Armenia: The forgotten genocide

Thursday, April 5, 2007
The Oakland Press
By JERRY WOLFFE of The Oakland Press

Abrahamian arrived in the United States in 1921 and roomed with his brother in Highland Park, where some Armenian survivors lived, and worked in a grocery store before getting a job working as a civil engineer for the federal government.

When he retired in 1974, he received the distinguished service award, he said. He still doesn't understand the failure of the United States to officially recognize the genocide.

"It's a crime that the United States doesn't recognize the Armenian genocide," said Abrahamian, adding Germany and France have recognized it but England has not. "We want the Turks to own up to what happened."

The massacre of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Turks between 1915 and 1923 is being remembered by two Oakland County residents of Armenian descent.

The 92nd anniversary of the beginning of the slaughter is April 24.

Souren Abrahamian of Southfield, who will be 100 on June 15, was 8 years old when 35 members of his family were slain. He will be in the Ford Community and Performing Arts Center in Dearborn on April 22, when speakers tell of the genocide.

Abrahamian is the author of "From Van to Detroit," the story of his journey from the Armenian village of Van to the Motor City. He came to America in 1921, settling in Highland Park.

"For no reason, in a couple of months we had to leave our homes and migrate toward Russia," recalled Abrahamian of the genocide's beginnings in 1915.

Virginia Haroutunian, 70, of Bloomfield Hills also remembers the pain and anguish of her mother, Victoria.

Victoria Ahigian-Haroutunian was a genocide survivor. She was among the thousands of people who were marched by force from parts of Armenia to the DerZor Desert in Syria, leaving thousands dead along the journey.

Haroutunian's mother died in 2000 at age 90 of heart failure. Virginia Haroutunian wrote a book, "Orphan in the Sands," which details her mother's tale of survival. She will speak about her mother's tribulations at the Plum Hollow Country Club in Southfield on April 11.

Besides the 1.5 million Armenians butchered during the seven-year period, at least 500,000 were refugees.

"Even though I was born on the safe shores of America and graduated from the University of Michigan Music School in 1958, my demons were from another time and place," Haroutunian said, recalling her emotionally distant mother and telling the story of her mother's life as a child who spent time in orphanages.

Her mother went to many cities in Turkey, Egypt, Syria and Greece, before arriving on Ellis Island in the United States in 1928 where she spent 21 months in segregation.

"She only experienced hatred by the Turks toward the Armenians," said Virginia Haroutunian, who taught in Pontiac schools for 30 years before retiring in 1988.

"From the age of 7 onward, she had not experienced love and therefore could not show it," she said of her mother. "I inherited her pain. I could not feel affection or show it. Music and food sedated my pain. The re-evaluation of my mother's past when I was 50 years old led to an understanding of my mother and surprisingly of myself."

She said the "Orphan in the Sands" book, "is about the evolution from the depths of black despair to the liberation of the human spirit."

Her mother, Victoria Ahigian, married Michael Haroutunian in Troy, N.Y., on Feb. 24, 1929. He was a cobbler and they took a train back to Pontiac. Victoria's cousin, Harry Ahigian, was instrumental in sending her money to help her buy steerage passage to America.

"I never found out what my mother went through until 1988," said Virginia Haroutunian. She would say, 'Nobody likes to hear a sad story,' and she wasn't proud about the way she was treated." Abrahamian arrived in the United States in 1921 and roomed with his brother in Highland Park, where some Armenian survivors lived, and worked in a grocery store before getting a job working as a civil engineer for the federal government.

When he retired in 1974, he received the distinguished service award, he said. He still doesn't understand the failure of the United States to officially recognize the genocide.

"It's a crime that the United States doesn't recognize the Armenian genocide," said Abrahamian, adding Germany and France have recognized it but England has not. "We want the Turks to own up to what happened."

Contact Jerry Wolffe at (248) 745-4612 or jerry.wolffe@oakpress.com.

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.