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BOB CUDDY: LOCALS KNOW ABOUT HORRORS OF GENOCIDE
San Luis Obispo Tribune, CA
July 8 2007
Genocide: "The systematic, planned annihilation of a racial, political
or cultural group."
To Ken Hampian, Katcho Achadjian and other local Armenian-Americans,
it is not up for debate: Armenians fell victim to genocide 90 years
ago - end of discussion.
"When you've looked into the eyes of people who have been through it,
seen the pain and sorrow and loss, you know they're telling the truth,"
says Hampian, San Luis Obispo's city manager.
Both Hampian and Achadjian have seen that pain. People in their own
families met violent ends or disappeared during the butchery that
took place between 1915 and 1923.
Hampian's grandfather, the oldest of six children, came to the United
States at the age of 19 to arrange the eventual exodus of his family.
He never heard from any of them again.
Achadjian, a county supervisor, lost relatives to violence. His family
escaped to Lebanon, then to the United States.
Neither they nor other Armenians have forgotten their families' pain.
The International Association of Genocide Scholars estimates that
"more than a million Armenians were exterminated through direct
killing, starvation, torture and forced death marches. The rest of
the Armenian population fled into permanent exile."
Most Armenian-Americans are children or grandchildren of the
survivors. For many years, they have sought acknowledgement from the
U.S. government of the genocide.
This year, they fought for official U.S. recognition on April 24,
the 92nd anniversary of the day the Turkish government arrested 300
intellectuals, writers, religious leaders and others, beginning the
removal of Armenians from their homeland.
The effort for recognition from the U.S. government didn't succeed,
but in the ensuing weeks supporters picked up 218 co-sponsors in the
House of Representatives- a majority-according to Elizabeth S.
Chouldjian of the Armenian National Committee of America.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi has not set a date for a vote.
The issue is highly political. The U.S. government has refused to
acknowledge the genocide because Turkey has denied it and the United
States views Turkey as an ally.
Turkey's official position is that large numbers of Armenians were
killed by Turks, but not 1.5 million. Turkey says the deaths occurred
in the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and thousands of Turks also
died in civil unrest.
But to Armenian-Americans, denying the genocide is like denying the
Holocaust or the genocide in Rwanda.
Eighteen countries have recognized the genocide, as have the European
Union and 40 U.S. states, including California.
There's urgency to acknowledging the truth, Achadjian says. "It
wouldn't surprise me if it happens again. It teaches us a lesson,
so hopefully we'll learn from it."
Achadjian also stresses that this is not an issue between Turks and
Armenians or Armenian Christians and Turkish Muslims. Turks helped
his family escape, he notes.
It's about preventing future inhumanity.
Achadjian and Hampian repeat a story about Adolf Hitler who, before
he began the Holocaust, said dismissively of the horror he was about
to unleash, "Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of
the Armenians?"
"We're it," says Achadjian of the United States. "We have that
leadership role."
San Luis Obispo Tribune, CA
July 8 2007
Genocide: "The systematic, planned annihilation of a racial, political
or cultural group."
To Ken Hampian, Katcho Achadjian and other local Armenian-Americans,
it is not up for debate: Armenians fell victim to genocide 90 years
ago - end of discussion.
"When you've looked into the eyes of people who have been through it,
seen the pain and sorrow and loss, you know they're telling the truth,"
says Hampian, San Luis Obispo's city manager.
Both Hampian and Achadjian have seen that pain. People in their own
families met violent ends or disappeared during the butchery that
took place between 1915 and 1923.
Hampian's grandfather, the oldest of six children, came to the United
States at the age of 19 to arrange the eventual exodus of his family.
He never heard from any of them again.
Achadjian, a county supervisor, lost relatives to violence. His family
escaped to Lebanon, then to the United States.
Neither they nor other Armenians have forgotten their families' pain.
The International Association of Genocide Scholars estimates that
"more than a million Armenians were exterminated through direct
killing, starvation, torture and forced death marches. The rest of
the Armenian population fled into permanent exile."
Most Armenian-Americans are children or grandchildren of the
survivors. For many years, they have sought acknowledgement from the
U.S. government of the genocide.
This year, they fought for official U.S. recognition on April 24,
the 92nd anniversary of the day the Turkish government arrested 300
intellectuals, writers, religious leaders and others, beginning the
removal of Armenians from their homeland.
The effort for recognition from the U.S. government didn't succeed,
but in the ensuing weeks supporters picked up 218 co-sponsors in the
House of Representatives- a majority-according to Elizabeth S.
Chouldjian of the Armenian National Committee of America.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi has not set a date for a vote.
The issue is highly political. The U.S. government has refused to
acknowledge the genocide because Turkey has denied it and the United
States views Turkey as an ally.
Turkey's official position is that large numbers of Armenians were
killed by Turks, but not 1.5 million. Turkey says the deaths occurred
in the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and thousands of Turks also
died in civil unrest.
But to Armenian-Americans, denying the genocide is like denying the
Holocaust or the genocide in Rwanda.
Eighteen countries have recognized the genocide, as have the European
Union and 40 U.S. states, including California.
There's urgency to acknowledging the truth, Achadjian says. "It
wouldn't surprise me if it happens again. It teaches us a lesson,
so hopefully we'll learn from it."
Achadjian also stresses that this is not an issue between Turks and
Armenians or Armenian Christians and Turkish Muslims. Turks helped
his family escape, he notes.
It's about preventing future inhumanity.
Achadjian and Hampian repeat a story about Adolf Hitler who, before
he began the Holocaust, said dismissively of the horror he was about
to unleash, "Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of
the Armenians?"
"We're it," says Achadjian of the United States. "We have that
leadership role."