Posted 28 May 2005
In the 29th April 2005 issue of “Addis Tribune” (a publication of Tambek International, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, established in 1992) printed an article by Garbis Krajian, under the title: “Genocide 90 years ago ? and Denial”
Garbis Kradjian is a graduate of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and a teacher of ethics courses. His current assignment is in
The article was more than a tribute to the memory of the victims of the Genocide. It was a blend of memories on personal, communal, national and trans-national levels, all intermingled in an interesting way. After all, our life is a reflection of the reality within those four circles.
The article begins with the following statement:
As a form of introduction, I was born in
I grew up in the Arat Kilo region and still remember many of my childhood friends. I became fluent in Amharic [the majority language in
After living abroad for thirty years, I have returned to
On April 24th, like it has been done for the last 90 years, I also went to my church to pray for the soul of my ancestors.
It is estimated that over ten million Armenians and friends in one hundred fifty-two countries gathered in churches, community centers, and national assembly halls to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.
I was one of sixty Armenians who congregated at St. George (Kevork) Armenian Church [in Addis Ababa, capital city of Ethiopia] to pay tribute to my ancestors who were victims of the atrocities committed by the Turkish Ottoman Empire during the First World War.
Needless to say, I could not think of being anywhere else in the world at this particular moment than this sacred place in Addis which is still situated in the same setting where I regularly prayed as a child until I was 19 years of age. This was the same site, where every year, on April 24th, a thousand or so Armenian-Ethiopians gathered to remember their ancestors, the children, and the elderly who were slaughtered by the Ottoman Army. In fact, what makes my conviction so much stronger is that I am the grandchild of one of the Forty Orphans, the ?Arba Lijoch,? who survived the genocide and escaped to
The Emperor brought them to
Before I move to the topic of my immediate concern, I pay much gratitude to all Ethiopians, present and past, for giving the Armenians a home for the last 100 years.
Garbis Krajian then gives a summery of the Genocide explaining why
He ends the article by borrowing Reverend Martin Luther King?s ?I have a dream? speech:
I have a dream that one day little Armenian boys and girls will be able to join hands with little Turkish boys and girls as sisters and brothers without having to bring up the past. I hope one day, my daughters Sara and Ani will be able to play with the children of my very good Turkish friend Serdar, without even going there?there ?there, to the past, a very sad past that is inevitable to surface when an Armenian and Turk meet.
You can reach Garbis Krajian at the following e-mail.
Complete text available online.
70th anniversary of St. George (Kevork) Church in
On the 16th January 2005, the Armenian Community in
The celebration was presided by Archimandrite V. Rev. Fr. Ashot Mnatzakanyan (Locum Tenens of the Diocese of Armenian Apostolic Church of Egypt and all Africa), Rev. Fr. Myron Sarkissian, Pastor of the Community (and other nearby countries such as
Catholicos
His Holiness Patriarch Abouna Paulos, the Head of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, had visited the Catholicosate two years ago and asked Aram I to assist the Ethiopian Community of Lebanon. Upon his request, Catholicos
You can reach Rev. Fr. Myron Sarkissian, Pastor of the Community at the following e-mail.