Students disrupt genocide memorial

[Joseph]

http://media.www.dailytrojan.com/media/storage/paper679/news/2008/04/24/News/Students.Disrupt.Genocide.Memorial-3346724.shtml

Students disrupt genocide memorial
Students xxxxxle flowers and signs erected in honor of the Armenian genocide.

Melody Chiu

Issue date: 4/24/08 Section: News
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Media Credit: Jonathan Wong | Daily Trojan
Remembering | Armenian students erected 1,500 carnations, each representing 1,000 victims of the Armenian genocide, as part of a week of remembrance for the 1.5 million who died between 1915 and 1923.

A peaceful demonstration was disrupted Wednesday when two students stepped on flowers and knocked down signs at a memorial service honoring those who died in the Armenian genocide between 1915 and 1923.

The memorial was organized by several Armenian student organizations, including the Armenian Graduate Student Association and the Armenian Student Association, and consisted of 1,500 carnations in honor of the estimated 1.5 million victims of the genocide.

Members of the organizations began planting the flowers in McCarthy Quad at 4 a.m., and fact sheets were put up with information about the Armenian genocide along the perimeters of the walkways.

"We were trying to have a very silent and powerful way to raise awareness of the Armenian genocide on campus," said Kanakara Navasartian, president of the Armenian Graduate Student Association. "Everyone has a right to honor their past, and this wasn't just about the Armenian genocide. This was about crime against humanity, period."

Navasartian said two students approached the display and began knocking down the fact sheets.

The Ottoman Empire has been accused of deliberately and systematically destroying the Armenian population during World War I, starting in Istanbul in 1915.

Turkey does not recognize the term genocide as an appropriate description of the events.

Last year, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proclaimed the week of April 22 through April 29 as "Days of Remembrance of the Armenian Genocide."

Helen Kuiumdjian, president of the Armenian Student Association, said another member of the organization called her to tell her two students were disrupting the memorial.

"She said the girl and her boyfriend were yelling and stomping on all the signs and flowers," Kuiumdjian said. "I was notified by [the Department of Public Safety] and they said they were looking for the girl and that they had found her."

DPS officials declined to comment.

Kuiumdjian said the students damaged the groups' display, but they were able to rebuild it.

"They broke our signs and our plants were hanging," she said. "It was a wreck, but a bunch of members worked and fixed it back up in about 20 minutes."

Kuiumdjian said students passing by the memorial also helped fix the display.

Students said the disruptive behavior was inappropriate.

"I don't have any definite examples of what else they could've done, but something more peaceful," said Daniel Bay, a sophomore majoring in business administration.

"You can hate someone as much as you want, but they shouldn't have the right to do that," he said. "They have their own beliefs and they shouldn't have acted out so negatively."

[Joseph]

http://media.www.dailytrojan.com/media/storage/paper679/news/2008/04/25/News/Student.Groups.Remember.Genocide-3349990.shtml

Student groups remember genocide
Students remember Armenian genocide victims with music and speeches.

Silva Sevlian

Issue date: 4/25/08 Section: News
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Naritsa Kazanjian cannot trace back her family linage more than two generations, a fate common among Armenians because of the Armenian genocide, which left 1.5 million people dead.

"My grandfather doesn't know who his parents are," said Kazanjian, a junior majoring in accounting.

"Kazanjian is not even my last name - it is the name he took from his adopted family."

Members of the Armenian Students' Association and the Armenian Graduate Students' Association hosted a one-hour ceremony Thursday honoring the genocide victims, and demonstrated the vitality of the Armenian culture both on campus and post-genocide.

"Remembering the Past, Celebrating the Future" featured students, scholars and musicians and was the culmination of a week-long effort to raise awareness about the culture's past.

Father Vazken Movsesian, executive director of the St. Peter Armenian Church, spoke about his visit to Rwanda and said the political climate felt familiar.

"I had one foot in the first genocide of the 20th century and one foot in the last," Movsesian said. "I saw what my grandparents told me about, and that same evil continues in Darfur."

Movsesian said that the genocides that have taken place in Armenia and in other countries such as Darfur are in the hands of the government.

"Let it be clear in your heads that it was not a couple of Turkish men that got up and killed Armenians - it was a government," Movessian said.

Although the event attracted many members of the USC community, others came from outside the university to be part of the commemoration and share their family's story of genocide.

"When he was sixteen, my grandfather saw a Turkish solider smash the face of a 2-month-old baby with his rifle because she was Armenian," Maraslian said.

Students from the USC Turkish Student Association were at the event claiming the Armenian deaths arose from fighting during World War I and not a deliberate campaign to wipe out the Armenian population.

Kanakara Navasartian, a graduate student studying strategic public relations and president of the Armenian Graduate Students' Association said, "The students were inappropriate and their reactive tactic was disrespectful on a day where California's governor and the state has recognized [April 24] as a day of remembrance."

Turkish students held up signs facing the stage in front of Tommy Trojan and argued with members of the Armenian group who encouraged both the Turkish students and the current Turkish government to recognize the Armenian Genocide as a part of its history.

Caroline Cha, a junior majoring in international relations, said her only knowledge about the Armenian genocide comes from literature she has read in her international relations courses.

"The more I read about the flagrant human rights abuses and the systematic killing of people, the more I sympathize for the Armenians who have come here to honor their heritage," Cha said.

Magdiel Ledesma, a student visiting from Mira Costa Community College, said the event is his first exposure to information about the Armenian Genocide.

"The tone of the instruments gets inside of your heart and makes you feel the sadness of genocide," Ledesma said.

Non-profit organizations such as the "Never Again" campaign, lead by Armenian fraternity Alpha Epsilon Omega, are raising funds to create educational projects to disseminate to students at junior and senior high school schools.

The event on USC's campus is one of many that occurred in the Los Angeles County Thursday to commemorate the lives that were lost and to protest the denial of the genocide.

Members of the Armenian community marched the streets of Little Armenia, protested in front of the Turkish Embassy and children in Glendale participated in a 30-hour fast.