1985_11 Hye Sharzhoom Newspaper November 1985

              November 1985
Hye Sharzhoom
Page 3
Visitors to Armenian Studies
Sassounian, Tololyan
highlight weekend classes
By Randy Baloian
Editor
During the fall semester the Armenian
Studies Program at California State
Univeristy, Fresno has offered two Saturday courses which have featured a number
of speakers including, California Courier
editor Harut Sassounian, Professor Kha-
chig Tololyan, and Father Vartan Kasparian.
The two weekend classes, Armenian
Political Violence and Armenian Church,
have already been completed, while a
third, Armenian Experience through Film,
will be taught on two successive Saturdays,
December 7 and 14.
The first of the Saturday classes, Armenian Political Violence, was conducted
by Dr. Dickran Kouymjian, Coordinator
of the Armenian Studies. Program at
CSUF. Dr. Kouymjian introduced the
course with a discussion of the various
antecedant conditions that gave rise to the
militant movements. Among these, Kouymjian cited the 1915 Genocide as being
inextricably linked with the political
violence. "The Genocide not only holds
significance in its historical and political
manifestations, but also in its more latent,
psychic effects and in its resultant violence," said Kouymjian.
After outlining the basic causes of
political violence, the rise, actions, and
dissolution of Armenian militant groups
were discussed. The Armenian Secret
Army for the Liberation of Armenian
(ASALA) and the Justice Commandos
for the Armenian Genocide (JCAG) are
the main groups associated with the
movement. Although they embrace somewhat different ideologies, ASALA and
JCAG employ similar methods and have
both gained world attention for their
militant acts. Within the last few years,
however, these groups have experienced
internal strife and a subsequent reduction
in the frequency of violent acts. About
this Kouymjian said: "If the objective of
these groups was to cause in part indignation and conflict in Armenian communities of the world, it has been accomplished. Another militant act will do little
good."
In contrast to the discussion on Armenian political violence, guest lecturer
Harut Sassounian, editor of the California
Courier, spoke on the Armenian National
Committee's participation in a United
Nations sub-commission conference held
in Geneva, Switzerland this August. The
ANC, as well as other Armenian groups,
attended the Geneva conference to support
the passage of a U.N. report (On the
Prevention of Genocide) which contains a
paragraph (24) refering to the Armenian
Genocide of 1915.
The report and in particular the paragraph concerning the Armenians were the
subject of much controversy throughout
the conference. Sassounian, a member of
the ANC contingent in Geneva, described
to the class the methods used by the
Turkish representatives to strike the
paragraph from the report. They ranged
from conventional verbal disapproval and
lobbying, to underhanded procedural
abuses and political coercion.
Professor  Tololyan  (left) and  Dr.  Dickran  Kouymjian (right) chat  outside the
Armenian Studies office after Tololyan's lecture.
Despite these efforts, however, the report was passed by the sub-commission.
Sassounian cautioned that although the
passage of the report represents a triumph
over historical revisionism, it is not immune from attempts made by the Turkish
government to discredit its validity. He
added that the Turkish press has in fact
intentionally and falsely reported that the
sub-commissions report with reference to
the Armenian Genocide was defeated.
On the following Saturday, Professor
Khachig Tololyan of Wesleyan University
in Middletown, Conn, spoke on the topic
of "Cultural Narrative and the Motivation
of the Terrorist." The talk he presented
was a version of a longer lecture which he
had already presented to the Armerican
Political Science Association Convention
in September of this year.
Professor Tololyan began with a critique
of the ways in which most political scientists
specializing in militant movements deal
with the topic of motivation. They
attribute most political violence to such
motives as alienation from family and the
social order, thereby ignoring some of the
aspects of political motivation which
Western social scientists find inconvenient.
Such interpretations, he argued, do not
apply to the study of cases like Irish and
Armenian political violence.
Professor Tololyan. then discussed his
interpretation of militancy and its motivations. His alternative concentrated on
cultural narratives told by the culture to
its youth, and held to be important as
vehicles of human values. One such
example of these was the ideas embodied
in the Armenian national holiday of
Vartanantz which commemorates the
heroic 5th century struggle of Vartan
Mamigonian and his companions who
gave their lives to preserve Armenian
Christianity.   After explaining what the
See Weekend, page 8
Foreign Service Officer
Heditsian visits CSUF
Conine Heditsian, Chief of the Near
East and South Asia Branch of the Press
Division of the United States Information
Agency in Washington visited the CSU
Fresno campus and the Armenian Studies
Program on October 8, as part of a series
of informational briefings to students at
central and northern California universities. A native of Providence, Rhode
Island, it was Ms. Heditsian's first trip to
Fresno where she has relatives and acquaintances. She received her masters
degree from Columbia University in
International Affairs and while there was
a classmate of Armenian Studies Director,
Dickran Kouymjian, in courses taught by
Professor Nina Garsoian. Later she served
in India, Beirut and Paris, and next year
she will leave Washington to take up a
four year post in Rome as Chief Press
Officer at our Embassy.
Ms. Heditsian met with faculty and a
select number of students during the day
to explain job opportunities in the diplomatic branch of the U.S. government.
She addressed Dr. Kouymjian's morning
class, Introduction to Armenian Studies,
about her experiences working for the
government abroad. Hye Sharzhoom was
able to get the following interview with
her over lunch.
Hye Sharzhoom: Ms. Heditsian, what
exactly is the Foreign Service?
Corrine Heditsian: The Foreign Service
includes the United States Information
Agency, the State Department, and the
A.I.D. Program, and the Foreign Commercial Service of the Commerce Department. Currently it has some 4,000 officers,
335 of which were newly appointed in
1984.
HS: How much time do Foreign Service
Officers spend abroad?
CH: Usually 7 to 10 years on overseas
duties with annual home leave, and then 3
to 4 years on State side, then out again.
HS:  Is.the salary competitive.?
CH: In the beginning, very much so,
$20,000 to $27,000 for starting officers,
but later the top salary is only $68,000. No
one joins the Service to makes lots of
money. However, there are interesting
fringe benefits such as foreign housing,
travel, educational allowances, and the
U.S. Government retirement plan. You
can retire at 50 after-20 years of service.
The mandatory retirement age is 65.
HS: What are the qualifications for
becoming a Foreign Service Officer?
CH: You must be a U.S. citizen, over 21
years old, and willing to be available for
world assignments.
HS: We understand that there is something like an entrance exam, it that true?
CH: Yes, once a year the Foreign
Service exam is given, this year on
December 7th; applications are due two
weeks before, this year on October 25.
Information is available at the university
Career Planning Office or at the regional
U.S. Government Management Office.
HS: How does one prepare for the
exam ?
CH: It's not an exam you can cram for.
There are certain things you can do,
however, which will help you pass the
exam.
HS:  It's like an IQ exam then?
CH: No it's a test of your general
knowledge. The ways you prepare are
things which everyone who considers her
or himself an informed citizen should do:
1) read a good daily newpaper, 2) read a
good weekly news magazine, and 3)
according to some, a very good idea is to
read at least half an hour of fiction daily
for two reasons. It is important to keep
abreast of what's going on in literature
and to insure that one has English language
skills. This is the area that most people
have problems with, if they have problems,
in the written exam or the oral exam, and
in fact in their careers. My advice to
anyone taking the exam is that if your
field is one in which your English oral or
written expression needs improvement,
you better work on it.
HS: How many people take the exam
each year?
CH: In 1984 17,000 sat for the exam
world wide; 3,100 passed it.
HS: Does the foreign service have a
special interest in minorities? If so, are
there special conditions for them?
CH: Yes, and there are Affirmative
Action Programs, since so many take the
exam and so few are needed, we want to
concentrate on informing ethnic groups
about their possibilities. There are not as
many ethnic and minority officers as we
would like.
HS:   What about Armenians?
CH: Well, I just said that the Foreign
Service is looking for individuals from
minority groups, and with only 6 Armenian officers that I know of out of the
4000 in the Foreign Service, it is not a
career Armenians tend to look to. One of
the things I sense is that Armenian-Americans are tremendously interested in Amer
ican foreign policy and international
relations in general, but have been so tied
up in seeking careers in more 'lucrative'
professions that they haven't thought in
terms of making an impact, however
gradually, on government from the inside.
HS: Do you see the Armenian Assembly's intern program as a logical
channel for entry into the Foreign Service?
CH: Absolutely!
HS: Have you known Dr. Kouymjian a
long time?
CH: For nearly 25 years, first as a
graduate student at Columbia University,
but later when we both served in Beirut—
he at the American University—and later
in Paris, too.
HS: Thank you very much; we hope
you'll come back to Armenian Fresno
again.
CH:  I'd love to.
Corrine   Hedistian  of the   U.S.I.A.  in
Washington.