2001_05 Hye Sharzhoom Newspaper May 2001

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SHARZHOOM
Armenian Action
22
nd
Year
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May 2001
Vol. 22, No. 4 (74)
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Supplement to the Collegian
86th Anniversary of Armenian Genocide Commemorated
By John Jabagchourian
Editor
Students, faculty, and community members gathered
around a model of the Armenian Martyrs Monument at California State University, Fresno's
Free Speech Area, on Tuesday,
April 24'\ for the 86lh commemoration of the Armenian Genocide.
"We need to raise our proud
voices to give ourselves every reassurance that we will be around hundreds, even thousands, of years from
now," said Fresno County Supervisor and special guest speaker,
Deran Koligian.
"We've done so much and
come so far that to give up in our
efforts now . . . would be to dishonor those who preceded us."
On April 24, 1915. two hundred Armenian leaders were arrested and later killed by the Ottoman Turkish government. This
date marks the beginning of the
systematic attempt to exterminate
all Armenians that resulted in the
brutal slaying of two million Armenians.
"Since then [1915], Armenians
have struggled to gain proper recognition ofthe Genocide," Michael
Harutinian, Armenian Student Organization president, said as he
opened the ceremony at noon.
Fresno County Supervisor Deran Koligian at Fresno State.
ASO member Annie Cardoux placing a flower at the Martyrs Monument.
"Through a well-financed
world-wide propaganda effort, the
modern Turkish government attempts to revise history by denying
the massacres took place," Koligian
said.
"The evidence is irrefutable and
includes many eyewitness accounts
and statements from the U.S. Ambassador to Turkey at the time.
Unfortunately, today's Turkish
government is still persisting in their
denial that the Armenian Genocide
ever took place."
"As a child of Armenian immigrants, I can tell you first hand that
my beloved mother witnessed the
Massacre that took the lives of three
of her children. There is nothing
'alleged' about that," Koligian said.
Harutinian commended France
for its lead among western nations
to officially recognize the Genocide. However, the United States
government, heavily influenced by
the State Department's military ties
with Turkey, is reluctant to use the
proper description of Genocide for
the horrific events from 1915-1923.
ASO vice-president, Sevag
Tateosian, read the poem "We Shall
Say to God" by Vahan Tekeyan to
See April 24, Page 5
Students Ready for Armenia
Staff Report
Eighteen college students will
join Armenian Students Organization advisor and Armenian Studies Program lecturer
Barlow Der Mugrdechian for a
three-week study tour to Armenia
in June of 2001.
The group departs Fresno for a
two-day stop in Paris, where they
will visit the many beautiful sites,
before departing for sunny Yerevan.
In Armenia they will visit the many
interesting and beautiful churches,
monuments, and museums.
But this trip to Armenia is about
people as well, and the Fresno State
group will have the opportunity to
meet with students from Yerevan
State University, the main university in Armenia. Whether in informal discussions or in more formal
exchange of ideas, the students will
be able to explore and compare
how life is in Armenia and in the
United States.
Faculty from Yerevan State
University will give talks to the
students on a variety of topics, such
as art, history, and current events.
Faculty from the school of Business at YSU will explain the economic conditions in Armenfa.
A special highlight of the trip
will be the fact that it will coincide
with activities celebrating the
1700th anniversary ofthe Proclamation of Christianity in Armenia.
The group will participate in the
Feast of Holy Etchmiadzin, which
will be held at Holy Etchmiadzin,
on June 17.
A full schedule of activities
will enable the students to partake
ofthe social life in Armenia as well
as to begin to understand life in
Armenia.
A complete description of the
Armenian Summer study tour will
be published in the October 2001
issue of Hye Sharzhoom.
H. H. Karekin II Speaks at Fresno State
His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians, is making his first Pontifical visit to the United States and Canada.
Staff Report
His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and
Catholicos of All Armenians paid a special visit, by invitation of the Armenian Studies Program, to the Fresno State campus,
on Wednesday May 9, 2001.
He gave a lecture on "The Armenian Church in the 21st Century"
to a capacity audience of more that
150 faculty, students, and community members, in the Alice Peters
Auditorium ofthe University Business Center. The address, given in
English, expressed his Holiness'
vision for the future of the Armenian Church and its role as a worldwide institution.
The talk also focused on efforts to involve the youth in the
Armenian Church. His Holiness has
a keen interest in the Armenian
youth of the world and has made
See Catholicos, Page 7
Armenian Dance, Page 4 ^P Graduating ASP Minors, Page 6  ^P 2nd Annual Film Festival, Page 7 9 ASP Banquet, Page 8