Karin Hacatoryan an Armenian American, recently graduated from UCLA. She came to a TVT Judaic class on October 12, 2009 to talk about her family’s experience in the Armenian Genocide. She speaks Western Armenian dialect and is Armenian Christian. She attended schools in Fountain Valley for Elementary through High School.
When she was twelve, the Hacatoryan family toured Armenia with their church group. Karin shared her experience. “It was amazing being there, being in the middle of it all. When you’re there you really feel, ‘whoa, this is where the genocide happened’. It’s pretty amazing,” explained Karin. That would explain why her sister is a lobbyist in Washington D.C. for the Armenian Embassy.
Karin’s Great Grandparents’ families were in Armenia at the time of the genocide, and Karin shared her Great Grandmothers story. Her Great Grandmother was ten at the time, when on April 24, 1915, ten of the smartest Armenians were arrested, and ten of the poorest murdered on the spot. During the first few weeks of the Genocide, 5,000 Armenians were killed. By 1923, 1.5 million Armenians were murdered. Karin’s Great Grandmother, after losing all her family, was taken in by Turks. She stayed with her Turkish family for 5 years, until she met the man who later became Karin’s Great Grandfather, and in 1925, they had a girl. Karin’s Great Grandmother, Great Grandfather, and Grandmother moved to Istanbul, Turkey in the 1940s. Karin’s Grandmother grew up in an Armenia where most of her friends were Greek and Jewish. Karin’s Grandmother moved to California and has been living there to this day.
Last week, Hillary Clinton attended a conference in which Turkey and Armenia began to discuss the opening of the Armenian Turkey border, which has been closed for almost 40 years. The Turks deny the Genocide but the Armenians feel the need to prove the manslaughter happened. Seven and a half million Armenians and seventy million Turks wait in suspense on the outcome of the Turkish-Armenian issue.