Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Local Organization Commemorates Armenian Genocide

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Local Organization Commemorates Armenian Genocide

    El Vaquero: Glendale Community College
    May 1, 2014 Thursday


    Local Organization Commemorates Armenian Genocide

    by: Tamara Hacopian, Staff Writer


    In observance of the 99th year of the Armenian Genocide, Homenetmen
    Glendale Ararat Chapter Cultural Division held a panel titled "Red
    Poppy," commemorating the brutal events that took the lives of 1.5
    million Armenians. The red poppy has been used as a symbol of
    remembrance since 1920, honoring those who have lost their lives in
    battle.

    Multiple members of the Armenian community participated in a visually
    interactive forum, which was held on April 12 and 13 at the Glendale
    Ararat Chapter main building.

    The room was adorned with museum-like images and maps of Armenian
    villages, including a 40 by 60-foot map of the countless deportation
    centers within the Armenian homeland and surrounding countries. A
    large screen displayed a slideshow of haunting images of those
    victimized by the 1915 genocide.

    Before the panel officially began, two musicians used the duduk, a
    traditional Armenian wind instrument, to build a sense of eerie
    nostalgia, while guests observed the life-sized visual displays from
    their homeland.

    Among the panelists were Barbara Mulvaney, a senior trial counsel
    leading the prosecution team against the military officials
    responsible for the Rwandan Genocide; Anthony Portantino, board member
    for the Pasadena Armenian Genocide Memorial Committee; and Gevork
    Nazaryan, creator of www.armenianhighland.com, a website dedicated to
    Armenian history and studies.

    Notable attendees included Glendale Mayor Zareh Sinanyan; Consulate
    General of Armenia in Los Angeles, Suren Vardanyants; GUSD Board
    member Dr. Arminah Gharpetian; and Glendale City Clerk Ardashes
    Kassakhian.

    David George Gevorkyan, the audit commissioner for the city of
    Glendale, hosted the event.

    The panel began with Nazaryan providing context for the series of
    events that led to the first genocide of the 20th century. After the
    Ottoman Empire was defeated in the Balkan Wars, the Turkish national
    reform party, known as the Young Turks, wanted to preserve the Ottoman
    Empire and hang on to as much land mass as they could.

    After Turkey joined the Central Powers during the first World War, the
    three ring leaders, Talaat, Enver, and Djemal Pasha wanted to
    implement Pan-Turkism to unite all Turkish-speaking peoples to rebound
    from the crumbling Ottoman Empire. The Armenians were the largest
    group that stood in the way of this Turkification ideology. Thus, by
    the command of Talaat Pasha, the death marches and massacres of
    Armenians began.

    According to Nazaryan, the term "genocide" was not coined until 1943,
    when Polish-Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin combined the Greek word
    "genos," meaning race or tribe, and the Latin word "cidere" or "cide,"
    meaning to kill.

    The Pasadena memorial committee created an Armenian Genocide
    remembrance in Memorial Park. It is surrounded with ornamental
    pomegranate trees, which stands as the symbolic fruit tree of Armenia.
    The central feature of the memorial is known as "The Teardrop."

    "At the center, a teardrop will fall every 21 seconds and every 21
    seconds in a year is 1.5 million," said Portantino.

    Each teardrop represents one life lost. They plan to have it fully
    constructed by the 100th anniversary, according to Portantino.

    "We have to point out that this is a global issue," said Nazaryan.
    "This is not specifically related to Armenians, and that's the way
    forward."

    Major genocides of the 20th century include the Rwandan Genocide, the
    Bosnian Genocide, the Holocaust, and the Cambodian Genocide, among
    others.

    "This project has really become a benchmark on how we advocate,
    commemorate, remember, and reflect about the atrocities of the
    Armenian Genocide," said Gevorkyan.

Working...
X