LANSING, Mich. (WILX) – Hundreds of Armenian Americans gathered at the Michigan State Capitol to protest the treatment of Armenians by Azerbaijan and Turkey.
Armenian American Allan Oganyan’s mother fled the war in the 1990′s and sought refuge in the United States.
“I want the killings to end and I want Armenia to feel safe,” said Oganyan. “That’s it, I just want the safety of my people. We shouldn’t have to worry every time we stand up and say, ‘Look at me, I’m Armenian.’”
Inna Mirzoyan is a student at Michigan State University. She explains why this should matter to Michiganders and the American people.
“While this isn’t something that folks think necessarily affects us locally, there’s communities like this one here and throughout Detroit and other parts of the U.S. where there’s larger Armenian communities that are really impactful to the American people and I feel like this is an opportunity for us to have a strong alliance with each other,” said Mirzoyan.
Marzoyan said she feels the U.S. should do more to help resolve the conflict.
“I feel like America could do more in terms of bringing awareness. A lot of coverage has been coming from Armenian Americans and we really ask that our allies to also speak up for us.”
Mirzoyan and Oganyan are among many people whose families fled the war 30 years ago. However, Edmond Azadian’s parents escaped the Armenian genocide of 1915.
"My mother was a survivor. There were 40 members in the family and they were sent to the deserts of Syria. By a miracle 4 people were saved,” explained Azadian. “If she didn’t survive, like the rest of the other families, I wouldn’t be here to protest. There are many people, if they were alive today, that would be here to protest against the second genocide.”