Lusine Balyan

The mother was lamenting her child's arrival into this world. Everyone told her to leave him behind, to at least save herself. There was chaos everywhere - confusion, blood, dust. Unable to leave the child, or cross the river with him, the mother was in despair. Azat Torosyan of Bazmaberd still shudders as he describes this scene. He considers his salvation to be a miracle. His mother, putting her faith in God, tied the baby to her waist and set out to cross the river. Amazingly enough, they both survived.

Grandfather Azat recalls how those deported from Sassun had gotten lost and did not know which way led to safety. Wandering through Western Armenia , the migrants reached Julfa, where they were found by Andranik's soldiers, who somehow managed to get the migrants to Goris.

"In those days, the helpless migrants had two saviors - God up above, and Ozanyan Andranik down below," he said.

Since the 1920s, the Sassuntsis have made a home for themselves at the foot of Mount Aragats . Grandfather Azat says until the day they died, his parents believed it was just temporary, and always expected to return to the land of their birth.

"My parents did not live long enough, and neither will I, in all likelihood, but you will definitely see the day when Sassun will be ours again. I look at Ararat every day and sing - the land may not be ours, but surely the sky is... A Sassuntsi's foot may no longer strike the ground as he dances theYarkhushta , but the song will become a prayer and reach our motherland," Grandfather Azat said, holding back tears.

And hearing a Sassuntsi's song or seeing his dance just once is enough to convince anyone that Grandfather Azat is right.