Voyage To Amasia

Trip Journal

Eric V. Hachikian

Oct 17

The flight to Ankara was fine, though I felt sort of strange - I hadn't been nervous really at all until we got on the plane, and somehow being surrounded by Turkish people got to me.  I was exhausted, so I slept almost the entire flight, but I had trouble eating the food on the plane - I think partly because it was airline food, but also partly due to my nerves.  I was a little nauseous when we were waiting in line for Visas and Customs, but everything went more than smoothly, and everyone we have interacted with so far has been very friendly.  It was hard getting a feel for Ankara in the dark on the cab ride to our hotel, but it looks nice.  We will explore more in the morning.

Oct 18

Ankara is an interesting, though fairly regular, city.  We went to the Museum of Anatolian History, and the Turkish Museum of the War of Independence.

Oct 19

Amasya is gorgeous.

We started the day by wandering, to get a feel for the city, since we only saw it in the dark last night.  The mountains are amazing, and there are Pontic tombs from 3200 BC that still exist.

We went to the Amasya History Museum this morning, and saw a lot of old artifacts from 3200 BC through the 20th century.  There was one display that had items from the Byzantine period, including old crosses, a sculpture of Mary, and several other Christian artifacts.  They also had the incense burners we use in our church, though without a cross on them.

We walked around the entire city, up and down the river.  We have not found anything explicitly Armenian yet, but we have not been trying too hard.  Now that we feel comfortable and safe, we will ask more questions.  There seems to be some Armenian resemblances in many of the buildings, but it is hard to say for sure.

Oct 20

We climbed to the top of one of the mountains, to the Kale (castle) from Pontic Times, which was later used by the Ottomans.  It was an absolutely stunning view - we found old tunnels which were used for hiding, as well as a very old canon.

We spoke with the owner of our hotel for some length.  He drew us a map of what he believed was one of the old Armenian neighborhoods, and where the Armenian churches were (now converted to Mosques).

We went to another museum, which was in an old home on the river.  The embroidery on the curtains there looked just like my great grandmother Aghavnie's embroidery.

We then set out for the old Armenian neighborhood our hotel owner described.  After talking with a few people, we met a very nice middle aged woman who showed us the oldest Armenian house in the neighborhood, kept in its original form.  The ceiling had amazing architecture.  She introduced us to her entire family, who we spoke with at length.  They told us an older man lived down the street, and that he would know more of the history of Amasya.

We did not find this old man at first.  We knocked on a door near where the previous woman said this man would be; the old man who answered the door was not the man we were looking for, but invited us into his home all the same.  We had more than several cups of tea with this man and his wife, who also gave us homemade cookies which she learned how to make from her husband's Armenian tailor's wife.  The old man recognized the names Zorigian and Kebabian, though said he didn’t know them personally.  We engaged the man about the Genocide, as well as the US resolution. We disagreed about several things – but mainly, it was his claim that we need to “Let the Historians decide” what happened in 1915 – as if the Historians every where else in the world haven’t decided! Once we stopped questioning his thoughts on 1915, he went back to being open and friendly.

The old man and I shared a pomegranate, and when we went to leave, he said to me – “You and I, we have no problem.”

We hurried back to the first woman, who told us to come back after we were done with the old man. Today they would be baking bread, a ritual they do once a month.  The woman and her daughter baked the bread in front of us, bickering in a very familiar way.  They served us several more cups of tea, with more bread than we could eat, and put out a spread of Amasya apples, cherries, and peaches, picked from their yard.

We think we found the Armenian churches, but it is hard to say for sure, as almost all evidence of Christianity has been erased from this city.  There was a church looking building right by the Armenian neighborhood we were in today, which must have been Aghavnie and Zorig's church.  We also think we found the church my grandmother was baptized in.

Oct 21

We climbed up the Pontic Tombs in the morning.  Quite an experience to be standing by something so old (3200 BC); you really get the feeling that a lot of different people have come through Amasya.

After that, we went to Merzifon, a neighboring town with a population of about 40,000.  We found an abandoned American Missionary School as well as some old Armenian houses.  (According to my family’s account, American missionaries came to Amasya to build churches and schools, but were rejected by the Turks; they instead went to Merzifon.)

We ate lunch at The Meatball Guy's restaurant, recommended by our Amasya hotel owner, and it was excellent.

We continued on to Gumushacikoy – another neighboring village, thought to be Armenian.  After asking several people, we found the one Armenian family left living there.  They invited us in to their home, where we sat, drank tea and ate simit (cookies). We talking spoke with them for several hours; the older woman reminded me very much of my grandmother.

They showed us an Armenian church in town that was turned into a school, and the older woman took us to an Armenian cemetery.  Though mostly destroyed, a few tombstones remained.  We were stopped by the police here who were “checking up on a report” that some (Armenian) tourists with a big camera were walking around with an (Armenian) woman.  We were shaken up for a moment, but were able to diffuse the situation with our American passports and Turkish speaking guide.

Oct 23

We visited the Minister of Culture, where we were able to get two amazing books on the history of Amasya.  Being in a government building was not exactly pleasant for me.  Though we had no problems whatsoever, we all felt slightly uncomfortable with the atmosphere.  The men in the office talked at length about how great Ataturk was – they said, “If only he was around now, there would be no problems.”

We drove/climbed up the other mountain in town today, which was much higher than the mountain with the Pontic Tombs and Kale.

We spent the rest of the day with a city architect, who took us to all the Armenian neighborhoods - there were 3 main sections, and a 4th smaller one.  He pointed out which houses Armenians were said to have lived in, as well as the houses Armenians built.  Many of the Armenians who lived here back then were carpenters and the Greeks were painters.

Though we did not find a house that exactly fit our layout drawing exactly, we found many possible locations and a few houses that looked very close.  It was extremely powerful for me to be walking those streets.

At the end of our tour with the architect, he took us to a choreg shop, where they made Amasya choreg.  This was the only place we've been so far that did not allow us to film, as the recipe is secret, and is only known by the father and his son.  It has been passed down since 1901, and they said they originally got the recipe from the Armenians.

Even though I know my opinion is influenced by the fact that my grandmother was born here, it is hard not to say that Amasya is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to.

Oct 24

We drove to Sivas today.  Not nearly as beautiful as Amasya - in fact, it's kind of ugly in comparison.  We did not have much success finding any living relatives of Rasim Bey, the man who married Yester Papasian, and was responsible for saving my family.  We found bits of information about him confirming that he indeed was an officer, but was from Malatya, not Sivas.

Oct 25

The drive to Malatya was spectacular - an amazing landscape the whole way.  It was quite sad, though, to reflect on the fact that my family was marched through these mountains.  It was a beautiful backdrop from the car, but would have been a treacherous hike.  I don't know how they made it.

Malatya is much bigger than we expected (population of 381,000), and quite cosmopolitan.  The center of town reminds me a lot of New York (though like Sivas, not as beautiful as Amasya).  Though I was not very impressed with Sivas, Malatya would be a fun place to live.

There are pastry shops every other store, filled with paklava, and several simit (cookie) shops with variations on the name, The Simit Palace (much like Original Ray's Pizza in NYC).

We found both Armenian churches here, though neither of them are currently in use.  One was built in the late 1800s and was closed around 1930.  The other, Venk, is from the 17th century, and has been closed for some time.  Though mostly in ruins, Venk was really amazing to find still standing in the middle of Turkey.

We also found the Armenian cemetery.  It is much bigger than we expected, and a lot of the tombstones were engraved in Armenian.  It was really quite beautiful.  I looked for any of my family’s names, but did not find any.  We spoke with the woman who watches over the grounds, who gave us a few clues to find some Armenians to speak with in Malatya, but said that all the ones she knows of do not identify themselves as Armenians, and will likely not respond positively to our filming them.

Oct 26

We started the day heading back to Venk church.  The inside of the church was quite serene.  There were inscriptions written in Armenian, and we found several engravings of crosses.  There was a very calm sense about being inside this ancient, ruined but still standing church.

Afterwards, we went back to the Armenian cemetery, where we were able to get the groundskeeper to open up to us.  She was quite sweet - we looked through a book with her of all the names of the people buried in the cemetery.  We did not find anyone in my family - at least by names that I know - but our conversation with her about Armenians living in Turkey was fantastic.  We will return there on Sunday morning hoping to meet any Armenians, as she said that occasionally older people come to the cemetery on Sundays to pay their respects.

We went to a teahouse for lunch, where we met a man who said he is Armenian, though explained that he is currently Muslim, but has Armenian ancestry.  We spoke with him for longer than one might expect a stranger to sit and talk with “tourists”.  He made great comments about human nature, and I agreed with him mostly on his global view of the world.  However, I became very angry when our conversation moved to the Armenian Genocide, where he proceeded to give the stock government answer - saying that it was a war, not a genocide, that the Armenians may have shot first, and that it is not crimes against humanity.  I probed the issue with him further, which resulted in more frustration on our end.  The Holocaust, he said, was unacceptable, but the events of 1915 were just a war between the Armenians and the Turks – that of course the Turks had to kill Armenians because they were fighting each other.  I was disgusted to say the least.

After lunch, we traveled to Furuncu.  By speaking with the Kurdish locals, we confirmed that Furuncu was a "stopping point" for the Armenians.  It was quite sad.  We found the old part of the village, and an empty area that the villagers said was a "type of cemetery" - it was clear to us that this was one of the places where several Armenians were left to die, and where our family would have died had they not been saved.

Oct 27

We started our day in search of Kurköz ("40 Eyes").  It was quite hard to find, and we had to ask several locals for directions.  We finally found someone to confirm the location of the bridge, but the bridge is completely submerged under water.  It has been for 20-25 years, and the water is now used as a hydroelectric damn.  It was quite sad to see another area that is essentially a mass grave.

Upon searching further, we found the one cafe in the area.  When we met the owner, he immediately opened up, and explained he has Armenian relatives.  He showed us old pictures of the bridge while his staff cooked up a superb mixed grill for lunch.  When we tried to pay for our meal, he said, "Your money is no good here, we are brothers."  When we explained that we were looking for traces of my family, he whipped out his phone book and called his family and friends in search of any remaining Armenians.  He located one, and gave us her address ("She lives in between the church and the cemetery, just go there and ask for Lucia.")

We searched for Lucia, and finally found her home, however she had moved to Poland.  Though we have met many people along the way, we hope to find one more person to speak with before leaving Malatya.

We have not had any explicit success locating orphanages that my family stayed and worked in.  We have been told this is because most of them were closed in 1919 or shortly after.  If any buildings remain, they would just be old large abandoned buildings.  We have found one of the oldest streets in town, and the buildings are old large abandoned buildings.

There were 12 PKK terrorists caught today in Malatya.  3 of them escaped into the mountains, and there was a helicopter search party going after them.  Soldiers in the street, people of all ages lining the streets in protest.  We saw a demonstration in Amasya in response to the Turkish soldiers getting killed a few days before, but this is preparations for war.  There are serious war tanks lining the streets and fighter jets flying above.

Oct 28

We went to Maraş for ice cream which was delicious.  We did drive four hours out of our way through the mountains to skip lunch for ice cream, but a break in the routine was in order.  We also got a speeding ticket at a total speed trap.  81 lira.

We arrived in Kayseri late last night and went straight to bed.

 Oct 30

We arrived in Istanbul last night, and got our bearings today.  Our guide was excited to show us around her hometown.  We explored the European and Anatolian sides.  It’s funny being in Istanbul as we definitely come off as tourists, whereas in the smaller cities, we appeared to be travelers interested in the country.  Istanbul seems a lot like San Francisco on a much larger scale – windy streets, crowded city, shops everywhere, but very few tall buildings.

We went to Agos, Hrant Dink's newspaper.  There was an energy in there, despite it feeling slightly spooked due to his murder.  Even in the short time we were there, you could feel that the people there really cared about what they are doing.

Our guide took us to her old Armenian school, where she was a counselor.  We spoke with the principle who is originally from Gumushacikoy.  She unfortunately could not let us tape her because she is an employee of the state, but was able to put us in touch with one of her teachers originally from Amasya.

After lunch, we went to Aras, an Armenian publishing company, started by Hrant Dink.  We met Rober – our guide's brother-in-law – who allowed us to interview him.  He was quite knowledgeable and provided and fantastic interview - talking about what it was like growing up as an Armenian in Istanbul, what he knows of his family's exile, and the modern situation of recognition of the Genocide.

We also saw two working Armenian churches today, one of which was the main one, and I was able to light a candle.

Nov 1

Today was our final day in Istanbul.  We searched all over the city, asking questions to just about anyone who would stop and try to understand is.  After finding an Armenian church, a middle aged man directed us to a tea shop where he said an older Armenian man originally from Amasya.  We eventually found this man – a 60 year old Armenian who had lived in Amasya for 40 years.  This was one of the most interesting interviews we did, because it took a bad turn about five minutes into it.  We started with easy questions, and he gave a very nice description of Amasya, the residents, etc.  As we started in on 1915, he said he had stories, but wouldn't tell them on camera.  He started to tell about the deportation, but was interrupted by his boss, who was also Armenian.  Very angrily he accused us of using them and that we were trying to destroy their store and their living, that the Turks were good people, and that we should forget about this '1915 nonsense' and focus on why Armenia has such poverty.  Needless to say, we apologized and explained again about my grandmother and Amasya, but ended up getting out of there very soon after that.

We also met with the Armenian teacher, whose grandfather was actually from Merzifon, but had the exact same deportation story as our family - from Merzifon to Amasya to Sivas to Malatya.  He was old and has been on and off very sick - but there were moments that were amazing, like when he said he knew all of our surnames - Kebabian, Zorigian, etc - he said he knew a Kebabian who was in Malatya who married a Turk, but in the next breath said 5 millions people were massacred.

Nov 5

Armenia has been wonderful.

It has been great to speak with people here, and to get such an opposite perspective of that in Turkey.  We have hit all the tourist spots (Khor Virap, Zvartnots, Echmiadzin, Gaani, Garni, Geghard), and made it all the way to one of the Amasia’s today.

We were told more than once that this Amasia is the Siberia of Armenia, so we expected the worst.  Despite it being on an extremely rough road, only 7km away from Turkey, and a really run down village, we had the best possible experience there.  We met the mayor of the village, who gave us a personal tour of the village for three hours.  He introduced us to the only old man left in town, whose parents were from Amasya, Turkey.  His story very nearly matches ours, his family being exiled to Sivas, and then they escaped to France.  The Soviet Armenians found them in France after the Genocide, and asked if they would come to Armenia to help repopulate.  They relocated to Amasia, Armenia.

Nov 6

We went to the third Amasia today (there are two in Armenia) - we met another old man whose family was from the Amasya, Turkey.

We then went to the Genocide museum, and captured some great footage of the memorial, and spoke with the director of the museum.  He was able to provide fantastic information about the specifics of Amasyetsi's, the deportation routes, and a great historian perspective of the Genocide.

What was perhaps the most amazing part of this visit, and maybe even the voyage itself, was finding my great grandmother's picture - Aghavnie - in a book about Armenia Amasya history in the archives of the Genocide museum.  I was stunned, and again quite moved to see her as a part of the official history of Amasya.  The writing around her in Armenian tells her life story as we know it.