NEVER AGAIN, NEVER FORGET
By Jonathan Seeley
Los Angeles Valley College
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
The Armenian Student Body and ASU commemorates 95th anniversary of
Armenian Genocide in Monarch Hall
The ceremony was a solemn and reverent affair; applause was not allowed
out of respect for the dead, but occasional claps would escape after
a speech or performance moved the crowd of close to 100 people. A
folding table draped with a black tablecloth sat below Monarch Stage
and held white tea candles arranged into the shape of a flickering
Christian cross, while single red and white carnations lined the
front of the stage. The haunting sounds of the duduk, a traditional
Armenian wind instrument, played gently and sadly in the background.
This was the annual commemoration service for the 95th anniversary
of the Armenian Genocide presented by the Associated Student Union
and the Armenian Student Body in Monarch Hall last week.
"My ancestors have died from the Armenian Genocide, 1.5 million
people," said Armenian Club Vice President Katya Harutyunyan.
The candles, cross and carnations are symbolic of the Armenian
Christians who were massacred and forced on death marches into the
desert by the "Young Turk" and nationalist governments of Ottoman
Turkey 95 years ago in present day Turkey. Other victims were sent to
concentration camps, children were injected with typhoid and gassed
in buildings.
Throughout the world, commemorations occur on April 24 – the day
that more than 200 Armenian intellectuals were arrested, deported
and murdered; and 5,000 Armenians were butchered in Constantinople
(present day Istanbul).
April 24, 1915 is the day that the Armenian Genocide officially began,
lasting until 1923.
Valley students Harutyunyan and Marine Juharyan stated the goal of
the commemoration was to pay respect to the victims of the Armenian
Genocide.
"They will live forever," said Juharyan, referring to the victims of
genocide, "as long as there are people to remember them."
Reverend Avetis of the Armenian Apostolic Church recited the Lord’s
Prayer and asked for mercy on the Armenian martyrs and victims of
genocide everywhere.
A slide show called "Never Again" portrayed genocides around the
world. Two dancers performed, and three Armenian poems were read.
The other goal of the commemoration was to call attention to Turkey’s
denial of the genocide.
Shame on Obama, who pretended to fight for justice, promising millions
of Armenians recognition of the genocide .," said Harutyunyan.
Milena Malyan of the Unified Young Armenians spoke about a
commemoration in Glendale on April 23 and another rally in Little
Armenia on April 24 to protest the ongoing denial of the Turkish
regime.
". (We) will remind President Obama that American leadership should
not be caving in to the Turkish pressures," read a flyer from the
Unified Young Armenians.
ASU Commissioner Ani Kolangian presented a segment from CNN’s "60
Minutes" called "Battle Over History," an example of the controversy
and politics behind Turkey’s official stance against applying the
term genocide to the events of 1915-1923.
The "60 Minutes" segment opens by saying, "Wars are fought . rarely
over history . but that’s what Turkey and Armenia are still fighting
over – what to label the mass deportation and subsequent massacre of
more than a million Christian Armenians from Ottoman Turkey during
the First World War."
According to the segment, "Armenians and an overwhelming number of
historians say that Turkey’s rulers committed genocide . the Turks,
meanwhile, say their ancestors never carried out such crimes …"
The deserts of Deir ez-Zoir contain the bones of an estimated 450,000
Armenians.
"The Turkish Empire tried to wipe out Armenians, but as we can see
from this gathering, they failed," said Kolangian.