Kathryn Cook

Memory of Trees

A neglected tombstone marking an Armenian grave is seen in a cemetery in the last ethnically Armenian village of Vakifli, Turkey. Vakifli and six other Armenian villages in the area were completely deserted during 1915 as the Armenians resisted the Ottoman army against deportation and escaped from Turkey. It was only many years later that some of the Armenians' relatives returned to Vakifli to live again. However, a dwindling number of only 30 Armenian families populate the small town and surrounding area, which borders Syria.
A neglected tombstone marking an Armenian grave is seen in a cemetery in the last ethnically Armenian village of Vakifli, Turkey. Vakifli and six other Armenian villages in the area were completely deserted during 1915 as the Armenians resisted the Ottoman army against deportation and escaped from Turkey. It was only many years later that some of the Armenians' relatives returned to Vakifli to live again. However, a dwindling number of only 30 Armenian families populate the small town and surrounding area, which borders Syria.