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.