Kurdish children play in the grounds of William Saroyan's family home in Bitlis, Eastern Turkey. Photo by John Lubbock. In the week leading up to the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, British-Armenian historian Ara Sarafian led a group of students, academics and journalists on a mission to engage with local Kurds and the descendants of Armenians in the Kurdish region of Turkey. It was in these towns and villages, 100 years ago, that the Armenian population, as well as many Assyrians, were forced from their homes and killed or deported by the state and its deputies. The Ottoman bureaucracy, supposedly fearing non-Turkish populations would revolt and carve off Ottoman lands to create new nation-states, exploited tribal, class and ethnic tensions to encourage local Kurdish leaders to murder their neighbours and steal their lands. Sarafian has been travelling to this region, and especially the main Eastern city of Diyarbakir, for years, engaging with locals and trying to build bridges with the local community. “Many Armenians were skeptical; saying ‘well, Diyarbakir is an exception’,” says Sarafian. “In a way, to test that. . . [I said] let’s try to build the bridges that were destroyed 100 years ago [in Bitlis] between Armenians and Kurds.” Based in London, with no real contacts in the region, Sarafian began making contacts through social media. When he arrived in the area he organised a meeting. “Many Kurdish organisations joined and right from the beginning the sentiment was the same: the Kurds acknowledge that there was a genocide that needs to be addressed and we should do everything to reverse its consequences as far as possible.” Old Armenian church near Bitlis. Photo taken by John Lubbock. Sarafian took us to the sites of former Armenian villages like Khanelmali (Khntsorkin in Armenian) near Tatvan, where remnants of old churches stand, often used by Kurdish villagers as stables for animals or barns for hay. In the village of Degirmenalti (Por in Armenian and Kurdish), an old monastery includes some of the most impressive medieval Khachkar stones in existence. These monumental carved stones were made by monks to show their devotion and artistry. In the past five years some have been knocked down to build houses, though there is hope that they may survive beneath the foundations, waiting to be recovered. Khatchkar stones. Photo taken by John Lubbock. In Bitlis we attended an event entitled “What Happened to Bitlis Armenians, 1915-2015,” organised by Sarafian along with Kurdish and Turkish lawyers and activists. It comprised a photographic exhibition on Armenians in Bitlis, followed by presentations by speakers including the Turkish sociologist and human rights’ activist, Ismail Beşikçi, who spent 19 years in Turkish jails for speaking out on the Kurdish issue. “I saw church ruins, so many church ruins. Where is the community of these churches? Asking this question is related to having social and historical awareness. In 1962/1963 I didn’t have awareness or information,” Beşikçi said. Behvat Şerefhanoğlu, a local man and father of our guide Barzan, told the audience the story of what his family witnessed in 1915. “My uncle was one of the direct witnesses of the killings. There was a stone bridge in Mutki. My uncle told me that 80% of the Armenians living in that area were slaughtered by the bridge. Those Armenians were begging, “O Muslim, for the sake of Muhammad, kill me with one bullet.” Even though they begged, they kept shooting them in their knees. This is a massacre. We are the children of two grieving nations.” We drive into the hills near Mutki to visit what was once a huge monastery on the highland slopes. From afar, St. Aghperig looks almost intact, but up close it is covered with holes where treasure hunters obsessed by rumours that Armenians buried gold in their places of worship come to dig. St. Aghperig is beautiful even in its current state, but badly needs protection. This will be difficult without investment from outside, which will be hard to secure when the government wants to retain all land rights. Inside St. Aghperig. Photo taken by John Lubbock. We go next to Diyarbakir, from where we drive to the old village of Chunkush (now Cungus), to see the Dudan crevasse. On the way we are stopped by the local military police, who want to see the passports of all the attendees. Luckily the presence of so many lawyers in our group encourages the police to let us go about our business. It was at Dudan (“waterfall” in Turkish) in 1915 that up to 10,000 local Armenians were thrown after having their throats cut by soldiers on the order of the Ottoman governor Reşid Bey.