75 DEATH ANNIVERSARY OF VAHAN CARDASHIAN TO BE COMMEMORATED IN 2009

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
09.06.2009 17:16 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ 75 death anniversary of Vahan Cardashian, who made
a significant contribution to Armenian Nation’s history, will be
commemorated in 2009.

Little is known about the work of Vahan Cardashian in Armenia; still,
it is to him that Armenians owe their victory in US Senate. Cardashian
gained support for the Armenian cause by uniting American society
against American-Turkish agreement signed in Lausanne in 1923. Thanks
to his efforts, US Senate refrained from adopting Lausanne agreement,
documentally confirming US President Woodrow Wilson’s arbitral decision
on Armenia.

Vahan Cardashian was born in Gesaria. He received his law degree
from Yale University, New York and was a colleague of Armen Karo
(Armenia’s Ambassador to the United States of America).

>From 1911 to 1915, Cardashian represented the Ottoman Embassy and its
New York consulate. He resigned his post in 1915 when he learned that
his mother and sister were among the victims of the 1915 Genocide;
soon he became active in the American Committee for an Independent
Armenia (ACIA) In 1918 Vahan Cardashian was appointed director of
the A.R.F. central committee media office. During this period he
closed his private practice and allocated his time and wealth to the
Armenian Cause.

In 1919, Vahan Cardashian established the (ACIA), the predecessor
of the Armenian National Committee. Its membership included many
prominent American and Allied leaders including James V. Gerard,
the U.S. Ambassador to Germany, Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Charles
Evans Hughes (later appointed Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme
Court), Elihu Root and others. Its goal, as implied by its title,
was to seek the independence of Armenia along the lines recommended
by President Wilson. The ACIA had its central offices in New York
City with 23 regional offices in 13 states.

Vahan Cardashian died in long island at the age of 51.