Dikran Çerçiyan, son of Vahram Çerçiyan, who prepared Atatürk’s signature, died.
A funeral ceremony will be held for Dikran Çerçiyan at the Holy Martyr’s Armenian Church in New York on June 9 at 10 am. Dikran Çerçiyan, born in 1920, was one of the active figures in the US Armenian community. In an interview with Juliet Inan from Agos in New York on December 12, 2019, Dikran Çerçiyan described his father Hagop Vahram Çerçiyan’s memories of preparing Atatürk’s signature in 1934 with these words: “I think it was March. Since I was fourteen at the time, I remember them very well. One night, the door of the house we were living in Bebek was stolen.
When my mama went and opened it, she saw two people, a policeman and a civilian. He came in excitedly and asked, ‘Vahram, was there an incident at the school?’ My father replied, “No, there was no incident.” Of course, many things come to mind. You go to the police station and God knows what happens until you get out! My father talked to the people and came in two minutes later with a paper in his hand. ‘I have an order. I will prepare a signature sample for Atatürk,” he said. Signature will be received at 8:30 the next morning. That night my father worked all night without sleeping and very satisfied. He crumpled the papers and threw them away. He didn’t like what he was doing. I watched my father until ten o’clock. But I couldn’t take it anymore so I went to sleep. When I came downstairs the next day, there were five signature samples on the table. Atatürk chose the simplest of those five samples.”
Dikran Çerçiyan is a name that took his place in the choir of the church every Sunday where his funeral will be held. Recently, a surprise birthday party was organized for him by the church administration, including Tamar Kayseryan, and there were emotional and colorful moments at the event. (AGOS)
