Heirs of Vartkes Serengulian, one of the seven Armenians represented in the Ottoman Parliament, are willing to hand his mandate to the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, Serengulian’s granddaughter told .
On her way to exile, Vartkes Serengulian’s wife received his last letter dated June 20, 1915, in which he described the “desperate conditions” and expressed doubt they would ever meet again.
In the same letter Serengulian informed he had applied to Talaat Pasha, as he was the only person that could help.
However, despite good relations with Vartkes Serengulian, Talaat ordered to arrest him and send to Urfa, where he was tortured and killed.
“In his last letter Serengulian asked his wife not to marry again for their sons not to call another man dad,” his granddaughter Izabella Serengulian said.
Hripsime Serengulian decided to settle in Tbilis together with her two sons. An expert in French, she started work at a rich Armenian family. She letter worked at an Armenian school and earned with needlework she had learnt in Erzrum as a child.
“She always had a needle in her hand. She would not tell much. She had burnt part of the documents in 1937, but carefully concealed the mandate,” Izabella said.
She now wants to hand it to the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute.