More than Ten Thousand Armenians live in Mush


More than Ten Thousand Armenians live in Mush –

BBC reporter Lara Petrossian’s Armenian great-grandfather was one of the few who escaped and started a new life abroad. A century on, Lara visits her Armenian family’s destroyed neighborhood in Turkey.

“Armenians where deported and killed across the whole of Anatolia. I’ve come to the nearby city of Mush. In 1915 just under half of the population was Armenian. Today the town is mainly Kurdish.

“There are new mosques. Very few Armenian buildings remain. But I want to see if there are any hidden Armenians still living in this Muslim town.

“In the back streets of Mush I visit the newly opened Armenian cultural center. Its founder tells me how being born Armenian means he has lived his life in fear.

I meet Hayrettin Arslan, founder of the Armenian Cultural center in Mush.

“My ancestors were put to the sword during the massacre of the Armenians”, says Hayrettin Arslan, founder of the Armenian Cultural center. “After the Genocide our young girls were married off to non-Armenians. They were forced to become Muslims, as Christianity doesn’t exist here in Mus. After we opened this center, many people came and said “my grandmother is Armenian”. We now know that there are perhaps 10 or 15 thousand of their descendants in this area’’.

To the question “Are there still fears for Armenians in Mush?’’ Arslan answers “Yes it’s true. Armenians in Mus are frightened. Even though the center is local they still won’t come. Some of them even daren’t walk past here’’. 

Watch video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPG5e9qjiFU

 


Leave a Comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.