Catalan newspaper El Periódico: There is no Armenian family that has not faced Genocide
Several articles covering the Armenian Genocide have been published on the website of the Catalan newspaper El Periódico. Ernest Alós, the author of one of the articles writes about the book of a Catalan journalist and writer Xavier Moret – “The Memory of Ararat. A Trip to Find the Roots of Armenia.” In his book, Moret writes that it is impossible to travel to Armenia without facing the memory of 1.5 million Armenians who died of hunger, thirst, were killed on the gallows and of shootings in 1915-1923, or the million Armenians who made up the Diaspora.
“I am sure that there is no other nation in the world that has got such a strong sense of affection toward its land. The Armenians of the Diaspora, too, despite living far from their homeland, in their way remain faithful to the idealized Armenia with the memory about Ararat as a supreme symbol. As William Saroyan, one of the great Armenian writers, has it, ‘…when two of them [Armenians] meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia,’” Moret writes in his book.
According to the article, Moret first got to know Armenia through William Saroyan’ books, Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon, Charles Aznavour’s songs, Atom Egoyan’s films, as well as the Armenians he met in Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Bolivia and Europe. Moret flew to Armenia in a plane where tears ran from the eyes of many passengers as soon as Ararat showed being now on the territory of Turkey. This is the mountain where Noah’s Ark landed, Noah being the ancestor of Hayk, the mythic forefather of “Hayastan” (Armenia), as the Armenian legends have it.
According to the article, presenting the Armenian history, Moret writes about the persecutions of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in 1896 (200,000 deceased) and in 1915 by the order of the government of the Young Turks. Moret also visited ancient churches, the depositiry of historical manuscripts, Maternadaran, which maintains the memory of the nation, as well as the monument to the Genocide victims on the hill Tsitsernakaberd which carries the names of the 2,000 settlements where massacres of the Armenians took place.
“Though the pain of the Genocide may seem to be alleviating with time, it is still present for the Armenians. They reject to forget it and get angry that the Turkish leadership goes on denying the Genocide,” Moret writes.
In a separate article, Xavier Moret himself writes about the operation Nemesis (1919) – the Armenians’ revenge of those responsible for the Armenian Genocide in 1915. Another article in El Periódico presents the book by Franz Werfel – “The Forty Days of Musa Dagh,” which was translated into Catalan by Ramon Monton and published in 1984. According to the article, Werfel saw many Armenian refugees, including many children and mutilated people, during his trip to the Middle East in 1929. He learnt about the horrors of the deportation of thousands of people. Coming back, he thoroughly documented materials about the Genocide and decided to write a novel about the confrontation of the inhabitants of 6 Armenian villages on the Mountain Musa Dagh (Moses Mountain) by the Mediterranean in 1915 against the Turkish troops.
Moret writes that “Werfel’s novel is the fruit of another epoch, still it was able to pass the ultimate test: it retains its interest after 80 years since it appeared.” Really, the confrontation on the mountain Musa Dagh went on for 53 days until a French ship saved the Armenian refugees and took them to Egypt. However, the author decided to reduce the days to a “more biblical number” – 40.
“Books like that of Werfel’s serve for the persistence of the memory of a forgotten Genocide, of a Genocide that after 100 years, incredible as it may seem, has been recognized only by 22 states of the world,” Xavier Moret writes.
Another author, Xavier Triana, in his article touched upon the topic of the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by Pope Francis and the reaction of the descendant of the Ottoman Empire – Turkey. Citing the book of the Professor of the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Francisco Veiga, Triana writes that the Chief of Staff of Ottoman empire, Enver Pasha, issued a directive on April 24, 1915 about the deportation of the Armenian civilians from six vilayets. The aim of the deportation was that the Armenians should not surpass the 10 per cent of the Turkish, Kurdish and Circassian population in those six provinces.
“There is no Armenian family that has not lost members during the massacres,” Narine Nikoghosyan, a young Armenian from Italy, said.
Though Erdogan expressed his condolences in 2014 to the families of those affected, he never apologized. “And the wound between those two neighbors remains open,” the author writes.
Related:
Armenian Genocide: Turkey to convert Hagia Sofia Basilica into mosque to spite Pope Francis
Armenian family in Turkey deprived of income after Pope’s Armenian Genocide remarks
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