2000_12 Hye Sharzhoom Newspaper December 2000

              6
Hye Sharzhoom
December 2000
Mayor-Elect Alan Autry Participates in ASO Sponsored Candidate
Forum with Opponent Whitehurst
Dan Whitehurst, left, with Mayor Elect Alan Autry.
By Tamara Karakashian
Staff Writer
Mayor-elect Alan Autry,
who is best known as
"Bubba" on the hit television series "In the Heat of the
Night," and former Fresno Mayor
Dan Whitehurst were invited by
the Armenian Students Organization for an open forum on campus
one week prior to the election on
October 25, 2000.
The purpose of the forum was
for the Armenian community of
Fresno to gain an understanding of
where the two mayoral candidates
stood on different issues such as
urban growth, education, agriculture and downtown revitalization.
The forum was lead by ASO
Historian, Tim Kuckenbaker, and
ASO Treasurer, Barbara
Harutinian.   The audience wrote
questions for the candidates on three
by five cards that were later asked
during the forum by Kuckenbaker.
During the forum, Autry said he
plans to build a lake in the center of
downtown Fresno, which he believes will attract economic growth
to the area.
The candidates also expressed
different opinions regarding the
"Armenia Town" project in downtown Fresno. Autry believed that
the "Armenia Town" project could
not stand on its own and needs to be
accompanied by a large-scale revitalization of downtown Fresno.
Mayor-elect Autry, was born in
1952, in Louisiana. At 13 months
of age, Autry moved to Tulare,
California with his mother, Verna.
Autry played quarterback at
Riverdale High School. He then
went on to play football at the University of Pacific and graduated in
1975 with his degree in Physical
Education. He later had a short
career in the NFL with the Green
Bay Packers.
Autry then moved on to an acting career, where he landed a role in
the television series "In the Heat of
the Night," which ran for seven
seasons. It was during the final
seasons of "In the Heat ofthe Night"
that Autry and his wife, Kimberlee,
and their children, Lauren, Heather,
and Austin, moved to Fresno. Autry
Hilmar Kaiser Raises New Legal Issues
Through Study of Armenian Genocide
By Arpik Paraghamian
Staff Writer
Stolen property and reparations to the survivors and
descendants of those
martyred during the Armenian
Genocide of 1915 was the focus of
a lecture by Hilmar Kaiser during
his fourth visit to Fresno State on
November 6, 2000.
Kaiser, a doctoral candidate at
the European University Institute
in Florence, Italy, spent four years
studying Turkish archives on this
topic. Kaiser said he tried to collect
all the information he possibly could
before he was kicked out for his
persistent visits in 1995.
Kaiser found not only proof that
the Ottoman government had
planned, organized and monitored
the deaths of 1.5 to 2 million Armenians in 1915 and specified instructions on their deportation, but also
that the Turks had settled Muslims
onto Armenian property, without
allowing Armenians to sell their
land.
The Ottoman governmc n. "1g-
ured as caretaker of all n ei :an
immovable property" Kaiser said,
meaning that everything the Armenians were not able to take with
them, was taken by the Turks.
Kaiser was not focusing on the
emotional aspects ofthe Armenian
Genocide and how Turks continue
to deny the-actions.
"Human rights means nothing
[to governments]," Kaiser said
while focusing on a more legal issue, which he claims has trillions of
Hilmar Kaiser
dollars behind it, as well as 85
years' worth of interest: Armenian
real estate.
Kaiser said there is no statute of
limitations against Armenians
bringing the issue to U.S. courts
since genocide is a crime against
humanity.
Because public records show
that Armenian-owned land was
given away by the Turkish government without any sort of compensation, Armenians can still make
their claims.
"They [Turkish government]
deny the Genocide because they
don't want to put money into it,
they don't want to face restitution," Kaiser said.
Kaiser suggested the Armenians
put less effort into reliving the emotional past and should gain the confidence and resources to bring up
lawsuits in U.S. district courts. He
also said political discussion among
the Armenian community should
take place and that some kind of
"Armenian Claims Commission"
is needed in order to get the ball
rolling.
Professor Dickran Kouymjian
agreed that the issue has the interest
of lawyers. Kouymjian told the
audience that in a similar talk he
gave in Paris recently, two young
lawyers, from well-known law
firms, approached him with their
business cards and said they would
like to represent the issue.
Kouymjian said the battle would be
underway if an organization out
there was able to handle the financial outcome appropriately.
A lively question and answer
session followed Kaiser's stimulating talk.
also had a short role on the television series "Grace Under Fire". He
then turned to the production side
of the profession and established
his own company, Dirt Road Productions.
"Success, no matter what line of
work you are in, depends on your
attitude and how you approach your
current situation," Autry said.
Autry's political involvement
began by his support to the 10-20-
Life legislation and his involvement withthe Operation Sky Watch
program. Now his political career
continues. With every ballot
counted properly, Alan Autry has
been chosen as Fresno's new mayor.
Left to Right: Tim Kuckenbaker, ASO Advisor Barlow Der
Mugrdechian, and Barbara Harutinian.
Second Hovannisian Lecture
Addresses Oral History
By Edward Thurber
Staff Writer
Dr. Richard Hovannisian
gave the second of three
Henry S. Khanzadian
Kazan Lectures related to the Armenian Genocide of 1915, with a
lecture titled "The Last Generation
of Ottoman Armenians: Bitter-
Sweet Memories," on Monday
evening, October 30th.
He began with a discussion of
his trip to Istanbul, Turkey, where
he presented a paper in an International Conference on Oral History,
and where he was able to discuss
matters ofthe Armenian Genocide
with a largely Turkish audience.
Considering the many obstacles he
faced to do this, it was quite an
achievement.^-During the conference, he pointed out the categories
of coping with the Genocide, which
include reconciliation, resignation,
repression, revenge and rage.
He brought to light excerpts
from one-hundred survivor interviews contained in the UCLA archives. The interviewees recounted
the multi-step process of deportation. The first step was conscription of adults during the first months
of the war. The men were later
segregated into labor battalions and
then killed.
Later, the Turks arrested Armenian leaders and closed down Armenian schools. Turkish town-
criers followed, calling people to
assemble, and amidst the pandemonium, the deportations began,
while more males Were separated
and killed.
Hovannisian then described how
the Gendarmes, Turkish police,
forced women and children into
the death marches. They faced
various cruelties along their path of
deportation, including violence
against them and starvation.
According to survivor Krikor
Ananikian, some women and children saved themselves from the
fate of death by assuming new identities and blending into the local
populations. Some captive Armenian women were instrumental in
helping other Armenians escape.
Survivors feel wronged because
of these events. Their only crime
was that of being Ottoman Christians. Some of these survivors try
to find rationalizations in order to
explain the occurrences ofthe time.
There are survivors who clearly
remember their lives in the Ottoman Empire. They also fondly remember their early childhood with
family and community.
Dr. Hovannisian concluded his
Dr. Richard Hovannisian
presentation by showing excerpts
from video interviews conducted
with the Genocide survivors. Many
students among the more than one-
hundred in attendance at the lecture, were deeply moved by seeing
the survivors themselves tell their
stories.
As the title of the lecture indicated, in a few years, the last survivors ofthe Armenian Genocide will
have passed away. Their bittersweet memories, which have been
passed to future generations, both
directly and through oral histories,
will be all that is left to us.