Tribute to Victims of the Armenian Genocide

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to memorialize and record a courageous story of survival of the Armenian Genocide. The Armenian Genocide, perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923, resulted in the death of 1.5 million Armenian men, women, and children. As the U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Henry Morgenthau documented at the time, it was a campaign of ``race extermination.''

The campaign to annihilate the Armenian people failed, as illustrated by the proud Armenian nation and prosperous diaspora. It is difficult if not impossible to find an Armenian family not touched by the genocide, and while there are some survivors still with us, it is imperative that we record their stories. Through the Armenian Genocide Congressional Record Project, I hope to document the harrowing stories of the survivors in an effort to preserve their accounts and to help educate the Members of Congress now and in the future of the necessity of recognizing the Armenian Genocide. Below is one of those stories:

FROM ARSHALOUS DARBINYAN, AN ARMENIAN WOMAN, ON BEHALF OF HER FATHER, BABKEN VARDANI DARBINYAN, AND GRANDPARENTS. ARSHALOUS MARKARI DARBINYAN AND VARDAN SARKISI DARBINYAN

Arshalous Markari Darbinyan was happily married to Vardan Sarkisi Darbinyan. The Darbinyans were one of the wealthy families of Van. They were well respected community intellectual leaders. In the spring of 1915, at the time of deportation and forced relocation Arshalous Darbinyan was an expectant mother. Andranik Zorava (a very close friend of the family) personally appointed one of his assistants to deliver a carriage to the Darbinyan residence. They left everything behind, the house and most of their belongings. In a chaotic rush they were forced to even bury their gold and most of the jewelry in their garden, and left behind the pharmacy they owned. The handmade carpets and rugs, and furniture were stuffed in the wine cellar, as they naively believed that once everything settled they would return home.

Unfortunately, when they were halfway there in the middle of the road the carriage flipped over. Arshalous was injured the most. She lost her baby. Also, she received several injuries on her face. Her husband, though in pain himself did his best to help cope with the situation. They suffered emotionally and physically, went through hardships, eyewitnessed the genocide and were lucky enough to survive. They were separated from their siblings, and the family was scattered around the world. Some of them ended up in Fresno, CA and the rest settled in Armenia.

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