If you visited Armenia and had a tour here before for sure you've witnessed the outstanding scenery and the amazing culture of the Armenians. Many of the tourists have fallen in love with the food and the hospitable of the locals. But behind those things and smiles of the local Armenians, there is a dark story that needs to heal and be recognized in the world.
In the year of 1915, the Ottoman Empire came to Armenia and took almost the entire land of the Armenians. It causes the death of 1.5 million of lives of the Armenians who were trying to keep their beloved land, but thankfully some of them survived during the Genocide by hiding in the river, mountains or by moving to the other country to escape the merciful massacre.
One of the survivors is Anna Tutundjian the great grandmother of Lucine Kinoian. Lucine was an invited speaker to the TEDx talks in the USA and she told the story of how her great grandmother survive in the genocide.
Her great grandmother was born in 1903 in Sivas, Turkey. She said: Anna (great grandmother) was 11 years old when Ottoman came to Armenia. The men and young boys were separated from the group and Anna saw her father, brother, and uncle were shot to death. After the Ottoman killed the men and young boys, they took next the babies from their mother including the baby brother of Anna.
The babies were buried in the ground only up to their shoulders and Anna watched them as the horses trampled over them. Soon after, Anna and all women and elderly began the death march.
While they were in the death march a guy saw her and took her as his wife although Anna was just only 11 years old. Within a year Anna gave birth to her daughter and by the time she was 13 she gave birth to another.
Fortunately, Anna managed to escape with her two kids and reunited with her family.
Another story is when the National Geographic Channel created a documentary about the Armenian Genocide. The short clip will be found in this link: Armenian Genocide.
On that clip, one of the survivors of the genocide said: "It's not something that can be forgotten.. . It will be remembered and torture people."
These words are deep, in-pain and a nightmare to all Armenians all over the world especially to the people who witnessed the ruthless genocide.
We can't undo the past, but we can help them rebuild their future and this should be the reminder and a lesson to everyone especially to the tourist who wants to visit Armenia. Tourist should help the millions of Armenian to heal the big wound cause of genocide by showing our respect to the place, culture, and appreciation to their history.
There are thousands of more story from the genocide in Armenia but we can't include them all in the article. We suggest visiting Armenia to learn more about their history.
More tourist means more economic growth! Come and visit Armenia today and let us all rebuild their future.
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