1987_02 Hye Sharzhoom Newspaper February 1987

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HYE SHARZHOOM
FEBRUARY 1987
MIDDLE EAST STUDIES ASSOCIATION REACHES TWENTY
SOCIETY FOR ARMENIAN STUDIES PANEL
EXPLODES TURKISH PROPAGANDA
By Barlow Der Mugrdechian
Advisor
The twentieth annual meeting of the
Middle East Studies Association of North
America (MESA) was held in Boston,
November 20-23, 1986. MESA is a
professional scholarly organization devoted to the study of the Middle East
including Persian, Turkish, Hebrew, Arabic, and Armenian studies. History, political science, literature, sociology, language, and art are the specific areas of
investigation for MESA members who
come from throughout the United States.
A major part of the annual conferences
is the presentation of panels on diverse
themes in the field. Panel 73 of this year's
conference was entitled Responses to
the Genocide: The Armenian Case.
The chairman was Dr. Richard Hovannisian
of UCLA. Three papers were presented. I
will examine the one by Dr. Kevork
Bardakjian of Harvard University entitled
Adolph Hitler on the Armenian
Genocide. This was a synopsis of the
conclusions reached in his book Adolph
Hitler and The Armenians (Zoryan,
Institute, 1985). The main thesis of the
work is the proof of the 1939 statement
made by Hitler to a select group of his
commanders on the eve of the invasion of
Poland: "Who nowadays remembers the
annihilation of the Armenians?" The
statement demonstrates the German leader's
knowledge of the Armenian Genocide
perpetrated by the Ottoman Turkish
government in 1915. By admitting that
the Armenian Genocide was a forgotten
event by the world powers only twenty-
four years after its perpetration, Hitler
sought to lay the groundwork for his own
campaign of murder against the Polish
people and later against the Jews and other
minorities. The fact that the Ottoman
government could plan and execute an act
of Genocide against the Armenian people
and not be punished set the precedent
which Hitler would later use. He understood
that the unpunished genocide of 1915
showed that any people could be sacrificed
for political and national gains.
In my opinion, the Armenian Genocide
has special significance because it was
perpetrated on the historic homeland of
the Armenian people. Because the Genocide was committed on Armenian soil and
because it was successful in removing the
native population it had far reaching
consequences. An indifferent world could
allow other genocides to take place. As
for the Armenians, the tragedy of a people
living in a Diaspora is the unwritten saga.
No one can calculate the loss of Armenian
creativity to the world.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Dear Editor,
Congratulations on your publication,
Hye Sharzhoom, I look forward to
every issue. Unlike San Francisco, I left
my heart in Fresno fifty-nine plus years
ago and always welcome publications from
that direction. I feel very proud that
Fresno has come a long, long way since I
called Del Rey home. Please use the
enclosed donation as needed.
Sincerely,
Zabel Harabedian LeaMond
E. Hanover, NJ
Dear Editor,
Keep up the good work. Yvonne Sahag-
ian's Antranig Means Andrew was
touching. Enclosed is a humble donation.
Good luck!
Sincerely,
Tamar Manjikian
Studio City, CA
Dear Editor,
As a former president of the Armenian
Students Association (1976-77), it is
indeed heartening to see the progress and
commitment your students have made to
your organization and to the Armenian
Studies Program, the newspaper, and most
important of all, their culture. Your paper,
Armenian    Action is    always    inter
esting    and    an    important    asset   to    the
program.
Wishing you continued success,
Paulette Boghosian Kalebjian
Fresno, CA
Dear Editor,
We are so proud of our Armenian Youth.
Thanks for all the past issues.
Sincerely,
Anne & Bob Kevorkian
Fresno, CA
«UJ.3 eu.Pd*nMT
ARMENIAN ACTION
Editor:
Yvonne Sahagian Minassian
Staff Writers:
Greg Eritzian
Lynette Zerounian
LayoutfArtist:
Norayr Minassian
Photographer
Greg Abrahamian
Contributors:
Charles Dowsett
Zepur Karakazian
Kenneth Zech
Advisor
Barlow Der Mugrdechian
Hye Sharzhoom is the official publication
of the CSUF Armenian Studies Organization and the Armenian Studies
Program, and is funded by the Associated
Students. • Articles may be reprinted
provided    that    Hye    Sharzhoom is
acknowledged.
Hye Sharzhoom welcomes prose, poetry,
articles, manuscripts, and other material
from its readers. For further information
concerning the .newspaper or the Armenian
Studies Program, call the ASP office: (209)
294-2669.
Hye  Sharzhoom   is   located   in   the   Keats
Campus Bldg, Fresno, CA 93740
(209) 294-2486.
The Genocide was the culmination of
centuries of persecution of the Armenian
people in the Ottoman Empire. The
massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman
Empire in 1894-1896 was to be only a
prelude to the mass destruction begun in
1915 by the Young Turks and concluded
by the Turkish Republic of Kemal Ataturk
in 1923. The present day rulers of Turkey
cannot escape the culpability as inheritors
and continuers of the same policy. Todays
Turkey must take the responsibility to
make sure that the Armenian people are
returned to the land from which they came.
The academic setting of the SAS panel
of MESA conference was disturbed by the
presence of such a noted apologist of the
Turkish government as , Heath Lowry,
Director of the Institute of Turkish Studies
based in Washington,D.C. (and funded by
the Turkish Government). Bardakjian in
his presentation on the validity of Hitler's
remark  regarding   the   Armenian  Genocide
fittingly and conclusively put to rest the
allegations of people such as Lowry. The
insistence and belligerience of the Turkish
apologists is incredible in the face of
facts.
The results of the MESA/SAS annual
meeting are being written about today to
alert the public to the constant, insidious
pressure by the Turkish government to
close the Armenian question forever. The
question has been opened again by events
which have unfolded over the preceding
seventy-one years. The efforts of scholars
to study the causes and the effects of the
Genocide must be widened. The efforts by
Turkish propagandists is to argue the
occurrence of the Genocide and thus to bog
down the question of the Armenian Genocide to one of numbers and conditions
rather than to the central issue, the restitution of Armenian lands to the people
that lived there for three thousand years.
Saroyan Armenian Trilogy Reviews
"The plays in William Saroyan's Armenian Trilogy, available for the first time in
book form, dramatize his deep-felt concern for his own people, the Armenians.
Armenians, which takes place in Fresno, California in 1921, explores the tragedy of
the Armenian genocide while still fresh in its victims' memories.
Bitlis picks up the story four decades later, when old memories are further
complicated by new concerns. (Bitlis was that very Armenian town-now part of
Turkey-where the Saroyan family originated.)
Haratch reflects on the subsequent Armenian dilemma, which in a larger sense is the
dilemma of all dispossesed and persecuted peoples. The scene of this final play is the
Paris of 1979, where Saroyan has established a second residence.
In a penetrating Introductory Essay and meticulous Glossary, Dickran Kouymjian
situates these plays in Saroyan's literary career, and simultaneously provides the
personal and historical background for each character. He shares with the public his
intimate knowledge of the life and habits of the author and describes in detail the
writing and inspiration behind each work."
The Press at California State University, Fresno
...The Armenian Trilogy   is not a fragment but one of Saroyan's very best works
and far more Armenian in content than anything else he ever wrote."
Ara Baliozian
...These plays are the last will and testament (thus far) of a man who had deep
sympathy for his people and was aware of their difficulties...
Lemyel Amirian
ORDER FORM
WILLIAM SAROYAN: AN ARMENIAN TRILOGY
195 pages, 57 illustrations
$21.95 cloth, $12.95 paper
Please send me copy(ies) of William Saroyan: An Armenian Trilogy, ed.
Dr. Dickran Kouymjian.
I prefer the hardcover/paperback edition(s) @ $ .
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will benefit the Program. Please make checks out to:
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Fresno, California 93740-0100