Apigian: Hamazkayin Presents ‘Giant’ Evening with Mitch and Betty

It was an honor to be asked by Hamazkayin chairperson Hermine Manoogian to talk about Mitch Kehetian and his popular book Giants of the Earth, because it became an opportunity to also expound on various Armenian issues that are related to Kehetian’s book.

When Mitch’s memoir debuted on the first of the year, the reticent author told me that if anyone did a book talk, he wanted his community of St. Sarkis to do it.

It developed into a very rewarding evening for early arrivals. For Mitch and myself, as we observed the unfolding of the “setting up” of the lecture room at the Armenian Community Center in Dearborn. And for filmmaker Hrayr Toukhanian, from Muse Pictures, who rearranged the speakers’ area to be more appropriate for videotaping, with the assistance of building manager Jack Garbooshian.

Looking at the field of empty seats, I quietly wondered what the attendance would be like. But Armenian-time was not a problem this evening. As 7 p.m. approached, the room had filled to capacity. Additional seating was necessary for the over-100 people who had arrived for an evening of fine camaraderie, which even held a surprise for Mitch Kehetian: I unveiled a traditional Keghetsi pagharch for Mitch to share with the audience at evening’s end on the buffet prepared by the ladies of Hamazkayin.

I first met Mitch and wife Rose Kehetian when they attended an Armenian Youth Federation (AYF) meeting in Pontiac when I was a teen. They were young newlyweds. Mitch had served as president of both the Detroit Mourad-Zavarian AYF and the Antranig ARF. His first byline appeared in the Armenian Weekly and thereafter launched him into a journalism career that spanned over half a century, including as editor of the Macomb Daily.

Reading his memoir brought our friendship to another level. He is a purebred Keghetsi with his father Kaspar from Khoops village and mother Alice from Erzerum city. My father is also from Keghi, so Mitch and I have adopted each other as “cousins.”

Writing a column requires asking someone many questions, but just by reading Giants a great deal about the author was revealed to me. When the question arises, “What constitutes a good Armenian,” I can point to Mitch as one of the best with the late Yeretsgin Shoushaniig Papakhian, who years ago described him as a mdavoragan, an intellectual. I discovered Mitch’s true character in the pages of Giants of the Earth. He is not just out to sell books. That takes effort; interested parties have to order it online.

While other people of note come and go, taking away from the community what they can, Mitch has remained a loyal member of the community, and has written timely editorials about the genocide and important developments pertaining to the Armenian Cause.

In Giants, Mitch writes about his 1969 trip to historic Armenia, which he correctly describes as “Turkish-occupied lands of Armenia.” The purpose of the journey was to find his father Kaspar’s sister, Parancim Keteian, who unknown to the author’s family miraculously survived the 1915 genocide.

Mitch got assistance from Congresswoman Lucine Nedzi and the State Department to make the trip, which in 1969 was not a common adventure. In Ankara he was supplied with a Turkish guide and a Kurdish driver/bodyguard armed with a gun to travel toward Khoops, Keghi, where he discovered his aunt had died in 1962. His first cousins Huseyin and Elif took him to her burial site atop a mountain in Kutluja, overlooking the western tributary of the Euphrates River. Her children had fulfilled her wish for a Christian prayer said at her burial.

The once-populated Armenian villages and towns were devoid of all but a few Armenians, most of whom had converted to Islam. He was told, “They went away after the great war.” In Mitch’s words, “The villages are desolate, depopulated, barren, and frequently just slums occupied by Kurds.” The eastern sector is heavily occupied by Turkish soldiers to suppress a Kurdish uprising.

The disdain for the Turks and the genocide they committed is apparent throughout Mitch’s book. In his address to the audience, the senior journalist stood remembering the trip of 1969 unfalteringly with total recall, as if it had happened yesterday. The aftermath of the trip? His thoughts still dwell on those terrible days of the genocide and how his family lost track of his aunt for so many years. He wants the third generation to know Armenian history and what really happened in 1915-23. “Justice for the Armenians must prevail.”

Kehetian lamented, “In 1969 as I went from village to village where my people lived and died, I could not even find a grave marker.”

***

I asked the audience to look at the person next to them with the reminder that none of us would be here to share in this evening, that all of us were intended to perish, slaughtered in our villages by the Turks, Kurds, and released crazed prisoners to die naked and thirsty on the road to Der Zor. “We are all exiles,” I exhorted, “regardless if we are from Beirut, Bolis, or the U.S.” I commended Hamazkayin for selecting April for the book talk, for early in the month the storm clouds of emotion start gathering.

“The memory of the genocide has seared our souls and hangs heavy in our hearts. Extermination is something you do to rats and vermin, not human beings,” I said. “Tonight the young girl Parancim Keteian, who tried to escape by running into the golden winter wheat fields but fell and was captured by Turkish soldiers, will be resurrected in this book, in this room with pictures of our herosner on the walls. May her years of loneliness, fear, and abandonment be a thing of the past with the honor bestowed upon her by her nephew who traveled an unsafe distance to find his Aunt Parancim.”

“Forgiveness is good for the heart and for getting into heaven. Am I to believe God will allow the Turks into heaven after what they did to my people,” I asked.

Der Daron Stepanian, the pastor of St. Sarkis Church, had the answer afterwards when he said, “I cannot forgive and I cannot forget. When the Turks acknowledge and apologize for their terrible deeds, then I will forgive.”

The program concluded with a slide presentation of Mitch’s 1969 trip. “After walking the barren paths of the genocide of my people, I spent the next five years traveling to Armenian communities in America and Canada to show my slides,” he said.

Mitch said he felt compelled to share the pictures with survivors who had escaped the carnage of that period. It was also for their children, so they could understand the nightmare their parents had been forced to suffer and witness inthe rape of Armenia.

The book has gone into its second printing. Reward yourself: Order the book online at www.publishamerica.com.

Betty Apigian-Kessel

Betty Apigian-Kessel

Betty (Serpouhie) Apigian Kessel was born in Pontiac, Mich. Together with her husband, Robert Kessel, she was the proprietor of Woodward Market in Pontiac and has two sons, Bradley and Brant Kessel. She belonged to the St. Sarkis Ladies Guild for 12 years, serving as secretary for many of those years. During the aftermath of the earthquake in Armenia in 1988, the Detroit community selected her to be the English-language secretary and she happily dedicated her efforts to help the earthquake victims. She has a column in the Armenian Weekly entitled “Michigan High Beat.”

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