THESE GENOCIDE SURVIVORS OPPOSE BORDER OPENING
Grisha Balasanyan

2009/10/12 | 18:04

Farkha Hakobyan – "I’ll never go back to Turkey"

Farkha Hakobyan was born in the village of Sinan, located in the
Ottoman villayet of Diyarbekir, in 1908.

She doesn’t remember how old she was when she lost her mother. She
can’t even recall if her mother was murdered at the hands of the
marauding Turks or simply passed away. She only remembers that it
was her stepmom that raised her, her sister and brother. Farkha was
fourteen when she married another Armenian from Turkey. She and her
husband moved to Syria, leaving her brother back in Turkey. Along
the way, the Turks plundered their belongings and they arrived
empty-handed. They resided in Syria till 1966 and then repatriated
to Armenia, settling in the Sasounik village in Aragatzotn Marz. She
says that the village is mostly made up of people whose ancestors came
from that part of western Armenia and that she wanted to resettle in
such a community.

The 101 year-old woman doesn’t remember many things from the past. What
she will never forget, though, is that her sister committed suicide
rather than falling into the clutches of Kurdish tribesmen. She’ll
also never forget how the Turks carried away the young bride of her
husband’s brother. Grandma Farkha still asks the village girls if
they’ve heard what has become of that young bride. This survivor
of the Genocide will tell you that the Armenians in her village
were always persecuted. One day, the family was sitting at home
when a Turkish soldier knocked on the door. He had brought along
some letter. "The Turk soldier started to cry and asked my father,
‘how can I kill you when I’ve eaten at your table?’ The soldier took
pity on my father and didn’t kill him. They took my father to hide
in the house of some Turkish neighbor for several days. Even the wife
of the soldier watched after my father," relates Grandma Farkha.

Farkha’s brother is still alive and lives in Germany. After moving
from Syria to Armenia, she had lost contact with her brother. In 1988,
her brother found out that she was living in Sasounik and was able
to track down a telephone number. He called one of her neighbors
and the two were able to exchange a few words after so many years
before the line went dead. Thinking that his sister and died from
the shock and emotion of talking with him, the brother traveled to
Armenia several days later. Farkha’s daughters recounted that it was
a highly emotional encounter between a sister and brother who hadn’t
seen each other in decades. The brother’s wife recognized Farkha at
once even though the two hadn’t met. The brother spent several days
in the village and returned to Germany. In 1994, he arranged for
Farkha to spend a few months at his home in Germany and to have an
eye operation. Today, the two regularly talk by phone.

We asked Grandma Farkha if she wanted to return to Diyarbekir and
see the house she was forced to leave so many years ago. "I’ll never
go back to Turkey and never talk to one of them. I don’t even want
to hear one of them speak. They are a very dangerous people, those
Turks. When my brother visited me I asked him about our cemeteries
back in Turkey. He told me that they had ripped up the cemeteries and
planted them over with wheat and barley. Why should I go back? None
of our belongings remain. I was there when the Turks came and found
our gold and divided it up amongst themselves. Let them rot. I’ll
never leave here," she said.

Manoushak, her daughter, told us that her mother follows the news
on T.V. and painfully relives the past whenever she hears the word
"Turk". "When I talk to her about Armenian-Turkish relations she
understands little of what’s being discussed but always starts to cry
out that ‘damn the heads of the Turks’ and asks if they are massacring
Armenians again. It takes some effort to calm her down and convince
her that no one is massacring Armenians."

100 year-old Anjel Zatikyan – "Turks have always massacred
Armenians…"

100 year-old Anjel Zatikyan was born in the Turkish town of Kilis
and now resides in Etchmiadzin. She lives alone. Her son lives in
Russia. Grandma Anjel also tried living in Russia but decided to
return to Armenia.

"I can’t live anywhere else but my country," she says. The old woman
remembers little from her childhood.

"There were nine children in the family but seven of my brothers and
sisters died from starvation. I remember how my mother and father
were happy that they’d get their portion of bread and that the kids
wouldn’t fall into the hands of the Turks. Is it normal for parents
to feel joy at the death of their children?" she asks.

The family left Turkey and settled in the Syrian town of Azez and
repatriated to Armenia in 1946. "My parents didn’t know Armenian and
we kids learnt the language in Syria. My brother and I would talk in
Armenian when we wanted to hide something from our parents. At first,
when our folks spoke in Turkish we weren’t treated that bad in Turkey
but later they started to persecute us and we left for Syria," Grandma
Anjel said. She remembers that they barely got out alive and reached
Syria with practically no belongings.

When I asked her what she thought about opening the border she replied,
"I don’t care if they open it or not. The Armenians are no longer
there; nothing remains. The Turks have always massacred Armenians
and if the Russians hadn’t defended us the Turks would have slit our
throats. I don’t fear the Turks but I don’t want to see their face,"
she said.

She’s come up with a unique way of defending herself. "If the Turks
come to Armenia and start to massacre us again I’ll talk to them I
Turkish. They’ll think I’m one of them and leave me alone," she said
in all seriousness.

Yezidi Khazal Hasoyan – "We have nothing here; it was much better
there"

Khazal Hasoyan, a Yezidi, had a similar fate. She was born in the
town of Surmalou in 1908. She says that Yezidis were also massacred
in Turkey since they professed a different faith from that of
the Turks. She says that the Kurds were the ones that persecuted
the Yezidis even more than the Turks. "They started to oppress us
and we decided to leave Turkey while we could. We gathered all our
belongings and livestock and made it to the Araz River to cross over
into Armenia. At the border we were told that the Russians had arrived
and driven the Kurds out and that we could return to our homes. So,
we returned and lived in peace for about two months until the Russians
pulled out. The Kurds returned and began to massacre our people,"
Khazal recounts.

She remembers that her two uncles and their families were massacred
by the Kurds. "When we saw how they were killing people, we escaped
one night with just the clothes on our back and crossed over into
Armenia." She told us that her family owned much gold in Turkey and
that the men would play chess with pieces of gold.

Grandma Khazal doesn’t speak Armenian and understands very little. She
doesn’t watch T.V. and it’s her son that fills her in on the news
of the day. To this day the old woman lives in fear of the Turks
and Kurds and doesn’t want the border to be opened, even though she
remembers her childhood home in Surmalou with longing.

"What do I have here? It was much better over there. But the years
have passed and I won’t go back. All the pain and suffering we’ve
experienced; how can you not be fearful? I don’t want them to open the
border. They’ll come here and start to massacre us all over again,"
she said.

Avdalbari, her son, told us that he also opposed the immediate opening
of the border. "After listening to the stories of my parents I know
that it’s impossible to live in peace with the Turks. But who knows;
maybe the superpowers can get the Turks to stay where they are and
not make trouble. Perhaps, if they open the border it would be good
for us here. At least we’ll be able to travel and see the home of our
parents. If there’s a benefit for us, let them open the border." He
follows the news and doesn’t agree that President Sargsyan should sign
the protocols in order to normalize relations with the Turks. "It
just doesn’t seem right that Serzh Sargsyan should sign them. We
must first be convinced that it will all take place peacefully and
without incident. Otherwise, it’s in nobody’s interest just to open
the border like that. If the Turks can give us guarantees then I’m
all for opening the border. Right now, I have serious doubts about
the whole thing," said Avdalbari, the son of a woman who survived
the massacre of Yezidis in Turkey.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress