“Ultimately, our life has a value of one bullet”
When a man cries it means that a very bad thing happened. It is the women, who are masters at crying. They even know how to cry in order to ensure their forehead doesn’t get too wrinkled. The nature created the man in a way to ensure he doesn’t cry too often. That is the reason why a crying man means desperation, powerlessness, etc. A Syrian-Armenian photographer Vahe Shahinyan, having recalled the peace he lost in Damascus, cries because he had lost his work and results of efforts of the past 35 years. He then pages the pictures of the then wealthy and prosperous Damascus. A few days ago, the painter exhibited his 155 pieces in the museum of Hovhannes Tumanyan.
-Yesterday explosions took place in Damascus. Among the victims there are also Armenians and you are exhibiting the Syria that doesn’t exist now.
-These are my works of the past 35 years. Around 40% of these historical monuments don’t exist now. We don’t even know and imagine the scales of destruction in Aleppo. You should know that in Syria each person knows as much information as spreads in the radius of 1,5 kilometers. Only a small part of the downtown is safe. But when the bombs fly they might also fall there. When you are walking you are wondering where the bomb is coming from and whether you’d make it home. There are approximately 15,000 Syrian-Armenians in Yerevan. I would like to refresh their memories, by reminding that Syria is not a war zone and that it is one of the most ancient civilizations.
-The Syrian crisis has been going on for over three years now and during these years you have never picked up a camera. You haven’t even took a photo with your phone.
-The price of photographing is the bullet. If they noticed someone on the street with a camera or a telephone camera they’d shoot him. The best can happen to you is the arrest to find out the circumstances.
-According to official data, we have over 60,000 Syrian-Armenians in Syria…
-No, no, probably half of that. In Aleppo we have 20,000 compatriots. They cannot leave Aleppo now. In Damascus they are facing unemployment and poverty. People are only concerned to survive. I had a small store there. I would go there every day but customers wouldn’t come and the money was devaluated five times and the goods became expensive. There was no threat to Aleppo till the last year. But they sieged the city immediately and captured it. Now people are dying and being kidnapped there.
-In Syria and Armenia many politicians, intelligentsia representatives and clergymen would notice that the Syrian-Armenian community is the biggest Armenian community and as the Lebanese-Armenian community it was able to make it through the war.
-The Lebanese war was different. If the Islamists take on the power I think Armenians cannot live there anymore. And not only Armenians but also all the Christians. And if the government remains the same it will be safer for Armenians but I think the presence of Armenians there will drastically decrease. The intellectuals who would speak like that are not in Syria anymore. They all fled to Europe and USA. When death awaits you every day you cannot stay there.
-Indeed, the threat of war makes our compatriots to go to safer places. But there was no mass immigration to Armenia. Many have chosen other countries.
-Armenia is helping Syrian-Armenians but Armenia is not a rich country either. Moving here requires big expenses. Armenians themselves are leaving Armenia. Armenia for us is a fatherland but it is totally new and different for us to live in. If someone rich moves here he can live but the poor or mid-class cannot survive. For example, I see my future in Armenia. It is impossible to live in any country without money.
-Why are you so confident that after the possible victory of Islamists Armenians and Christians cannot live in Syria anymore?
-I think it’s going to require 10-12 years for Syria to get back to its feet if theoretically war stops today. I hope that the Armenians who left Syria will be able to return to Syria. There are many reasons and I can’t talk about them all. If suddenly the opposition wins now they will slaughter Armenians. Ultimately, the life of each of us is worth a bullet.
-What about the Armenian wealth – schools, churches, cemeteries…?
-All that is left there just like our lands are left in Turkey. The intellectuals of that period were not farsighted. We Armenians didn’t have any place in the Arab world. The Lebanese events were a sign that the Arabic states were moving to radical Islam.
-But Armenians had their weighty place in the Middle East for decades.
-Armenians had their worthy place in the beginning of the 20th century in Turkey as well. What happened in 1915?
By Lilit Avagyan
