Forbidden Homeland: Story of a Diasporan is a memoir about discovering your family’s history and roots in Armenian Genocide and Karabakh Conflict. Why was it important to share your story?  

We live in a world where “truth” is being sacrificed for geopolitics and power. Mighty nations are not only proving that “might is right”, but they are also rewriting history to suit their narratives. They have the means to bribe, dine, and wine media folk, academics, and politicians to promote their version of facts in order to influence public opinion, or cover up their true agendas. I wanted to share my story, to show that no matter how much truth is suppressed, it still finds a way to be found. I wanted to give a voice to marginalized nations. 

I appreciated the candid nature with which you told your story. What was the hardest thing for you to write about?

The hardest thing to write about was my grandmother’s genocide experience. I found out about what had happened to her family during the genocide when I found her relatives here in California. It was only then, that I started understanding the possible signs of trauma I had witnessed in my grandmother while growing up in Lebanon. 

What were some ideas that were important for you to share in this book?

Many ideas were important for me to share:

1. That America is formed of many Diasporas, and that we have to celebrate our diverse backgrounds, but also realize that many similar reasons have propelled us (or our ancestors) to immigrate to this country. My book has in fact become a talking point and an opportunity to share similar experiences and challenges in our backgrounds.
2. We need to get to know each other’s backgrounds in order to be able to understand the foreign policies of this nation. Most of the U.S. foreign policies happen without the knowledge of the American people, however, they are implemented in all of our names and funded by our tax dollars. We should educate ourselves in order to hold the government accountable for its actions or to praise the government for its good deeds abroad. As Americans we value policies that promote freedom, democracy and human rights. 
3. It was important to share what happened to my family and my homeland over a hundred years ago in order to explain what is happening in Armenia and Artsakh (Karabakh) today. Many things are being taken out of context or fabricated to distract from the truth. A lot of gaslighting. I want my book to raise awareness of the fight between democracy and tyranny happening now in Transcaucasia. Armenia, the only democracy in the region, is being constantly threatened by invasion, by the same perpetrators of the Armenian genocide! 
4. That the Armenian story is part of the Human Story. We are all connected. The ancient Armenian monuments and churches that Azerbaijan is destroying belong to humanity and to world history, that is why their destruction is called “Cultural Genocide”.

What do you hope is one thing readers take away from your story?

One thing I hope readers take away from my story is that when people are ignorant about facts, they can be easily manipulated at the whim of leaders. Therefore, education is key in order to question where our money and military assistance are being sent to and for what purpose.  The new generation, in particular, needs to learn how to look up facts because without facts we cannot have a future. 

With this book, I also hope to give smaller nations and victims of genocide a face and a voice.

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