2002_12 Hye Sharzhoom Newspaper December 2002

              December 2002
Hye Sharzhoom
3
Dr. Merguerian on The Armenian Question in US Foreign Policy
Chris Tozlian
Staff Writer
On Tuesday, November 12th,
Dr. Barbara Merguerian delivered
her second in a series of three lectures on "The Armenian Question
in United States Foreign Policy"
for the Armenian Studies Program
Fall 2002 Lecture Series. Dr.
Merguerian, the third Kazan Visiting Professor in Armenian Studies,
spoke on "The Witness of the
American Consulates" in Armenia
during the late 19th and early 20th
centuries. This topic, along with
herpreceding and forthcoming lecture topics, are discussed in her
class, "Armenian Studies 120T: The
United States and the Armenians,
1800 to Present."
In Dr. Merguerian's first lecture on October 22nd, she spoke of
the effect of the American missionaries on the Armenian people during the 19th century. She began by
explaining that her interest in the
American missionaries is rooted in
her discovery that her grandmother
was living in Kharpert, where a
large number of American missionaries resided in the late nineteenth
and early twentieth centuries.
Wonderingifhergrandmotherpos-
sibly had contact with these missionaries, Dr. Merguerian began to
further research a subject on which
there has been both limited discussion and mixed feelings.
From the onset of the talk, Dr.
Merguerian pointed out that the
subject of the American missionaries in Armenia "has been largely
neglected by writers and scholars,
both Armenian and American," due
to the difficulty of classifying the
American missionaries as either
beneficial or troublesome to the
Armenian people. Many have argued that the missionaries were
divisive for the Armenians, that
they brought a potentially destructive western culture, and that they
were simply witnesses to genocide,
with any of their efforts to stop the
genocidebeingunsuccessful. Conversely, others have pointed to the
benefits that were derived from the
missionaries, such as a contemporary Armenian translation of the
Bible, the founding of colleges, and
a more equitable view of women.
Throughout the lecture, Dr.
Merguerian discussed both of these
viewpoints.
Dr. Merguerian also discussed
the missionaries in detail, giving
her audience a picture of the "common" missionary. Most missionaries that went to Armenia were
idealistic college graduates from
the eastern part of the United States,
most of whom attended Congregational churches. These missionaries began to enter Armenia in the
mid-1840' s, finding success in converting some Armenians in rural
villages to Protestant Christianity;
soon thereafter, Protestant Christianity found its way into Cilicia.
In the next few decades the number
of converts increased, and Robert
College, the first missionary college, was established in Istanbul in
1860. By 1870, there were 83 Protestant churches, approximately
9,000 students in Armenian schools,
and other missionary colleges being built However, Dr. Merguerian
lYergu Puta-Mahd Veri^
(Two Thumbs Up!)
with Carina Karakashian & Nyrie Karkazian~"
L to R: Marsha Sheakalee, Nyrie Karkazian, Gretta Ghazel,
Carina Karakashian, Maria Sheakalee.
Lebanese cuisine is one that is
widely accepted in the Armenian
community. In fact, much of Armenian cooking is heavily influenced by Lebanese or Middle Eastern cuisine. Lebanese cuisine is
also largely accepted among those
locally, in the Fresno area.
There are numerous Lebanese/
Middle Eastern restaurants in the
Fresno area, however, we chose to
review one that is a little different.
"By the Sea," located on the
southwest corner of Herndon and
Palm, serves a variety of traditional
Middle Eastern plates along with a
very modem taste of Caribbean
seafood. Owner, Gretta Ghazel
opened this restaurant in 1995, taking overthefamilybusiness. Gretta
was born in Lebanon, moved to
Africa, then to Fresno and has been
in the area for 25 years.
Ghazel's eclectic past is reflected in the atmosphere she has
created in the restaurant. Amongst
the paintings, candles, music and
food it seems like you are in paradise. However, Ghazel has perfected not only the atmosphere, but
also her menu. The effort put into
making each plate is mirrored
through its taste and appearance. If
you are interested in to going out,
relaxing, having fun and still getting the taste of a home-cooked
meal, "By the Sea" is the place to
go. Our recommendation is the
Phoenician chicken.
L to R: Barlow Der Mugrdechian, Dr. Barbara Merguerian, Dr. Robert Hewsen, Dr. Ara Hairabedian.
estimates that in 1914, there were
no more than 12-15,000 Armenian
Protestants in the Ottoman Turkish
Empire.
In her second presentation, Dr.
Merguerian opened with remarks
stressing the political power of the
missionaries within the United
States at the turn of the 20th century, and pointing out that missionary groups were some of the first
lobbyists to Washington, DC. As
decades passed, the missionaries
"converted" more and more Armenians and also watched as the Armenian liberation movement grew
in intensity.
Because the American missionaries who resided within the
interior of Ottoman Turkey were at
the mercy of Turkish villagers and
the Turkish police, the missionaries made a concerted effort on
Washington, DC to place consulates within the interior of Ottoman
Turkey. Interestingly enough,
America was given that power in
1830 when the Ottoman Empire
and America signed a treaty, allowing for consulates to be placed
anywhere their presence would be
beneficial to the citizens of the country that the consulate represented.
Beginning in 1886, the first
consulate within the interior of
Turkey was founded in Sivas, with
consulates being placed in
Erzeroum and Kharpert, in 1896
and 1901, respectively.  The first
/	
consulate in Sivas was H. A. Jewitt,
who was the son of a missionary.
Jewitt resided as consulate in Sivas
between 1886 and 1890, citing that
he was powerless to solve the problems at hand. Dr. Merguerian explained that, though in theory the
consulateshadmuch power, in practice they could only do little to
reconcile the Armenians and the
Ottoman Turks.
During the last decade of the
nineteenth century, tensions rose
between the Armenians and the
Turks, leading to Armenian persecution at the hands of the Ottoman
government, exemplified in the
1894-1896 massacres. Though the
consulates in Sivas, Erzeroum, and
Kharpert were powerless to stop
the attacks, their presence was important as witnesses of the atrocities that took place. However, the
consulates' reports to the American government fell on deaf ears,
as the government, guided by a
policy of isolationism, chose not to
intervene. Former President Grover
Cleveland's administration failed
to assist the Armenians, and former
President Theodore Roosevelt, who
was at one time critical about
America's lack of intervention, also
did nothing to help the Armenians.
Yet between 1886 and 1917
(when Kharpert, the last of the three
consulates was closed down due to
America's involvement in WW I),
the American consulates were very
active, trying to help the Armenian
people by protecting the missionaries that taught, clothed, and fed
many Armenians.
Consulates tried to unsuccessfully implement new farming techniques among the Armenians. Furthermore, the consuls often traveled to war-torn cities and villages
aiding needy Armenians, such as
Thomas Norton's travels to Mush
and Bitlis during the massacres.
They encouraged visits by the Red
Cross, such as the 1896 visit made
by Clara Barton to distribute aid to
the American missionaries. But
most important was their witness
to the "dangerous tensions" brooding in Ottoman Turkey, which they
consistently reported to the American government
This is where Dr. Merguerian
ended her lecture-though the
American consulates tried to better
the lives of the Armenians both
directly and indirectly, they were
powerless to stop the violence carried out against Ottoman subjects.
Still, their stories live on as they
would later serve as a record of the
crimes committed by Ottoman Turkey.
Dr. Merguerian's final lecture,
co-sponsored by the College of Arts
and Humanities Lecture Series and
the Armenian Studies Program, will
be held at 7:00 pm on December
6th, in the Wahlberg Recital Hall in
the Music Building at CSU Fresno.
Armenia: Key Facts
Official name:
Haikakan Hanrapetoutioun
(The Republic of Armenia)
by the Communist Party of
Armenia
Head of State:
President Robert Kocharian
(since 1998)
Head of government:
Prime Minister Andranik
Margarian (HHK)
(from May 2000)
Area: 11,490 square miles
Population: 3.2 million
(2002)
Capital: Yerevan
Official language: Armenian
Currency: Dram (D)
= Luma 100
Exchange rate: D582.83 per
US $ (Jun 2002)
Ruling party: Miasnutian
(Unity) bloc-the Republican
Party of   Armenia (HHK)
and the People's Party of   GDp per capita. us $ 533
Armenia (HZhK), supported   nc\C\C\\
GDP real growth: 6.0%
(2000); 9.6% (2001); 7.4%
(year-on-year, first qtr 2002)
Labor force: 1.45 million
(2000)
Unemployment: 10.9%
(2000); 9.8% (Dec 2001);
9.5% (May 2002)
Inflation: -0.8% (2000);
3.4% (2001)
Balance of trade: -US $ 467
million (2000); -US $ 492
million (2001)
Foreign debt: US $ 959.0
million (2000)