FresnoBee.com
Sunday, April 24, 2005

Much pride, remembrance at Armenian genocide event
By Louis Galvan / The Fresno Bee

Vertaim Krikorian, 78, holds the U.S. and Armenian flags Saturday at City
Hall. Her grandparents died in the genocide.
John Walker / The Fresno Bee

With hundreds of misty eyes watching, the Armenian flag was unfurled
Saturday in front of Fresno City Hall during a ceremony commemorating the
Armenian genocide in which 1.5 million Armenians were massacred by the
Ottoman Turkish government between 1915 and 1923.
The program, the second annual ceremonial raising of the Armenian banner at
City Hall, drew a crowd of about 600 men, women and children, most of them
of Armenian descent whose families suffered during the genocide.
Fresno City Council Member Tom Boyajian, whose grandparents on both sides of
his family were among those killed, served as master of ceremonies. He
joined numerous speakers in reminding the crowd not to forget their heritage
and to continue to seek justice for their slain loved ones.
Said Fresno Mayor Alan Autry: “We are here to mourn, we are here to
remember, and we are here to hope.”
Autry pointed out that in addition to the 1.5 million deaths, many other
Armenians were victims of rape, torture and other forms of violence during
the genocide.
“If you don’t remember, you are doomed to repeat it,” said Autry, sending a
message to young people to “make sure your generation never forgets.”
And, he told the crowd, it’s important to keep alive the hope that the
Turkish government — even after 90 years of denial — will finally accept
responsibility for what happened.
“It’s difficult to be forgiven if you don’t step up and accept
responsibility,” Autry said.
Autry and other speakers challenged the federal government and the Bush
administration to officially recognize the Armenian genocide and to put
pressure on the Turkish government to stop denying the genocide happened.
State Sen. Chuck Poochigian, R-Fresno, said justice can be served only when
the truth is known.
“It hurts when this country, at the highest level — Congress and the White
House — falls victim to their [Turkish] lies,” Poochigian said.
Poochigian, whose grandparents lost family members during the genocide, was
in Sacramento on Thursday where about 1,200 people gathered at the state
Capitol to thank the state Legislature for supporting his bill to
permanently recognize the Armenian genocide on April 24 of each year.
The bill was signed by Gov. Schwarzenegger, who said in his signing message:
“We must recognize crimes against humanity if we are to prevent them.
Silence in the face of genocide effectively encourages those who would
commit such atrocities in the future.”
Other speakers Saturday included Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno; Rep. George
Radanovich, R-Mariposa; and Raffi Hamparian, representing the Armenian
National Committee of America, Western Region Board in Los Angeles.
The program opened with the raising of the American flag by a color guard
from Fresno High School’s ROTC program while trumpet player Danny Pena
played the national anthem.
Pena then played the Armenian national anthem while an Armenian Boy Scout
troop, the Fresno Sassoon Ho Menet Men Chapter, raised the Armenian colors.
In the parking lot after the program, Natasha Azarian, 27, and her brother,
Vasken Azarian, 20, former Fresno residents now living in Berkeley, said
they liked what they saw and heard.
With more and more older Armenians — sons and daughters of the victims of
the genocide — dying each year, they agreed it’s up to the young people to
make sure future generations are not allowed to forget the genocide.
“Right now, you are not going to read it in our history books,” said Nathash
Azarian.
Vasken Azarian, looking at the huge crowd, said: “I’ve never been prouder to
be an Armenian than today.”
The reporter can be reached at lgalvan@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6139.

Shant Atikian, 19, right, carries the flag of Armenia during a ceremony
Saturday outside City Hall in Fresno that commemorated the Armenian
genocide. Atikian is escorted by other members of an Armenian Boy Scout
troop, the Fresno Sassoon Ho Menet Men Chapter.
John Walker / The Fresno Bee

Fresno City Council Member Tom Boyajian, whose grandparents on both sides of
his family were among those killed in the Armenian genocide, served as
master of ceremonies Saturday.
John Walker / The Fresno Bee