99 - all you should know about the Genocide April, 2014 | Page 57

Silvard Atajyan | 01.07.1912, birthplace – Cilicia
My family was among the Armenians of the Suedia region of Cilicia, who had participated in the
Musa Dagh resistance in 1915 against the Turkish destroyers. When the local authorities tried to
implement the orders of deporting the Armenians, our villagers decided to resist, going up Musa
Dagh where there were self-defense battles for 53 days before the attacks of the Turkish army
were successfully repelled.
My father and uncle were soldiers in the Turkish army. My uncle was killed and thrown in the
river. For that reason, my aunts would not eat fish for years to come. In the meantime, my father
managed to escape and return home. He decided to go up the mountain and join the self-defense
movement. In 1915, my sister, mother and grandmother went up Musa Dagh. I was three years old
at the time.
At night time, the women would go down the mountain, collect figs and grapes, and bake bread.
But our strength was running out.
40 days later, we noticed a ship in the ocean and raised a flag. The captain spotted us and sent
a small boat to see who we were and what we wanted… The captain said, “Fight, hold out for
8 more days, and we’ll rescue you.” 8 days later, a small boat arrived, which we used to first
transport the children and elderly. The young ones were told, “Stay and fight until we come back
for you.”
After the resistance, which lasted 53 days, our family reached Egypt on a French ship. 4 years later,
we came back to Khdrbek in our homeland. There was a hazelnut tree there which had a base that
acted as a stable for a horse and housed three cafes. The water there sprung from the ground –
that cold water worked three mills. In 1939, we were forced to migrate again, this time to Aleppo.
We grew up in Aleppo. I got married in Aleppo to Hovsep, born in 1911. He was a colonel. We left
our house and home there to come to Yerevan in 1947, but we were exiled to Vardenis for five
years. I worked as a carpet weaver there. We returned to Yerevan in 1957. We received a plot of
land in Malatia-Sebastia and we live there to this day. I have 3 boys, one girl, 7 grandchildren
and 12 great-grandchildren.

Various photographs of Silvard Atajyan (lower left photo – in the army).