One of his grandfathers is from Turkey's southeastern province of Kahramanmaras, while the other is from the eastern city of Harput. His mother and father were born in Lebanon, as too, was he.
He learned Turkish from his grandfather and then years later, when he met and fell in love with a Turkish girl in Beirut, his desire to speak Turkish reappeared in earnest. Varto is a 22-year-old Lebanese police officer with Armenian ancestors. I met him in Hamra, in western Beirut, where mostly Sunnis live. While I was taking photos in a street, a police officer suddenly came up to me. "You cannot take photos here," he said in English.
I said: "I am a journalist. I come from Turkey, that is why I am taking pictures," he then started speaking in Turkish. With great astonishment I asked him how he knew Turkish. "I am Armenian," he answered, his tone highlighting that for him, speaking Turkish was extremely natural. With that answer, our conversation proceeded and he started to tell me about his family, his grandfather and his Turkish love.
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