“I miss Western Armenia, Kars, our Church.”

– Heghine Abrahamyan

By Naira Hambardzumyan

I saw a picture at my friend’s house, a painting of reddish flowers and fruits. My friend told me the artist was Heghine Abrahamyan. I soon found out that for 30 years this woman had taught painting at Panos Terlemezyan College of Fine Arts. She taught such famous Armenian artists as Gregory Khanjian, Levon Kojoyan and Rafael Atoyan. A witness to the genocide, she is now 102 years old. I couldn’t resist calling her and I persuaded her to let me come over and conduct an interview.

When I arrived, she opened her door slowly. I stepped inside and suddenly it seemed as if I had entered another world. Then, she told me her story.

“I was three years old when our family was first deported from Ardahan. But I don’t remember it. I only remember that my father took us to Yerevan. He was a soldier in the Czar’s Army and they appointed him to the military supplier unit of Yerevan. In 1918, my mother died, after which my aunt took me and my brother to Kars,” she said.

Then she paused. Heghine covered her face with her hands and the room was silent. Then she angrily looked at me and shouted: “Do you understand what we have lost? Man is alive with these memories! We are allowed no recollection of our homeland. They erased our story. They ruined our monuments …” She trailed off.

“By the time we got to Kars, the massacres had begun with new force. The Turks had prohibited the Armenians from leaving the city, but my father was a military servant and so we were allowed to collect our belongings and leave. My aunt went to the station to arrange things. She then she returned, confused. Turks had occupied the station; the train had left with our things inside. We lost our possessions again.>>>