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The 115th anniversary of the Adana Massacre
April 2024 is the 115th anniversary of the Adana Massacre, when an estimated 30,000 Armenians were brutally slaughtered.
Prior to the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1923, this was the first large-scale massacre of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in the 20th century. It started in the province of Adana in April 1909. The atrocities coincided with the counter-revolution staged by the supporters of Sultan Abdul-Hamid II, “The Red Sultan” (1876-1909), who had been forced to restore the Ottoman Con
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My grandmother and her family were from Adana. In 1909, she was only 9 years old. Her parents must have anticipated that trouble was brewing as she was quickly sent to live with relatives in Egypt along with a few siblings. They returned in 1911 and after a few years survived the carnage of 1915. When calm was restored in 1918 she met my grandfather who was stationed there as an Armenian Legionnaire. When the Ataturk led fanatics attacked Cilicia in 1920 they were forced to leave for good. My grandfather’s service under French granted him safe passage for he and his family to Marseilles. The people of Cilicia suffered through 3 distinct atrocities during the period of 1909-23.
Stepan, my maternal grandmother was around 9 or 10 years old in 1909, as well. She was the granddaughter of one of the Shalvarjian
brothers of Adana who owned an industrial flour mill. My grandmother had five aunts who the Turks captured and killed.
I’m not sure how Grandmother Lousatzeen survived!
In 1913, my maternal grandfather, Khatchadour (Khatcher)Buchaklian immigrated to Racine, WI from Tomarza/ Kaiseri with his brothers. He felt compelled to join the French in 1917 and became an Armenian Legionnaire. I can’t help but wonder, Stepan, if our grandfather’s new each other!
While stationed in Adana, he married my grandmother, Lousatzeen, and in 1920, my mother was born. In order to expedite papers so he could take his young family back with him to his new home in the States, they traveled to Smyrna/Izmir. On July 4, 1921, they were to be on a ship leaving for New York. Unfortunately, my grandmother wasn’t able to pass the vision test. The following year, during the Great Fire of Smyrna, my grandfather was captured and killed by Ataturk’s soldiers. Lousatzeen was beaten by soldiers on horseback but managed to escape all while carrying my mom in her arms. Eventually, they ended up in Midilini and then to mainland Greece (Kokkinia) as refugees. My grandmother passed away a year before I was born in Greece at the age of 57. Although she was named Lusatzeen, she didn’t see much “looyse” in her life. She survived Adana 1909, 1915 Genocide, 1922(Smyrna Fire), and then the Nazi occupation in Greece.