2003_05 Hye Sharzhoom Newspaper May 2003

              6
Hye Sharzhoom
May 2003
A Journey to Greece and
Dr. Dickrsn Kouymjisn, center, v*tth students
from the American College of Thessaloniki.
CSUF and
ACT and
Pres. Jackson
also <poke cf
& Michael
Diitakis Rl
lowship that
cu^Hvisit-
mgschokrsto
Tliessaloniki
l*:<px*ss*d:m
mi^t if my
schedule allowed such a
visit. He
promised to
check on ny
£x*m£ai<3bte C?r**k-£men:an
Axmerdan advenDre begin in De-
c ember 2002 when Aimenian 8u&
ies was calfedto ameetiigwith
Richard Jackson, President of tte
AaarK^ft CoE*g* in Hes&bnik^
Gr**c*. kw;&Ftes.Jacksc&i'ssec-
ondvisitoourcaupus andas Barlow
Der luhi^dachian and I found out,
oux President, Wax VAUy had visited Hiessaloniu along wih Dr.
Berta Gnozafe zhead of oir University exchange pro jsy&ms.
Th* r*m#ri<&ble aspect of that
meeting was discoveriig lhat fe
Am*xkan C6U&@ ,knownas ACT
f cffshrt,wasonce Anatolia Colfc^
inMsrsovan,1takey,tran£feiredaf-
terthe Genocide (1923-4)toGr**c*
bythe Mssbn^iy Board M/mother
had always told me and uy brother
Aimen, that her father, Dikran
C&bis di&n ^ t* rwhom Iwas rum* d >
hadbeen ateacher atMarsovan Co\
te^. Apacket of mater nl,som£ in
Armenian, on AC T offeredto us by
Richard Jackson had in I aphoto-
cop/ of Anatolia College f&cu&y
wah >S mark rtgthose wtohadbe en
kilkdduringlhe Genxite. Wtenl
saw,I said,spottingone youngpxo-
f ess<r wih a close V craped full
be ard,"Hatlooks like ny grandfather!"
During the meeting in Dr.
Gona&fcz'sofficewe discussedwri
ous exchange proposals between
Waller from »ge 1
cialization includes experimental
social psychology and die history
of psycho bj^y and science.
Ihe word "genocide" as
adopted by die United Nations in
Ihe Cbnventim on the Prevention
and Punishment of the Crime of
Genocide, December 9,1948,refers to the plannedand <yst*m&ti:
annihiht&n of a 'ftat±oial,ethnfr
cal, racial, or religious group."
Walter began widi a brief chronol
ogy of events inthe twentieth cen-
turythathave cometobeknownas
'%enocide." First he discussedthe
killings in EWanda, where in 1994,
e ighthundredthousanlpe opte w*x*
kilted in a span of one hundred
days. He then spoke of fe ever-
itfamous Holocaust,where some
six million Jews were slaughtered.
And he discussed the Aimenian
genocide of 1915,ii\^iichone and
a half million Aimenians were
nuxdered.
'Perpetrators of genocide
come ii three foims" said Dr.
Wilier. First fere are those who
come up with the notion lhat permits or advocates the murders; die
feaders. Second there are die bu-
reauoats,who are concerned with
howdt* azptementation will take
phce andlh* &ft*xm&thj&ndthird^
gy&ftdfcalvar's name snfh* &rchr/*s
ctf the school.
The twelve day adventure was
full -i suiprises and lots <£ work.
Ihefortyaae caucus ofthe teer>
can C6Uege, aftthe heists overlook**^ Greece's second city,with
itsmagptf i:entport,isupi\diehills
justabovedie city. Hie space isnow
shared by two instit&ions wih a
singfe jr* site it: Anatolia College,
& Junior Yu§\ andh^x school,fe
successor to the crigiral one in
M^rsovan (fitesifon as die Greeks
c ailed i) anda four year liberal arts
con*ge,ACT,started25years ago
by die fen pr* site it Dx. WiHi&n
McGrew.
I gave ay fr^t @ie£ tec tore to
co&brrtfd Modftin Hiaory classes
on"Aimenn ard Aim^rihr^ iftMod-
em Httoriil Perspective." 1 tried
to compare modem Aimenianhis-
tory wifii modem Greek history and
spentso&etittee^kxrittgtfe g*nc*
cid& and is consequences*
Just after, at about 9 PMthere
wasafonmlreceptionforus attte
Resident's house with some of tte
ado^ri^trationard x&tthxxs of tte
Aimenian community of
Ihessalonild. W? were told there
were still sane 2-3 POO Aimenians
in Ihessaloniiiandwe did visit tte
church inthe center of torn; apparently diere twi t fr^t mar^ rew
c oo^rsrec entVanivedfromArme-
tU4.
Mondfl^ aamingbe^n wifi\ a
are tfiose \^io cairy out the actual
mirder,"
Mmyaf us could not imagatt
ever killing or even haiming an-
other human beiig, but Walter
ititK d 'humans are tfie weapons of
genocide "Anytimetheie isaimss
killing, itre quires that one person
kill another. Waller's book is
mi inV cone erne dwiththe psytfio-
bgicalstate of a person \4iomur-
dtrs or demands themurder of other
huimnbeiigs.
Hie architects, who order the
araiihihtitti of some group,never
actually kill hands- on; rather it is
die hands of the '^awns" and the
'tank andf ife"that do th* killing,
Mich of tiie killiigs of ttie Aimenians w%s done wih farm equp-
mentandweaponsthatrequire excessive energy on behalf of the
peipetratox; one canonVim^gi^
die motivationne cessary to repeatedly strike someone to death. JL is
Dr. Waller's premise that 'feach
andeveryone ofus has die c apacily
to commit murder," and most
people, given the circumstances,
are capabk of mass killing.
Buthow c andiisbe ? What is it
lhat invokes evil in human beings
diatleadsto sudimakvolence ?Dr.
VAllersu^ststhatallofthe alroc >
tie s thathave takenplac e have had
£om£ common charicttriiiiL-: ii-
"Anatolia"
tecture to '&\ American Colle^ art
hiitc^chss oxearV Armenian architecture aniits conparisontothe
earV Byzantine architecture of
Hiessaloiiki,especiall)rtothe ear|^
churcVes of Si. Demetrius and Sl.
Geoi^+ bithe early fcveniigl was
awited to present a paper to the
Liberal Arts Fkculy Colbquiun o\
the subject 'Wien Does a Genocide
Ehd? 1h* to&nnn Case." Hie
twohcur affair also ire lided a lr:^ V
discussion session,
W^iesd^was crowds dwifti
^c tr/ate £ on ^r^d off c aapis i\ order
for us tcp be free to tow aromd oi
ourhsttwod^. hxthemomingl
led a chss in Anatoln Coltege of
seventh ande ^tth graders on VAD-
iam &rq^n Soneone hid heard
that 1 had known die writer ani
coincides IV th* Efrg&hli&r&Mre
chssw^sre^drrgastory "Die M-
racubus Fhorcgraph Record," included x\ tfeir Ehglifh re^da: *-vi^i
ttie usual e^planatcoy notes for flu-
dents ffii^r^: English \ s fe ir ^ c ■
ondlatt^jiage.
ti fe s#ry ^jx^oor^ort of
fe more unusual episodes urfoiled
aroind an oH muusapt* SicatV
upon our arrival, we were told \y
Ridiaxd Jadison and others abouta
rare tx&ixvkl Armenian Bibfe, a
treasure of the £n#o In College ^<ept
in a safe on caucus, Iwasaskedif
I would look at iandpr wide more
atfoomtionthanthe schoolhad,of
course I agreed w&hpte^sure.Ifi-
r^al^gotto see die book and aan*-
di^^repatedthai iwas a Go^el
book,notofflie llth-12fi\c*i^ny
asbelieved,butcertainVofdie 171h
c^rcury ox $\}#$}f hter. 1 mad* a
foimal presentation of the manu-
scrptto a groip cf Aimennr« students, adults and atereste df aculy,
andusedthe occasionto gve diose
present an illistrated lee ture on tew
early Christian Comtek were cop-
ied, organized, and illustrated. After fe slid* show we \ U ^oiddfe d x\
fe conference room around the
manuscript (wah a modem red
leatherbindiig) ard I &artedtum-
tr^t^^pa^ s one bye^lainiig se c-
volvement of deep-seated ideologies , extraordinary &ate smen,and
fe comfort of beiig in a mob.
However ,itis virtually inpossibfe
topredictthe occunence of genocide by seektig these characteristics in governments or kaders.
Because genocides are usually
muM-causal,itis alsohardto cvab
future altenpts. Hie oneremedyin
curtailiig ^nocide indie future
maybe inhowwe as asocKlyleam
and dealwih it "V^ mustana^z*
and understand those who advocate fe anndiihtim of a group,"
states Dr. Waller,
Hie Aimenians andthe Jews
were citizens ii T\akeyandi\ Ger-
mwf le^ectiveV- But it didn\
take mich for ordinary 1\nks to
hop onfe bandwagon and ostracize fe Aimenians from humanity, in preparation for die genocide . Similar ly>in Geimany,fere
was a rise in anti-Jewish sentiment. Dr. W^Her suggests fe notion diatallhuman beings are inherently for 'ther ownkind,"and
are skeptical of all others, whrh
ultinate may leadto hatred.
Hie Armenian Genocide of
1915 was fe first of fe twentieth
century. However,be cause justice
was notmeted outto fe perpetrators ^he Hblocaust^ndofergeno-
cid*s soonf olbwed.
timty se ctimdie wod< and as ilte-
tratiois*
Irife *n^rir^;w* were ukento
fen*wByz£rdtt£ Miseumforlecture joiitV ^onsoredby fe Mi-
seum,ACT,andfe local Anseliiui
H^cnaskaine DilturalAssocntion,!
gw* \ slide kctureonfemin^tL£r*s
ofthe Araeidaiversbn of die History Alexander fe Great and die
origiis of its iconography. 1 cen-
teredmichofthe tal< orife oldest
illustrated Aimenian version from
fe fc&* lahore^ry l*hcentury
m^o^a^^^^-vi^ife^I^khitarist
F^fers onthe Islandof &nt^2^ro
in Venice.
Wfa came wih e^ectatim and
te ft *-vah yty in oir hearts, e v& a* d
fet 1 too had t&*£fri m die same
a\sta>xiaithft Qiadalw^be \xv:&
n^matema 1 grandfather hadbe ena
teacher ixbeforehe waskiUed during thefrstweeks ofthe Gerocide
of 1915. Hie American College isa
woiderfulplace. Hiegracbusness
of fe adninistratiax and faculy,
fe beau^ of die caucus, its long
^c^d*mic tradition and its f lie fa-
ci£ti^s,fe openfriendliiess of die
Gredts andthe Medierrane&n lif*
style ,make AC T a peif ect irttim-
tionf<x our CSUF students interested in studying abroad or for our
R*esno ^ate faculy to visit and
tect>j*iL
Habitat for Humanity Armenia
Lto R: LsrissB Printzi«nt Vsrlan Tovmasyan, «nd Gohar
Pdysn of Habitat for Humanity Armenia.
P*px*s*idau/*s of H^ba^fox
l$jmanity Armenn visited Ft* sr^o
^ate to meet with students and to
raise awareness aboutfeirorgani
zation.
Volunteers Vartan Towmsyan,
Gohar I^lyanand Santa ttuz Habi
tat for Humftxay office martag*r
Larissa Prttitjian visited &#rbw
D*r Ivbgjrd^chkn^ production 5?
Armenian Studies ^r^d Armenian
language courses on VAAiesd^,
Townasyan introduced stu-
dentstodie Global Village project
of Habitat for Humanity, which
enables volunteers to spend two
weeks in Aimenn assisting inthe
bu£d£ftg and renovatiig of homes.
m 2002 two teams of voknteers,
onefromthe X^iited States andthe
ofeifrom Great Britain,wcd<*d
xx Aimeiua..
All of fe wotit is done by
volrtiieers,whoalso ttii*r^ctwith
die people diey wod< wih+ Vftieli
construction is conpleted,volin-
"After all, who to this dayre-
members fe annihilation of fe
Armenians?" was Hitler's quote
when consideringtlie conse qience s
of annihilatingfe Jews and others
in Poland. Alhou^i scholars all
around die world have recognized
fe Armenian
Genocide, we
as a society
must propery
address prior
incidents in order to prevent future atrocitys. ff
fe Ottoman TVakish government
had been properly dealt widi for
their actbns, future attempts of
genoc ide would be rare ,f orf ear of
punishment. QuiepossiOythe Ho-
"After all, who to this day
remenihers the anrrihiktiorL
ofthe Arnxerdans?11
Adolph Hitler
teers joix the f*or/ais andthe
horn* btesstrtg. Hiis year, 3 teams
of volunteers willvisit Aimenn tx\
fe mttdhs of byiy* ^u^?ist, ^r^d
Septeniter*
Habita. fox H^ananiy Arm*-
nn is anon- govemmentchariL3bte
<r^nizationthat si^ports c omnu-
niy development h fe Republic
of Aimeniaby assistingandbuild-
tigandrenovatingsiaple, decent,
and affordable homes.
Hab&a. fox H^ananiy Arm*-
1'iii was r*^ist*r*d r* Armenia on
lufeKh 22,2000 and has 90 local
volxtleers. Hieyhave dedxated
36 home sin Armenn, where 192
people live and are cuirentlywork-
iig on 16 more homes.
Hab&ftf ox Hut&ani^ &£erna-
tional(HFHT) wasf oundedin 1976
by Millard andLiida Riller..
Fbrmore iifonmtiononH3bi-
tat f or Himanity Armenia andthe
Global village program, go to fe
www liabitat.org/gv or
www.armenianhabitat.am web
sa*s or call 1-800-HABITAT.
bcaustandfuture genoc Ides would
have been avoided.
lhfe month of J^prilfe Armenian Genocide, die Holocaust
and fe &?andan Genocide are
commemorated. Dr. Walkr's book
takes an in-depth look atthe psy-
diologkalstate
cf apersonwill-
iig to commi
mass killings
and parti pate
ii genocide.
We as a socxty must work
l^rdtocurtailfuture genoc ide .And
agoodplaceto startisbyrecogniz-
iig die Armenian Genocide and
unking it \ national d#y of com-
ILKlLLTiiluIL