YEREVAN, APRIL 23, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian Genocide survivor Aharon Manukyan will celebrate his 100th birthday next year on March 20. His kind and modest eyes seem to reveal the positive qualities of his character, just like his hands tell us about his long life full of difficulties. Grandpa Aharon will never forget the story of his family and his birthplace Van despite the deteriorated health conditions and old age.  

The American orphanage in Leninakan became his home.

Aharon’s daughter - Ruzan Manukyan, tells his father’s story. Her grandmother passes the migration path together with three children. She reaches Etchmiadzin. Since Aharon’s mother was the only worker after her husband’s death, she takes her children to children house after a short period of time and returns to Etchmiadzin to find a job. Aharon always says that one of the heads of the American orphanage of Lininakan was a very kind person who had lost his only child and devoted his entire life to Armenian people.

“Soon the American couple expresses wish to adopt Aharon and his brother to take them to the USA, but my grandmother knows about that and returns to take her children, as she had already found a job in Yerevan,” tells Ruzan, adding that all the details about their family Aharon remembers from her mother’s stories. “Prior to that, the head of the orphanage offers gold to Mariam for adopting Aharon and taking him to the USA,” Aharon’s daughter goes on telling. But the mother of our hero, despite all financial difficulties, strictly rejected the proposal. In this regard Aharon likes jokingly saying that he could be a very rich man now.

Settling in Yerevan, Aharon receives 2 higher educations. He gets married and has 4 children. While speaking about the Turks he says “they are not people”. Thus he wants to say we should not deal with Turks, Ruzan explains.

In spite of speaking difficulties and poor hearing, in answer to our question whether he believes that one day Turkey will recognize the Armenian Genocide, Aharon said “yes”.

The daughter tells that his father has always wished to go to Van and see the birthplace, but the wish has remained unrealized.

Taking care of her 99-year-old father and 88-year-old mother, Ruzan has a great desire that justice eventually wins and the greatest crime of the 20^th century receives fair compensation.

Aharon Manukyan was born in Van in 1914. He was one year old, when his family had to leave their house in the yard of a church. In 1915 the Van dwellers started their struggle against the Turkish troops. Although when the Russian forces left the city, the city's Armenian population had to immigrate to the Eastern Armenia. Aharon's father was martyred during the heroic defence of Van. 

Article by Tatevik Grigoryan

Photos by Arev Grigoryan