Unfortunately no, Araxie was not raised as a Christian. Her adoptive parents raised her as a Muslim Turk. From what I understand, by the time she found her sister Zabel she was already married to a Turk and had children by him. I thus have Turkish relatives who are descended from Araxie. I have a cousin who keeps up with them and once in a great while they visit. A few years ago my parents and I took one of them out to a restuarant while she and her husband were visiting my cousin.
The strange thing is, although I was aware that we had Turkish relatives, I never knew the full story until about 10 years ago.
I found out about 10 years ago when Zabel died. Má ÂÂÂy mom doesn't like funerals and sent me to go in her stead. I went, but didn't expect to feel much emotion, as I was not close to Zabel. In fact, I kind of looked upon her as being a silly woman, a bit of a character. When I knew her as an old woman, she used to go around in these tall, blond beehive wigs. She was a bit nosy and I never took her very seriously.
At the funeral, my cousin (the one who keeps in touch with the Turkish relatives) got up and told the story of Zabel's life, including all the horrible things that happened during the Genocide. She saw her parents die. Her dad's throat was slit in front of her and her sister by Turkish soldiers after he refused to convert to Islam. Among other things, my cousin told the story of how Zabel found her sister after so many years.
When I got home from the funeral, I confronted my mother: "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THESE THINGS?" My mom insisted she never knew and didn't really want to discuss any of it. It could be that Mom really didn't know. A lot of the older people in my family didn't like discussing the Genocide or what life was like over there prior to it. I can't describe the feeling. It is almost like it was shameful and no one wanted to acknowledge that people in our family were victims.
I wish that I had known all these stories about Zabel before her death. I would have taken her more seriously and not ridiculed her beehive wig. After all she went through, she deserved to wear whatever she wanted on her head! In any case, it taught me to never judge a book by its cover. If I had taken her seriously and sat down and talked with her, I get the feeling I would have been greatly enriched.