YEREVAN (AFP) — Mukhamed Al Razzaka heard all about the killings of Armenians during 1915-1917 when he grew up half a century ago in what today is northern Syria amidst those who escaped the massacres.
“Armenians who grew up with us under our roof told us about the genocide,” the 61-year-old told reporters in Yerevan earlier this week, where he had come with 11 other tribal leaders from northern Syria as part of ceremonies marking the 90th anniversary of what Armenians and much of the world calls a genocide.
“We came to Armenia in order to honor the memory of thousands of innocent people,” Razzaka said after laying flowers at a memorial for the genocide victims in the Armenian capital early in the week.
“Humanity should not forget the evil of the Ottoman Empire,” he said. “Our fathers and grandfathers not only helped them survive but also taught them to farm since most of the refugees were craftsmen.
“We are proud that we helped thousands of innocent people survive and live through this tragedy,” he said, dressed in the traditional black robe and wearing a white and black turban on his head. The massacres of Armenians during World War I is one of the most controversial episodes in Turkish history.
Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kinsmen were massacred in orchestrated killings nine decades ago during the last years of the Ottoman Empire, the predecessor of modern Turkey.
Turkey categorically denies the genocide allegations, arguing that 300,000 Armenians and thousands of Turks were killed in what was civil strife during World War I when the Armenians rose against their Ottoman rulers.
Tuesday’s visit was one of a series of seminars, visits and ceremonies that authorities in Armenia planned to mark the 90th anniversary of the start of the killings, leading up to the official genocide remembrance day on April 24.
During the controversial period, Armenians were uprooted from their homes and many fled to what today is Syria.
“My grandfather used to tell me how in those far away years, thousands of Armenians crossed the… desert without food and water,” said Nauf Rakhip Al Pashir, who was among the delegation visiting Yerevan on Tuesday.
“There were so many killed and injured that one village was called ‘margate,” which means a collection of corpses, and ‘shatate,’ which means genocide,” he said.
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