The Armenians of Ethiopia - a lost Diaspora?
This is a synopsis of a thesis written by Markos Haile, a student at the University of Stockholm. The original thesis is written in Swedish. The synopsys was prepared in English for the benefit of the readers of this web site. Markos Haile received a "Very Good" grade for this thesis.
The Armenians of Ethiopia – a lost Diaspora?
- a study of the role of identity among the Armenian Diaspora
Introduction
Even though I have passed by the Armenian church in Addis several times I have never thought of why there should be an Armenian church in Addis or even Armenians, don’t they belong in Armenia? After some reading on Diasporas I got my pieces together. But I never found any info on those who where supposed to live in Ethiopia. How come, even on an Armenian forum on the internet they laughed to my question and I was told that there are no such things as black Armenians. I decided to find out the truth.
Question
How have the Armenians in Ethiopia been able to keep their identity hence their small numbers and their social context?
Method
I had a huge problem in finding facts, on the internet I found some on the ABGU homepage. Most sources related to an old article written by Pankhurst. I decided that I had to do a small field trip to Ethiopia to visit and learn more about the Armenian community.
Historical Background
First on Ethiopia, its history and some of its political context. Then some of the history of the Armenian Diaspora and finally of the Armenian history in Ethiopia.
The Dergue Revolution
I included this chapter since it’s very important, the revolution plays an important role of the outcome in Armenian life in Ethiopia.
The infrastructure of the Diaspora
What I have chosen to call the infrastructure or the cornerstones of the community are the school, the church and the club. All of them play an important role in how the community has been able to keep its identity and even reproducing it.
Interviews
I did five interviews in Addis but I chose to publish three of them in my thesis. Vahe Tilbian, Sevan Aslanian and Garbis Korajian all represent different perspectives of the community. The interviews are on subjects such as identity, how they look on themselves, what they are, their culture, their ethnicity and their future.
Analysis and conclusions
What I found out was that the community has been able to keep their identity because of a strong infrastructure. Despite their small numbers they have worked hard to keep their infrastructure solid. It is also a question of economy, as a community they are self-sufficient. The infrastructure generates an income which goes back to the community and pays for maintaining it. Usually an identity gets weak when numbers decrease; the situation in Addis is the opposite. The identity among the community is strong, probably stronger than ever. The community is a very well integrated into the Ethiopian society. Even though they are a closed knit group, they have integrated into and know the culture, the language and have no problems. All along many years, they have played an important role in modern Ethiopia.
My final conclusions were that the community has reproduced the identity they always had among themselves. Because of this they have survived the Ethiopian context. The future may not that bright becasue of their low numbers. For the community to survive, it needs an influx of new members but these have to be Ethio-Armenians for the identity to live on. The community will continue to live on outside Ethiopia but, in Ethiopia, the community won’t last as a community for more than 30 more years. Almost all Ethio-Armenians have a considerable number of relatives outside Ethiopia. This could be a major factor in the future for youngsters to leave. The older ones would probably stay on because there is no use leaving and that they have lived in Ethiopia all their lives. When the community no longer exists, it will be the end of a several hundred years of Armenian presence in Ethiopia.
Markos Haile
Bedros Aslanian
Bedros Aslanian
Ethiopian-Armenian, resident of the United Arab Emirates for more than three decades. Member of the "Central Committee for the Construction of the Sharjah Church" (1998) and a major donor.
In 1980 he was appointed as Chairman of the National Administration (Azkayin Varchoutyoun) of Sharjah and the Northern Emirates, a position that he kept until 1994.
As appreciation for his community serving efforts he was bestowed with the coveted "Cilician Knight" (Asbed) medal.
In 2005, during a special ceremony that took place in Etchmiadzin, Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians, awarded Bedros Aslanian with "Saint Nerses the Gracious" (Sourp Nerses Shnorhali) medal, one
of the highest medals of the Armenian Apostolic Church, as acknowledgment for his services to the Armenian Church and Nation.
Combining the gratitude and the medals of both Armenian Catholicosal Sees (All Armenians See in Etchmiadzin, Armenia and the Cilician See in Antelias, Lebanon) Bedros Aslanian has become a symbol of
reunion. He continues to serve his Community.
On private business level he and his wife Rita are the founders of "Technochem Services Establishment", a family business since 1978, based in Sharjah. With Aslanian's extensive knowledge in the printing industry, the company's product line grew to printing inks, press chemicals, printing machinery and all other auxiliaries concerned with the printing industry, covering the whole Gulf market, with branch offices in Armenia and Ethiopia.
Armenians from Ethiopia who have studied in Armenia
Armenians from Ethiopia who have completed their higher/university education in Armenia:
Ani (Tchorbadjian) Makdessian
Anahid (Minassian) Kouyoumdjian, deceased
Antreas Dikran Mesrobian
Antreas Diran Mesrobian
Ashkhen (Avakian) Mouradian
Avak Avakian
Bedros Kojian
Berdj Keshishian
Daniel Stepanian
Dikran Djerrahian
Dikran Hovhannes Pogharian
Dikran Vorperian
Haproug (Sarkissian) Arslanian
Harout Knadjian
Harout Mesrobian
Helen (Simonian) Peltekian
Hratch Djerrahian
Jack Hotakortzian
Katig Behesnilian
Kevork Terzian
Kevork Vorperian
Levon Kazandjian
Magar Derentz
Manoug Kouyoumdjian, deceased
Marie Kazandjian
Mesrob Sarkissian
Shnorhig Vorperian
Sirvart Kazandjian Pearson
Tzovinar (Simonian) Tarpinian
Vahan Djerrahian
Vartan Malkasian
Vartkes Nalbandian
Haygachen Ouzounian
Haygachen Ouzounian, leader of Melkonian struggle, dies at 86
Haygachen Ouzounian, a prominent figure in the Armenian Diaspora and a staunch supporter of the struggle to help save the historic Melkonian school, died in Larnaca late Wednesday after a long illness at the age of 86.
His funeral is expected to take place in Switzerland.
Ouzounian, was born in Adana in 1920 and came to the Melkonian Educational Institute in 1933 from where he graduated in 1938. He continued his studies and became a civil engineer with an international portfolio of achievements.
He got involved in politics and joined the ranks of the Armenian Democratic Liberal Organization (ADL), also known as the Ramgavar Party, rose to the post of co-president, and was a leading founder of the party’s affiliated Tekeyan Cultural Society, an organisation with chapters around the world establishing various literary awards and scholarships.
His dedication to community service attracted Haygachen Ouzounian to rise to the leadership of the Armenian General Benevolent Union where he served as Vice President to the late Alex Manoukian, the charity organisation’s president for four decades.
Ouzounian was an inseparable part of the AGBU and was recently declared a Director Emeritus for his contributions.
He believed that one of his biggest achievements was to realise the AGBU’s vision for the Melkonian that involved the partial sale of land in the early 1980s in order to fund the construction of modern boarding facilities, a sports complex for the students and the Melkonian Commercial Centre on Limassol Avenue, as a revenue earning project that would secure the school’s long-term financial needs.
When he first suspected that the present leadership of the AGBU planned to close the Melkonian and sell the land, he initiated a campaign that immediately engulfed the worldwide alumni of the school. He was a fervent supporter of the legal battle that has seen two court cases filed against the AGBU in Cyprus and the U.S., with the Armenian Patriarch of Istanbul as the plaintiff.
The Azg daily of Yerevan recently published Haygachen Ouzounian’s memoirs that covered his adolescent and young adult years at the Melkonian Educational Institute.
In an extensive report to the Armenian Mirror-Spectator published in Boston, Ouzounian said: "It will be the most tragic move made by the AGBU, and will cause the most harm to our nation. Those determining the current policy of the Central Board will be subject to severe indictment by our people in the court of history".
Ouzounian, one of the early graduates of the Melkonian, blamed the Central Board for the decrease in the number of boarding students. The school, he said, could accommodate up to 350 boarders but this was the thwarted by the Central Board, who hiked the fees to such that Armenians from East Europe, the Middle East and Armenia could not afford.
“There is no reason to close the Melkonian,” he said in a recent interview from his home in Larnaca. “Melkonian is very important for our youth. Melkonian is not only important for Cyprus, but for all Armenians in the Diaspora.”
“Unfortunately AGBU does not represent the image that it carried in the past,” said Ouzounian. “It has lost its favorable façade among the people and has been re-organised as a foundation in the hands of only a few who do whatever they please. It is unfortunate that an organization such as this after 100 years of earning our nation’s trust is now falling apart and losing its credibility among our people. How can they close the Melkonian?”
From the "Save Melkonian" web site
http://www.savemelkonian.org/docs/Articles/2006/06_05_26_Haygachen_ouzounian.htm
Unfortunately, this article makes no reference to the considerable number of years that the late Haygachen Ouzounian lived in Ethiopia and contributed to the Armenian community there through his active involvment in the leadership of the Community Council.
Reverend Father Hovhannes Avak Kahanah Guevherian
First Pastor of Armenians in Ethiopia
1877 – 1957
Hovhannes Avak Kahanah Guevherian was born on 1st January 1877 in Yozghat - Turkey. After receiving his elementary education at the local Khorenian Armenian school he has served there as an assistant teacher and later as deacon at the local church.
He was ordained as a priest on 18th July 1908 in Sourp Taniel Monastry of Caesarea by Rev. Stephanos Archbishop Sandaldjian. His name before his ordinance was also Hovhannes. He served as parish priest of a number of towns before being deported from his ancestral home, along with other clergymen, to the Syrian desert of Hawran where he has endured much hardship and suffering.
Father Guevherian had mastered the Turkish language very thoroughly and through his passionate and daring letters to the Arab Emirs of the time has managed to save the lives of thousands of Armenians at different times during the deportations. During the world war he was put in charge of the collection and transportation of the orphaned Armenian children by Archbishop Saradjian of Damascus. He has also served in the town of Retimno in Crete.
By the decision of the Holy Synod of Constantinople and by the special recommendation of Archbishop Arslanian he was designated as the pastor of Armenians in Ethiopia where he arrived in 1923. He settled in Addis Ababa where he served the church until his death in 1957, at the age of 80.
Rev. Kevork Archbishop Arslanian of Constantinople has written the following about father Guevherian in his book “Journey to Ethiopia”: “Reverend Hovhannes has been a brave, fearless and devoted pastor. He is the descendant of a prominent family, well educated and a well versed in the Turkish language. He also knows French. He is very diligent and never shuns from his responsibilities”.
Father Guevherian has always preached love and harmony among the Armenians of Ethiopia and many visitors to Ethiopia have testified with admiration that the Armenians of Ethiopia are so united and have one church, one club and one school.
Father Guevherian was married to Haiganoush Tchakmakdjian from Caesarea and they had four children, two sons and two daughters; Nouritsa, Arous, Haroutune and Noubar
(Nouritsa died of fever during the deportation).
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