Lousaper Tachdjian: Genocide Survivor

AYF member Krista Apardian’s great-grandmother Lousaper Tachdjian was only 8 in Aintab when she participated in her uncle’s wedding ceremony the night before two policemen came and told them to collect their belongings and moved them to the city of Hama in the mountains. They stayed there for 2-3 months with no food or water. Turkish soldiers would occasionally destroy tents and laughed and kicked the starving children who begged the soldiers for food. Lousaper’s family escaped by telling the soldiers they were going to the bath house. They eventually got to Salemia. When the father of the family heard about the men being rounded up to go to the army, they travel to Mahara with a mule. Their horsemen told some Turkish men about the valuables the Tachdjian family might have, which made the men beat the father with big sticks for the family’s items and money. They found refuge in a cave, where they spent some time before settling in Aleppo.

Lousaper’s full story was written by Dr. Donald Miller from USC