"Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute" presented the story of Haykanush Mkrtchi Halajyan, an Armenian woman.

"Haykanush Mkrtchi Halajyan (maiden name: Yeghikyan, 1890-1974) was forcibly displaced from his hometown of Sebastia in 1915 with his entire family. On the way to Der Zor, the Armenian exiles were subjected to cruel trials. Turkish gendarmes tortured and killed Haykanush's relatives and beheaded his mother in his presence.

The young girl jumped to protect her mother and was seriously wounded by the Turkish gendarmerie. The bullet penetrated the sternum; however, due to fate, Haykanush did not die. The compatriots somehow dragged the wounded young woman with them, who was so exhausted that she could not take her only 3-year-old son Vardges with her.

The bloodthirsty mother left the child on the way of migration but later returned and took the child, who, however, died of exhaustion the same night. After the forced emigration, Haykanush returned to Sebastia, formed a new family, had a son, adopted an orphan girl, and then moved to France with his family.

In 1936, Haykanush Halajyan was repatriated to Soviet Armenia. Haykanush lived for 84 years with a Turkish bullet stuck in his chest and nightmare memories of the massacre. Before his death, he asked his son Hrachya not to bury the Turkish ball on Armenian soil. During Haykanush's autopsy, it was found that the bullet was attached to the bone and broke off with the bone when it was removed from the body.

This Turkish bullet has become an integral part of Haykanush's life and body, reminding him of the tragic days he lived until his last breath."