The Legends of Hampartsoum and Aram Keklikians

Vahe H. Apelian

Hampartsoum Keklikian, a.k.a. Hampar Kelikian with Senator Bob Dole

For the Armenians worldwide, the death of Bob Dole surely rekindled in them the late senator’s special relationship with Hampar Kelikian, M.D. When Bob Dole decided to run for the presidency in 1996, I remember his wife Elizabeth, in her introductory remarks about her husband, to a capacity filled town hall audience, mentioning her husband’s youthful service to the country during Second World War and elaborated on his special relationship with the Armenian American surgeon who was instrumental in his rehabilitation.

I had heard of an Armenian doctor’s special relationship with a U.S. senator before I immigrated to the U.S. in 1976.  But the doctor’s name was etched in my memory as Hampartsoum Keklikian. I wondered if Elizabeth Dole’s introduction referred to the same medical doctor; I had read about. It was. Wikipedia notes the following: “Kelikian was an Armenian orthopedic surgeon and native of Hadjin in the Ottoman Empire. Born Hamparzoum Keklikian, he came to America in 1920 to escape the Armenian genocide.”

The Armenian doctor’s reputation among the Armenians was not confined only to his special relationship with his one-time patient, turned Senator Bob Dole.  The good surgeon was  also hailed as a staunch advocate of the Armenian literature. In a personal correspondence Garo Armenian wrote the following about him: “"Dr. Keklikian was also a devoted writer both in Armenian and in English. He tried his hand in fiction in English; wrote a novel which was rejected by the principal publishers. The theme (obviously relating to the tragedy of his people) was alien to the US publishing world. His comparative study (in Armenian) of Tchekhov and Shirvanzadeh is superbly erudite. He was a close friend of William Saroyan. Unfortunately, his busy life left no room for writing. He would have been one of the stars of the Diaspora literature. Once a year, he would spend a few weeks both in Beirut and Aleppo." He was 84 years old, when he passed away in 1983.

There is another legend by another Keklikian, less known but no less compelling.

In 2005 Kevork George Apelian, introduced to the Armenian readership Aram Keklikian in his book that was translated into English as “Martyrdom For Life” (Յկեանս Նահատակութիւն). Aram Keklikian’s story is titled “Bedouin Chief Aram Keklkian – Selman El Drbo”. The story is the first of the 17 real life Armenian genocide survivor’s stories that constitute the book.

Aram Keklikian’s legend untangled when a Bedouin chief presented his two wives to a woman tailor in the city of Kamishli in Syria. The tailor happened to be an Armenian and thence the Bedouin chief unraveled the mystery that had surrounded his whole existence and ended up locating his biological mother Yeran who  was the daughter of Effendi Garabed Chalian of Hadjin and was married to Hovhannes Keklikian of Hadjin as well. In the ensuing genocidal mayhem, she had lost her husband, a younger son but her eight years old son Aram was abducted. After surviving the ordeal, she had remarried and had started a new family anew.

After the mother and son united, they had a picture of two taken together which graces Kevork George Apelian’s book’s cover.

Aram Keklikian, a.k.a Salman El Drbo with his mother.

Hampartsoum and Aram Keklikians from Hadjin  became prominent in their own rights, oceans and continents away from each other.

 Hampartsoum Keklikian, through hard work and perseverance became a reputable surgeon. He surely left behind an unforgettable legacy for Dole and Kelikian families and for the Armenians at large, as well as for the American medical and civic communities.

 Aram Keklikian was not born from a Bedouin tribe member where patriarchal lineage is paramount for prominence. But through his intelligence and fair play had become the chief of their tribe and surely left behind an unforgettable legacy no less for his descendants who would become members of the Armenian Islamic tribe. Serendipitous turns of event led Kevork George Apelian to discover the existence of this official tribe in Syria and reported for the very first time, a few years after he wrote his “Martyrdom for Life” book.

The lives of these two Armenian genocide survivors, Hampartsoum Keklikian, a.k.a. Hampar Kelikian; and Aram Keklikian, a.k.a. Salman El Drbo make the staff of which rightfully Armenian genocide survivors’ legends are made.