Musa Dagh in memories of oldest resident of Armenian-populated Anjar town

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. The oldest resident of the Armenian-populated town of Anjar Maritsa Ohanesyan shared her memories about her childhood in Musa Dagh, surviving the Genocide, and first difficult years she spent in Lebanon. The Responsible for Foreign Affairs of the Italian-Arab “Assadakah” centre Talal Khrais issued a remark dedicated to the Anjar residents exclusively for “Armenpress” News Agency.

“In the beginning of this tragic story I would like to cite Pope Benedict XV’s letter dated September 10, 1915 to Ottoman Sultan Mehmed V, where the Pontiff urges to stop the exile and violence initiated against the Armenians:

‘At this time, when the powerful empire of Your Excellency is engaged in a great battle with the powerful nations of Europe, the pain caused by the horrors tortures our hearts, and the echo of the lament of an entire people has also reached us. Those people are being subjected to indescribable suffering in the vast Ottoman territory. The Armenian people have already seen how the majority of their children were sent for punishment. We now learn that the entire population of villages and towns must abandon their homes, in order to reach—with unspeakable difficulties and torture—distant places, where poverty and hunger will be added to their psychological suffering.

Therefore, we apply to You with confidence, Your Excellency, and urge you to manifest goodness and conscience, and to intervene for the benefit of a people who, even with the power of their faith, are compelled to remain loyal to your country.

But, Your Excellency, do not allow the innocent to be punished, and see to it that even those who have gone astray may take advantage of your sovereign generosity.

Speak your powerful and inspiring words of peace and forgiveness, and, being assured that they no longer will suffer from violence and persecution, the Armenian people would bless the august name of their guarantor.’

The meeting with Maritsa Ohanesyan is a brilliant example of getting in touch with the Armenian Diaspora. She hosted us in her house and told us about her childhood spent in Musa Dagh, surviving Genocide, and the first difficult years she spent in Lebanon.

‘We spent no effort so that the younger generations wouldn’t have to see all those adversities. Notwithstanding, not everybody understands that and some of them think that it’s just a past history. But we want this to be a significant lesson for everybody to prevent such a tragedy to happen ever again,’ Maritsa Ohanesyan underscored." (THE FULL VERSION OF THE ARTICLE IS AVAILABLE IN ARMENIAN)

Historical Remark

Anjar is a town of Lebanon located in the Bekaa Valley. The population is almost entirely consisting of Armenians. The total area is about twenty square kilometers (7.7 square miles).

After being abandoned in later years, Anjar was resettled in 1939 with several thousand Armenian refugees from the Musa Dagh area of Turkey. Its neighborhoods are named after the six villages of Musa Dagh: Haji Hababli, Kabusia, Vakif, Khodr Bek, Yoghun Oluk and Bitias.

The majority of Anjar's Armenians are Armenian Apostolics (Orthodox) who belong to the Armenian Apostolic Church and Holy See of Cilicia. Armenian Apostolic Saint Paul Church is the second largest Armenian church in Lebanon.

The Armenian Apostolic community has its own school, Haratch Calouste Gulbenkian Secondary School. In 1940, the chief editor of the Armenian newspaper Haratch in Paris, Shavarsh Missakian, organized a fundraising campaign among the Armenians living in France which enabled the building of the "Haratch" Elementary School next to the newly established St. Paul Armenian Apostolic Church. The official opening of the school took place in 1941. The administration of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation contributed to the expansion of the school, which was named in honor of Calouste Gulbenkian.

Our Lady of the Rosary Armenian Catholic Church in Anjar serves as church for the Armenian Catholics, who also run the Armenian Catholic Sisters School. In the beginning, the school had two divisions, St. Hovsep for the male students and Sisters of Immaculate Conception for the female students. In 1954, these departments were united. 1973 saw the official opening of the Aghajanian Orphan House, already serving as an Armenian Catholic orphanage since 1968.

The Armenian Evangelical Church of Anjar is in operation to serve Anjar's small Armenian Evangelical community. The Protestant community school was established in 1948 by Sister Hedwig Aienshanslin as part of her missionary work in Anjar. In 1953, the school, which had already become an intermediate school, was promoted into a secondary school. It has day classes as well as boarding facilities for students from other regions who stay there throughout the winter.