Note Type
Historical NoteNote
The Mesdjian family from Akchehir, as described in the personal testimony on the Artzakank-Echo website, centers on Mariam Mesdjian, who in 1912 married Arménak Arabian in Akchehir when she was about sixteen years old; this union produced at least three children: Verkiné, born in 1913, Movsès, born in June 1915, and Kourkèn, who was born shortly before the family’s forced displacement during the Armenian genocide. Mariam Mesdjian and her children are specifically noted as having been born or lived in the family home in Akchehir, where they survived the early stages of deportation, returned after hiding from danger, and later endured expulsion again by Turkish authorities around 1920. Verkiné Mesdjian is mentioned as the eldest child of Mariam; Movsès Mesdjian is identified as the narrator’s father; and Kourkèn Mesdjian is described as the brother of Movsès who recalled the hardship of losing his father at age ten. After an extended journey through Salonika, Corfu, and finally Marseille, the Mesdjian family continued their lives in France, where Mariam lived until her death in 1975; her husband Arménak died earlier, in 1930.
