By Jessika Harkay
Hartford Courant |
Apr 22, 2021
More than a century after the Armenian genocide that claimed more than a million lives in a series of massacres by the Ottoman government in the shadow of World War I, the Armenian Genocide Commemoration Committee of Connecticut will mark the event with a virtual ceremony Saturday.
Although Connecticut doesn’t have any more direct living survivors of the genocide, their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren will honor the 106th anniversary of the atrocity on April 24, as the state has done for decades.
“One would ask, what difference does it make if it was 106 years ago? It’s so far away. The victims who are the survivors are all gone,” Harry Mazadoorian, a member of the committee, said. “We have no more [survivors in Connecticut]. And so what difference does it make? Of course the answer, I think is self evident, is that a genocide denied is still a genocide, which is continued.”
This Saturday, President Biden will declare the Armenian atrocities were an act of genocide, the New York Times reported this week.
Mazadoorian, who called himself “a survivor of the survivors,” is the son to two Armenian immigrants who escaped the genocide. His mother, who lost both of her parents, was taken into an orphanage that moved her around Europe. His father, on the other hand, had to travel through the desert in Syria, before being taken in by a Danish missionary.
The annual remembrance is not only a way to honor his loved ones and their personal experiences, but also is an avenue to educate, Mazadoorian said.
“There’s just a humanitarian effort of recognizing what happened, but it also has consequences for the future,” he said. “Some have said that the Armenian genocide recognition is not about the past, but it’s all about the future, ensuring that that’s where the thing never happens again.”
The Turkish government never officially recognized the historic genocide, going as far to deny its existence and call it a “necessary war measure.” Alongside this, the United States, an ally to Turkey, hasn’t officially declared the events a genocide either.
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“The United States is a remarkable, well-respected world power and I think it has an obligation to use the moral imperative and moral authority it has to speak on this,” Mazadoorian said. “In 2019, both houses of the U.S. Congress announced that it would be the official policy of the United States to recognize the genocide, and to distance ourselves from any denial of the genocide, and to promote genocide education.”
Those plans for recognition were derailed with the pandemic, Mazadoorian added. For now, the community is still looking for presidential recognition, he said.
“We are hopeful that President Biden this year is going to break with precedent from various presidents and recognize the genocide for what it was,” Mazadoorian said. “They use euphemisms and legerdemains, and say they recognize the atrocities, but they just won’t use the ‘G word’, the genocide word.”
The Armenian Genocide Commemoration Committee of Connecticut’s event Saturday will be accessible through registering at https://bit.ly/3ti5iJ5.
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The virtual program will open with a “martyrs service,” hosted by clergy from Connecticut’s four Armenian churches.
“In 2015, which was a remarkable religious happening, the Armenian church decided after a long period of consideration and consultation, that it was going to canonize, the 1.5 million victims of the genocide,” Mazadoorian said. “So it’s different from the service we’ve done in the past. In the past we’ve prayed for the souls of the victims who have died but since they have been canonized as martyrs, we’re now praying to them.”
Following the prayer service, the program will consist of two speakers talking about a 44-day war that Armenians engaged in last fall.
“That’s a little different from the focus that we’ve had in the past,” Mazadoorian said. “We also have expanded our focus to the education factors, so that we can reach out to a broader part of the community, and tell the story of these massive killings that have taken place, whether with Armenians, or with others.”
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The event will not have its typical “social time afterwards,” where the group would gather in the Hall of Flags at the state Capitol for refreshments, but interested individuals can find the Armenian flag that’s been raised outside the building throughout the month of April.