Address Service Requested Service Address FRESNO, CA FRESNO, Fresno, CA 93740-8001 CA Fresno, Permit No. 262 No. Permit 5245 N. Backer Ave. M/S PB 4 PB M/S Ave. Backer N. 5245 PAID and Armenian Students Organization Students Armenian and U.S. Postage U.S. Armenian Studies Program Studies Armenian Non-Profit California State University, Fresno University, State California HYE SHARZHOOM th Armenian Action 25 FA| <ARVOUM Year May 2004 Vol. 25, No. 4 (86) Supplement to The Collegian Der Mugrdechian Keynote April 24th Commemoration Takes Place on Speaker in English at Bay Area Campus to Honor the 1915 Armenian Genocide Genocide Commemoration ceived the HAKOP TATARYAN unanimous STAFF WRITER approval of the Legisla- It has been 89 years since the ture and pro- Armenian Genocide took place, and vided the op- to this day Armenians all over the portunity to world gather on April 24 to com- pursue con- memorate those who innocently lost tractual their lives. The Armenian Students claims per- Organization (ASO) and Armenian taining to the Studies Program organized an event recent settle- in honor of the genocide on Friday, ment. April 23. Students and community Senator members gathered at the Free Poochigian Speech Area at Fresno State and spoke about took part in the activity. Attendees the genocide wore red arm-bands, which sym- and its impor- Barlow Der Mugrdechian bolized the blood shed by 1.5 mil- tance to Ar- Prof. Barlow Der Mugrdechian the physical reminders of the geno- lion Armenians during the 1915 menians was the keynote speaker in En- cide and its effect on the Armenian Genocide. around the glish, on Saturday, April 24, 2004, people. As Armenians, we can The event opened with ASO world and in on the occasion of the 89th anni- with certainty say, that were it not president Dickran Chekian intro- the United versary of the Armenian Genocide. for the genocide, that we would be ducing keynote speaker Californian States. As he The event was held at the Saroyan living today in Armenia-whether State Senator Chuck Poochigian. spoke his Hall of the Krouzian-Zakarian Ar- in Van, or in Kharpert, in Sepastia In 2000, Senator Poochigian voice cracked menian School in San Francisco or Erzeroum, in Bitlis or authored Senate Bill 1915 which several times, enabled victims and heirs of vic- recalling all Photo: Barlow Der Mugrdechian and sponsored by the Bay Area Dickranakert, or in Cilicia, in State Senator Chuck Poochigian Armenian community. Following Yerevan, or Gyumri, or Karabagh, tims of the Armenian Genocide to of the inno- is an excerpt from his speech. or in the smallest village of our access the California court system cent people that died in the geno- complete, vile, and despicable acts historic Armenia. to compel insurance companies to cide. of atrocity. One and a half million Reverend clergy, members of This is the legacy that we have pay insurance claims owed to vic- “It was a year’s long experience SEE APRIL 24 PAGE 8 the organizing committee of the inherited and have lived with, for tims of the Genocide. That bill re- for a people who were victims of Bay Area genocide commemora- eighty-nine years and that legacy is tion, honored guests, ladies and both a responsibility and an oppor- Shoghaken Armenian Folk Dr. Hervé Georgelin gentlemen. tunity. Appointed as Kazan Eighty-nine years ago, the Ar- One feels responsibility because Ensemble Concert is a Hit Visiting Professor menian people were victims of the the Genocide as a political issue first genocide of the twentieth cen- still remains unresolved. Efforts to STAFF REPORT tury. The details of that catastrophe convince nations of the world to Dr. Hervé Georgelin, of Paris, are only too painfully well known formally recognize the Armenian France, has been appointed as the to all Armenians. The Armenian Genocide have consumed our re- 5th Henry S. Khanzadian Kazan people were exiled from the land cent efforts, with many notable suc- Visiting Professor of Armenian which they had inhabited for more cess in the past few years. And just Studies for the Fall 2004 semester. than three thousand years. We here in the past week, the Canadian Par- Dr. Georgelin will be teaching a in California, as in diaspora com- three unit course, Armenian Stud- SEE DER MUGRDECHIAN PAGE 8 munities throughout the world, are ies 120T-”Armenians’ Odyssey: Out of Empires Towards Diaspora,” Hye Sharzhoom at 25 on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 3:30-4:45 PM. CHRIS TOZLIAN Recently, I interviewed two As part of his visiting professor- STAFF WRITER more former editors, Bill Erysian ship, Dr. Georgelin will give three and Arakel Arisian. Erysian was public lectures in the fall, under the One of the twentieth century’s one of the founding editors of Hye general topic of “Western Arme- greatest post-modern slogans sim- Sharzhoom, beginning in 1979, and nian Journalists in the Political ply states, “The only constant is worked with the newspaper for Photo: Jim Karagozian Arena: Watchful People in Critical change.” Irrespective of the truth three years. Arisian began writing The Shoghaken Armenian Folk Ensemble Times.” (or the lack thereof) of this state- for the newspaper in the fall of He received his PhD from the ment, the simple thought of an ever- 1997, later becoming editor. He ZHANNA BAGDASAROV Armenian Folk Ensemble of Ar- Department of History and Civili- changing society is a source of un- continued working with Hye STAFF WRITER menia. Each one of the eight-mem- zations, EEHS, Paris. His disserta- certainty for many, myself included. Sharzhoom through the fall of 1999. ber ensemble contributed some- tion is on the plural urban society of In the March 2004 edition of Hye The interviews began with a On Monday evening, April 12, thing completely different and Smyrna/Izmir at the end of the Ot- Sharzhoom, I wrote concerning the question asking which section of more than 450 members of the unique to the group by utilizing toman Empire, until its destruction stability offered to me by this stu- the newspaper was their favorite. Fresno Armenian community gath- their incredible talents on traditional in September 1922. dent organization-led newspaper. Erysian said, “Without a doubt, the ered at the Satellite Student Union, Armenian instruments such as the For more information on how to In fact, I had the opportunity to opinion pieces in Hye Sharzhoom in the heart of the Fresno State kanon, kamancha, duduk, dhol and register for the course contact the interview two former editors, John have always been my favorite part campus, to experience the extraor- shvi. Armenian Studies Program at 559- Jabagchourian and Matthew dinary sounds of Armenian folk The program began at 7:30 PM 278-2669. Maroot. SEE HYE SHARZHOOM PAGE 6 music performed by the Shoghaken SEE SHOGHAKEN PAGE 7 2 Hye Sharzhoom May 2004 Armenian Studies Program California State University, Fresno Book/Video/CD/Archival Gifts Armenian Studies Program Dr. Dickran Kouymjian and the Armenian Studies Pro- gram would like to thank the donors, authors, and pub- Fall 2004 Schedule of Courses lishers for the following books, periodicals, videos, and archival gifts either offered personally or to the Program. Course Units Time Day Instructor General Education Lucille Apcar, Mariposa, for the copy of the book From the Book of Social Sciences, Area D3, for students using 1999/2000 catalog and after One Thousand Tales, Stories of Armenia and its People, 1892- Division 9-Other Cultures, for students using 1998/1999 catalog and before 1922, written by Diana Agabeg Apcar. Glatzor, Yearbook of the Armenian Seminary of the Catholicosate of • ArmS 10 Intro to Arm Studies 3 10:00-10:50A MWF B. Der Mugrdechian Cilicia, vol. XI (2003), 256 pages. Gift of His Holiness Aram (#71548) I, Antelias, Lebanon. • Arm 1A Elementary Armenian 4 11:00-11:50A MTWF B. Der Mugrdechian Mr. & Mrs. Richard Avedian, Fresno for the books, periodicals, (#71544) Bibles and journals from the estate of their parents, Mr. and Arts & Humanities, Arts, Area C1 for students using 1999/2000 catalog and after Mrs. Arnie Avedian. • ArmS 20 Arts of Armenia 3 9:30-10:45 A TTh B. Der Mugrdechian Vahan Baibourtian, New Delhi, India, International Trade and the (#71549) Armenian Merchants in the Seventeenth Century, New Delhi: Upper Division Courses Sterling Publishers, 2004, ix, 261 pages, with color plates, maps and an index. An important study on Armenian mer- • ArmS 108A Arm History I 3 9:00-9:50A MWF B. Der Mugrdechian chants and their activities in western Europe, the Near East, (#71550) Iran and India. The author holds the chair of International • ArmS 120T-Armenians’ Odyssey 3 3:30-4:45 P TTh H. Georgelin Relations at Yerevan State University and is head of the Iranian (#83419) Department of the Armenian Academy of Sciences. Gift of For more information call the Armenian Studies Program at 278-2669 Armen Baybourtian, Armenia’s Ambassador to India and or visit our offices in the Peters Business Building, Room 384. former Armenian Counsel General in Los Angeles. Arman J. Kirakossian, British Diplomacy and the Armenian Ques- Dr. Arra Avakian Donates Slide Collection to Fresno State tion, from the 1830s to 1914, Princeton & London: Gomidas Institute, 2003, 365 pages, index. A major study based on STAFF REPORT British and other archival documents, first published in Arme- Professor Arra Avakian of Fresno, retired nian in 1999. Dr. Kirakossian is currently Armenia’s ambassa- professor of Armenian Studies at Fresno State, dor to Washington. Gift of the author. has donated his entire library of color slides to the Carl Mahakian, Rancho Mirage, for the book Look at Us Let’s See Armenian Studies Program.