Ararat Cemetery - A History Lesson
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April 24th marks the 100th commemoration of the Armenian Genocide, when 1 1/2 million Armenians died at the hands of Ottoman Turks. It's important in the central valley because thousands of Armenians immigrated to Fresno in the years before and after the genocide. Several generations of Armenians now call the valley home and their history can be traced in one unique place in south-west Fresno: the Ararat Armenian Cemetery-- the only Armenian cemetery in America.
Ararat Cemetery is 130 years old and many of the thousands interred here reflect that. Cemetery tour guides Frank Balekian and Meher Checkerdemian walked the plots and looked at names with us. Each special to a local family and some important to the community and the world. Like the Seropian brothers, the very first Armenians to come to Fresno in 1881. According to Balekian, "So, Jacob came first and then his brothers Garabed and Simon also arrived."
Also interred is pilot Joe Sahakian who flew the "Sacred Cow," the presidential aircraft for President Harry Truman in World II, and Pulitzer prize winning author and playwright William Saroyan. According to Balekian, "He was cremated and half were interred here in Fresno and the other half went to Yerevan, Armenia."
There are also remembrances of Armenia's tragic past. There's a monument erected in 1968 by the Manoogian family for those who died in the Armenian Genocide 100 years ago. Balekian says, "So here is buried the remains of unknown Armenians martyred by the Turks in 1915 to 1918." It is the only place in the western world where actual remains are contained.
This 10 acre plot of history is a stop for school tours and history buffs. According to Executive Director Sheri Manning-Cartwright, one stone cross gets a lot of attention. It's a memorial to Visalia born Monte Melkonian. According to Manning-Cartwright, "He was your average American boy who got interested in his Armenian heritage and joined the secret army for the liberation of Nagorno-Karabakh." Melkonian died on the battlefield in 1993 and was buried in Armenia. But he is not forgotten here.
Nor was another war hero, Soghomon Tehlirian. He survived the genocide and got vengeance by assassinating one of the Ottoman Turkish Empire's top leaders, Talaat Pasha in 1921. Tehlirian was tried for the killing and acquitted. According to Chekerdemian, "This reminds you of that. It reminds you of the million and a half that were massacred. It was genocide, everybody knows that and this reminds you of the one that really avenged those people."
There are 13 decades of history at the Ararat Cemetery on more than 10 acres of land. Documenting a culture that came here, made an impact here, and now rests here for eternity.
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