Always remember
By Joe Piasecki
Pasadena Weekly, CA
April 20 2006
On Monday, Armenian Americans throughout the Southland and around the
world will commemorate the genocide committed against their people
91 years ago in the Ottoman Turkish Empire.
On April 24, 1915, the Ottoman government began the systematic arrest,
deportation and wholesale slaughter of Armenian men, women and children
by seizing hundreds of community leaders under cover of a news blackout
imposed during World War I.
Scholars believe that as many as 1.5 million Armenians perished during
the genocide, which one American ambassador there at the time described
as ~Sa campaign of race extermination.~T
Despite these and other messages to the American government, federal
lawmakers have yet to officially recognize the genocide. For a number
of years, some in Congress ~W including Pasadena Democrat Adam Schiff
~W have pushed for genocide recognition, but such bills have failed
to gain majority support.
Throughout the week, a number of local events will commemorate the
genocide.
On Friday evening, speakers and artists will perform at Glendale
High School. Mass gatherings will take place in LA~Rs Little Armenia
throughout the weekend, and protesters are expected to gather at the
Turkish Consulate in Westwood on Monday.