1990_03 Hye Sharzhoom Newspaper March 1990

              Solidarity  of the Armenian and Jewish people
.see page 5
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Hye Sharzhoom
The Newspaper of the California State University, Fresno
Armenian Students Organization and Armenian Studies Program
Fresno, CA 93740
March 1990
Volume 11, No. 3
Supplement to the Daily Collegian
Non-Profit Org.
U.S. Postage
PAID
Permit No. 262
Address Correction Requested
Three concerns in Capitol 'Life March'
By Sheri Hokokian
Editor
For the first time in history, a large
group of grass-roots Armenian
lobbyists came to Capitol Hill in
Washington, D.C, March 4-6 to
appeal to the nation's conscience, and
to seek justice for Armenian efforts.
A team of Armenians from Fresno
and throughout the country constituted
the "Armenian Life March."
Everyone who participated joined
together in solidarity to have
Armenians' past suffering recognized
and their present sufferings alleviated.
The "Armenian Life March" was
organized by the newly-formed
Armenian Community Council of the
San Joaquin Valley. Rev. Roger
Minassian of the Pilgrim Armenian
Congregational Church of Fresno, and
Allan Y. Jendian, Secretary of die ACC
were co-organizers of this nation-wide
event
Over 200 congressional offices were
visited as part of a political march in
Washington, D.C. A person to person
approach by Armenian lobbyists was
determined as the best solution to
make their concerns known.
The main purpose of the lobbying
teams efforts lay in three specific
areas.
First to express gratitude to those
senators who had voted in favor of
Senate Joint Resolution 212, as
presented by Senator Dole. In
addition, those senators who voted
against ending debate on the
Resolution were visited and asked to
explain their vote.
Lobbyists were told by most
senators who voted against ending
debate that they did so because it's a
historical issue and because Turkey is a
valued ally of the United States. These
Armenian clergy, students and church laymen protested at the White House on March 5,1990
for Armenian's past and present sufferings.
Photo by Sheri Hokokian
arguments were rebutted by Armenian
lobbyists who stated that it was a
political issue as well as an humanitarian and moral issue.
The next two goals were important
since they pertained to the present
devastation of Armenians.
When meeting with senators,
congressmen, and staff the Armenian
lobbyists demonstrated their solidarity with the Armenian and Jewish
victims of pogroms in Azerbaijan and
the Transcaucasian Republics.
The teams were instructed to lobby
Congress and the Senate to urge them
to send a fact-finding team of neutral
observers to the area to guarantee the
safety of Armenians and Jews. They
were urged to press the Soviet
Government to allow these observers
in, in order to put an end to wide-scale
human rights violations.
Armenian genocide resolution
The last request made to Congress
was to reconsider increase of the
amount of proposed foreign aid,
emergency aid, and refugee relief for
the hundreds of thousands of homeless,
resulting from the Decmber 1988
earthquake and the forced expulsion of
Armenians from Azerbaijan. Five
million dollars was appropriated for
fiscal year 1990 but this is a minute
amount of the aid necessary.
see CAPITOL MARCH pg.8
SJR 212 withdrawn following Senate filibuster
By Paulette Kasparian
StaffWriter
Armenians throughout America will
once again commemorate April 24
without an approved Genocide
Resolution.
Senate Joint Resolution 212,
sponsored by Senate Minority Leader
Robert Dole (R-KS), would have set
April 24 as a National Day of
Remembrance for the 1915 Armenian
Genocide.
However, in late February Dole and
fellow Senate supporters failed twice
to obtain the sixty votes necessary to
end a filibuster and continue to the
final vote of the measure.
The first procedural vote was called
on Thursday, February 22 with a 49-49
count
"I think every one of the 49 who
voted against the motion to proceed
certainly cares about the Armenians
and is sympathetic with those who
were slaughtered in 1915-1923, but I
guess, with administration and other
opposition, the fact that we had 49
votes is an indication there is strong
support for doing something," Dole
said.
The opposition that Dole is
speaking of is the increased and
intensified lobbying being done by
the Turkish Government, President
Bush and other various special interest
groups.
Since a joint resolution needs both
the Senate and House of Representative approval, along with the
President's signature for complete
passage, it is likely that the
resolution would die at Bush's desk.
The Bush administration, like many of
the past does not want to jeopardize
U.S. relations with Turkey.
A   few   days   following   the   first
procedural vote, Senate supporters
tried again for a cloture of the
filibuster which had been led by West
Virginia Senator Robert Byrd (D), but
again fell short with a count of 48-51
against
Dole has since removed SJR 212
from the floor, but has vowed not to
let  the  issue  die.   He  is  currendy
working on rewording the measure and
resubmitting it as a "concurrent"
resolution instead of "joint"
resolution. The President is said to
have sent a letter to Dole in support of
a "concurrent" resolution, however,
this form of resolution does not require
Bush's signature.
Armenians under renewed threat
By Barlow Der Mugrdechian
Advisor	
The situation in Armenia and
Karabagh remains tense as the
Supreme Soviet of the USSR voted
early last week to keep Karabagh under
the jurisdiction of Azerbaijan.
Armenian deputies to the Soviet
reacted with outrage that the
conditions in Karabagh would not be
addressed and that the Supreme Soviet
would not accede to the demands for a
referendum for the people of Karabagh.
Meanwhile in Karabagh itself and in
neighboring regions Armenian
families were being forced out of their
centuries old villages by the combined
efforts of Azerbaijani and Soviet
authorities. The Supreme Soviet
decision gave the needed approval to
the government authorities to
complete their plans for the forced
deportation      of      the      population
see KARABAGH pg.8