In the first post-War months, the humanitarian organizations focused on Cilicia’s big cities, largely ignoring smaller towns and villages. The AGBU’s head office was aware of this shortcoming and decided to correct it by reorganizing its local chapters in Cilicia and the areas to the east, or creating new ones there; this was the indispensable starting point for coherent humanitarian and social welfare programs. The Aleppo chapter was charged with this difficult task. Dr. Hovhannes Hreshdagian and Khachig Ingilizian, both members of the Aleppo chapter, were the moving spirits here. Hreshdagian went to Urfa in April 1919 and succeeded in quickly putting the local AGBU chapter back on its feet. Credit for the reorganization of the Marash and Kilis chapters goes to Ingilizian. All three of the new chapters were located in the Eastern Territories, then under British occupation (the French did not take over until November). This meant that the Union representatives who traveled to these northern cities had to present letters of recommendation from the British military authorities in Syria. Read all
The AGBU's Return to Cilicia
Dr. Hovhannes Hreshdagian (1868-1953), a native of Urfa, physician of the Baghdad Railway Company (1895-1915), and founder of the the Red Cross health clinic in Aleppo (AGBU Central Archives/Cairo).
Dr. Hagop Beshlian, president of the Urfa branch, in traditional dress (Coll. Bibl. Nubar/Paris).
Skulls of Armenians massacred in Urfa, surrounded by Armenian dignitaries and women from the women's shelter in Urfa's Monastery of St. Sarkis in June 1919 (Coll. Bibl. Nubar/Paris).