1986_02 Hye Sharzhoom Newspaper February 1986

              February 1986
Hye Sharzhoom
Page 3
Editorials
Unity—the forgotten promise President,s Message
of the Armenian Church     Apathetic Armenians
By Barlow Der Mugrdechian
Advisor
1 recently thought about the question of church unity as I was looking through some
back issues of Hye Sharzhoom. It is a question I have thought about for many years and
have wondered if there ever would be a resolution to it. My frame of reference is the
stiuation in the U.S.—especially California, with which I am most familiar.
There has been no progress on unity in the past few years, and talk of it has faded to an
occasional inquiry or remark. Perhaps talk has faded because unity has no relevance to
today's Armenian community. That is, a unity of Diocese and Prelacy would not serve
the interests of the Armenian people. More probably, however, the death of the quest
for unity has come from a higher level. Let us look back to 1979 and the pages of Hye
Sharzhoom(November 2, 1979): "A meeting on the question of unity was held October
4-10, 1979 between the Catholicossate of All Armenians and the Catholicossate of the
See of Cilicia. Among the representatives of the Mother See were Archbishops Torkom
Manoogian and Vatche Hovsepian, and among the representatives of the Cilician See
Bishop Datev Sarkissian and Bishop Mesrop Ashjian."
A quote from the Divan of the Meeting of the Representatives is instructive on the
feelings of the participants (same issue): "The representatives considered the work they
had done as a positive first-step, and expressed the hope that at future meetings, and
See Church Unity, page 9
A little game
By Randy Baloian
Editor
Politicians in general have never been
close to my heart, yet I have always felt
they perform a vital function in the
overall scheme of things. Take U.S.
congressmen, for instance. They represent the sentiments of their constituents
fairly well, and in that respect they fulfill
the necessary requisite of a republican
form of government.
That a congressman represents the
interests of his/her constituency is evident
in the responsiveness shown for voter
letters. I often hear of representatives
and senators who, when called on to help
in some governmental hassle, will usually
assist a disgruntled person.
Recently, however, my image of the
attentive congressman has been tarnished
by, of all things, a response regarding an
Armenian issue. Actually, I should say
the lack of a response, since the matter I
tried to bring to the attention of our two
California U.S. senators—Pete Wilson
and Alan Cranston—was either misinterpreted and then ignored, or ignored
altogether. The matter of which I speak
is the imprisonment of Father Manuel
Yergatian.
As a Turkish citizen, Fr. Yergatian
worked in the Brotherhood of Saint
James monastery in Jerusalem (since
there are no functioning monasteries in
Turkey). He brought many young
Armenians from Turkey for seminary
training at St. James. Presumably to halt
the flow of Armenians leaving the country, Turkish authorities arrested Yergatian for treasonous acts and sentenced
him to 14 years imprisonment in March
1983. Interestingly, he was not jailed for
aiding Armenians emigrate from Turkey,
but for possession of a map of Armenia
and an April 24th lecture given to his
students in Jerusalem. In a country
where everyone is theoretically and legally
a Turk (groups such as the Armenians
and the Kurds are not recognized as
ethnic minorities by the government),
Yergatian was imprisoned for being too
Armenian.
With a mixture of indignation and
cynicism I wrote to Sen. Wilson and Sen.
Cranston. I pointed out the few facts I
knew about Yergatian's case and asked
what the U.S.—as an influential ally of
Turkey—could do to amend the situation.
Hoping to provide some point of
reference to a possibly unknown political
prisoner, I also drew a rough parallel
between Yergatian and jailed African
National Congress leader Nelson Mandela
(which had quite an unexpected effect). I
really didn't think they would, or could,
ameliorate Yergatian's condition, but I
recalled from reading an Armenian
weekly that Sen. Ted Kennedy had
responded sympathetically to a similar
letter concerning Yergatian written by
Bishop Papken Varjabedian (of Washington D.C.). A sympathetic response,
as humble and unaffecting as it may
seem, was a far cry from what I got.
I mailed the letters in late August of
last year and received a response from
Sen. Wilson three weeks later. I sensed
that something was wrong as soon as I
read the opening lines:
Dear Mr. Baloian:
Thank you for contacting me regarding the
United States' policies toward South Africa.
It seems Sen. Wilson, or more likely his
staff, misinterpreted the subject of my
letter. Without so much as a reference to
Yergatian or Armenian affairs, the remainder of the response summarized the
senator's positions toward the troubled
African nation. Yes, I had mentioned
South Africa in my letter but only as an
example. To anyone who took the time
to fully read it, the subject and questions
were obvious.
Although Sen. Wilson sent me a
generic, mass produced response on the
wrong issue, Sen. Cranston did not see fit
to do even that. There is a possibility that
he did not receive my letter, though I
think it more likely that he and his staff
ignored it.
Assuming that some oversight had
been made by both staffs, I mailed another
letter, along with the initial correspondence, to the senators. To Wilson I asked
that my first letter be reread; to Cranston
I asked that he make some response to
my first letter and that if he could not
confidently answer my questions, he
should refer me to someone who could.
It has been about four months now,
and I have still received nothing from
either Wilson or Cranston.
My little game failed. I could not elicit
any response, much less a constructive
one, from two supposedly responsive
congressmen. It shows, I think, the lack
of regard given to Armenian concerns
when they conflict with U.S.-Turkish
relations.
For me, it is just that—a game. For
another Armenian, living out some hellish
scene from Midnight Express, it is not a
game at all.  Turkish prisons have been
By David Gabrielian
ASO President
The Armenian people in touch with one another together have
formed the Armenian community. This community has maintained
our heritage, our language, our history, and our culture through
periods of adjustment in countries outside Armenia. The older
generations preserved this common bond by holding events in which
all Armenians could participate and meet people with the same
culture and background.
Today the events sponsored by Armenian clubs and organizations
are supported by the different communities throughout the world,
each community supporting its organizations in its own way. Most of
my experience has been in the Armenian community of Fresno.
Unfortunately, what I have seen in the Fresno community has been
somewhat disappointing. Many of the functions—picnics, dances,
parties, dinners, and such—have been increasingly attended by older
Armenians, with more and more younger Armenians sadly not
participating. I can't accurately comment on other Armenian
communities around the United States, but if this trend of
nonparticipation and apathy continues, Armenian communities will
assimilate into the larger cultures in which they live.
There is no reason for any assimilation in Fresno considering the
size of the Armenian community and the number of young Armenians
enrolled at Fresno State University and Fresno City College. But
given some of the dismal turnouts at events sponsored by Armenian
clubs, one must wonder where all those people are? One-hundred to
one-hundred-twenty-five people at a dance can't be seriously
considered a success if the size of the student populations in the
Fresno and outlying areas are taken into account.
So the people are out there. But how can the clubs and
organizations get more young Armenians involved in their community? I don't have the answer and neither do many of the people
I've talked to. They do say to keep trying, but why keep trying if no
one comes to your functions, or if some other group is having a dance
on the same night as you are, or if the hall or the band (both
Armenian) wants an outrageous amount of money? Sure you can
take a chance and pay if you expect a decent turnout; but in Fresno,
it's not a risk, it's foolishness. It is also quite disappointing when
people come to your dances and tell you they could have been
somewhere else where there would be more people and more fun, or
complain that five dollars is too much to pay for a dance. Is is really
too expensive, or just an excuse not to go? Is the attitude of young
Armenians that if something is planned by an Armenian club, such as
the Armenian Students Organization, it is going to be a flop? What
does it take to bring many young Armenians together? I mean 200 to
250 young Armenians together at a single place, such as a dance.
Another problem is that the Armenian people organizing dances
and other events have low expectations. The Halloween dance
(sponsored by the ASO) was considered a success by many, although
only about 85 people attended. The Christmas dance by Hye Trinity
Youth was consider a success with an attendance of about 130. These
are only only two examples. I am sure there were dances with larger
numbers of people. But again we must come back to the same old
question:  How can we get more people to become involved?
It is important that our generation of Armenians frequent
functions as a way to meet other people of the same culture and
background. In this way we can preserve our heritage and national
identity. By doing so we can be as one large family working together.
ranked among the most inhumane in the
world. And given Yergatian's ancestry, I
cannot imagine him receiving any special
privileges.
If U.S. congressmen are so intent on
upholding human rights or are (to use
Pete Wilson's words) "morally obligated"
to end oppressive political systems, why
don't they look out their own back door?
The Turkish government literally gets
away with murder while the U.S. covers
its eyes and discards its moral obligation
for geopolitical expediency.
I recently talked with an elderly Armenian who told me that Armenians lack
"power" in matters such as this. To him
power was not necessarily military might
but people, organized people with a
common goal.
People are, after all, what our congressmen are supposed to represent.
Although Armenians constitute a small
percentage of the country's population,
they can still make themselves heard—
and hence be represented—in many ways
(e.g. voter letters). It is through the
persistent use of these media by all
Armenians—not just the lobbyist in
Washington—that Armenians can begin
to advance their cause and prevent people
like Fr. Yergatian from falling victim to
the injustices of the world.