Just Jennifer

The Gendarme  by Mark T. Mustian  (Amy Einhorn, September 2010)

At the beginning of World War I, Christian Armenians were deported from the Ottoman Empire by Muslim Turkish soldiers, escorted, for the most part on foot, in large waves, by Turkish policemen know as Gendarme.  Many Armenians died during this deportation and it has been a very controversial subject in Turkey and until recently it was considered a crime in Turkey to refer to this episode in their history as genocide.

In present day Georgia (U.S.), a 92-year-old WWI veteran, Emmett Conn, has begun having spells that cause him to have very real dreams; only Emmett realizes he is not dreaming, but reliving the life he has forgotten.  Emmett was born Ahmet Kahn in Turkey and was seriously injured as a young man in Gallipoli.  Thought to be a British solider, he is evacuated to a British hospital in England where he is attended to by an American nurse.  Emmett recovers, marries Carol and moves to the United States of America where he assimilates as well as he can, even anglicizing his name, but bothered by the fact that he cannot remember anything of his life prior to waking in the British hospital.

During Emmett’s seizures and treatment for a brain tumor, he has vivid dreams, as if he is reliving his early life as if seeing a movie.  Each dream picks up where the last left off, revealing a new part of his forgotten life.  Emmett learns he was not just a soldier, but a Gendarme, escorting waves of Armenians to Syria.  Along the way he commits atrocities that are unfathomable to his present self.  He is touched deeply by a young woman, Araxie, whom he tries to keep safe during her journey and upon arriving in Syria, but from whom he is ultimately separated, for both their safety.  As Emmett’s life in Turkey is slowly revealed to him, he learns more about himself than perhaps he cares to know as he faces the harsh realities of his past.  It is in these revelations, though, that he is able to see his daughter Violet and her life decisions with new eyes.

The Gendarme is beautifully written, alternating between 1990’s America and the beginning of World War I in the Ottoman Empire.  As horrifying as Ahmet’s acts as a Gendarme are, his story is a poignant one, not just in his reflection of his role in the deportations, but in how his feelings for Araxie evolve.  Emmett’s current physical deterioration is heart-breaking, as Violet makes choices for him that she feels will keep him, and those around him safe, though he is not ready to end his story yet.  Araxie has one blue eye and one brown eye, mirroring the dichotomy of many things in Emmett’s life:  the humanity and love he shows Araxie amidst other cruel acts he commits, Sash, who helps him hide in Syria, his two daughters, even his two names and two lives, the one he lived before the war and the one lived after.

The Gendarme is a haunting story that surprises, horrifies and gives hope all at once.  It is at once a war story, a multi-layered love story and a tribute to the resilience of the human spirit and its capacity to forgive others and ourselves. 

Mark Mustian is of Armenian descent but has a great-grandfather who fought for the Confederacy in the US Civil War.  This is his first novel.