Aghavni's father was a soldier in the Turkish army when the deportation of Armenians was started by the Turkish government. Her father succeeded in fleeing from the army and he went to a town named Intile and hid himself there. After a few months he was located with some other Armenians by some officials and they were exiled. On the road most of them were killed.
In the meanntime Armenian families from Marash were deported to the Der-el-Zor region. Most of these unhappy people perished in the Syrian desert.
On the road to Hassitshe crossing the Syrian desert, Aghavni was separated from her family and taken to an Arab tent. The Arab adopted her as her daughter, with the intention to sell her later with a profit.
However, our agent of the Hassitshe - Der-el-Zor line was making good propaganda among the nomadic tribes and villages of the region. Aghavni heard about it and remembered suddenly that she was also an Armenian girl.
She fled at night from the Arab camp and came to the agent who sent her the next morning by motor car to our institution.
Left our care: May 29, 1924. Relatives.