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Mashdots Leader To Lead Visit To Western Armenia

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  • Mashdots Leader To Lead Visit To Western Armenia

    MASHDOTS LEADER TO LEAD VISIT TO WESTERN ARMENIA

    Glendale News-Press (California)
    Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News
    February 5, 2014 Wednesday

    Kelly Corrigan, Glendale News-Press, Calif.

    Feb. 05--Later this year, Mashdots College President Garbis Der
    Yeghiayan will take nearly 30 people to visit historic Western Armenia
    -- which now lies within Turkey's boarders -- on a pilgrimage that
    leads Armenian descendents back to their roots.

    He has led people on the pilgrimage for several years, witnessing them
    encounter for the first time the home of their parents or grandparents
    that they had long heard about.

    "It's a dream come true. They always dream about their parents'
    and grandparents' cities -- where they were raised, where they were
    educated, where they walked," he said.

    For Glendale resident Hovsep Fidanian, who traveled with Der Yeghiayan
    to the area last year, the pilgrimage was both enlightening and
    heartbreaking.

    "It was a pilgrimage that evoked a lot of happiness on one hand and
    sadness on the other," he said.

    Along his travels, he saw old Armenian architecture, and particularly
    many churches, in ruins.

    "You see all these windows broken and properties abandoned and there's
    no way -- if you have any sense of being a human being -- not being
    affected by these things," he said.

    Der Yeghiayan encountered his own family's ancestral home in Kharpert
    and the church where his great-grandfather served as a priest before
    he was killed in the Armenian Genocide of 1915.

    Der Yeghiayan was born and raised in Beirut, named after his
    grandfather, his family's sole survivor of the genocide. His
    grandfather had moved to Wisconsin in 1912, working in a factory and
    sending money home to more than 40 members of his family in Kharpert.

    But by the time his grandfather returned to the village where he grew
    up, everyone had been killed.

    Der Yeghiayan, who said he carries the legacy of his family, enjoys
    bringing others of the Armenian diaspora closer to their ancestral
    roots. As a peacemaker, he said he is known to befriend the Los
    Angeles counsel generals working for Turkey.

    Once in 2004, as a regional district governor for Rotary International,
    he prayed at the Martyrs Monument to honor the 1.5 million genocide
    victims in Yerevan alongside Erhan ciftciolu, who served then as a
    Rotary district governor in Turkey. The next year, he was invited
    by ciftciolu to serve as a keynote speaker in Ankara at a peace
    conference, and there he urged Turkey political leaders to renovate
    old Armenian churches.

    "I make no enemies whatsoever -- not as a Rotarian but as a Christian.

    It says in the Bible, 'Love your enemies.' That has to be implemented
    through my deeds, my actions, my words," he said, adding, "I plant
    seeds of love and compassion, not seeds of hatred."

    At Mashdots College in Glendale, Der Yeghiayan teaches several
    educational courses. The campus also offers certificate programs
    spanning from paralegal studies to early childhood education and
    career technical classes in computers and medical billing.

    He strives to counsel the students, many of whom who are of Armenian
    descent and new to Glendale. Even more recently, he serves refugees
    from Syria.

    "It's not just a college, it's a second home," he said.

    For the upcoming 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide, Der
    Yeghiayan is serving on a committee that plans to honor the centennial
    at the Rose Bowl. He also plans to return to Western Armenia in 2015
    for another pilgrimage.

    Of the year 2015, he said, "This is a great opportunity for Turks to
    extend their hand of friendship and tell Armenians, 'This is what we
    owe to you,'" he said. "If we don't resolve our differences, the next
    generation will have a very hard time resolving the differences."

    http://articles.glendalenewspress.com/2014-02-04/news/tn-gnp-mashdots-leader-to-lead-visit-to-western-armenia-20140204_1_armenia-and-turkey-pilgrimage-district-governor

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