How the visit to Armenian cemetery in Şişli opened the path to search my family roots
In 2018 me and my family visited the Armenian cemetery in Şişli, Turkey. As I have always been curious about my family roots, I found out that my great great grandfather was buried in one of the Armenian graveyards in Istanbul. Furthermore, this information motivated me to start a research on finding his tomb.
I would like to grab your attention on how individuals are searching for the tombs of their relatives in Istanbul. Every graveyard has its own book where is added the names of individuals who passed away. Moreover it is easier and less time consuming. I followed the same pattern and started to search for the name “Krikor Boyajian” at the Armenian graveyard in Şişli.
As we visited the Armenian graveyard in the last day of our trip and we did not have the required time, we promised ourselves, that this would be the most important plan to complete for our next trip to Istanbul.
In September of 2019, we started our next trip to Istanbul. This time we had enough time and I gathered more information regarding to the tomb where it could be located. My relatives from Istanbul who had the chance to know my great great grandfather told me that he buried in Üsküdar’s Surp Hac Armenian cemetery.
In comparison with Şişli Armenian graveyard Surp Hac cemetery was not as organised as in Şişli: the entrance door was closed, there were no workers and somehow the area reminded me of a farm, because there were dozens of chickens running all around.
The most important hint of this search was the photo of my great great grandfather’s grave made in 1971 by my grandmother’s brother when he visited Istanbul from Soviet Armenia. In the photo there was seen a column which helped to find the orientation of the grave.
I would like to introduce you my great great Krkor Boyajian’s biography in brief. My great great grandfather was born in Armtan, but after a short time he moved to Istanbul, he got married there and had 2 children son and daughter.
During the Armenian genocide Krikor with other men was selected for deportation, it is unknown how he managed to escape but when he came back to Istanbul, after a long time of interrogation he received the news that only his daughter Azniv was alive and the reason why she survived was because of the Turkish neighbor who secretly kept her at home.
After some period my great grandmother Azniv got married and moved to Lyon, France. When in 30’s great reparation started to Soviet Armenia with her newly created family they settled in Yerevan.
In 1961 after long period of distance from his daughter Krikor Boyajian for the first time paid a visit to Soviet Armenia.
As a generation of survivors we are obliged to keep the memory of our great great grandparents alive. By telling the story not only we pay tribute to our ancestors but also to those courageous men and women who without any fear stepped forward and saved lives.
The bridge between generations is the story that connects and continues to redefine the true values of life.
