Armenian Genocide Survivor Passes Away

106-year old Hayganoush Markarian, was one of last two Bay Area survivors

Walnut Creek, March 13 - One of only two remaining survivors of the 1915 Armenian Genocide living in the Bay Area, has passed away. Hayganoush Markarian died of natural causes earlier this week at the age of 106. The funeral will take place on Wednesday, March 19th, at 11 am, at St. Gregory Armenian Apostolic Church in San Francisco.

Last October, Hayganoush's story of survival was presented by Rep. Lynn Woolsey to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, in a debate about a resolution officially recognizing the Armenian Genocide. Rep. Woolsey showed committee members Hayganoush's photograph and urged the committee to pass the resolution, which it did. The resolution now awaits a full House vote.

Markarian was born Hayganoush Azarian on January 24, 1902, in the city of Kharpert, in Eastern Turkey, where most Armenians lived before the Armenian Genocide of 1915, during which the Ottoman Turkish government deported and massacred 1.5 million Armenians, half of the Armenian population living on its historic homeland.

Hayganoush lived with her parents, older brother, and four sisters. When the Turkish government began the Armenian Genocide, first through the conscription of Armenian men and boys into special army units, Hayganoush’s brother and father fled into hiding. Her brother, Karekin, dressed as a girl in order to safely cross dangerous areas. He made his way to Russia, then Sweden, and finally to the United States. Her father, Minas, who had been a successful businessman, hid among some of his Kurdish clients, moving from residence to residence to avoid detection. Meanwhile, Hayganoush's mother found a way to keep the rest of the family together in Kharpert during the mass deportations, avoiding massacre until the end of WWI, when they were reunited with Hayganoush's father. Unfortunately, Minas suffered an early death as the result of the difficult conditions he had faced hiding in water wells for long periods of time.

In 1923, Hayganoush's mother moved the family to Aleppo, Syria and married Markar Markarian in 1925. They remained in Aleppo, raising five children, until 1956 when the entire family moved to Lebanon. In the meantime, their eldest son, Armen, migrated to the United States to pursue an education, remaining there to teach. In 1969, the rest of the family moved from Lebanon to the United States to be reunited.

In both Syria and Lebanon, Hayganoush became an active member of the Armenian Relief Society, the oldest Armenian women's organization, established in 1910 in New York City, to provide humanitarian assistance to Armenians in need. She continued her membership until her death this week.

Hayganoush is survived by M/M Armen and Victoria Markarian, M/M Arsen and Alice Gregorian, M/M Zohrab and Elizabeth Markarian, M/M Sinan and Seta Yazejian, M/M Constantine and Nayiri Bouboussis and six grandchildren.

Armenian National Committee
San Francisco - Bay Area
51 Commonwealth Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94118
Tel: (415) 387-3433
Fax: (415) 751-0617
mail@ancsf.org
www.ancsf.org

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