By Christine Guederian, Staff Writer
Armenia does not pop up in the news much today, but in 1915, it was the center of one of the most horrific genocides the world has ever seen. Now, UNLV students are working to preserve history among young Armenians.
One of the most active students in the Armenian Student Association has been 21-year-old senior Hera Armenian, one of two students who revived the ASA, a student group that had dissolved because of lack of participation.
Armenian said that as a freshman, she was disappointed to find no student organizations that fit her needs. After meeting Raffi Oganesyan in class in spring 2003, they began putting up posters and signs advertising the first meeting of the new ASA organization. Armenian said only 10 people showed up at the meeting, but eventually, the numbers grew.
“There are about 25 members on campus,” Armenian said. “We hold elections every semester and uphold a constitution. There aren’t many Armenians here in Vegas like there are in Los Angeles or New York so our objective in starting the ASA chapter back was to bring young adult Armenians together and to raise cultural unity.”
The ASA holds meetings twice a month (usually Wednesdays) on campus in the Lied Library. The content of these meetings includes ratifying the constitution and organizing group events.
“One of the executive members will give an educational information lecture on subjects such as the history of Armenia and Armenian politics using audiovisual technology,” Armenian said.
The ASA organization also holds events with proceeds going toward helping the residents of Armenia. The members have collected donations of backpacks, school supplies, clothing and bedding for the Kharabagh refugee homes in Armenia. Former president Oganesyan hand-delivered the goods himself while on a trip to Armenia.
Armenian students are also responding to the needs of Armenians in Louisiana who have been affected by Hurricane Katrina. Students are collecting donations of money, clothing and food. Through Armeniadisporia.com, an interview with Baton Rouge mission parish leader Vasken Kaltakjian revealed the level of desperation in his state. Kalrakjian said that times are hard in his state, and everyone effected deserves help.
“But please,” Kaltakjian said, “remember your Armenian brothers and sisters.”
Thanks to Armenian student organizations like the ASA, people involved in crises such as Hurricane Katrina are receiving the help they need.
Armenia is a landlocked country neighboring Russia and Turkey in Eastern Europe and is the home of the world’s first people to accept Christianity. Most Americans have no idea that Armenia even exists unless they live in the greater Los Angeles area where hundreds of thousands of immigrants of Armenian descent have set up camp and now call it their home. This country is a modest 11,506 square miles with a population of 2,982,904 people. Armenians pride themselves on their agriculture, producing mostly grapes for brandy and wheat, vegetables and tobacco. Manufacturing and mining are the main activities for this low-income country.
Armenia gained its independence from the Soviet Union Sept. 21, 1991 and now has a republic government. Even though Armenia has come a long way, 50 percent of the population is still below the poverty line because of its painful and tragic history.
A land dispute with the Turkish Ottoman Empire wreaked havoc on the farmers and poor people of Armenia for two years beginning in 1915.
Houses were burned down, women were raped, and men were skinned while babies were thrown into ditches in the deserts along the mountainous terrain in an effort to wipe out the Armenian people. There are few survivors of the genocide still alive today.
“It was horrible,” Arousiag Momjian, 76, said. “I wasn’t born yet, but I remember my mother telling me that I had an older brother. He was a baby at the time, and she packed what little she owned in a cloth sack, carried him on her hip and fled. She said the Turks found her and raped her, then took her baby from her and killed him in front of her. Luckily she escaped from them into Turkey where she pretended to be a Turk and lived there for the remainder of her life.”
Approximately 2 million Armenians were killed from 1915-1917. To this day the Turkish government denies that it ever occurred and many U.S. politicians are refusing to address the genocide.
Among students and other activists is the popular Los Angeles-based heavy metal band System of a Down. They have asked their fans to contact President George Bush and encourage him to recognize the Genocide of 1915.
“The constant ridiculous denial of the Armenian Genocide by not only Turkey but by consecutive U.S. administrations made me aware of the world of disinformation and injustices around the globe,” lead singer Serj Tankian said on April 23. “The Armenian Genocide was the first major genocide of the 20th century, and many people believe that had the Ottoman Turkish been punished for their crime of genocide after WWI, that Hitler would not have ventured his own.”
Groups like System of a Down have been using their influence over teens and young adults to raise consciousness and advocate change for a cultural enigma.
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