Syrian-Armenian survivor recalls deportation: “I would rather die than see exile…”
Anahit Aharonian, an Armenian woman from the Syrian town of Kessab, who has been evacuated to Turkey’s Hatay province along with 18 other compatriots, has shared the bitter experience of the deportation.
In comments to the Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, the woman said that her family, which was originally from Ayntap (a historical Armenian city now situated in Turkey’s south-east) settled in Aleppo after a narrow escape from the Genocide in 1915.
“Since the outbreak of the fight in Kessaab, those who could or wanted to leave left. Together with my 91-year-old uncle, we stayed in our house. They came and ravaged our place but didn’t see us. They found us on the fifth day and took where the rest were. There were Armenians and Sunnis there. All of us, elderly people, would sleep on the ground. They treated us well; they would hold our hands to help us rise; they would give us food. I told them, ‘Shoot us dead’. I wished to die instead of seeing the exile of 1915,” she told the publication.
The woman said further that before being moved to Turkey, they had been taken to the Armenian church of Kessab for the last chance to see the building. “They wanted to show that nothing had happened to the church, but they had removed the cross and broken the piano,” she recalled.
Aharonyan said the rebels hadn’t killed Armenians, adding that they wouldn’t have been treated likewise were they Alevis. “I feel calm here now but want to leave for Aleppo as early as I can. I want to see my kids,” she told Agos.
Kessab, an Armenian populated town in Syria’s north-west, came under Islamist militants’ attack on March 21. Most of the Armenians were evacuated to the port city of Latakia.
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