Speaking to One Another - The International Raoul Wallenberg ...

I Didn’t Love You to Forget YouVera is an 81 year-old Armenian woman born and raised in Ankara. She now lives alone in Istanbul, havinglost her husband, her son and her daughter. Although she has relatives abroad, she prefers to remainin Istanbul, in her own home and close to her friends. She is extremely courageous and attached to life,despite having suffered greatly due to the tragic loss of her son and her daughter to cancer. A story ofunrequited love for a Turkish man, however, forms the crux of her life, even today.When asked about her family, Vera speaks of 1915: “I didn’t know my grandfathers. They went duringthe genocide. We are Armenian Catholics. We are attached to the Pope. When my grandfather was takenand cut down, they were saying ‘this is for Catholics too.’ My grandmother was blind. Probably becauseof crying too much. My father escaped and survived. Three of my grandmother’s daughters survived.She married my mother to my father because she didn’t know where she would end up. My fatherwas 16 years older than my mother. My grandmother took the rest of her children and went to France.My mother did not see her mother for 28 years.”According to Vera, her family refrained from discussing 1915: “I had many Muslim friends in Ankara. Mymother and my relatives did not discuss the subject so as not to cause resentment. I didn’t want it to62