STUDENTS DISRUPT GENOCIDE MEMORIAL
by Melody Chiu
Daily Trojan Online, CA
University of Southern California
April 24 2008
Students trample flowers and signs erected in honor of the Armenian
genocide.
A peaceful demonstration was disrupted Wednesday when two students
stepped on flowers and knocked down signs at a memorial service
honoring those who died in the Armenian genocide between 1915 and 1923.
The memorial was organized by several Armenian student organizations,
including the Armenian Graduate Student Association and the Armenian
Student Association, and consisted of 1,500 carnations in honor of
the estimated 1.5 million victims of the genocide.
Members of the organizations began planting the flowers in McCarthy
Quad at 4 a.m., and fact sheets were put up with information about
the Armenian genocide along the perimeters of the walkways.
"We were trying to have a very silent and powerful way to
raise awareness of the Armenian genocide on campus," said
Kanakara Navasartian, president of the Armenian Graduate Student
Association. "Everyone has a right to honor their past, and this
wasn’t just about the Armenian genocide. This was about crime against
humanity, period."
Navasartian said two students approached the display and began knocking
down the fact sheets.
The Ottoman Empire has been accused of deliberately and systematically
destroying the Armenian population during World War I, starting in
Istanbul in 1915.
Turkey does not recognize the term genocide as an appropriate
description of the events.
Last year, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proclaimed the week of April
22 through April 29 as "Days of Remembrance of the Armenian Genocide."
Helen Kuiumdjian, president of the Armenian Student Association,
said another member of the organization called her to tell her two
students were disrupting the memorial.
"She said the girl and her boyfriend were yelling and stomping on
all the signs and flowers," Kuiumdjian said. "I was notified by [the
Department of Public Safety] and they said they were looking for the
girl and that they had found her."
DPS officials declined to comment.
Kuiumdjian said the students damaged the groups’ display, but they
were able to rebuild it.
"They broke our signs and our plants were hanging," she said. "It
was a wreck, but a bunch of members worked and fixed it back up in
about 20 minutes."
Kuiumdjian said students passing by the memorial also helped fix
the display.
Students said the disruptive behavior was inappropriate.
"I don’t have any definite examples of what else they could’ve done,
but something more peaceful," said Daniel Bay, a sophomore majoring
in business administration.
"You can hate someone as much as you want, but they shouldn’t have
the right to do that," he said. "They have their own beliefs and they
shouldn’t have acted out so negatively."