FADING MEMORIES OF GENOCIDE: AS ARMENIAN SURVIVORS GROW OLD, RECOGNITION GROWS MORE URGENT.
by Vanessa Colon
The Fresno Bee (California)
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News
April 24, 2008 Thursday
Apr. 24–Lucy Jamgotchian of Fresno lived through the panic and peril
of the Armenian genocide. The tears she shed as a 6-year-old caused
her mother to briefly abandon her as the family fled, fearful that
her cries would cost them their lives.
But at age 98, her memories of the seminal event in Armenian history
have largely faded. And many other survivors have died.
That worries a younger generation of Armenians. They fear their efforts
to pressure the United States to formally recognize the genocide will
weaken without the emotional testimony of its survivors. Even more,
they fear the residents who lived through the genocide won’t live to
see it recognized by their adopted homeland.
"I can’t imagine any Armenian who went through that isn’t tremendously
disappointed for the country they became citizens and pledged their
allegiance to but didn’t recognize it," said Alan Yengoyan, a Fresno
County deputy district attorney whose mother, a genocide survivor,
died in 1997.
On the 93rd anniversary of a day recognized as the start of the
genocide, fewer than a dozen survivors remain in California — and
only an estimated 50 are still living nationwide, according to the
Armenian National Committee, Western Region, an Armenian-American
advocacy organization.
Between 1915 and 1923, 1.5 million Armenians were killed in the
Ottoman Empire. The Republic of Turkey emerged out of the empire’s
collapse in World War I. Turkish officials have denied that any
genocide occurred, calling it a tragedy of World War I in which both
Armenians and Turks died.
For decades, congressional resolutions to formally recognize the
event with the term "genocide" have stalled because of Turkey’s strong
opposition. The most recent attempt failed last year when President
Bush warned that a genocide resolution would harm relations with
Turkey, a U.S. ally bordering Iraq and Iran.
The failure of Congress — and Turkey — to recognize the genocide
disappoints one of its survivors, Melena Boghosian of Fresno. At 102,
she is one of the oldest survivors still living in the Fresno area.
"I want to see [genocide recognized] before I die," Boghosian said
in Armenian. Her daughter, Jessy Shahbazian, interpreted for her.
Boghosian became an orphan when she was about 8 after her parents
were killed by Turks, she said. Her aunt, who carried Boghosian as
they traveled through the desert to Syria, also died.
Boghosian emigrated to the United States as an adult in the 1920s,
eventually settling in Fresno.
About 60,000 residents of Armenian descent live in Fresno
County. Although Armenians began settling here in the 1880s, their
numbers grew dramatically after the start of the genocide.
Jamgotchian was a child when she traveled with her mother in a caravan
fleeing the village of Van in August 1915, according to a written
account by her younger brother, Bob Der Mugrdechian, who was born
in Fresno.
Jamgotchian and her mother battled hunger and thirst and saw thousands
of refugees die before they reached Tiflis, Georgia, according to
Der Mugrdechian’s book.
At one point, Jamgotchian cried so much that her mother was pressured
by their group to leave her behind a boulder because her cries could
alert the Turks to find them, according to the book. Her mother
couldn’t bear leaving her behind and soon returned for Jamgotchian.
Jamgotchian’s own recollections are hazy.
"We were suppose to hide away so we wouldn’t be killed," she said
holding a black-and-white photo of her family taken in Georgia in 1916.
But asked for details, she replies: "I don’t remember."
The fading memories of survivors like Jamgotchian adds urgency to the
effort to get Congress to recognize the genocide, said Andrew Kzirian,
executive director for the Armenian National Committee, Western Region.
"It paints a very tragic story how justice will continue to be
denied. It speaks volumes how it’s more important to recognize the
genocide [now] more than ever," he said.
Liebe Geft, director of the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, said
survivors of the Jewish Holocaust are facing similar challenges as
their numbers dwindle.
"There is nothing more powerful than the personal testimony of an
eyewitness account," Geft said. "It makes a profound impression on
everyone, young and old alike."
She added: "Because it’s so personal, it’s not easily forgotten."
Barlow Der Mugrdechian, professor of Armenian studies at California
State University, Fresno, and a nephew of Jamgotchian, said he remains
hopeful that the United States eventually will recognize the genocide,
but he is doubtful that it will happen soon.
Even if none of the genocide survivors lives to see that day, their
stories will never die.
"It will be a case of having to depend on other evidence," Der
Mugrdechian said. "The information is there if people wish to see it."