Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, CA
Aug 24 2007

Armenian, Turk show the way to peace

By Imani Tate, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 08/23/2007 11:00:00 PM PDT

In the summer of 2004, a stranger hugged him at the Martyrs Monument
in Armenia and Garbis Der Yeghiayan wondered, "Who are you? How do
you know me?"
"Truly an ambassador of peace to the world" is the way La Verne Mayor
Jon Blickenstaff describes Der Yeghiayan, a La Verne resident and
past Rotary International District 5300 governor.

The man at the monument thought so, too.

When Der Yeghiayan goes to Armenia, he goes directly to the monument
from the airport to pay his respects to the 1.5 million Armenians
murdered by the Young Turks in an early 20th century holocaust.

The stranger went to the monument to find Der Yeghiayan.

"He said there’s an event this evening honoring you as the founder of
the Rotary club in Yerevan, Armenia, and I’m here to speak on that
occasion," recalled the still baffled Der Yeghiayan. "Again, I am
curious and ask him, `Who are you? I don’t know you.’

"He said `I know you. You’re a peacemaker. I’m a peacemaker, too, so
we have something in common."’

The stranger was Erhan Ciftcioglu, the Rotary district governor in
Turkey. The historic meeting became even more so as the Armenian and
the Turk then kneeled at the monument and prayed for peace.

"My sister Knar and everyone are shocked to see an Armenian and a
Turk together, especially at the Martyrs Monument," Der Yeghiayan
said.

"What united us," Der Yeghiayan explained, "was Rotary International,
an organization promoting peace. We hugged and said, `we are
brothers, you and I. Together, we will accomplish the impossible.’
The peace conference idea was born at the Martyrs Monument."

Ciftcioglu returned to Mersin, Turkey, and initiated a peace
exchange, starting with 25 Armenian children hosted by local Turkish
families. The cultural exchange prompted the children and families to
become peace-and-reconciliation advocates themselves.

In March 2005, a peace conference was held in Ankara, Turkey,
bringing together Rotarians from Armenia, Turkey and Azerbaijan for
the first time.

Der Yeghiayan and Ciftcioglu served as conference co-chairs. The
former gave an emotionally charged speech that left Armenians and
Turks hugging and crying.

"It’s almost impossible to describe in words because of all the mixed
emotions you feel when descendants of the martyrs show any
camaraderie with descendants of those who martyred them," Der
Yeghiayan confessed.

"As the great-grandson of a martyred archpriest, I had this very
special feeling that I was making a difference. This was a very, very
rare moment in the history of our two people," he continued.

Armenians, recognized as loyal by the Ottoman Empire, had peacefully
lived as good neighbors with Turks for 700 years before the genocide,
he noted. Many Turks hid Armenian neighbors and helped them survive
the slaughter, he added.

Denying the genocide and re-writing history to say Armenians were the
perpetrators rather than victims "doesn’t change historical fact,"
Der Yeghiayan said. "Our cultural and religious monuments are our
witnesses, in ruins, but still proof."

Forgiveness, not hatred, heals human hearts, he said.

Blickenstaff cited an example of Der Yeghiayan’s "quietly relentless"
efforts for friendship and peace.

Shortly before they departed for the 1985 trip to the then
USSR-controlled modern Armenia, a Glendale family asked Blickenstaff
to facilitate the release of relatives still in Armenia.

"I had no idea what that would involve, but I promised I’d try," the
mayor said.

He and Der Yeghiayan met with the Glendale family’s relatives in
Armenia. Der Yeghiayan constantly appealed to political officials to
let the relatives come to America, but leaders left them guessing.

"One day after we came home I got a call from the Glendale family,
telling me their relatives were arriving at Los Angeles
International," Blickenstaff said.

"We all went to the airport and celebrated."