1985_02 Hye Sharzhoom Newspaper February 1985

              February, 1985
Hye Sharzhoom
Page 11
Fresno Armenian
launches comedy career
By Vahe K. Messerlian
Editor
Alan Atamian says that he's naturally
funny, something that has developed
through the years. And after having just
a few words with him, one can't help but
chuckle just a little, if not burst into
laughter.
"Actually, I'm really myself on stage—
just a little more histrionic," says
Atamian about his standup comedy.
Atamian is becoming one of the most
popular comedy acts in Fresno, playing
in such places as the Lucky Lady Saloon,
Hacienda Inn, Knock Three Times
Lounge, Centre Plaza Holiday Inn, and
numerous private parties. In fact, he
took second place in the "Funniest
Person in Fresno" contest last May.
But that doesn't overinflate the ego of
Atamian, a native Fresnan.
"Yes, I'm a native of Fresno, and I've
got my spears in my car,"he says matter-
of-factly. The 23-year-old CSUF graduate plans to move to Los Angeles to
launch a career in comedy, but will stay
in Fresno until he develops a style. He
has already prepared a video tape to
send to "Star Search," a Los Angeles
television program for fresh talents.
Atamian, former President of the
Armenian Students Organization and
Editor of Hye Sharzhoom , obtains his
material from reading and current
events, but mostly enjoys doing parody
derived from celebrities and prominent
figures. He does 130 impersonations in
his repertoire and adds that "74 of those
are not taken up by Orson Welles."
Does Atamian do Armenian jokes?
"I try to avoid doing ethnic jokes,
because they tend to proliferate stereotypes. If I do, it's usually about something that isn't derogatory or demeaning...like dolma."
"I feel strongly Armenian-American,"
he claims, stressing both his Armenian
and American upbringings. He has no
problem, however, finding a compromise between his Armenian heritage and
his American environment.
Atamian noted that Armenians have a
long history of being persecuted and are
underneath a frustrated people. As a
result, Atamian asserts, Armenian-Americans are "becoming Americanized, losing
their Armenian identity."
"I am proud to be Armenian—I have
no reason to hide it."
Atamian has  other core beliefs:
respect for human life and dignity, truth,
and personal integrity. He is not heavily
opinionated, however, and likes to keep
an open mind to all viewpoints.
His comedy says a lot about his view
of life. "Comedy is a reality. It's just
another way of looking at the world—it
gives you a different insight."
His background in radio and television broadcasting has helped Atamian
in his performance in front of audiences.
He has a double major in journalism and
speech communication and may eventually return to a more stable career if his
comedy career doesn't take off. He is
presently being considered for the editorship of the Dinuba Sentinel.
But this multi-talented Armenian is
not about to give up comedy yet. He can
next be seen performing at ASO's
Second Annual Winter Romp on Febru
ary 23 at the Holy Trinity Armenian
Apostolic Church.
Anyone wishing to book Alan for an
event should call (209) 224-STAR or
write:
Alan Atamian
P.O. Box 5955
Fresno, CA 93755
ASO well
represented
in intramurals
Its seems that the ASO has added a
viable alternative to its list of activities.
Because support for athletic teams has
been favorable, the ASO will continue to
participate in the CSUF Intramural Program.
In addition to fielding a softball team
later this spring, the ASO Intramural
Committee has decided to sponsor two
basketball squads—one in the men's independent league and the other in the just-
for-fun league. The teams will be called
ASO I and ASO II respectively.
ASO I actually consists of a groups of
players which has played under such names
as the Hye Steppers and the Sanger Stars.
These teams, led by forward and team-
captain Gary Kazanjian, have qualified
for post-season play for the past three
years.
"We feel we now have the experience to
go far in the play-offs," said Kazanjian.
Kazanjian teams up with former All-*
Metro star Mark Tufenkjian to make-up
what could be called, "the bookend forwards of Armenian basketball". The
tandem guided the Hye Steppers to a
perfect 4-0 record by leading the team in
scoring last year.
After watching them play, one cannot
avoid noticing the similarities between
Kazanjian and Tufenkjian: both are 6-3,
have comparable playing styles, and even
resemble one another to some degree.
"Mark and I have been playing together
for some time now and know each other's
moves—that's what makes us so suc-
See ASO Intramurals, Back Page
Yanikian
Continued from Page 9
who were born many years after the massacres occurred,
solely because they were Turkish diplomats.
Barred from presenting the witnesses they wished,
Yanikian's defense lawyers still had one means left of
proving the massacres: Yanikian himself. Proud and
erect, the 78 year old defendant strode to the witness
stand, and began a remarkable testimony which continued
for six days.
The judge had supplied Yanikian with an interpreter
—81 year old Aram Saroyan, the "Uncle Aram" made
famous by his nephew, author William Saroyan. Saroyan
was to translate the testimony of the English speaking
witnesses into Armenian, for Yanikian's benefit. Now,
insisting on using the language of his adopted country,
Yanikian testified in broken but unhalting English.
He was a commanding figure, confident and authoritative, dressed in a dark blue suit which concealed a bullet
proof vest for his protection. The courtroom was
overflowing with elderly Armenian-Armericans, including many survivors of the massacres, who rose and
applauded whenever Yanikian entered or left.
In deep, assured tones, Yanikian traced the ill fated
history of the Armenian people. As he testified, his
audience reacted emotionally, crying at some points and
murmering their approval at others.
Yanikian detailed his own life, telling how he left his
studies at the University of Moscow in 1915 to fight the
Turks in General Antranik's Armenian Volunteer Regiment. Then, weeping openly, Yanikian described how he
had watched the murder of his brother Hagop. To a
hushed courtroom, he told of finding the butchered
bodies of his wife's relatives after Antranik's forces
retook the town of Kars from the Turks.
Of killing the two Turkish diplomats at the Biltmore
Hotel, Yanikian said he was "destroying two evils," as
representatives of the government that had massacred his
people.
In their final arguments to the jury, Yanikian's
attorneys described him as "a man of destiny" who would
always remain a hero to the Armenian people. The
candle the elderly Armenian had lit in the darkness would
continue to burn only if he were acquitted, they pled.
The jury, its inquiry limited to the issue of Yanikian's
premeditated killing of the diplomats, found him guilty
of two first degree murders. By his acts, however, it
appeared that Yanikian had in fact achieved his goal: a
place in Armenian history as the author of "a new kind of
war" against the Turkish government. His trial was
reported by the world press, and, within 10 years, the war
would be carried to twelve other countries. Twenty-six
Turkish diplomats, their aids or family members—
including two wives and two children—have now been
assassinated in such cities as Los Angeles, Boston, Paris,
Vienna and Rome.
Last January, when Gourgen Yanikian walked away
from Vacaville's ugly gray walls, in the twilight of his life,
his place in Armenian history was assured. Whether he
was a martyr or merely a murderer, however, depends on
one's viewpoint.
Although some view Yanikian as a self-sacrificing
hero, responsible Armenians the world over, including
California's Governor George Deukmejian, have condemned his acts and the terrorism which has followed.
The victims have all been blameless diplomats, their
families and political aides, whose only offense was to be
Turkish. Whereas the hated Talaat Pasha had on his
hands the blood of over a million Armenians, the victims
of Yanikian and his successors were not yet born when
the massacres of Talaat occurred.
Moreover, the Turkish state which the murdered
diplomats represented was born after the massacres
occurred, in revolt against the Ottoman Empire. The
modern Republic of Turkey was created in 1923 by
Kemal Ataturk and his followers, in a political and
cultural revolution. Those responsible for the massacres—TalaatPasha and his Young Turk Party associates—fled the country for their lives, as did the sultan.
With the formation of the new Turkish republic, the
sultantate was abolished, and Islam was discarded as a
state religion. Voting rights were given to women,
polygamy was outlawed, and wearing of the fez was
prohibited. A new civil code was adopted, and even the
alphabet was changed, with roman letters substituted for
the arabic. In short, the Ottoman Empire was transformed, within a few years, into a new and vastly different
Republic of Turkey.
Today's Turkish diplomats no more represent, or bear
responsibility for the Ottoman Empire, than a Western
German diplomat today represents and is accountable
for Hitler's Nazi Germany.
The likelihood that more assassinations will result in
the restoration of an independent Armenian nation is
almost nil. Much of historic Armenia now lies within the
Soviet Union, and the terrorists have wisely steered clear
of any acts against its representatives, at home or abroad.
The Turkish government has never acknowledged the
massacres, and is unlikely ever to consider the creation of
an Armenian state within its own borders.
Recognition of the massacres by the present Turkish
government would, however, have the beneficial effect of
weakening the motive for continuing Yanikian's "war".
Western Germany, by example, has found little difficulty
in admitting and condemning the guilt of Nazi Germany
for its mass murder of the Jews. Why cannot modern
Turkey, in like manner, reassess the conduct of the
Ottoman Empire—the "sick man of Europe" which it
overthrew 60 years ago—and come to historical grips
with the hard evidence of the massacres?
History's darkest chapters—its genocides—should
be fully and fairly exposed. Only in this way, by revealing
the ultimate depravity of man, can we try to assure that
such atrocities never occur again.
Unfortunately, the Ottoman Empire's 1915 solution to
the "Armenian Problem" was never fully exposed in the
spotlight of world attention. As Adolf Hitler said 24
years later, in ordering the liquidation of "men, women
and children belonging to the Polish speaking race, "after
all, who remembers today the extermination of the
Armenians?"
ASO PRESENTS
QSMNEdSW
E®FfflF
DATE: February 23,1985
TIME: 8:00 till ???
PLACE: Holy Trinity Church Hall
ADMISSION: $5 in advance, $6 at the door
ASO's Second Annual Dance
featuring comedian
ALAN ATAMIAN
Music by
STREET SOUND
Tickets available at the Armenian Studies Office.
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