1981_01 Hye Sharzhoom Newspaper January 1981

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Hye Sharzhoom
January, 1981
Expelling hatred from the Armenian cause
By Brian Arax
I was in San Francisco to receive an award from
the Armenian-American Citizens' League. The
League was going to present me with the A. Ted
Ashjian Memorial Scholarship, given to promote
the cause of the Armenian people within our
American culture—the cause of cohesion, a-
chievement, recognition and acceptance - through
supporting promising Armenian college students.
It was April 8,1978, and I was standing in front
of 400 Armenian faces. The faces of pain, gaiety,
wisdom. Despair and hope had already crossed
the path of their lives many times, leaving the
lines of time etched in those tired, yet benevolent
faces. Seda Bedrosian, the League's Educational
and Scholarship Committee Chairman, introduced
me as the winner of the $500 scholarship. These
A judgement...
faces applauded. They are Armenian. This boy is
Armenian. He has done well. We are proud. I
stand before them blond-haired, light-complex-
ioned. I do not speak their language, dance then-
dances, nor cook their food. I take their money.
Mrs. Bedrosian asked me if I would like to say a
few words and I declined. I hfid much to say and it
is now that these words must be said.
I hear much talk among the Armenian people
about what it means to be Armenian. I hear talk of
the Genocide. I hear talk of the Armenian "movement"- "Hye Sharzhoom." The basic themes that
come through are that we must not lose our Armenian identity, we must assert ourselves as Armenians first before any other identity, and we
must avenge our loss at the hands of the Turk.
This is somewhat the extreme view, but it is presented to make a point.
I agree that our cultural heritage is a strong one
and an important one worthy of preservation. I
know the pain of losing our Armenian culture. After my parents are gone, who will be there to cook
our food, dance our dances, or teach the little ones
the tongue of Ararat? It will not be me. I have seen
Armenian women with welcoming eyes and had
the desire to say "Eenchbes es?" I have wanted
them to be surprised and warmed by our shared
background and yet to me after "Eenchbes es?"
THERE IS NOTHING and I must remain silent.
It is the reaction to our Armenian identity beyond the preservation of our culture that I must
take exception to. Young Armenians, like all other
young people, are striving to find their identity.
The time between post-adolescence and adulthood
is a difficult one. This is the time that we ask ourselves what are the important things in life, how
do we stand morally, what do we want our future
to look like. In short, we ask, "Who are we?" Erich
Fromm has described this period as the "identity
crisis." It is a time in which the individual undergoes tremendous mental and emotional changes.
Many of our Armenian youth are finding the answers to the questions that the identity crisis pose
in their "Armenianness." This would be fine except it is being expressed in the wrong ways. They
are finding their identity in the Genocide and then-
conversation smells of violence. I read an article in
this very paper about the pros and cons of terrorism as an effective retribution to the Genocide.
The final conclusion of the article was against its
use, but even weighing the various utilities of
pure, unmasked and savage violence is utterly intolerable. The article was a rational, intellectual
discussion of terror - the same terror we Armenians faced 66 years ago. Violence should not be
bandied about intellectually as if one were discussing a chess game. The better response is at
gut level, where every breath of our soul cries out
"No!" The mere discussion of violence in the paper gives it an undeserved and morally repulsive
legitimacy.
Talk of the Genocide is talk of the past. It was an
atrocity. No, it was a million and a half atrocities,
but it was not an atrocity against the Armenian
people. It was an atrocity against mankind. The
world need not know of it not because we are Armenian and we were wronged. They need know
because they are people and they were wronged.
Reference to the Genocide as the wrong to "our"
people is but the self-pity of martyrdom. This is
why the talk of vengeance is so grating.
There is another reason why these things are
upsetting: hate begets only hate. The Armenian
hate for the Turk is nothing but the same passion
that began the disasters of the pogrom of 1895 and
the Genocide of 1915. Where is the justice in the
emotion of hate? How are the wrongs of the past
cured by it? They are not. Hate but compounds itself in an unending cycle of bloodshed that drags
down the title of "man." We Armenians should
not be a part of it. Armenians of today should be
Armenians of the present and not of the past. We
should be Armenians of love and not of hate. We
should be Armenians of pride and not pity.
The shame I felt at that A.A.C.L. banquet - the
shame of feeling a stranger to my brethren - is the
ill to be cured. The real task of the Armenian
people is to keep their rich heritage intact. This
does not mean we are Armenians first and foremost. Assimilation to the American way of life is
necessary to preserve the spirit of unity, brotherhood, and humanity. We do not have to forget who
we are to remember that our first duty is to man.
Hye Sharzhoom as the spirit of the Armenian culture,
ture, achievement, and international brotherhood
is holy. Hye Sharzhoom as the spirit of revenge is
an absolute evil.
Soviet Armenia and the Armenian homeland
By Bryan Bedrosian
Free, Independent and United Armenia
(Azad, Angakh yev Miyatzyal. Hayasdan)
This catch phrase has long been used by some members of the Armenian
community to express the national aspirations of our people. These national
aspirations, the dream of having a sovereign nation where we can preserve
and perpetuate our culture are noble, and ones we as Armenians should
struggle to attain.
This phrase, though, embodies not just national aspirations, but for many,
also suggests an unrealistic and unhistorical connotation.
This phrase implies that over much of our 2,500-year history we, in fact
had a free, independent and united Armenia; free and independent in the
sense that we as a people were autonomous and sovereign; united in a sense
that all our historical lands were controlled by the Armenian people and
maintained under one form of government.
This glorious past is simply not historically accurate. Over the greater
part of our history we were not free, independent and united.    Rather,
A vision...
we were the vassal states of the Persian, Roman, Byzantine, Arab, and
Ottoman Turkish empires. Even when kings ruled, they were usually
subject to more powerful autocrats.
When the Persian and Byzantine empires struggled for world domination,
they divided Armenia into two spheres of influence, granting each sphere
its own king. During most of the Cilician Armenian period, Armenia was
divided into two kingdoms: Hetumid and Rupenid. Further examples are
sprinkled throughout Armenian history.
The phrase "Free, Independent and United Armenia" also implies that
Armenia is not presently a geographic entity.
Again, this overlooks historical reality. Considering the Armenian experience, the present Armenian state, Soviet Armenia, is a fairly secure example of Armenia as a geographical entity. In Soviet Armenia there are presently more than three million Armenians, whose primary language is
Armenian. Our historical and national treasures are protected and preserved
in the Matenadaran. The great preponderance of current Armenian literature is published in Soviet Armenia. Industrially and technologically,
Soviet Armenia is highly advanced. The people enjoy a high standard of
living. Finally, Soviet Armenia is protected by the Soviet Union. This
protection assures that Soviet Armenia will flourish, at least as long as
a productive Armenia is politically and economically expedient for the Soviet
Union.
With these historical perspectives in mind, how then do we realistically
go about gaining a free, independent and united Armenia?
First, we must realize that this struggle is our own and we can't depend
on the help of others. History should have taught us by now that we have
not and will not get help from anybody unless it is politically and economically expedient for those helping us. To confirm this we have only to look at
the rejection of the American mandate for Armenia after World War I.
Armenia did not become an American protectorate primarily because it
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