Palos Verdes Peninsula News (California)
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News
April 22, 2010 Thursday

News keeps promise to Armenian community

OPINION: April 22 Editorial

by Palos Verdes Peninsula News, Calif.

About five years ago, the News staff made a commitment to the Armenian
community that we would run this editorial, updated, of course, every
year around April 24 until the Turkish government recognizes the
murder of 1.5 million Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire
between 1915 and 1923.

The atrocity claimed the lives of Rolling Hills Estates City
Councilman Frank Zerunyan’s great-grandfather and great-uncle. They
were among the victims of the 20th century’s first genocide,
perpetrated by the Ottoman Turks. This year marks the 95-year
anniversary of the bloody crime against humanity that even today tears
at the hearts of Zerunyan and his kinsmen.

Though April 24 is recognized worldwide as the day the genocide began
nearly a century ago, the Turkish government tragically still refuses
to acknowledge it.

Masterminded by the Young Turks, a political group that gained control
of the Ottoman Empire and believed in an oppressive form of
nationalism, the genocide resulted in the deaths of men, women and
children. On April 24, 1915, the Turks rounded up, deported and killed
hundreds of Armenian leaders, writers, thinkers and professionals in
Constantinople, thereby ripping much of the intellectual heart out of
the country. So many potential world leaders in fields like science
and politics were lost on that day. Fortunately, surviving relatives
like Zerunyan are here to remind us of such senseless acts of
violence.

If we don’t learn from history, we’re doomed to repeat it. We ask
readers, as we did two weeks ago, to reflect on the millions of souls
who have perished at the hands of those claiming national and racial
superiority.

We as a people have much to learn. But Zerunyan and those who follow
in his footsteps take the necessary steps to try to prevent similar
crimes against humanity. Their constant vigil is an inspiration and a
reminder of the power of the individual to create positive change in a
world that often is full of hate. Without them, we may as well toss
our history books into the fire.