“Will it reach the people in need?”

Vahe H. Apelian

Garo and Maral Apelian
(Garo's Facebook profile) 

I title my blogs first.

Titling a blog first helps me sort out my frame of mind. Henceforth putting the body of the text under the title becomes relatively easy and, believe it or not, not as time consuming as the framing the title. 

I first thought titling this blog, “Maral Apelian, caught in the whirlwinds of the times.” She remains in my mind. But I soon realized that title is constraining my thoughts even though young Maral Apelian and her family remain the focus of my thoughts. They are one of the thousands of the families, if not the whole nation, caught in the whirlwinds of the times.

Whirlwinds are strong winds that can quickly change things, such as damage trees, buildings and also sweep people that happen to be on their path, like tornadoes do. That is what happened to young Maral and her family. But I opted to title this blog instead with an actual quote from a question his father Garo posted on my Facebook page in response to my blog about the U.S. humanitarian aid. 

His question was:

 “Will it reach the people in need?”

Garo, his brother Serop and sister Maral, were the young children of Soghomon and Azadouhie Apelian, when their parents left Syria with them to carve a life for their own in the United States, as many Armenians from Lebanon and Syria did. But two decades ago Garo, a young man left the United States wanting to settle in his ancestral village Keurkune, where they had their ancestral lands and Syria was a booming country and Kessab had become a touristic mecca boosting astronomically the prices of the lands Kessabtsi families owned for generations. 

My blood relations with Garo are closer from my mother’s side – nee՛ Zvart Chelebian – than from my father’s side. Garo’s paternal grandmother Marie Chelebian Apelian – is my mother’s paternal aunt. That is to say, Garo’s paternal grandmother is my mother’s father’s - my maternal grandfather Khatcher's - sister, who was married to an Apelian family patriarch Hapel.  In fact, it was they, Hapel and Marie (Chelebian) Apelian, who had made arrangements that my genocide orphaned maternal grandmother Karoun Apelian, the daughter of Hovhannes Apelian, marry Khatcher Chelebian, Marie’s brother. Their wedding had taken place in their make shift camp in Deir Attiyeh, Syria, on their way back to their ancestral village Kessab, having survived the genocide. 

In Syria, my paternal cousin Stepan Apelian and his wife Ani, took Garo under their wings. Garo completed his Syrian military service, worked in Stepan and Ani’s famed Kessab soap factory. Stepan had a 4-storey building erected on Garo’s family’s grounds, with financial assistance from Garo’s mother in the U.S. Garo moved in one of the apartments, married Sevan Manjikian from the village of Kaladouran. Their wedding took place in the Armenian Evangelical Church of Keurkune. Stepan and Ani Apelian became the godparents at their wedding. And it is there in Keurkune that a daughter was born to the young Garo and Sevan (Manjikian) Apelian family whom they named Maral, who from very on, Keurkunetsis vouch, became noted for her unusual bright mind.

Then came upon Kessab March 21, 2014, when Muslim extremists, in the early hours of that dreaded Friday, attacked Kessab from Turkey, marking the third exodus of the Kessabtsis in a century. Much is written about that tragic event to dwell upon it here. As an outcome of the devastation and the decimation Kessab economy had sustained, Stepan and Ani Apelian with their young son Hovag came to the United States, where their son Dr. Tsolag had settled. 

Garo and Sevan Apelian with their young daughter Maral repatriated and settled in Armenia. Sevan officiated her nursing care certifications in Armenia. Driven by their patriotic zeal, and likely by their love of the village life, they moved to Artsakh and were settled in Medz Shen. Young Maral was in Yerevan having undergone her eye sight corrective surgery when the Lachin Corridor was blockaded and she remained separated from her family until the family found a way to be united again in Artsakh. In fact, young Maral who is articulate in English having learned from her father, became a young spokesperson of the blockade. We all know what happened during the ensuing nine months that culminated in the September 20, 2023 capitulation of the Republic of Artsakh. Throughout those nine months, Garo and Sevan were in touch with Stepan and Ani, as best as they could, given the siutation.  On September 26, 2023, Tatul Hakobyan reported that “Metz Shen of Shushi region was also forcefully evacuated and deported. This is the village that was massacred by the Turks in 1918. Throughout history, this was the most important Armenian village connecting Goris to Shushi,” Tatul wrote. From there on the communication with the family stopped, until the family resurfaced again.

Garo, Sevan and Maral Apelian are now in Armenia, refugees over again. Young Maral has been caught in the whirlwinds of the times. Stepan and Ani remain the main contact for the Apelian family to reach out to them.  As stated the title of the blog is a comment Garo made to my blog I posted on my Facebook page, where he  asked: 

 “Will it (the aid) reach the people in need?”

I will single out what Aram Suren Hamparian posted on Facebook, on behalf of ANCA, regarding the U.S. humanitarian aid. Aram posted a clip that addressed Samantha Power in Armenia on her mission, and said: “Sanction Azerbaijan or go back to your country”. A few months ago, in another unfathomable posturing, Aram Suren Hamparian commented on the same social medium from his office that that his supporters pay to maintain, saying:  “Yerevan is in cahoots with Ankara, against the interest of Armenia”. Today, a few hours ago, in a misplaced analogy but with poignantly evident implication, given ANCA’s track record against the government the citizens of Armenia elected in a transparent, orderly, democratic election, he commented the following:

“Captain of Exxon Valdez: Drunk, steering ship into rocks.

Crew member #1: Quick, take the helm. Save our ship.

Crew member #2: But he’s, our captain.”

It’s up to the readers whether they liken themselves to Aram Suren Hamparian’s figurative crew member # 1, or crew member #2. Although both analogies are wrong, because the readers of the comment are mostly in the United States and hence on a USS (United States Ship), or on the ground in the West, not confronting an imminent danger or hunger. While Garo Apelian and his family are on the ground in Armenia and are rightfully concerned for their safety and their hunger.

“Will it (the aid) reach the people in need?”

I am reminded of the Armenian saying, “The satiated does not understand the state of the hungry” (կուշտը` անօթիին վիճակը չի հասկնար). I quoted the Armenians saying not only as a statement of fact, that the satiated person obviously does not experience and relate to hunger pains, the hungry experiences. I also quoted the saying as a figure of speech for politicized patriotic posturing from a far distance.

Note:

1. U.S. Humanitarian Aid

http://vhapelian.blogspot.com/2023/09/us-humanitarian-aid-to-armenia.html

2. Maral Apelian, a teenage voice from Artsakh

http://vhapelian.blogspot.com/2023/04/maral-apelian-let-my-people-go.html