Mahatma Gandhi’s Statue in Yerevan

Vahe H. Apelian

 

First and foremost, I would like to note the following. I have been maintaining my blog since March 2017. Throughout my penning in my blog, I have steered away from making commentaries that may come across polarizing in nature. The 283 posted blogs attest to that. Most of my blogs are originals. They are my own. But I have also translated many stories that I thought shed light on our history which otherwise might not have been accessible to my English reading audience. The primary language of my blog is English.

This blog will be an exception.

 It pertains to the issue of installing the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Yerevan. Many in the social media post commentaries against the installation. Those who make those commentaries do not necessarily come from Armenia only. Many are from the Diaspora.  Most attempt to impart an air authority as if having mastered the history of India, center it on a stand that Mahatma Gandhi allegedly took against Armenia during its crucial history between 1915-1920. I say allegedly because I have not read the statement he made in any history book. But my layman’s knowledge of Mohatma Gandhi and India, I bet, is no different than those who comment with a mistaken authority on Mahatma Gandhi’s stand and hence blame the Municipality of Yerevan and the Armenian Government for planning to install Mahatma Gandhi’s statue in Yerevan. The debate acquires a far-reaching dimension claiming that the government is more interested in installing Mahatma Gandhi’s statue than those of the Armenian historical figures, further muddying the issue with such unnecessary linkages. The issue basically pertains simply on the merit on the installation of the statue.

My commentary pertains only to that. That is to say, on the merit installing  the Mohatma Gandhi’s statue.

.First and foremost, it is not the Yerevan municipality or the government  of Armenia who, out of blue, have suddenly decided to install Mahatma Gandhi’s statue. It is the government of India who has proposed to have his statue installed.  I quote: “YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 17, ARMENPRESS. The Embassy of India in Armenia has proposed to install a statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Yerevan, Yerevan City Councillor Levon Zakaryan from the My Step faction said on social media. He said the proposed locations of the statue are either the Circle Park or the park adjacent to the Republican Hospital.”

Obviously those who comment against the installation of Mahatma Gandhi’s statue want the Armenian government refuse Indian Embassy's proposal. I see no justification for Armenia to take such a draconian stand against the Indian Government. Needless to say, Mohatma Gandhi is an internationally revered figure. “Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth.” Famously said Albert Einstein.

I noted earlier that I have not read the statement about Armenians Mahatma Gandhi has said in any history book other the comments I read on Facebook. I will not question the veracity of Gandhi’s statement allegedly against Armenian during the 1915-1920 crucial period of our history, but I will put it in context.

We have to bear in mind that India gained its independence from the British rule in 1947. Wikipedia notes that  Indians celebrate their  Independence Day  annually on  August 15, as a national  holiday marking the nation's independence from the United Kingdom on 15 August 1947, the day when the UK Parliament passed the Indian Independence Act. Consequently, India was a not accepted onto the fold of nations as an independent state to have set its course of foreign policy during 1915-1920 period.

We should also bear in mind that Mohatma Gandhi, who is considered to be the father or the architect of independent India, was not elected into any office although he remained the voice and the conscious of the Indian people throughout his life and naturally remains revered to this day.

What was India then during 1915-1920 crucial period of our history?

India as we know today did not exist then. It was the British India that comprised what is modern day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the disputed Kashmir region. It will be a historical understatement to note that the British India was a whole subcontinent and within this subcontinent Gandhi led the fight against the powerful British Empire of the day. It was the global empire where sun never set as it carved the world according to its interests. India had no say during those years.

What was the vision of Mohatma Gandhi during independence war he led during 1915-1920?

Mahatma Gandhi stood for an undivided British India gaining its independence. To assure the Muslim minority that they will be welcomed and not harmed in the emerging India he led, Mahatma Gandhi went out of his way to placate the Muslim population of India by making serious concessions to their political leaders to occupy the important seats of the emerging India he envisioned and advocated. Gandhi’s stand did not sit well with the Hindu nationalists and as a consequence of which he was assassinated by one of them. The outcome is history now.

It does not surprise me that within the context of what he advocated and envisioned for India, he might have made statement to the affect having Armenia within Turkey. Surely Mahatma Gandhi had experienced the British ire but not the Turkish yatagan, Armenians experienced for centuries.

Whatever Mahatma Gandhi said within the context of what transpired over 100 years ago, not honoring the Indian Government’s proposal and not erect a statue  of Mahatma Gandhi and accord it an official opening worthy of what Mahatma Gandhi stood for, will be a serious political mistake and will adversely effect our bilateral relations. And those who oppose the erection of the statue with uncalled for rhetorics, would be contributing to that grave mistake.

Bloody News From My Friend

Vahe H Apelian

"Human justice, I spit on your face" often quoted by the Armenians is from the  eminent author Siamanto's poem titled "The Dance" from his "Bloody News From My Friend” book. The title of the book has an interesting story pertaining to its titling.

The book titled “Կարմիր Լուրեր Բարեկամէս" (Garmir Lourer Paregames) in Armenian, was fairly well known in my days attending Armenian School in Beirut. But, I often wondered why Siamanto gave the book such an odd title. Whenever I inquired about it, the customary explanation given to me amounted to no more than a repetition of the title. It took me a few decades to uncover the answer. My eureka moment happened midway reading Peter Balakian’s “The Black Dog of Fate", which in my estimation, propelled Peter Balakian to the forefront of the Armenian-American literature, if not American literature as well. 

Peter Balakian elaborated on the turn of the events that led Siamento title the book the way he did in his translation of the book with Nevart Yaghlian. In the introduction, Peter Balakian noted that growing up he had heard during family conversations that his grandfather, who had died more than a decade before he was born,  had something to do with a very famous book of poetry among the Armenians. Peter's grandfather Diran Balakian and Adom Yarjanian, the baptismal name of Siamanto, were friends and came from middle- to upper-middle class families from the famous Armenian inhabited town Agn (see the note). Both went to Europe to further their studies. Diran studied medicine in Leipzig (Germany). Adom studied literature in Paris.

Diran returned to Constantinople in 1905 and started practicing medicine. In 1909,  with a group of Armenian physicians, he went to Adana to help the survivors of one of the worst pre-genocide large-scale atrocities and killings perpetrated against the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. The tragedy is known in Armenian history as the Adana Massacre. Although the atrocities started in the city of Adana in April, they were not confined to that city alone but were spread across the Armenian Cilicia, including Kessab. 

Peter Balakian's paternal grandfather Diran recorded in letters his eyewitness accounts of the atrocities perpetrated against the Armenians.  Unfortunately, the letters are lost. There seem to be two accounts as to how his friend Adom Yarjanian came to know about the atrocities firsthand. In one version, Diran Balakian wrote to his friend Adom. In another version, Diran wrote home to his parents and Adom, being a family friend, read the letters when he visited them. In any event, it is to the news from Peter Balakian’s paternal grandfather that Siamanto alluded to in the titling his book of poetry as "Bloody News From my Friend".

It is apparent that Siamanto wrote the poems of the book on the spur of the moment, moved by the atrocities described in the letters his friend Diran Balakian wrote. Simanto had the book published in the same year, 1909, in Constantinople. It appears that the book was also  reprinted in 1910 in Watertown, MA by the “Hairenik” press when he was the editor of the "Hairenik" Daily.

Adom Yarjanian, better known by his pen name Siamanto, was born on August 15, 1878 and lived with his parents in his birthplace Agn until the age 14. It is during these formative years that he showed an unusual talent in writing poetry and was endearingly nicknamed Siamanto. There does not seem to be an explanation as to how the moniker came about and was given to him at that young age and what it actually means. He ended up using it for the rest of his life. 

The family moved to Constantinople (Istanbul) in 1891 where Adom continued his studies at the famed Berberian School. He graduated in 1896, during the mass slaughter known in history as the Hamidian Massacres that claimed the lives of up to  250,000 to 300,000 Armenians.  Like many other Armenian intellectuals, Adom Yarjanian also fled the country to Europe fearing persecution.

Siamanto also seemed to have been driven by wanderlust. After finishing his studies at the Sorbonne University in Paris, he moved to Cairo, Zurich, and Geneva where he contributed to "Troshag", the organ of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation party. He then returned to Constantinople where he became privy to eyewitness accounts of the atrocities against the Armenians in the southeast of the country, wrote and had his famous book of poetry published in 1909. For the next two years he lived in Watertown, Massachusetts as the editor of the "Hairenik" daily. He then traveled to the Caucasus before returning to Constantinople where he was arrested on the eve of April 24, 1915, along with other prominent Armenian literary and community leaders and was martyred.

Siamanto did not appear to have been distracted by his wanderlust. It might even have helped boost his creative genius. Throughout his travels he always interacted with Armenian intellectuals and worked in Armenian institutions and left behind a rich literary legacy. Along with the other slain figures, Taniel Varoujan, Roupen Sevag, Krikor Zohrab and others, he helped raise Western Armenian literature to its apex following a long dormancy only to be cut short by the Genocide. He stands as one of the towering figures of that renaissance. 

“Bloody News From My Friend” comprises of 12 poems. For the very first time, Peter Balakian with Nevart Yaghlian translated the book for English language readers. The second listed poem in the book is titled “The Dance”. It is a description of a dance that will remain forever etched in the Armenian psyche.  “Human justice, I spit in your face”, as noted, is quoted from that poem.

The poem is often recited during commemorations of the Armenian Genocide, although, as noted, but it was written six years before 1915. Armenian painters have depicted "The Dance" on canvas. Naked Armenian women dancing is the most graphic scene in Atom Egoyan’s “Ararat” film. The most lasting is the life-long etching in the memory of Armenians that one sentence "Human justice, let me spit in your face", 

 The poem is attached.

The Dance

In a field of cinders where Armenian life 
was still dying,
a German woman, trying not to cry
told me the horror she witnessed:

"This thing I'm telling you about,
I saw with my own eyes,

Behind my window of hell

I clenched my teeth
 and watched the town of Bardez turn 
into a heap of ashes.

The corpses were piled high as trees,

and from the springs, from the streams and the road,

the blood was a stubborn murmur,

and still calls revenge in my ear.

Don't be afraid; I must tell you what I saw.

so people will understand

the crimes men do to men.

For two days, by the road to the graveyard …



Let the hearts of the world understand,

It was Sunday morning,

the first useless Sunday dawning on the corpses.

From dawn to dusk I had been in my room

with a stabbed woman —


my tears wetting her death —


when I heard from afar


a dark crowd standing in a vineyard


lashing twenty brides and singing filthy songs.



Leaving the half-dead girl on the straw mattress,

I went to the balcony of my window


and the crowd seemed to thicken like a clump of trees


An animal of a man shouted, "You must dance,


dance when our drum beats."



With fury whips cracked
on the flesh of these women.



Hand in hand the brides began their circle dance.



Now, I envied my wounded neighbor


because with a calm snore she cursed


the universe and gave up her soul to the stars …

"Dance," they raved,


"dance till you die, infidel beauties


With your flapping tits, dance!



Smile for us. You're abandoned now,


you're naked slaves,


so dance like a bunch of fuckin' sluts.



We're hot for your dead bodies.


Twenty graceful brides collapsed.



"Get up," the crowed screamed,


brandishing their swords.



Then someone brought a jug of kerosene.


Human justice, I spit in your face.



The brides were anointed.



"Dance," they thundered —


"here's a fragrance you can't get in Arabia."


With a torch, they set 
the naked brides on fire.



And the charred bodies rolled 
and tumbled to their deaths …


I slammed my shutters,


sat down next to my dead girl



and asked: "How can I dig out my eyes?"

Translated by Peter Balakian and Nevart Yaghlian



Note: "Agn and Agnetsis, Ottoman Bankers" August 8, 2018

The Twelve Slabs of the Genocide Memorial

Vahe H. Apelian

An aerial view of the Armenian Genocide Memorial in Armenia

Recently I came across the attached picture of the Armenian Genocide Memorial in Armenia on an elevation called Tsitsernakaberd. It was the very first time I saw the memorial pictured from above. It cast an impressive image. The flowers put in the memorial on an April 24 commemoration enhanced the symbolism of what the memorial stood for and brought it live.

According to the Wikipedia “ The construction of the monument began in 1966, during Soviet times, in response to the 1965 Yerevan demonstrations during which one hundred thousand people demonstrated in Yerevan for 24 hours to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Genocide. They demanded the Soviet authorities officially recognize it as a genocide. The memorial is designed by architects Arthur Tarkhanyan, Sashur Kalashyan and artist Hovhannes Khachatryan and was completed in November 1967.”

The memorial consists of 12 slabs  positioned in a circle that bow towards the center of the circle where there is an eternal flame dedicated to the 1.5 million killed during the Armenian genocide. 

There is a discrepancy regarding  the symbolism of  the number of slabs of the memorial represent. In the English version description of the memorial, Wikipedia claims that they represent “the twelve lost provinces in present-day Turkey.” But a cursory search in Wikipedia  indicates that present  “Turkey is divided into 81 provinces”.

One naturally assumes that the reference is made to the provinces that in diplomatic circles, at one time constituted  Western Armenia in the Ottoman Empire for they were the most Armenian inhabited.  That also is not the case for historically the major Armenian inhabited provinces were considered to be six. I quote: “The term Six Vilayets  was a term In the diplomatic language and meant the Vilayets with Armenian population. European diplomats often referred to the Six Armenian Vilayets during the Congress of Berlin in 1878.” The  congress whose Armenian delegation was headed by Khrimian Hayrig and who, upon return, gave his historical “iron (or paper) ladle” speech.

In  response to my posting the aerial picture of the Genocide Monument/Memorial in Armenia, Vartan Matiossian commented and noted the following: “the slabs have nothing to do with the "twelve lost provinces," a frequently repeated explanation that has become an urban myth. Out of the fifteen provinces of historical Armenia, Utik and Paytakaran are in Azerbaijan, Artsakh is independent, Ayrarat, Gugark, and Siunik are partly in the Republic of Armenia. So, we have no more than 9 provinces in Turkey. Regardless, the architect of the monument has said himself that the 12 slabs are unrelated to the "twelve provinces." 

The Armenian version of Wikipedia in fact  asserts the veracity  Vartan Matiossian’s claim. The twelve slaps  were chosen out of architectural consideration. The architects after having considered different number of slabs, had found out that 12 slabs were architecturally the most esthetic. 

Yet, one expects that every facet of the memorial, especially the more visible slabs, are symbolic to something. As far as I am concerned, while it is good to know as to how the number of slabs of the main Armenian Genocide Memorial came about, but alluding that the slabs represent the  provinces or the vilayets in the Ottoman Empire, from which the Armenians were driven for extermination is a fair assumption in spite of the fact that the number is not historically tenable and is mythic.

The Dreamer

Levon Sharoyan

Translated by Vahe H. Apelian (2014)

What of the dying life? (Ինչ փոյթ կեանքը մեռնող)
When the dream lives on (Երբոր երազը կ՝ապրի)
When the dream is immortal (Երբոր երազն անմահ է)

Taniel Varoujan (Դանիէլ Վարուժան)

The Budding Poet

This year marks the 130th anniversary of poet Taniel Varoujan’s birth. He was born on April 20, 1884 in the village of Prknig (Բրգնիկ), on the outskirts of Sepastia, Turkey. He hailed from the Chboukarian (Չպուգքեարեան) family. His father, Krikor, spent most of his life in Istanbul working in brokerage. His mother, Takouhie, was a homemaker. She bore four sons. Taniel was the eldest. His siblings, all male, were named Vahan (Վահան), Bedros (Պետրոս) and Arshag (Արշակ), the youngest. Arshag was 24 years younger than him and was two years old  when Varoujan married.

After attending the local school, he was sent in 1896, the year of the Hamidian Massacres, to Istanbul where his father lived. In Istanbul he attended the Mekhitarian School. He continued his education at Mourad-Rafaelian School of Venice, and in 1906 entered the Ghent University in Belgium where he studied literature and economics.

His first book of poetry appeared in the Keghouni (Գեղունի) periodical that was published in San Lazzaro (Ս. Ղազարի) Island, Venice. It was titled Shivers (Սարսուռներ). The Hamidian Massacres and the imprisonment of his father had left profound impression on the young man he would articulate in the book. He was 21 years old. Of course, his early poems lacked the artistic mastery of his later literary works.
The Teacher

In 1909, right after the declaration of the Ottoman Constitution, he returned home. He started teaching at the Aramian School of Sepastia (Սեբաստիոյ Ազգ. Արամեան վարժարան).

Some of his students later wrote about him in their memoirs. One of them was Arakel Badreg who reminisced that one year, just before their summer break, they went to Prknig to visit Varoujan in his paternal house. On their way they passed through the same road and along the same stream that Varoujan alluded to in his autobiography in Teotig’s Yearbook (Թէոդիկի Տարեցոյց). In it Varoujan had written, “That’s where I spent my childhood, under the melancholic shade of the pomegranate trees, or along the stream, mischievously throwing pebbles to the ducks”.

As the boys passed by the same stream, they turned to one of their classmates and said, “Dikran, you better throw pebbles at the ducks too, perhaps you may become another Varoujan one day”.

Varoujan and his parents welcomed them to their home with jubilation. It was a two-storey building, simply furnished. A vegetable garden surrounded the house. The library of the poet was rich with books. Varoujan read a poem by Dante and then asked them “Did you pay attention to the language’s silvery sounding beauty? The Italian is a song, it is a song…….”

He taught there for three years. After his marriage to Araxie in 1912, he became the principal of St. Gregory the Illuminator School in Istanbul.
The Poet

Not long after his return from Europe (1909) he published his second literary work, a book of poetry titled The Heart of the Race (Ձեղին Սիրտը). It is there that Varoujan revealed the eminent poet he was. His writing had reached an unsurpassed mastery of language and of depth and form. He was only 25 years old  when he published the literary masterpiece.

A great deal has been written about his poetry. Our greatest literary critic, Hagop Oshagan, after reading The Heart of the Race declared that Varoujan is our greatest poet.

Varoujan had a special approach to writing. Events from his life inspired him. He would stir his imagination and dreams and  turn personal occurrences into an all-Armenian longing and at times into an all-humanity yearning.

Once Father Ghevont Alishan (Հ. Ղեւոնդ Ալիշան) sent one of his books to Catholicos Mgrdich Khrimian inscribing in it “To the Nation’s Father” (Հայոց Հայրիկին); The catholicos, in turn, sent him a boxful of soil from Armenia addressed to “The Patriarch of the Nation” (Հայոց Նահապետին). Inspired by the exchanges, Varoujan wrote one of his most memorable poems--“The Red Soil” (Կարմիր հողը)--in The Heart of the Race collection of poetry

In 1912 he published Pagan Songs (Հեթանոս երգեր), his third book of poetry.

His last book, The Song of Bread (Հացին Երգը), was published posthumously in 1921. The poems celebrate the toiling Armenian peasantry. He describes the peasant standing tall and imposing in the fields he cultivates. The eloquence of his writing remains unmatched.
The Poet’s Marriage

To supplement his teacher’s meager salary at the Aramian School, Varoujan gave private lessons to a young girl named Araxie, the daughter of a wealthy family. As was the local customs at the time, Araxie had been promised in betrothal to the son of a wealthy family when still in her crib. That’s why Araxie’s mother always chaperoned her daughter and attended her classes. Yet, the improbable happened. The teacher and the student fell madly in love with each other.

Rumors started flying in greater Sepastia. The classes ended abruptly and Araxie’s parents and the prospective in-laws began hasty plans for an earlier-than-planned wedding, but Araxie remained adamant refusing to comply with her parent’s wishes. Instead of a wealthy husband she preferred the country teacher of meager means.

The event became the talk of the town among the Armenians. Many regarded the incident scandalous. Some supported Varoujan and wanted the lovers to marry. Others blamed Varoujan for having seduced his young student. The animosity toward Varoujan became so great that he began to carry a stick to defend himself should he be attacked.

Finally, the prominent Armenian freedom-fighter, Sepastatsi Mourad, who, as his name indicates was from Sepastia, intervened on behalf of Varoujan. Mourad's stature was such that his intervention quelled all gossip and put an end to what was deemed scandalous. Three children were born from their union: Veronic (Վերոնիք); Haig (Հայկ); and Armen (Արմէն).

The Poet’s Demise

In April 1915 Varoujan, along with many other Armenian notables, was apprehended in Istanbul. Their arrest would be the prelude of what would be the greatest catastrophe that has befallen on the Armenian nation, the Genocide. He was subjected to torture and died a slow and painful death in August of that year, near a Turkish village called Changher (Չանղըր). He was 31-years-old.

Varoujan’s father was killed in Sepastia. The fate of his mother and two brothers is not known. Only his brother, Vahan, survived. For many years he worked in a printing shop in Paris.

His widow, Araxie, remarried and emigrated to the United States. Their son, Haig, settled in Fresno, California where he worked for a local newspaper. He passed away in 2002. His second son, Armen, settled in Hawaii with his family. He passed away there. Veronic worked in New York city public libraries. She would always attend the April 24 commemorations and reflect upon her talented father.

The Poet Remembered

Taniel Varoujan Monument in Armenia

In 1958 the Armenian students in Belgium secured the permission of the Ghent University to have a bilingual plaque commemorating Taniel Varourjan  placed in the university library hall.

The unveiling of the memorial plaque took place on February 9, 1958. The poet’s widow, Mrs. Araxie Varoujan-Apigian attended the unveiling.

A representative from ministry of culture, the president of the university, Luc-André Marcel (who had translated Varoujan’s work into French); Frédéric Feydit, the eminent Armenian linguist; writer Garo Poladian, and Edouard Emirzian (the latter on behalf of the Armenian students) took part in the ceremony and spoke about the poet. A former classmate and academician Pierre Maes delivered a most poignant personal testimony about the slain poet. He said Taniel Varoujan had mastered the French language--not long after his enrollment--to deliver a lecture at the history department about Armenians and Armenian culture. Varoujan would read to him, the academician said, the poems Varoujan had written in Armenian, leaving him mesmerized by the eloquence of their sound and delivery, although he did not understand Armenian.

Varoujan’s appeal as a prominent poet continues to reverberate to this day.

Below is Tatul Sonentz-Papazian’s translation of Taniel Varoujan’s Antastan poem.

Source: Keghart.com 

Tale of an Armenian Hymnal (2/2) – Betrayal and Revenge

Vahe H. Apelian

I concluded the previous part of a “Tale of an Armenian Hymnal” (1/2) article,  as follows: Did he survive?  I do not know of any other hymnal from Hmayag Aramiants.” The question pertained to the compiler of the Armenian song book, Hmayag Aramiants. (https://vhapelian.blogspot.com/2017/04/tale-of-armenian-hymnal.html).

A few readers, including the well-informed Zaven Zakarian, wondered if the author of the songbook was no other than the infamous Hmayag Aramiants who betrayed the Social-Democrat Hunchakian party causing the well-known tragic event in the recent Armenian history  known as “ The 20 Hunchakian Gallows”. The revelation was news for me. I had come to learn about Hmayag Aramiants' name by association with the hymnal he compiled.

In retrospect I believe that the author of the hymnal and the betrayer of the Hunchakian party is one and the same person Zaven Zakarian suspected. That is to say Hmayag Aramiants. I base my affirmation on the following premises.

The songbook Hmayag Aramiants published in 1911 is a collection of the songs that leaned towards  socialism, including international brotherhood, the cornerstone of socialism. In his preface he comes across as a true believer in the promise of  socialistic order that is meant to transcend race and unite the different races of the Ottoman Empire as a common class in the pursuit of their well-being. He thus comes across as  an ardent believer in the new order in the Ottoman Empire trusting in the promise of the Justice, Equality and Liberty the new order was supposed to bring. He had the march of Ittihad included in the hymnal.

Then there is his uncommon personal and family names. It is not likely that the author had his namesake during the same time in Constantinople who turned out to be a traitor. A search in the internet indicated that Hmayag Aramiants had authored at least another book (booklet?) titled “Political and Economic Liberty” which, the front cover indicates, is the lecture he gave during a meeting  that took place between Sepember 19-23, 1908, in the Geyeg Pasha neighborhood of Constantinople.  He had the book published the same year. It is not likely that there were two persons named Hmayag Aramiants who harbored  such political and economic interests. (Note: “Ազատութիւն Քաղաքկան եւՏնտեսական”. Ատենախօսութիւն (Արատասանուծ Կ.Պոլսոյ Կէտիկ Փաշա Թաղը գումարուածմիթինկին մէջ 19/23 Սեպտմեմբեր 1908)

Hmayag Aramiants was a member of the Hunchak Party. In the songbook, he had a full-page picture of a poster of two freedom fighters displaying a flag that reads  “Freedom or Death” (Mah gam Azadoutiun). The poster header read: ‘kharperti “Kharbeti Hunchak Martyrs” (Hunchagian Voghpatsial Nahadagner).

Finally, what transpired to the Hunchakian Party at the time could have  come about only by a well-placed member of the party who was privy of the inner deliberations of the party at the highest level.

The Committee of Union and Progress, that is to say the Ittihad ve Terakki Cemiyeli party, which appeared to be generally referred to as the Itthihad party, was a movement that led the Young Turk revolution take over the Empire in 1908 and ushered the Empire into a constitutional order with elected representatives giving way to the Armenian Ottoman parliamentarians in the person of Krikor Zohrab and others. The Armenians in general accepted the promise of the new order with enthusiasm. However, the Hunchak party harbored serious reservations about the true intent of the Young Turk movement suspecting that it was racist in its core and that the Young Turks would be detrimental to the Armenians, as the Adana massacre made  plainly evident for them. Hence the party positioned itself against the Young Turk leaders, including naturally Talaat Pasha, and intended to assassinate them. 

I quote below Wikipedia to note what transpired between the publication of the Hmayag Aramiants collection of songs in 1911 and the fruition of the inner working of the Social Democrat Hnchakian Party, two years later, that is to say in 1913.

The 7th General Convention of the Social Democrat Hunchakian Party which was held in Constanta, Romania, in 1913, and adjourned with two main objectives:  "As stated in its original program, the party was to move from licit to illicit activities, thus becoming once again a covert organization. II - To plan and assassinate the leaders of the Ittihad (Young Turk) party, the same leaders that carried out the Adana massacres of 1909, and thus the same leaders who at that moment were planning the annihilation of the Armenian people. 

However, these secret objectives were passed on to the Ottomans by an agent; consequently, as soon as the delegates arrived in Constantinople, they were arrested. By the end of the year a total of one hundred and forty Hunchak leaders were arrested.

After spending two years in terrible conditions in Ottoman prisons, and undergoing lengthy mock trials, twenty prominent figures  were sentenced to death by hanging. A few weeks after the beginning of the Armenian Genocide  on June 15, 1915, all twenty men were hanged in the central square of Constantinople, known as Sultan Bayazid Square.”

That agent who passed on those secret party objectives to the Ottoman authorities surely was Hmayag Aramiants, the person who compiled the songbook; the Hnchakian party member and the ardent socialist who was naive enough to claim in the preface of his songbook that the armed resistance of the Armenians waged against the Hamidian regime, a Turkish regime nonetheless, would be understood and even appreciated by the Turkish bearers of the new slogan ostensibly for "Justice, Liberty, and Equality." It is likely that a rift had developed between Hmayag and his Hunchakian Party comrades-in-arms whom he viewed setting themselves in secret against the bearers of the "new" Turkish regime, the purported bearers of the very same ideology the Hunchak Party advocated, socialism and fraternity among the races.  

What happened to Hmayag Aramiants ?

Hmayag Aramiants was gunned down in Constantinople in 1920. His assassination was part of the Operation Nemesis that was conceived and carried out by the members of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation. Operation Nemesis brought to justice not only the Turk perpetrators of the Armenian genocide but also  treasonous Armenians. Hmayag Aramiants was one of them. His assassin was Arshag Yeztanian (Արշակ Եզդանյան) who, like the rest of avengers, was a member of the ARF. Nothing else appears to be known about Arshag.

Note:

Tale of an Armenian Hymnal (1/2):

http://vhapelian.blogspot.com/2017/04/tale-of-armenian-hymnal.html

  

 

When Did the Song Giligia (Cilicia) become the Catholicosate of Cilicia’s Hymn.?

Vahe H. Apelian

This past Easter, Catholicos Aram’s picture, taken at the end of the  mass in the Catholicosate’s cathedral, went viral. He was depicted with teary eyes as the famed “Cilicia – Giligia” song was sung to an almost empty sanctuary  after he had lead the Easter Sunday’s mass.

I also posted Vehapar’s moving picture on my Facebook page. It seemed to encapsulate the mood of the Armenian communities in the Diaspora as each also braves the devastating effects of the Corona virus pandemics as an added burden to the Middle Eastern communities that have been facing dire political and economic situations in Lebanon and in Syria. My posting gave rise to insightful comments.

A friend from Canada, Varoujan Bedrossian, wondered if Cilicia is customarily sung at the end of mass? The hymn obviously is not part of liturgical mass. However, it turns out that the hymn is sung in the St. Gregory the Illuminator Cathedral in the Catholicosate of Cilicia campus in Antelias every Sunday at the end of mass. The rest of the churches sing the song on special occasions and not necessarily in the church but during fellowship after that particular Sunday mass.

Regarding the song, Garo Armenian noted the following.  “Cilicia” is not a folk song though it is very popular. It is a poem by Nahabed Roussinian (19^th Century) fashioned after a French poem bearing the  title of “Normandide" the music is by the 19^th century composer Kaprield Yeranian, also of Constantinople."

St. Gregory the Illuminator Cathedral and the Genocide Commemoration Chapel 

I became reflective as to when the song became a trademark of the Catholicosate of Cilicia, if not its accepted hymn?

I inquired with Der Torkom Chorbajian, who is the priest of the Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic Church in Worcester, MA and with my friend Sarkis Mahserejian who, for many years, was the secretary at the West Coast  Prelacy beside being a prolific commentator and writer. Upon confirmation with the Prelate Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian, Sarkis as well as Der Torkom claimed that the tradition of singing the song Giligia, at the end of the mass in the Cathedral of St. Gregory Illuminator, began with Catholicos Zareh I Payasilian, of blessed memory  (1956-1963) who loved the song.

Since then singing Cilicia-Giligia, has become a trademark of sorts or an unofficial hymn of the Catholicosate of Antelias whose seat for centuries was in Sis, in the historic Armenian Cilicia.

The hymn sung by the talented Steve Frounjian in Racine, WI.

The lyrics.

Giligia

"When doors of hope are opened wide,
And dreary winter flees away,
Our beauteous Armenia
Beams forth in glad and smiling day;
When swallows to their nests return
And trees put on their leaves so bright
I yearn for my Cilicia,
The land where first I saw the light.

I’ve seen the wide Vonarian fields
And cedar-clad Mount Lebanon,
Italian shores and Venice fair,
Where gondolas are gliding on;
There’s nothing like our Cyprian isle,
No spot on earth can be so bright,
I yearn for my Cilicia,
The and where first I saw the light.

There comes to each a time of life
When all our hopes have gone at last,
The poor soul longs and strives no more;
And dwells alone upon the past;
The, when my breaking harp, unstrung
Shall sing to hope a last good-night,
I’ll sleep in my Cilicia,
The land where I first saw the light.
The land where first I saw the light..."

Կիլիկիա

Երբոր բացուին դռներն յուսոյ
եւ մեր երկրէն փախ տայ ձմեռ
Չքնաղ երկիրն մեր Արմենիոյ
երբ փայլի իւր քաղցրիկ օրեր
Երբոր ծիծառն իւր բոյն դառնայ
երբոր ծառերն հագնին տերեւ՝
ցանկամ տեսնել զիմ Կիլիկիա
Աշխարհ՝ որ ինձ ետուր արեւ

Տեսի դաշտերն Սուրիոյ
Լեառն Լիբանան եւ իւր մայրեր
տեսի զերկիրն Իտալիոյ
Վենետիկ եւ իւր կոնտոլներ
կղզի նման չիք մեր Կիպրեայ
եւ ոչ մէկ վայր է արդարեւ
գեղեցիկ քան զիմ Կիլիկիա
Աշխարհ՝ որ ինձ ետուր արեւ

Հասակ մը կայ մեր կենաց մէջ
ուր ամենայն իղձ կ’աւարտի
Հասակ մը ուր հոգին ի տենչ՝
յիշատակաց իւր կարօտի
Յորժամ քնարն իմ ցրտանայ
սիրոյն տալով վերջին բարեւ՝
երթամ ննջել յիմ Կիլիկիա
Աշխարհ՝ որ ինձ ետուր արեւ