Armenian-Americans commemorate genocide
Boston Globe, MA
April 20 2006
Armenian-Americans throughout the Boston area will gather this weekend
and next week to commemorate the genocide that resulted in the deaths
of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians between 1915 and 1923.
Armenians mark Monday as the 91st anniversary of the night in 1915
when the Ottoman Turkish government arrested 200 Armenian community
leaders in Constantinople — the beginning of the campaign.
The events are seen by Armenians as pivotal in their people’s
history. The Turkish government has denied that the mass killings
were part of a government-sponsored campaign.
“It was one of the defining events in Armenian history and certainly
modern Armenian history,” said Marc Mamigonian, director of programs
and publications at the National Association for Armenian Studies and
Research. “It’s the reason most of us are living [in the United States]
in one way or another. Most everyone around here can trace a family
member to the Armenian genocide either as a survivor or someone who
was lost.”
Along with events in Boston, Cambridge, Worcester, and other
communities, three ceremonies will take place in the suburbs northwest
of Boston.
On Saturday, an Armenian Memorial Observation will be held in Lowell.
It will include a procession that will begin at the corner of John
and Merrimack streets at 10 a.m. and proceed to City Hall for the
raising of an Armenian flag, speeches, and a musical presentation.
On Sunday, there will be a remembrance ceremony at 3 p.m. at North
Andover High School, 430 Osgood St. The ceremony will consist of a
cultural presentation and requiem service.
On Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., the public is invited to gather in
the Goddard Chapel at Tufts University for a program by the Tufts
University Armenian Club titled “Beyond Genocide Recognition —
Our Next Challenge.”
Stephen Kurkjian, senior assistant metropolitan editor at The Boston
Globe and a Pulitzer Prize winner, will speak at the North Andover
and Medford events.
DONNA NOVAK