From its beginnings, Brémond’s administration in Cilicia took a close interest in the fate of the Armenian orphans scattered throughout the region. The governor of Cilicia maintained a permanent liaison with the AGBU’s head office. Throughout 1919 and on into 1920, the French administration granted Armenian organizations privileges that made it easier for them to round up abandoned Armenian children and open orphanages to care for them. The French even asked the local Ottoman administration to attribute buildings - caravan¬serais, barracks, and so on - to the Armenian organizations that took these children in hand. The French also maintained their own welfare administration, the French Agency for Repatriation and
Public Welfare in Cilicia; it reported to the Office of Health, Sanitation, and Social Welfare directed by Major Louis Rolland, a physician. Created at the very beginning of the French occupation of Cilicia, this office was charged with helping Armenian repatriates move back to the region. It was primarily active in Adana and the nearby villages, where several thousand Armenians were resettled under Rolland’s supervision. The repatriates were given food, clothing, and linen taken from stocks seized during the War. Rolland’s office also distributed plowing equipment and seeds to Armenian farmers returning to their villages.7
On 6 December 1919, the Agency for Repatriation and Public Welfare was split off from the Office of Health, Sanitation, and Social Welfare and put under the direction of Lieutenant Gagneux, who was assisted by Lieutenant Vahan Portukalian.8 The Repatriation Agency ran several programs set up by the French. In particular, it financed workshops for adolescent girls and young women who, in many cases, had been abandoned or had no source of support. In Adana, the Agency managed a big workshop for embroidery and carpet-making that had been installed in March 1919 by Madam Brémond in a house owned by the city in Adana’s Armenian quarter.9 ... Read all
The AGBU's Return to Cilicia
Adana (Coll. Michel Paboudjian).