Billerica Minuteman, MA
May 12 2005

Series examines genocide through Armenian experience
By Margaret Smith/ Staff Writer
Thursday, May 12, 2005

For Armenians worldwide, April 24, 1915 is a date seared into their
collective consciousness as the darkest day in the history of their
3,000-year-old civilization.

The date marks what survivors and their descendants recall as
the beginning of arrests, mass-killings and deportations of
Armenians, including women and children, from their homes in Turkey –
then part of the Ottoman Empire. Survivors would tell of being
forcibly marched through harsh desert terrain to Syria.

In all, an estimated 1.5 million are reported to have died, many
>From hardships suffered on the trek.

By 1923, the Armenian population in Turkey fell from 2.5 million
to 100,000, according to some estimates.

This year marks the 90th anniversary of the killings. Although
the number of people who bore first-hand witness is rapidly
dwindling, the episode has gained more attention as historians and
scholars grapple with the ramifications of genocide.

An event series at the Patrick J. Mogan Cultural Center at 40
French St. in Lowell focuses on genocide – as well as the experiences
of the Armenian refugees who settled in the United States.

The events are a collaborative effort of several organizations,
including the Merrimack Valley Armenian Genocide Committee, the
Lowell National Historical Park, the University of Massachusetts at
Lowell and Project SAVE Armenian Photograph Archives, Inc.

For Levon Chorbajian, a Billerica resident since 1979, the
struggles of Armenians have personal meaning.

“I would like people to understand genocide is currently an
international problem and issue,” said Chorbajian, whose parents, the
late Walter and Antoinette Chorbajian, managed to escape the carnage
as children.

Chorbajian, a professor of sociology at UMass Lowell and one of
the event organizers, will moderate a forum on global issues of
genocide Thursday, May 19 at 7 p.m. at the Mogan Center.

The Mogan Center is also the host of an exhibit of artifacts,
works of art, photos and archives depicting the experiences of
Armenian victims, refugees and descendants. The exhibit is on display
until June 17.

“It’s taken the third and fourth generation to really activate the
interest,” said Ruth Thomasian, executive director of Project SAVE, a
Watertown-based organization dedicated to the preservation of
photographs and other artifacts depicting the experiences of Armenian
refugees. She added, “These people who experienced it – and their
children – just wanted to forget about it.”

Thomasian recalled speaking with a 98-year-old survivor now
living in New York. “A woman said, ‘For me, that is life, and for you
that is history.'”

Debate endures

The motivations for the killings remain the subject of
emotionally-charged debate. The Turkish government maintains these
actions were part of the country’s efforts to defend itself from
pro-Russian corroborators during World War I.

For years, many survivors refused to talk about the trauma they
had experienced or witnessed. Chorbajian said his parents, however,
was an exception. “My family talked about it very freely. It was a
frequent topic of conversation. I’m grateful I learned about this,”
Chorbajian said, adding that his family’s stories influenced his
career choice as a professor who researches, teaches and writes about
genocide issues.

The United Nations anti-genocide convention, first adopted in
1951, declared acts of genocide a crime whether committed in peace or
during times of war.

The definition of genocide includes acts committed with the
intention of destroying a national, ethnic, racial or religious
group; including killing members of a group, causing bodily or mental
harm to group members; deliberately inflicting conditions calculated
to bring about the group’s demise; imposing measures intended to
prevent births within the group and forcibly transferring children to
another group.

The Armenian genocide remains a painful point of contention
between Armenians and present-day Turks, even as it slips from living
memory, Chorbajian noted.

One of the events in the series, “The Other Side of Genocide,” a
lecture by series coordinator Mehmed Ali, executive director of the
Mogan Center, will focus on at issues that have faced the Turkish
community. The lecture takes place Tuesday, May 17 at 7 p.m. at the
center.

Chorbajian said one fear is that a public acknowledgement by the
Turkish government might lead to demands for reparation from
survivors or their descendants.

Chorbajian said he thinks an apology from Turkey would be more
important than compensation.

Whether to seek reparations, however, is something the Armenian
community must decide for itself, he said.

An ongoing tragedy

Chorbajian said it’s important to note that during episodes of
government-sanctioned mass-killings – including those in Turkey
-there are those who have given shelter or safe passage to would-be
victims. Many Turks, for example, warned or offered help their
Armenian neighbors even though doing so might have cost them their
own lives.

Similar responses during the Holocaust and the Rwandan civil war
were the subject of the acclaimed films, “Schindler’s List” and
“Hotel Rwanda.”

However, a troubling recurrence, he said, is the world
community’s inability to respond effectively. He cited the inaction
of United Nations officials in Rwanda as one example.

A complete schedule of commemorative events at the Mogan Center
and elsewhere can be found on the Web site of St. Vartanantz Armenian
Church of Chelmsford. For more information, visit the Web at

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress