April 24 Observance in Detroit

By Mitch Kehetian
March 14, 2004

DETROIT – In observing the 89th anniversary of the Armenian genocide,
Detroit’s Armenian community will hear two powerful voices on Sunday,
April 25 that will address Turkey’s continuing denial of the 1915
genocide of 1.5 million Armenians. Speaking to the community about
the human carnage that struck the Armenian people on April 24, 1915
will be Ken Kachikian, chairman of the Armenian National Committee of
America, and Arman Kirakossian, the Armenian ambassador to the United
States.

This year’s observance of the 1915 genocide brings together a wide
range of civic, educational and patriotic Armenian organizations in
Greater Detroit, and to the coordinating committee’s leadership, the
scheduling of two motivating speakers to address the 89 years of
denial and injustice that still cloaks the Turkish-occupied lands of
historical Armenia.

In planning the 2 p.m. rally for justice at St. John’s Armenian Church
Cultural Hall in suburban Southfield, members of the Detroit United
Committee for the Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide, have also
scheduled a book signing by Ambassador Kirakossian, a noted scholar
and author, at 6 p.m. at Borders Book Store in Birmingham, on Woodward
between 14 and 15 Mile roads. An afterglow will follow the
ambassador’s book signing at the Hagopian World of Rugs Showroom, at
850 S. Old Woodward, Birmingham, made available by Edgar Hagopian, a
recognized activist for the Armenian cause within the forum of the
American political scene in Michigan.

Edmond Azadian, speaking for the sponoring groups of the ambassador’s
book signing, said Kirakossian will discuss his recently completed
book “The Armenian Massacres, 1894-1896, U.S. Media Testimony.”
released in February by Wayne State University Press. Kirakossian’s
book chronicles America’s public outrage against the atrocities, and
the coining of that chilling nightmare as “The Armenian Question,” a
sinister Turkish plan that was the prelude to the Ottoman Turkish
government’s heinous plan of genocide it carried out against Armenians
in the districts of now depopulated western Armenia.

The book signing at the Borders Book Store, sponsored by Wayne State
University, the Armenian Democratic Liberal League and the Tekeyan
Cultural Association, is open to the Armenian community.

In a foreword by U.S. Senator Bob Dole, the distinguished American
statesman said Kirakossian’s book is a collection of articles that
compile a “chilling picture of a ruthless, inhumane campaign to
exterminate many thousands of Armenians and drive the remainder from
their ancestral lands,” while clearly defining it, and the subsequent
carnage of 1915 as “the Armenian genocide.”

Paul Kulhanjian, a retired Detroit public school principal, said
Kachikian will focus his message on the Armenian genocide, and its
contemporary relevance within the framework of national and
international implications..

“Detroit is honored to have two distinguished Armenian speakers
address our community on a day dedicated to mark 89 years of
injustice, and how we can effectively stake our claim for justice
before a court of world opinion,” said Kulhanjian, a spokesman for the
April 25 justice rally and the ambassador’s book signing in Detroit.