Who better than a specialist in the field of mental health to research and write about the events of the Armenian Genocide?
The Tekeyan Cultural Association, Detroit Chapter, on Saturday evening, April 9, hosted Dr. Rita Kuyumjian, assistant professor of psychiatry at Montreal’s McGill University, to present her three-volume work entitled Trilogy–April 24, 1915 Before and After–The Lives of The Survivors. The event was held at the Hagopian World of Rugs Showroom in downtown Birmingham. Kuyumjian was introduced by Edmond Azadian, who asked for a moment of silence in respect for Edgar Hagopian, the recently deceased owner of the showroom that hosts many literary and musical events for the local Armenian community.
Azadian also made a profound statement, saying, “Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan is always asking for proof of the genocide and now it is here in Dr. Kuyumjian’s books.”
Allah himself could tell the Turks to acknowledge their crime against mankind and they still would persist in denying their culpability.
Regrettably much of Armenian recorded history, be it literary, musical, or religious, has been lost, destroyed, or displaced. Kuyumjian’s scholarly research has unearthed information enhancing our view and understanding of the ghastly events that took place before and after April 24, 1915.
We all have heard of the roundup of Armenian intellectuals in Istanbul, how the Ottoman Turks planned to put an end to the matter of the Armenian Question. We know it as the Armenian Genocide. There were so many writers, lawyers, statesmen, intellectuals of every ilk, the cream of the crop as they are referred to, who perished at the hand of the Turks.
It was appalling that individual Armenians had been observing and spying on the activities of their fellow countrymen, compiling lists of their names and handing these lists over to the Turks for the roundup and eventual killings of hundreds of Armenian intellectuals. When the professor was asked by an audience member what happened to the Armenian traitors, she said they were killed by the Dashnags. A thin ripple of approval from the audience was audible.
That is another tragic part of Armenian history, how the Turks instilled fear in Armenians by promising them safety if they tattled or spied on their own brethren.
Kuyumjian described the victims thusly: “These men were intellectuals, better educated than you or I.” Many of them had attended the finest universities of Europe.
So what were they doing in Istanbul? Did they know their lives could be endangered? Someone during the question and answer period asked if the intellectuals knew that their drive for human rights could lead to their demise. She replied that they surely did, but as the intellectual leaders of their people, they had a mission and bravely faced the consequences. And we all now know what their fate was.
In the center of the median on busy downtown Detroit’s Jefferson Avenue is a statue of Gomidas Vartabed, who as Kuyumjian writes was one of those gathered up and imprisoned in April 1915. He went mad after observing the plight of his people. Upon being released from confinement, Gomidas spent the remainder of his years in a mental institution.
It is appropriate Kuyumjian came to Detroit prior to our annual April 24 commemoration of. She opened our eyes and ears to unheard details of that period. The first volume of the trilogy she translated is Exile, Trauma, and Death: On The Road to Chankin with Komitas Vartabed by Aram Andonian in 1946-47, who was in the roundup too. They were Andonian’s Paris-published pieces, retrieved from oblivion and now standing as living proof of that period, as he had been commissioned to document them.
Volume II contains the biography of Teotig (Theotoros Lapchinjian) who in 19 volumes wrote about the everyday lives of the Armenian people of Constantinople, called Everyone’s Almanac. It also contains a translation, Monument to April 11 (April 11 is April 24 on the old Armenian calendar). It lists the names of 763 Armenian social, religious, and community leaders, their biographies, and circumstances of their death in 1915. Buying the books would be advisable; you may locate the name of a missing ancestor.
Volume III, titled The Survivor, is Aram Andonian’s biography. He was a journalist and historian. He was a known and feared satirist, quick to make note of the uttering and doings of others, appropriately earning the name “father of genocide studies.”
Trilogy-April 24, 1915 is a joint publication of the Tekeyan Cultural Association and Gomidas Institute of London, England.
Kuyumjian’s work is a valuable addition documenting Armenian history. Those of us who are born in this country can no longer complain that not enough of our history is written in English for us to consume. We are fortunate we can avail ourselves of researched material, educating and giving us a sense of what our people experienced during that period.
It is of utmost importance that we support all authors who take on the tedious task of doing translation by buying their books. It is another way of remaining vigilant against the denialists. Books written in English are vital for successive generations of youth to give them a sense of who they are and where they come from.
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