1992_05 The Daily Collegian May 1992

              Round table discussion* creates sparks
By RicheUe Noroyan-
 StaffWriter
tsi
On April 24, the Armenian Students
Organization (ASO) sponsored a round
table discussion with Fresno City Coun¬
cilman Tom Bohigian. The topic of the
discussion was how to get the Armenian
Genocide recognized by the United States
government. The event was the second
part of the April 24th commemoration
activities that the ASO sponsored. More
than thirty ASO members participated in
the discussion.
Concilman Bohigian started die round
Bible discussion by making a few opening
comments about why the Armen i an geno¬
cide had not been recognized. "Right now
the cards, arc stacked against us when it
comes to recognizing the genocide,"
Bohigian said. He went on to mention that
the Turkish government spends millions
of dollars in their lobbying efforts in Wash¬
ington D.C. to convince legislators not to
vote for genocide recognition. Council¬
man Bohigian then stated, "Recognition
of the Armenian Genocide would be more
likely to occur if a Democrat is elected
President this year."This comment caused
the round* table discussion to become a
round table argument '
Bryan Bedrosi an, a former CSU Fresno
student and a former ASO President, was
angered by Councilman Bohigian's re¬
mark about the presidential election, and
questioned why a Democrat would be
more likely than a Republican to recog¬
nize the Armenian Genocide.
Dr. Dickran Kouymjian, coordinator
of the Armenian Studies Program
added/Tou have to understand mat Coun¬
cilman Bohigian is coming from die point
of view of a Democrat,"
Scdzosian obviously annoyed said, "I
think it's wrong for Tom to use this forum
to push the Democratic Party. We're here
to talk about the recognition of the geno¬
cide." ^_/
Councilman Bohigian responded by
saying, "You took my comment out of
context, I think that anyone compared to
President Bush would be better in terms of
recognizing the Armenian Genocide, and
would also be better for our foreign policy
so it would have some-sort of value for
, human rights."
Once again Councilman Bohigian's
remarks sparked off another debate be¬
tween himself and Bryan Bedrosian,
moving away from the topic of the Arme¬
nian Genocide to the topic of American
Foreign policy.
Towards the end of the round t
discussion, however, die tepic once again
moved back to the Armenian Genocide.
The i mportance of be i n g politically active
was mentioned, and, in Bohigian's opin¬
ion, that the likelihood of recognition was
not great as long as the Bush administra¬
tion was in power, and the Turkish gov¬
ernment contuned to spend millions of
dollars in their lobbying efforts against re-
cogntion of the Genocide,
Afterwards, Councilman Bohigian
thanked die A.S.O. for inviting him to the
round table discussion and other April
24th events.
'Armenian Art' is focus of class
By Armen Aghishian
StaffWriter	
- On three separate weekends in March,
the CSU Fresno Armenian Studies Pro¬
gram sponsored a three unit course on
Armenian Miniature Painting covering
pamtinguiArmeruafromthe6thtothe
17th century. Each weekend covered a
distinct period in Armenian miniature
and manuscript painting. The instruc¬
tor for the course was Dr. Dickran
Kouymjian, Haig and Isabel Berberian
Professor of Armenian Studies at CSU
Fresno. Attending the classes were
CSU Fresno students as well as many
members of the Fresno community.
The first weekend of the course
started with an overview of pre-Chris¬
tian Art and the origins and develop¬
ment of Christian Art and iconography
up to and including the 6th century A.D.
' In referring to these formative years in
Armenian Art, Kouymjian stated that
"for many centuries, Armenian paint-'
ing was characterized almost exclu¬
sively by illustrations in Armenian
books, especially religious texts.** In
fact there presently exists over 30,000
preserved man uscripts most of which
are fflostnued though a majority are
"lateniainiscrirjts",th^is,raanuscrirxs
after the 16th century. Kouymjian fur¬
ther added '•many of these illustrated
texts contamrnore than one illustration
and most depict Christian scenes.**
Greek, Latin, Syriac. as well as Arme¬
nian manuscripts JJiBaaTiaaiB the four
syiiopocgospels:taatrJiew,Mart
andJohn. These are detailed accounts
of the life of Jesus Christ.
*X3nistiamty truly flourished in the
fourth century A.D. after Roman perse¬
cution stopped," stated Kouymjian. It
was then that the Edict of Toleration
was issued and the monastic movement
came about At the time, 313 A.D.,
paganism ended and Christian art had
truly taken a foothold in enclaves and
communities. Beginning with Chris¬
tian stone mosaics and frescoes in the
church sanctuaries, various styles of
painting emerged. "The patrons with
money, the rich citizens, were the ones
financing many of the manuscripts in
this period," said Kouymjian, and sev¬
eral examples also showed that often
the patron would also appear in the
manuscript, perhaps in several scenes
or places.
The artists of the manuscripts were
for the most part anonymous members
oftheclergy, typically priests, or monks,
who inevitably became "scribes". Dat¬
ing of the manuscripts ismade easier by
analyzing the information left by the
scribes. Often the date would be indi¬
cated, however if,not, eating could be
secured by locating the name of the
Catholicos or ruler, or identifying the
scribe or artist. If none of the aforemen¬
tioned are present analysis of the script
and styes of art will be necessary to
determine the date.
A variety of media were employed
from the third to the eighth century, the
earliest being papyrus. This medium
was invented in Egypt, and is made of
reeds. Today, only a few papyri exist
One of the oldest known Armenian
manuscripts is the Etchrniaa^ Gospel.
Etcrimiadzin, where that manuscript is
located today, is characterized by
Kouymjian as being "the Vatican of the
Armenian Church with the Catholicos
serving as the religious spiritual leader,
much like a pope**.  This late tenth
century manuscript has four distinct
parts in terms of its artistic qualities.
The first are the Final Four Mmiatures,
which as the name suggests are the
paintings attached at the end of the
Gospel. The second part is the binding
of the manuscript, which is known, by
daring, to be older than, the manuscript
itself. The third part is the bulk of the
text and the miniatures, and the fourth
part are the many colorful marginal
illustrations which can be found
throughout
The oldest complete Armenian
Manuscript is an artistic creation of the
ninth century - the Queen Mike Gos¬
pels. The Gospels can currently be
found in the library of the Mekhitarist
Brotherhood at San Lazzaro, Venice.
The binder of the Gospel had even left
several flyleaves, or blank pages which
serve as a remembrance. Thescribehad
also included several colophons, or
memorials in the Gospel. Each of the
four Evangelists uniquely receives a
full page drawing within this Gospel.
The oldest illustrated Christian Gos¬
pel manuscript surviving today is the
Rabulla Gospels of 586. This Syriac
manuscript is completely intact and
properly dated. 'This is one of the most
notable and studied works of the sixth
century" stated Kouymjian. It was writ¬
ten in Syriac and portrays the Four
Evangelists, typically in pairs. Wall
paintings c/catacontos and crosses also
served as evidence of fifth - sixth cen¬
tury art
SeeArt,page8
ASO Update
The second half of the Spring '92 se¬
mester was quite eventful for the ASO.
After filling positions vacated by former
President Khatchig Jingirian and historian
ArpiAjamian, with RicheUe Noroyan and
RJbig Kalpakian respectively, the new
team continued their efforts towards
making April 24 and the Vintage Days
Boomtown Carnival a success.
The Vintage Days Com mi ttee obliged
the ASO on Friday April 24 by halting ac¬
tivities m rememberence tfu^l .5 mdlion
Armenian Martyrs. Overadozen placards
were on display snowing evidence of the
Genocide and its accounts. Following the
noontime activities was a 'round-table
discussion.' A tour of the campus was
given to area Armenian highschool stu-
wom by TamarChaderjian and Janice Ca-
prelian.
During the Boomtown Carnival, slush
kebab plates were sold. Sales were excel -
lent lopping those of many previous years.
On May 7, the ASO also participated
in International Week. A table of Armr-
nian culture was set up along with many
ofher campus cultural organizations.
Several general meetings took place
at Pupotos Pizza. The final meeting of the
year, however, took place at the home of
RicheUe Noroyan. Garo Jabaghchourian
and Robyn Saroyan were honored fee their
fflHi1aTwfTr^p**<iwiit*,>r^^r^^*!*p*^I'ril'^t-
out the course ofthe semester.
Elections for the '92-'93 school year
officers took place and the results ate as
follows: Michelle Maroot, President
Armen Aghjshian, Vice President; Robyn
Saroyan, Treasurer, Julie Momjian, His¬
torian; uV Secretary position remains open.