2000_12 Hye Sharzhoom Newspaper December 2000

              December 2000
Hye Sharzhoom
3
• Armenians and the Internet   •
By Ara Mekhitarian
Demk Radio
Address: http://www.demkradio.com
Brief Summary: Demkradio.com is an on-line Armenian radio station
which allows anyone to log on to listen to Armenian music over the
internet. This web site was first launched in November of 1999 and has
since become extremely popular with many regular visitors. Just click on
their "listen" option and you'll automatically enter their music page. In
addition, you can view the latest news from Armenia or click on their links
to access other related Armenian sites. This site is also affiliated with
Narek.com, a web site where you can purchase Armenian music on-line
at great prices.
Categories: Listen, Playlist, Buy, Latest News From Armenia, Guestbook,
Links.
Contact: email: contact@demkradio.com
Armenian Highland
Address: http://www.armenianhighland.com/
Brief Summary: Armenianhighland.com is a site dedicated to providing extensive Armenian historical
material. The site offers hundreds of pages with illustrations of many ancient-Armenian dynasties, prominent
figures, architecture, writers and painters. On the right side of the home page you can find a list of different
sections, just point and click on the one that interests you. Once you click on the section of your choice, you are
taken to a chronicle page that provides information and illustrations ofthe chosen topic. Overall this site is well
designed, easy to navigate, and a great source to learn more about Armenian history.
Categories: Eminence of Armenia, Prominent Figures, Magnificent Cities, Culture, and Architecture.
Contact: email: gevork.nazaryan@armenianhighland.com"
Hovannisian Gives Lecture on "Remembrance and Denial"
By Edward Thurber
Staff Writer
Dr. Richard Hovannisian,
this semester's Henry S.
Khazandian Visiting Professor of Armenian Studies at
Fresno State, gave an evening lecture on October 8th titled "The Armenian Genocide: Remembrance
and Denial," the first of the three-
part Henry S. Khazandian Kazan
lecture series that deals with topics
related to the Armenian Genocide.
Dr. Hovannisian gave an account of the historical framework
of genocide in general and placed
the Armenian experience within
that context. Perhaps the most poignant topic of all in Hovannisian's
lecture was the denial by perpetrators of genocide and how it relates
to the experience of today's descendants of Armenian Genocide
survivors.
In the historical framework,
Hovannisian pointed out that twentieth century genocides are different from genocides of the Middle
Ages. He used the example of
Genghis Khan to illustrate how
genocides ofthe Middle Ages were
intended to instill terror. Genghis
Khan massacred the populations of
walled cities with the intention of
coercing the next walled city he
came to into opening it's gates without a fight. Using strategy of this
sort, Genghis Khan was very successful in forming the largest empire the world had ever known up
to the 13th century.
Twentieth century genocides
were .different in type from these
earlier genocides. Hovannisian said
the twentieth century justifies mass
killing through ideology; these mass
killings had a greater goal. Nazi
Germany serves as an example of
how ordinary Germans turned into
killers because they were made to
believe the ideology that what they
were doing was for the greater good.
According to Hovannisian,
"The perpetrator views the world
as he or they will define it."
"The Young Turk government
an alien and an enemy.
Hovannisian illustrated the
Young Turk rationale by saying,
"How easy it is for a Muslim peasant, a Turkish peasant, to understand the symbolism of weeds and
plants and the weeds choking the
healthy plant. Well, if you have
weeds, in this case Armenians and
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Map provided courtesy of Armenian National Institute
web-site at http://www.armenian-genocide.org/
of 1915 defined the future of the
Ottoman Empire in the way it
wanted it to be," Hovannisian said.
It believed that the multi religious
society that existed had been the
reason for the weakness of the Ottoman Empire and the reason why
they had been losing territory to
Russia and other countries.
The view of the Young Turks
to combat this was to form a homogeneous country based on one
people, one religion and one language. If you did not follow the
Turkish culture, speak Turkish and
convert to Islam, you were seen as
Christians, who are choking the
good plant, in this case the Turks
and Islam, then you need to chop
the weeds."
The Pan-Turkish ideology of
homogeneity was the driving force
behind the Armenian Genocide.
Yet Hovannisian indicated that not
all Turks participated. A number of
Turkish officials were removed
from office or punished for not
participating in the Genocide. They
intervened to save Armenians, even
though a majority of Turks did participate in the Genocide.
"I always say that one of my
saddest sentiments is that Armenians cannot do what Jews do, and
that is to recognize the righteous
Germans and righteous gentiles;
Christians who helped them,"
Hovannisian said.
"Wouldn't it be nice and wonderful if Armenians could have,
after these eighty years, acknowledged and recognized the righteous
Turks, the good Turks who didn't
persecute them, who tried to help
them, who harbored them, who felt
that this was against the Islamic
religion, that this was against the
faith of their God, and that this was
an aberration," he said.
Hovannisian described the
Genocide as "background music"
during his years growing up as the
child of a survivor.
"When I grew up, survivors
spoke incessantly of the Genocide
or not at all, they were too busy
getting on with their lives and rebuilding."
There were the Armenian
women in the field during his childhood, drinking Turkish coffee.
Hovannisian portrayed these survivors after their day in the field,
gathered under a tree, drinking coffee and telling stories.
"This was their therapy; this
was the way the coped,"
Hovannisian said. "They didn't
have psychiatrists."
Sharing with one another was
their way of healing and carrying
on.
"Why should we remember the
Genocide?" asked Hovannisian. He
then answered, "The crime remains
unrequited; the wound remains
open."
Exacerbating the wound is
denial. During the fiftieth anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in
1965, there came a new awareness.
A new generation of Armenians
believed in going into the streets
and vocalizing their anger. They
brought attention to the Armenian
Genocide.
The perpetrators of the Genocide came up with a new strategy of
denial due to the threat of being
exposed by the new generation of
Armenians who were speaking out.
Hovannisian described the Turkish
government as actively engaged in
a cover-up since 1965, with millions of dollars spent on it.
"Absolute denial doesn't get
anywhere," Hovannisian said.
"They tried it; they tried to say
nothing happened, but when you
say that, even your friends don't
believe you."
He described the current Turkish strategy as one of rationalizing
the atrocities they committed during the Genocide. They make excuses for what happened. They describe the Armenians as enemies
and provocateurs. They also use
blackmail, threatening the business,
political and any other special interests of certain governments such
as the United States.
"The arguments go on,"
Hovannisian said. "There is a
struggle against forgetting."
"Hopefully acts of redemption
may someday lead to acts of reconciliation," Hovannisian ended.
For Hovannisian, this continued a busy fall semester of instruction on the subject of genocide at
Fresno State. He is now winding
down his class at Fresno State titled
"Armenian Genocide in Comparative Context," and has lectured this
fall on related topics. Having attended many of these events, I have
marveled at how much I have
learned about the Armenian heritage this semester.