Author: Emil Lazarian

Cal Poly’s Armenian Student Association (ASA) has been celebrating Armenian Heritage Month in April with the goal of bringing the Armenian community together and commemorating the Armenian genocide committed by the Ottoman Empire, modern-day Turkey, that took place from 1915-1923.

“April marks the anniversary of the official beginning of the Armenian genocide, which happened on April 24th, 1915,” ASA Vice President and computer science sophomore Sophie Martyrossian said. “This is a really significant day for a lot of Armenians because we remember the tragedy that happened and the justice we haven’t had for the past 107 years.”

Turkey has not made reparations regarding the genocide; the Turkish government continues to deny the genocide ever occurred. When U.S. President Joe Biden acknowledged the Armenian genocide, it created a lot of backlash in the Turkish community.

“One of the things that students can do [to support Armenians] is by boycotting [products made in Turkey],” Martyrossian said.

Martyrossian gave a presentation about Armenian diasporas and the effects the genocide had on them during ASA’s general meeting on April 22.

More than seven million Armenians are living outside Armenia, Martyrossian said in her presentation. Most of them are now living in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Palestine. The genocide has caused many to immigrate to the United States as well. Notable Armenian-Americans include Kim Kardashian and Cher, who are both half Armenian.

At the end of Martyrossian’s presentation, members of ASA shared their family’s history and how the genocide has impacted them.

“My great grandfather was actually in Wisconsin at the time looking for work and when he decided it was time to go back home, he found his wife and his kids dead,” philosophy freshman Bella Papazian said. “So, he ended up remarrying and moving to Syria, and that’s where my mom’s side of the family [ended up].”

Papazian also shared the story of their dad’s side of the family.

“[On] my dad’s side of the family, my great grandfather actually survived the genocide,” Papazian said. “He was hiding under his mother’s dress as the raids were going on . . . His mother was killed while he was under her [dress] and they didn’t find him, so he was able to flee and he actually went to Syria as well.”

Activities ASA hosted during this month include Easter egg painting on April 15 and painting the P the colors of the Armenian flag on April 17.

This week is Armenian Heritage Week, which included an ASA-facilitated discussion and reflection on Sunday, an Armenian genocide information booth and Armenian genocide memorial on Monday and an ASA general meeting on Friday, according to an Instagram post.

The information booth on Monday informed Cal Poly students about the Armenian genocide since not many are aware of it, Martyrossian said.

“We’re going to talk more in depth [about the genocide] and the side effects and what it means to us today,” Martyrossian said. “And then, in conjunction with the Armenian Genocide, there’s still the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict that still hasn’t been resolved and we still haven’t gotten any justice work. We’re planning on speaking about that and what students at Cal Poly can do to help the Armenian community.”

During ASA’s general meeting, ASA Treasurer and political science senior Jenny Galoyan will present her senior thesis on the Armenian genocide in 1915 and its connection to the Nagorno-Karabakh war in 2020, which was a conflict between Armenia and Azerbajian.

According to Galoyan, fewer people understand the Nagorno-Karabakh war than they do the Ottoman-era Armenian genocide.

“I’m postulating that there was a relationship — that the legacy of the genocide affected how the war played out in 2020, which includes the war crimes, the resolution, how the relationship between [Armenia and Azerbajian] is like now and with Turkey and the rest of the pan-Turkic world,” Galoyan said.

TEHRAN – Iranian Finance and Economic Affairs Minister Ehsan Khandouzi headed a delegation on a visit to Armenia to hold talks with the country’s senior officials with the aim of expanding economic ties between the two nations, IRIB reported.

Arriving in Yerevan on Friday, Khandouzi met with Armenia’s Deputy Prime Minister Mher Herbert Grigoryan, the country’s Economy Minister Vahan Kerobyan, and Minister of Finance Tigran Khachatryan.

As reported by Armenian media, during the meeting with Grigoryan, the deputy prime minister highlighted the importance of the Iranian minister’s visit on the eve of the 17th meeting of the Armenian-Iranian Joint Economic Committee meeting and underlined Armenia’s readiness to develop ties with Iran.

The officials discussed the expansion of economic relations between the two countries and underlined the need for improving trade turnover and facilitating customs and border control procedures.

The two sides also touched upon the possibilities to realize the existing potential for deepening collaboration with Iran within the frames of the Eurasian Economic Union.

In the meeting with Kerobyan, issues related to joint projects and the removal of financial barriers were discussed.

Speaking in this meeting, Kerobyan noted that although Armenia’s trade turnover with Iran increased by 25 percent in 2021, there is still great potential for further expansion of bilateral cooperation and bringing this figure to $1 billion.

For his part, Khandouzi noted that the policy of Iran’s new government focuses on the development of relations with neighboring countries and especially with friendly Armenia.

According to him, the Iranian side attaches great importance not only to the development of economic relations with Armenia but also considers it as a “gateway” to the markets of Russia and other Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) member countries.

During this meeting, the two sides have also discussed the preparations for holding the two countries’ 17th Joint Economic Committee meeting in the coming weeks.

EF/MA

Laguna Beach High junior Ashton Azadian has coordinated the return of Armenian Genocide Awareness Week at the campus.

Last year, the High School for the first time in its history recognized the Armenian Genocide by displaying a banner that recognize the killing of Armenians in 1915. Ashton created a new banner that was hung up earlier this week in the quad.

As vice president of the Associated Student Body, Ashton applied for a student grant from the Laguna Beach High School PTA and earned support from Principal Jason Allemann to create a banner emblazoned with the U.S. Flag, the Armenian Flag, and the school’s logo.

“I like the new visual I created because it shows partnership and solidarity as our student body and teachers again come together to recognize the Armenian Genocide this year,” Ashton wrote in an email.

https://www.lagunabeachindy.com/laguna-beach-high-school-recognizes-armenian-genocide-awareness-week/

“At this time when we cannot ignore the suffering in Ukraine, we also honor through our music the Armenian people, victims of genocide in 1915, by looking at what they lost and what it means to be lost.” –Pianist Marta Aznavoorian

Multiple Grammy-nominated pianist Marta Aznavoorian chose April 24, the 107th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide when 1.2 million women, children, and the elderly were arrested and exiled on death marches from Turkey, as the release date of her album Gems From Armenia. She and her sister, cellist Ani Aznavoorian, will perform music from the album, which spotlights music from their ancestral homeland, at the Music Institute of Chicago’s concert May 15th in Nichols Concert Hall in Evanston.

“We were raised in the Chicago area, but we look back two and three generations to see what it must have been like for those brave people who survived to abandon their own country and enter a new one. We reflect on Ukraine and the Holocaust as well. Even after 100 years, the Armenian community still feels the impact of that genocide,” she says.

The Cedille Records’ album marks the recording debut of her and her sister’s joint ensemble, the Aznavoorian Duo. She describes the Armenian music chosen for her CD as “very melancholy, very passionate, all in a minor mode.” Among the works that the Aznavoorian Duo have chosen will be by the Armenian priest, Komitas, the composer, musicologist, and singer thought to be the founder of the Armenian national school of music.

During the genocide, he was one of the many Armenian intellectuals arrested and sent to a prisoner of war camp by the Ottomans. A few years before the genocide, Komitas spent summers in the Armenian countryside, developing a close relationship with villagers, transcribing and preserving rural Armenian songs that became his book of 50 songs. In saving and recording so many of these folk songs, Komitas is thought to have saved the cultural heritage of Western Armenia.

“Komitas documented thousands of songs, which have survived. Even though he survived the genocide and was finally moved to a hospital in Paris, the atrocities that he saw were too much for him,” Aznavoorian explains.

The program also features selections from the CD, including works by Alexander Arutiunian, Arno Babajanian, Aram Khachaturian, Serouj Kradjian, Vache Sharafyan, and Avet Terterian.

 Aznavoorian grew up in Barrington in a family that loved classical music: “I often performed at church as I was growing up, and I think my father always hoped that my brother, sister, and I would perform as a trio. I began my classes at the Music Institute as a young child and studied there until college.”

She continues, “The Music Institute has really expanded in recent years and offers education at a very high level. There are many more live performances and efforts to make its music accessible for all. I love exploring music with my students, both children and adults. I am teaching most of the day, with travels to performances usually every other weekend.”

Having performed internationally as an orchestral soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the New World Symphony, and many other acclaimed institutions, she is a founding member of the celebrated Lincoln Trio, which has toured the world with its performances.

A faculty member in the Music Institute’s Piano Department since 1999, she recently was named to the prestigious position as Artist in Residence. This position, made possible by the support of Jim Stone, encourages, promotes, and rewards excellence in musicianship and instruction while acknowledging excellent faculty contributions to their field, the Institute, and the community. She is expanding her ambassadorial work for the Music Institute to support performances, master classes, community outreach, and fundraising activities.

Aznavoorian, also a lecturer at the DePaul School of Music, has recently founded Keynote Productions, a non-profit which awards scholarships to underserved students wanting to further their musical education.

On teaching online during the pandemic, she says, “In that dark and lonely time, I discovered that this was a very nice alternative. I still have students who prefer to study online and if someone is feeling a little sick, you don’t have to worry. I love to teach and this is a great opportunity for me too, so even when I am on the road, we have been able to carry on with my students’ love of music.”

Though she feels she is not yet at the “finish line” of her career, Aznavoorian is enjoying all that she does and the close relationships she has with places like the Music Institute: “I have great admiration for Mark George, the Institute’s president and CEO, who with all his other accomplishments has made the faculty feel like family to one another. As Artist in Residence, I am asked to represent the Institute whose mission is very compatible to my own. I now have more opportunities to make decisions, be more of a presence in my master classes, and cultivate our mission.”

The Aznavoorian Duo will perform Sunday, May 15, at 3 p.m. at Nichols Concert Hall, 1490 Chicago Avenue, Evanston. The performance also will be available online streaming live. For more information, visit nicholsconcerthall.org.

https://classicchicagomagazine.com/music-from-her-homeland/