“I am an Armenian, my blood.” .. What is happening in...

Amal Khalil wrote in “Al-Akhbar” newspaper under the headline “Lebanese Armenians meet the” call of duty “: Liberation of Artsakh passes through Burj Hammoud:” During Armenia’s battle to liberate Nagorny Karabakh from the authority of Azerbaijan in the early 1990s, Hagop participated in the moves organized by Bourj Hammoud. Solidarity with the mother country. In the kindergarten where he was a student, he donated his “graduates” to support the “battle for independence”, marched in demonstrations, and sang “Kiddashan” (a town in the region remained in the hands of the Azeris who changed its name to “Shaikan”): “Today we will take Artsakh, and tomorrow, van ( Nakhichevan) “.

After 26 years, Bourj Hammoud is re-emerging. It is true that no one has yet taken to the streets to demonstrate with the battle of “protecting independence,” yet the atmosphere in the region echoes with the chant “Rebellion, O Armenians, Irsakh is calling for you.” Ibn Maraş, in Cilicia, accompanied us on a tour that suggested that Bourj Hammoud is part of Karabakh, even though not all of Lebanon’s Armenians are from that region, and many of them did not visit it even after its independence in 1994.
On the Beirut River Bridge leading to Bourj Hammoud, a yellow tent shades a small restaurant on the corner called “Karabakh”. Its owner, Jan Mamujian, has not changed his name recently, in line with “fashion”. The name goes back about 30 years, when the war to liberate the region broke out, and he named it after the store he opened in Greece that day. “I am an Armenian. Flee my blood,” said the descendant of Tigranagart, who was transferred by the Turks to Diyarbakir. After returning to Lebanon, 15 years ago, he opened his local branch and kept the name the same. But Mamujian, like his fellow countrymen when they talk about “the case,” does not use the word “Karabakh”, but rather “Artsakh”. As the first is the Turkish name for the region, which means “the black garden”. The second is the inherited historical Armenian designation. And the Armenians of Lebanon, like all the Armenians of the world, do not accept any Turkish heritage. ”To read the full article, press Here.