BAGARAN, OCTOBER 30, ARMENPRESS. 100 year old Aregnaz Grigoryan passed her life’s happy and sad years ashore Aras River, in Bagaran village, bordering Turkey. Dwelling face to face the Armenian-Turkish border is not the only thing that reminds the survivor of the Armenian Genocide about neighboring country; she tries to muffle the sound of namaz, heard by the border, by daily prayer. The hero of our story was born in Kars state’s Aras village. She left not only her father’s wealth in her birthplace, but also her lost relatives. “I was born in Alam. I was a child. My mother told me these stories. And those stories I kept in my mind”, Aregnaz Grigoryan told.

Her parents had 3 children; one boy and two girls. During the evacuation, she was a three-four months old child who was intended to be killed by being burnt in barn. The uncle tried to save her, but Turks killed her uncle. Her father could steal the child and took her away by a Turkish acquaintance.

“My father and his family were going to eat together, when Turks took out my father from home and killed my grandmother and grandfather. Everyone hided his/her goods in plot, because they thought they might return”, She continued.

When Turks invaded their small village, they slaughtered almost everyone. Most of Aregnaz’s family members; her uncles, grandmother and grandfather also became a victim of the massacre. “Turks slaughtered Armenians…” our hero remembers with heavy sigh.

Aregnaz’s parents decided to immigrate with their kids when the massacre began. They lived in Kars for one year and then they moved to Kars. “When they saw that the slaughter had begun, they had mixed their feelings”, Armenia genocide survivor remembered. 

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