Armenian studies students at forefront of movement
By Daily Bruin Staff
April 23, 2002 9:00 p.m.
 ROSETTE GONZALES Psychology student Katya Douzjian and
other protesters walk through Westwood calling for the Turkish
recognition of the Armenian genocide.
By Rosette Gonzales
Daily Bruin Contributor
Today, Armenians at UCLA and around the world are unified in the
solemn commemoration of the Armenian genocide.
Each year, April 24 marks the Armenian community’s
continued efforts not only to remember those victimized by the
genocide but also to reaffirm their goal for official recognition
of the mass execution of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman
Empire between 1915 and 1923.
Currently the Turkish government denies the genocide.
The United States does not officially recognize the genocide
either. Doing so might hurt U.S.-Turkey relations, said John
Ordway, the current U.S. ambassador to Armenia, at a luncheon at
UCLA in January.
But many scholars and students at UCLA, home to one of the
country’s first Armenian studies programs, feel the genocide
must be recognized if normal relations between the countries are to
occur and if future genocides are to be prevented. Politics should
be second to historical justice, they argue.
The debate surrounding the issue of the genocide has contributed
to a growth of Armenian studies research at UCLA.Â
The Armenian studies program began at UCLA in 1960 and has
blossomed into one of the largest and most respected programs of
its kind. The question of genocide recognition has been central to
the program since its inception. And, for professors and students
specializing in Armenian studies today, it remains of the highest
importance.
“Through recognition you have the next stage, which is
closure,” said Haig Hovsepian, president of the Armenian
Graduate Students Association.
The Armenian studies program at UCLA undertakes a significant
amount of genocide research, including studies on the psychological
relations between denial and genocide as well as examinations
concerning the correlation between the Armenian genocide and other
genocides.
In particular, the genocide of the Jews during World War II, and
ethnic cleansing in Rwanda in 1994 and in Cambodia in the 1970s
““Â all of which occurred after the Armenian genocide
““ are cases given by the Armenian community for the need to
officially acknowledge the Armenian genocide and hold the Turkish
government accountable.
Ardashes Kassakhian, a recent UCLA graduate and current director
of government relations for the western region of the Armenian
National Committee of America said people need to ask what the
driving forces were behind the Holocaust during World War II. He
sees a direct link between the failure to recognize one genocide
and the birth of another.
“It was lack of recognition, acknowledgement and
punishment for the crime of genocide perpetrated against
Armenians,” he said.
Even though decades have passed sine the massacre, official
recognition of the genocide would discourage world leaders from
committing future crimes of a similar nature, many Armenian
scholars say.
In addition, collective world acknowledgment for the genocide
would allow a platform for “truth and justice,”
Hovsepian said.
Not only would legal reparations be given to the victims’
families, but also a healing process would begin, Hovsepian
added.
For Armenians and those who support their efforts, one step
toward this stage would be a U.S. initiative to officially
recognize April 24 as the commemorative date of the Armenian
Genocide.
However, Congressional recognition has yet to occur due in part
to the potential for strain in U.S.-Turkey relations.
Hovsepian is concerned that this sends the message that the
United States has put “national interests” above
“moral and ethical interests.”
Kassakhian echoed this view concerning the resolution, when he
spoke of the goals of the ANCA.
“It’s a moral and just position that we feel our
government needs to take “¦ particularly at this time, engaged
in this war on terrorism, we need to hold violators of human rights
“¦ past, present and future to the same standards,” he
said.
Upon coming to UCLA last week, USC professor Donald Millers
spoke regarding his research concerning the psychological and
physical responses to genocide.
“Genocide is this rip in social order,” he said.
“One way of repairing that bridge in moral order is trying to
work for public acknowledgement.”
Today Armenians throughout the UCLA community will continue the
fight for that public acknowledgement. And while the day will come
to an end, for many Armenians at UCLA and throughout the world, the
movement of discovery and the fight for truth will not.
UCLA history professor Richard Hovannisian restated the
day’s observance in a written statement, describing it as
“an occasion for renewal and rededication and as a subdued
celebration of survival.”
