Armenian civilians, escorted by armed Ottoman soldiers to a prison, April 1915.

DEARBORN — It has been a century since the Ottomans massacred 1.5 million Armenians and drove hundreds of thousands out of their ancestral homeland in what is today Turkey. But 100 years after the tragedy, Armenians are still holding on to the culture and identity that survived through the pain passed across the generations.

Friday, April 24 will mark the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. The millions of descendants of Armenians who survived the Ottoman extermination campaign are commemorating the event all over the world. 

To Armenian Americans, the occasion is a stark reminder that the U.S. government does not recognize their tragedy as a genocide. 

Local musician Ara Topouzian said the genocide has impacted all Armenians in one way or another, either by having lost loved ones or having been driven out of their homeland. 

“There is not an Armenian alive who hasn’t been touched by it.” 

Topouzian, who plays the qanun, a flat string instrument, said the tragedy is always present in his music.

“I haven’t written any pieces about the genocide, but it impacts my music every day both consciously and unconsciously,” he said. “The victims are always in the back of my mind. The immigrants who survived are the ones who allowed the music to survive.”

This year Topouzian produced “Guardians of Music”, a documentary about the history of Armenian music in Detroit. 

He said early immigrants were adamant about preserving their culture after the genocide.

“They wanted to recreate what they had,” Topouzian said. “That allowed them to once again play the music and perpetuate the culture and speak the language. They were fighters; they weren’t going to give up.”

The genocide sparked an exodus that left hundreds of thousands of Armenians exiled all over the world. While generations have passed, Topouzian said Armenians from different corners of the globe can always come together and create their own Armenia. 

“We are all connected,” he said. “I play Armenian village music that is still performed around the world. We stay connected through our culture that keeps us together. We are much more than a genocide.”

Local businessman Roger Basmajian said the genocide is an open wound that factors into every Armenian’s identity.

“It runs through everything that I am,” he said.  

Basmajian, who was born in Lebanon, said the early refugees were welcomed in Lebanese orphanages until they grew stronger as a community and felt Lebanon was their home.

He added that Armenians in Lebanon were able to hold on to their culture and language tighter than their compatriots in the United States because assimilation happens faster here.

Basmajian estimated the number of Armenians in southeast Michigan at 25,000. There are four Armenian churches in Metro Detroit.

Community activist Sakeh Basmajian, Roger Basmajian’s mother, said Armenians try to preserve their culture through generations in the diaspora and pass the memory of the genocide to their children.

“My parents, and presently myself, had a lot, of expectations from our children,” said she said. “We always  tell our children to never forget the Armenian Genocide and do their best to make every effort to let others know about it. Never forget the Armenian culture, the language and also the Armenian food.” 

Sakeh Basmajian, who is a member of Armenian Relief Society and Detroit Armenian Women’s Club, also said relatives on both sides of her family were exterminated during the massacres. 

“My great grandfather was shot in front of his family,” she said.

She recalled how her grandfather would recount horror stories of the genocide when she was growing up. “The trauma from this genocide was transmitted across generations and among collective cultures,” she said.

Armenian American project designer Narek Khachatryan, who lives in Los Angeles, said he grew up learning about the massacres committed by Turks against Armenians in World War I.

Khachatryan, 26, was born in Armenia, which was under communist rule until 1991. Following World War I, the Soviet Union restricted commemorating the tragedy in Armenia to quell the rise of nationalism. 

The Republic of Armenia is a country of 3 million, east of Turkey; but when Armenians mention historic Armenia, they refer to a much larger stretch of land that covers areas from which they were expelled in what is today Turkey.

“I was taught about our lands being taken away from us and about how 1.5 million Armenians were killed by the Ottoman Turks and Kurds,” Khachatryan said of his early exposure to the historic event. “I learned about how my great grandfather’s brothers were killed during the genocide, but he escaped. I learned about how our family was from Kars and Mush, places that are now part of the territory of modern Turkey.”

Dr. Hayg Oshagan, a professor of communications at Wayne State University and the head of the eastern U.S. Armenian Tashnag Party, said Armenians’ struggle for justice define their cultural identity more than any other aspect.

Justice and recognition

The average American might know more about pop culture figures of Armenian descent than the Armenian Genocide.

Topouzian, the musician, blamed absence of education on the subject for the lack of awareness about the genocide. He said when he was in school even teachers did not know what Armenia was. 

He called on the U.S. government to recognize the persecution of Armenians during World War I as a genocide.

“We can raise awareness in a sound way and it’s called recognition,” he said. “American presidents have not called it a genocide and that’s a mistake.”

Oshagan said Armenians have been struggling to get the tragedy recognized as a genocide by world governments and the media.

He added that President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry all acknowledged the genocide when they were senators, but stopped using the word when they became part of the executive branch.

“This is not how politics should be,” Oshagan said. “There should be principles and a level of integrity behind which people should stand. When you deny a genocide, it is wrong.”

Oshagan said the quest for recognition is only one side of the struggle for justice.

“The next step in the Armenian struggle is demanding reparation,” he said. “When someone commits a crime and gets away with, it sends a message to all dictators around the world that it is okay. Impunity encourages more crimes.”

Oshagan said Turkey should apologize for the Ottomans’ crimes then compensate the descendants of survivors or the Republic of Armenia for the damages of the genocide.

Roger Basmajian said the U.S. government not only refuses to recognize the genocide but also helps Turkey cover it up.

He added that the American government fears that recognizing the genocide would hinder its alliance with Turkey. “But it doesn’t make sense. Turkey needs the U.S. more than the U.S. needs Turkey,” he said.

Father Garabed Kochakian, the pastor of the St. John Armenian Church of Greater Detroit, said the genocide left “an unresolved pain” in Armenians’ consciousness.

He added that Turkey’s refusal to accept responsibly for the genocide has made healing difficult. 

“They have chosen to inherit that guilt rather than separate themselves from it,” Kochakian said of the Turks. “Justice can only come to the Armenians and the Turks by admitting the truthfulness of the Armenian Genocide.” 

As the tragedy’s 100th anniversary approaches, the push for official recognition of the genocide is gaining momentum. On Wednesday, April 15, the European Parliament passed a resolution to honor the centennial of the event and urge Turkey to recognize it.  

Turkey condemned the resolution. The Turkish government holds that the massacres committed against Armenia were a part of a civil war, not a genocide.

On Sunday, April 12, Pope Francis also recognized the massacres as “the first genocide of the 20th Century.”

Father Kochakian said the recent push for recognition gives Armenians hope.

Remembering

Armenian Americans are taking to social media to honor the occasion by changing their profile pictures to a five-petaled purple flower with a black center surrounded by a yellow disk. 

The flower, known as “forget-me-not”, has become the official logo of the 100th anniversary.

According to the Armenian Genocide Centennial website, black symbolizes the horrors of the genocide; yellow, hope; the inner radial light purple, involvement in the recognition; and the predominant purple “lies in the basis of Armenians’ self-consciousness as worn by the servants of Armenian Apostolic Church.”

The Armenian American community in Detroit has been commemorating the anniversary with a series of events since the beginning of the year. On Saturday, April 18, at 7 p.m. the Armenian Genocide Centennial Committee of Greater Detroit will host an educational event at Edsel Ford High School in Dearborn, featuring British journalist Robert Fisk and Armenian American actor and novelist Eric Bogosian.  

Kochakian said the Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church is making a global effort to commemorate the victims. 

“We are not only remembering and honoring those who fell to the sword but are recognizing their courage, witness, endurance and sacrifices in the name of Christ as their victory,” the pastor said.