Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day commemorates 107th anniversary

Over a hundred years ago, Armenians were persecuted, deported and killed in what is now known as the first genocide of the 20th century — which this memorial in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, serves to remember. Yesterday, Armenians all over the world continued to fight to get this atrocity on the annual April 24 Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day. Wiki Commons

The Armenian Genocide refers to when the Ottoman government persecuted and killed as many as 1.2 million Armenian Christians living in the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1916. The aim of the massacres was to solidify Muslim Turkish dominance, and it is known as the first genocide of the first century.

“(Armenians) are all still very connected to (their) roots, and (there’s) honestly (a) transgenerational trauma we all experience, hearing our great grandparents stories passed on through the generations (and) hearing (of) so many family members that we lost in this genocide,” Sophene Kevorkian, the co-president of Chapman’s Armenian Student Association (ASA), told The Panther. “One and a half million people were killed, and they have families today who think about them every day.”

The Armenian Genocide was tightly linked with World War I. Fearing that Armenians would join enemy forces, the Ottoman government began deporting Armenians. Eventually, this expanded to nearly all Armenian provinces. 

Many Armenians died during the deportations due to starvation, dehydration and exposure to illnesses. Additionally, there were multiple massacres where thousands more were killed, and thousands of Armenian kids were removed from their families to be forcibly converted to Islam.

Every year on Armenian Genocide Rememberance Day — which is annually observed April 24 — thousands of people take part in a Los Angeles March for Justice that ends at the Turkish Consulate. The goal of the Southern California protestors is to bring the demands of the Armenian community directly to offices of the Turkish Consul General, including asking for the genocide to be recognized as such.

“Every year on April 24, thousands of people in Los Angeles march in front of the Turkish Consulate in an effort to gain awareness and spread education, and every year, (nothing happens),” said Kevorkian, who is also a junior broadcast journalism and documentary and peace studies double major.

Yesterday marked the 107th anniversary of the genocide, and President Joe Biden issued a statement to commemorate the anniversary and acknowledge the tragedy as “one of the worst mass atrocities of the 20th century.” Shortly after, Turkey’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs criticized the White House statement for being “incompatible with historical facts and international law.” 

Two days before, California Governor Gavin Newsom issued a proclamation declaring April 24 a “Day of Remembrance of the Armenian Genocide” in the state.

According to Kevorkian, ASAs across various college campuses participate in a silent protest in order to raise awareness on the genocide.

“We all know our stories,” Kevorkian said. “We all know where we come from — which villages — some of which don’t even exist anymore. Some (formerly Armenian villages) are part of present-day Turkey. (Every Armenian) knows where they come from, everyone knows their ancestors' stories, and that’s why we as Amrenians demand justice.”

This year, the Chapman’s Armenian Student Association is not organizing the usual silent protest for the Armenian Genocide Remembernce Day. Instead, one of their members went to an English 103 Seminar in Rhetoric and Writing class last Friday to give the students a better understanding of what happened during the Armenian genocide and how its impact continues to affect the Armenian community today.

“I wasn’t really well-informed about the background of it, and how the Armenian Genocide was for Turkey’s political superiority,” Bella Sandoval, a freshman strategic and corporate communication major who is enrolled in the English class, told The Panther. “Hearing the background and the issues that they had to go through with hate crimes essentially, and just being denied that (the genocide) even happened has made me realize that it’s such a problem.”

In exploring the ongoing ramifications of the genocide on present-day Armenians, the presentation explained that Armenians are frequently targeted in hate crimes. One example mentioned was from as recent as 2019, when a series of Los Angeles schools were vandalized with Turkish flags, which Los Angeles City Councilman Paul Koretz equated to defacing a Jewish school with swastikas.

“I definitely want to sign the letters to policy makers, and I encourage Chapman students to do that as well,” Sandoval said. “I feel like college students a lot of the time think that doing a little thing is not going to make a difference, but if you get a lot of people to do that, it makes a huge difference.”

The presentation concluded with different ways to help the Armenian community — one of them being sending letters to policy makers to get them to push for the demands of the Armenian community.

In an interview with The Panther, Hawk Ohannessian, a junior political science and economics double major and former ASA president, recommended students join the Armenian Student Association on Chapman’s Campus Labs website, attend the club’s meetings and follow the organization’s Instagram account if they are interested in getting involved. Ohannessian also urged students to turn toward the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) for additional educational resources and ways to take action.

“I think you can see a lot of what’s going on mirrored in other situations, like what’s happening in Ukraine,” Ohannessian said. “Everybody should be held accountable for what they’re doing. When you're trying to take over a sovereign country's territory, there should be some repercussions in the 21st century.”