Hayk Arslan, who was born in Mush and who’s familial roots lie in Sasun, is a descendant of survivors of the 1915 Armenian Genocide. His great-grandfather was the only one to have survived. Our guest from Turkey spoke about how his grandfather, Avetis, would tell his sons how everyone was killed in their family home in the Dzoraghbyur village of Sasun. “My great-grandfather was the slave of a well-known and powerful clan in Sasun. It’s because of this that the orphans lived. The village leaders divided Armenian children among them to work as slaves,” Hayk Arslan said.
Arslan lives in a village near Mush. “When we came here as a family decades ago, we faced many difficulties. The other ethnic groups create problems for Armenians. We were unable to bury my grandfather here; law enforcement didn’t let us… his remains were buried 100 meters away from the cemetery because he was a Christian.” Arslan said that conditions do not exist in Turkey for Armenians to uphold their culture and identity, and there is no Armenian school. “We have to do everything within our own homes. Before 1950, there wasn’t even a Turkish school in Mongok, but there was one prior to 1915. Only state schools opened after 1956. I grew wheat and tobacco for years as a way to sustain my family. For decades, Armenians had a difficult time living among Kurdish, Turkish, and Arabic-speaking groups. They did everything to Turkify us. They destroyed our churches and sent their sheep to graze in our holy sites. Our grandfather would close windows and doors and check to make sure that no one was nearby. Then, he would teach us Armenian. Everything was done in secret. That is why I speak Armenian with difficulty.”
Hayk Arslan now is in charge of the Taron Armenian cultural center in Mush, but there are financial problems. “If we are forced to close it, foreigners will be happy,” Arslan emphasized. He wants to remind people around the world with roots from Mush, “We still exist in Mush and we are overcoming many difficulties. The Diaspora shouldn’t ignore us. It is not right to use the “if they’re not Christian, then they’re not Armenian” excuse. We exist and we are Armenians regardless of our religion and political party. We cannot create such divisions. We are natives in our sacred homeland.”
Luiza Sukiasyan
