December 2013

The Syrian Armenian Relief Fund Executive Committee wishes the greater community of the Western United States a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, with one wish: To collectively open up our hearts and lighten up our Christmas by helping the Armenians struggling to survive day-by-day, facing dangers and an uncertain future in Syria. Please mail your checks to the following address: Syrian Armenian Relief Fund, P.O. Box 1948, Glendale, CA 91209-1948. The following churches, charities and organizations came together to form the Syrian Armenian Relief Fund in August 2012: Armenian Catholic Eparchy in North America; Armenian Evangelical Union of North America; Western Diocese of the Armenian Church; Western Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America; Armenian General Benevolent…

Just over 30 years ago, I dug the bones and skulls of Armenian Genocide victims out of a hillside above the Khabur River in Syria. They were young people – the teeth were not decayed – and they were just a few of the million-and-a-half Armenian Christians slaughtered in the first Holocaust of the 20th century, the deliberate, planned mass destruction of a people by the Ottoman Turks in 1915. It was difficult to find these bones because the Khabur River – north of the Syrian city of Deir ez-Zour – had changed. So many were the bodies heaped in its flow that the waters moved to the east. The very river had altered its course. But Armenian friends who…