Azo the Slave Boy

<p>Papken Injarabian was born in 1906 in Amasia Turkey. He was the youngest of five children. When Ottoman Turkey entered World War I his older brothers were conscripted and the family never saw them again. The Turkish government then ordered the evacuation of Amasia and neighboring villages as part of the planned deportation and destruction of Ottoman Armenians. On June 21 1915 nine-year old Papken his parents and two sisters had to leave behind their beloved home. They were forced to march for hundreds of miles across the treacherous mountains. The heat was intense and they lacked food and water. People died by the thousands from starvation dehydration and exhaustion. Along the way they saw corpses and evidence of the mass executions of Armenians. During the exodus young Papken experienced many losses. One of his sisters was given away to Kurds and his father was murdered. Later another Kurd separated Papken and the rest of his family from the convoy threatened to kill them and abducted his remaining sister. Soon after his mother died from cholera and overwhelming sorrow. Papken became an orphan and had to fend for himself. He was taken in by Kurds as a slave. In order to stay alive he had no choice but to become a Muslim and was renamed Azo. During his enslavement which lasted more than four years he ran away many times and had nine masters. He had to endure the cruelty of his masters and their families starvation and despair. He never bathed and never slept on a mattress. One day he heard about an orphanage in Urfa which rescued many young Armenians like him. This news gave him hope and he was determined to make his way to Urfa.</p><p><br></p>