Armenian genocide is vivid memory for two Michigan centenarians

[Yervant1]

The Detroit News, MI
April 6 2014

Armenian genocide is vivid memory for two Michigan centenarians

Lauren Abdel-Razzaq


Ramela Carman was just a baby when, in 1915, the Turkish government
began exterminating Armenians or exiling them to other parts of the
Ottoman Empire. Her father was a skilled tradesman who had to flee for
his life, leaving his family behind and disguising himself as a Turk
in order to survive.

"My father, for a long time, we know he's someplace but we don't know
where he is," said Carman, who turns 100 on Monday, and taught herself
English after moving to Michigan in 1960. "He had to grow a beard and
he (changed) his name."

Later on, Carman's family was reunited, but her father died of kidney
failure soon after forcing Carman to go to work starting at age 12
sewing men's shirts. The Livonia resident has spent her entire life
working. Working and surviving.

Stories of the hardships in Carman's life leave her great-neice Lydia
Doyon in awe.

"I don't think a lot of people know it happened to the Armenian
people. Especially my generation and younger," said Doyon, a Brandon
Township resident. "I try to instill that into my kids, how fortunate
they are."

As for Carman, says she has never forgotten the tragedy of the
genocide and the impact it had on her life.

"My father's brothers, my mother's brothers, all gone. My family, all
gone. Still I don't believe it. This is Armenian life."

As the 99th anniversary of the Armenian genocide in Turkey approaches,
churches across Metro Detroit are preparing to memorialize those who
were lost and those who suffered during the difficult time.

Parishoners from four area churches will hold a commemoration ceremony
April 24 at 7 p.m. at St. Sarkis Armenian Apolostic Church in
Dearborn, 19300 Ford Road.

"We will hold a requiem service for those who have died and after we
will go outside to where we have a monument for the martyrs and we
will light candles and pay our respects," said Fr. Hrant Kevorkian,
pastor of St. Sarkis.

A meal with traditional lamb, bulgar wheat and bread will follow.

"The importance of the genocide is that it's related to each of us,"
Kevorkian said of the Armenian population in Metro Detroit. "One way
or another, the reason we are here today is because of the genocide
and being pushed off our land and moving around the world."

An estimated 1.5 million killed

The problems between the Turkish government and the Armenian
population started in the late 19th century and came to a head on
April 24, 1915 when 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders
were arrested in what is now Istanbul.

The genocide was carried out in two phases, the first being the
killing of able bodied men through massacres and labor camps and the
second being the deportation of women, children, the elderly and
infirm who were sent on death marches through the Syrian desert.

"They targeted men to minimize resistance," said Dr. Ara Sanjian,
director of U-M Dearborn's Armenian Research Center. "It was believed
that women could be absorbed into Turkish families through marriage
and children could be absorbed too."

Death tolls are estimated to be 1.5 million, said Sanjian. To this
day, the Turkish government has not publicly said the genocide
occurred.

"Because it's still denied by the descendants of perpetrators, it
makes it very difficult for diplomatic relations," he said. "Most of
the descendants of Armenians have assimilated in foreign lands but
they feel anger that after 99 years they still have to prove that this
happened to them."

Fr. Garabed Kochakian, pastor at St. John's Armenian Church in
Southfield, says it is important to remember the events of the
Armenian genocide because persecution is still occurring in the world
today, for example, with Syria.

"It's the duty of all, not only Armenians, to remember," he said.
"Countries can't do these types of things and get away with it. It's a
problem that touches all people. Not just specifically one group."

The 1915 genocide actually inspired Adolf Hitler to eliminate Jews in
Europe during World War II, said Sanjian.

"Hitler looked at it as a way of saying violence pays," he said. "He
saw that they conducted genocide and got all the political benefits."

'They are people too'

Asya Titova's life reads like a history book, which isn't surprising
for someone who has survived two world wars and two genocides.

The 102-year-old was a toddler when her family fled Turkey seeking
protection from the genocide in Russia. By the 1980s, she was living
in Baku, Azerbaijan when tensions between the country and Armenia
exploded into mass killings.

In 1988, together with her son's family, Titova moved to Lansing.

"She shows us the old pictures, goes through the stories," said
Titova's granddaughter, Araksina Titov. "We as Armenians try to
educate people about genocide. To me, what is means is we should learn
from it and try to prevent it from happening in the future."

Today Titova is living in a senior home in East Lansing with her
family living close by. Her birth certificate says she is 100 but she
is actually 102 because her papers were filled out incorrectly when
the family fled Turkey. She's hard of hearing and speaks only Armenian
and Russian, but she is determined to be as independent as possible.
She's always had a strong spirit, says her daughter-in-law Tatyana
Titov.

During World War II, Titov's home was taken over by Nazi officers, for
whom she cooked and cleaned. In return, they protected her family and
gave her delicacies like chocolate and meat. While that was going on,
Titova was hiding two Jewish families in the basement.

"All the time, I told her, 'why did you do it mom?' said her
daughter-in-law. "She says, 'what can I do? They are people too. We
all want to live."

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140406/METRO06/304060012/Armenian-genocide-1915-vivid-memory-two-Michigan-centenarians