V.H. Apelian's Blog: Hagop Der Melkonian (1879-1972)

Hagop Der Melkonian theater is a center of attention these days because the leader of the extra-parliamentary opposition in Armenia is scheduled to bring the opposition’s case to the Diaspora and present it in that theater, which arguably is the only Armenian owned theater in the Diaspora. The theater is named after its colorful benefactor. Recently Vahig Vartabedian, provided to me his grandfather’s biography which I abridged and translated and posted below. Vahe H. Apelian

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Hagop Der Melkonian

Hagop Der Melkonian’s grandfather was a married priest (kahana). His name was Der Meklon, whose baptismal name was Asdvadzadour Gemirjian (Աստուածատոր Կէմիճեան ) - 1802-1885, Aintab. Before him the local priest’s name was also named Melkon. When Kahana Melkon passed away, the community remained without a priest and requested Asduatzadour Gemirjian to become their priest and asked him to assume the name Melkon in honor of the deceased priest whom the community liked. Henceforth the family acquired Der Melkonian as their surname.

Hagop Der Melkonian’s father was Der Avedis Avak (senior) Kahana, 1848-1909, who was Der Melkon’s eldest son. His mother’s name was Trvanda (Թրվանտա). She hailed from Kilis. They sired eleven children, but only four survived to adulthood: Hagop (1879-1972), Mehran (1885-1920), Eliza (1889-1994), and Melkon (1894-1959).

Hagop graduated Vartanian School in Aintab. Subsequently he taught at the Nersesian National School. In 1895 he started attending Central Turkey College which was “sometimes called Aintab College. It was a Christian high school founded between 1874 and 1876 by the American Mission Board in Aintab, Ottoman Empire (now Gaziantep, Turkey - Wikipedia).

In the aftermath of the 1896 sack and plunder, his father told Hagop that he and the community were rendered impoverished, and he no longer could support him to continue his education. Consequently, Hagop left the school and went to Alexandretta to join his maternal cousins to learn trading.

His mother, along with several of her students, engaged in embroidery for income. The wife of the Aintab College president Dr. Sheppard liked their embroidery and made a deal with them and every month purchased their embroidery and shipped them to the United States. In this manner Hagop Der Melkonian’s mother Trvanda became the pioneer for nationwide recognition of the famed Aintab embroidery.

Four years later, in 1900, Hagop moved to Dortyol and settled there and established a business. He summoned his brother Mehran, who was four years his junior. The business picked up. In addition to their trading they also bought an orange orchard that did well. Having successfully settled there, Hagop had his parents, younger Melkon and sister Eliza join him also in Dortyol, where his father for the next four years filled in as the priest. Having the family settled there, his brother Melkon left for Constantinople to attend the Berberian school, while his sister Eliza attended the Adana College for girls. Native Malatia Sachaklian married his sister Eliza and moved to the United States. (The reference is to Aaron Sachaklian, a master mind of the Operation Nemesis depicted in the “Sacred Justice” book by their grandaugher Marian Mesrobian MacCurdy.)

The Adana massacre happened in 1909, but fortunately Dortyol escaped from the carnage thanks to their preparedness for self-defense. Brothers Hagop and Mehran played an important role. Henceforth the locals called his brother “Mehran of Dortyol”.

In 1910 Hagop Der Melkonian married Ovsanna in Aintab. She was the daughter of Khacher Agha Merghoudian (Խաչեր Աղա Պերղուտեան). After a month they returned to Dortyol. Having assumed an active role during the defense of Dortyol, the Turkish police pursued him. Hagop sent his wife to Aintab, where their first child was born. He sold his business in Dortyol and moved with the rest of the family to Mersin where he became employed by Ipranossian’s. Their second child Meline was born in Mersin in January 1914. His brother Mehran married a local Armenian girl.

The tell, tell signs for an impeding great war were being noticed. The brothers had their mother move to Aleppo, where she put her talents in embroidery in use to make a living. His brother Mehran enlisted in the French army. He and his brother Melkon were drafted to the Turkish army. Hagop realizing that the Armenian conscripts were subjected to hard labor until they dropped dead, managed to flee the Turkish army and take refuge in the Amanos Moutains where he eked out a living often working in Arab villages.

During the 1918 armistice he returned to Aintab. His brother Mehran moved to Dortyol where he was martyred in 1920 without having seen his daughter’s birth.

Hagop Der Melkonian was a member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation. In Aintab he assumed different responsibilities as treasurer, executive secretary, chairman of various organizations to oversee the plight of the Armenians who had returned to Aintab. He moved to Aleppo as the Armenians were expelled from historical Cilicia.

In Aleppo he established Nazarian-Der Melkonian business for textile. With Harout Khatchadourian they had spring water outlets made for the community and had a water pumping station for the Armenian old age home.

His wife Ovsanna had five brothers. Her brother Hagop had moved to the United States but returned to Aleppo to get married and settled there but changed his mind upon hearing the burning of Izmir in 1921 and moved back to the U.S. with his wife, mother-in-law, and the rest of the family. Hagop Der Melkonian decided to join them in the U.S. and moved to Beirut with his family since Aleppo did not have a U.S. Embassy but decided to settle in Lebanon after recovering from Typhus.

Two years later his brother Melkon and his wife moved to Beirut as well and lived with Hagop and his family under the same roof. In 1924 the two brothers established their textile business which in short time became a very successful enterprise.

Courtesy Garo Konyalian

Hagop Der Melkonian’s contributions and donations to the Armenian community in Lebanon are many and astonishing.

In 1923 he assumed the chairmanship of the Aintab Compatriotic Union. He was elected a delegate to national conventions that he chaired for many years. In 1934 he was the first person to be elected as the trustee of Saint Nshan Church. He became one of the founders of Hamazkayin in Lebanon and the driving force behind the acquisition of the property of Djemaran. He was also active in the Armenian General General Benevolent Union (A.G.B.U.)

The 1929 Great Depression in the United States affected many businesses in Lebanon that went bankrupt as well. Among them was one of his client’s, who offered him a 1.5 acres (6000 square meters) land he owned in Hermel. The local inhabitants warned him that they would not let him take possession of the property. Whereupon Hagop Der Melkonian donated the property to the Catholicosate of Sis in Antelias, Lebanon.

In 1937 the French ceded Sanjak-Alexandretta to the Turks resulting in the mass exodus of Armenian to Anjar. The conditions for the refugees were deplorable and the threat of epidemics loomed over the settlers. Many well to do Armenians came to their assistance. Along with the Najarians, Hagop Der Melkonian also assisted in providing water pumps for safe distribution of drinking water and for irrigation.

In 1950 Djemaran was on the verge of losing its leased property. A spacious building was put for sale in Zokak-El-Blat neighborhood for 800,000 Lebanese Liras. The Hamazkayin Association was in dire financial situation. Hagop Der Melkonian without hesitation put the two buildings he owned as collateral and bought the building and had the school move in the new building. Immediately fter the purchase Levon Shant embarked on a fund raising campaign in the U.S. and thanks to the generous donation of Palanjian sisters, Hamazkayin assumed the ownership of the building relieving Hagop from financial responsibility. Henceforth the school came to be known as Nshan Palanjian Djemaran.

From 1950 to 1956, the Catholicosate of Cilicia’s pontifical seat had remained vacant creating a political quagmire at the height of the cold war. Despite the enormous pressure put on Hagop Der Melkonian as the Chairman of the National Assembly, Hagop managed to successfully lead the convention that elected Archbishop Zareh Payasilian Catholicos of the Cilician See. Along with being an astute businessman, Hagop Der Melkonian was a scholar of the Armenian National Constitution and has authored a book titled “National Constitution” . He also is the author of a history book titled Two Smbads” (Երկու Սմբատներ).

In 1966 he was recognized as a veteran member of the Armenian General Benevolent Union (A.G.B.U.)

In 1969 Catholicos Khoren I of blessed memory bestowed upon him the order of Cilician Prince declaring him a national benefactor.

Two buildings retain his name. The Hagop Der Melkonian Theater and the convention hall of the Djemaran. He had the clinic of the Azadamart community center named in memory of his brother Mehran.

Hagop Der Melkonian passed away in 1972.