Genocide

A congregation of all ages and faiths gathered to take part in an intergenerational worship service to honor past and present victims of genocide, at the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Verdugo Hills, on Sunday. The service paid tribute to the victims of the Holocaust, the Armenian genocide and atrocities that occurred throughout history, including genocides in Somalia, East Timor and Darfur. As Elizabeth Erickson, vice-president of the congregation, lead the service, her daughter, Emily Halsell, 8, lit a chalice in memory of the victims.

Those tending the flame of those who perished in the Armenian Genocide had a bit of a mixed bag this week. In happy news, Glendale Unified and its teachers' union agreed to make April 24 - the day that commemorates the horror - an official day off. This agreement makes a lot of sense for all involved. Students of Armenian descent have skipped going to class on that day for years, and as public school funding is significantly based on attendance, making the day a holiday of sorts is an elegant end-around of this problem.

I am aware that many residents in our community applaud efforts by Congress to pass a resolution, authored by Adam Schiff, affirming claims that Armenians suffered genocide at the hands of the Turkish government during World War I. According to a front-page article in the June 26 News-Press titled "Resolution gets extra push," those efforts have gained momentum, with 144 U.S. Representatives signing on as co-sponsors of the genocide resolution....

Thousands of Armenians chanted outside the Turkish Consulate in Los Angeles Wednesday to commemorate the massacre of some 1.5 million of their ancestors 98 years ago -- a genocide that has yet to be officially recognized by the U.S. Chanting “We will fight, we will fight, until the end!” in Armenian, the large crowd decried decades of denial by modern day Turkey that a genocide occurred during the time of the Ottoman Empire. PHOTOS: Armenians protest at Turkish Consulate to end genocide denial Among them was Glendale resident Armen Aroutiounian, 19, who called it a “pathetic” political game that after 98 years, the United States and Turkish governments refuse to recognize the genocide.

Alecia Foster It was about 85 years ago when the Ottoman Turks went through a small Armenian village where Mikael Kourinian's great-uncle lived. "All of them were rounded up and shot," Kourinian said. The story, passed down through his family, was one the Glendale Community College student will never forget. Kourinian, also president of the Armenian Student Assn. at GCC, asked fellow students Thursday to share their knowledge of the Armenian genocide with others.

Jackson Bell Organizers of a book reading by an Armenian genocide author learned their lesson after having to turning away people at his first event, and say they are better prepared for another massive turnout. Peter Balakian, author of "The Burning Tigris: The American Genocide and America's Response," will return to Glendale to read excerpts and answer questions at 7 p.m. today at the Pacific Park Branch Library, 501 S. Pacific Avenue. Balakian's first appearance at the Glendale Public Library's Auditorium was limited to 225 people.

Robert Chacon Rep. Adam Schiff introduced a resolution to Congress on Tuesday, with bipartisan support from more than 50 congressman, that would require the government to recognize the Armenian genocide. "I hope this year we can make the recognition happen," Schiff said. "It has been 90 years. If not now, when?" For two years, Schiff has fought for U.S. recognition of the genocide, in which more than 1.5 million Armenians were killed by the Ottoman Empire beginning in 1916.

Glendale Congressman Adam Schiff has surrendered to political pressure from Congress and the Bush Administration, asking House Speaker Nancy Pelosi not to bring up the Armenian genocide resolution this year. Schiff took over the role of lead sponsor on the issue several years ago. He represents the largest concentration of Armenian-Americans in the United States. The measure, condemning the death of 1.5 million Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923, once had a majority of the house as cosponsors, including Republican Congressman David Dreier.

The Glendale City Council managed a rare unanimity Tuesday night in voting to approve a resolution calling on the U.S. government to recognize the Armenian genocide. The council, with two members of Armenian heritage, were united in declaring the issue affects everyone. ?We have the largest concentration of Armenian-Americans in the country,? Mayor Ara Najarian said. ?And back in 1915, the Glendale Evening News was one of the first papers to call attention to the issue.? Leaders of the Ottoman Empire, predecessor state to modern Turkey, are accused of systematically killing 1.5 million Armenians between 1915 and 1923.

Alex Coolman CITY HALL -- Racially charged comments in the Community Forum section of the Glendale News-Press have served to inflame prejudice in the city, some residents said at a Thursday night meeting of the Glendale Human Relations Coalition. The tense gathering, which saw more than 35 people crowded into a City Hall conference room, focused on the controversy stirred up by a January letter in the News-Press. The letter stated that the United States would not recognize the Armenian genocide and included disparaging comments about the Armenian community.

In what has become an annual exercise, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) this week introduced a House resolution calling on the U.S. to formally recognize the Armenian Genocide, in which roughly 1.5 million Armenians were massacred by Ottoman Turks from 1915 to 1918. Schiff has introduced similar resolutions in years past, all of them failing in Congress amid fears that official recognition would anger Turkey, an important military ally in the Middle East. Schiff introduced the latest resolution recognizing the genocide with Reps.

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.

Those tending the flame of those who perished in the Armenian Genocide had a bit of a mixed bag this week. In happy news, Glendale Unified and its teachers' union agreed to make April 24 - the day that commemorates the horror - an official day off. This agreement makes a lot of sense for all involved. Students of Armenian descent have skipped going to class on that day for years, and as public school funding is significantly based on attendance, making the day a holiday of sorts is an elegant end-around of this problem.

On a Saturday night some 98 years ago this week, more than 200 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders living in Constantinople, today's Istanbul, were rounded up by the government. The political party in power, the "Young Turks," did not want their kind in the country, breathing the same air, using the same resources, making lives for themselves and their families. They were imprisoned and most were later executed. Were it not for the prominence of the victims of that April 24, 1915 event, there might have been even further delay in word spreading across the globe that a systematic elimination of Armenians was underway.

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.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank), lead sponsor of the Armenian genocide resolution in Congress, delivered his remarks in Armenian on the House floor Wednesday as he honored the 1.5 million Armenians who were massacred in 1915 at the hands of Ottoman Turks. His remarks come the same day that President Obama once again did not use the word “genocide” in his annual statement about the tragic event. According to his office, in his Armenian address, Schiff said: “I speak to you from the floor of the House of Representatives in the language of your grandparents and your great-grandparents - the language they used to speak of their hopes, their dreams, their lives and their loves in the years before 1915...I speak to you in the language of sons who watched their fathers murdered.” On the 98th anniversary of the genocide, Schiff pointed out that not only were Armenians murdered, Armenian women were raped by the thousands.

Thousands of Armenians chanted outside the Turkish Consulate in Los Angeles Wednesday to commemorate the massacre of some 1.5 million of their ancestors 98 years ago -- a genocide that has yet to be officially recognized by the U.S. Chanting “We will fight, we will fight, until the end!” in Armenian, the large crowd decried decades of denial by modern day Turkey that a genocide occurred during the time of the Ottoman Empire. PHOTOS: Armenians protest at Turkish Consulate to end genocide denial Among them was Glendale resident Armen Aroutiounian, 19, who called it a “pathetic” political game that after 98 years, the United States and Turkish governments refuse to recognize the genocide.

Each year Armenians worldwide commemorate the murder of 1.5 million of their ancestors by what was then the Ottoman Empire in the time around World War I. Each year, the United States government - fearing the backlash of Turkish rulers - fails to officially recognize this atrocity as a genocide.            Sadly, this marks the 98 th  year of this reticence, an enduring mark of shame upon our national government. My colleague, City Editor Mark Kellam reported that Congressman Adam Schiff (D-Burbank)

I read with some skepticism of Zareh Sinanyan's change of heart in the matter of the disparaging YouTube comments he had made a few years ago ( Zareh Sinanyan admits racist remarks, expresses regret ,” Ron Kaye, April 21). I am glad he finally came clean, but it is hard to forget his cowardly and juvenile behavior during the election - not admitting yet not denying, turning around to his supporters during a City Council meeting and telling them, about Laura Friedman, that “she is lying.” I also am an Armenian.

Glendale Community College students were given a white board, pen and a chance to send President Obama a message.  In one photo, Glendale locals answered one question: Why should the president officially recognize the Armenian genocide? Lori Boghigian, 19, answered that “accepting [genocide] today will avoid future genocides.” “If he believes in human rights, then he must recognize [the] Armenian genocide,” Hambarsom Balian said.  Glendale New-Press asks : Do you think President Barack Obama should recognize the Armenian genocide?