To whom this may concern: Diaspora in disarray

Vaհe H Apelian 

The all-knowing AI says, "To whom it may concern" is a formal, somewhat impersonal greeting used in letters or emails when the writer doesn't know the recipient's name or title, or when the correspondence is addressed to a general audience rather than a specific individual.” Although I had a few Diaspora friends in mind, whose postings Facebook alerts me, but this blog is not meant to be personal. I see no reason to disturb my tranquility over the disarray of the Diaspora, but I simply wanted to share my concerns with those who happen to be reading this blog and for whom the state of Diaspora concerns as well. 

RIDICULING THE PM. Obviously, you may have realized that I am referring to the above picture and to those who have been disseminating the picture that has been going viral among certain segments of the Armenian social media. What makes the phenomenon more surprising to me is  that some those, who resorted to disseminating this depiction of the PM of Armenia with their colorful comments, are Diaspora Armenians some of whom are affiliated with Armenian Diaspora newsletters or have been presented as present day intellectual.

Why do persons resort to posting such pictures of others, be it the PM of Armenia in a far distant land,  but not of themselves?

A person does not need to be a psychologist or psychiatrist to know that it is very human to present oneself in a manner that society is prone to accept with more of open arms. Children are taught to smile when they have their pictures taken. When a group picture, be of adults, is taken, it is not uncommon to hear from the person who will be doing the clicking to take the snap shot for posterity, alert the group by saying out loud, “Cheers!”. 

The message, those who post this depiction from Diaspora, mean to convey is simply this. They mean to say, this is how crazy the prime minister, the citizens of Armenia elected is. No one can possibly expect anything of value coming from the policies of such a man. He must go. 

Common courtesy would have expected them to place a more presentable picture of the PM, or  even his official picture and next to it verbalize the points they want to make about the PM's policies .

GOING SOLO: On February 28, 2025, the foreign minister of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan brought the plight, and the sham trial of the Armenian hostages and prisoners to the attention of the world. Thus, the government of Armenia has given the green light for the Armenian ambassadors to pursue through diplomatic channels securing their release. 

But even when dealing with a national catastrophe of this magnitude the Diaspora is fragmented.  Yesterday, I read that David Vardanyan the son of the Armenian political prisoner Ruben Vardanyan will speak at AAAinc’s - Armenian Aseembly of America’s In.- spring 2025 Advocacy Summit. Will I read soon that a family member of David Ishkhanian will address ANCA’s advocacy summit?

If (western) Diaspora intends to be more effective trying to secure the release of the Armenian hostages and prisoners held in the Diaspora, it will have to stand with the Republic of Armenia and with ONE voice.

STIRRING THE DIASPORA POT – The former FM Vartan Oskanian, appears to be on a mission to stir the Diaspora pot against Nikol Pashinyan government the citizens of Armenia have elected in a transparent, orderly, democratic election whose legitimacy was unanimously ruled by the Armenian Constitutional Court. 

 I saw him in a Hye Tahd forum in Europe claiming that they worked together for the benefit of Armenia! He was listed among the experts the Catholicos Aram had invited regarding the plight of the Artsakh Armenians, he claims the government of RoA is its main obstacle. During the last few months, he has been posting commentaries in his impeccable English addressing the Diaspora to stand against the PM Nikol Pashinyan. Surprisingly Diaspora newspapers make room for it, 

He calls the Diaspora to oust the PM of Armenia. He knows full well Diaspora Armenians do not vote. But that matters not for the former FM of Armenia.

Forget the loss of dignity, he claims. Yes indeed the security of Armenia is at stake. Without security and with Armenia at another military loss and departed from its southern region, there is not much room left for claiming loss of dignity.

But the security of the Republic of Armenia is at stake not for reasons he charges the (western) Diaspora, but for the kind of Armenian leadership he exemplifies.

 

 

 

The defense and preservation of Syunik is at risk.

Բնագիրը Կցուած է։ Today Ivan Ardhaldjian posted on his FB page, a commentary that resonated with my concerns as well. I translated his commentary and my response and am posting it below.

Courtesy Ivan Ardhaldjian

Ivan Ardhaldjian’s commentary

“Turkification Program Nakhichevan, Artsakh, Zangezur

- In 1918, the Armenians of Nakhichevan were no longer a majority. The First Republic, in 1919, was unable to keep Nakhichevan within its borders. In 1921, under the Kars treaties, Nakhichevan was ceded to Azerbaijan. The last Armenian villages were forcibly evacuated in 1988.

- In 1923, Artsakh, populated mostly by Armenians, became part of Soviet Azerbaijan. In 1991, Armenians liberated Artsakh. The Turks won the Battle of 2020. In 2023, the Turks forcibly deported the Armenians and Artsakh not only became part of Azerbaijan, but was also depopulated.

- In 1918, Zangezur became part of the Republic of Armenia, but the Turks and Turkish villages constantly threatened to secede from Zangezur. Nzhdeh was able to organize the Armenian front and suppress the Turkish plan. During the Sovietization of the Republic of Armenia in 1921, Nzhdeh declared Zangezur the Republic of Mountainous Armenia and forced Zangezur to remain part of Armenia.

Today, the defense and preservation of Syunik is at risk.”

. My response to his posting on his FB was the following:

“Without a doubt, the south of the Republic of Armenia, the Syunik region is in danger, otherwise this peace treaty, which ensures Azerbaijan's land transportation to and from Nakhichevan, through the sovereign territory of Armenia, would have been signed by Aliyev. Yes, the territorial integrity of Armenia is exceptionally endangered, and even more so, because of the internal division in Armenia.”

                                                    ***

Բնագիրը

Իվան Արտհալճեան

Բնագիրը՝ Թրքացման ծրագիր `Նախիջեւան, Արցախ, Զանգեզուր

- 1918-ին Նախիջեւանի հայերը արդէն մեծամասնութիւն չէին: Առաջին հանրապետութիւնը 1919-ին, չկարողացաւ պահել նախիջեւանը իր սահմաններում։ 1921 թուականին Կարսի պայմանագրերով,  Նախիջեւանը յանձնուեց Ադրբեջանին։ Վերջին հայկական գիւղերը բռնի տարհանուեցին 1988-ին։ 

- 1923-ին Արցախը մեծամասնութեամբ հայերով բնակեցուած անցաւ Սովետական Ազրպէյճանի կազմում։ 1991-ին հայերը ազատագրեցին Արցախը։ Թուրքը յաղթեց 2020-ի ճակատամարտը։ 2023-ին թուրքերը բռնի տեղահանեցին հայերը եւ Արցախը ոչ միայն անցաւ Ազրպէյճանի կազմում այլ նաեւ հայաթափուեց։

- 1918-ին Զանգեզուրը անցաւ ՀՀ-թեան կազմում, բայց թուրքերը եւ թրքական գիւղերը անընդհատ սպառնում էին Զանգեզուրը անջատել։ Նժդեհը կարողացաւ կազմակերպել հայկական ճակատը եւ ճնշել թուրքի ծրագիրը։ 1921-ին ՀՀ-թեան խորհրդայնացման ժամանակ, Նժդեհը Զանգեզուրը հռչակեց Լեռնահայաստանի հանրապետութիւն եւ ատամներով պարտադրեց Զանգեզուրը պահել Հայաստանի կազմում։ 

Այսօր վտանգուած է Սիւնիքի պաշտպանութիւնն ու պահպանութիւնը։»

Իմ պատասխանս՝

«Անկասկած որ Հայաստանի Հանրապետութեան Հարաւը՝ Սիւնիքի մարզը վտանգուած է, այլապէս խաղաղութեան այս պայմանագիրը՝ որ կ՚ապահովէ Ազրպէյտճանի ցամաքային transporation-ը Հայաստանի ինքնիշխան տարածքով, Ալիյեւը ստորագրած կըլլար։ Այո, Հայաստանի տարածքային ամբողջաոկանութիւնը բացառձակապէս վտանգուած է, առաւել եւս,, Հայաստանի ներքին պառակտումովը։»

 

Peace treaty: The fault is not in our stars – 3 -

Vaհe H. Apelian

 

This will be my third blog in this month about my take on the Armenian-Azeri peace treaty. I pen this blog because today I read the following comment by Ivan Ardhaldjian about Armenia’s yet unsigned peace treaty with Azerbaijan.  Ivan lives in Armenia. 

Ivan’s comment reads as follows: “The optical illusion of the peace treaty will continue as long as we are ready to unilaterally withdraw, justify the enemy and, what is terrible, gradually break the will of the Armenians, thinking that we are achieving peace. Having accepted the last two points of the negotiated peace treaty by the Armenian authorities, the National Assembly proposed to the Assembly to begin consultations on the signing of the agreed draft. Azerbaijan adds - Armenia must accept its responsibility for the 1991-2023 "aggression" against Azerbaijan and hand over all "criminals" to Azerbaijan. - Armenia must change its constitution. - Armenia must agree to officially dissolve the OSCE Minsk Group. - Armenia must provide a corridor between Nakhichevan and Azerbaijan. - "the right of return of West Azerbaijanis to their homeland, present-day Armenia."

Whatever Aliyev is saying after Armenia announced on May 13, 2025, that it is ready to sign the treaty, have nothing to do with the 17-point text of the peace treaty Armenia and Azerbaijan negotiated. We surely know in our guts and know it all too well why Aliyev is piling add-ons. Quoting from my March 17, 2025 blog, Aliyev “will do his upmost to sink the deal.” (read link 1 below).

The question we should ask ourselves is not why is Aliyev bringing forth such add-ons. The question we should ask ourselves is, why would Aliyev not come forth with such add-ons? He knows that the Armenians are divided over the matter and are not solidly behind the signing of the treaty. Instead of standing behind their government who led the negotiations, the opposition in Armenia is echoing Azerbaijan’s stand, that this peace treaty the government of Armenia negotiated, is not good enough. But the opposition members do not seem to have a common vision to counter the government’s Crossroad for Peace initiative with a policy of their own.

It boils down to this. 

Do the Armenians entrust the right to negotiate on their behalf to the government they elected or do not? 

The Americans have given the right to negotiate on their behalf to the Trump administration they elected. The average Americans citizen is not privy of the negotiations that go behind the doors. I note this while stating that I did not vote for Trump to shape the American government. But he was elected and he is doing just that.

Coming to Armenia, I am under the impression that a vocal segment of the Armenian citizens in Armenia do not abide by the democratic system they instituted when they ratified their own constitution. They relentlessly question the good citizenship of the government the majority of the Armenian citizens elected. Furthermore, those who oppose the Crossroad for Peace Armenia’s strategic initiative, as noted, do not offer a counter strategic proposal.

What is more surprising, if not outright non-sensical for me, is that a vocal segment of the Diaspora Armenians, who are not citizens of Armenia, do not live in Armenia, did not vote as they cannot vote, do not have their personal fortunes staked on the state of the Republic of Armenia, and yet surprisingly, vehemently articulate in the Diaspora press, against the Armenian government and ignore and do not respect this government the citizens of Armenia elected, whose PM is Nikol Pashinyan and FM is Ararat Mirzoyan.

The Republic of Armenia cannot long endure without living peacefully with its neighbors in the region. It will come about only if the Armenians overwhelmingly stand behind their democratically elected government against their enemy. Otherwise, it is not farfetched that the third Republic of Armenia, like its two predecessors, may go into the history text books. 

The fate of Republic of Armenia will be determined not by the stringencies of Aliyev, but by the good citizenship of the Armenians. And yes, the map presented by a recent French-German broadcast may not be farfetched, should the Armenians not live up to overcome the existential challenge the Republic of Armenia faces.  

Yes, the fault is not in our stars.

                                ***

Link 1:Peace treaty: What does it accomplish - 1/3 - https://vhapelian.blogspot.com/2025/03/what-does-this-peace-deal-accomplish-my_17.html

 

Link 2: Peace treaty: Stay the course - 2/3 - https://vhapelian.blogspot.com/2025/03/stay-course_23.html 

 

  

Stay the course

Vaհe H Apelian

Recently I read the following by Dave Rolph: “The term “stay the course” was an old nautical term of navigation meaning “to continue in the proper direction.” It was later used by Winston Churchill, Ronald Reagan and both George Bushes as an exhortation to not give up or turn back.» Armenia stayed the course for the Crossroad for Peace strategic initiative, the PM Nikol Pashinyan lounged on October 2023, and agreed to the ongoing peace deal with Azerbaijan.

But I did not expect that Aliyev will sign the peace deal the Armenian FM announced on March 13, 2025, after having Armenia accept the last two contesting points of the peace deal that was in progress for the past two years or more. In my following blog titled: “What does this peace deal accomplish? My take”, on Monday March 17, 2025 -see the link below - I wrote the following.

I quote : “The issue is existential. However imperfect a peace deal this may be, if signed, as Azerbaijan will do its utmost to sink it, it will be for Armenians to support the government in the peace deal they have worked out and to rally around it to assure that the premises of the peace deal are implemented.”

Yes, let us brace ourselves for the upcoming saga. Aliyev signing the peace deal is not in the immediate future, but Armenia will have to stay the course the PM Nikol Pashinyan has outlined in the Crossroad for Peace initiative he spearheads. 

Aliyev’s reluctance is expected. Let us be reminded that the cornerstone of Aliyev’s domestic legitimacy was his policy for depopulating Nagorno-Karabakh of its ethnic Armenians. He succeeded in doing it. There are no Armenians left in Azerbaijan. Emboldened by his success in depopulating Artskah, the axis of Aliyev’s domestic policy is now the so called Western Azerbaijan, if not in its entirety, then at least to gain a corridor, he calls Zankezur Corridor,  to have a land connection with Nakhichevan. But with the Crossroads Peace initiative both Armenia and Azerbaijan  will recognize their MUTUAL TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY (տարացքային ամողջականութիւն), MUTUAL SOVEREIGHNTY (,ինքնիշխանութիւն), MUTUAL BORDER SANCTITY (Սահմանային անձռմխելիութիւն) and  ABSENCE OF MUTUAL THREAT OF  FORCE  (ուժի բացառում). Surely Aliyev knows that Azerbaiijan does not face a threat on these premises from Armenia. I do not envision Aliyev will sign the peace treaty in the near or foreseeable future.

But Armenia will stay its course for peaceful coexistence with its neighbors within the former Soviet Socialist Republic of Armenia as agreed in the Alma-Ata. 

The Alma-Ata protocols came about on December 21, 1991 – Soviet Armenia had already declared itself independent on September 21, 1991 - when and where the Soviet Union was declared dissolved and the following former Soviet Socialist States agreed to recognized each other’s territories, as constituent states of the Soviet Union. The following former Soviet Socialist agreed on the protocol: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekstan. By signing the peace deal Aliyev would have committed himself, in front of the international family of nations, to formally abide by the Alma-Ata protocol. 

It is natural that Aliyev would not want to go out of his way to abide by the protocol.

But Armenia will stay its course.

Let us brace ourselves that Azerbaijan will attempt to stir the Armenian public against itself by resorting to provocations. Let us also brace ourselves that the expected provocations may be deadly and regrettably there may be casualties.

But Armenia will stay its course.  

There is a price to pay for every strategy. Armenia’s Crossroad for Peace strategic imitative is no different. Other strategic initiatives most likely will have disastrous consequences to the nascent Republic of Armenia. 

Armenia will stay its course.  

The non-violent peaceful Gandhi strategy challenged the mightiest force in his time, the British Empire and India gained its independence.

By staying the Crossroad for Peace strategic initiative, Armenia is bound to secure for its citizens the right to live securely, peacefully and prosper in Armenia, and it will.

                                    ***

 The link: “What does this peace deal accomplish? My take”: https://vhapelian.blogspot.com/2025/03/what-does-this-peace-deal-accomplish-my_17.html

 

Peace treaty: Stay the course - 2/3 -

Vaհe H Apelian

Recently I read the following by Dave Rolph: “The term “stay the course” was an old nautical term of navigation meaning “to continue in the proper direction.” It was later used by Winston Churchill, Ronald Reagan and both George Bushes as an exhortation to not give up or turn back.» Armenia stayed the course for the Crossroad for Peace strategic initiative, the PM Nikol Pashinyan lounged on October 2023, and agreed to the going peace deal with Azerbaijan.

But I did not expect that Aliyev will sign the peace deal the Armenian FM announced on March 13, 2025, after having Armenia accept the last two contesting points of the peace deal that was in progress for the past two years or more. In my following blog titled: “What does this peace deal accomplish? My take”, on Monday March 17, 2025 -see the link below - I wrote the following.

I quote : “The issue is existential. However imperfect a peace deal this may be, if signed, as Azerbaijan will do its utmost to sink it, it will be for Armenians to support the government in the peace deal they have worked out and to rally around it to assure that the premises of the peace deal are implemented.”

Yes, let us brace ourselves for the upcoming saga. Aliyev signing the peace deal is not in the immediate future, but Armenia will have to stay the course the PM Nikol Pashinyan has outlined in the Crossroad for Peace initiative he spearheads. 

The Aliyev’s reluctance is expected. Let us be reminded that the cornerstone of Aliyev’s domestic legitimacy was his policy for depopulating Nagorno-Karabakh of its ethnic Armenians. He succeeded in doing it. There are no Armenians left in Azerbaijan. Emboldened by his success in depopulating Artskah, the axis of Aliyev’s domestic policy is now the so called Western Azerbaijan, if not in its entirety, then at least to gain a corridor, he calls Zankezur Corridor,  to have a land connection with Nakhichevan. With the Crossroads Peace both Armenia and Azerbaijan  will recognize their MUTUAL TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY (տարացքային ամողջականութիւն), MUTUAL SOVEREIGHNTY (,ինքնիշխանութիւն), MUTUAL BORDER SANCTITY (Սահմանային անձռմխելիութիւն) and  ABSENCE OF MUTUAL THREAT OF  FORCE  (ուժի բացառում). Surely Aliyev knows that Azerbaiijan does not face a threat on these premises from Armenia. I do not envision Aliyev will sign the peace treaty in the near or foreseeable future.

But Armenia will stay its course for peaceful coexistence with its neighbors within the former Soviet Socialist Republic of Armenia as agreed in the Alma-Ata. 

The Alma-Ata protocols came about on December 21, 1991 – Soviet Armenia had already declared itself independent on September 21, 1991 - when and where the Soviet Union was declared dissolved and the following former Soviet Socialist States agreed to recognized each other’s territories, as constituent states of the Soviet Union. The following former Soviet Socialist agreed on the protocol: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekstan. By signing the peace deal Aliyev would have committed himself, in front of the international family of nations, to formally abide by the Alma-Ata protocol. 

It is natural that Aliyev would not want to go out of his way to abide by the protocol.

But Armenia will stay its course.

Let us brace ourselves that Azerbaijan will attempt to stir the Armenian public against itself by resorting to provocations. Let us also brace ourselves that the expected provocations may be deadly and regrettably there may be casualties.

But Armenia will stay it course.  

There is a price to pay for every strategy. Armenia’s Crossroad for Peace strategic imitative is no different. Other strategic initiative most likely will have disastrous consequences to the nascent Republic of Armenia. 

Armenia will stay it course.

The non-violent peaceful Gandhi strategy challenged the mightiest force in his time, the British Empire and India gained its independence.

By staying the Crossroad for Peace strategic initiative, Armenia is bound to secure for its citizens the right to live securely, peacefully and prosper in Armenia, and it will.

                                    ***

 The link: “What does this peace deal accomplish? My take”: https://vhapelian.blogspot.com/2025/03/what-does-this-peace-deal-accomplish-my_17.html

Remembering Unger Mesrob Adishian

Vaհe H Apelian

 

Mesrob Adishian, Arshavir Shiragian
Courtesy Haig Adishian

Stepan Dardouni ended his memorial album - ARF Memorial of North America 1900-1984” (see the note below) - listing the death of unger Mesrob Adishian (Մեսրոպ Ատիշեան) on December 27, 1984, eight years after I immigrated to the U.S., having landed on this hospitable shore on June 9, 1976, at the Kennedy International Airport.

I do not recall the circumstances that brought us together as friends. It surely had to the do with the New Jersey ARF. Unger Adishian and I struck a friendship in spite of the difference in our ages. He had stopped driving when I befriended him. I used to pick him from his house to attend ARF meetings and other social functions, all centered at the St. Vartanants Church of New Jersey.  His house was not far from the Vartanants church. He had purchased the property on which he had his house built before the George Washington bridge was built. After the construction of the bridge, the area naturally had changed and his house now sat at the junction of a major route and busy street to his and especially his wife’s expected dissatisfaction, a complaint I would hear at times when at their home, especially from his wife, who turned out to be a relative of a classmate of mine at the Armenian Evangelical College HS in Beirut, Arshag Srabian who left for the U.S. before graduating.  Unger Mesrob had a vast collection of ARF literature and newspaper clippings that had to do with the assassination of Archbishop Tourian. He was an avid reader of ARF literature.

 At the time, he appeared well into his eighties. I recently found out from his son Haig that he was born in the town of Hussenig in 1894. Records his son Haig Adishian shared with me indicated that he had landed in New York on September 16, 1913 from a New York bound oceanliner that had left Le Havre seaport. There is no record as to when he left Husseinig to immigrate to the New World. True to that generation, his son Haig noted to me that “that generation didn’t tell us too much. I know he lived in Marseilles for a while. We were never given information about when and how they got to America.” That was the case with my paternal grandfather who was born in 1898/99 in Keurkune, Kessab. He survived the genocide and returned to his native village orphaned. All my youthful inquiries about his experience during the genocide were met with evasive answers.  

The last time I met him was when he was hospitalized. In all likelihood it might have been a Saturday afternoon.  Somehow, he found me that I had dressed up more than the usual and wondered if I was attending an ARF function. From stories and anecdotes, he told me, I envisioned he was among the last of the Mohegans of that Armenian American generation whose lives involved, evolved and revolved in and around the ARF, as a sort of an extended home for them, away from their ancestral homes. The centerpiece of their social lives appeared to be the Hairenik building on the Stuart Street. Stepan Dardouni who eulogized him at his funeral, had indicated on his immigration declaration,  212 Stuart Street as his destination address and had James Mandalian, as his contact. 

When I wrote his son Haig that Stepan Dardouni  wrote that when he first met Unger Mesrob Adishian in the Hairenik building, he wandered what this handsome Irishman doing there. Haig found it endearingly amusing and commented to me saying “Vahe, I found it amusing that you knew about that Irishman observation”, and added that "the enclosed photos (see attacherd) may reveal that the Tavloo players at the Hairenik building may not have been so mistaken.  My father was one of eight, four of whom had red hair. “

 I remember to this day when I received the phone call from him letting me know of his wife’s death. He said I was the first person outside his family he called. Naturally he was all shaken and emotional. I never forgot what he said: “Unger Apelian”, he said sobbing, “I had not experienced death in my immediate family before. Most of my parental family members died during the genocide, but I was not there.” 

I found it fitting that Stepan Dardouni ended his memorial album listing Unger Mesrob Adishian’s death. I imagine that generation, paraphrasing Tom Brokaw,, as the greatest Armenian American generation. In mid 1970’ an influx of Armenians from Middle East, such as I, came to the United States. As I reminisce about the past four decades and a bit more, we attended and mostly continue to attend community functions centered around the churches built by the Unger Mesrob Adisshian  generation whose whole life was spent to lay the foundation of community for the free and independent Armenia eventuality. 

Unger Mesrob Adishian, much like his ARF generation, “spent his whole life with one goal, a free and independent Armenia”, wrote to me his son Haig.

Note 1: Mementos from Unger Mesrob Adishian’s journey to the U.S.

 

Note 1: Stepan Dardounis’ memorial album dedicated to his beloved father Hagop and mother Mariam.  “Հ.Յ.Դ. ՅՈՒՇԱՄԱՏԵԱՆ Հիւսիսային Ամերիկայի 1890-1984”, Պոստոն, 1988. ՁՕՆ՝ ԻՄ ՍԻՐԵԼԻ ՀԱՅՐԻԿԻՍ ՅԱԿՈԲԻՆ ԵՒ ՄԱՅՐԻԿԻՍ ՄԱՐԻԱՄԻՆՍ ԽՆԿԵԼԻ ՅԻՇԱՏԱԿԱՆ

 

Remembering Unger Mesrob Adishian

Vaհe H Apelian 

Mesrob Adishian, Arshavir Shiragian
Courtesy Haig Adishian

Stepan Dardouni ended his memorial album - ARF Memorial of North America 1900-1984” (see the note below) - listing the death of unger Mesrob Adishian (Մեսրոպ Ատիշեան) on December 27, 1984, eight years after I immigrated to the U.S., having landed on this hospitable shore on June 9, 1976, at the Kennedy International Airport.

I do not recall the circumstances that brought us together as friends. It surely had to the do with the New Jersey ARF. Unger Adishian and I struck a friendship in spite of the difference in our ages. He had stopped driving when I befriended him. I used to pick him from his house to attend ARF meetings and other social functions all centered at the St. Vartanants Church of New Jersey.  His house was not far from the Vartanants church. He had purchased the property on which he had his house built before the George Washington bridge was built. After the construction of the bridge, the area naturally had changed and his house now sat at the junction of a major route and busy street to his and especially his wife’s expected dissatisfaction, a complaint I would hear at times when at their home, especially from his wife, who turned out to be a relative of a classmate of mine at the Armenian Evangelical College HS in Beirut, Arshag Srabian who left for the U.S. before graduating.  Unger Mesrob had a vast collection of ARF literature and newspaper clippings that had to do with the assassination of Archbishop Tourian. He was an avid reader of ARF literature.

 At the time, he appeared well into his eighties. I recently found out from his son Haig that he was born in the town of Hussenig in 1894. Records his son Haig Adishian shared with me indicated that he had landed in New York on September 16, 1913 from a New York bound oceanliner that had left Le Havre seaport. There is no record as to when he left Husseinig to immigrate to the New World. True to that generation, his son Haig noted to me that “that generation didn’t tell us too much. I know he lived in Marseilles for a while. We were never given information about when and how they got to America.” That was the case with my paternal grandfather who was born in 1898/99 in Keurkune, Kessab. He survived the genocide and returned to his native village orphaned. All my youthful inquiries about his experience during the genocide were met with evasive answers.  

The last time I met him was when he was hospitalized. In all likelihood it might have been a Saturday afternoon.  Somehow, he found me that I had dressed up more than the usual and wondered if I was attending an ARF function. From stories and anecdotes, he told me, I envisioned he was among the last of the Mohegans of that Armenian American generation whose lives involved, evolved and revolved in and around the ARF, as a sort of an extended home for them, away from their ancestral homes. The centerpiece of their social lives appeared to be the Hairenik building on the Stuart Street. Stepan Dardouni who eulogized him at his funeral, had indicated on his immigration declaration,  212 Stuart Street as his destination address and had James Mandalian, as his contact. 

When I wrote his son Haig that Stepan Dardouni  wrote that when he first met Unger Mesrob Adishian in the Hairenik building, he wandered what this handsome Irishman doing there. Haig found it endearingly amusing and commented to me saying “Vahe, I found it amusing that you knew about that Irishman observation”, and added that "the enclosed photos (see attacherd) may reveal that the Tavloo players at the Hairenik building may not have been so mistaken.  My father was one of eight, four of whom had red hair. “

 I remember to this day when I received the phone call from him letting me know of his wife’s death. He said I was the first person outside his family he called. Naturally he was all shaken and emotional. I never forgot what he said: “Unger Apelian”, he said sobbing, “I had not experienced death in my immediate family before. Most of my parental family members died during the genocide, but I was not there.” 

I found it fitting that Stepan Dardouni ended his memorial album listing Unger Mesrob Adishian’s death. I imagine that generation, paraphrasing Tom Brokaw,, as the greatest Armenian American generation. In mid 1970’ an influx of Armenians from Middle East, such as I, came to the United States. As I reminisce about the past four decades and a bit more, we attended and mostly continue to attend community functions centered around the churches built by the Unger Mesrob Adisshian  generation whose whole life was spent to lay the foundation of community for the free and independent Armenia eventuality. 

Unger Mesrob Adishian, much like his generation, “spent his whole life with one goal, a free and independent Armenia”, wrote to me his son Haig.

Note 1: Mementos from Unger Mesrob Adishian’s journey to the U.S.

 

Note 1: Stepan Dardounis’ memorial album dedicated to his beloved father Hagop and mother Mariam.  “Հ.Յ.Դ. ՅՈՒՇԱՄԱՏԵԱՆ Հիւսիսային Ամերիկայի 1890-1984”, Պոստոն, 1988. ՁՕՆ՝ ԻՄ ՍԻՐԵԼԻ ՀԱՅՐԻԿԻՍ ՅԱԿՈԲԻՆ ԵՒ ՄԱՅՐԻԿԻՍ ՄԱՐԻԱՄԻՆՍ ԽՆԿԵԼԻ ՅԻՇԱՏԱԿԱՆ