives were in jeopardy.
They had the opportunity to travel, legally, to the U.S. in December
2006 to visit their daughter, who was living in South Charleston on
a student visa.
"We are just amazed of all the places in the whole world they could
be, they’ve ended up here," Miller said. "We’re very grateful that
God lead them here."
The couple’s daughters are now married and live in Denmark.
Since settling in South Charleston three years ago, they have been
working at the University of Charleston in food service.
Today, the immigration judge will decide whether to grant the couple
full political asylum, which will allow them to apply for a green
card and eventually citizenship. The judge also can rule to not
grant asylum and allow the couple to remain in the country, but they
could not apply for citizenship or leave the country without facing
permanent deportation.
"The third and final option, which be the worst case scenario would
be deportation," Miller said.
The chance that the judge will grant them political asylum is about
one in 100, Miller said.
"We have tremendous faith.’" she said.
Today’s hearing is scheduled for 1 p.m. The group will depart from
the South Charleston church at 2 a.m. to make the trip to Washington.
If their request for political asylum is rejected, Petrosyan said
they will begin to prepare to move to Denmark with their daughters
and begin the process again to apply for political asylum.
"They have not been able to find freedom everywhere else," Miller
said. "They have been willing to risk everything for a chance to
enjoy the freedom that Americans have."