The Screams of Adana Remembered

By Shahane Arayi
Shahanem@ucla.edu

Adana 1909 – Centennial Memorial of Adana Massacres, an event sponsored and hosted by the Glendale Public Library, and presented by Abril Bookstore, attracted over two hundred Armenians and non-Armenians to the Glendale Public Library on October 11, 2009 in memoriam of the massacres of Adana.

Elizabeth Grigorian, head of Armenian Outreach at the Glendale Public Library, welcomed the guests and introduced the Master of Ceremonies, Arno Yeretsian. Yeretsian, the director of Abril Bookstore, explained the importance of reassessing events in our peoples’ past to better appreciate the present. He vividly portrayed the fact that today, Armenians and people of all nationalities have the freedom to walk down the street without fear of murder and rape, a state our people were forced to endure. Sometimes, it is important to remember the horrific past in order to cherish the freedoms we take for granted living here in Los Angeles.

“Adana in Memoriam” – a multimedia presentation inspired by the writings of Siamanto and Zabel Yesayan, was presented. Siamanto, who was executed on April 24, 1915, and Yesayan both wrote about the Adana massacres. Yesayan collected identifications of many Armenians, and gathered many orphans. The presentation included translations of Siamanto taken from “Bloody News from My Friend” by Peter Balakian and Nevert Yaghlian and from translations of Zabel Yesayan from “Writers of Disaster” by Marc Nichanian. The presentation was screened and produced by Armen Zeitounian and Berjouhi Minasian.

After an emotion-filled introduction, Yeretsian introduced historian Garabed Moumjian, who presented a lecture titled “Adana Events 1909: Reconstructing a Definite Historiography.” Moumjian’s lecture concentrated on the uniqueness of Cilicia relative to the rest of historic Armenian cities in terms of geography and prosperity, and its significance in proving that the massacres weren’t simply the inevitable result of an uprising or war, but the systematic disposal of a prosperous, Christian civilization. Moumjian ended his lecture by urging historians and students alike to take advantage of our resources to write a more objective history of Cilicia.

Ara Sarafian, a historian from England, was introduced by Yeretsian to present his lecture on “Collecting, Collating, and Bearing Witness to the Adana Massacres of 1909: The Testimony of Hagop H. Terzian.” He noted that today there is a great interest in Turkey to look back in time. “We have a common history; our Adana’s past is also a Turkish past,” he stated. The organizers of the Cilicia massacres promulgated the Turkish people against the Armenians through propaganda filled with lies, such as Armenians spreading excrement on a mosque door and other anecdotes of the sort. The Adana massacres were carried out by “neighbors,” and friends. Even though the Armenians saw the Muslim people slowly turn against them and start to bear arms, they could have never imagined what was to come. The Armenians never thought that they would be murdered and that the government would allow it to happen.

Terzian was in Adana in 1909 and wrote the first systematic theses from the Armenian side in 1912. Sarafian read part of Terzian’s theses during the second massacre, which was a detailed account of the massacres in churches and schools. The attacks were so horrifying that it was difficult for anyone to comprehend the extent of what had happened, even after the massacres were over.

Father Barrett Yeretsian was invited to the stage where he first told his family’s stories of Adana, followed by a prayer. After the prayer, survivors of the Adana Massacres were invited to the front and were each given a red rose. Guests were then invited to go to the main floor of the library where the opening reception of the Centennial Exhibit took place. It is titled “The Destruction of Armenians of Adana, 1909” – a rare photographic record by Ernst Jackh.