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Edward Djerejian, American diplomat

“Where are the Nelson Mandela?” Asks Edward Djerejian, sitting in front of his office at Rice University in Houston. “I do not see a Nelson Mandela in Turkey. I do not see a Nelson Mandela in Azerbaijan. I do not see a Nelson Mandela in Armenia. We need it. The great challenge for Armenia now is reconciliation with its neighbors. “If anyone can ask such a question, it is Djerejian.

Because of her family lived in Western Armenia, he has devoted his life to the diplomatic career at an age when most teenagers are still wondering who they are and what career they will want to embrace. “I was still in college in New York, when I heard my parents talk about the genocide.” “I said,” Why did I survive? Why am I here when so many others died?

I had the impression that I had, somehow, to honor those who were not so lucky and also express my gratitude to the United States, this great country of my parents granted political asylum. “

Djerejian served under eight presidents of the United States, including as ambassador to Israel. But of all his positions Damascus, the Syrian capital, remains in his eyes the most poignant experience. For it is in Aleppo, northern Syria, his father Bedros escaped death. He who lost both his parents at the hands of Ottoman Turks, was forced to walk with other Armenians Hadjin – where originates the Djerejian family – up to Deir Ezzor in the Syrian desert.

When the exiles reached Aleppo, Bedros managed to escape and found refuge with a Syrian Arab family, who employed as stables boy in charge of the care of horses.

While working for this family, he learned that two young Armenian, who lost their parents during the death march, had been placed in the home of an officer in the Turkish army to become part of his harem . Bedros was so outraged he did, on its own initiative, the journey on horseback to save these adolescents, placing them safely in an Armenian church in Aleppo.

The story could have ended there, but the two girls had an older brother in Worcester, Massachusetts, who had become an American citizen. He managed to bring them to the United States, where they explained to him how Bedros had saved them.