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ARMENIANS IN THE USA: REFUGEE FAMILY FROM BAKU GETS A NEW LIFE OVERSEAS
By Gayane Lazarian
ArmeniaNow
11.05.11 | 10:40
"We took nothing with us. We locked the door of our apartment and
left," says Zhanna.
In 1989 Eduard and Tatyana were perhaps the last wedding Armenian
couple in Baku amid rising ethnic violence in a city once known for
its multiculturalism.
Now Mr. and Mrs. Zalinov (Zalinian) lead a prosperous life in an
American city surrounded by the family comfort they have themselves
created thanks to two decades of hard work.
Enlarge Photo The Shirazians were one of the last Armenian families
to leave Baku amid pogroms.
Still, like many former refugee families now living in the United
States and elsewhere in the world, the Zalinovs often remember their
life in Soviet-era Azerbaijan where at one point being an Armenian
became a reason enough to be persecuted, tortured and killed.
With the husband's surname not ending in 'yan' or 'ian" that would
have immediately betrayed his ethnicity, the marrying couple was able
to somehow get to a point of a wedding party, without getting into too
much trouble over their being Armenians. Tatyana's 75-year-old mother
Zhanna Shirazian says it was not until one of their friends delivering
a toast called it "the last Armenian wedding in Azerbaijani land"
that the waiters serving the party learned it was actually Armenians
celebrating.
Eduard Zalinov also remembers the ethnic tensions that surrounded
his wedding day - beginning from the Azeri chauffeur driving their
wedding automobile. He says the driver taking them to the marriage
registration office had so much hatred towards them that "he would
have killed us on the spot but for our wedding witnesses, both of
whom were our close friends and were Azeris."
Members of the Shirazian family were born and raised in Baku. It
was there that they spent nearly half of their lives. For 23 years
Zhanna Shirazian had worked at the industrial construction ministry
and her husband Henrik Shirazian was a geophysicist and, they say,
in fact the only Armenian member of the National Academy of Sciences
in Soviet Azerbaijan.
The Shirazians were one of the last Armenian families to leave Baku
amid pogroms of Armenians there.
Zhanna says her Azeri neighbor, with whom she used to work in the
same ministry, had known long before that lists with Armenian names
were being prepared and that Armenians would be affronted, deported
and killed. "But he was ashamed to tell us about that... But soon my
husband was told at the Academy that it would be good if he temporarily
left the republic," remembers Zhanna.
The family finally left Baku in August 1989. The last and most
ferocious pogroms of Armenians in Baku took place in January 1990.
>From 1988 to 1990 nearly 450,000 Armenians fled Azerbaijan, often
leaving behind all their property and belongings.
"We took nothing with us. We locked the door of our apartment and
left," says Zhanna.
With her husband Zhanna one more time returned to Baku in November
1989, managing to take a few items from there. Then they left the
city never to go back again. During that time they say they were
helped a lot by their Azeri friends.
"Every 15 minutes they would phone and urge us to leave because they
feared for our lives. It was terrible. No one of our friends were left
there anymore, no one from Armenians, Jews or even Russians. I told my
husband I wanted to leave the place and never return to Baku again,"
says Zhanna.
After staying in Moscow for three years, the Shirazians finally moved
to the United States as part of a program facilitating refugees'
entry to the country. Now they live in the city of Charlotte in
North Carolina.
"We had applied for the program, but the authorities would not issue
us exit visas. The Soviet authorities insisted that there were no
refugees in the Soviet Union," says Tatyana. "But the Soviet state
collapsed and soon we got permissions to leave. The U.S. Government
gave us permission to live in the country without a visa. And a year
later we got the green card."
In 1991, the Shirazians were already the third Armenian family to have
arrived in Charlotte, now the largest city in North Carolina with a
population of some 730,000. Today the number of families like theirs
in Charlotte reaches one hundred. It is Armenians from Azerbaijan
that make the core of the local Armenian community.
"Then I was already 51 years old, my husband was 59. Tatyana was nearly
31 years old. We were provided with a home. We began a new life from
scratch. We had new goals," says Zhanna, remembering the early 1990s.
Today the large family lives under one roof, something that is typical
of traditional Armenian families.
They say Tatyana's good English helped her find a good job and
gradually all members of the family began to work.
"I was sorry to see my 59-year-old father get up every morning and
go to work to operate a lathe and that was after many years when he
headed a scientific research institute [back in the USSR]. But we
needed that as well," remembers Tatyana.
Twenty years later, the Shirazians lead a prosperous live even
by American standards. Since 1995 Tatyana has been engaged in real
estate buying and selling. Her three sons were born here. Her brother,
Ashot, opened a Russian store in Charlotte and simultaneously received
medical education. Zhanna gives private piano lessons to children.
Tatiana says a hard-working person will never get lost in the United
States.
"When somebody says they were simply unlucky and that's why they
couldn't achieve something, it doesn't seem true. If you work, you
gradually climb; your work will be appreciated. Armenians have been
successful here because they are hard-working," she explains.
Now only photographic images in the album and a few items that the
Shirazians had brought with them to the United States remind them of
their past lives in Baku.
Zhanna carefully takes several tea glasses from a cupboard and says
with nostalgia: "I've brought them here all the way from Baku. Every
time I drink tea my memory takes me to the life left across the ocean,
the life which was ours and at the same time not ours."
By Gayane Lazarian
ArmeniaNow
11.05.11 | 10:40
"We took nothing with us. We locked the door of our apartment and
left," says Zhanna.
In 1989 Eduard and Tatyana were perhaps the last wedding Armenian
couple in Baku amid rising ethnic violence in a city once known for
its multiculturalism.
Now Mr. and Mrs. Zalinov (Zalinian) lead a prosperous life in an
American city surrounded by the family comfort they have themselves
created thanks to two decades of hard work.
Enlarge Photo The Shirazians were one of the last Armenian families
to leave Baku amid pogroms.
Still, like many former refugee families now living in the United
States and elsewhere in the world, the Zalinovs often remember their
life in Soviet-era Azerbaijan where at one point being an Armenian
became a reason enough to be persecuted, tortured and killed.
With the husband's surname not ending in 'yan' or 'ian" that would
have immediately betrayed his ethnicity, the marrying couple was able
to somehow get to a point of a wedding party, without getting into too
much trouble over their being Armenians. Tatyana's 75-year-old mother
Zhanna Shirazian says it was not until one of their friends delivering
a toast called it "the last Armenian wedding in Azerbaijani land"
that the waiters serving the party learned it was actually Armenians
celebrating.
Eduard Zalinov also remembers the ethnic tensions that surrounded
his wedding day - beginning from the Azeri chauffeur driving their
wedding automobile. He says the driver taking them to the marriage
registration office had so much hatred towards them that "he would
have killed us on the spot but for our wedding witnesses, both of
whom were our close friends and were Azeris."
Members of the Shirazian family were born and raised in Baku. It
was there that they spent nearly half of their lives. For 23 years
Zhanna Shirazian had worked at the industrial construction ministry
and her husband Henrik Shirazian was a geophysicist and, they say,
in fact the only Armenian member of the National Academy of Sciences
in Soviet Azerbaijan.
The Shirazians were one of the last Armenian families to leave Baku
amid pogroms of Armenians there.
Zhanna says her Azeri neighbor, with whom she used to work in the
same ministry, had known long before that lists with Armenian names
were being prepared and that Armenians would be affronted, deported
and killed. "But he was ashamed to tell us about that... But soon my
husband was told at the Academy that it would be good if he temporarily
left the republic," remembers Zhanna.
The family finally left Baku in August 1989. The last and most
ferocious pogroms of Armenians in Baku took place in January 1990.
>From 1988 to 1990 nearly 450,000 Armenians fled Azerbaijan, often
leaving behind all their property and belongings.
"We took nothing with us. We locked the door of our apartment and
left," says Zhanna.
With her husband Zhanna one more time returned to Baku in November
1989, managing to take a few items from there. Then they left the
city never to go back again. During that time they say they were
helped a lot by their Azeri friends.
"Every 15 minutes they would phone and urge us to leave because they
feared for our lives. It was terrible. No one of our friends were left
there anymore, no one from Armenians, Jews or even Russians. I told my
husband I wanted to leave the place and never return to Baku again,"
says Zhanna.
After staying in Moscow for three years, the Shirazians finally moved
to the United States as part of a program facilitating refugees'
entry to the country. Now they live in the city of Charlotte in
North Carolina.
"We had applied for the program, but the authorities would not issue
us exit visas. The Soviet authorities insisted that there were no
refugees in the Soviet Union," says Tatyana. "But the Soviet state
collapsed and soon we got permissions to leave. The U.S. Government
gave us permission to live in the country without a visa. And a year
later we got the green card."
In 1991, the Shirazians were already the third Armenian family to have
arrived in Charlotte, now the largest city in North Carolina with a
population of some 730,000. Today the number of families like theirs
in Charlotte reaches one hundred. It is Armenians from Azerbaijan
that make the core of the local Armenian community.
"Then I was already 51 years old, my husband was 59. Tatyana was nearly
31 years old. We were provided with a home. We began a new life from
scratch. We had new goals," says Zhanna, remembering the early 1990s.
Today the large family lives under one roof, something that is typical
of traditional Armenian families.
They say Tatyana's good English helped her find a good job and
gradually all members of the family began to work.
"I was sorry to see my 59-year-old father get up every morning and
go to work to operate a lathe and that was after many years when he
headed a scientific research institute [back in the USSR]. But we
needed that as well," remembers Tatyana.
Twenty years later, the Shirazians lead a prosperous live even
by American standards. Since 1995 Tatyana has been engaged in real
estate buying and selling. Her three sons were born here. Her brother,
Ashot, opened a Russian store in Charlotte and simultaneously received
medical education. Zhanna gives private piano lessons to children.
Tatiana says a hard-working person will never get lost in the United
States.
"When somebody says they were simply unlucky and that's why they
couldn't achieve something, it doesn't seem true. If you work, you
gradually climb; your work will be appreciated. Armenians have been
successful here because they are hard-working," she explains.
Now only photographic images in the album and a few items that the
Shirazians had brought with them to the United States remind them of
their past lives in Baku.
Zhanna carefully takes several tea glasses from a cupboard and says
with nostalgia: "I've brought them here all the way from Baku. Every
time I drink tea my memory takes me to the life left across the ocean,
the life which was ours and at the same time not ours."