Adrienne Alexanian Presents Father’s Memoir, Forced into Genocide

ARMENIAN
ASSEMBLY OF AMERICA
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date:

Contact:
Danielle Saroyan

Telephone:
(202) 393-3434

Web: www.aaainc.org

 

ADRIENNE
ALEXANIAN PRESENTS FATHER’S MEMOIR, FORCED
INTO GENOCIDE

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Earlier this week, the Armenian Assembly
of America (Assembly) co-sponsored a book presentation of Forced into Genocide: Memoirs
of an Armenian Soldier in the Ottoman Turkish Army, written by Yervant
Edward Alexanian, an eye-witness to the massacre and dislocation of his family
and countrymen in Ottoman Turkey during the Armenian Genocide. Adrienne G.
Alexanian, Yervant's daughter, has spent years preparing her father's
manuscript for publication, which she presented at St. Mary Armenian Apostolic
Church in Washington, D.C on Sunday. The Assembly co-sponsored the event with
St. Mary Armenian Apostolic Church, Knights and Daughters of Vartan, and the
Armenian National Committee of America.

 

Born in
Sivas, Turkey, Yervant survived the Hamidian massacres as an infant to later
fight for survival as a conscript in the Ottoman Turkish Army during the 1915
Genocide. Despite everything he went through and witnessed, “he was prepared to
die” instead of saving his own life by converting to Islam. He fled to America
in 1920, where he spent his life advocating for justice for his people. There
are no other books or comparable account which exists in Armenian literature on
this aspect of the Genocide.

 

Yervant
passed away in 1983, leaving behind many documents and pictures discovered by
his daughter. Adrienne explained that the memoirs came to light by chance while
she was going through her father’s belongings. He did not share stories of the
Armenian Genocide with his daughter, wishing to not burden his family. Instead,
he wrote down his memoirs as a form of therapy that would later live on through
Adrienne’s efforts.

 

Award
winning Middle East journalist Robert Fisk highlighted Yervant’s memoirs in one
of his articles on Turkey’s denial of the Armenian Genocide in The Independent on March 22, 2017. “Forced
into Genocide is Yervant Alexanian’s own frightful account of his people’s
suffering, with unimpeachable documentation – in vast enough amounts to prevent
the usual Turkish ‘genocide deniers’ (twins of the European ‘deniers’ of the
Jewish Holocaust) of denouncing the book as a forgery,” Fisk wrote. “It is a
story which Erdogan should be reading – and publicising – right now, for it
involves more ‘Nazi practices’ than the new Sultan of Istanbul would ever want
to acknowledge,” he added.

 

The Assembly
also co-sponsored a book presentation with Adrienne Alexanian last month in
Boston, MA with the Armenian Museum of America, the Armenia Cultural
Foundation, the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) New England District,
Project SAVE Armenian Photograph Archives, and the National Association for
Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR).

 

“On behalf
of the Armenian Assembly of America, I commend Adrienne for her perseverance
and tenacity in bringing this compelling account and heroic journey to light. It
is truly remarkable and we greatly appreciate Adrienne’s enthusiastic
presentation,” Assembly Executive Director Bryan Ardouny stated.

 

Adrienne
Alexanian is an Armenian Assembly Fellow Trustee and, along with her mother
Grace, generously provided an endowment to the Assembly toward advocacy for
Genocide recognition in memory of her father in 1993. As an NGO representative
at the United Nations for both the Armenian Diocese and the AGBU, Adrienne
initiated, organized, and moderated numerous forums promoting all aspects of
Armenia’s agenda. She is also an educator and a 2010 recipient of the Ellis
Island Medal of Honor.

 

Established
in 1972, the Armenian Assembly of America is the largest Washington-based
nationwide organization promoting public understanding and awareness of
Armenian issues. The Assembly is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt membership organization.

 

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NR#: 2017-051

 

 

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