“Why do you give money and food to these people?’
The question posed by Turkish soldiers was asked of Maria Jacobsen and other Danish missionaries in Harpoot, Eastern Turkey during the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1923. Here is the rest of the quotation: …”They are only going out to the mountains to be killed.”
Young women from Scandinavian countries, upon hearing of the state sanctioned atrocities committed against the Armenian population in 1894-1896, 1909, and 1915-1923 went to Turkey to care for the Armenian victims of these awful events.
Maria Jacobsen ( Nov 6, 1882-Apr 6, 1960) was a Danish missionary and a key witness to the Armenian Genocide. See “Diaries …
Amid The Ruins
“I long to see my Cilicia once more and ride the waves of river Arax and gaze at snow-capped Mount Alagiaz again…” Sung by Nazareth Spenchian, Rev. Haroutiun Jenanyan and Gabriel Baghdoyan, gazing at the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California in the late 1800s.
A G A I N A G A I N A N D A G A I N.
Another mass killing of Armenians by the Turks. This time, it’s in Adana in 1909, with 30,000 dead. Writer, Zabel Yessayan (b. 1878 Scutari, Constantinople, d. gulag in Siberia, in 1943), visits the city and …
“Funny Writing”
It wasn’t that long ago that rug experts acknowledged that the “funny writing” on some oriental rugs was Armenian. However, most rug experts maintained that those rugs were not made by Armenians but were commissioned pieces.
Now for the first time, the Armenian Rugs Society (Est. 1980) has been invited by the ICOC International Conference on Oriental Rugs to Vienna, Austria. (Sep 15-21, 2014). The exhibit titled “Armenian Rugs and Carpets” is a big change from the previous labeling of “Anatolian or Caucasian” for our work.
Thanks to the ARS and to two very important independent scholars for taking the …
Little Women: Fannie and Atlas
In America during the years 1894-1896, Fannie a thirteen-year-old girl, living in a rural community, oftentimes participated in church socials, picnics, parties and civic events of the day.
Fannie, when she wasn’t helping with house or farm chores, would be consumed with flirting with the opposite sex and couldn’t get enough of the subject from books or the popular songs of the day.
Atlas Choroian was a thirteen-year-old Armenian girl and living in the town of Bitlis in the northeastern region of Turkey. She, on the other hand, was consumed with taking care of what was left of her family. …
Benjamin Whitaker and the Armenian Genocide
My father, Sarkis Deli Sarkisian (aka Deli Sarkis) survived the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1923.
For almost one hundred years, successive governments in Turkey have denied that a genocide took place. Instead, they depict the Turkish population as helpless victims and the Armenians as vicious perpetrators. They have worked mightily to rewrite their shameful history during the years 1915-1923.
Acknowledgment of the Genocide by a world body did happen in 1985. Praise must be given to Benjamin Whitaker the great humanitarian and staunch supporter of minority rights.
He passed away this year in London.
In August 1985, Mr. Whitaker presented to …
Dick Gephardt and the Picture of Dorian Gray
Oscar Wilde’s masterpiece is a tale of a once incredibly handsome, upstanding and moral young man who begins a deep slide into depravity. A painting done of Dorian when his life was filled with the promise of good works begins to change dramatically with every morally compromised and evil action that he takes. Dick Gephardt is like Dorian Gray. Once fighting mightily for Armenian Genocide recognition, in the United States House of Representatives and Senate, something changed in him in 2005. He resigned from serving the public and instead opened a lobbying firm in Washington D.C. Turkish groups became clients …