Armenian student leaders honor genocide

Armenian student leaders reflected on the Armenian Genocide after this weekend’s annual Los Angeles March For Justice, which aimed to recognize the atrocity, and President Barack Obama’s decision to not use the word genocide in a speech that addressed the killings.

The Armenian Genocide was a massacre that killed an estimated 1.5 million Armenians during its span from World War I in 1915 to the early 1920s.

Aleen Mayelian, co-president of the Armenian Law Students Association, said the genocide caused Armenians to lose their land and flee the country.

“Due to the genocide, the land that belonged to Western Armenian [is] under the control of Eastern Turkey now and so in addition to losing 1.5 million lives we also lost a large part of our territory,” Mayelian said. “Also due to the genocide, the Armenians have had to disperse to various different nations.”

Los Angeles is home to the largest Armenian population in America and is the largest grouping of Armenians outside of Armenia. More than 130,000 Los Angeles residents and other participants joined together to recognize the 100th anniversary of the mass killings in the March For Justice last Friday. Demonstrators marched from the Little Armenia area of Hollywood to the Turkish Consulate with flags and signs in hand.

Alexa Youssefian, cultural chair of the Armenian Students’ Association, said almost all of the Armenian Student Association executive board and members attended the march and that it was great to see Armenians marching together 100 years later after the genocide.

“It’s a stark contrast between, you know, having your people almost eliminated and then just in Los Angeles having 130,000 of your fellow Armenians around you,” Youssefian said. “It’s a testament to the reality that we’re here and that we’ve survived and that … we’re thriving. It was a great moment of unity and all of us there demanding justice was great to see.”

On April 21, White House officials said President Barack Obama would not be using the word genocide to describe the Armenian mass killings. Obama said in his 2008 campaign that he would recognize the execution as a genocide, but has failed to do so every year in office.

Youssefian said it doesn’t bother her anymore that Obama doesn’t recognize the executions as a genocide.

“For me and I think Armenians together feel that we don’t care at this point what Obama thinks,” Youssefian said. “It doesn’t matter. We are beyond that point. Obama’s silence is only reflecting … him bowing to politics. I don’t rely on Obama’s qualification of reality to substantiate the truth.”

Anoush Djrbashian, the International Student Assembly representative in the Armenian Students’ Association, said the Turkish government needs to recognize the genocide so Armenian people can have peace.

“It’s really important for not only the United States to recognize it, but also the Turkish government, because they need to come to terms with their history so the Armenian and Turkish people can finally, kind of, have this dark cloud that’s been above our heads for 100 years dissipate so we can finally have some peace between our people, which can only happen if there is adequate recognition and adequate reparation and restitution for what was taken from us during the genocide,” Djrbashian said.

April 24, 1915 marks the day Ottoman authorities executed educators, scientists, composers and other intellectuals and leaders. Youssefian said she is happy Armenians are obtaining those roles once again.

“Armenian resilience is incredible,” Youssefian said. “It’s so impressive to me that 100 years later we’re here, we’re alive, we’re thriving [and that] there’s so many successful Armenians reprising the roles that were lost in 1915.”

Armenians will never stop pushing for justice, according to Youssefian.

“We will never forget the truth,” Youssefian said. “We will never forget what happened in 1915 and we will still hold those responsible accountable and we will push the United States and other countries to recognize it, but we also move forward with our success towards the next 100 years.”