Re: “ ‘They Killed Me Family’”
[Editor’s Note: Tomorrow marks the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the Armenian Genocide when Turks killed 1.5 million. Members of Dr. Cohen’s immediate family were murder victims. She is the author of numerous books, including on the Genocide. Here is the second half of her address last evening on the subject at U.C. San Diego.]
When I wrote The Survivor, I could relate even more to my grandmother’s pain. In 1992, my 18-year-old daughter Liana was killed by a drunk driver 25 hours before she was to fly to Boston to start her first year of college.
My grandmother was 18 years old at the time of the genocide, too, when her loving husband was killed in front of her and her three-year-old daughter. On that day, the Turks massacred all the members of her family, taking their house and all of their belongings.
Persia had declared its neutrality in the world conflict. But in 1918, the Ottoman army crossed the borders of their neighboring country, entered the city of Khoy, and killed the entire Armenian population. They were Iranian citizens who had lived peacefully alongside with their Muslim neighbors for centuries. What is the word for this action? Don’t you call this a Genocide?
Warning to Muslims
Young Armenian and Christian boys over the age of 10 and all the adult men were killed savagely. The Ottoman army had posted that if they found any Armenians hiding in a Muslim house, the entire Muslim family would be killed and their house destroyed. Hakim Eftekhar, who hid my grandparents and my mother in his basement, had also protected other Armenians. Many Iranian Muslims had done the same, regardless of the immediate danger that existed for their families.
In the last day of their occupation, the Ottoman army found my grandfather. They killed him in front of his young wife and daughter, bound his legs to the tail of a horse, and dragged his body in the streets. So the streets of Khoy became the graveyard of my grandfather.
In addition to Khoy, the Ottoman soldiers marched on and repeated their cruel acts in the cities of Maku, Gharadagh, Salmas, Urmiah, and in many surrounding Christian villages in Iran. The surviving Armenian orphans and young girls were forced to convert to Islam. The girls and women were raped and impregnated, turned into wordless silent slaves and maids.
The Ottoman soldiers also killed all of the Armenian refugees from the Genocide of 1894 and 1915 who, with a lot of difficulty, had arrived in Persia and were protected by the Armenian community and the Iranian people. They were mostly young orphans, unarmed children, scared and grieving women, hungry and sick elderly. Don’t you call this a double Genocide?
If the Turkish government does not like to recognize the massacre of 1915 as a Genocide, what would they like to name the massacre of 1918 that took place in a foreign country, against innocent people who never threatened the security of Turkey? They were not even Turkish citizens. They were unarmed men, women, many elderly, and children.
If this is not Genocide, what is it?
Only Tabriz, the most important city of Azerbaijan in Iran that had the largest Armenian population, was spared of the killings.
The Ottoman army conducted itself in disciplined fashion. They saw to it that law and order were maintained.
The Ottoman troops always tried not to participate directly in the massacre, but rather sought to incite the tribes against the Christians. The Turkish army tried to attract and influence the local Muslims to join their forces.
In addition, Pan-Turkish propaganda deviously was at work in the region. In their posts it was written:
“The principal objective of the Ottomans is to protect and come to the aide of our Muslim brothers.”
In reality, annexing the Iranian Azerbaijan to Turkey was one of their main plans. They did not achieve this dream, but later they created a new country in the north of Iran calling it by the same name, Azerbaijan.
Regardless of all these efforts to eliminate non-Moslems, the Iranian population helped the Armenians and Christians. It is important to mention that many Muslim Iranians were also killed and suffered enormously during these invasions. Famine, epidemics, theft, pillage, and killings were present in all these cities and surrounding villages.
In Tabriz, Ali Ihsan Pasha, the commander of this invasion, met Serpazan Hayr Melik Tangian, the prelate of Tabriz, who was a highly educated, a devoted servant of the Armenian Church and people.
By reading the following statement that he told to Serpazan Hayr, we can imagine the degree of the evilness presence in this individual:
In His Own Words
In that meeting, Ali Ihsan Pasha stated: “I massacred the Armenian population of Khoy, Salmas, Urmiah, and Maku. I have killed half a million of your co-religionists.
Would you like to have a cup of tea?” One can only imagine the degree of evil within him.
What I learned by writing The Survivor is that historically, the massacre of the Armenians in Iran is very important. The simple story of a peace-loving grandmother has opened a sad but important chapter in the history of Iran and the Armenian Genocide that until now not many historians were talking or writing about. This book has opened up a new subject of research and discussion among Armenians, as well as Iranians and Turks.
Every year, especially at this time of the year, I always see the same dream over and over again.
My grandfather is young and handsome. He is holding my grandmother’s hand. It reminds me of their wedding day, which I have described in my book. They walk happily together. My mother is a three-year-old little girl. The three of them look very happy. They are walking in a garden that is covered with beautiful flowers. My mother runs after colorful butterflies.
My grandfather feels my anguish. He realizes that I have a worried, sad face. He tries to comfort me and says:
“Don’t worry for us. As you can see, we are fine and very safe here. No one can harm us or separate us anymore.
Who Needs More Evidence?
But let me ask you a question that I have been wondering about since I have been here. With all of the advances in technology and all the university history departments, so many research centers, books, photography, pictures, and museums, how is it possible that there are still people who like to deny the Genocide or the Holocaust?
“How much more evidence do people need in order to accept the truth?
“Is it so difficult for people to confess and admit to the wrongdoings of the past? We are not asking for anything. But it would be nice to know that the new generation has advanced in humanity, that they are able to recognize the wrongdoings of their grandparents and the consequences of their past actions.”
I wake up. The sun has taken back his glory. Warm tears are washing my face. I am talking loudly to my grandfather, to myself, and to anyone who wants to listen.
Grandfather,
I am sorry that history repeats itself, that many do not change. For years, many presidential candidates promised us that they would sign the recognition of the Armenian Genocide if they were elected. Our community believed and voted for them. Unfortunately, once they occupied the Oval Office, they forgot all about their promises and spoken words.
We have experienced this during the candidacies of Mr. Clinton, Mr. Bush and Mr. Obama.
All my life, I never saw or had the opportunity to be with my grandfather. My mother never tasted the love of a father. My grandmother, a very young woman, had to live a sad, lonely life as a widow and single mother.
I grew up without a large family circle. On the holidays, we invited friends and neighbors to our house in order not to be lonely and sad.
Frankly, I do not need the votes, signatures, or approval of the politicians and heads of countries any more. I do not need them to approve or deny the Armenian Genocide.
I know that the Genocide existed. I know that it happened in 1915 in Turkey, and then three years later in Iran in 1918.
I have lived with the sad faces of the survivors. I have experienced their physical and psychological tortures.
Since the publication of my book, I have received many pictures, testimonies, and letters. I have the proof.
For me, it does not matter if you call this a massacre, Genocide, killing, cleansing.
Call it as you wish. Just please don’t deny it.
Anyone who denies the truth or history is bound to repeat it.
Because, God forbid, my grandfather thinks that anyone who denies the truth (intent behind the killings) is simply ignorant of the facts and of history.
Dr. Rosemary Hartounian Cohen, who lives in the Fairfax District, earned her Ph.D in sociology from the Sorbonne in Paris. She lived in two other countries before moving with her husband and children to Los Angeles in 1984. She has published five books in America. Since 1985, Dr. Cohen has operated Atelier de Paris, an international art business, on Robertson Boulevard. She may be contacted at rosemary@atelierdeparis.com and www.licopublishing.com
