On the Verge of Death and Survival: Krikor Bogharian’s Diary

On the Verge of Death and Survival: Krikor Bogharian’s Diary Ümit Kurt In recent decades, much important work has been done on the Armenian deportation and genocide that draws on previously inaccessible Ottoman archival materials.1 However, in the process, there has been a corresponding tendency to downplay, either explicitly or through neglect, the value of largely untapped Armenian-language source materials, including 1 Some examples to such studies: Taner Akçam, The Young Turks’ Crime Against Humanity: The Armenian Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing in the Ottoman Empire (Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2012); Raymond Kévorkian, The Armenian Genocide: A Complete History (London: I.B. Tauris, 2010); Fuat Dündar, Crime of Numbers: The Role of Statistics in the Armenian Question (1878–1918) (New Brunswick and London: Transaction Publishers, 2010); Ronald G. Suny, They Can Live in the Desert But Nowhere Else: A History of the Armenian Genocide (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2015); Donald Bloxham, The Great Game of Genocide: Imperialism, Nationalism, and the Destruction of the Ottoman Armenians (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005). Ü. Kurt (*) University of Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW, Australia © The Author(s) 2024 T. Kühne et al. (eds.), Documenting the Armenian Genocide, Palgrave Studies in the History of Genocide, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-36753-3_7 123 124 Ü. KURT personal memoirs and diaries.2 Until recently, few researchers in this area have possessed the language skills to hone in on both Armenian-language and Ottoman Turkish-language materials, and as a result, scholars who rely predominantly on one set of sources have tended to marginalize the other. A more well-rounded approach that is able to make use of sources in various languages can only benefit the field. This chapter builds on one such document, a diary, written by a young Krikor Bogharian (1897–1975),3 that serves as a non-state primary resource, providing insight into what being a survivor meant in a genocidal moment. The diary takes us to early twentieth-century Aintab, modern-day Gaziantep, fifty-five kilometers to the west of the Euphrates and forty-five kilometers to the north of the modern Turkish-Syrian border. The Armenian deportation is presented as a first-person account, through the experience of an Armenian from the city of Aintab. This chapter, based on the diary entries Bogharian penned as he struggled through this disastrous time, sheds light on the deportation experiences of Aintab Armenians. While sharing tales of extraordinary suffering faced by ordinary people who were exiled and annihilated, it narrates the stories of those who survived to tell their tale about how they trekked through the desert under unimaginable conditions. This chapter analyzes the diary and shares detailed information about both the personal and the family life of Bogharian, in addition to the suffering endured by the Armenian deportees. Krikor Bogharian, who was deported to Aleppo, then Hama, and finally to Salamiyya alongside his entire family, kept a diary about his life from August 11, 1915 to December 19, 1916. Bogharian’s self-narration zooms in on a small area within Bilad al-Sham, which as a whole, is the Levant region, encompassing the Eastern Mediterranean. His entries highlight the daily struggle of the Armenian population to survive for 2 Vahé Tachjian’s illuminative work on diaries of two genocide survivors Krikor Bogharian and Nerses Tavukjian is an exception here. Employing these two diaries and intermeshing them with other primary and secondary sources, Tachjian revealed the story of Bogharian and Tavukjian families who went through every single process of Armenian deportation in the district of Hama and Salamiyya in the province of Syria. Vahé Tachjian, Daily Life in the Abyss: Genocide Diaries, 1915–1918 (Oxford and New York: Berghahn Books, 2017). 3 Krikor Bogharian, Orakro’wt’iwn Darakir Geanqis, Ceghasban T’o’wrqy Vgah’o’wt’iwnner Qagho’wadz Hrashqo’v P’rgo’wadznero’w Zro’h’nere’n (Diary of My Life in Exile: The Genocidal Turk: Eyewitness Accounts Culled from the accounts of People who were Miraculously Saved), ed. Toros Toromanian (Beirut: Shirag, 1973). ON THE VERGE OF DEATH AND SURVIVAL: KRIKOR BOGHARIAN’S DIARY 125 more than three years. The regions of Hama and Salamiyya became “home” to the largest number of Aintab Armenians, where they suffered disease, epidemics, and death. On the eve of war, Aintab had an Armenian population that numbered somewhere between 36,000 and 40,000.4 It was urban Armenians of Aintab, in particular, who were deported to Salamiyya’s agricultural district. At the time, Salamiyya, with its population of around 6000, was a district located in the southeast of Hama, some seven hours on foot from Homs. The inhabitants were predominantly members of the Ismaili sect, while the few Sunnis were the government officials of the town. Bogharian’s diary is unique for its immediacy. He wrote in the heat of the moment and his entries reflect the language of his time and the proximity of the events he recorded as they unfolded before his eyes on a daily basis. As Salim Tamari demonstrates in the case of Ihsan Salih Turjman’s diary, Bogharian’s diary is “unfiltered and unreconstructed by retrospective thought.”5 As a wartime document, its power lies in the way that it exposes the texture of daily life. Bogharian’s diary reveals intimate aspects of the victim experience during the Armenian Genocide. The diary, with its attention to detail, proves invaluable for its depiction of local settings and what was going on at the micro level from the perspective of a deportee and it is “written with intimacy and simple but keen reflections on an encircled city.”6 It contains a wealth of observation on daily life in Salamiyya in 1915 and 1916. Bogharian’s world was permeated by deportation and by the impending catastrophe that would include disease, starvation, forced conversion, and sexual violence committed against Armenian women and girls. 4 These figures reflect Armenian, British, and French sources. Turkish sources reduce these numbers to 20,000 - 30,000. Population figures for the Ottoman Empire have always been controversial, and the rich literature for these estimates is too extensive to list here. See some sources: Yervant Babaian (ed.), Badmo’wt’iwnt Ah’nt’abi Hah’o’c (History of Aintab Armenians) vol. III (LA, Union of the Armenians of Aintab: April Publishers, 1994), 11–12; Kevork A. Sarafian, A Briefer History of Aintab: A concise history of the cultural, religious, educational, political, industrial and commercial life of the Armenians of Aintab (CA, Los Angeles: Union of the Armenians of Aintab, 1957), 11; Kemal Karpat, Ottoman Population (1830–1914): Demographic and Social Character (Madison Wisconsin: University of Madison Press, 1985), 176; Arşiv Belgeleriyle Ermeni Faaliyetleri 1914–1918, Vol. 1 (Ankara: Genelkurmay Basımevi, 2005), 655. 5 Salim Tamari, Year of the Locust: A Soldier’s Diary and the Erasure of Palestine’s Ottoman Past (CA: University of California Press, 2011), 86. 6 Ibid., 25. 126 Ü. KURT The “objectivity” of personal narratives, such as survival accounts, as verifiable historical document in comparison to archival documents is a topic of debate. As such, materials such as memoirs, autobiographies and diaries should be approached with caution, with it being necessary to test their reliability and validity. Yet, these types of texts should be examined not in terms of how coherently they are analyzed by the different actors who are witnesses of the concerned era, but rather how they narrate the events. It is impossible to objectify historical thinking. Historical thinking is simultaneously dynamic, fluid and porous. In the case of Holocaust literature, for instance, Polish historian Marta Cobel-Tokarska argues that personal documents constitute “a more valuable source of knowledge about the opinions, feelings and psychological state of individuals, their perception of reality and the place these individuals see for themselves in this reality, than information about the actual course of historical events, especially those in which the author of a testimony did not participate.”7 Many scholars rely on first-person accounts in the absence of additional sources. Bogharian’s diary, as a survivor account, helps us to recognize the advantage of individual, unique perspectives on the Armenian Genocide inherent in such a primary source. The diary was published in Beirut, in 1973, as a chapter in a general work entitled “The genocidal Turk: Eyewitness accounts culled from the accounts of people who were miraculously saved.” This chapter is eightyone pages long (the pages measure 5.5 by 9.4 inches [14 by 21.3 centimeters]).8 Deportations in aintab The deportation of Aintab’s Armenians began in August 1915,9 late compared to the deportations in most eastern regions. Previously, Aintab Armenians had relied upon the honesty and kindness of Celal Bey, Şükrü 7 Marta Cobel-Tokarska, Bezludna wyspa nora grob. Wojenne kryjowki Zydow w okupowanej Polsce (Desert Island, Burrow, Grave. War-time Hiding Places of Jews in Occupied Poland) (Warsaw: IPN, 2012), 35 cited in Natalia Aleksiun, “Survivor Testimonies and Historical Objectivity: Polish Historiography since Neighbors,” Holocaust Studies: A Journal of Culture and History 20 (1–2): 2014, 161. 8 Tachjian, Daily Life in the Abyss, 7. 9 Bibliothèque arménienne Nubar, Paris (hereafter BNu) /Fonds A. Andonian, P.J. 1/3, file 4, Aintab, “The Deportation of Armenians in Aintab,” 1. ON THE VERGE OF DEATH AND SURVIVAL: KRIKOR BOGHARIAN’S DIARY 127 Bey, and Hilmi Bey to shield them from deportation.10 The period of wishful thinking ended when Cemal Bey, general secretary of Aleppo’s CUP branch, arrived in late June, accompanied by a few propagandists. The mission of this Unionist cadre was to convince Aintab’s notables to repeat their entreaties to Istanbul to issue a deportation order. Cemal Bey succeeded in pressuring the local CUP and other Muslim leaders to send new slander letters to the capital. On June 21, 1915, the German consul at Aleppo, Walter Rössler, reported that Governor Celal Bey was to be removed from his post because of his refusal to deport Armenians.11 Indeed on June 30, in a reshuffling of provincial governorships, Bekir Sami Bey was given the Aleppo seat, while Celal Bey was moved to Konya.12 On July 5, Celal left Aleppo. Aram Andonian mourned, noting in his Aintab file: “Aintab Turks collaborating with Unionists in Aleppo [have] succeeded in removing the honest, charitable, and reasonable governor of Aleppo from his post.”13 Still, as late as July 17, Aintab’s own district governor, Şükrü Bey, was able to inform the Ministry of Interior that no Armenian had been deported [harice çıkarılmadı] from Aintab.14 Dissatisfied with that state of affairs, Talat replaced Şükrü with Ahmed Faik (Erner) on July 26, 1915.15 Around the same time, Hilmi Bey, Aintab’s military commander, also resigned.16 On July 29, the local CUP at last received an “affirmative” BNu/Fonds A. Andonian, P.J. 1/3, file 4, Aintab, 7. AA-PA, Konsulat Aleppo, Paket 1, Vol. 1, J. No 1311, Rössler to Embassy, Aleppo, 21 June 1915, telegram 9 cited in Hilmar Kaiser, “Regional resistance to central government policies: Ahmed Djemal Pasha, the governors of Aleppo, and Armenian deportees in the spring and summer of 1915,” Journal of Genocide Research, 12 (3–4): 2010, 193; Rössler to Embassy, Aleppo, 21 June 1915 J. No. 3790 AA-PA Konstantinopel 169 telegram 9; Rössler to Embassy, Aleppo, 21 June 1915 J. No. 3799 AA-PA Konstantinopel 169 telegram 10 in Kaiser—in collaboration with Luther and Nancy Eskijian, At the Crossroads of Der Zor: Death, Survival, and Humanitarian Resistance in Aleppo, 1915–1917 (Princeton, NJ: Gomidas Institute Books, Taderon Press, 2001), 15. 12 Kaiser, “Regional resistance to central government policies,” 193. 13 BNu/Fonds A. Andonian, P.J. 1/3, file 4, Aintab, 8. 14 BOA.DH.ŞFR 480/53, 17 July 1915. 15 BOA.DH.ŞFR 54A/113, 26 July 1915. Şükrü Bey was appointed to district governoṙ ship of Çankırı on 27 July 1915. BOA.I.DH 1515/1333, 27 July 1915. His official appointment decree was promulgated in Takvim-i Vekayi on 21 August 1915. Takvim-i Vekayi, No. 2266, 1. 16 Aguni and Andonian believed that the district governor Şükrü Bey and military commander Hilmi Bey resigned so as not to have to carry out the deportation order as a final blow to Aintab Armenians. Sebuh Aguni, Milion my Hah’ero’w Ch’arti Badmo’wt’iwny (History of the Massacre of One Million Armenians) (Istanbul: H. Asaduryan Vortik, 1920), 310; BNu/Fonds A. Andonian, P.J. 1/3, file 4, Aintab, 4. 10 11 128 Ü. KURT reply to its entreaties from the central government, and Aintab was added to the deportation list.17 By the time Ahmed Faik Bey reached Aintab on August 26, the deportation had already begun. Once they received the anticipated news from Istanbul, local Young Turks called an emergency meeting and prepared the list of Armenians to be deported.18 The very next day Rössler notified his superiors that the order to deport Armenians from Aintab and Kilis “had just been issued.”19 The American representative passed the news along to his ambassador a few days later, adding that the order also applied to Antakya, Alexandretta, and Kesab.20 In Beşgöz, located between Aintab and Kilis, the people of the village were discussing the fact that the Aintab deportation was to commence the next day. After a while, a well-dressed gentleman, by his appearance a Circassian, wearing a combination of civilian and officer’s clothing, joined them and inquired from which part of the town people would leave, which road they would take, what kind of people were to be deported and what one could possibly pilfer from them.21 “When one of those present asked him if he was a civilian or a member of the military,” he grinned slyly and questioned rhetorically, “Is there a more opportune moment to be a soldier than the present one?”22 On July 30, fifty Armenian BNu/Fonds A. Andonian, P.J. 1/3, file 4, Aintab, 7. Ibid., 7. 19 Telegram from the German consul in Aleppo, Walter Rössler, to the embassy in Istanbul, 30 July 1915 in Archives du génocide des Arméniens, doc. 125, ed. Johannes Lepsius, 119–20, cited in Kévorkian, The Armenian Genocide, 606–7. 20 Letter from the Consul Jackson to Morgenthau, 3 August 1915 in Ara Sarafian (ed.), United States Official Records on the Armenian Genocide, 1915-1917 (London: Gomidas Institute, 2004), 169. 21 1915-09-03-DE-002 cited in Wolfang Gust (ed.), The Armenian Genocide: Evidence from the German Foreign Office Archives, 1915–1916 (New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2014), 351. 22 Ibid., 351. 17 18 ON THE VERGE OF DEATH AND SURVIVAL: KRIKOR BOGHARIAN’S DIARY 129 families were ordered to leave Aintab within the next twenty-four hours.23 Their deportation began on August 1, 1915.24 On August 1, the first convoy comprising these families (approximately 400 Armenians)25 departed with light belongings, locking their doors and leaving behind nearly all their assets.26 On August 7, a second convoy of fifty more Armenian families was deported.27 On the same day, gangs, formed by peasants from the villages of Tılbaşar, Mezra, Kinisli, Kantara, Ekiz Kapı, Bahne Hameyli, and Sazgın, attacked the deportees. These chetes were led by Emin Efendi, the manager of Ziraat Bankası (Agricultural Bank).28 The second convoy was systematically pillaged by gangs less than a day’s march from Aintab.29 Meanwhile, a third convoy that departed on August 8 was composed of one hundred families from the Kayacık and 23 Kevork A. Sarafian (ed.), Badmo’wt’iwn Ah’nt’abi Hah’o’c, vol. I (LA: Union of the Armenians of Aintab, 1953), 1022; Nerses Tavukjian, Dar’abanqi Orakro’wt’iwn (Diary of Miserable Days), ed. Toros Toramanian (Beirut: High Type Compugraph-Technopresses, 1991), 70; Vahe N. Gulesserian (ed.), H’o’wshamadean Awedis Kalemqereani (Memoir of Avedis Kalemkerian) (Beirut: Dıbaran Der Sahagian, 1965), 56; Kevork Barsumian, Badmo’wt’iwn Ah’nt’abi H. H. Tashnagco’wt’iwn 1898–1922 (History of the Aintab Armenian Revolutionary Federation 1898–1922) (Aleppo: Tigris, 1957), 49; Sarkis Balabanian, Geanqis Daq o’w Bagh Orery: Ah’nt’ab, Qe’sab, Hale’b (Hot and Cold Days of My Life: Aintab, Kesap, Aleppo) (Aleppo: Shirag, 1983), 58. 24 Different dates are given in memoirs regarding the exact beginning of deportations of Aintab Armenians, see. BNu/Fonds A. Andonian, P.J. 1/3, file 4, Aintab, 7; Bogharian, Orakro’wt’iwn Darakir Geanqis, 122; 126–29; Elie H. Nazarian, Badmakirq Nazarean Kertasdani (1475–1988) (History of Nazarian Family) (Beirut: Zartonk Press, 1988), 184; Kersam Aharonian, H’o’wshamadean Medz Egher’ni (Memory of Great Crime) (Beirut: Atlas, 1965), 46; M. Arzumian, Ha’hasdan, 1914–1917 (Armenia, 1914–1917) (Yerevan: Hayasdan 1969), 438. 25 Tavukjian, Dar’abanqi Orakro’wt’iwn, 71. As opposed to Tavukjian’s accounts, Gulesserian gave the number of thirteen affluent and well-known families and other people from the Orthodox community who formed the first convoy of deportees; see Badmo’wt’iwn Ah’nt’abi Hah’o’c, vol. I, 1023. Additionally, according to Miss Frearson’s accounts, the first convoy of Aintab Armenians were sent away on 30 or 31 July 1915. “Miss Frearson’s Experiences and Observations in Turkey,” ABCFM 16.9.6.1, 1817–1919, Harvard University Microfilm Reel 670-7.1.14, Unit 5, Vol. 2, Part 1, 4. 26 Badmo’wt’iwn Ah’nt’abi Hah’o’c, vol. I, 1023. 27 Ibid., 1023; Tavukjian, Dar’abanqi Orakro’wt’iwn, 72. 28 BNu/Fonds A. Andonian, P.J. 1/3, file 4, Aintab, 8. 29 Ibid., 8; Tavukjian, Dar’abanqi Orakro’wt’iwn, 72; Balabanian, Geanqis Daq o’w Bagh Orery, 57; NA/RG59/867.4016/148, Letter from the Consul Jackson to Morgenthau, 19 August 1915 in United States Official Records, 207. Another report to Morgenthau on 3 August 1915, Jackson notes “Now all Armenians have been ordered deported from the cities of Aintab, Mardin, Kilis, Antioch, Alexandretta, Kesab, and all the smaller towns in Aleppo province, estimated at 60,000 persons.” NA/RG59/867.4016/126, Letter from the Consul Jackson to Morgenthau, 3 August 1915 in United States Official Records, 169. 130 Ü. KURT Akyol neighborhoods.30 Similar to the deportees from previous convoys, these people headed out with carts, camels, and other draught animals early in the morning. After spending the night at Sazgın village, they were led to Akçakoyunlu railroad station.31 The fourth convoy left Aintab on August 11 and consisted of 120 families, many of them well-off, from the ̇ Kayacık, Ibn-i Eyüp, and Kastelbaşı neighborhoods.32 On August 13,33 the fifth convoy of over 120 families (approximately 1200 people) departed from Eblahan and Akyol.34 On August 23, the sixth convoy reached Akçakoyunlu with around 120 Armenian families from Kayacık, the neighborhood of Surp Asdvadzadzin ̇ (St. Mary, Armenian Orthodox) Church, Eblahan, Ibn-i Eyüp, and Kastelbaşı. Unlike other convoys, those from Aintab included men, women, and children over the age of ten.35 From Akçakoyunlu, the first two groups were sent to Damascus. The rest were held in a transit camp surrounded by barbed wire while waiting to be loaded into stock cars for transport to Aleppo. These deportees were later sent on foot to the region of Deir ez-Zor.36 While the exact number of deportees, the death toll, and the number of survivors are unknown, it is estimated that the number of deported Armenians from Aintab was approximately 32,000, with 20,000 perishing in the genocide and 12,000 surviving.37 Those deported via the 30 Badmo’wt’iwn Ah’nt’abi Hah’o’c vol. I, 1025; Tavukjian, Dar’abanqi Orakro’wt’iwn, 72. Kayacık and Akyol were two neighborhoods where the majority of the Armenian population resided. Even today, its original features have been preserved, including its architectural features such as Armenian schools and churches, which are now used for other purposes or have become private property. 31 Ibid. 32 These were neighborhoods where most of the Aintab Armenians resided. 33 Badmo’wt’iwn Ah’nt’abi Hah’o’c vol. I, 1025; Tavukjian, Dar’abanqi Orakro’wt’iwn, 72. 34 As in Eblahan, Armenians and Muslims resided together in Akyol. However, the Armenian population was higher in number within this neighborhood. 35 NA/RG59/867.4016/148, Letter from the Consul Jackson to Morgenthau, 19 August 1915 in United States Official Records, 207. 36 Badmo’wt’iwn Ah’nt’abi Hah’o’c vol. I, 1026; BNu/Fonds A. Andonian, P.J. 1/3, file 4, Aintab, 9. 37 BNu/Fonds A. Andonian, P.J. 1/3, file 4, Aintab, 20. According to missionary reports, there were about 20,000 Armenians in Aintab “who were exiled, and about 10,000 were drafted, so that the population of the city is about 30,000 less than it used to be; but in place of them we have about 12,000 refugees, women and children, who are entirely dependent on relief.” ABCFM 16.9.6.1, 1817–1919, Harvard University Microfilm Reel 670-7.1.11, Unit 5, Vol. 2, Part 1, No 274. ON THE VERGE OF DEATH AND SURVIVAL: KRIKOR BOGHARIAN’S DIARY 131 Homs-Hama-Damascus route were more likely to survive, as the majority were allowed to convert to Islam.38 KriKor bogharian in exile anD his Diary: ConDitions of Deportees Krikor Bogharian, at age 18, was on the fourth convoy deported on August 11, 1915. Along with his family and siblings, he was sent to Aleppo, and then to Hama and then to Salamiyya. A diligent and intelligent young man, Bogharian was born to Priest Karekin Bogharian, a prominent cleric, in Aintab in 1897. He completed his secondary educational studies at the Vartanian School in 1912.39 According to archival records located at Beirut’s Haigazian University Library, Bogharian was a successful student at the Vartanian School, which taught courses in Armenian, Ottoman, French, and English.40 After graduating from the Vartanian School, he went on to study at Cilicia College, which was founded in Aintab that same year.41 However, his studies were cut short during his final year when he and his family were targeted for deportation. Bogharian was able to endure the treacherous environment faced by the families exiled to Hama and Salamiyya thanks in part to the texts he brought from the collection that his father—a notable bookseller and the local official representing the Armenian daily newspaper Püzantion (Byzantium), published out of Istanbul,—had acquired over the years.42 It was this setting in which he was raised that contributed to his inclination to books, his decision to maintain a journal of his experiences, and that 38 Bogharian, Orakrutyun Darakiri Gyankis, 139, 186, 189, 191, 192; Tavukjian, Darabanki Orakrutyun, 141, 148, 178. 39 Offering high school education, this institution was established in 1882 thanks to the contributions of wealthy and intellectual families of Kalusd Agha Gazarian, Nigoghos Agha Nazaretian and V. M. Kurkjian from the Armenian community. For more comprehensive information, see Sarafian, A Briefer History of Aintab, 92–97. Also see Tachjian, Daily Life in the Abyss, 18. 40 Library Archives of Haigazian University, “‘Krikor Bogharian’s Archives’, ‘Vartanian grtaran. Vgayagan (Vartanian School Certificate), 21 June 1912, Aintab.’” 41 Established by the administrators of Vartanian School, this institution offered excellent education opportunities in the modern sense. There were departments training teachers and religious men at Cilicia College. For more detailed information, see Sarafian, A Briefer History of Aintab, 105–12. 42 Sarafian (ed.), Badmo’wt’iwn Ah’nt’abi Hah’o’c vol. II (History of Aintab Armenians) (LA: Union of Aintab Armenians, 1953), 472–74. 132 Ü. KURT prompted his father to bring along a chest filled with books when leaving Aintab.43 According to some survivor accounts, Armenians were told that they could leave everything, lock their doors, and either hold onto their keys or leave them with a neighbor or the mukhtar (village head).44 They were also assured that the government would carefully seal their properties and protect them.45 As one of the first deportees to leave Aintab, neither Bogharian nor his family members realized the murderous crimes committed against the Armenians of the Ottoman Empire. They were promised that this was a temporary arrangement and that they would return to their homes in a few months.46 However, as months rolled by in their new land with the realization that there was no returning home, the Bogharians came to understand the stark realities of exile, altering this initial belief. Apart from Krikor himself, the Bogharian family included his father, Karekin Bogharian (forty-eight years old); his mother, Santukh (thirtyeight); his sister, Hripsime (nine); and his brothers, Khatchig (sixteen), Norayr (eleven), and Nubar (four or five).47 Krikor Bogharian states that their journey to Akçakoyunlu was uneventful and the people responsible for their protection were serious about their safety. Having spent the night of August 11 in tents pitched outside on an open field close to the Sazgın village, the convoy arrived in the railroad station after a one-day journey. When they reached this destination, they came upon other deportees, for instance from Fındıcak, a town in Marash, waiting for trains in hundreds of tents. Tachjian, Daily Life in the Abyss, 18–19. Bogharian, Orakro’wt’iwn Darakir Geanqis, 122; H’o’wshamadean Awedis Kalemqereani, 56. 45 “Miss Frearson’s Experiences and Observations in Turkey.” ABCFM, 16.9.6.1, 1817–1919, Harvard University Microfilm Reel 670-7.1.11, Unit 5, Vol. 2, Part 1, 8. Alice Kazazian, a genocide survivor from Aintab who was able to reach Aleppo through bribing Kurdish escorts, was interviewed by Richard Hovannisian in 1986 in Philadelphia about her experience during the genocide. As to the seizure, plunder, and confiscation of Armenians’ immovable and movable properties, Alice Kazazian stated that “a few days before our deportation, the local government told us to lock your houses’ doors; either take your keys with you or hand them over to the government.” An interview conducted with Alice Kazazian, 1986, Philadelphia. I am grateful to late Pakrad Kazazian, a son of Alice Kazazian, for sharing the transcription of his mother’s interview with me. 46 Bogharian, Orakro’wt’iwn Darakir Geanqis, 126–29. 47 Ibid., 127. 43 44 ON THE VERGE OF DEATH AND SURVIVAL: KRIKOR BOGHARIAN’S DIARY 133 Members of Bogharian’s convoy also set up their tents and started to wait for the train, which would take them to Aleppo then to Hama. Lieutenant Yasin (Kutluğ) Efendi was in charge of controlling and managing deportations there. In his diary, Bogharian depicts Yasin as a man who seemed kind but sometimes treated deportees cruelly and punished them with the whip he carried.48 After the war, he escaped to Ankara, joined the Kemalist-nationalist forces (Kuvayi Milliye) and became a deputy for Aintab in the first parliament founded in 1920.49 Bogharian shares an anecdote about Yasin Efendi, who visited their tent while inspecting the surrounding area. He ordered the chest filled with books to be opened and asked Bogharian’s father what these books were. Karekin convinced him that they were on baptism and funeral ceremonies. Yasin allowed him to keep his books and in return Karekin gave him a handmade embroidery as a gift.50 The Bogharians reached Hama along with other deportees on August 16, 1915, where they were greeted by Armenians from Aintab, Kilis, Marash, Kığı, Fındıcak and Van. He explains that as there was no convenient place for one to relieve oneself, a disgusting smell had permeated everywhere. For those who had money, there were shops. This is how Bogharian portrays the place they were staying in Hama: We were living under the scorching sun, in a filthy place. Naturally, we had many difficulties but still we were close to the city and thank God we were able to purchase the things we needed easily and freely. Two loaves of bread were sold for one metelik [according to Ottoman currency, 1 metelik equals to 0.25 piaster].51 Accompanying the last convoy of Aintab Armenians on August 19 were Armenians from Antioch and Kesab. Bogharian underlines that his family was able to get some cash by selling some of the items they brought with them. He recounts that they sold “three carpets for 31 mecidiyes Ibid., 127. Yasin Kutluğ was a member of the Turkish nationalist forces in Halfeti, a town of Urfa, in April 1920 and played an active role in the war between Aintab nationalist forces and ̇ French military units in 1920–1921; see Yasin Kutluğ, “Istiklal Savaşı’ndan Hatıralar,” Gaziantep Halkevi Mecmuası 25 (1940): 12; Başpınar Aylık Edebiyat ve Kültür Mecmuası 31 (1941): 7, 8, 13. 50 Bogharian, Orakro’wt’iwn Darakir Geanqis, 128. 51 Ibid., 129. 48 49 134 Ü. KURT [according to Ottoman currency, one mecidiye equals to twenty piasters], a large pot for three mecidiyes, a blanket for 1.15 mecidiyes and a silk bundle for one mecidiye.”52 On August 26, another group of Aintab Armenians reached the refugee station in Hama and was also sent south. Toward the evening, Armenians from Fındıcak and Marash were deported to Homs with camels. The next evening, there were deportees from Aintab on the two trains passing through the station in Hama. They were in a miserable state. The evening after, some of them from Kilis and Marash were again sent to Homs. On September 14, fifteen more families from Aintab arrived in Hama. Around 400 families from Aintab, Kilis and Marash were settled at the center of Hama. On September 15, Armenians from Konya, Siverek, Sivas and other places arrived. Most had been robbed and were sick. On October 14, Bogharian jots another important note in his diary and specifies the origins of the deportees who had been in Hama since they arrived: Aintab, Marash, Antioch, Kesab-Suediye, Kilis, Kayseri, Samsun, Sivas and its villages; Amasya and its villages; Komerza (Tomarza in ̇ Kayseri), Gürün, Kığı, Iskenderun, Dörtyol, Konya, Hacin, Diyarbakır, Ehneş, Siverek, Harput, Bakır-Maden, Viranşehir, Vezirköprü, Agn, Cihan, Beylan, and more.53 In his diary, Bogharian recounts that seventy-nine families, including his own, began preparations to depart for Salamiyya on October 20. Among these families were also Bogharian’s grandfather, uncle, eldest brother-in-law and many neighboring families from Aintab. On October 21, they arrived in Salamiyya and spent that night at Barsumian’s and Gouzougian’s place.54 After coming to Salamiyya, the first thing they did was to find jobs. All houses for rent were built out of mud-bricks. Monthly rent rates increased to almost sixty piasters. Bogharian and his family rented a house close to the market and the main road for thirty-three piasters a month. In the meantime, new deportees from Aintab were being placed in Salamiyya. Ibid., 130. Ibid., 140. 54 Barsumian and Gouzougian were among the most prominent and wealthy families in Aintab. They were deported with the first convoy from the city on August 1, 1915. 52 53 ON THE VERGE OF DEATH AND SURVIVAL: KRIKOR BOGHARIAN’S DIARY 135 starvation, epiDemiCs anD sexual abuse As Melanie S. Tanielian states, hunger, starvation, malnutrition and its associated diseases were “far more deadly than the bullets and shells of the enemy” during the WWI.55 Greater Syria was afflicted with famine, and the provision of food to civilians gave way to battles over political power.56 By the early spring of 1915, “grain and flour shortages had become a serious issue in the Greater Syrian provinces of the Ottoman Empire, and culminated into a full-fledged famine that would claim the lives of approximately one-third of population by the time Allied troops began occupying the region in October 1918.”57 Similarly, the famine that devastated the population in Salamiyya transformed the city into a sprawling expanse of open graves due to the surging number of deaths from starvation. While the hardships the Armenian population in Salamiyya withstood were certainly a consequence of the 1915–1916 famine that struck Syria and Lebanon, the decisions that the CUP, helmed by Cemal Pasha, implemented in Beirut and throughout the Syrian provinces exacerbated the harsh conditions for Armenians who had been deported to the region.58 Bogharian recorded this situation in his personal journal, noting that in Salamiyya by late October 1915, eighty deaths from disease and starvation were being reported each day, and residents had begun to face daily struggles in obtaining basic food and materials.59 The gravity of the situation had worsened by November 20, and Bogharian wrote that residents were making bread from whatever grain was available. A growing number of individuals were in dire need of assistance, including his father, Nerses Tavukjian, and many others. In total, Bogharian recorded 3050 residents requiring aid: 573 men and 1273 women who had fallen ill, 264 men and 706 women whose spouses or parents had perished, and 55 men and 179 women who required some other form of assistance.60 55 Melanie Tanielian, “Food and Nutrition (Ottoman Empire/Middle East),” 2 in 1914–1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War, ed. by Ute Daniel et al., Freie Universität Berlin, 8 October 2014. 56 Tanelian, “Feeding the City: The Beirut Municipality and the Politics of Food During World War I,” International Journal of Middle East Studies, 46 (4): 2014, 739. 57 Tanielian, “Politics of wartime relief in Ottoman Beirut (1914–1918),” First World War Studies, 5 (1): 2014, 70. 58 Graham A. Pitts, “A Hungry Population Stops Thinking About Resistance: Class, Famine, and Lebanon’s World War I Legacy,” JOTSA 7, no. 2 (2020): 217–36. 59 Bogharian, Orakro’wt’iwn Darakir Geanqis, 138. 60 Ibid., 147. 136 Ü. KURT Bogharian himself visited a state physician on several occasions as he had developed typhus, suggesting that government-appointed medical practitioners were working in the city. In a journal entry dated January 12, 1916, he wrote that a group of Protestant Armenians had been deported from Aintab to Deir ez-Zor amid brutal winter weather,61 while death and disease continued to proliferate in Aleppo and Hama. A group of Armenians deported from Bursa were forced to remain near Azez in Syria, where they were left without housing or assistance in the frigid winter, receiving no assistance from the local Turkish population. The corpses of Armenians who had died of starvation or hypothermia were strewn about the area. The lack of adequate food precipitated a seemingly insurmountable threat by February, around the time that Ali Kemal Bey, the newly appointed district governor of Salamiyya, had arrived in the region. Bogharian depicts him as an official bearing negative opinion about the Armenian population. Arab emirs and princes attempted to provide some assistance and protection. The brothers Emir Tamir and Emir Marza were two such Arab figures.62 As the impacts of the famine and lack of adequate resources began to deepen in March 1916, malaria, spotted typhus, cholera, and a slew of other deadly and contagious ailments emerged in Bilad al-Sham and Salamiyya and were among the most persistent threats to the Armenian families living in exile there. March 13 marked the passage of seven months since the Aintab Armenians had been deported to Salamiyya, and the group discovered on April 6 that one-third of the Armenians, totaling approximately 100 individuals, had died while being forcibly deported to Deir ez-Zor from various causes, including hypothermia, consuming poisonous plants, and starvation.63 September of that year once again saw a considerable increase in the death rate and disease as the famine persisted. 61 Ibid., 152. As of 24 August 1915, the population of Protestant Armenians in Aintab was approximately 5,100; see BOA.DH.ŞFR 485/48 and BOA.DH.EUM. II. Şube 73/18, 11, Aleppo Governor Bekir Sami Bey to Ministry of Interior, 24 August 1915. On 19 December 1915, the first convoy of Protestant Armenians was sent via Akçakoyunlu to Deir ez-Zor. Badmo’wt’iwn Ah’nt’abi Hah’o’c vol. I, 1035; Balabanian, Geanqis Daq o’w Bagh Orery, 73. It was followed by the second, third, and fourth convoys until 23 December. Hay Aintab 7 (1966): 35. Of 600 Protestant families in Aintab, 200 were deported, the majority of whom were annihilated in Deir ez-Zor. Badmo’wt’iwn Ah’nt’abi Hah’o’c vol. I, 548, 552. Sarafian stated that out of 5500 Protestants in Aintab, 2450 survived. 62 Ibid., 157. 63 Ibid., 165. ON THE VERGE OF DEATH AND SURVIVAL: KRIKOR BOGHARIAN’S DIARY 137 Mass burial ceremonies and brief prayer offerings were all that were afforded to the growing number of deceased Armenians. In addition to the rampant starvation, illness, physical attacks, and weariness that they suffered, Armenian women and girls faced sexual assault and degradation for prolonged periods of time. The growing number of Armenian widows prompted a corresponding increase in the prevalence of female-headed households, and many women were forced to engage in prostitution—today referred to as “survival sex.”64 The trajectory these women followed into prostitution was either through direct exploitation or a lack of viable alternatives, and this phenomenon was most widespread among Armenian women who had survived the initial deportation. In fact, in his entries dated May 27, 1916, Bogharian outlines the spiritual breakdown that Armenian women confronted. Those residing around Hama, Homs and Salamiyya were forced to work as servants, mistresses and prostitutes.65 Bogharian defines these conditions as “one of the heaviest blows Turks inflicted on us.”66 forCeD Conversion Forced conversion was one answer that the persecuted, including the Bogharian family, considered. The conspiracy to eradicate the Armenian population and all traces of it from Ottoman society that the Young Turks had envisaged during World War I comprised deportation, genocide, and forced assimilation. The mass murders almost entirely targeted Armenian men, whereas Armenian women and children predominantly faced deportations and forced assimilation through relocation with Muslim families.67 64 Matthias Bjørnlund, “‘A Fate Worse than Dying’: Sexual Violence during the Armenian Genocide,” in Dagmar Herzog (ed.), Brutality and Desire: War and Sexuality in Europe’s Twentieth Century (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008), 16–59, 24; Tachjian, “Gender, nationalism, exclusion: the reintegration process of female survivors of the Armenian genocide,” Nation and Nationalism, 15 (1): 2009, 71. For the most recent research on this topic, see Anna Aleksanyan, “Gendered Aspects of the Armenian Genocide in the Experiences of Its Victimized Females (1914-1918)”, Unpublished PhD diss., Clark University, 2023. 65 Bogharian, Orakro’wt’iwn Darakir Geanqis, 173. See too Yervant Odian, Accursed Years: My Exile and Return from Der Zor, 1914–1919 (London: Gomidas Institute, 2009), 300–1. 66 Ibid., 173. 67 Eliz Sanasarian, “Gender Distinction in the Genocidal Process: A Preliminary Study of the Armenian Case,” Holocaust and Genocide Studies, IV: 1989, 449–61; Uğur Ümit Üngör, “Orphans, Converts, and Prostitutes: Social Consequences of War and Persecution in the Ottoman Empire, 1914–1923,” War in History, 19 (2): 2012, 189. 138 Ü. KURT The genocidal process initially sought to decimate the social fabric of Armenian society and subsequently implemented a campaign of deportations that physically devastated the Armenians and, consequently, became a way to identify potential Armenian individuals suitable for resettlement in Muslim households. The forced assimilation of the surviving Armenians into the Muslim population comprised the forcible conversion of these Armenians, most of whom were women and children, to Islam. Ironically, the Muslim families who accepted Armenians into their homes as part of this forced conversion policy largely coordinated with the Ottoman state to assist in its efforts to eliminate the Armenian population. Conversion has been viewed as a practice that “varied from one region to another at the discretion of local administrators and that was primarily motivated by Muslim fanaticism.”68 Most deportees considered it a breach of moral and social codes, as well as an infraction of their religious identity; nonetheless, to convert and live inconspicuously in Muslim communities remained their most viable option for survival. Demands for the conversion of Armenians, who had come to realize that deportation equaled death, began in June 1915.69 On July 1, 1915, it was prohibited, though reinstated four months later, albeit with certain restrictions. “It is understood that some of the Armenians being expelled pledged to convert en masse or individually, and in this fashion worked to secure the way for them to remain in their native lands,” observed Talat Pasha in a cable to provincial administrators.70 The reinstatement was announced on November 4, 1915, through a “secret” order sent to all provinces and provincial districts as well as settlement areas in present-day Syria and Iraq. On November 5, 1915, the government issued a regulation establishing the rules for conversion. Accordingly, the only requests to be accepted were those presented by Armenians who had been permitted to stay after having been subjected to a stringent security vetting.71 Akçam, The Young Turks’ Crime Against Humanity, 289. BOA.DH.ŞFR 54/100, 22 June 1915. 70 BOA.DH.ŞFR 54/254, Coded telegram from the Ministry of Interior’s General Security Directorate to the Provinces and Provincial Districts of Erzurum, Adana, Bitlis, ̇ and Aleppo, Diyarbakır, Trebizond, Mamuretülaziz, Musul, Van, Urfa, Kütahya, Maraş, Içel Eskişehir, dated 1 July 1915. 71 BOA.DH.ŞFR 54/281, 5 November 1915. 68 69 ON THE VERGE OF DEATH AND SURVIVAL: KRIKOR BOGHARIAN’S DIARY 139 Conversion was not a stable process; it was initiated, ceased, and restarted. Thus, there was no all-encompassing, definitive regulation or piece of legislation. Execution and implementation of the policy by the Ministry of Interior and relevant Ottoman bureaucracy was inconsistent. The policies of religious conversion underwent a significant alteration in the spring of 1916. Armenians who remained in various provinces and districts of Anatolia and those who had been allowed to settle in Syria were forced to choose between Islam and deportation to Deir ez-Zor.72 “At the end of February and the beginning of March 1916, nearly all of the Armenians in the labor battalion of Aleppo, urged upon partly with success, were converted to Islam,” wrote Consul Rössler.73 A similar report came from Aleppo: According to mutually corroborating news from Hama, Homs, Damascus, and other places, in the last weeks, those sent away en masse [the Armenians] were pressed to convert to Islam through the threat of further deportations. This [conversion process] took place in a purely bureaucratic fashion: Applying, and then changing of name.74 American consul Jackson of Aleppo attested that “at Hama, Homs, Marash, etc., thousands have been forced to become Mohammedans.”75 The Ottoman government’s assimilationist policy continued to be implemented in the summer of 1916, a year after the main deportations had started. The case of Krikor Bogharian is a prime example. His case shows the continued genocidal policy of the Ottoman government a year after its emergence. His diary illustrates in detail the organized nature of the assimilations, with Ottoman bureaucracy, police, judiciary, and clergy being both directly involved and indirectly complicit in the approval of forced marriage, conversion, and adoption, in keeping official records of these acts, and in compiling lists of those who were to be deported, adopted, or converted.76 Akçam, The Young Turks’ Crime Against Humanity, 304. Ibid., 305. 74 The report of Aleppo consul Hoffmann to the German Embassy, dated 29 July 1916. 75 See the letter from Mrs. Jesse Jackson, wife of Aleppo consul J.B. Jackson, to the State Department, dated 13 October 1916, in United States Official Records, 119. 76 Bogharian, Orakro’wt’iwn Darakir Geanqis; 179–80, 188; Ara Sarafian, “The Absorption of Armenian Women and Children Into Muslim Households as a Structural Component of the Armenian Genocide,” in Omer Bartov and Mack Phylis (eds.), Genocide and Religion in the Twentieth Century (Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2001), 212–14; Donald E. Miller & Lorna T. Miller, “Children of the Armenian Genocide,” in Richard Hovannisian (ed.), Armenian Genocide: History, Politics, Ethics (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1992), 100–1; 72 73 140 Ü. KURT According to his diary, on June 23, a proposal was made to convert Armenians from Adana who settled in Hama.77 He writes that following the physical, economic and cultural destruction of Armenians, this was “a new evil” forced upon them. Actually, forced conversion was already occurring in Aintab in May 1916.78 As of late July 1916, religious converts in Salamiyya began to increase in number, as Ali Kemal Bey insisted that Armenian deportees change their religion to Islam. In Hama in August 1916, Armenian deportees were pressured to convert en masse, to which they acceded. In Hama and Salamiyya in September 1916, there were reports of forcible conversions, targeting many prominent individuals from Aintab and a number of alumni of Central Turkey College.79 Reports of local attempts to force the remaining Christians to “choose” Islamization, led to a brief but critical reaction from the Armenians. The alternative was deportation, the meaning of which was widely understood by this point. Bogharian’s entries detailed that conversions occurred in two ways. In the first option, the head of a household appealed to the kadı to officially convert and he then announced in the town center that he had embraced Islam, at which point he received a Muslim name.80 Following the conversion of the other family members, they too were publicly given new names. Alternatively, the head of a household applied to the conversion office along with the names of his family members, they would receive new Muslim names and were reregistered as such in the register’s office with a note stating that they had converted to Islam.81 Krikor Bogharian and his family chose the second option. Without taking his mother, sister, or brothers to the register’s office, he completed the process himself. After becoming a Muslim, he changed his name to Şahap Bogharian, Orakro’wt’iwn Darakir Geanqis, 176. Aguni, Milion my Hah’ero’w Ch’arti Badmo’wt’iwny, 311. 79 ABCFM 16.9.6.1, 1817–1919, Harvard University Microfilm Reel 670-7.1.11, Vol. 2, Part 1, No. 247. Central Turkey College was founded in 1876 with professors who were among the most prominent educators in Turkey, with students (75 to 100) marked by their interest in public affairs, with more than 300 alumni. Central Turkey College was the most important American-Protestant institution in Aintab. It was formally established in October 1876 by Rev. Dr. Tilman C. Trowbridge, who served as the first president of the College until 1888. Sarafian, Badmo’wt’iwn Ah’nt’abi Hah’o’c vol. I, 554–55. 80 Bogharian, Orakro’wt’iwn Darakir Geanqis, 188. 81 Ibid., 188. 77 78 ON THE VERGE OF DEATH AND SURVIVAL: KRIKOR BOGHARIAN’S DIARY 141 (his mother changed her name to Meryem) and had this name added to his registry, at which time it was noted at the register office that he and his family had converted.82 By August 1916, conversions in Salamiyya began to increase. Bogharian participated in this process—both by converting to Islam and by assuming an official duty. In his entry dated August 16, he remarks that he had begun working as a clerk in the “conversion bureau,” which maintained records of conversions to Islam. He writes in his diary that people who accepted conversion, including himself, did so in order to survive. He recorded that 250 families comprised of 1250 people converted to Islam in Hama on August 24, under watch of a special official sent from Hama to monitor the proceedings.83 Among the registered families were Aintab Armenians such as the families Sulahian, Babikian, Levonian, and Yegavian. On August 28, the total number of families who had converted to Islam increased to 500.84 Bogharian writes that the local people thought these conversions were only for show, a means of placating the authorities. The number of people who came from nearby villages to convert also increased, as people were living in fear and did not want to be deprived of their food rations, which were guaranteed to those who converted. On August 29, the number of Armenian families who became Muslim reached 750. Among these were Protestant families such as the Jebejians and Barsumians. Around this time, Muslim men started to marry converted Armenian girls. As one can discern from Bogharian’s diary entries, the deportations were not only intended to exterminate every Armenian in the Ottoman Empire but also to allow a large number of individuals to be absorbed as Muslims, although Armenian converts were investigated and their movements controlled as late as 1918.85 In April of that year, all provinces and districts were required to prepare a detailed list of Armenian converts, including such information as their names, the date and manner of their conversion, the names of family members, and their occupations.86 Through this, the Interior Minister sought to measure the loyalty of the converts to the state. 82 Ibid., 189. Common names bestowed upon those who converted included Cemil, Necip, and Şükrü, Yakup, Ahmet, Mustafa, and Ali. 83 Ibid., 191. 84 Ibid., 191. 85 BOA.DH.ŞFR 86/45, Talat to Provinces, 3 April 1918; BOA.DH.ŞFR 87/ 259, Directorate for General Security to Mamuretül’aziz Province, 23 May 1918. 86 Akçam, The Young Turks’ Crime Against Humanity, 311. 142 Ü. KURT ConClusion Bogharian ended his diary on December 19, 1916. In early December 1916, he started to work at two jobs in Salamiyya thanks to Cevad Effendi, the director of Arazi Mülkiye (Land Property) who helped him find a job there as a clerk assistant. From morning until noon, he worked at the Land Property clerk’s office and from noon until the evening he clerked as a financial agent.87 In this way, he took care of his family. Since he was working very hard, he may have stopped keeping his diary. In October 1918, the Ottoman Army retreated from Damascus, Homs and Hama. On October 30, the Mudros Armistice was signed. After the armistice, he worked as an assistant clerk for Armenian National Community founded, under the presidency of Der Nerses Tavukjian, in Hama on December 30, 1918.88 In 1919, Bogharian and his family finally returned to Aintab, where the occupying Allied forces had established their authority.89 The Bilad al-Sham region saw a wave of Armenian deportees numbering in the tens of thousands and subsequently had the most sizeable population of Armenian genocide survivors. Exacerbating the brutal conditions that the deported Armenians faced were the rampant famine, disease, and death, further constricting the lives of the genocide survivors and forcing them to acclimate to a harsh environment fraught with challenges and struggles. Krikor Bogharian’s diary represents a unique primary source offering valuable insights into the experiences of the Armenian genocide victims between 1915 and 1918. Although the nature of his personal writings may produce the greatest impact on historiographical research into this locality, the text as a whole delivers a piece of the puzzle in explaining how and why atrocities such as the Armenian genocide have transpired. Bogharian, Orakro’wt’iwn Darakir Geanqis, 205. Tavukjian, Dar’abanqi Orakro’wt’iwn, 176–77. 89 By May 31, 1919, 4221 Armenians returned to Aintab. Between January 1 and July 20, 1919, 5607 Armenian refugees repatriated to Aintab; see US National Archives RG 84, Vol. 83, Correspondence, American Consulate, Aleppo, 1919, Jackson, Political and Economic Conditions, 31 May 1919; NA/RG59/867.00/897; NA/RG59/867.48/1316, Jackson to Secretary of State, August 23, 1919; Harutyun Simonian (ed.), H’awelo’wazd: Ah’nt’abi Hah’o’c Badmo’wt’iwn (Collected: History of Aintab Armenians) (Waltham: Mayreni, 1997), 105. 87 88 ON THE VERGE OF DEATH AND SURVIVAL: KRIKOR BOGHARIAN’S DIARY 143 Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence and indicate if changes were made. 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