In Sight
American Armenians and Western Armenia: Rebuilding the Connection
For many decades, generations in this country have uttered, “We are Vanetzi” or “Our family is Kharpetzi.” Another popular one is, “We are proud Sepastiatzis.” To some, especially the new generation, the question is what does that mean? Well literally, it refers to a family lineage from a particular region of our historical homeland in western Armenia. In past generations, the location of your birth was a proud identifier since an independent sovereign state had been denied to the Ar
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A wonderful, thought-provoking article, Stepan! Thank you. In answer to your question, “Is it possible for Armenians not to be of the Christian faith?” I would say, of course! Hamshens/Hemshins as wells as Armenians who are atheists, Buddhists, and Baha’i, just to name a few!
Thank you Stepan for reminding those reading that Western Armenia is not a forgone conclusion. Rather it’s a geographical and cultural reality that must not be forgotten, but rather reclaimed, albeit with careful analysis and caution so that efforts are successful. One step at a time as they say.
Why does no one ever talk about the tens of Armenian castles in Cilicia? We spend all day complaining about ruined churches while we forget that we also have a lot more heritage which is not ruined. We have a lot more cultural history than churches which needs to be remembered.