2002_05 Hye Sharzhoom Newspaper May 2002

              6
Hye Sharzhoom
May 2002
BANQUET from page!
yet to pay survivor policies from
the 1915 genocide. In the past few
years, Armenian survivors of the
genocide and their relatives have
sought compensation for life insurance policies purchased by their
victim relatives, but never honored
by the companies.
In his fascinating presentation,
Mr. Yeghiayan outlined the background facts of the case, the legal
issues involved, and the current
status of the case.
Mr. Yeghiayan became interested in the issue of Armenian insurance claims in 1987, while reading U.S. Ambassador Henry
Morgenthau's memoirs.
Morgenthau mentions that the insurance policies of Armenians who
had been massacred, were being
demanded by the Ottoman Turkish
government. This provided the impetus for Yeghiayan's pursuit of
justice, beginning with correspondence with the then Secretary of
State George Schultz, which led to
the discovery of many pertinent
documents.
Mr. Yeghiayan outlined the basic facts ofthe class action law suit,
Marootian v. New York Life. Between 1895-1915, New York Life
sold more than 5,000 life insurance
policies to Christian Armenians in
the Ottoman Empire. Business was
good for New York Life, as they
sold more policies in Ottoman Turkey than they had in twenty-one
states in the United States. After
the Genocide of 1915-1923, many
Armenian survivors attempted to
be compensated
for the loss of life
of their relatives.
New York Life
kept very good
records of whom
it sold its policies to, maintaining a card file
with names and
addresses of
policy holders.
There are more
than 35,000
pages  of evi-
Lto R: Tamara Karakashian, Nyrie Karkazian,
Carina Karakashian, Armen Postoyan, Ara
Mekhitarian, and Eric Mouradian.
dence and documentation on this i
L to R: Robert Torosian, Agop Torosian, Mrs. Ekezian,
Tatevik Ekezian, David Nersesyan, Tamara Enfiedjian,
David Sirunyan, Erica Ananian, & Barseg Abanyan.
issue. For years New York Life
claimed that they could not find the
survivors of the Armenian genocide who had held policies.
Martin Marootian and his family have been pursuing their rights
since 1922. In 1999 he continued
his correspondence with New York
Life and succeeded in getting New
York Life to negotiate the claim. It
was claimed that there were no
other persons in a similar situation,
but a list of more than 3,000 names
were uncovered.,
The legal basis for the class
action suit became possible with
the passage of Armenian Genocide
Claim legislation in California.
Then State Assemblyman Chuck
Poochigian was instrumental in getting the legislation passed, which
provided that Armenians would
have the right to sue for the insurance claims in California until 2010.
"Perhaps It Is Time We All Remembered"- An Opinion
Robert'Torosian
staff writer
April 1915, the sun rose over
the mountains of Armenia just like
any other day, warming up the fields
and inviting the people of the villages to wake up from their sleep
and to start their daily tasks. No one
knew that this day would be anything but another normal day.
All of a sudden the day got dark
as the Turkish soldiers marched into
the Armenian villages to deport all
the Armenian families. The soldiers
used force and violence to move the
Armenians from the villages. Some
men tried to fight the soldiers but
they were brutally executed in front
of their families. Children screamed
as they watched their parents killed
right in front of their eyes by the
Turkish soldiers. All of this was
done without mercy and without
guilt.
This may sound like part of a
new movie by Steven Spielberg that
is playing at Edwards' Theatre in
Fresno, but it's not. This is the true
story of the Armenian people and
the Armenian Genocide. The genocide, which began on April 24, 1915,
with the arrest, torture and execution of 300 intellectuals, writers,
poets and civic and political leaders,
lasted until 1923.1.5 million Armenians were killed during those 8
years. The point that I am trying to
make is not to retell the story of the
Armenian Genocide, which has been
told and retold many times, but to
see how well people in Fresno and in
other cities know about the Armenian Genocide.
On April 25th, 2002, a day
after the 87th year remembrance of
the Armenian Genocide, I conducted
a random survey at Fresno State
University, asking some of the future leaders of this country some
questions about the Armenian Genocide. The survey consisted of asking
50 randomly chosen people of every
race, gender, profession, and age, if
they knew what the Armenian Genocide was. The most common response was "Uhhhhhh no." Some
other responses ranged from Armenian Genocide being a food to the
Armenian participation in the Olympic games this year.
Out of 50 people surveyed, only
8 knew about the Armenian Genocide. The remaining 42 people did
not have a clue. So 84% did not
know anything about the genocide
and only 16% knew about the first
Genocide ofthe 20th century. I then
asked the participants if they knew
about the Jewish Holocaust and all
50 responded with a quick "Of
course." I asked them how come
they knew about the Jewish Holocaust so well and most of them responded that they were taught about
it in their classes and also had learned
about it through the movie industry.
We hold a commemoration every year on April 24 and tell the
story ofthe Armenian Genocide and
have speakers come and talk and
give their opinions and feelings about
the horrible things that happened to
the Armenian people. Every Armenian has to live with the Genocide
their whole life and passes that
knowledge and pain to their children. We lay flowers for the innocent people who lost their lives during the genocide, but is that going to
teach people about the Armenian
Genocide?
We pay our respects and honor
those who lost their lives during the
demonstration but we do not reach
the public to educate them more and
to get their support. Fifteen seconds
of airtime on the local news at 11
o'clock in the evening does not even
give the viewing public enough in
formation for them to even know
what occurred during the genocide
or how people suffered.
Who is to be blamed for this
lack of knowledge about the Armenian Genocide? The people? The
media? No, the government! There
is not a single textbook at the junior
high or high school level that has the
history ofthe Armenian genocide in
it. How are people going to know
about something that they were not
educated about? People know the
great sufferings of the Jews and the
African-Americans because they
were required to learn about them in
high school and also in colleges and
universities. The country that models itself to be the most powerful
country in the world turns its head
everytime a light shines on the issue
of the Armenian Genocide. If we
Armenians had raised enough money
to make multi-million dollar movies
like"Schindler'sList"or"Amistad"
to tell our story to everyone through
the big screen or had enough political power to influence the government to recognize the Armenian
Genocide, it would have already been
done. But our population is small
compared to the Jews and the African Americans and our voice is not
heard amongst the larger groups.
Hitler was evil but not stupid.
He watched while the Young Turks
carried out the final solution of the
Armenian Question during World
War I, and he saw them get away
with it. He drew the logical conclusion: the world has a short memory.
When Hitler sent his generals to
start World War II and to effect the
final solution against the Jews, he
ranted: "Go! Kill without mercy!
Who today remembers the annihilation of the Armenians?"
Perhaps it is time we all remembered.
Attorney Mark Geragos of Los
Angeles will be the lead attorney in
the Marootian class action suit,
which should be ready to be tried in
November or December of this year.
In* 1928, New York Life
claimed that it did know who the
Armenians were that held policies,
but today Yeghiayan emphatically
states that, "No one should profit
from the Genocide." Armenians
are only asking for justice, delayed
for more than eighty-five years. He
clearly articulated the position of
the Armenian Genocide survivors
in the case and his determination to
pursue the case was evident.
Next in the program was Melissa Valgeirson, a faculty member
from the Department of English,
Communications and Theatre at
Fresno Pacific University. She performed a series of readings based
on Saroyan's dramatic prefaces.
She artfully presented Saroyan's
battle with the critical theatre elite,
bringing to life the emotional
struggle that Saroyan faced.
Der Mugrdechian then introduced the student scholarship recipients, stating their major, field
of study, and involvement in Armenian Studies. Many of the students are active members of the
Armenian Students Organization
and some are involved in the production of Hye Sharzhoom. As each
student was called, he or she was
recognized for their achievements
with a round of applause.
For community members and
parents, the Armenian Studies Program Annual banquet is a way to
interact with faculty, students, and
staff of the Program.
The Annual Banquet has become an enjoyable tradition of the
Armenian Studies Program at
Fresno State.
Armenian Corner
a fi q.
\
Sevag Tateosian
staff writer
Parev to all !!! Welcome back to learning how to speak Western
Armenian with Sevag. Don't forget that we are getting closer to the
Armenian 1A class that will be offered next semester here on the
beautiful Fresno State campus. You don't need to know a word of
Armenian to join the class and every student is welcome. What I will
be teaching you in this lesson is how to say the basic colors, and how
to say some breakfast items.
In Armenian the word for color is Kouin (q.niG ).
The first color we will learn is Brown, which is called Sourjakuin
(upu*uiq.nifi ) . An easy way to remember this is by remembering
how to say coffee in Armenian, which is Sourj (unipfA ) . All you do
is add akuin (uiq.niG ) and you have the word for brown.
The next color we will learn is Orange. If you know how to say
Orange the fruit in Armenian, then it will be easy for you. Nareenj
(CuipjiCg) is Orange the fruit, and all you need to do is the same thing
as you did with coffee in the previous one, add akuin (uiq.njC ). So
the color Orange is pronounced Nareenjakuin (GuipjiGgiuq.niu' ).
The next color we will learn is Yellow, which is Teghine
(rj.hr[hC ). Just as an added bonus I will tell you that the word tegh
(n.lni) in Armenian means medicine.
The word for red in Armenian is Garmeer (\\ui\\}5]\\\) . The word
for blue in Armenian is Gabuid (quiumjin ).
The Armenian flag has the colors Garmeer (Red), Gabuid (Blue),
Nareenjakuin (Orange).
My favorite color in Armenian is the color Black. If you know
how to say my name in Armenian, you can say the word black. Black
in Armenian is sev (utu).
Now from the colors we will be going to a new direction, which
is to teach you how to say some breakfast items.
First you need to know the word for breakfast which is nakhadjash
(Guihiuifiu^).
A common breakfast item is butter. The word for butter is garak
(ipupuiq.). With butter you have got to have your bread, which is
hats (fiui g ). You simply can take the word hot in English and add an
S to the end of it and you have the word for bread. On top ofthe bread
and butter, many Armenians put jelly, which is bedghanush
(ujmr[uiCni2 ) or they put eggs which is havgeet (fiuuljh|fr).
To wash down this food Armenians either drink tea, which is tey
(ffrtj), milk which is gat (quiffr ), water which is choor (gnip ) or
juice which is hyoot (fihijfr ).
Thanks again for taking Sevag's quick Armenian lesson. We
shall see each other in the next Hye Sharzhoom issue. For more
information on the Armenian class offered at Fresno State, contact the
Armenian Studies office at 559-278-2669. Until next time Ge Des Na
Veenk, that is, see you later.