The Assyrians of Armenia

naparet malek Tuma men-Iran men-mata Yangejja shit alpo tmanyammo esri tmanya berrakena men-hosharuyta tmanessar bate varena gu upret Armanes-tan. besyakena gu-tuyrane marona gol, gol Asor. tama kat tre shenne pyashena gashukena gu-da mesha, roba debbabe, dive, tale shule vayena. har anne taveryate shule bikhalena.

The family of Malik Tuma flees from Iran, from the village of Yanɟəjja, in the year 1828 from the Afshar dynasty. Eighteen families enter the territory of Armenia. They go up into the mountains (to a place) they call ‘pool,’ ‘the pool of Ashur.’ There, where they stay for two years, they look in the forest (and see that) there are many bears, wolves, foxes, and so forth. They are constantly eating their cows and so forth.

mara akhnan lipekh duz dukta kheta. gu-tuyrane lekh khiyye. anne meshavay kale bitayele lekh myasa damkhakhen. anne debbabe, shule, arye etten. kulle allan pisuyta vadena. kemakh salakh ultukh. azakh. mtilan al-atret diyyan peshakh tama. la, khazzakh mu vadekh.

They said ‘We are used to living in a flat place. We have not lived in the mountains. Sounds come from these forests and we cannot sleep. There are those bears and so forth, lions. All these are annoying us. Let’s get up and go down (the mountain). Let’s go. If we reach our country, we shall stay there. If not, let’s see what we shall do.’

men-tama beddarena tmanessar bate. bitayena mtayena kes shakita Azad. lakhkha shakita iten shemmo Azadla Azad Avan marena. ArmuremesArm eshta yarkhe malegge ka urusna tama khumyena. koshunet urusnay vitela gu-Iran baba savet diyyan kate gushkena.

From there eighteen families return and arrive near to the stream of +ʾAzād. There is a stream there, its name is +ʾAzād, they say +ʾAzād +ʾAvān. Now, for six months the headmen looked after the Russians. The army of the Russians was in Iran and our forefathers looked after them.

kharto kat diyyena kat baba savet diyyan beddarena beshshena Iran, keryena mirena temun lakhkha kha dana mata iten, pushun khimun. anga khoshokhun t-atya, peshitun. baba savet-diyyan betyavena susavaye bitayena lakhkha mtayena.

Then, when they knew that our forefathers were returning and going to Iran, they called them and said ‘Come here. There is a village (here), stay and live (in it). If you are happy, stay.’ Our forefathers mount their horses and come and arrive here.

lakhkha vayela kha dana kalla. kamta hoshare men-aremnay ki-palshiva itar kalla turseva. dep-natet kalla bitayena, gashukena duz duktela, miyya basima pyashena lakhkha. mara lakhkha jensila. depnet kalla hoshare lakhkha vayele gor, goret hoshare lakhkhada gu-da RtsentrR-et diyyan, iket adiyya anne RmagazinR shule iten, la? tama viyyena goret hoshare.

Here there is a fortress. Previously the Afshars used to fight with the Armenians, so they had built a fortress. They come to the environs of the fortress and see that it is a flat area, with good water, and they stay here. They say ‘Here it is good.’ Next to the fortress, the Afshars had a tomb, the tomb of the Afshars is here, in this centre of ours, where now there are the shops and so forth, no? There were the tombs of the Afshars.

bat-kuravayena, akhnan marekh gor. tamma ani lena mummedde. akhnan bat-kuravaye marekh mellattet diyyan mammudena kresyanevakh. amman hosharuyta lela mammedde makh det-diyyan ay ka-dani marena gor bat-kuravay lena mara.

They are tombs, we say ‘tomb’ ( ɟōr). There they are not baptized. We say cemetery (for us), because our people are baptized, we are Christians. But the Afshar community does not baptize like that of ours, so for them they say ‘grave’ ( ɟōr). They do not say ‘cemetery.’

anne aturaye kat bitayena lakhkha depnet kalla betvay tarusena. nikha nikha umra tarusena. menne vayena muyye umra Mar Kuryakus. Mar Kuryakus vile ganu arpa shenne babu ktiluna kat hammanuyta viyyele gu-jamahat tanuvva khina ka-babu ktilena. ka-bakhtu mirena anga atda b-urkhet gorakh t-azaten, brunukh kam aynakh katlakhkhe. Olita vitela yemmet Mar Kuryakus.

The Assyrians who come here, next to the fortress, build houses. Gradually they build a church. They had brought a church with them, St. Quryaqus. St. Quryaqus was himself four years old when they killed his father, because the faith had come into the community and he was preaching. They killed his father. They said to his wife ‘If you go in the way of your husband, we shall kill your son before your eyes.’ Julietta was the mother of St. Quryaqus.

Mar Kuryakus mirele yemmi k-oya aten tarkatta ya urkha, amman en babet-diyyi ya urkha dvikole, ana beddayen babet diyyi honana nasha viyyele urkha duz dvikole. ana pt-azen bi urkhet babi. beshkalena ka-yala sura kharbu-suna m-al-pallakane. kandure kandurele bitayele benpalele rishu bechlapule. yemmu bitayela mara anga arpa shenne yala suri purmiyyele khayye muina ana mujja deran baray men-hammanuyta. ka-dayda allu bektalena.

St. Quryaqus said ‘Mother, you may abandon this path, but if my father stuck to this path, I know that my father was a wise man and held to the right path. I shall go on the path of my father.’ They take the child and throw him down from the stairs. He rolls and rolls, falls and splits his head open. His mother comes and says ‘If my four year old child has understood what life is, how can I revert from faith?’ They kill also her on top of him.

adiyya akhnan yumet Mar Kuryakus men bretet yemmu, men yemma breta viyyele bi Iyyul esri tmanya b-yarkha, akhnan o yuma kut dana vadekh arya shara ya Mar Kuryakusle ya umra. baba savet diyyan menne muyyuna lakhkha kha dana sura umra tursena. shkhumtu muyyalan, lakhkha tureslan. ya yakka vedlan. avun sureva. muyyona lakhkha yakka umra tureslan. avda iten, ka-davda gashuken adiyya.

Now we on the day of St. Quryaqus, on which he was given birth by his mother, in Iyyul, the 28th of the month, we every time hold a festival on that day, it is the festival of this St. Quryaqus, this church. Our forefathers brought it with them and here made a small church. They brought its sanctuary stone and we built it here. We made it huge. It was small. They brought it here and we built a huge church. That exists, I am looking at it now.

itar lakhkha pyashena. m-akhkha varela shenne shabay RvobshemR shit alpo tmanyammo tlay takhmunena kat umra garvessile. shit alpo tmanyammo arpi tarusuna ya umra. vayekh nesternaye akhnan aturaye men Yangejja atyane. vayekh nesternaye kat lakhkha RuzheR kanune bekhlapena, aremnay hammananuytet gane etlun, urus-nay hammanuytet gane etlun, kat beshshekh kabulokh RpravaslavyaR men urusna akhnan vayekh Rpravaslavni men nesternaye bekhlapekh al- Rpravaslavni hammananuyteni. shit alpo tmanyammo tmani khamsha akhnan aturayet diyyan kabulona ya hammanuyta. ya umra men-nesternaye bekhlapele al-RpravaslavyaR

Then they stay here, years and weeks pass, in short in the year 1830 they think about enlarging the church. In the year 1840 they build this church. We are Nestorians, we Assyrians coming from Yanɟəjja. We are Nestorians, when here the laws change, the Armenians have their own faith, the Russians have their own faith, with the result that we go and accept orthodoxy from the Russians, we become orthodox and change our faith from (being) Nestorians to being orthodox. In the year 1885 our Assyrians accept this faith. This church is changed from (that of) the Nestorians to orthodoxy.

varena roba dana vayena roba kashe suraye. Yeprem vayele, Iso vayele, Mikhayel vayele, kasha Sandu vayele. roba atkha kashe viyyanle. m-kul-prakta vayele kasha Mikhayel. ka-daha ArmaksorArm vadena, Sebber shaduruna. RrepresyaR vayela shit tlay shavva. lakhkha surayet diyyan shit tlay shavva roba penyelun. khar shit arpi kha kat davi vila roba pnilun.

Much time passes, there are many Assyrian priests. There is Ephrem, there is Iso, there is Mixayəl, there is Father Sandu. We had many such priests. The last of all is Father Mixayəl. They exile him and send him to Siberia. The repression takes place in the year thirty-seven. Here in the year thirty-seven they annihilated many of our Assyrians. Then in the year forty-one when there was the war, many were annihilated.

men-bar da raba ArmaksorArm videlun. dakh tanakhen RpalkonikR-et diyyan, rabi Barkarakhan bi Chin rama nasha viyyele, dvikuna. mirena aten ArmuremesArm men-Berya m-uydale biyyetun RperevarotR oditun. kha dana aremna honana viyyele merre yala khayele-alaha b-shadrilukh Sebber. ta dugle dagel. mara ana mujja daglen? tani akhnan jemyekhva bi suraye ka-diyyi byayena malka mattini azakh al-atret diyyan. at b-dayya parkiten. atkhada vadele Barkarakhan.

After that they exiled many. What should we say, they arrested our colonel, Rabi +Bark̭araxān, who was a highranking person in China. They said ‘You together with Bərya wanted to make a revolt.’ There was an intelligent Armenian, the lad said ‘As God lives, man, they will send you to Siberia. Come and tell lies.’ He says ‘How can I lie?’ ‘Say that we met with Assyrians and they want to make me king, so that we go to our country. You will be saved with this.’ +Bark̭araxān does this.

mara akhnan jemyekhva tama khamzumekhva bi surayet ganan, aturaye ka-diyyi preshlun malka merrun temun azakh derakh al-atret diyyan tama pt-oet malka. ya nasha atkha prakel sagh pyashel. bitayele beta yal-suru RuzheR gurvesse amma turvente shudennena. ham brunu ham bratu. roba janjur ya nasha ka-surayet diyyan pis lele viyya, kulle matada katu betkharela.

He says ‘We had gathered there and were talking with our Assyrians, and the Assyrians selected me as king. They said “Come, let’s go and return to our country. There you will be king.”’ That man was saved in this way and survived. He comes home. His children have already grown up, but both of them, both his son and his daughter, have gone mad. That man suffers a lot and he has not been bad for our Assyrians, the whole village remembers him.

baba savet diyyan lakhkha peshle khatkha khile. kharto Stalen RprikasR puletle shit-khamshi tre merre man iket bekhkhayel o-lishana gar yattile. akhnan RuzheR kat RpravaslavyaR kublokhva atkhada lishanet urusnaye leplan, Rusya, kreta ktavta lishanet urusnaye. madraset suraye dverra. ptikhalun lishanet urusnaye. lakhkha dakh pyashekhva gu-Hayestan kha dars vadekh et-aremnaye en khine lishanet urusnaye. kut kha aturaya byayele lishan ganu adiyya. anget aturayet diyyan la-avini kerzhala, nuyna, tera, oini kha hukma. takhmennini bi kha mendi kut-kha baset ganu takhmunele.

Our forefathers stayed here and live like this. In the end Stalin issued an order in the year fifty-two, saying ‘Whosoever, wherever he lives, should know that language.’ We, since we had accepted orthodoxy, we accordingly learnt the Russian language, (the languageof)Russia,readingandwritingintheRussianlanguage.Theschoolfor Assyrians closed. They opened it as (the school for) the Russian language. Since we are staying here in Armenia, we do one lesson of Armenian, the others are in Russian. Every Assyrian wants his own language. Now, if our Assyrians were not a crab, fish, bird,they wouldbe a government. They think of one thing, each thinks about himself.