People march in memory of Armenian Genocide
By Adrienne Lynett
April 21, 2005 9:00 p.m.
For almost three weeks, students, young professionals and even a
grandmother put their lives on hold to remember the lives of
others.
These Armenian-Americans walked the 215 miles from Fresno to
Sacramento to honor those killed and displaced by Ottoman Turkey
between 1915 and 1923 during the Armenian Genocide.
The participants in “March for Humanity” ended their
journey Thursday morning at the state Capitol, after walking about
15 miles each day since April 2. They were greeted by California
legislators and invited onto the floors of the House and Senate,
both of which unanimously approved legislation establishing April
24 as the “California Day of Remembrance of the Armenian
Genocide.”
“We must never forget the 1.5 million innocent Armenian
victims who perished and others who were tortured and driven from
their historic homeland,” said California Sen. Charles
Poochigian, R-Fresno, in a statement. Poochigian, who was
instrumental in drafting the legislation, spoke at the rally
Thursday.
While recognition at the state level is a big step, the ultimate
goal of the march was to convince the governments of the United
States and Turkey to recognize the genocide. The Turkish government
maintains that the atrocities committed against Armenians were
unfortunate casualties of World War II and not a genocide, while
the United States, taking care not to alienate an ally, has also
refrained from recognizing the genocide as such.
“Our goal is to get … the message out that we want the
denial to end,” said Ani Garibyan, a fourth-year history
student at UCLA who walked for two weekends and helped organize the
march.
A core group of 16 people walked the entire way from Fresno to
Sacramento. They were joined by others at various points throughout
the journey, Garibyan said. At one point, she said, there were 150
people walking.
Some nights, the marchers were provided with a place to rest at
churches, community centers and homes. On other nights, they simply
pitched a tent near the road.
“Toward the end, your feet really start hurting,”
Garibyan said.
Garibyan said she was participating to honor the memory of her
family.
“It’s my duty to my ancestors, so hopefully they can
rest in peace,” she said.
While some marchers were acting out of obligation to family
members, many also had in mind other human rights abuses.
Raffi Kassabian, president of the UCLA Armenian Students
Association, said recognizing the Armenian genocide is one way to
help prevent future injustices.
“Without recognition, there’s this pattern of
genocide,” he said, citing the current atrocities being
committed in the Darfur region of Sudan, whose status as genocide
is also being contested.
Politicians supporting the legislation agreed that recognition
is key.
“It’s vitally important that false depictions of the
tragedies of the genocide are rejected,” Poochigian said.
The effort to solicit support from the federal government will
continue in the form of letter-writing campaigns to senators and
representatives, but, Garibyan said, Thursday’s recognition
by the state government was a major achievement.
“Everyone’s really tired, but it was very
exciting,” Garibyan said.
