Philadelphians Mark 1915 Armenian Genocide and Ongoing Displacement
Lauren Abunassar
Hundreds of Philadelphia-based Armenians recently gathered outside the Philadelphia Museum of Art for the Armenian Genocide Walk, commemorating the 109th anniversary of the 1915 Armenian genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Empire. While the sensation of mourning and honoring the dead was clear, there was also a widely acknowledged understanding that Armenia’s struggle against genocide is not just history, but an ongoing reality.
Over 100,000 Armenians have been displaced following Azerbaijan’s 2023 military takeover of the disputed territory of Artsakh, also known as Nagorno-Karabakh, which was largely populated by ethnic Armenians. As Armenians in the diaspora struggle to navigate the devastation of the ongoing conflict, one question remains constant: Why isn’t anyone talking about it?
A student from the Armenian Sisters Academy watches event programming. The Armenian Genocide Walk on April 28 featured traditional Armenian dancing performed by students from the school. Photo credit: Lauren Abunassar
“The international community has pledged ‘Never Again [to genocide],’ yet right before our eyes, last year, we saw Armenians deprived of food, fuel, and medicine, culminating in Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleansing of the region,” said Alex Galitsky, Program Director of the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), in an interview with Al-Bustan. At the April 28th memorial walk, Galitsky spoke to attendees about the significance of commemorative events in the wake of Azerbaijan’s most recent aggression. While resistance, commemoration, and activism has mobilized the diasporic community, Galitsky underscored the grief and anger resulting from the international community’s silence.
“The [Armenian community] is frustrated. We’ve once again seen our people abandoned by an international community that loudly proclaims its defense of democracy and human rights,” Galitsky said. “To us, this is not some abstract horror. It’s something many of us have experienced either through intergenerational trauma or even more recently being displaced and uprooted time and time again.”
At ANCA, Galtisky has been part of efforts to both initiate legislation on issues of concern to the Armenian American community while also engaging political and educational initiatives that bolster support for a free, united, and independent Armenia. Chief among urgent policy changes Galtisky and other advocates hope to see is both a right of return for displaced Armenians and increased psychosocial assistance and humanitarian aid. “We stand on the shoulders of our parents, grandparents, and ancestors… the proud inheritors of a legacy of resistance,” Galtisky told crowd members at the walk.
Indeed, the crowd was filled with survivors and refugees, inheritors of complex and emotional legacies of displacement, loss, and resistance.
Jennifer Tumaian-Cameron of Delaware County had brought her daughter to see the Meher statue located outside of the museum. It’s an important symbol of Armenian faith. She didn’t realize ahead of time that the Armenian Genocide Walk would be happening, but lingered to listen to speakers. She was grateful to attendees for acknowledging the loss of life, she told Al-Bustan. Her own grandfather survived the 1915 genocide while his father was murdered. Holding back tears, she said, “It’s about strength in numbers. To not forget.” To this day, she still keeps the citizenship test her own father took upon arriving in the U.S., a reminder of the struggle to make a new home.
The Meher statue outside of the Philadelphia Art Museum was first unveiled in 1976, commemorating the 61st anniversary of the martyrdom of the Armenian nation. Photo credit: Lauren Abunassar
In an interview with Al-Bustan, attendee Paul Momjian recalled being present at the unveiling of the Meher statue 48 years ago. “When we gathered in 1976, we mourned the loss of our ancestors. But we also exhibited the pride of an ancient race,” he told the crowd. He recalled speeches that community members made at the time. Among them were stories of Armenians who would open an atlas and find Mt. Armenia in Mt. Tabor, Pennsylvania on the map, driving the four hours in their Sunday clothes to visit. “They were so attached to home that even the idea of it or the name of it was enough to inspire them,” he said. With the largest waves of Armenian immigrants coming to the U.S. following the 1915 genocide, settling primarily in New England and New York, Philadelphia’s Armenian community began to grow following World War I. West and North Philadelphia became strong Armenian communities, and by 1962 the St. Mark’s Armenian Catholic Church spearheaded the development of an Armenian school. Today, there are roughly 15,000 Armenians in Philadelphia.
Speaking with Al-Bustan of her own family’s journey, Maral Kaloustian, a memorial walk attendee, reflected on the paternal grandparents she lost in the 1915 genocide. Her own father ended up displaced to Palestine, while her maternal grandparents walked to Syria from Armenia. With the 1948 Declaration of the State of Israel, her grandfather lost everything once again, becoming a refugee in Lebanon, where Kaloustian was born. She immigrated to the U.S. in the 1970s and finds herself reflecting on her family’s journey every year on Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day. “We think of them as saints, not martyrs,” she told Al-Bustan of those lost both in 1915 and in the ongoing conflict. “I could not stay home today… Every year, we’re hoping the U.S. recognizes that genocide took place.”
Many of the march attendees spoke of their own connection to the 1915 genocide, as well as the importance of honoring the lives lost. Photo credit: Lauren Abunassar
Dr. Ani Kalayjian, an expert in traumatic stress and the founder of the Association for Trauma Outreach and Prevention (ATOP) NGO, Meaningful World, affiliated with the United Nations, echoed this need for recognition and validation. Kalayjian has been conducting humanitarian relief missions for Armenia since 1989. Though unable to attend the Philadelphia walk since she was preparing for another trip to Armenia on April 30, she gave a special lecture at Philadelphia’s Armenian Apostolic Church on April 24. She focused on post trauma healing and the impact of horizontal violence. “Trauma transmits generationally. Both nations— Turks, Azerbajanis— are recreating the fight that took place 109 years ago,” Kalayjian told Al-Bustan of today’s conflict. “And Armenians feel even more victimized when they’re not acknowledged. When they’re not validated.”
Working with Armenians on the ground during her visits, Kalayjian said she’s seen the branching scars of chronic trauma. “The fear and uncertainty are constant. There is constant killing and shooting at the border… In psychology we know about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. But Armenia has not experienced post trauma because the trauma does not end. It is constant, it just changes its kind,” Kalayjian said.
Every year, Kalayjian organizes a Genocide Awareness and Prevention Conference complete with multidisciplinary panels, UN ambassadors, and representatives from multiple countries. A large part of what she’s learned is the way, in the face of international silence or invalidation, survivors will cling to their trauma as proof that it happened. “[I tell them] you don’t need to wait for the enemy to acknowledge you because then you’ll die with your trauma.” Even still, she frequently sees how a lack of recognition from the international community impacts Armenians: “They are feeling like they’re unimportant,” Kalayjian said. The devastation, anger, and grief that accompanies this is profound.
When it comes to understanding why the conflict in Artsakh has gone relatively
unacknowledged and uncovered, Harry S. Cherken Jr., the Honorary Consul of the Republic of Armenia in Philadelphia, believes it has more to do with the bluster of geopolitics. While attending the walk, he told Al-Bustan, “Armenians have enriched the world culturally but we don’t have the natural resources important to the rest of the world. On top of that, we’re sandwiched between two places [Turkey and Azerbaijan] that have been deemed important. It’s a question of how Armenia will be sacrificed to realpolitik because of that.”
The Meher statue is meant to symbolize Armenian faith, each side portraying another important element of Armenian history. Photo credit: Lauren Abunassar
The U.S. has long seen Azerbaijan as a strategic ally in the region, as well as a connection to European energy interests since Azerbaijan is a massive oil producing nation. Despite Joe Biden being the first U.S. President to acknowledge the 1915 genocide, many Armenian-Americans have been left disgusted by what they see as unquestioned ongoing support of Azerbijan. According to Alex Galitsky, this is why a substantial percentage of the 1.5 million Armenian-Americans are supporting the uncommitted vote in this year’s primary. It’s also a factor in why Armenians need community gatherings to collectively reflect on the past while looking towards the future.
Kurk Selverian of the Armenian Heritage Foundation of Philadelphia spoke of ongoing plans to construct a new Armenian Heritage Walk, a pathway that will begin at the Meher statue and follow along the Schuylkill River Trail and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway on the north side of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Announcing that they are now ready to break ground on the walkway’s construction, organizers aim to unveil the finished walkway by 2026. It’s a meaningful way to mark the violence of the past year while continuing to build upon the legacy of resilience and fortitude that the Meher statue symbolizes.
And at the end of the day, it’s a reminder of a prevailing truth. In the words of another Armenian Genocide Walk attendee, Ankin Katchadouria, who came to the U.S. in 1983: “Armenians are survivors. And we never forget.”
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Lauren Abunassar is a Palestinian-American writer and journalist. A Media Fellow at Al-Bustan, she holds an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and an MA in journalism from NYU. Her first book Coriolis was published by the University of Arkansas Press as the winner of the 2023 Etel Adnan Poetry Prize.