2000_05 Hye Sharzhoom Newspaper May 2000

              4
Hye Sharzhoom
May 2000
Armenian Genocide-85th Anniversary Commemoration
April 24th, Cont. from Page 1
positive, we turned it into the traits
that mark us as Armenians."
Left to Right: Mayor Jim Patterson, Barlow Der Mugrdechian,
ASO President Armen Ghanbarian, Steven Samuelian, City
Council President Tom Boyajian, AS President Arakel Arisian
support anything that commemorates and acknowledges what happened and reflects on the sacrifices
of the Armenian people."
"This was a dark age for
the Armenians," Boyajian said. "It
is one ofthe most detrimental things
that happened to our culture, but
you know what, we did not turn it
into a negative, we turned it into a
Boyajian described survival, good citizenship, strong family and sacrifice for ones children
as those traits that make Armenians a vibrant ethnic group.
Boyajian closed his remarks by thanking the students for
their hard work and hoped for a
time when the United Nations, the
United States, and Turkey would
Resolution for Associated Students
85th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide
WHEREAS, Armenians living in their 3,000 year historic homeland in
Asia Minor were subjected to severe persecution and brutal injustice by
the Turkish rulers of the Ottoman Empire before and after the turn of the
20th century, including widespread acts of destruction and murder during
the period from 1894-1896 and again in 1909; and
WHEREAS, The horrible experience of the Armenians at the hands of
their Turkish oppressors culminated with what is known by historians as
the First Genocide of the Twentieth Century, and
WHEREAS, The Armenian Genocide began with the murder of hundreds of Armenian intellectuals, and political, religious, and business
leaders who were arrested and taken from their homes in Constantinople
before dawn on April 24, 1915; and
WHEREAS, The Young Turk regime then in control of the empire
planned and executed the unspeakable atrocities committed against the
Armenians from 1915 through 1923, that included the torture, starvation,
and murder of 1,500,000 Armenians, death marches into the Syrian
desert, and the exile of more than 500,000 innocent people;
WHEREAS, While there were some Turks who jeopardized their safety
in order to protect Armenians from the slaughter being perpetrated by the
Young Turk regime, the massacres of the Armenians constituted one of
the most atrocious violations of human rights in the history ofthe world;
and
WHEREAS, Adolph Hitler, in persuading his army commanders that the
merciless persecution and killing of Jews, Poles, and other peoples would
bring no retribution, declared, "Who, after all, speaks today of the
annihilation of the Armenians"; and
WHEREAS, Unlike other peoples and governments that have admitted
the abuses and crimes of predecessor regimes, and despite the overwhelming weight of evidence, the Republic of Turkey has denied the
occurrence ofthe crimes against humanity committed by the Young Turk
rulers, and those denials compound the grief of the few remaining
survivors ofthe atrocities and desecrate the memory ofthe victims; and
WHEREAS, By consistently remembering and forcefully condemning
the atrocities committed against the Armenians and honoring the survivors, as well as other victims of similar heinous conduct, we guard against
repetition of such acts of genocide; and
WHEREAS, California is home to the largest population of Armenians
in the United States, and those citizens have enriched our state through
leadership in the fields of academia, medicine, business, agriculture,
government, and the arts, and are proud and patriotic practitioners of
American citizenship and that Fresno State is home to the Armenian
Studies Program, the Armenian Students Organization and many students of Armenian descent;
Now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Associated Students Senate,
hereby designates Monday, April 24, 2000, as the "California State
University, Fresno Student Day of Remembrance of the Armenian
Genocide of 1915-23"; and be it further Resolved, That the Associated
Students transmit copies of this resolution to the President of California
State University, Fresno to all other pertinent officials on the Fresno State
campus, and to all clubs on campus.
recognize the Genocide so that it
would not happen again.
US      Congressmanof
George Radanovich (R-19th District) is currently co-authoring a
bill to commemorate the victims
of the Armenian Genocide and
calling upon the current day Turkish government to recognize the
1915 Genocide. His district director and member of the Advisory Board ofthe Armenian Studies Program, Steve Samuelian,
was at the commemoration and
spoke of the current events concerning the Genocide.
"The Turks spend $3 million a year trying to convince
members ofthe US Congress that
the Genocide never occurred,"
Samuelian said.
He also pointed out the
efforts of State Senator Chuck
Poochigian who has recently sponsored and passed legislation to get
insurance reparations for victims
ofthe Genocide and legislation that
commemorates April 24, as genocide commemoration day. "        I
think more and more events like
these put pressure on the US government to finally recognize this
horrible act that has occurred in
1915," Freshman Sevag Tateosian
said.   "Events like this make me
proud because it shows me that we
are moving forward."
The efforts of Congressman Radanovich, State Senator
Poochigian, Council President
Boyajian and Mayor Patterson are
providing the push for official recognition in the US and hopefully in
Turkey and demonstrates that the
Armenians' commemoration efforts are achieving positive results.
The Armenian Studies
Program was also presented with a
US flag flown over the Capitol in
Washington DC in memory of the
Armenian Genocide on behalf of
Congressman Radanovich and
Samuelian.
It is indicative to note that
April 24th is not just for Armenians
but for human rights everywhere.
century, played in the background.
"It was a real powerful
moment, slowly walking up to the
monument, kneeling down and
placing a flower in remembrance,"
Sophomore Andre Torigian said.
"It made me think long and hard of
those in the Genocide and the
miracle of my relatives managing
Anoush Armenian Dancers performing the Candle Dance
A key statement of the April 24
event is that creating awareness
would hopefully prevent genocide
from ever happening again.
"We want to tell the world
that it is never right for a government to kill any of its citizens,"
Professor Barlow Der Mugrdechian
said.
The commemoration, in
following a tradition established
two years ago on campus and a
tradition followed in Armenia on
every April 24th, concluded with
the crowd placing pink and white
carnations at the base of the scale
model of the Armenian Martyrs
Monument. While apporaching the
monument, a selection from
Gomidas Vartabed, the premier Armenian composer of the twentieth
to survive so that I could be here
today."
Freshman Amalia
Vareldjian believed the commemoration v^as "Something to remember, something that shows the Armenian people have survived ." ;
The Armenian Studies
Program and the ASO have always
cospdnsored a rally on April 24th at
Fresno State and plan to continue
doing so as long as the program and
organization are at Fresno State.
"We have a reason to remember April 24th every year on
this campus, and for every year to
come. It is our duty and responsibility to honor those martyred and
to bear witness to the world about
the Armenian Genocide," Der
Mugrdechian said.
"Destination Nowhere" Premieres in Fresno
By Barlow Der Mugrdechian
Armenian Studies Program
More than 100 students and
community members experienced
an emotional evening watching the
written comments on a an evaluation form which was distributed to
viewers. Comments included: "It
was a great and moving film...," "It
was an excellent film that really
touched our hearts...," "It was an
Public Executions of Armenians
Armenian Information and Documentation Center Archive,
Berlin
United States premiere ofthe documentary "Destination Nowhere:
The Witness," which was screened
on Tuesday, April 25.
Audience reaction to the movie
was intense, as demonstrated by
excellent presentation...," and "The
movie was very informative and
well presented."
The documentary depicted
Armin Wegner's personal testimony to the Armenian Genocide
through vivid and often disturbing
photographs, which were taken
while he served in the German army
in Ottoman Turkey in 1915-1916,
dramatically bringing to life the
Armenian Genocide of 1915.
Wegner photographed the destruction of Armenians in the
deserts of Der Zor, and his photographs provide some of the most
powerful images we have of the
Armenian Genocide.
He was recently honored at
the Armenian Genocide Museum
in Yerevan, Republic of Armenia,
for championing the plight of Armenians until the end of his life.
It was expected that Dr. Martin Rooney, a specialist on Armin
Wegner would be in the United
States from Germany to talk about
the film and more about Armin
Wegner. Due to health reasons
Dr. Rooney was unable to come to
the United States. Barlow Der
Mugrdechian of the Armenian
Studies Program introduced the
film and read a brief biography of
Armin T. Wegner.
Armin T. Wegner's (1886-
1978) collection of glass picture
plates and negatives are in the
Schiller Museum and Literature
archive in Marbach am Neckar.
Only 32 of the approximately 200
pictures are related to the Arme-
 1	
See Documentary, Page 8