By Charly SHELTON

The Armenian Genocide commenced on April 24, 1915 in a coordinated strike simultaneously around the Ottoman Empire, excising Armenian residents from their homes and leading them on a death march to the Sahara Desert. In all, 1.5 million Armenians were killed in the process. The survivors fled their country and the diaspora spread throughout the world, with the largest populations in Russia and America. In the modern day, the Ottoman Empire is now known as Turkey and, although Armenia is its own country again, the scar of the Genocide lingers in the hearts of those survivors’ descendants living around the world away from their homeland. And although colloquially it is called the Armenian Genocide, it has not officially been recognized as such in the United States.

“I am the grandson of a Genocide survivor,” said Arick Gevorkian, chairman of the Armenian National Committee – Glendale chapter. “He survived Turkey and escaped to Russia, and then immigrated to Iran. One-and-a-half million people were massacred systematically, wiped out by the government of the Ottoman Empire. Now, 104 years later, not only is there no recognition from Turkey, like when Germany recognized the Holocaust saying, ‘It was our past and let’s move forward,’ but most importantly there is no recognition by the U.S. government because Turkey is a NATO ally. So [the governmental relations saving face is] more important than to recognize it because it would upset the Turkish government.”

The Genocide is excused away by the Turkish government as being a tumultuous time for everyone in Turkey during World War I and some people get lost in the shuffle, Gevorkian said. Despite the U.S. government officially denying the Genocide, there are some politicians who admonish this lack of condemnation of Turkey’s past actions.

Last week, Rep. Adam Schiff released a bipartisan resolution he co-authored with Rep. Gus Bilirakis of Florida that would officially recognize the Armenian Genocide.

“Over 100 years ago, the Ottoman Empire undertook a brutal campaign of murder, rape, and displacement against the Armenian people that took the lives of 1.5 million men, women, and children in the first Genocide of the 20th century,” said Rep. Schiff in a statement. “Genocide is not a relic of the past, but an ever-present threat. Its denial is not only a continuing injury to the survivors, but makes its repetition against another people more likely. It is therefore all the more pressing that the Congress recognize the historical fact of the Armenian Genocide and make clear that we will never be an accomplice to denial.”

Unfortunately, this is not the first time Rep. Schiff has tried to launch this resolution. His attempt in 2017 met with resistance and was not passed, and the President made a statement that didn’t recognize the Genocide.

“We received another disappointing statement from yet another President, refusing to acknowledge the murder of 1.5 million Armenians from 1915-1923 for what it was – a genocide,” Rep. Schiff said in a statement in 2017. “President Trump now joins a long line of both Republican and Democratic Presidents unwilling to confront Turkey and, by refusing to do so, he has made the United States once again a party to its campaign of denial.”

But this is a larger issue than just saying the Genocide occurred. Regardless of the admission by governments, it is held true as part of the fabric of the Armenian diaspora’s shared culture that the Genocide happened and was the main cause for creating a diaspora in the first place. Beyond the official admission, there is more to the closure of the wound.

“There are reparations connected to that [admission],” Gevorkian said. “Most importantly, more than the admission is the reparation, the thousands of acres of land, churches [and] private property that was confiscated. Some of it was insured by Axa Insurance Company in France and New York Life.”

Each year on April 24, communities of Armenians and sympathizers around the world hold remembrances and celebrations of lives to honor the loss in 1915.

“The Armenian [people] are not against the people of Turkey but against the [Turkish] government and the reason we recognize it is because we want to make sure that [our forebears] didn’t die in vain,” Gevorkian said. “Recognizing it every year, whether it’s 100 years, 150 years, 200 years – it reminds the world that it was the first genocide [of the 20th century] and, if we forget, history will repeat itself.”

Events will be held around the Glendale and larger LA area over the next week, with highlights including the  annual March for Justice at the Turkish Consulate at 1 p.m., commemorative events at Bicknel Park in Montebello at 9 a.m., the Alex Theatre in Glendale at 7 p.m. (all on April 24), and the “Parallel Histories: A Panel Discussion” on April 25 at Glendale’s Downtown Central Library at 7 p.m. Tonight, Thursday April 18 at 7 p.m. in the Hoover High School Auditorium, students from Crescenta Valley High School will present an evening of select songs and scenes from “A Journey of Angels,” a new musical in development based on the novel “My Mother’s Voice” by Dr. Kay Mouradian and adapted for the stage by CVHS drama teacher Brent Beerman.

More info on these and other events can be found at ArmenianCalendar.com.

  Charly Shelton