100 Years: Domino Affect

100 Years: Domino Affect –

Archbishop Nerses Tanielian

By Mary Tatossian

I feel compelled to share how deeply impressed & proud I feel to witness the extent of what can be achieved when people all over the world band together for a common cause. It’s so refreshing to see so many positive reports from all over the world- so many different countries, so many different sources- all helping the healing process through acknowledgment, support and raising awareness- whether it be billboards in subway/metro stations, on highways, dedications, songs, concerts, movies, plays, blood drives, radio shows, news coverage, Kim Kardashian, Cher, System of a Down- I SALUTE YOU ALL!

What a BEAUTIFUL message for our children and our children’s children- ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE! All you need is tenacity, and putting your minds together to work as one on a common goal- EVEN IF IT TAKES ONE HUNDRED YEARS!

Our Ancestors- our mothers and fathers, our sisters and brothers, our grandparents, great uncles and aunts must all be so proud watching from the heavens above!

One of my “Facebook friends” made a comment in a private message that i was “going overboard” with my posts and that they didn’t understand “what was the big deal” and “who cares” what happened 100 years ago when there are other “real problems” in the world today……I have to admit I was caught off guard, baffled and dumbfounded… I was about to lose my cool but then I took a deep breath and thought, no- let me try a different approach, a more personal one, an approach that helps put events into context.

Some of you who don’t share our heritage may not realize just how close to home the atrocities you are hearing about have hit Armenian families living in North America and other places around the world today. I can safely say that the Genocide has in some way touched every Armenian home living in the Diaspora one way or another. We have all lost someone. We’ve all heard the horror stories. These victims you are hearing about were “real” people. Many of us have photographs of these innocent victims and brave souls in our very own family albums.

I’m very proud to tell you about my great uncle, Archbishop Nerses Tanielian, a rebel leader who saved hundreds, and one of the chief organizers of the Zeytoun Revolt. With his flaming red hair and long beard, he looked like the twin of my late brother Armand. I have been told he was quite a sight for sore eyes, riding confidently on his white horse, assuring the safe passage of women and children from the treacherous claws of the Turks. And the reward for his bravery? He was captured and publicly crucified- as a deterrence to others having similar “rebellious” thoughts. But even as he was brutally tortured, one finger, and one toenail at a time, savagely ripped out from its roots, he wouldn’t give up…..He wouldn’t give up his fellow rebels; he wouldn’t join the Turks; he wouldn’t convert. 

Actually, BOTH my maternal grandparents were also survivors. Sadly, my dad comes from a generation of men who were never open about discussing their “feelings”, so, unfortunately I don’t have all the details regarding his side of the family….but, I do know that they too were, indeed, affected, one way or another.

Edmund Burke once said “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” You may not be aware but most of those very graphic photographs and film footage of the Armenian Genocide you’ve all been recently seeing everywhere in the media and on the internet, were taken by the Germans who were documenting the Turks mass extermination program in detail. There was plenty of evidence available all the while the massacres were taking place- government telegraphs and newspapers articles are readily found in historical archives. People KNEW what was going on, but CHOSE to turn their heads and look the other way…..And the result……???

Three decades later, on August 22, 1939, Adolf Hitler stated to Reichmarshal Hermann Goering and the commanding generals at Obersalzberg: 
“Our strength consists in our speed and in our brutality. Genghis Khan led millions of women and children to slaughter – with premeditation and a happy heart. History sees in him solely the founder of a state. It’s a matter of indifference to me what a weak western European civilization will say about me….. Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?”

Part of me, can’t help but wonder, WHAT IF…..what if, AT THAT TIME, the world had ACTUALLY taken the time to listen to cries of the Armenian victims desperately pleading for mercy? What if the Turks had been firmly reprimanded for their heinous crimes…what would have happened?….what if the USA Secretary of State did something upon receipt of the July 16, 1915 “confidential telegraph” sent by US Ambassador to Turkey, Henry Morgenthau? Nipping it in the bud before it had tuned into a full-fledged Genocide?…. IF the Turks had been sternly punished at that time, WOULD the Germans have DARED to have the audacity to start their own mass extermination campaign? Or was President Wilson’s policy of “strict neutrality” during the Armenian Genocide seen as “a green light” by Hitler and his Third Reich? …Would other, more recent genocides have taken place if measures had been taken in 1915?

I don’t have a crystal ball or a time machine. But, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that THE BEST DETERRENT FOR CRIME IS THE CERTAINTY OF PUNISHMENT. Repeated studies have also conclusively shown this to be true.…In any case, the actual aggressors are now dead, so the time for punishment may have come and gone…but Turkey STILL NEEDS TO ACKNOWLEDGE the evil premeditated deeds of their forefathers.

It’s a well-documented fact that a variety of mental disorders are direct consequences of war and genocide. Women are more affected than men. Other vulnerable groups include children, the elderly and the disabled (in the case of Armenian, the elderly and disabled were the first to go- their chance of survival was literally zero). A study by Murthy and Lakshminarayana stated that “the prevalence of mental illness is associated with the degree of trauma, and the availability of physical and emotional support.” Trust me, back then, society certainly was not into “emotional support”; talking about “your feelings” is a luxury of modern society, and it was the last thing on the minds of genocide survivors who, after all their trauma and suffering, then had to deal with the challenges of the Great Depression that they faced in the 1930’s….

Psychology is a fairly “modern” science. Back then, there were no antidepressants on the market. Child psychoanalysis only began after the Second World War and even at that, “methods” used were highly questionable by today’s standards. Common “cure all” medications included cocaine and heroin! Doctors used make-shift vibrators on women as treatment for mood swings- what they called “hysteria” (the mysterious “wondering womb” and origin of the word “hysterical”). You need to keep in mind, you’re talking about a “science” that until the mid-1960’s classified homosexuality as a “mental disorder”?!?!…So- try to imagine how depression, post-traumatic stress, night-terrors, etc. were seen and treated back then?!? Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is a term that was ONLY coined and discussed in 1980! They had no notion of what is PTSD back in 1915-1920! Let alone that young children could suffer from it…Electric shock therapy causing memory loss was the most common way to go for depression back in the day, which left the patient in a temporary zombie like state with major gaps in memory….

So take a moment and imagine…imagine a child, imagine you, yourself as that child; a child of a survivor… witnessing your mom coming home from the hospital in such a zombie-like state. It felt like forever that she was gone and now you’re excited that dad left to bring her back home! In her absence, you wholeheartedly created what you consider your “all-time masterpiece”…putting heart and soul in each crayon stroke…excited, you hear a car pull up in the driveway. They’re here! Anticipation is eating at you when you hear your dad fiddling with his keys outside. So you run to the door, drawing in hand, smiling with pride. You can’t wait to see your mom’s face when she sees your drawing!……the door opens….but instead of looking at your drawing, your mom just stares past you into space, not saying a word….as if you are invisible….she doesn’t even look down at your face…You turn to look as you wonder: “what she is looking at?” but nothing is there….. Your father, sees tears welling in your eyes. Feeling helpless, sad, angry and impatient all at the same time, he has no idea what to do or say. Instinctively he yells at you. “Go away! Your mother needs her rest”, but you don’t understand…You can’t understand, because you are just a child….

Imagine you are a child, and you witnessing your parents, the people you look up to most for protection- your hero, suffering from night terrors…sudden screaming wakes you up in the middle of the night…startled, you jump up and out of your bed, your little heart pounding so hard, you think it’s going to jump right out of your little chest. You run into your parents’ bedroom for protection but instead, you find your father in his undershirt & boxers sitting at the edge of the bed, covered with a cold sweat, neck bent, looking down at his feet, trembling with fear. Your mom has her a hand lovingly on his shoulder…you have no idea what’s happening…your father tilts his head back and sees you standing in the doorway. Afraid to look weak, with shame & embarrassment, he flinches his shoulder to get your mom’s hand off and he screams at both you, “GET OUT!” of the room…again, you just don’t understand. Because you can’t understand.

Children seeing their parents suffer instinctively try to step up to protect the weaker parent; forced to mature unnaturally fast- a feeling of responsibility too heavy a burden for any small child’s shoulder’s to bear…no child should be forced to endure such feeling of helplessness and inadequacy…or imagine a child of a survivor watching their dad drink his life away, just to forget…even for a moment the horrors they’ve experienced and witnessed….My mom did….or, imagine, coming home from school only to learn that your mom jumped off the building you call home because she could no longer take the pain….My dad did…..Now imagine this on a much larger scale. Not just an isolated incident but an emotional consequence suffered by an ENTIRE nation of people. Imagine growing up hearing all the stories and meeting other people of the same decent in different countries, spread around the world with similar stories and experiences. Now imagine people telling you it never happened; NONE of it- vehemently denying the facts, saying it’s all a big lie even the photographs, the old newspaper clippings, the telegraphs.

I recently read a very interesting article by Lisa Katz suggesting a “psychological profile” for children of Holocaust survivors, and I believe the same conclusions can be applied to Armenians of the Diaspora. While trauma can be transmitted across the generations, so can resilience. Resilient traits – such as ADAPTABILITY, INITIATIVE, and TENACITY – that enabled survivor-parents to survive the genocide may have been passed on to their children. Studies have shown that survivors and their children have a tendency to be task-oriented and hard workers. They also know how to actively cope with and adapt to challenges. Strong family values are another positive characteristic displayed by many survivors and their children. Within the community, there is polarization based on shared injuries. One the one hand, there is shame over being a victim, and a need to keep defense mechanisms on active alert. On the other hand, there is a need for understanding and recognition. I wouldn’t be who I am today if it were not for my brave ancestors! I am PROUD of my heritage! We are the sum of our past.

Throughout the years politicians lobbying for votes at Armenian community centers in both Canada and the USA have promised Armenians that if elected THEY would help to have the 1915 Armenian Genocide recognized. But once in power, time and again, each reneged……I never imagined this day would come….I guess the Turks weren’t counting on our tenacity and those resilient traits 😉 Over the weekend, the Pope officially recognized the genocide and just yesterday the European Parliament Adopted Bill Urging Turkey to Recognize Genocide. I am so elated and feel privileged to witness the beginning of our healing process as a people. When people come together, hand in hand- anything is possible. Thank you all for letting the healing begin. 1915 NEVER AGAIN!