Liu Honors Armenian Genocide Survivors
 

Arshalous Dadir received a City Council citation from Councilmember John Liu. Dadir is a survivor of the Armenian Genocide of 1915.

City Councilmember John Liu hosted a commemoration of the Armenian Genocide at the New York Armenian Home, 13731 45th Ave., Flushing, on May 9. Liu specifically chose the date because May 9, "Victory and Peace Day", celebrates the end of World War ll in Europe and has special significance for many Armenians.

Between 1915 and 1923, two million Armenians living in Turkey were driven from their historic homeland through forced deportation or were massacred. Currently, eight million Armenians live in communities throughout the world where they were dispersed or to which they immigrated, but only three million live in Armenia.

Liu presented four Genocide survivors, Israel Arabian, Ornorik Eminian, Arshalous Dadir and Kristine Naldjian, with City Council Citations in recognition of their courage and strength in the face of adversity:

+ Israel Arabian was born in Harpert in 1905. He was orphaned early in life and raised by an older sister. During the Armenian Genocide, his sister was captured and enslaved. Arabian escaped capture because his sister screamed to him in Armenian to run away. He hid in a forest and moved only at night. Eventually, he met other Armenian runaways who were able to board a ship traveling to Greece, where Arabian was placed in an orphanage.

Standing (l. to r.): Chuck Apelian, Community Board 7 vice chairman; Liu; Robert G. Kallem, chairman, New York Armenian Home board of directors; Aghavni "Aggie" Ellian, New York Armenian Home executive director; seated l. to r.): Arshalous Dadir, Israel Arabian, Kristine Naldjian and Onorik Eminian, all recipients of city Council citations as 1915 Armenian Genocide survivors.

+ Ornorik Eminian was born in 1912. Her parents, sister, and two brothers were killed in the Armenian Genocide. She was picked up by the Red Cross and put in an orphanage in Turkey. Turkish soldiers later came to the orphanage and took away all the teachers. All the children were later transferred to Greece, where Eminian remained until she came to the United States in 1930.

+ Arshalous Dadir was born in Shapenkaresar, Turkey. Her father was murdered in the Armenian Genocide. Her uncle, her father's brother, a doctor, was one of 300 martyrs killed on April 24, 1915 when Armenian leaders, including members of the Turkish parliament, were arrested and murdered. The resulting lack of leadership was to have a profound political and emotional effect on the survivors. The loss is felt even today.

+ Kristine Naldjian was born in 1907 in the village of Boursa, Turkey. Her entire family was murdered, but before her mother was killed, she told Naldjian to hide. Naldjian passed out and woke to find herself surrounded by dead bodies. She was taken in by a Turkish couple who renamed her Fatima and kept her as a slave for many years. When she was a teenager, she went to the market one day and met some friends from Boursa who helped her to escape.

"The lives of the four honorees are a testimony to the triumph of the human spirit," Liu declared. "All of them endured horrific loss of family and country during what is often called 'the first Holocaust of the 20th century'. The four citizens we honor were able to rise above the horrors of the Armenian [Genocide] and go on to lead admirable and productive lives."