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Remembering the Armenian Genocide

Events throughout city mark the 91st anniversary of the Armenian Genocide by Ottoman Turks.

By Tania Chatila, The Leader

GLENDALE — When John Krikorian was growing up, he couldn’t ask his parents about what had happened to his grandparents.

“I had a lot of friends … that would go to their grandparents’ houses in the summer,” Krikorian, of Glendale, said. “I used to ask my mother, ‘Where are my grandparents? She would start crying and never would say.”

Then, Krikorian’s father would come home from work and tell Krikorian to never ask those kinds of questions, he said.

It wasn’t until Krikorian got older that he finally realized the reasoning behind his parents’ reactions to the simple question — the Armenian Genocide.

“We lost grandparents, cousins, uncles …” Krikorian said of the events of 1915 to 1918, when 1.5 million Armenians died at the hands of the Ottoman Turks in what many consider the first genocide of the 20th century.

The Turkish government denies the Armenian genocide happened and the United States Congress has yet to recognize it as a genocide.

“The Turks say it never happened, that the Armenians killed them,” Krikorian said. “Well, why are we here and they are there? Their lands are empty of Armenians.”

As part of the 91st anniversary of the genocide — which is on Monday — local cities, organizations, churches and schools have planned a series of events today through next week in commemoration.

“It’s a personal issue for me, to be sure,” said Paul Krekorian, president of the Burbank Unified School District said.

Krekorian’s great-uncle, a professor in Armenia, was killed in the genocide.

“The genocide came in 1915 and most of the intellectuals were the first to be rounded up and killed, tortured,” he said. “Genocide commemoration is important for all Americans and anyone who cares about justice and peace and civility.”

The Armenian American Society for Studies on Stress and Genocide is hosting a workshop from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on April 30 at the Burbank Armenian Center to help first- and second-generation Armenians process traumatic memories and experiences relating the genocide.

In Glendale, film screenings, panel discussions and musical performances are being used to help the public learn about and remember the Armenian Genocide.

The city has planned a free remembrance event from noon to 6 p.m. on Sunday at the Alex Theatre. It will include a dance performance by the Vartan and Siranoush Kevorkian International Dance Ensemble and a screening of the documentary, “Germany and the Secret Genocide,” by Dr. J. Michael Hogopian.

The Nor Serount Cultural Assn. and the Organization of Istanbul Armenians will be commemorating the Armenian Genocide with a panel discussion at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday at Glendale Community Church. Ragip Zarakolu, a Turkish scholar will be speaking about the current climate Turkish-Armenian relations.

“Eventually, the two peoples need to reconcile with each other,” said Father Vazken Movsesian,from Glendale’s St. Mary’s Armenian Apostolic. “They live in bordering countries so they have to learn to live together. They have to find a common ground to reconcile the past.”

Local schools and churches are also doing their parts to bring the Armenian Genocide to the forefront in the next week.

The Armenian clubs from the high schools in the Glendale Unified School District will host the fifth annual Armenian Genocide Remembrance Program at 6:30 p.m. tonight at the Glendale High School Auditorium.

And on Wednesday, officials from the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles and the Armenian Church will join representatives from St. Mark’s Episcopal Church to host a commemorative event and reception at St. Mark’s at 7 p.m.

“We want to honor the victims of the Armenian Genocide,” said Zanku Armenian, a board member of the Western Region of the Armenian National Committee based in Glendale. “The greater reason, however, is to send a clear message that intolerance and racism is something we need to constantly fight.”

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