Armenians in the NOA | 106 years after the genocide

April 24 is a day of remembrance, pain, demand and union for the Armenian community around the world. That day, but 106 years ago, began what will later be called Armenian genocide.

The night of April 23-24, 1915 235 members of the Armenian community were arrested, transferred and then killed by the authorities of the Ottoman Empire (now Turkey), especially intellectuals and community leaders in an attempt to decapitate the leadership of this organization.

This date is taken as the starting point of a genocidal process, the main objective of which was to destroy the minorities that did not align with the mandate of ethnic homogenization that the new Turkish state had outlined.

However, there are those who managed to survive planned death and were able to slowly rebuild their lives through networks of solidarity and a steadfast will to life. These Armenians scattered in different corners of the world made up what is called the diaspora.

Be in the world

The Armenian diaspora was growing all over the world, reaching, to date, more than 8 million Armenians in different parts of the globe. Although the countries close to present-day Armenia concentrate the greatest number (Russia, Syria, Lebanon, among them) others like France, United States and ArgentinaThey welcomed and welcomed many of these early immigrants.

Nelida Boulgourdjian is a historian with a long academic career. One of his most important, patient and voluminous works was to investigate the arrival of Armenians in the country. Your book “Armenian immigration to Argentina “ It is a meticulous job of reading the lists of passengers who entered the national territory between 1889 and 1979. Although there were different migratory waves, the majority flow entered between 1920 and 1930.

Boulgourdjian comments that “most of the newly arrived Armenians stayed in Buenos Aires. Argentina had an open immigration policy (…) They were asked for a certificate of good conduct, health and the like, but once entered the country they could work freely, there were no restrictions (…) they usually started out as street vendors, someone I provided him with haberdashery, for example, and they started ”.

These first migrants improvised jobs or tried to take over the trades they brought from their land. Many were devoted to the field of carpets, others were shoemakers, goldsmiths or merchants in general. Little by little, they meet new compatriots, regrouping in social, cultural and political institutions which they themselves founded. One way to create community ties thousands of kilometers from their homeland.

“In addition, a large number of Armenians went to Cordoba, because in the so-called English quarter, someone hired them for different activities. This is why a church, a school and other institutions were created in Cordoba ”, comments the historian and adds:“ later they were dispersed throughout the country but to a lesser extent. I I understand that in this first step they will also have gone to the NOA. Perhaps they had contact with the Syrian community mostly. They came from the same place, from Ottoman Empire. They were close to food, probably some Armenians also knew Arabic. So there will probably have been a certain proximity ”.

Way north

José Maria Eliazarian He is 45 years old. He was born in Jujuy Liberator General San Martín, Ledesma, but since he was very young he lives in Salta. He is a journalistic reference in the world of sport and more particularly in the world of rugby in Salta. In addition, he is one of the few descendants of Armenians to walk the streets of “la Linda”.

“The relative who came from Armenia to Argentina was my great-grandfather Moisés Eliazarian. I understand you entered the country through Buenos Aires. I don’t have a lot of memories about it, I didn’t even talk about it once with my grandpa Ruben Eliazarian. What I do know is that he arrived in Jujuy in the town of Carmen where he had a pharmacy. I remember it very well because I kept a photo of my great-grandfather in the pharmacy dressed very elegantly and with these huge wooden shelves full of jars. I scanned the photo and lost it among so many files, ”he said.

Although material memory may be lost, oral memory appears to be a fundamental safeguard of culture and of collective and family history.

In this sense, José María adds: “I bond with the Armenian it is through the affection that I felt listening to my grandfather Rubén Eliazarian speak. He spoke with great affection about Armenia, its landscapes, its dishes (…) I was struck by so much affection for a country and a culture that he could not know personally. This generated in my curiosity for the Armenian and the knowledge of his history generated a sense of belonging and a special affection that I saw in my grandfather ”.

Maria jose karamanian He is a pediatrician. He was born in Buenos Aires 34 years ago and over 10 years ago he came to the north to do medical practices in Jujuy. Since 2017, he has lived permanently in the province where he holds a position at the hospital of Tilcara. The Humahuaca he witnesses his work.

His grandparents came to Argentina from Tomarza (city of present-day Turkey) between 1927 and 1928. The other grandparents were born in Buenos Aires in the early 1930s.

Her life since she was little has gone through Armenianism. His mother and father are both descendants of Armenians. He studied in elementary school in the Isaac Bakchellian Institute and the secondary in Arzruní, both belonging to the community of the southern zone of the city of Buenos Aires.

Participated in the Armenian Youth Union and in the last year of the degree he traveled to Armenia to do some health practices. Without a doubt, this experience has taken a step forward: “It happened to me, in my late teens, that I was still closely linked to the Armenian by a nationalism, and later I understood that in reality the problems and the causes run through a lot of people. other realities, other communities, other populations, other countries and not just Armenians ”.

Parallels

“Jujuy has some places whose landscape reminds me a lot of Armenia. The part of the Jujuy valley reminds me of Artsaj, the way there. Or maybe northern Armenia. It always reminds me of it, ”says Majo, as she is called every day.

José María Eliazarian also dares to draw a parallel between the landscapes: “The images come to me from the mountains and especially the mountains that we have here, with small towns or villages between them. Especially we find it in Calchaquíes Valleys. Stony and colorful mountains which, without explaining much to me, take me to Armenia ”.

More than 14,000 kilometers away, it seems like a pipe dream to continue to find similarities. However, they grow in the least expected way. Majo adds: “There are many similar points when it comes to culture, is another thing that attracts me. Forms of festivities, or forms of connection that are very local. I saw it very reflected in Armenian and I found it in Jujuy. I think that many problems in Andean culture have these similarities ”.

“What about the traditional families of Salta with a strong father image, it’s also very Armenian for me. And family reunification with this feeling of union and pride in our own, is something that can be highlighted as being common between Armenia and northern Argentina, ”Eliazarian says.

Of course, culture also has its different points of view, forms, reconfigurations and places to be problematized, and in this sense María José declares: “One thing that cultures are similar is that they are very patriarchal societies, machismo is quite present in Armenia and in the North … All is not positive ”.

Ser “ian”

Armenian surnames have a unique characteristic that makes them recognizable: the ending “ian”. Sometimes just by hearing an “ian” an unexpected fellowship is generated. Two or more Armenians recognize each other and this is already a cause for celebration.

The ending refers to “being the son of”. It can come from names or trades. For example, the surname “Simonian” means “son of Simon” or Chobanian means “son of the shepherd” (“choban” is shepherd in Armenian).

At the same time, the “ian” is not only a suffix, but also carries an implicit mark of Armenian identity, something that each descendant travels in different ways.

“For many of my friends, I am Armenia. Armenianism is part of you. I speak it, I tell the story or the memories of when I was there. Or through the meals, it is a question of talking about a lot of cultures (…) or sometimes they just ask me and the speech comes back ”, says Majo.

“I recently discovered that my eldest son, Lucas eliazarianThey called him “the Armenian” at school and some also know me that way. I believe that Armenianism is so strong that it is incorporated into us even without even knowing it»José María Eliazarian declares with surprise and joy.

Memory and claim

Although several states have recognized the Armenian genocide (including that of Argentina), Turkey, the perpetrator, denies that these events change and distort history. It is then up to the descendants, through oral testimonies and tireless documentation work, to continue with memory and claim.

The historian, and descendant of the Armenians, Nélida Boulgourdjian thinks about it: “Turkey must recognize. Start conversations. For most of the descendants of the survivors, recognition would suffice. Reconcile and move on ”.

Eliazarian reflects: “I believe that recognition of the Armenian genocide is totally necessary. It also depends on each of us: to spread, communicate and transmit the unjust pain and especially the terrible horror that the Armenian people experienced, which will have this mark and this open wound as far as the countries of the world do not recognize. one of the greatest and most unjust massacres of mankind. This pain still persists in those who are or are of Armenian origin. “

The acute pain of the descendants of those who survived to speak of it is present and palpable, but at the same time, does not bend and continues a path in search of justice, in many cases pairing with other suffering peoples. and persecuted in the world.

“The recognition of the Armenian genocide is necessary because it is necessary to recognize the violation of any right against any person from any part of the world. I believe that life is the most important thing we have whether we are Armenian or not. Life defends itself and no one has to plan a massacre against anyone, ”Karamanian concludes.

There are over 100,000 Armenian descendants in Argentina. In turn, there is a small group that travels through the north of the country. These, in their own way, preserve their own culture and memory, by meeting others, mixing and generating new syntheses and reflections.

A few days before a new commemoration of the Armenian genocide, this handful of Armenians remembers and claims their feet in the North.