Special for the Armenian Weekly
There it was again…
The destruction, the desecration, the humiliation at the treatment of our sacred sites. And for what? A search for mythical gold? Gold that is not there and never was.
On the beautiful shores of Lake Van, my frustration had reached the boiling point of extreme anger. So now I write again as the Angry Armenian.
On this fourth trip in the last year to Western Armenia (my eighth overall), there were positive experiences to offset the negative. This is part and parcel of making such a trip: The emotional peaks are high and the lows deep. But on this day, I was experiencing both in a way that heightened my sense of utter frustration.
While most of our group was climbing to the heights of the Surp Tovmas monastery, my wife and I, along with Nora Hovsepian, chose to go further, to a cemetery I had only previously seen from a distance.
Varents was a small, entirely Armenian, village on the shores of Lake Van in a cove not far from Akhtamar. At the time of the genocide, it had grown to 176 Armenians in 31 households. The church with an adjacent school was possibly named Surp Sdepanos. No village remains today, and has not existed since the genocide. However, I could find very little written about the village. My usual sources were surprisingly silent and any additional comments would be pure speculation.
What I did find was a church in ruins and a cemetery with well over 100 tombstones. Amongst the destruction, though, a few stones caught my attention and raised my level of excitement. Within the church or chapel, a stone clearly had “Arakel” written upon it. More names were on other stones.
Nearby, I found a stone with “HS” and “KS” embedded within the finely carved cross: Hisus Kristos. The name on the stone was Der Simon, and thus would seem to have been for a priest of the village. Another rare find.
Finally, there was the stone for a large family, which contained many names: Vartan, Markar, Ghazar, Sarkis, etc. With difficulty, some years could be made out: 1896, 1897… I found it unusual that a sailboat was carved on it. While Lake Van only has one type of fish, it seems that this family might have been fisherman or at least associated with sailing on the lake. It could even be that those listed on the stone were lost in a single boating accident.
While I was excited about these extraordinary finds, I was equally appalled that the local shepherds or farmers had taken the opportunity to completely ruin the church, while also digging up a number of the graves. It was clear that the accessibility of the site had lent itself to such violation. And this sacred site, with its extraordinary khatchkars, had been violated and violated and violated.
On this trip, more than any other, I heard from local Kurds about the shame they felt at the condition of the Armenian churches and the desire to restore them.
I will soon write about one particularly moving encounter of hope, but at the same time my anger at the violation of this cemetery must be allowed its release. The best I can say is that most of the destruction seems to have occurred many years ago, and none of the graves had been freshly dug up. But that does not mean the site is secure and that the remaining khatchkars are safe.
Some of the stones contained pleas from the deceased to be remembered. After 100 years and very few respectful visitors, my friends and I are attempting to fulfill the last wishes of these people… Our People.
Whether it is an old man urinating in the cathedral at Mren (which I also witnessed on this trip) or the ruin of cemeteries, Armenian cultural sites deserve respect equal to that which would be shown any other religious or cultural structure (e.g., a mosque or Muslim cemetery). If even that is not possible, then how can we expect respect for the rights of Armenians as a people? The proof is in action, not words alone, and the time is now!
I would like to thank my good friend, George Leylegian, for his indispensable insights of the photographs I had taken, and his continued encouragement in documenting our precious heritage.
George Aghjayan
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The real Turkish hospitality, not the kind Tourists in Ephesus buy.
Look how Sunnis treat Shia etc.
Although you felt much pain and anger,I was overwhelmed with joy that you had uncovered such a treasure and shared the experience of those of us who will never be able to make the trip
Thank you so much for this stirring report on your visit to Varents. Unfortunately, my husband and I never were able to make a journey to Armenia as we had planned. Now it is too late for him, but I hope to go with my son one day before it is too late for me, too. Thanks, too, for reminding me to keep the memories and the anger alive.
Thank you George for sharing you findings and your views with us.
There are many many sites yet to be discovered! I thought I had read somewhere that Turkey was supposed to release and give back our religious and cultural sites to the Armenian Church. These are people who have not changed much in the one hundred years since the genocide. The genocide was committed by the govt and the govt is still the same, look at their humatity of the Kurds.
No need to be angry. Anger and frustration will get us no where. If we want something so bad, then we must be prepared to sacrifice. It seems even in today’s world, we are again being desecrated and humiliated all over again. The sad thing is that we’re no more stronger or capable of protecting ourselves just like in the past. We have not learned from past mistakes. We did not develop any strategy to prevent future assaults. Same as 100 hundred years ago, we are weak and at the mercy of all our enemies.
It would be beneficial to give travel information to those who would like to travel to Armenia from the U S.
Varents,is that village on the map?
Brothers and Sisters, we will go back there and restore it ourselves.
George, thank you for sharing your experiences and feelings. I like this article and will be posting it on twitter.
Thank you, Mr. Aghjayan, for sharing your experiences. I truly enjoyed reading this article and will share it on Facebook.
Was it not equally heart warming and encouraging to find that Kurds, who had been employed by the CUP to liquidate so many Armenians, were, in fact, feeling remorse at the cultural, if not social, damage they had inflicted?
I feel your frustration and your pain. We, however,are strong and will never give up.Since rime began, we have fought for our identity, independence and justice….and we will continue….forever!
here we are being at angry when they destroy our culture of those churches saying oh look what the turks are doing, but when its us who destroys our pre-christian era culture replacing it with Christianity and churches, no one utters a word. hypocrisy. Mary Ann Kouyoumjian is a great example of what im talking about who said “Thanks, too, for reminding me to keep the memories and the anger alive.” It’s totally pathetic to think of having a person thank someone for keeping her anger alive. Please tell me this isn’t Armenian logic!!! This is what our logic has come to, can someone stand up to prove me?
I thank all for your comments on my article. For those that believe anger is always irrational, I suggest reading my first Confessions of an Angry Armenian article from the April 2005 special issue of the Armenian Weekly or the reprinted version in Asbarez:
http://asbarez.com/52105/confessions-of-an-angry-armenian/
As I state in the article, the village of Varents no longer exists. The location though is just north of the town of Ganjak (current name Altınsaç) on the shores of Lake Van just past the Armenian monastery of Sp. Tovmas.
Dear Hovhannes, your comment is illogical. If Armenians were today destroying our pre-Christian cultural sites, then you might have a point. But that is not the case. We can bemoan the lost information and culture of 1900 years ago (and many do), but to place it on a par with the destruction going on today makes no sense at all.
George Aghjayan
Throughout history, we see the countries/cultures that survive are the militarily mightiest. As such, I just hope and pray that present day Armenia can build the biggest, baddest military and weaponry there is. Unless this happens, Armenians are in jeopardy from more powerful nations. Unfortunately, as we see, others countries do not come to our aid. Russia has been a shining beacon among nations.
Nice does not survive in our universe, might does.
It was truly an emotionally charged discovery, and I thank you, George, for including me in this incredible journey. I would encourage and urge every single Armenian to make the pilgrimage to Western Armenia. It is a physically and emotionally demanding and draining trip, but I guarantee you will return with renewed energy and a raging quest for Justice for our People having witnessed first hand the genius, wealth, creativity and productivity of our ancestors of the near and distant past. We cannot and must not abandon these national treasures. They cry out for recognition, and as we saw on one haunting tombstone the words “Hishetsek Ints” (“Remember Me”), we have a duty to reclaim them as our own.