REMEMBERING THE DEAD
By Jason Wells

Glendale News Press, CA
April 24 2008

Armenian Genocide commemoration at the Alex urges people to look
forward, with an eye to the past.

Armenia’s past collided with its future Thursday night on a stage,
in a theater, in Glendale.

The more than 1,300 people who attended the city’s event at the Alex
Theatre commemorating the 93rd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide
were confronted with a classic herald to the Eurasian country’s tragic
past through operatic overtures, while at the same time challenged
to maintain the momentum for international recognition of the genocide.

More than 1.5 million Armenians lost their lives between 1915 and
1918 in the former Ottoman Empire through either outright killings
or forced migration. Turkey’s government has refused to acknowledge
the genocide, contending the deaths occurred during a civil conflict.

Keynote speaker Carla Garapedian — who directed "Screamers,"
a documentary on the band System of a Down as it toured to raise
awareness of modern genocide — said the stateside diaspora had a
duty to hold politicians accountable and keep pressure on Congress
to pass a resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide.

"We need to raise the bar for politicians who are making foreign
policy in our names," she told the audience.

"We must ask the hard questions, because if we don’t, who will?"

The genocide resolution, despite gaining a key endorsement from
the House Foreign Affairs Committee and obtaining signatures from
212 co-sponsors, hasn’t been brought for a full vote by the House
amid fears there isn’t quite enough congressional support to ensure
its passage. Many congressional representatives are wary of damaging
relations with Turkey, which is considered to be a strategic military
partner.

Even with the resolution’s pause, Armenian leaders say the amount of
international attention it has generated has helped keep the spotlight
on their efforts, which in of itself is considered progress.

Mayor John Drayman in his address to the audience said it was an
"understated disgrace" that Congress has so far refused to acknowledge
the Armenian Genocide as historic fact.

Inside the Alex Theatre, Garapedian’s calls for unity in support
of the genocide’s recognition, which dozens of governments have
already done, were a part of a larger picture of activism mixed with
commemoration. Pro-Armenian demonstrators protested Thursday outside
the Turkish embassy in Los Angeles, while thousands of Armenians
marched in Hollywood to commemorate the genocide’s anniversary.

But while Armenians will always look on the first genocidal event
of the 20th Century with horror, organizers of Thursday’s program at
the Alex wanted to show that "it’s not about crying anymore."

"We’re beyond that," said Jacob Parseghian, a member of the organizing
committee who through Artists For Kids produced the artistic program,
which saw world-renowned tenor Gegham Grigorian perform two classic
operatic solos against a 25-member orchestra.

Before the display of Armenia’s classic cultural heritage on stage,
Councilman Ara Najarian, chairman of the organizing committee, assured
the world that even in looking to the future for progress, the Armenian
community had not forgotten the mass killings, and never would.

"We have not forgotten what we went through," he said. "We have not
forgotten the genocide."