The Beirut branch of the Kessab Educational Association published a pictorial album in 1955 depicting the daily lives and endeavors of the Kessabtsis as they carved a living in the then desolate area at the foot of their beloved mountain Gassios Ler. The late Bishop Terenig Poladian is credited to have been the main thrust behind the publication of this memorial album, which to this day stands as the best pictorial presentation of Kessab before “modernity” with all conveniences encroached it. The memorial album is dedicated to the memory of Daye. The late bishop, whose life was cut short by the stabbing of a deranged seminary student, eulogized Daye in his introduction of the pictorial album.
I owe my recollection of Daye to my father who, during a family conversation, said that Daye advocated keeping a rifle at home. He would then further elaborate in a light mood and say: “if your wife and your friends will not be impressed by the sight of the rifle hanging on the wall in your house, your enemies will think twice before daring to break into your home.”
I owe Haigaz Terterian, a son-in-law of Daye, the information I gathered for this article.
Daye, understandably, was not his name or his surname. His Saghdejian parents had baptized him Ovsia. His contemporaries endearingly named him Daye, much like the contemporaries of Catholicos of All Armenians Mkrditch Kharimian called him Hayreg, since his days as the prelate of Daron in Western Armenia. The Kessabtsis continue to relate to Ovsia Saghdejian as Daye.
Nowadays, for some calling a person Daye may sound odd. After all it is a Turkish word and it means uncle. However, Kessabtsis, who long lived under the Ottoman rule,adopted many Turkish words into their dialect. The word Daye was as authentic in their dialect as the word Hayreg is in vernacular Armenian. Both of these names were made in reference to the all-caring person the people saw in these men.
Ovsia Saghdejian was born in 1887 in a non-descript house in Kaladouran, the coastal village of Kessab, where the Saghdejian family had their own hamlet known as Saghdejlek. Not much is known of his childhood and youth. The only certain thing about his childhood is that he never attended school. That’s the way it was then for many toiling under the oppressive Ottoman regime. It is known that he learned rudimentary Armenian writing in America so that he would be able to write letters to his parents and relatives in Kessab without asking others to write for him. The other certainty of his early adult life is that he left for America before the 1915 Armenian Genocide. However, it is not known what compelled him, as a young adult, to leave his parents and relatives behind and immigrate to America.
His life we know, for all practical purposes, started in 1917. The previous thirty years of his life are lost in obscurity. We became aware of him when he volunteered from America and enlisted in the Armenian Legion under French command. On September 18, 1918 he took part in the famed Arara battle on the Palestinian front, where the commanding officers credited the bravery of the Armenian combatants for defeating the Turkish army. Twenty-three Armenian volunteer combatants were killed in the battle.
Ovsia continued to serve in the Armenian Legion but upon witnessing the French government renege the promises it had made to the Armenians to secure for them a homeland in Cilicia, he left the legion with his compatriot Missak Guiragossian and retuned to Kessab taking refuge in his ancestral village Kaladouran and organized a defensive force consisting mostly of the former legionnaires who had the training and the materiel for self-defense. The group undertook the security of Kessab and made a point of appearing in different locations at different periods of the day but mostly under the cover of the night leaving the impression that armed Armenian forces were stationed throughout Kessab safeguarding the security of the inhabitants who had survived the Armenian Genocide and were returning to their ancestral homes to start their lives anew.
In the aftermath of the First World War, there was no centralized government in the region. The Ottoman Empire had crumbled and the Middle East, as we know today, did not exist yet. To organize their communal live and securre their safety, the Kessabtsis established their own de facto small republic with elected officials heading an executive committee, a police force, a judicial committee and even operated a prison. The self-proclaimed republic that oversaw the daily lives of the Kessabtsi lasted three years. During this period Ovsia Saghdejian was not elected to any office and yet for the Kessabtsis he personalized the spirit and the will that safeguarded them and made their self-governing entity a functioning reality assuring the security of Kessab. Throughout the three years period, Kessab not only lived a secure life but also provided refuge to people from the local Alawi and Greek minorities. It is thus the legend of Daye was born. His name, Ovsia Saghdejian, henceforth started to fade into oblivion while the stature of Daye started to emerge larger than life. The late bishop Terenig Poladian wrote in his eulogy of Daye that the Kessabtsis noted with confidence that as long as Daye was alive and well, no Turk would dare attack Kessab.
In the late 1992, the French Government took over the command of the region and dissolved the local self-proclaimed governing entity of Kessab. The French authorities also issued arrest warrant for Daye on the allegation that he was spearheading desertion from the French armey. During this period Daye was compelled to live in a semi-nomadic life in Kessab always entrusting his fellow Kessabtsis his whereabouts.
His compassion for the welfare of the Genocide survivors was not only manifested in his fiercey independent will to resort to arms for self-defense. Once the French authorities established their colonial rule over Syria, he established an orphanage and took care of over 30 young orphaned boys and girls. He resorted to every means to fund the orphanage. These efforts did not stop him from setting his arms aside and roam from village to village asking for sustanane whenever funds he received became insufficient to take of the orphans. It is said that he also acted as a matchmaker and found suitable mates for many of the orphans under his care.
In 1929 Ovsia married Marie Adourian who, as noted, was said to be the last in his orphanage. Marie and her mother were the sole survivors of their immediate and extended families and had managed to return to Kessab after an ordeal which, bu popular account, has lasted three years and three months since that fateful day in July 1915 when they were forcibly uprooted and returned in autumn to face the bitter winter ahead without being prepared for it. Marie’s mother died soon after their return and Marie found refuge in the orphanage. In spite of their noted age difference they established a loving and a nurturing family and raised four daughters to adulthood- Khatoun, Rahel, Manoushag and Yeranouhy. Their last daughter is named after their first born who died of a freak accident at the age of three. In time their daughters married and raised families of their own and added thirteen grandchildren to Daye’s legacy.
After marrying, Ovsia settled down as a family man. He henceforth became an all-compassionate community leader. He did not oppose the 1946-1947 repatriation to Soviet Armenia but decided not to move. He had an innate mistrust of communists and did not support the 1920 Soviet takeover of the short lived first Republic of Armenia. As an outcome of his stand no member of the Saghdejian clan left for Soviet Armenia.
He was tall, well-built and had a commanding presence and was calm and composed. No one had seen him angry or in fear during the inordinate pressure he faced in organizing the round the clock defense of Kessab. He was of modest means but was a much sought after companion and host. For all practical purposed he was illiterate and yet the Armenian literary titans of the day, such as Nigol Aghpalian and others, eagerly sought his company. He was a natural-born raconteur. He did not take part in Armenian politics. He was a populist. However, many sought his advice. He was self-reliant to the end and if he ever asked for a favor it was for someone else. His requests on behalf of others were never turned down. For a person who never commanded a position or elected to an office or had any formal education, he commanded an unusual degree of respect from individuals and organizations alike. He was a natural-born leader. Over time the Kessabtsi youth idolized him, even though he was bed-ridden in the last four years of his life.
On is tombstone it is carved that he died in 1953. Indeed, Ovsia Saghdejian died then, but the legend of the Daye continued to live among his contemporaries and in the generations the followed. His legacy remains intimately tied with the Kessab Armenian history.
The following is a testament from his grandson posted in Keghar.com, on February 9, 2010, attesting to the enduring legacy of Ovsia Saghdejian, the beloved Daye of Kessab.
Hagop Panossian
Beirut, Lebanon”
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