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Ethiopia's Armenians: Long history, small numbers

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  • Ethiopia's Armenians: Long history, small numbers

    The Daily Star, Lebanon
    Aug 2 2014

    Ethiopia's Armenians: Long history, small numbers

    Associated Press


    ADDIS ABABA: The numbers at the St. George Armenian Apostolic Church
    in Addis Ababa are not adding up. Church records show an average of
    two funerals a year, but a wedding only every three years and a
    baptism every five.

    "Some people don't come to church vertically. Only horizontally,"
    Vartkes Nalbandian said with a laugh.

    Vartkes is among a small handful of people keeping Ethiopia's Armenian
    community alive. Despite a fall in numbers from a peak of 1,200 in the
    1960s to less than 100 people today, the Armenian school, church and
    social club still open their doors.

    "There is more to a community than just statistics. We are proud of
    the Armenian contribution to Ethiopia. It's worth fighting for," said
    64-year old Vartkes, the church's fulltime acting archdeacon since the
    last priest left in 2002.

    But given the shrinking numbers, the fight can feel daunting.

    Armenian goldsmiths, traders and architects were invited to settle in
    Ethiopia more than 150 years ago by Emperor Johannes IV. Buoyed by the
    ties between Ethiopian and Armenian Orthodoxy, the community thrived.

    After the Armenian Genocide in 1915, Haile Selassie, Ethiopia's regent
    who later became emperor, opened his arms to the Armenian people even
    wider, adopting 40 orphans as wards of court. In return, the
    Ethio-Armenians proved fiercely loyal.

    One trader used his European connections to buy arms for Ethiopia's
    resistance movement against the Italian occupation during World War
    II. Others ran an underground newspaper. Several gave their lives in
    service of their adopted homeland.

    "Those were the best days," said 61-year old Salpi Nalbandian, who
    runs a leather business with her brother Vartkes and other family
    members. "We were valued members of the court. We made the crowns the
    emperors wore on their heads. We were not like the Italians, we
    weren't invaders. We contributed."

    But the community's fortunes have changed through the years.

    Ethio-Armenians had their property and businesses confiscated when the
    communist Derg seized power in 1974. Many families left then, fearing
    for their lives. The Nalbandians stayed, determined not to give up on
    a country they had called home for four generations.

    Salpi and Vartkes' musical family has made a lasting contribution to
    Ethiopia's heritage. Great uncle Kervork wrote Ethiopia's first
    national anthem, and their father Nerses became well known for his
    pioneering work in Ethio-Jazz, which blends traditional Ethiopian
    five-tone scales with the diminished scales of Western jazz.

    The pair have become the gatekeepers to a part of Ethiopian culture
    and history that is in danger of being forgotten.

    Ethio-Armenians are gradually resembling a diaspora within a diaspora.
    Children and grandchildren who live in the U.S. and Canada now make
    pilgrimages to Addis to see the place where their ancestors grew up.

    Most of the Armenian buildings in the Armenian "safar" - or
    neighborhood - in Addis Ababa's city center are now empty or gone,
    victim to the city's appetite for high-rise buildings that are
    beginning to dominate the skyline.

    St. George's Church holds maybe 200 people but seems larger because it
    often stands dark and empty. Golden orthodox crosses are the only
    objects that catch the light from high small windows in the church's
    pointed dome. The African sunshine struggles to brighten the church's
    dark green walls.

    The remaining Armenian families are scattered around Addis' outskirts,
    including the Nalbandians, who were forced to vacate their family
    home.

    The only reason the house, which in a traditional Armenian style has a
    wrap-round balcony - is still standing is because Salpi is fighting
    against the local government to preserve it as a museum dedicated to
    her father's life and work.

    She has had some help upholding her father's legacy from Aramatz
    Kalayjian, an Armenian filmmaker. He has being working on "Tezeta," a
    documentary about Ethio-Armenian music, since 2012.

    "The only remnants of a great cross-pollination of cultures are the
    few Armenian community members left, the music, history books, and
    memories that tell of the relationship between Armenians and
    Ethiopians," Kalayjian said.

    Vartkes Nalbandian disagrees with Kalayjian's view that the community
    is fading. He notes that a Syrian-Armenian man recently visited the
    Addis community with a view to moving there with his family.

    "The school is open, the church is open, the club is open," he said.
    "It doesn't matter if I open the church on a Sunday and preach to many
    people or just a handful. As long as our spirit is strong, our
    identity is, too."


    http://www.news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20140802/AP01/308029949
    http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Life/Living/2014/Aug-02/265864-ethiopias-armenians-long-history-small-numbers.ashx#axzz38gyPi0Up


    From: Baghdasarian
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