Society 09:45 13/01/2014

A Walk Through Dante’s Inferno

By Nigol Bezjian
From The Armenian Weekly

I was recently asked to help a journalist from a Prague-based radio station do a report on the Syrian-Armenian refugees in Beirut. She wanted to meet all sorts of folks—wealthy, poor, young and old—who were trying to make a go of it with what was left from a fragmented life. I took her to Bourj Hammoud—Little Armenia—where many of them could be found, and to a restaurant serving the much-cherished Aleppo cuisine.

We met one of the owners, a young, charming man with the freshly acquired acuteness of a businessman. He quickly invited us to a table and asked about our preferred drink from a list of American/global soft drinks. We settled for cold bottled water with a local name, though it was surely owned by some international conglomerate.

The journalist was originally from Stepanakert, the capital of the Nagorno Karabagh Republic (NKR), which was born from a brutal war with Azerbaijan that saw more than 30,000 killed on both sides. She had been born in the midst of that war, during the unfolding of the Soviet Union. And here she was covering a new war with its own displaced Armenians.

While she was preparing her recording device, I had already begun to engage this man, almost a third my age: Which neighborhood of Aleppo was he from? How did he make it to Beirut safe and sound? What school had he gone to?

His words took me back, step by step, to my youth in Aleppo.

He had attended the Haigazian kindergarten and elementary schools, and the Karen Jeppe high school. When I told him that a generation ago, I had lived in the same vicinity and had attended the same schools, a sparkle shined in his eyes, followed by an unwilling smile of comfort: He had at last met someone who could relate to his demolished past. It was a moment of consolation between familiar strangers.

He asked when I had left our beloved Aleppo. During the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, I said, but didn’t hear his response as my mind was spectacularly taken back to my own war and departure. I’m not sure how the meeting with the young reporter took shape. I was fixated on the notion that in this part of the world, every generation has had a war and has felt its mark.

My generation witnessed the many internal upheavals that gave us nothing but panic and fear every day, as coup d’états spread young army conscripts like ants through our streets and alleys. Then we had the 1967 Six-Day War with Israel, and the 1973 Yom Kippur War, when we moved to Beirut and then the U.S., leaving my grandmother and aunts behind. They, in turn, survived the Lebanese civil war, which began in 1975 and lasted 15 bloody years.

My grandmother had been a survivor of World War I, which gave us the infamous Armenian Genocide. As a four-year-old, she was forced to walk from her ancestral village in Sepastia through the scorching Syrian desert of Der Zor, to the unwelcoming streets of Aleppo. All this, with her younger brother, orphaned, thirsty, barefoot, and with hardly any clothes on, witnessing horrors that made their generation speechless for decades.

My father, who was born in Aleppo, lived through the wars of Syrian independence from the French mandate, and then the internal wars over control of the city among various armed groups, until it was time for World War II. As a young man then, he joined the British Army. He was first sent to Palestine, then Egypt, and eventually to Bologna to fight to liberate Italy. He returned to Aleppo as a handsome, war-experienced 19-year-old with limited knowledge of Italian, which he had acquired from his girlfriends, and a mark of being westernized.

This same man, now with a wife and three boys, had to take up arms again in the early 1960’s to defend Armenian neighborhoods when the short-lived Egyptian-Syrian union was being dismantled.

“Every generation has his war in the Middle East,” I heard myself saying to no one in particular as I came back from my mental tour of the past century.

The young restaurateur turned to me in a gentle move from the reporter’s microphone, as if continuing his interview. “This is a destiny we have, to live out wars and upheavals, genocides and massacres in the Middle East. This century has been bloody for us, in Egypt, Iran, Lebanon, Iraq, and Syria, where we settled after the Turkish massacres and found a life from the start. Yet we have to deal with being killed again and again. For a century now, we have not found peace and calm,” he said, sipping from his glass of a soft drink overfilled with ice.

The ensuing, dense silence in noisy Bourj Hammoud was broken by his conclusion, uttered in the humblest of voices: “Me and my other two partners had a great life and spent every night in restaurants and clubs in Aleppo, Damascus, Cairo, and Beirut. We were entertained as if we were kings. Now in Beirut we work day and night to make our customers feel like royals. This is the reversal of events, if you survived at all. We are lucky and thankful, but thankful to whom and why is what I do not know.”

I had no words, no ideas, on how to soften his pain when teardrops fell from his eyes, while he insisted that we choose anything from the menu as his guests. Only someone who has experienced a walk through Dante’s Inferno and come back alive could offer such generosity.

The journalist had to make another appointment to complete her interview, this time without my presence, my personal interjections and musings.

This is just one story of too many to be told, and so it goes…

 



Source Panorama.am
Share |
Տեքստում սխալ կամ վրիպակ նկատելու դեպքում, ուղարկեք խմբագրին հաղորդագրություն` նշելով տվյալ սխալը, այնուհետև սեղմելով Ctrl-Enter:

Newsfeed

11:00
Greta Thunberg arrives In Armenia, boycotting COP29 In Baku
Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg arrived in Armenia on Tuesday after announcing a boycott of the COP29 UN climate summit in...
17:00
Rain, snow expected in Armenia on Tuesday
Rain and snow are expected in some parts of Armenia on Tuesday and over the weekend. Clear weather is forecast for the next three days....
16:45
Melania Trump expected to skip White House meeting with Jill Biden
Melania Trump is not expected to attend the traditional White House meeting with first lady Jill Biden, CNN reported, citing sources...
16:31
Urartu names new director
FC Urartu has named Davit Shakhbagyan as the club’s new general director. The specialist has been part of the club since 2015, it said...
16:06
Ruling party blocks statement on Armenian prisoners
The parliamentary faction of Armenia's ruling Civil Contract party on Tuesday blocked a statement demanding the release of...
15:30
Negotiations with Snoop Dogg continue for Yerevan concert, ministry says
The new date for the concert of famous American rapper Snoop Dogg in Yerevan remains unknown. The concert, which was initially scheduled for...
15:02
India reportedly ships first Akash air defence missile system battery to Armenia
India marks another milestone in its defence export as it shipped the first Akash weapon system battery to Armenia. This is the second missile...
14:34
Trump picks Kristi Noem as his Homeland Security secretary
President-elect Donald Trump has selected South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem as his next secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, CNN...
14:15
Four arrested after raids at Yerevan district administration
Four people, including officials, were arrested on Tuesday after law-enforcement authorities raided Yerevan's Kentron district...
13:36
Armenian Foreign Ministry explains Mirzoyan's statement on customs simplifications with Azerbaijan
At the ministerial meeting of the 3+3 regional consultative platform held in Istanbul on October 18, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan...
13:08
Bitcoin tops $89,000
Bitcoin’s record-breaking rally took the digital asset past $89,000 and lifted the overall value of the crypto market above its...
12:36
Armenia sees rise in pneumonia mortality rate
World Pneumonia Day is observed annually on November 12 to raise awareness about pneumonia, a life-threatening but preventable and...
12:13
Opposition urges parliament majority to join statement on Armenian prisoners
The opposition Hayastan and Pativ Unem factions in the Armenian parliament have initiated a special sitting on the issue of Armenian prisoners...
11:36
Presidential office denies reports of Vahagn Khachaturyan's hospitalization
The Armenian presidential office has denied reports about President Vahagn Khachaturyan’s hospitalization. “Reports alleging...
11:15
WCC, World Evangelical Alliance and global partners call for immediate release of Armenian prisoners
The World Evangelical Alliance, in collaboration with the World Council of Churches (WCC), Christian Solidarity International, and a coalition...
11:00
Michel, Aliyev discuss Armenia-Azerbaijan normalization
European Council President Charles Michel discussed the Armenia-Azerbaijan normalization process with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev....
17:17
Armenia wins six medals at World Sambo Championships
Armenian sambo fighters captured six medals, including two silver and four bronze, at the 2024 World Sambo Championships held in Astana,...
16:57
Azerbaijani regime ethnically cleansed Nagorno-Karabakh, new report says
The Azerbaijani regime engaged in ethnic cleansing against the ethnic Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh, according to a report released...
16:36
Armenian church leader off to India
Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II on Monday travelled to India on a patriarchal visit at the invitation of the church department of Kolkata...
16:16
Deputy FM: Yerevan, Baku still disagree on some issues
Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Vahan Kostanyan says that differences remain with Azerbaijan over the draft text of a peace treaty....
15:32
Armenian MP: Azerbaijan toughened rhetoric ahead of COP29
Azerbaijan’s rhetoric has significantly toughened ahead of COP29, Armenian opposition MP Tigran Abrahamyan says. “Its causes are...
15:14
Georgia president calls for fresh parliamentary elections
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili on Monday called for fresh parliamentary elections to resolve a crisis sparked by last month's vote...
14:50
Armenian Interior Ministry suspends surveillance bill
The Armenian Interior Ministry has suspended a bill on the mandatory installation of video surveillance systems with 24-hour police access...
14:15
Armenian GM beats Azeri rival at European Individual Chess Championship
The European Individual Chess Championship 2024 is being held in Petrovac, Montenegro from 7-20 November. After 3 rounds, GM Robert...
13:59
Armenian parliament commission's report on 2020 war probe ready, senior MP says
The Armenian parliament commission has completed its report on the outcome of a probe into the circumstances of the 2020 Artsakh war, senior...
13:20
Trump plans to return bust of Winston Churchill to White House
Donald Trump has vowed to return a bust of Winston Churchill to the Oval Office as a 'mark of respect', the Daily Mail reports....
13:05
Numerous archaeological materials found at excavations in Armenia's Ohanavan
Excavations have resumed at the newly-discovered early medieval rock-hewn tomb in the Ohanavan community of Armenia's Aragatsotn Province...
12:46
Australia plans social media ban for children under 16
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced Thursday what he called a "world-leading" plan to implement a social media ban...
12:36
Armenia's Arsen Khandzhian wins silver at World Sambo Championships
Armenian sambo fighter Arsen Khandzhian captured a silver medal at the 2024 World Sambo Championships held in Astana, Kazakhstan,...
12:23
Junior Eurovision: Armenia's Leo had his first rehearsal
Armenia's delegate Leo had his first rehearsal at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2024 in Madrid on Sunday. Leo was joined on stage...

Follow us and get updates!

Most popular articles

{"core.blocks.header.spell_message1":"Selected mistake: ","core.blocks.header.spell_message2":"Send a message about the mistake?"}