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

Vera had an unhappy and loveless marriage. She felt that her husband’s family, with whom she wasforced to live, never accepted her. She recounts how her mother-in-law excluded her from the familyphoto taken by a professional photographer. She had to spend years looking at a framed photographmarked by her absence. Vera was devastated by the death of both her son and her daughter as youngadults. It was through the support of her children that she had survived the constant abuse of her husband.This is how she describes one of her husband’s attacks of anger: “The house turned into 6 September.Everything is thrown about, broken.” She says she would have divorced if it had not been for thechildren. Although both her children died abroad, they wanted their ashes to be brought back to Turkey.This meant a lot to Vera, who visits her children’s graves often. She suggests that this is one more reasonto remain in Turkey, and to join her children at her own death. While she is extremely strong, thepain remains: “The pain is in my heart. I cry every time I swim in the sea. What do I have to do in thesea? My children are not here, not with me.”Even at the age of 81, Vera dreams of seeing her love again, though she is concerned that she is no longerat her best: “ I would call Ahmet, but I don’t want to be seen in this state.” Vera’s story expresses thedeep attachment of Armenians in Turkey to this land as well as the tragedy of unrequited love.66