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Hye Sharzhoom
April 1982
Political Violence
THE PARDON
By Marco Agabashian
From the time of Mohammed II, the
Ottoman Sultan who in 1453 seized Constantinople and overcame the Byzantine
empire, to Talaat Pasha the ruthless Minister of the notorious Committee of Union
and Progress of Young Turk fame, who in
1915 ordered the complete extermination
of all Armenian peoples, the subject nation of Armenia was dealt with increasingly repressive rigidity. Nearly five hundred
years of continual and unyeilding oppression brought the people of Armenia into
the twentieth century as a desensitized
group of ununified and lethargic individuals. Emotionally crushed by their demonic rulers the Armenians herded themselves with inordinate enthusiasm into the
church in search of pastoral contrasts to
the Hell they lived in on earth. This
clasping to any relief from the torment of
their existence entwined the Armenians
within the religious dogma of the church,
a dogma that of itself requires complete
humility and submission. This subliminal-
ly induced belief, that only through death
could the miseries of the present be relieved, placed the Armenian people comfortably in line for the gallows of the
Turkophile Young Turk government.
The complete lack of understanding
which the Turkish government brought to
its own internal politics and the barbaric
way its war-state mentality dealt with
individuals and communities reduced the
Armenians, possibly one of the most
gifted of all nations, to one whose apathetic resistence manifested itself in the total
committment to living onward toward
their only moment of glory: their own
death.
With the hopelessness of this Ottoman
induced lobotomy in mind, the Armenian
leadership completed the process by impli-
menting a policy of isolationism in the
Armenian community. Its elements consisted of: clinging to the status quo, going
along with the system, suppressing any
notions of popular revolution, shutting
eyes to the realities of the situation, doing
business as usual and praying that the
nation would survive until the Turkish
government somehow managed to civilize
itself. In short, Armenians were brought
to a point where they could perform
effective genocide on themselves.
Of course we all know what happened;
Armenians were almost completely massacred. What was left of them scattered in
total humiliation to the four corners of the
earth. The Turks effectively killed most of
the spirit of that generation. The Genocide itself continued the process and the
resulting flight completed the psychic collapse that was to ruin an entire generation
of Armenians.
It is hard for me to imagine let alone
describe how I see the children of these
immigrants. Strangers in a strange land,
trying to survive in an environment absolutely foreign to them, daily having to deal
with the resultant insanity of their surviving relatives. This first generation kept
themselves together as much as possible
and carved out their empires with only the
minor neuroses witnessed by us all.
We really have to thank our parents, for
we the second and third generation Armenians, may be the first since the 14th
century to have been raised free of fear
and without the yoke of oppression. As a
nation we are regaining our personality.
Our truly creative qualities, submerged
for so long, are again starting to flourish.
It could be said that we have been afforded the opportunity to declone ourselves.
Quickly we are approaching the Armenians of centuries ago who had the strength
and the vitality to ward off great conquer-
ers for thousands of years.
But now that we are once against finding ourselves, what do we do with this new
self confidence? Do we give this new—
found vitality to the new countries we
happened to have been delivered to? Shall
we forget the past, drop our involvement
with our collective history and start with
our own individual histories in these new
found lands? Should we say that since
Soviet Armenia exists the Armenians there
should carry the ball for our survival? Do
we assimulate into these new cultures of
ours no matter how foreign or degenerate
they may be? Should we look back on
Turkish Armenia as an unfortunate historical experience that really has nothing
to do with us today in our present state—a
relic of an unfortunate past—events that
have come and gone? Should we forget
that the Turkish state so hated our existence that it committed itself to total war
against us in the hope of wiping us off the
face of this earth? Should we now forgive
it and not wage unconditional war against
it? Are we as apathetic in our freedom as
we were in our captivity? Maybe we can
roll over one more time for the Turks and
make Adolph Hitler's statement, "Who
remembers the Armenians?" a complete
reality. Who will remember us if we are
unwilling to remember?
And even though we New World Armenians have been softened by the creature comforts of the West, and even
though the financial seductions of this
world have the capacity to render us as
apathetically listless as before, even if we
can somehow visualize these petty California vineyards as plots of our own land,
even if the "I AN'S" of our names are the
only connection we have with Armenia,
and even if we have lost all of the elemental qualities of the Near East, can we not
still applaud those few energetic young
men who want to regain lands and our
national rights, who refuse to let their
nation fall into the annals of history as
losers? Can we not at least have the'
courage to publically understand and support these daring men who would fight
and die in the name and for the honor of
our ancestors?
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Object Description
| Title | 1982_04 Hye Sharzhoom Newspaper April 1982 |
| Alternative Title | Armenian Action, Vol. 4 No. 3, April 1982; Ethnic Supplement to the Collegian. |
| Publisher | Armenian Studies Program, California State University, Fresno. |
| Publication Date | 1982 |
| Description | Published two to four times a year. The newspaper of the California State University, Fresno Armenian Students Organization and Armenian Studies Program. |
| Subject | California State University, Fresno – Periodicals. |
| Contributors | Armenian Studies Program; Armenian Students Organization, California State University, Fresno. |
| Coverage | 1979-2014 |
| Format | Newspaper print |
| Language | eng |
| Full-Text-Search | Scanned at 200-360 dpi, 18-bit greyscale - 24-bit color, TIFF or PDF. PDFs were converted to TIF using Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro. |
Description
| Title | April 1982 Page 8 |
| Full-Text-Search |
Page *
Hye Sharzhoom
April 1982
Political Violence
THE PARDON
By Marco Agabashian
From the time of Mohammed II, the
Ottoman Sultan who in 1453 seized Constantinople and overcame the Byzantine
empire, to Talaat Pasha the ruthless Minister of the notorious Committee of Union
and Progress of Young Turk fame, who in
1915 ordered the complete extermination
of all Armenian peoples, the subject nation of Armenia was dealt with increasingly repressive rigidity. Nearly five hundred
years of continual and unyeilding oppression brought the people of Armenia into
the twentieth century as a desensitized
group of ununified and lethargic individuals. Emotionally crushed by their demonic rulers the Armenians herded themselves with inordinate enthusiasm into the
church in search of pastoral contrasts to
the Hell they lived in on earth. This
clasping to any relief from the torment of
their existence entwined the Armenians
within the religious dogma of the church,
a dogma that of itself requires complete
humility and submission. This subliminal-
ly induced belief, that only through death
could the miseries of the present be relieved, placed the Armenian people comfortably in line for the gallows of the
Turkophile Young Turk government.
The complete lack of understanding
which the Turkish government brought to
its own internal politics and the barbaric
way its war-state mentality dealt with
individuals and communities reduced the
Armenians, possibly one of the most
gifted of all nations, to one whose apathetic resistence manifested itself in the total
committment to living onward toward
their only moment of glory: their own
death.
With the hopelessness of this Ottoman
induced lobotomy in mind, the Armenian
leadership completed the process by impli-
menting a policy of isolationism in the
Armenian community. Its elements consisted of: clinging to the status quo, going
along with the system, suppressing any
notions of popular revolution, shutting
eyes to the realities of the situation, doing
business as usual and praying that the
nation would survive until the Turkish
government somehow managed to civilize
itself. In short, Armenians were brought
to a point where they could perform
effective genocide on themselves.
Of course we all know what happened;
Armenians were almost completely massacred. What was left of them scattered in
total humiliation to the four corners of the
earth. The Turks effectively killed most of
the spirit of that generation. The Genocide itself continued the process and the
resulting flight completed the psychic collapse that was to ruin an entire generation
of Armenians.
It is hard for me to imagine let alone
describe how I see the children of these
immigrants. Strangers in a strange land,
trying to survive in an environment absolutely foreign to them, daily having to deal
with the resultant insanity of their surviving relatives. This first generation kept
themselves together as much as possible
and carved out their empires with only the
minor neuroses witnessed by us all.
We really have to thank our parents, for
we the second and third generation Armenians, may be the first since the 14th
century to have been raised free of fear
and without the yoke of oppression. As a
nation we are regaining our personality.
Our truly creative qualities, submerged
for so long, are again starting to flourish.
It could be said that we have been afforded the opportunity to declone ourselves.
Quickly we are approaching the Armenians of centuries ago who had the strength
and the vitality to ward off great conquer-
ers for thousands of years.
But now that we are once against finding ourselves, what do we do with this new
self confidence? Do we give this new—
found vitality to the new countries we
happened to have been delivered to? Shall
we forget the past, drop our involvement
with our collective history and start with
our own individual histories in these new
found lands? Should we say that since
Soviet Armenia exists the Armenians there
should carry the ball for our survival? Do
we assimulate into these new cultures of
ours no matter how foreign or degenerate
they may be? Should we look back on
Turkish Armenia as an unfortunate historical experience that really has nothing
to do with us today in our present state—a
relic of an unfortunate past—events that
have come and gone? Should we forget
that the Turkish state so hated our existence that it committed itself to total war
against us in the hope of wiping us off the
face of this earth? Should we now forgive
it and not wage unconditional war against
it? Are we as apathetic in our freedom as
we were in our captivity? Maybe we can
roll over one more time for the Turks and
make Adolph Hitler's statement, "Who
remembers the Armenians?" a complete
reality. Who will remember us if we are
unwilling to remember?
And even though we New World Armenians have been softened by the creature comforts of the West, and even
though the financial seductions of this
world have the capacity to render us as
apathetically listless as before, even if we
can somehow visualize these petty California vineyards as plots of our own land,
even if the "I AN'S" of our names are the
only connection we have with Armenia,
and even if we have lost all of the elemental qualities of the Near East, can we not
still applaud those few energetic young
men who want to regain lands and our
national rights, who refuse to let their
nation fall into the annals of history as
losers? Can we not at least have the'
courage to publically understand and support these daring men who would fight
and die in the name and for the honor of
our ancestors?
u.usnwi\irut?pniv
|
