translation updated

I was born December 20 1900, born in a village called Ojakle of Chork Marzban (thanks /u/intdec123) ,I am half Armenian and half Turkish, Adana state, Turkey. Our heart's testimony is unexpectedly(obviously) from Cilicia(modern day Turkey but once an Armenian Empire). My fathers name was Yesayi , my mothers name was Queen( takuhi). My father was a tall man, muscular, sad faced, nice and a right minded man. My mother was blue eyed, white skinned, strong character and a very kind woman. Their wedding was very auspicious and with a full feast. The fertile gods had filled my mother 12 times. Our house was like a campground, proportionally divided with 6 boys, 6 girls. I was the 10th child.

During the Adana massacres my parents would go on to move from Chork Marzban to Alexandria of Cilicia(modern day Iskenderun, Turkey) , a purely Armenian village town perched on one of the slopes of the Amanosian mountain range (I'm going to guess the Nur Mountains). It’s been said that “four sportsmen'' were restless, fighters, one day traveling the world, and at one moment due to God's grace they steal a piece of heaven and come back home.That's how the city's winds worked on the orange trees in the tall forest where the “four sportsman” used to live listening to the crazy calls of the rivers passing by on both sides. One of them was called that.

Chork Marzban. A rebellious Armenian, ruled there with distant but unfulfilled aspirations for liberation. One day, however, state officials from the Hamidian surroundings, joined by Turkish Mullahs(Sunni clerics/Mosque leaders) from surrounding towns came to Chork Marzban for examination, apparently they will assign new names to celebrate. Due to this, the village was in whole turned on its back and circumcised and the new name is called Dörtyol. And this is how we left him(the village).

Born in a Turkish speaking family, I learned my Armenian at the age of 10 and after, after the massacre (Hamidian Massacre), from local schools, learning the Armenian language and Armenian history had become a feverish campaign. The freedom given by the new Ottoman constitution allowed a full blown plan. (to make it more difficult to learn Armenian language and history)

A student of the last grade of the National Central School (preschool) has already moved, on the deportation road we hold on April 15. We make our way to Haleb, Syria (Aleppo, Syria), afterwards between Homs and Damascus in the desert. I am one of the few remaining survivors. (Look into the der zoir death camps and the death marches many Armenians went through during the Armenian genocide)

After the first world war, out of my family only two people had remained, my little brother and I, we returned to our half(destroyed) house, Dörtyol. Schools are reopening. I will resume my studies with promises.

French occupation of Cilicia. Armenian linguistic enthusiasm. Armenian-Turkish clashes. Cilicia dreams … and at the end a huge decay(talking about the Armenian people, language, Cilician Armenian Empire dreams. Fighting, massacre, revenge, private theater everywhere(????), and I received my diploma. The smell of gunpowder would come from that.

At the end of 1920, early 1921 a new migration would come for me. I would go to the United States. I would go on to sign up for the International College close to Springfield as a student. Under certain circumstances, I settled in Lowell, Massachusetts. Since 1917 and up I lived with my big brother. I worked to earn a living and also attended night school courses and eventually graduated.

In 1926 I go to New York, and I get involved in the National Partisan Society(Ազգային ժողովրդավարական բևեռ)(National Democratic Pole - Armenian Political Alliance)