1988_03 Hye Sharzhoom Newspaper March 1988

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Hve Sharzhoom
Marching
Commentary:
A Right to Memory
By Barlow Der Mugrdechian
Advisor
The fundamental right of an individual is a
right to memory. It is upon the accumulated
memories of many individuals that ethnic
experience and awareness are formed - and
from these culture; and it is in this way that
a people exists and continues to exist.
Without roots there is no culture. Without
this shared recollection there is no future.
And when the individual memory is
suppressed, distorted or refuted, this can lead
to the obliteration of collective consciousness.
In the case of Armenians, the great
disruptive force in collective memory was the
Genocide and we are living with those results
today. Especially when the Republic of
Turkey calls into question the validity not
only of the Armenian genocide, but also
refutes the suffering of the victim. This
propaganda campaign by Turkey has recently
intensified and the very existence of the
Armenians  in their historic homeland  is
questioned. Also, Turkey today tries to
exculpate itself of responsibility for the
perpetration of the Genocide and thus
attempts to make complete the act begun in
1915.
I remember my grandfather and
grandmother who came from Van. I
remember seeing in their eyes and through
their eyes, Armenia. I am fortunate that I was
old enough to have seen grandparents who
were born in the old country and who
survived the Genocide. I wonder about our
new generation of Armenians bom to parents
whose parents were born here. My memories
are sharp and clear and undistorted by the
avalanche of disinformation from Turkey. I
have interviewed for oral history projects
dozens of Armenians whose memories,
undimmed by time and space, have
transmitted a story of the death of a people
on its ancient land.
The campaign of the Turkish government
today, and for the past 73 years, is intended
to distort and to cause doubt. An American
hearing the Turkish point of view and then
the Armenian point of view would think that
Editorial:
A Commemoration
there must 'e some validity to both sides
since it is impossible to comprehend the
enormity of the Genocide. It is almost
impossible to believe the stories of cruelty
and barbarity reported through the eyes of
German missionaries, or American consuls,
by eyewitnesses and by survivors. And an
Armenian child educated in America, far
removed from the immediate effects of
Genocide, could perhaps also think that the
enormities of he Genocide were actually not
so bad. After all, the Armenians have adapted
to life in America so easily, life is so
comfortable now, that the pain of the
Genocide is hardly felt.
Advertisements appearing in college
student newspapers the last six or seven years
throughout the United States around the
period of April 24th, have publicly refuted
the memories of our elders, and denounced as
a campaign of hatred the simple recollection
of Genocide. Why not forget the past? After
all both sides suffered. Isn't this what the
campaign of the Turkish government is all
about. Armenians killed Turks, thay say.
Some 2,000,000 Turks died as a direct result
of Armenian attacks. Why not have some
sympathy for the Turks?
In Constantinople (Istanbul) Armenian
schools are closed, buildings are not repaired
or even allowed to be painted. Monasteries
are dynamited, proud churches demolished,
and whose memory is distorted? There will
be no evidence left of Armenians in Asia
Minor if the actions by the Turkish
government are not halted. Armenians will
soon be drowned in a sea of silence, driven
into oblivion as a people-no longer even
remembered.
And what can we do? We remember. The
American government says we cannot expect
a day of memory for our fallen. Turkey
refutes all knowledge or responsibility
although it is firmly and conclusively tied to
the Genocide. Every action by the Armenians
is a fight, a fight to keep a sense of justice.
For the Armenians it is a continuous
struggle. The right to memory. I have the
right to my memories and to struggle to have
justice. Our people have the right to
memory. For when there no longer is the
memory there no longer will be any
Armenians.
Letters to the Editor
Vintage Days could be seen as a
celebration of Spring. The festivities usually
run from Thursday through Sunday, and is
scheduled for the end of April.
April 24, a solemn day of remembrance
for the martyrs of the 1915-1923 Genocide,
also happens'to fall at the end of April. As a
result, the Vintage Days celebration has often
been scheduled to overlap April 24th.
When Vintage Days overlaps the April
24th commemoration, the results are often
disastrous for those Armenian students who
wish only to commemorate the victims of
the Genocide. However, unlike Vintage
Days, April 24th can not be re-scheduled.
In 1979, the Armenian Students
Organization (ASO) sent a delegation to the
Vintage Days Planning Committee. They
presented their case, stressing that the April
24th commemoration symbolized not only a
remembrance of the gross human rights
violations committed against the Armenians,
but also the injustices perpetrated against all
people as well.
The Vintage Days Planning Committee
recognized the gravity of the April 24th
commemoration, and resolved not to overlap
the dates.
They, however, did not keep their word,
and Vintage Days has often overlapped April
24th since. A root beer chugging contest was
scheduled at the same time that last year's
commemoration was. The speakers' voices
could hardly be heard over the shouting
coming from the contest.
The ASO has repeatedly requested that the
Vintage Days Planning Committee abide by
the .decision they made in 1979, but their
requests have not been successful. So, the
staff of the Hye Sharzoom felt it necessary to
present this issue to the Armenian
community with the editorial "April 24th:
Celebration or Commemoration" (Nov.
1987).
Vintage Days will not conflict with the
April 24th Commemoration this year.
Whether this decision not to overlap the two
events is the result of community pressures
brought about by the editorial is not known,
but the Hye Sharzhoom and ASO appreciates
the decision and hopes that it will be a
permanent one. If not, we must do all we can
to insure that it will be.
4U.3 eUPd-HMT
Hye Sharzhoom
Editor:
Linda A. Abrahamian
Staff Writer:
Greg Eritzian
Photographer:
Greg Abrahamian
Contributing Writers:
David Hale
Larry M. Hobson
Contributing Artist:
JeffTsuda
Layout:
Greg Abrahamian
Advisor:
Barlow Der Mugrdechian
Hye Sharzhoom is a supplement of the Daily
Collegian and the newspaper of the CSUF Armenian
Students Organization and the Armenian Studies
Program and is funded by the Associated Students.
Articles may be reprinted provided that
Hye Sharzhoom is acknowledged.
Hye Sharzhoom welcomes prose, poetry,
articles, manuscripts, and other material
from its readers. For futher information
concerning the newspaper or the Armenian Studies Program, call the ASP office
(709) 294-2669.
Dear Editor
This seventy-five year old greatfully
acknowledges receiving the Hye Sharzhoom
for a number of years now.
In these days of Glasnost, we of Armenian
heritage have a particularly important role to
fulfill. We are a people with positive feet in
both camps, and therefore have the advantage
of using this to our mutual advantage.
Your December issue, in particular Dr.
Kouymjian's recent visit to Armenia
contained solid foundations for much future
action.
You are to be congratulated for having
given a prominent place for the Catholicos's
recent visit to these shores. Here again we
have a unique place in the history of the
Christian religion. Instead of having party
affiliations uppermost in our minds, let us
put a stop to the division of our church in
the Diaspora, and make the commemoration
of April 24th a joint effort for all Armenians!
Sincerely,
Peter R. Krikorissian
Ontario, Canada
Dear Editor
I was disturbed by your editorial: "April
24th: Celebration or Commemoration?"
regarding the disruptions of the April 24th
commemmorations since 1980 at the Fresno
State University (Nov. '87 issue).
If your first complaint was not satisfied in
your favor, you should have give.: up the
next April 24th commemmoration or gone to
higher authorities to prevail. This subject is
too serious for a survivor of the Genocide
like me.
Sincerely,
Mr. Nishan Nercessian
Westminster, CA
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Available
for Fall Semester 1988
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Apply April 4-May 5