"But I refuse to be one."

 “They Were, (and) are no more” (Կային, Չկան) is the title of the last chapter of Antranig Zarougian’s “The Greats and the Others” (Մեծերը եւ Միւսները) book where he casts a glimpse of the way Diaspora writers related to each other, as poets, novelists, journalists, and editors and in doing so propelled the post genocide Western Armenian literature to new heights that subsided with their passing away. The attached is my abridged translated segment from that chapter. Vahe H. Apelian

Arshag Chobanian

“ I was with Arshag Chobanian¹ in the Ajemian restaurant. He was playing backgammon with Levon Mozian². Right after seeing me, he said:

- “I will be with you right away.”

And indeed, soon after he got up. He even did not wait long enough for me to sit. Levon Mozian held my arm and said to me:

“My friend, know this. Chobanian lost the past three games, but he let go of the winner instead coming at him with a vengeance to the very end. Something that has never happened before, which makes me believe that you are a very important person for him. I hope you realize that.”

Chobanian pointing his index finger, warned:

“I will see you in the evening, Levon. Revenge….”

We secluded ourselves in a corner. “In a corner” is way of saying because the whole restaurant is the size of a corner. Ajemian, the owner of the restaurant, is another version of Hrair Sassouni. For the second time he reminded me that he is related to Kourken Mahari³, who must be his “khalo.”

Not long after Shavarsh Nartouni⁴ arrived. It was prearranged that we three meet to sort our upcoming trip to Venice to celebrate the 100^th anniversary of “Pazmaveb”⁵ (Բազմավէպ) Three of us were to represent three generations at the celebration.

Having experienced my visa situation and how Hrair Sassouni managed to secure a visa extension for me, I was all too enthused to tell them my story. But it turned out they too had a visa issue because they were not French citizens and lived in the France as Nansen⁶ residents. Consequently, they had not been able to get a visa for visiting Italy. Thoughtlessly the following came out from my mouth.

- “But until now, have you not been able to become French citizens?”

Chobanian frowned at me looking bewildered, and said:

- “ Young man, I have helped many to become French citizens. But I refuse to be one. As long as we maintain our Nansen status, we keep our Armenian identity. By acquiring French citizenship, we become French in France. I was expecting that you would have known this important distinction.”

I was reprimanded.

Arshag Chobanian…

He was an uncompromising idealist who lived in this cynic world with his dreams and with his faith of what is right, safeguarding the unblemished  characteristics of a proud writer. 

When I left the restaurant that day, it was cold and raining but I did not have a trench coat on me. Today, the sun is shining with all its splendor on Paris. But where are Chobanian with his ideals; Nartouni with his advocacies, Levon Mozian and the ever talkative Ajemian who was Kourken Mahari’s relative?

They were, are no more.  

Notes

1.       Arshag Chobanian  (Արշակ Չոպանեան), 1872-1954.  He was born on July 15 in Beşiktaş, Constantinople, Ottoman Empire and passed away on June 8 in Paris. France. He was an Armenian short story writer, journalist, editor, poet, translator, literary critic, playwright, philologist, and a novelist.

2.      Levon Mozian: Armenian writer (1890 - 1958), Writer, Editor, Journalist, Printer, Bookseller, From: Ottoman Empire. Passed away in France.

3.       Kourken Mahari (Ajemian) (August 1, 1903 – June 17, 1969).  Poet and novelist was born in Van. His father, Krikor Ajemian, was an important member of the Armenagan Party (the first Armenian political party, founded in Van in 1885). Mahari became an orphan in 1907, when his father was shot by his brother-in-law, an A.R.F. member, in a confusing incident. In 1915, after the heroic self-defense of Van during the genocide, the future writer migrated to Eastern Armenia with his family. They lost each other on the road of exile, and Mahari lived in orphanages in Dilijan and Yerevan until he found his family again.

        He published his first poems in the press during the first republic, and later, in the Soviet period, he studied at Yerevan State University. He published five collections of poetry and short stories between 1924 and 1931, but his fame in the 1930s was cemented by the first two books of his biographical trilogy, “Childhood” and “Adolescence” (1930). Meanwhile, he had married and had a son. He became a member of the Writers Union of Armenia in 1934.

          The wave of repression unleashed in Armenia after the assassination of Aghasi Khanjian in 1936 reached Mahari too. Trumped-up charges were brought against him and he was condemned to a ten-year exile from 1936-1946 in Siberia. After returning to Yerevan, in 1948 he was condemned, through new trumped-up charges, to life exile. In Siberia, he met Lithuanian student Antonina Povilaitite, who had also been condemned to life exile. They married and lived with the hope of change. Stalin died in 1953, and Mahari and his wife, together with their newly-born daughter, managed to return to Yerevan in 1954. Their daughter would die shortly thereafter, and they would later have a son.

After seventeen years of exile, the writer returned to his homeland in bad health, but with the inner strength to continue his writing. He became one of the leading voices in the literary life of Armenia during the 1950s and 1960s. He published the third part of his trilogy, “On the Eve of Youth” (1956), a volume of poetry in 1959 and a collection of short stories, “The Voice of Silence” (1962), where he reflected the Siberian years.  Another Siberian memoir, “Barbed Wire in Flower,” was first published posthumously in the weekly “Nayiri” of Beirut (1971); it was published in Yerevan only in 1988. He received the title of Emeritus Cultural Activist of Armenia in 1965.

          Mahari published his most important book, the novel “Burning Orchards,” in 1966 (there is a translation in English), an account of Armenian life in Van before World War I, during the self-defense of the city, and afterwards. It created a lively controversy because of some of his views, and he was forced to rewrite it; the second version was published in 1979 in a curtailed form. The final edition was only published in 2004, edited by Grigor Achemyan, Mahari’s eldest son, who has published several unpublished volumes and has prepared an edition of unpublished works in thirteen volumes.

          Kourken Mahari passed away in Palanga (Lithuania), on June 17, 1969, and was buried in Yerevan. (Wikipedia).

4.     Shavarsh Nartouni (Շաւարշ Նարդունի), 1898-1968. His baptismal name was Askanaz Ayvazian. He was born in Armash, Ottoman Empire and passed away in Marseille, France. He was a physician by training but was more involved in literary endeavors. For decades he also edited “Hye Pouj” (Հայ Բուժ – Armenian Medicine), a medical monthly.

5.   “Pazmaveb” (Բազմավէպ)  is an academic journal covering Armenian studies. It is published by the Mechitarist monastery in San Lazzaro degli Armeni, Venice, Italy. According to Robert H. Hewsen, it is the first Armenian scholarly journal. It is the longest-running Armenian publication still being published.

6.    Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen (10 October 1861 – 13 May 1930) was a Norwegian polymath and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. He gained prominence at various points in his life as an explorer, scientist, diplomat, and humanitarian. He introduced the "Nansen passport" for stateless persons, a certificate that used to be recognized by more than 50 countries.