The TSETSE Gallery, through the mentorship of Berge Ara Zobian of GalleryZ, hosted an evening of Armenian art and culture last Friday night. Armenian artists and their guests gathered to share their art, play music and share traditional Armenian recipes.

Most of the paintings, drawings and photographs at the TSETSE made some reference to the Armenian traditions (see photos), but many of the folks at the exhibit clustered around the buffet, which offered Armenian delicacies not always available.

“Food is very important in Armenian culture,” said Michael Manoog Kaprielian Friday night. “When they came over here, or wherever they went in the world, they brought their food because they had little else.” According to the 2000 Census there are 6,677 Rhode Islanders of Armenian descendant.

As too few people realize, the fanning out of ethnic Armenians into the greater world began en masse after and during the First World War, when the Ottoman Turks, faced with losing their empire because of their alliance to Germany, took advantage of the fog of war to attempt the annihilation of the Armenian people. An article on the Armenian Embassy Web site offers a short history leading up to what many called “the first genocide” of the 20th century: “Over the centuries Greeks, Romans, Persians, Byzantines, Mongols, Arabs, Ottoman Turks, and Russians conquered Armenia. From the 17th century through World War I their most brutal invader, the Ottoman Turks, under whom they experienced discrimination, religious persecution, heavy taxation, and armed attacks, controlled major portions of Armenia. In response to Armenian nationalist stirrings, the Turks massacred thousands of Armenians in 1894 and 1896. The most horrific massacre took place in April 1915 during World War I, when the Turks ordered the deportation of the Armenian population to the deserts of Syria and Mesopotamia. According to a majority of historians, between 600,000 and 1.5 million Armenians were murdered or died of starvation. The Armenian massacre is considered the first genocide in the 20th century. Turkey denies that genocide took place, and claims that a much smaller number died in a civil war.”

Kaprielian, a third-generation Armenian-American, listened intently to the stories of his grandparents and studied the history of the first Christian nation in the world. The country was converted to Christ around 400 A.D. He learned that Armenians brought their faith and their culture to America and assimilated successfully. Armenian-Americans represent a number of professional people disproportionately large for their actual numbers. Kaprielian himself succeeded well enough to retire early and move to Armenia.

“I remember once, when I was at Brown, an old Armenian woman came up to me with a tray of traditional food,” said Kaprielian. “I pointed to each of the things on the tray and called them by their Armenian names. The woman asked me how I knew these things and I told her my family tried to pass on as much of Armenian life to me as they could. Food was one of the only things they could call their own.”

Kaprielian said the Turks, to this day, continue to deny that the massacre was a fact. They had good reason to think they could get away with that story. The world was concerned with the progress of the war and the Armenian question almost fell into obscurity.

“When Hitler was questioned about reaction to the Holocaust, he said, ‘Who cares? Does anyone remember the Armenians?’” said Kaprielian, an American-born, third generation Armenian, who spends more time in Armenia than he does here. Kaprielian said it is the unique history of Armenia that keeps Armenians in touch with their history.

“You know, lately there have been a lot of Armenians over here who donate tons of food to food banks, and when you ask them why, they say, ‘We are Armenians and we know what it is like to be hungry,’” he said. “Everybody over a certain age remembers when their parents would say ‘eat your dinner and think of the starving Armenians.’ Armenians were like a joke, but at least people recognized that something terrible had happened.”

After the Turkish defeat in World War I, the independent Republic of Armenia was established on May 28, 1918, but survived only until Nov. 29, 1920, when the Soviet Army annexed it. In 1936, Armenia became a separate constituent republic of the USSR. Armenia declared its independence from the collapsing Soviet Union on Sept. 23, 1991.

An estimated 60 percent of the total 8 million Armenians worldwide live outside the country, with 1 million each in the U.S. and Russia. Kaprielian wants to see that outflow reverse itself.

“It’s like a ‘brain drain’ for the country,” he said. “Armenians with skills and professions don’t want to go to Armenia, but I can tell you, it’s worth it.” Kaprielian has been an avid and articulate spokesman for the country. He also touts the low cost of a high standard of living there.

“There are markets in the square that peel back the covers and display banks of vegetables and fruit,” he said. “It cost me about $4 a week to eat.”

Kaprielian has been actively seeing that his young relatives get a chance to experience the old country, a luxury their grandparents and great-grandparents didn’t have.

“The kids love it when they get there, it’s like camp to them and they can’t wait to get out into the country side,” he said. “And I can tell you, there is nothing more beautiful than seeing these American kids leading sheep into the country, going so far that the sheep look like snowflakes.”

Kaprielian was looking very happy and satisfied to be among his Armenian-American friends at the exhibit but looked almost apostolic when he described Armenia to people who grew up outside the culture.

“Everyone should go to Armenia, at least once,” he said.