1986_04 Hye Sharzhoom Newspaper April 1986

              Page 4
Hye Sharzhoom
April, 1986
Remembering April 24th
By Jim Malkasian
April 24th has become the most important day on the Armenian calendar.
Not only is it a day when Armenians
commemorate the genocide, but when
Armenians everywhere unite for a single
purpose. This is important to a world
community whose members have dispersed to the four corners of the earth.
Of course, when I say Armenians come
together on April 24th, I mean it figuratively. Armenians may be united in their
feelings for their martyred countrymen,
but rarely is this ever expressed through
one nonpartisan voice.
I am not saying Armenians should
embrace one political ideology. This would
be unproductive in the long run. The
diversity of Armenian groups not only
involves a greater number of people, but
yields a much greater number of ideas and
leaders.
April 24th has become a day when
Armenians can no longer afford to be
divided. The significance of the day
should transcend any other motivation or
belief. Dissension, however, has become
painfully clear in the Fresno community.
In the past April 24th was treated with
the respect it deserves.    In the months
prior to April 24th, Armenians from
different political and cultural groups
would come together to plan that year's
commemoration. The United Armenian
Commemorative Committee, the group in
charge, was formed in Fresno in 1972
specifically for this purpose. The UACC
was created as an umbrella group for all
Armenians and organized April 24th
activities for twelve years. Unity, however,
began to weaken in the early 1980's and
finally crumbled in 1985. That year, last
year, two separate commemorations were
held only a few hundred yards apart.
This type of disunity is self-destructive
for Armenians. In the long run Armenians, especially the younger generations,
will become disgusted with the infighting
and lose interest in the significance of
April 24th. There will also be a degradation of the event itself. Not only will the
separate commemorations be constrained
by lack of funds, but they will also be
slowed by the need of appropriate facilities
and programs. Probably, the most
destructive element of disunity is what it
conveys to the Turks and all non-Armenians. How can any non-Armenian
take the Armenian Question seriously if
Armenians themselves cannot unite on
this most basic and important issue ?
By Greg Eritzian
The Armenian Genocide perpetrated
by the Ottoman Turks between 1894-1922
is much more than a historical event or a
"hot political question" being debated in
the United States Congress and being
flatly denied by the 'present Turkish
government. The Genocide which climaxed
in 1915 should be a moral lesson to the
people and nations of the world. This was
the first time in modern history that a
systematic attempt was made to exterminate a race of people.
I am not surprised that the Ottoman
government wanted to. eliminate our
people. After all, they had their reasons.
They despised seeing a prosperous Christian minority people. Armenians could
have avoided the massacres if we had
become Muslims and Turkified ourselves.
They refused to become Muslim Turks
and unfairly paid the price of death.
1.5 million of our people were either
slaughtered in the Armenian villages or
were led like cattle without food or water
from eastern Turkey to the Syrian Desert.
Our young women (including my aunt)
were tattooed and sold into slavery.
(Luckily, my aunt escaped and lived to tell
about it.)
The one fact that surprises me is that the
rest of the civilized world—namely, England, France, Germany, Russia, and (the
"champion of democracy and human
rights") the United States—closed its eyes
and ears to our cries, despite the eyewitness
accounts of American missionaries and
officials such as ambassador Morgenthau
of the United States and other European
ambassadors.
Why was there no foreign aid for us?
My only theory is that it was a political
inconvenience for countries to help our
people because of their own selfish economic and imperialistic reasons. I feel any
country knowing about such atrocities
and not aiding the people is no better than
the country which perpetrated the acts.
Because of present political inconveniences, the U.S. is hesitating to ratify HJS
192, a resolution which acknowledges the
Armenian genocide and proclaims April
24th as a day of rememberance for all
people who have been the victim of
genocide. Some political officials deny
that the Genocide even happened because
the Turkish government denies its occurrence. I suppose that these officials are
just afraid of ruffling the feathers of our
N.A.T.O ally Turkey.
Whether Congress passes HJS 192, it
will not change history. I know the
Genocide took place. My grandmother
knew it took place. At the age of nine she
virtually lost her whole family, and was
forced to march from Kharpert to Aleppo,
where she was able to escape and find
refuge in an orphanage run by American
missonaries.
We Armenians should keep pressuring
the U.S. and Turkish governments for
formal recognition of the genocide, not
only for ourselves but as a contribution to
the world so that hopefully other genocides
will be prevented.
As Armenians become culturally assimilated into the diaspora, we must not
forget the Genocide. It must be remembered and the history of our people must
be passed down to our children and
grandchildren. If we become indifferent
to our heritage, we throw away the
meaning for which our forefathers sacrificed their lives. To throw away our
history and the ideals of our ancestors
who survived this first genocide because
of convenience would be an enormous
tragedy to our race and a disgrace to our
grandparents and forefathers.
By Robert Vartabedian
Judging from this February's bellicose
speech by General Evren( President of the
Republic of Turkey) in which he states,
"our armed forces are now capable of
penetrating beyond Mt. Ararat,"and "our
armies lost in the Caucasus in the First
World War because of the weather, not
because of the enemy," one would think
the Turks are apparently not satisfied with
the extermination of 2 million Armenians.
It seems that they are mad at themselves
for not finishing off the Armenians when
they had the chance, and now wish to
complete this sacred task and make the
world safe "from" Armenians.
The main argument the "present Turks"
use to disassociate themselves from the
Armenian Genocide of 1915-1923 is that
the Genocide was committed by the
"former Turks"—i.e., the Ottoman Empire—which the present Republic of
Turkey has nothing to do with. Based on
General Evren's quotes, however, one
would concluded that the General is
making some explicit link between the
present Turkish regime and the Ottoman
Empire (which fell soon after WWI). The
armies that were defeated on the Caucasian
front were of the same nation that
perpetrated the Armenian Genocide. The
Turks seem to be contradicting themselves
and drifting away from their established
line when they associate themselves with
See Remembering, Page 6