In Armenia

Matheos Eblighatian

Translated by Vahe H. Apelian

In 1913 Matheos Eblighatian was appointed as the prosecutor general in Van. No Armenian had occupied such a high judicial position before, at least not in Van. Interestingly he regarded his assignment as a service in the fatherland, that to say Armenia. After a long journey starting on May 15 through Constantinople Batumi, Tiflisi Yerevan, Igdir, he arrived to Van on July 12. In his memoir (A Life in the Life of My Nation – Կեանք մը Ազգիս Կեանքին Մէջ) he narrated his first impressions under a header he titled “In Armenia”. Attached is my translation of that segment.

 In Armenia

From my young age, as a student and as an employee, I was accustomed to changing my place of residence and my environment but this was something altogether different. I was in Armenia and Van was one of the more significant places of the fatherland. Much effort was being vested to safeguard the fatherland and the Armenians. Tashnag, Ramgavar and Hnchag party members and their followers worked freely in Van.

After losing the Balkans, the Ittihadis had clung firmly to the remaining. Much like during the Hamidian regime, now also they worked to entice some Kurdish tribes and control other Kurdish tribes like puppets. I was interested in the governor of Van since my days in the European Turkey and in Constantinople. I knew that he was a young man who had gained experience during the Macedonian Revolution and was a pragmatist and industrious as well. Right after meeting with my director and the rest of my colleagues, I visited the Governor Tahsin Bey. My first impression confirmed what I had envisioned. He was not much educated but undoubtedly he was an intelligent man. There was an emphasis for friendship and sincerity with which he masked his cunningness. After our customary polite conversation, he immediately brought to my attention the following:

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“At night, should you hear gunshots, do not be alarmed. This city has a reputation as a less than a civilized place. Everyone fires his pistol from his house’s courtyard. Do not think that something has happened and that they will be coming to you as the general prosecutor and ask you to investigate. People simply fire to have fun. I ordered the police to be vigilant and capture those who do not heed my command to cease firing. You also lend a helping towards this goal.”

I replied:

“Of course, within the law, I am ready to bring my unreserved assistance to the efforts the administration has taken and will undertake.”

I left him wondering why is he putting such an undue attention to a routine police matter. It did not take long for me to find out that the cunning person he was with his simple request he, in fact, was addressing the most vital issue of the government.  Truly, that very evening, not long after dusk, gunshots were heard from different places when a young Armenian judge was with me. Both of us were to reside in the Hussian’s house. The landlord had also arrived to welcome us. Both of them explained to me at length the reason for the gunshots.

After the announcement of the Constitution, the people had not stopped arming themselves. They were also learning to be good shots. Most of the people were busy working during the day consequently did not have the time nor the resources for being trained. Consequently, they were learning how to shoot in the orchards at night. That is why the Governor was feeling uneasy hearing these gunshots. They did not only disturb the tranquility for resting at night, but also were vivid reminders that the Armenians were buying guns and were learning how to use them.

The next day there came to the unending visits for welcoming me.

I already had a few years of experience for such visits. What was new for me here was the Armenian life and especially the characteristics of the visitors themselves. There were some among them who presented themselves as the agha (upper) class of the community and felt that they should establish amicable relations with the authorities. There were a few who wanted to establish an avenue for keeping abreast of the day’s events. There were some who were genuinely happy. They regarded my appointment as the general prosecutor as a sign for better relations between the governement and the Armenian community. There were some neigh-sayers (like patriarch Arsharouni) who regarded this arrangement as an act of deceit. 

In any event, during my first 8-10 days, I realized that I was in a very difficult situation. First and foremost I was a man of the law and was in a position to interpret the laws according to my mental and moral disposition.  It was not possible always to harmonize the legal dimension with moral disposition. Most of the Ottoman laws were translated from French.  A lot of lapses would happen in their interpretation and implimentation. With regard to political issues, it was well understood that their legal interpretations were subject to the judge’s race. However just would have been an ethnic judge’s interpretation, he could not convince the Turkish judge of the defendant’s just cause when he resisted the government’s unjustifable treatment of him or of his ethnic compatriots. Therefore when someone acted against the law, the judge (ethnic) felt that he should impose a penalty without taking into consideration the mitigating circumstances. There was also the impossible issue of passing an unrestrainted judgement without taking into consideration the defendant’s religion or race. Consequently, the penalties coming forth from the implementation of the same laws could vary greatly from person to person. I emphasized unrestrained because in general in all countries more or less, and especially in Turkey, one of the greatest impedement for the judges, especially with issues pertaining to politics, was the interference of the state, at times amounting to intimidation. But what could I do? Should I resign? Or should I face these challenges until let go?

It had always been my dream to work in Armenian land and within the Armenian world. I did not want to lose the opportunity and become a deserter. But I decided to be cautious and resort to a larger array of means to live up to my dreams.

The more interesting visitors I had were the Turkish notables. It was more than a curiosity for them to have an Armenian prosecutor general. How were they to sue Armenians henceforth? There were talks that the reformations promised to give Armenians some rights they did not have before. An Armenian prosecutor general was the very evidence of such talks. Some of these Turkish notables wanted to abide by the realities of the day and live and let live. Many of them were very curteous to me, or they may have been faking. There were some, however, who could not restrain their intolerance. There remained for me to be cordial towards all and be cautious in my own conduct, to study and understand each and in time understand all the elements that constituted my surrounding.

The Agony of an Abduction

Vahe H. Apelian

Next to prematurely losing a family member, the worst possible thing is not knowing if the person is still alive or dead. If alive, where is or is being held? If dead, how did he die? Was it a peaceful death or a tortured one? Where are his remains buried?  I do not think that a day could possibly go by without the surviving family members not contemplating the fate of their lost family member/s. The late Kevork George Apelian likened the anguished state akin to being “Martyred For Life” and so titled his book about survivors of the genocide who lost a family member during the ordeal and lived the remainder of their lives wondering what happened to them.

It is not far-fetched to imagine that Sarkis Zeitlian’s family lives the agony of his abduction and obscure fate every God's given day.

Recently I came across a book in my library I had already read, titled “THE SARKIS ZEITLIAN CASE”, in Armenian «ՍԱՐԳԻՍ ԶԷՅԹԼԵԱՆԻ ԴԱՏԸ». “Hraztan Sarkis Zeitlian Publications” published the bilingual book in 1994. My copy was the book’s second and expanded edition. “The publication was sponsored by the Strategic Research Initiative of the GALIAN FOUNCATION, Inc., a non-profit Public Benefit Corporations for the study of Armenian and Multicultural Issues.”

I do not think there is any need to introduce Sarkis Zeitlian other than glimpsing over his personal life. He was born in 1930 in the village of Khader-Beg on the slopes of the famed Moussa Dagh. In 1957 he married the noted author Sona Simonian who was his colleague in Kaloustian School in Cairo. They are blessed with four children. Their son Hraztan is an acclaimed architect. Their daughter Heghnar Zeitlian Watenpaugh is an art professor at University of California and is an award winning author.

Sarkis Zeitlian was abducted on Thursday, March 28, 1985, in broad daylight, at 9:30 am.  The abduction took place “on the street adjacent of Nshan Palanjian Jemaran in West Beirut. Accompanying Sarkis Zeitlian was a member of the ARF Youth Organization, Garo Kolanjian. As he did every Thursday, Sarkis Zeitlian was on his way to the office of Hamazkayin Vahe Setian Publicatishing House located at the corner to the Jemaran to supervise the layout of Aztag Shaptoriag-Troshag (note: ARF Organ) and to have the weekly ready for production by Yervant Nonofarian, the manager of the printing operations”.

I spent most of my teen years in the very neighborhood where the abduction took place. It was heavily populated by Armenians at one time. The Armenian inhabitants started leaving the neighborhood and moving away to the mostly Christian inhabited East Beirut because of the raging Lebanese Civil war. Sourp Nshan Cathedral, Nshan Palanjian Jemaran, Souren Khanamirian and Hovagimian-Manougian High Schools, the Demirjian Middle School, along with HMEM sports center, Hamazkayin Vahe Setian Publishing House, Aztag daily, Ara Yerevanian Community Center,  were all there within an easy walking distance to each other in the  greater Zokak-El-Blat - the one time famed neighborhood of Beirut. In spite of the dwindling Armenian population ARF for a long haul continued to retain its centers there as a testament of its support for an undivided Beirut as an invisible border was splintering the capital city into a West and an East Beirut. Presently not much has left of the thriving Armenian community that resided there once.

“THE SARKIS ZEITLIAN CASE”, is a 130 pages long book. The first part is in Armenian, the second in English. The book is a meticulous study of Sarkis Zeitlians abduction. It consists of six chapters and each chapter contains a number of subsections and each sub-section, in turn, contains, at times, a number of headers. Listing the chapters gives a glimpse of the scope of the study the family has undertaken to come to grips with his abduction. The six chapters are:

I.   THE POLITICAL ASSESSMENT OF SARKIS ZEITLIAN’S ABDUCTION.

II.             THE ABDUCTION OF SARKIS ZEITLIAN

III.            THE INVESTIGATION OF THE SARKIS ZEITLIAN CASE

IV.  THE DISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN AND THE EVIDENCE REFUTING THE DISINFORMATION.

V.            CURRENT STATE OF SAKIS ZEITLIAN’S CASE

VI.          CONCLUSION.

The book is a serious study of Sarkis Zeitlian’s abduction. It also is a reflection of the agony the family experienced loosing the patriarch of the family in such a way. The copy I have is personalized by Mrs. Sona Zeitlian and is dated 1997.  Over three decades have elapsed since his abduction. Had nature been kind to him, Sarkis Zeitlian would have been in the twilight of his later years. During my days as a member of the ARF Zavarian Student Association, Sarkis Zeitlian was a favorite ideologue of the ARF and a much liked orator we did not want to miss hearing him speak on stage.

Kevork George Apelian’s, in his book “Martyred For Life”, wrote that  in spite of the passing years, when wrinkled covered the faces and gray hair    took over the surviving family members but they continued to retain in their memories the image of their loved ones as they saw him or her last. Sarkis Zeitlian was abducted and disappeared in the murky realities of realpolitik at the age of fifty-five. I imagine that it would be impossible for the family members to erase from their memories the image of the robust and dynamic man he was when he was taken away from their midst years ago.

The book ends quoting Jean-Paul Kaufman, who was a former hostage in Lebanon who was released in 1988. Jean-Paul Kaufman has said: “until we have unequivocal evidence that a hostage is dead, we shall conclude that he might still be alive”. I am not sure if passing years will alleviate Zeitlian Family from the pain of losing their patriarch whose fate continues to remain unknown.

We have a saying in Armenian, “May God spare even our enemies from such pain”.