| Left: Sole surviving relic of the Donelian family to come through the Armenian genocide of 1915. Silver ring with green stone, with inscription (in stylized Armenian): 'Your Servant, Ohannes'. This ring belonged to my great-great-grandfather, who was born in 1818. The ring is dated 1254 A.H. (1839 A.D.) Right: Date of 1254 A.H. at bottom center (read right to left). |
In the black days of the massacres and plunder of Armenians in Turkey, as per the orders of Talaat and Enver [Pasha] (the leaders of the Ittihad Party) to exterminate all Armenians, came the turn of the brave people of Afion Karahissar to be deported. My father, realizing that we barely had one or two days left to spend in Karahissar, planned to save the following items from destruction: ·The original manuscript of the history of our family, spanning 295 years, from the days of their establishment in Karahissar to the year 1915. ·The manuscript of all the sermons he had delivered over a 40-year period, in short- and longhand. ·A handwritten comparative history of the world, noting special events (an explanation: the book comprised 2,000 pages. Each page represented one year from the date of the birth of Christ. Any event of significance [that] he would come across in his readings, e.g. in 785 or 110 A.D., he would register briefly on the appropriate page, together with references as to in what book, and on which page, the information was seen. Thus, one could easily discern contemporaneous events of significance). ·An analysis of the manuscript for the "Song of Songs". A gift from Megerdich Catholicos. ·A three-volume history of the Armenian people, published in Venice. ·A two-volume, unabridged Haigazian dictionary of the Armenian language. ·A rare manuscript bible. ·A rare illuminated bible, published in Venice. ·Many other important and government censored books, etc. These had all been ensconced in 2 tin gas tanks, which were, in turn, placed in a wooden chest, which was then wrapped in tar cloth, and buried in the basement of our home, underneath the wheat silo. Kevork and Dikran, the two sons of my paternal uncle Avedis, swore that they would unearth and save the relics, once the black days were through (they were chosen, since the chances of survival were best, given their conscript status). The denizens of Karahissar had begun to be deported. On the first day to follow the onset of deportations, the provincial governor called my father to the government headquarters. During that meeting, the governor said, "First, your seniority; second, your loyalty to the government and your respect for the law; and, third, the love and respect the people, both Armenian and Muslim, show toward you. Taking these into consideration, we have resolved to spare you and your family from being deported. You are free to stay in your home, and you may be the spiritual leader of the Armenian soldiers in the area". My father answered, "Where the sheep are, there the shepherd must be. Thank you for your generous offer". Thus, my father refused, and, the next day, left the city with his flock. The day after leaving Karahissar, the caravan stopped in Konia. They stayed in Konia for 2-3 weeks. In those days, an order was sent forth by the Turkish Council of Ministers that the families of Armenian ministers would be exempted from deportation. My family and I, and my brother's family, were living in Izmir, and there were no deportations in Izmir. Luckily, our finding out about this order coincided with the visit to Izmir of Mr. Onnig Ihsan, an Armenian minister. We, therefore, asked for his help, through Bishop Matteos Injeyan, Primate of Izmir, in claiming that der Khatchadour and his wife were members of his extended family, [and asked his help] in transporting my parent from Konia to Izmir. Mr. Onnig Ihsan was happy to oblige, as he was to leave for Konia the next day, to find and bring back the members of his own family from Konia. As he had promised, he had chosen 41 of his relatives, and my mother and father, and had placed the 43 people in a train car, before leaving for Constantinople himself. The car carrying the privileged away from Konia switched from the Anatolia line to the Izmir line, and reached the station at Nazelli, 2 hours away from Izmir. The mayor of Nazelli, learning of the car carrying Armenians, stopped it, and kept it in Nazelli, while allowing the rest of the train to continue on. We had heard that my parents would be arriving in Izmir, and we were full of anticipation, as we waited for their arrival. The train did arrive, but we were bitterly disappointed to learn that the mayor of Nazelli had forbidden their passage. The mayor of Nazelli had purportedly said, "Izmir cannot become a haven for deportees", referring to the several groups of deportees who had come to Izmir for various reasons. The group stayed in Nazelli for 2 days, and was sent back to Konia. From there, they were deported straight to Der el-Zor [JGD, 2005: Deir ez-Zor in the present day Syrian desert]. From our clan, deported were: ·My mother and father. ·Dikranouhie, my older sister, and Sdepan Terzibashian, her husband, with their 6 children. ·Haiganoush, my younger sister, and Kevork Jenabian, her husband, with their 5 children. ·Mary, my brother's daughter, and her husband, with their 3 children. ·My paternal aunt, with her daughter and 3 grandchildren. ·My maternal aunts, two of their sons, and their wives and children. 36 souls, in all. Despite my efforts at locating them, I have been unable to trace down any one of them. They went, and were forever lost. I don't know where they are, when they perished, whether they were buried or left unburied, and, if, buried, how they were buried. God rest their souls. Blessed be the memory of the righteous. Amen. From my ancestors, my mother and father, I have no tangible relics to share, except for the silver ring of my paternal grandfather, with its inscription which reads, "Your servant, Ohannes", on its green stone. That sacred relic survived the fire, the quake, and all my emigrations. I brought it with me to America, and I bequeath it to all future generations of Donelians. My only wish is that they keep it, and pass it on from generation to generation. Excerpt from History of the Donelian Family by Ohannes Donelian (1878-1967) Armenian Deportees: 1915-1916, Photographed by Armin T. Wegner The Turkish Crime of the Armenian Genocide: 24 April 1915 Music: Nazei Oror ("Lullaby for Naze") CD 4321: Armenian Lullabies Hasmik Harutyunyan with the Shoghaken Ensemble Traditional Crossroads Words are from a poem entitled "The Blind Troubadour" by Avedis Aharonian, writer and Member of Parliament of the first Armenian Republic (1918-1920), and describe the horrors of the Armenian Genocide. This is a more explicit song of exile: the caravan it refers to was made up of women and children deported from Turkey in 1915, during what has come to be known as the Armenian holocaust. Somewhere between one and one-and-a-half million Armenians lost their lives during this systematic campaign of genocide, instigated by the dying Ottoman empire. The Caravan passed With a burden of tears And in the black desert Fell to its knees Exhausted Ah, with the pain of the world Don't cry I have already shed many tears My milk has frozen On your lifeless lips I know it is bitter My child And you don't want it Ah, my milk has become The taste of grief Don't cry I have already shed many tears. |
