SOUTH CHARLESTON COUPLE GRANTED POLITICAL ASYLUM
Veronica Nett
Charleston Gazette
April 16, 2009, Thursday
West Virginia
A South Charleston couple facing deportation has been granted a
request for political asylum.
Ivan and Violetta Petrosyan appeared Wednesday before an immigration
judge in Washington for their final hearing.
"They were told they did not have a chance," said Jenny Miller,
executive assistant of the First Church of Nazarene in South
Charleston.
But around 5 p.m., after a four-hour hearing, the judge granted their
request allowing Ivan, 59, and Violetta, 50, to apply for a green
card and eventually citizenship.
"They are just so humble and overcome with emotion," Miller said from
Washington. "They’re so very thankful … [it’s] so overwhelming they
will need a while for it to sink in."
About 70 members of the South Charleston church accompanied the couple
to Washington on Wednesday.
"They were astonished at the number of people," Miller said. "The
judge even commented on the tremendous amount of support. Our presence
truly was significant."
The victims of war and targets of ethnic cleansing, the Petrosyans
fled their native country of Azerbaijan in the 1980s.
For nearly two decades, ethnic prejudice and violence continued to
follow the family as they tried to make a home in Armenia, Ukraine
and Russia, until a mission group from the South Charleston church
led them to settle in West Virginia in 2006.
Only about one in 100 requests for political asylum are granted,
Miller said.
"Their attorney was able to convince the judge that, in fact, their
return to Russia would result in future persecution for them,"
she said.
Miller described the judge’s reading of his verdict as "an eruption
of joy."
"There was no holding back," she said. " Sixty-six people cheering
and shouting and crying and just rejoicing."
Ivan and Violetta 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
Tuesday.
Even in Azerbaijan, where they made their home, they endured
discrimination because of their ethnicity. 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 with just the clothes on
their backs and what little they could fit in backpacks.
The family fled to Russia, then Ukraine, and even to their homeland
of Armenia, but were not welcomed and continued to face discrimination
and racial prejudice.
Eventually, the family settled in Volgograd, Russia, and remained
there for 16 years, despite continued racial prejudice.
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.
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. Soon after arriving in the state they applied for
political asylum.
Kent Estep, pastor of the South Charleston church, testified on
behalf of the church about the couple’s character. Another member
of the church who met the family in Russia on the 1999 mission trip
testified about the racial prejudices he witnessed.
The Petrosyans were also questioned and cross-examined for several
hours, Miller said.
"We know that people in the community have taken a great interest in
this story and we appreciate everyone – it’s made all the difference,"
Miller said.
The government does have 30 days to appeal the decision.
"Personally, this is the most incredible thing I’ve been a part of,"
Miller said. "I’ve never been a part of something so significant and
so much bigger than myself."