Armenian Genocide

The Glendale Unified School District school board voted unanimously to approve Resolution 28-Remembering the Armenian Genocide and Reaffirming a Better World. The Armenian Genocide is commemorated on April 24. According to statistics from the Armenian National Institute, between the years of 1915 and 1923 it is estimated that two million Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire were killed and over one million were deported by Turkish authorities. Many Armenians were placed into concentration camps.

Karen S. Kim The following events led up to and represented the Armenian Genocide, in which 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Turkish forces. July 1908 Intellectual, political, military leaders orchestrate Young Turk Revolution and oust Sultan Abdul Hamid, who had been responsible for a number of Armenian massacres. 1913 Ultranationalists within Young Turk government stage military coup, suspend constitution and install military dictatorship.

Joyce Rudolph NORTH HOLLYWOOD -- A producer/director hopes his film on Armenian Genocide survivors will educate the public so that history will never be repeated. For more than 25 years, Thousand Oaks resident J. Michael Hagopian documented interviews of 350 survivors in 13 countries for his trilogy, "The Witnesses." The first part, titled "Voices from the Lake," will receive its world premiere at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in North Hollywood.

For the first time, a Turkish scholar addressed a crowd of more than 1,400 people at the city's annual event to commemorate the genocide of about 1.5 million people in 1915 by Ottoman Turks, a tragedy still denied by modern-day Turkey 98 years later. "The principle was not giving the Armenians not even a single inch," said Umit Kurt, a Turkish scholar at Clark University, as he discussed how the Ottoman Empire deported Armenians before the genocide began and sold their property. PHOTOS: Annual Armenian genocide commemoration at Alex Theatre Although initial laws regarding the abandoned property seem to require Armenians be reimbursed at a later date, that never came to fruition, Kurt said before the sold-out crowd at the Alex Theatre Wednesday evening.

The L.A. County Democratic Party recently passed a resolution to ask the California Democratic Party to endorse efforts to educate its members about the Armenian Genocide and reject efforts to deny the crime. The resolution was authored by the Southern California Armenian Democrats, which has many local members. It received widespread support on its way to the county party's executive committee. The vote came on the eve of the 97th anniversary of the Armenian genocide, in which 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks.

Glendale Unified students and teachers will have next April 24 off in commemoration of the Armenian Genocide, following an agreement signed by school officials and the teachers union this week. Thousands of students of Armenian descent typically skip class on April 24 to participate in commemoration events, but the high truancy rates can decrease the school district's funding, which is tied to attendance. For years, parents, teachers and school officials have been discussing making April 24 a non-work day, and finally next school year the day off will be official.

As U.S. lawmakers continue to take Turkey to task for its support of an aid flotilla to the Gaza Strip, Rep. Adam Schiff is seizing on the discontent to garner more support for his long-stalled resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide. Fear of angering Turkey, a strategic military ally in the Middle East, has long stood in the way of Congress officially recognizing the 1915 massacre of 1.5 million Armenians at the hand of Ottoman Turks as genocide. But since Turkey has refused to back down from efforts to send supplies to Israel’s Gaza Strip, a new crop of U.S. lawmakers say they may now support the Affirmation of the U.S. Record on the Armenian Genocide.

Joyce Rudolph PASADENA -- The Pasadena Symphony on Saturday will present the first summertime edition of its free, hands-on "Musical Circus" for children, featuring the Karapetyan String Quartet, an Armenian ensemble. The event will be from 10 to 11:30 a.m. at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, 300 E. Green St. A musical petting zoo kicks off the event, geared to ages 10 and under. Youngsters can toot flutes, trumpets, baritone horns and trombones, pluck violins and cellos and bang on percussion instruments.

The annual Armenian Genocide observance and commemoration at the Alex Theatre reminds us of certain unavoidable facts. As an elected official, let me state them from my heart in words so clear as to command their assent. We must never forget the Armenian Genocide and the inhumanity surrounding this tragic event. We must bring inexhaustible energy, heart and sense of purpose to ending the unmitigated shame and understated disgrace at the failure of our government in Washington to formally recognize this tragedy as historic fact.