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17 Comments

1. I highly appreciate and recommend Mr. Aris Nalcis article on Armenian Kesaria, where I have been three times as a scholar and pilgrim. Good job dear compatriot, say the truth to the world.

   M.K.
   Jerusalem/Los Angeles

2. Thank you Aris Nalci for your thorough reporting and pictures of the remnants of our culture. My father grew up in Kayseri and I have recently published his memoirs in “Leaving Kayseri” available at Abril Bookstore on line. You might also be interested in seeing the churches in Tomarza and Germer.

3. Thank you, Aris, for shining a bright light on Armenian Kayseri.

4. MMy husbands family was from Kayseri . I wastld that where the Mayor lives today was their family home. I had aKurdish fellow staying in Canada at my Bed and Breakfast and he told me there were passages between the houses and still today there are pieces of Jewellery found in these tunnels and in the gardens that The Armenians left thinking that they would be back someday.
   Today Kayseri is an Industrial city with very ethnic Muslim people pro Erdogan living there. But aso a lot of Kurdish people.

5. Very interesting. I loved visiting derelict Christian and Jewish places while traveling around Turkey in 1990-91. I always found the local residents friendly and helpful.

6. My maternal grandparents, Nercessians, were from Kayseri. My grandmother Hajigul Boyadjian came from a goldsmith’s family and her husband Artin, my grandfather had a large pastirma business sending dried meat to Ankara. After 1915 They were able to escape to Cyprus.
   This is an excellent article, Aris, matter of fact and very moving in your pared down descriptions. I had visited Kayseri in 1995 but we only saw the Church which was being restored and did not have time to go elsewhere. My Grandmother often spoke of Sourp Garabed on the hill and the summers they spent to escape the heat.
   Your photos also tell a tragic story. Thank you. More power to your writing and reporting skills. I look forward to reading more.

7. My father grew up in Kayseri, left on the trek to Aleppo when his father was hung. He and my mother visited in the 1970s with a tour of other Armenians. When he learned that the tourists were Armenian one of the residents said “there are a lot of Armenians in Kayseri”. There are? “Yes, buried” as he flashed a big smile and pointed at the ground.

8. Wonderful article. Very sad, but glad to see some traces of our roots in our historical lands. Thanks for your efforts!

9. Fabolous article.thankyou! My mother was born in Everek, Kayseri right after the Genocide as my great parents survived many years of Der el Zor.. my husband and I went to Everek this July. The Armenian church is also called Surp Toros has been converted into a mosque.we met the imam and he showed the house right across from the church and explained to us that the priest used to live here!!

10. Thanks for all the comments. More articles will be coming on Armenian Weekly about other cities and in 2016 we will be continuing our job with a book and exhibition… Aris

11. Thanks for keeping our history alive. My father was 2 years old when he left Kayseri to go to Aleppo Syria. His father had lost his first wife and had to marry a relative because he would have ended up with a Turkish wife if he stayed single. That was the practice for women without husbands or men without wives so they can really integrate them to Turkish life.
    My father and his sister were born from this marriage but sadly after few years the first wife was found and even when they did not have children the church gave the honor to the first wife and my father’s mom left to Armenia with her daughter and my father stayed with his father and step mother in Aleppo. My father saw his mom when he was 65 years old visiting Armenia from the US.
    I feel so happy they survived yet so sad to hear about so many sad events.
    My father’s grandfather was a mayor of a small town and because he did his communications in Armenian they had to cut his tongue and their name changed from Deukmejian to Dilsizian without a tongue. My father’s dream was for his daughter to be an Armenian language teacher to change history from his childhood. I became an Armenian teacher and a principal later in the US. This fulfilled his dream. WE CAN do it he said! My powerful father…God bless his memory.
    Vicky Dilsizian Kherlopian
    Belmont Ma.

12. My parents were from Efkere, my father was able to escape but his entire family was killed. My mother at 8years of age was sent out on the road with her sisters and sister in law. Her mother in a wheel chair was left behind and killed, her father who accompanied them was killed at the first town and the girls were left on the road of misery. As everyone knows those who survived were sent to orphanages in Greece and Beirut. My mother was in Greece, my aunt in Beirut. I have no desire to visit this area as it is extremely painful to know what happened there. Thank you for the article and the insight you gained by exploring our past.

13. My paternal ancestors were from Gesaria, my maternal ancestors from Aksaray. I recently published my grandfather’s, Haig Ghazarian, memoires The Gesaria Carnages sold at Abril bookstore. My grandfather’s family were prominent in business and he himself studied at Robert College in Constantinople and was destined to manage their Manchester branch but because of his father’s illness he stayed in Gesaria and in 1915 was tortured and later deported to Aleppo than to Lebanon and so on…….

14. My grandfather came from Kayseri…his name was Nishon Kasbarian. His wife, my grandmother was Lucia. I’d have to go back and look for the correct spelling but Lucia’s maiden name sounded like “Misourlian”. They came to the USA in approx 1919 (grandfather) followed by my grandmother and their 3yr old daughter Mary and arrived July 4, 1921. My dad was first one born in USA in 1922. So honored and blessed by my rich Armenian heritage and Christianity. God’s hand was on their lives and we are here today because of it.

15. Im a Cerkez From kayseri. I know many Armenians were save by Cerkez at Pınarbaşı (it was Aziziye in Sivas)my village is Uzunpınar. There was very good relationship between Armenians and Cerkez. Maybe becouse of both of us have similar history.

16. Excellent article, but I take exception to the statement that the dome of Surp Stepanos church has collapsed. What are you basing this on?

    True, the dome is not present, but it has been missing since at least 1919.

    The church is built solidly, and I think it far more likely that the dome was removed, in whole or in part, rather than that it collapsed on its own. The picture of the church is a bit misleading, as the building is built into the side of a steep hill. Thus, the area where the dome once was can be accessed fairly easily.

    True, removing it would be no small feet. It I think it even more improbable that it collapsed on this relatively new edifice that was constructed in the nineteenth century.

    Sorry to be so nit picky on this, but “collapsed” just seems to connote that it fell apart on its own, rather than having been purposely removed, or destroyed

    That being said, I applaud your excellent, and important, article.
    Jonathan Varjabedian
    http://www.Efkere.com

17. Does anyone know Deukmejians in Kesarya around 1915? My great great grandfather was mayor and he refused to do business in Turkish he used Armenian language and they cut his tongue. I wonder if anyone has heard v of him the Dilsiz and then the whole family was recognized as Dilsizians. Today we live on United States and many Dilsizians in the world. In Greece France Italy Turkey Syria Lebanon.

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