Armenia – Sisian History Museum – ARMENIAN MIGRANTS IN SISIAN – KARAKILISSA ORPHANAGE
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ARMENIAN MIGRANTS IN SISIAN. KARAKILISA ORPHANAGE
In December 1918, 16,712 Armenians saved from the Turkish massacres found refuge in SYUNIK. 14,250 of them settled in the SISIAN region, in 1976 in Kapan, 458 in Goris, 28 in Ar-Arik (Meghri region).
In the village of Gharakilisa (now SISIAN) in 1918-1919. It was an orphanage, a “hospital” for migrants and soldiers. The work was coordinated by officials appointed by General ANDRANIK.
The Prelature of the Western Diocese of the United States retains documents and memoranda given by Andranik’s comrade in arms, Doctor GAREGIN SAHAKYAN, which refer to the Gharakilisa orphanage. It is clear from the document that on April 1, 1919, there were 104 orphans in the orphanage and 12 servants.
Who were these people, what happened to them…
Today we only have fragments of memory about the orphans who were cared for at the Gharakilisa orphanage, the thousands of migrants, the Sisians who took them in.
The commissioner of Gharakilisa and representatives of 5 surrounding villages wrote to General Andranik in 1918 ․ “J. We have received orders from your esteemed Pasha, that is, to accommodate 30 families from Moshak to Gharakilisa. We have the honor to inform your esteemed Pasha that there is no free apartment in my village.
450,450 Sarighamish people live in my village. In addition, there are about 400 Tashka-Armenian migrants from Nakhchivan. Therefore, it is impossible to accommodate people from Mshe. »
This was the situation in all the villages populated by Armenians in the region of Sisian. The newly independent Armenian state was in a dire situation. There was no money or bread, and Zangezur was not part of the Republic of Armenia under the Treaty of Batumi.
Sisian, by the way, was the only region that refused to accept the Batumi Treaty and submitted to the Azerbaijani authorities.
Instead, he decided to fight Andranik, give him a soldier, keep his army and the refugees. There were only 3,620 sacks of flour to feed the 16,712 migrants, while another 96,652 were needed, which cost around 5 million rubles to buy.
On December 11, the Minister responsible for the RA Alexander Khatisyan, responding to General Andranik’s request, sent 50,000 rubles to the Commissar of Sisian for distribution to needy Armenian-Russian-Russian migrants in Sisian .
In a response letter to the minister, Andranik wrote that dozens of starvation cases had been recorded in Sisian. “It would be better if you didn’t send these 50,000, or 2.5 rubles per capita. Did it seem to you that with this money you could save these unfortunate people?”
It was under such conditions that the death rate among the refugees housed in Sisian was greatly reduced to a minimum.
Sisian did all he could, sharing the last piece of his bread with stateless Armenian migrants and Andranik’s soldiers defending Syunik.
The text was written by ANNA AVETISYAN.
Pictured: Armenian-Armenian migrants in Yerevan. Photo courtesy of aztagdaily.com.
Inglish translation – lousavor-avedis.org/
