One hundred and four-year-old Movses Haneshyan was born in the Kebussieh village in the region of Musа Dagh (present-day Turkey). In 1915 his family was deported to Syria. 

Movses remembers walking all day, until, while passing through the desert, an Arab who knew Movses' father Ibrahim came riding a horse and paid their Turkish captors to set them free. The savior then hid the family in his own home. Movses recalls not being allowed to leave the house because the family was afraid of being discovered by the Turks. One day, when Ibrahim went outside, a Turk found him out and struck him with a hammer. Movses recalls living in this home for about five years before moving on to the Armenian village of Anjar in the Lebanese region of Bekaa. He stayed there until 1947, when he came to Armenia. Now Movses lives in the Voskehat village (some 20 kilometers west of Yerevan) with his youngest son Gabriel, who is a taxi driver, and his family. Movses has six children and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. His wife of 70 years Iskuhi has recently passed away.

Movses Haneshyan, 104, outside his home in Voskehat, near Echmiadzin. Haneshyan escaped the Armenian Genocide with his father Ibrahim. 

Movses’s wife Iskuhi, 96, was bedridden for the last months of her life. When she saw that her husband cannot remember something, she used to offer her help.

Movses watches his wife.

Movses helps his wife prepare for her day. The two had been married for 70 years.

Movses and his wife pose outside their home. Iskuhi Haneshyan passed away in 2015.

Movses and his wife outside their home. 

Movses and his wife with their son Gabriel, who works as a taxi driver. He says his earnings are hardly sufficient to sustain the family. 

Iskuhi Haneshyan, 96, waits for her husband before posing for their family portrait. They had been married for 70 years.

A family portrait of the Haneshyan family in their home. 

Movses sits beside his wife and children at their home in Armenia. 

Movses' grandchildren study at home. There are now four generations in the Haneshyan family.

Movses has vivid memories of the events that took place in 1915. He also remembers life before the Genocide in his home village of Kebussieh, Turkey, where he recalls eating figs near the seaside.

Photography by Diana Markosian and Karen Mirzoyan.