Activities of the Senekerimian Union and the Sebastia Reconstruction Union (1919-1923)

Abstract

Compatriotic unions played a crucial role in satisfying the needs of their fellow countrymen, creating jobs, providing first aid to the survivors of the genocide, and overcoming the consequences of the Armenian Genocide as much as possible. These organizations were active not only in Western Armenia, in the Armenian cities of the Ottoman Empire, but also in other places abroad and in Soviet Armenia, where Armenians settled, especially as a result of the Armenian Genocide. Such a pro-Armenian mission was undertaken by the two major unions of Sebastian Armenians, the Senekerimian Union and the Sebastia Reconstruction Union, which cooperated in important undertakings to support compatriots. Moreover, they carried out an important mission to rescue Armenian orphans, liberate Armenian girls from harems, list the organizers of the genocide, deportation and looting of the Armenians of Sebastia, and appeal to the new authorities of Turkey to identify and punish the perpetrators. However, as the process revealed, the latter did not execute any punishment.