“Ani” Armenian Evangelical College History Club Periodical (1965-2017)

“Ani” Armenian Evangelical College History Club Periodical

 (1965-2017)

Dr. Zaven Messerlian

Translated by: Vahe H. Apelian

Recently I received the latest and mostly likely the last copy of the Armenian Evangelical College (AEC) History Club’s periodical “Ani”, which may very well be the only Armenian high school student history publication of such longevity. It has been published in its original cover design since it came about in 1965, at the 50th anniversary of the commemoration of the Armenian Genocide. It was the year I graduated from the high school. The attached is my translation of an article Dr. Zaven Messerlian wrote about the periodical "Ani" in that latest issue.

“Ani” is the publication of the Armenian Evangelical College History Club. Its founder and the advisor has been Dr. Zaven Messerlian, who also was the founder and the advisor of the history club from October 1964 to June 2017.

The first issue of the “Ani” Periodical appeared in February 1965 and the second issue of the first year appeared in June 1965.  Henceforth it was published once a year.

Herewith we note the student editor of the year and the month the periodical was published.

1st Year	February	1965	Vahe H. Apelian
	June	1965	Vahe H. Apelian
2nd Year	May	1966	Vehanoush Tekian
3rd Year	December	1967	Artoun Hamalian
4th Year	March	1969	Sona Hamalian
5th Year	March	1970	Ara Tekian
6th Year	March	1971	Ara Tekian
7th Year	March	1972	Vache Minassian
8th Year	April	1973	Vache Minassian
9th Year	April	1974	Viken Gulvartian
10th Year	May	1975	Viken Gulvartian
11th Year	May	1978	Hagop Sulahian
12th Year	May	1980	Khatchig Dedeyan
13th Year	June	1981	Khatchig Dedeyan
14th Year	April	1982	Nerva Fereshetian
15th Year	June	1983	Hrair Koutnouyan
16th Year	June	1985	Hilda Kuredjian
17th Year	June	1986	Heghnar Zeitlian
18th Year	June	1987	Zaven Kouyoumdjian
19th Year	June	1988	Lenda Soghomonian
20th Year	May	1990	Maria Sekilian
21st Year	June	1991	Yoland Nalbandian
22nd Year	June	1992	Maya Hosri
23rd Year	May	1994	Yeghig Torossian
24th Year	June	1995	Yeghig Torossian
25th Year	June	1996	Rita Lao
26th Year	June	1997	Elda Degirmenjian
27th Year	May	1998	Shaghig Doulian

After 1999, “Ani” Periodical did not have student editors. Henceforth the advisor of the history club Dr. Zaven Messerlian edited the writings of the 11th grade Armenian history students focusing on a subject.  Herewith is the listing of the year, the month “Ani” henceforth was published and the subject matter of the year’s issue.

28th Year	May	1999	Artsakh
29th Year	June	2001	Armenian contributions to civilization
30th Year	June	2002	Armenian Kingdoms
31st year	June	2003	Important Armenian historical milestones
32nd Year	June	2004	Armenian history subjects
33rd Year	June	2005	Armenian history subjects
34th Year	June	2006	Celebrated Armenian historical figures
35th Year	June	2007	Armenian Diaspora communities
36th Year	June	2008	Famous battles in Armenian history
37th Year	July	2009	The Armenian Genocide
38th Year	June	2010	Notable Armenian kings
39th Year	June	2011	Important treaties in Armenian history
40th Year	June	2012	Armenian cities in Western Armenia and Cilicia
41st Year	June	2013	Celebrated Armenian women
42nd Year	July	2014	Important dates in Armenian history
43rd Year	June	2015	Armenian Genocide
44th Year	May	2016	The course of Armenian history from 2492 B.C. to 2017 A.D.
45th Year	March	2017	Brief biographies of Armenian kings, prime ministers and presidents.

When we view the names of the past student editors of “Ani” periodical, we realize that many of them brought noteworthy contributions to Armenian life. We mention those familiar to us in chronological order as the editor of “Ani” periodical.

Dr. Vahe H. Apelian – A pharmaceutical scientist by career, editor of books and the author of three volumes sequel “The Way We Were”.

Vehanous Tekian – A renowned Armenian poetess and author of many books.

Artoun Hamalian – A pedagogue, former principal of schools, presently the director of the Education Department of the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU).

Sona Hamalian – An activist who has held important civic positions both in Diaspora and in Armenia.

Dr. Ara Tekian – An internationally acclaimed scholar and leader in health professions education and recipient of Ellis Island Award.

Dr. Viken Gulvartian (1956-2016) - A pharmacist by profession and a long time Board Member of AGBU Manougian-Demirjian school. He was instrumental in establishment of a modern Visual Arts Department with its drama, dance, at and music sections.

Hagop Sulahian – An architect and an award-winning artist.

Khatchig Dedeyan – A poet and author of books. For the past many years he is the chancellor at the Armenian Catholicosate of Great House of Cilicia.

Nerses Fereshetian (Kazanjian) – An architect.

Hrair Koutnouyan, MD – A medical doctor.

Hilda Kuredjian Hartounian – The chairwoman of the Tekeyan Cultural Association in New Jersey.

Zaven Kouyoumjian – A well-known Lebanese talk show host, producer, and television personality and author of several books.

Linda Soghomonian Gedinian – A fashion promoter and marketer.

Maria Sekilian – A nurse and a candidate for doctor in nursing.

Yoland Nalbandian – A film director

Maya Hosri – A pedagogue

Yeghig Torossian – The chairman of the West Beirut A.R.F.

Rita Lao (Manjilikian) – A social worker in Lebanon and in Armenia where she currently resides.

Elda Degirmenjian – A pianist and a teacher of piano.

Shaghig Doulian (Titizian) – An employee of a pharmaceutical company.

Dr. Zaven Messerlian, Honorary Principal.

P.S.:    

Heghnar Zeitlian - Heghnar Zeitlian Watenpaugh is professor of Art History at the the University of California, Davis. She is an award-winning author.

Hrant and the Plight of Bantoukht

(remembering  Serop Yeretsian)

Vahe H. Apelian.

Melkon Gurdjian, who wrote under the pen name Hrant, is known among the Western Armenian writers as the author who brought to light the plight of the Armenian migrants from the interior of the country to Bolis, the Armenian word for Constantinople.

Recently I read a book titled “Complete Literary Works” of Melkon Gurdjian. It is subtitled “From Bantoukht's (Migrant’s) Life”. In Armenian it reads «ԱՄԲՈՂՋԱԿԱՆ ԵՐԿԵՐ», Ա. – “ՊԱՆԴՈՒԽՏԻ ԿԵԱՆՔԷՆ”. The book is a compilation of letters Hrant wrote at the urging of his friend Arpiar Arpiarian, who had these letters published in “Massis”, the journal he edited. “Friends of Martyred Writers” published the book and noted the following in their introduction of the author and his literary legacy noting that they are “glad that the second volume of their sequel is devoted to Hrant’s letters about the lives of migrants. These letters constitute one of the more memorable literary works about the  (Armenian) life in the late 19^th century.  According to Arpiar Arpiarian, Hrant is a bitter heart’s poet.  His literary work depicts the inner pain and distress of these souls that remained mostly unheard”.

The following are the milestones of Melkon Gurdjian’s life.

1859. He was born in the village of Havav in Palou, Western Armenia. He was brought to Constantinople in his early adolescent years to continue his education. He graduated from the Üsküdar Lyceum (Djemaran). After which he furthered his education. Henceforth devoted his life to teaching.

1888 – He started contributing to literary journals “Arevelk”,  “Massis” and “Hairenik”, where he had his acclaimed writings about the plight of the Armenian migrants posted under the header “letters from the lives of migrants” signed by his pen name Hrant.

1893 – He got engaged to the noted writer Krikor Odian’s niece. Not long after his engagement, he was imprisoned for a month for suspicions of his political affiliation. He, in fact, had become a member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation.

1896 – During the pogroms of Armenians in Bolis, government officials raided his house as well when he was not at home, looking for guns but finding nothing of that sort, confiscated and destroyed his writings. Fearing for his safety he fled for Varna, Bulgaria where he established a school for the children of Armenian refugees fleeing Turkey.

1898 – Contrary to the advice of his wife and his friends, he returned to Constantinople where he was apprehended and imprisoned for six months and later exiled to the interior of country where he remained for the next ten years reporting to the police of his daily whereabouts. During those years he gave private lessons for French to medical students and medical doctors. He also wrote and translated including “Life of Jesus” by the French philosopher and historian Joseph Ernest Renan. In spite of his conforming and abiding by the dictates, he was imprisoned again for two months and his writings were confiscated and destroyed once more.

1909 – He returned to Constantinople after the establishment of a constitutional government in Turkey, and resumed teaching of Armenian language and literature and classical Armenian of which he was regarded an expert. He continued to contribute to literary journals there, “Puzanteon” («Բիզանդիոն»), “Azadamard” («Ազատամարտ») և “Yergounk” («Երկունք»).

1910 – He was elected as a delegate and took part in the election of the Catholicos in Etchmiadzin. Upon his return he published his impressions in a series of articles in “Arevelk”.

1915 – He was also apprehended in April along with the other Armenian intellectuals and community leaders and was sent to the interior of the country where he was also killed.

Migration continues to be inherent to the very fabric of the Armenian social life. I doubt there is an Armenian who does not have a family history that does not include migration. That aspect of our collective social life is so much engrained in our psyche that we have coined a unique word for it in our lexicon,  Bantoukht, well above the common word used to describe migration and migrant in general. I know of no English word that can possibly convey the sentiments the word Bantoukht conveys. It embodies feelings the word migrant could not possibly express on its own. The word amasses sentiments of being a foreigner, or a stranger in a distant land, longing for the home and a way of life left behind and never contemplating making the newly reality a home. No wonder that Hrant titled his letters “Letters from Bantoukht” (Պանդուխտի Նամակներ).

Nowadays, we often sentimentalize the Armenian life in our historic homeland. The unfortunate and sad reality is that the conditions in the interior of the country were mostly brutal to the point that the oppressed, mostly illiterate and living in abject poverty, the Armenian subjects could not even eke out a hand to mouth living forcing many to venture to Constantinople in the hope of saving some money to send home. The migrants were overwhelmingly if not exclusively males, and some as young as fourteen. Displaced, they lived in communal housings, Khans. They mostly congregated based on the region they came from. It is their plight that had catapulted the newly elected Patriarch Khrimian Hairig to take a stand against the National Constitution as ratified because it deprived the interior of the country from adequate representation in the National Assembly to have their grievances heard.

The book I read is comprised of two parts. The first part is the collection of Melkon Gurdjian’s writings in the form of the letters mostly addressed to Arpiar Arpirian. These letters are masterfully written in an impeccable Western Armenian and are highly expressive and moving. They are twenty in number. Each letter depicts and describes mostly a heart-wrenching situation the migrants and the families and parents they left behind experienced. It also depicts the cherishable values the migrants harbored in spite of their harsh reality. Each letter varies in length. The first letter posted in “Massis” is dated 1888 and the 17^th and last letter there is dated 1890. The next three letters were posted in “Hairenik” and are dated 1891, 1892 and 1893 respectively.

The second part of the book is titled  “Figures and Stories” (Պատկերներ եւ Վիմակներ). This section constitutes 9 chapters. They are posted in “Hairenik” (1892(x3), 1893, 1895), “Massis” (1893) and in “Azadamard” (1909, 1912, 1913).

In these letters Hrant described the plight of these migrant workers noting that: “At least one hundred thousand have been cast away from their homes. Do you know who are they? They are those who would have worked, toiled in the fields, harvested the crop. After sacrificing all they can, they send home a meager saving.” He continued on noting that, “ It has been like this for centuries. The tragedy continues today much like a worm that nibbles the lungs of the sick” and alerts saying, “if the migration continues like this, our inner provinces will be depopulated today or tomorrow; know of this, it is a horrible truth”. A hundred and thirty years later, Hrant’s warning remains compelling and rings a bell.  

By assembling Hrant’s writings from these various journals the members of the association lived up to their names as true friends of martyred writers. Had they not done so Hrant’s writings would have remained scattered in literary journals long ceased from publication and would have been destined for oblivion. We also would have been deprived of the true picture of a historic reality that had plaqued the life of the Armenian subjects in the interior Turkey for generations. Assembling his letters in a book, the “Friends of Martyred Writers” safeguarded that historic reality and the literary legacy of this devoted martyred writer.

The book is 218 pages long and measures 15x20 cm. The late Serop Yeretsian had gifted this book to me. It is in soft cover but Serop had his copy bound in hard cover. I post this piece in his memory.