DETROIT COMMEMORATES ARF’S 119TH ANNIVERSARY
By Georgi-Ann Oshagan

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December 2, 2009

DEARBORN, Mich.-The ARF Detroit "Azadamard" Gomideh observed the
federation’s 119th anniversary on Nov. 13-14 at the Armenian Community
Center in Dearborn with ARF Archives Institute director Vatche Proodian
speaking on both days.

On Nov. 13, the AYF-YOARF Detroit "Kopernik Tandourjian" Senior
Chapter joined the "Azadamard" Gomideh and its members for a joint
membership meeting. The meeting was preceded by a pizza and salad
supper and socializing. The Gomideh chairman, Narses Gedigian, and the
AYF chapter president, Ani Hagopian, opened the meeting and introduced
their respective executive boards.

Gedigian gave a presentation on the ARF’s position on the
Armenia-Turkey protocols and provided information on the Gomideh’s
leadership role in organizing metro Detroit’s April 2010 commemoration
of the Armenian Genocide. AYF executive board member Nieri Avanessian
outlined the impetus behind the ANCA’s national "Countdown to Erdogan"
Campaign and urged all AYF and ARF members to participate in the
ANCA’s daily directives to ensure the maximum support and impact of
the grassroots campaign.

A highlight of the evening was a presentation by AYF members Anoush
Mardigian and Arakel and Jaclyn Chopjian on their AYF summer internship
in Armenia this past summer. They answered many questions about their
impressions of Armenia and Armenian society, Armenian youth attitudes,
and the Armenian public’s reaction to the protocols.

Proodian presented a DVD on the establishment of the ARF Archives
Institute at the Hairenik Building in Watertown, Mass. The video
featured important and rare items from the archives, and Proodian
provided additional details on the ARF’s archive project and the back
story to some of the items contained in the archives.

The following day, on Nov. 14, members of the ARF’s affiliated
organizations gathered for dinner at the Armenian Community Center and
listened to Proodian speak about the run-up to the protocols and the
international political pressures that led Armenia into signing them.

Proodian began by explaining that the government of Turkey has been
focused on changing its international image by presenting itself
as an important mediator in long-simmering political disputes and
by favoring open dialogue to resolve political problems. Proodian
noted that Turkey has embraced this new image not only to gain entry
to the European Union but also to stifle recognition and reparations
demands in connection with the Armenian Genocide.

With the recent diminishment of Turkey’s "Kurdish problem," he said,
following the establishment of a "de facto Kurdistan" in northern Iraq,
only Armenia presents a threat with its political and territorial
demands.

Proodian said that Turkey’s leaders had become concerned of shifting
pro-genocide recognition dynamics in the U.S. Congress earlier this
year-particularly after Obama’s April 2009 statement while in Turkey,
that his personal position on the Armenian Genocide had not changed-and
feared that those conditions could lead to U.S.

recognition of the genocide in 2009.

Thus, he said, Turkey’s push for the protocols.

Proodian enumerated the well-established problem points in the current
protocols: the establishment of a body to investigate the Armenian
Genocide’s "historical dimension," waiver of Armenian territorial
claims with recognition of the Kars Treaty-established border, and
Armenia’s recognition of her neighbors’ "territorial integrity" so
as to diminish the self-determination rights of Karabagh’s Armenian
population. He observed that the national interests and rights of the
Armenian people would be "doomed" if the protocols were ratified by
Turkey’s and Armenia’s parliaments in their current state.

Proodian urged all audience members to participate in anti-protocol
activities to derail the ratification process. "We are in a war that
is possible to win," he concluded. "We must do everything."

A lively question and answer period followed Proodian’s remarks.