Ayatollah Khamenei visits
the Family Of martyr Razmik Davoudian
Visit Date: 25/12/1997
The Photo of
The martyr Razmik Davoudian
Martyred in Abadan, Khuzistan
Martyred on 17/5/1981
Since I was a child, I could tell whether a person was happy, angry or kind by his looks.
And today when I reached home, I noticed a suspicious-looking man standing in front of our house. I go towards him and ask: Why are standing here? He says: Are you a resident of this house? And after I say ‘Yes’ he asks: Are you a member of Davoudian family? I answer: Davoudian is the family name of my wife and this place is my father-in-law’s house. He opens the entrance-door for me saying: Forgive me, I didn’t recognize you. I ask him: But you didn’t introduce yourself. He says: I’m a guest. I enquire again: well, if you’re a guest, why are you standing here? He says: You just go in and you’ll know why!
While entering the house, I say to myself: What sort of a guest is he who stands in front of the house like a guard! When I go up to the second floor, I see another person standing in front of the room who asks me the same question Davoudian’s son-in-law, I answer.
O.k., Please go in. three strangers are there too; they are standing next to my father-in-law, the father of Haikanush, my wife. Now Haikanush rushes toward me and I ask her: what’s going on? Do we have guests? Before Haikanush’s answer to my question, her father, who is only 3 meters away, introduces me to those special guests in a laud voice: This is my son-in-law, Avanes, and, turning to me says: these guests are here to enquire about Razmik from us.
As soon as I hear the name Razmik, everything becomes clear in my mind: the guards, the suspicious looks and the guards questioning me. Then I take a few steps forward and ask: Is Ayatollah Khamenei going to visit us?
Now, after some 5 years, I still remember that significant evening vividly. Earlier they had telephoned and said: we would like to come and congratulate Christmas to you. Anyway, I accompany my parents-in-law to the front door. After a few minutes the door is opened and the Ayatollah steps into the court-yard. He, after saying ‘salaam’ to them, asks them to lead the way but my in-laws do not want to walk ahead of him. So he walks up the stairs and we follow him. Then he smiles and warmly talks to Haikanoush and she politely offers him an armchair. The Ayatollah, before sitting down, says to the parents of the martyr: please come and sit down next to me. He first congratulates us all for Christmas and then ask Razmik’s father to give him detailed information about his martyred son. He talks fully about him and whenever he pauses, Haikanoush and I help him to complete his explanation.
Well, Razmik, may God have mercy on him, went to war-fronts as soon as the war began; most of the time he was in Abadan and Khorram-shahr (these two strategic cities are joined by a bridge on the border of Iran-Iraq; their people defended the cities for some 40 days with ordinary weapons) and he was martyred in the middle of the year 1981 in man -to-man fights with the aggressor soldiers. Many bullets had pierced his chest and its sides.
But before the war, Razmik was also very active in the struggle against the previous regime and after the victory of the Islamic Revolution was chosen as a member of the Majidiyeh District Committee and served as a revolutionary guard for some 15 months.
The very first days of the war, he volunteered to go to the war-fronts but he was told that he had 4 months before he could enroll. He had insisted that he couldn’t wait 4 months to go and defend his country. He finally succeeded in serving as a soldier. He used to say: the enemy is in our lands, it’s treasonous not to go and help the war-front at such critical times.
The very last time he came to us was at Easter of that year and even then he did not stay till the Easter celebrations and returned to war-fronts when, in his very last letter, he congratulated us on the occasion of Easter. He wrote:
My dear parents, how are you? I hope you’re all well and in good health. Don’t worry about me, I’m still alive. Hope to see you again. I congratulate the Easter to all of you. A few days ago we came to Abadan, it’s very hot here, but these are passing periods because this oppressed nation needs our help”. He added: “Dear mother, how are you, don’t you ever worry about me, I’m quite well and I’m thinking of the day when I embrace you in my arms, that day I’d be the luckiest person on earth. He added: Dear father, solute my brothers Heros, Nariman, janik, Herand and Andre. I expect that Andre and Herand do well in their studies because their exams are very near. We fight here so that they could continue their studies to be useful for our country. I say salaam and salute my sisters Rozik and Haikanoush. Please remember me to all our relations and friends.
We missed Hussein during this meeting. He was only 4 years old when his father died. Razmik often brought him home, played with him and was very kind to him. When we asked Razmik why he paid so much attention to this child, he said: He’s an orphan and being an orphan is tough. Hussein, our neighbor, who is Muslim has now married and has a child. And now, some 14 years after Razmik’s martyrdom, he and his wife often visit Razmik’s mother. I wish he was present at this meeting and would tell ayatollah Khamenei about Razmik’s personality.
Anyway, Haikanoush gets up and hands the album she has arranged with Razmik’s photos to Ayatollah Khamenei.
And he, already touched by the narrations of Razmik’s martyrdom, pages through the album and looks at the photos deeply. In the album, apart from photos of different periods in Razmik’s life, there are his letters, his will and cuttings from newspapers about his martyrdom.
It takes him same time to look at the pieces in the album, so carefully and attentively as if he were studying some important, governmental documents; he reads the will word for word.
After such an intensive reading, the Ayatollah repeats the name: “Razmik, Razmik, Razmik” in a voice of great admiration.
Haikanoush and I explain the meaning of the word Razmik in Persian as “warrior or fighter” and Ayatollah Khamenei says: Yes, it has the root of “Razm” in Persian. We now notice that the words Razmik in Armenian and “Razmandeh” in Persian have a common root; we hadn’t noticed this before.
After this, the Ayatollah asks us about the Armenian language and script. And we tell him that our script consists of 38 letters of alphabet and that it is different from the Persian alphabet. The Leader also tells us that there are some Armenian elements in a few Iranian dialects such as Isfahani, Behbahani as well as Azerbaijani Turkish and cites some relevant examples.
Haikanoush says: We didn’t know these facts.
Then tea is brought and the Leader picks the cup while Razmik’s father, in reply to Ayatollah Khamenei’s question concerning his occupation, says: I was a chef in the Italian Church on France Street.
The Leader asks: Are your food and meals different from ours?
ـ No, it’s the same.
ـ As an example, do you have Reshteh stew or Chelo-Gusht?
ـ Yes, yes, we consume them all.
ـ Well, you say you’re a cook, a chef, then do you help your wife in cooking or not?
We all laugh and Haikanoush says: Yes, sir, he helps a lot. Mr. Khamenei smiles at father and he says: even my children know how to cook.
I wish that this meeting would not end soon. The Leader asks: Do you go to church regularly? Father answers: Twice a week.
The Leader then turns to us and asks:
ـ You young people, do you go too?
I say: On Saturdays, we have a special program, so we go to church Saturday evenings.
ـ Is there a church near your house?
ـ Yes, there is one not far from our house.
ـ Do you know how many churches there are in Tehran?
ـ I think there are some 15 churches, I answer.
ـ And Mr. Ardaak Manoukian, which church does he preach in?
ـ He is usually at the Villa Street Church.
Then the Leader tells us about his acquaintance with Bishop Monoukian:
ـ In the early days of my presidency, in 1981, he came to meet me. As you know he is a Lebanese Armenian, he came to Iran and was appointed as the Grand-Bishop of Iranian-Armenian Churches. I got to know him better then.
The Ayatollah asks about th -4year-old girl who is playing in the room.
I say: she’s called Ariyela whose paternal and maternal uncles are both martyrs
He then asks my mother: This little girl is your daughter or your grand-daughter?
My mother points at Haikanoush and says: she’s her daughter. Then the Leader tells Ariyela: Come, little girl and sit on my lap. Then he kisses her and touches her hair softly. Haikanoush, who has witnessed the Leader’s interest in the Armenian language, says: Ariyela means “a liones”!
He smiles and then says: Well, our purpose of this visit was to say congratulatiom to you on the occasion of Christmas, to this father, the lady-mother, to you all, and to remember your martyr, though some 15 years have passed since his martyrdom and then , with a smile, hands my mother-in-law a gift. We all thank the Leader for taking time to visit us. And finally he says: My God bless you all and keep the rest of your children safe and sound. Good-bye to you all.