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COACHELLA VALLEY'S ARMENIANS REFLECT ON GENOCIDE, THRIVE IN DESERT
Desert Sun
http://www.mydesert.com/article/20100601/NEWS01/6010313/Coachella-Valley-s-Armenians-reflect-on-genocide-thrive-in-desert
June 1 2010
CA
Through the lens of history, Adolf Hitler's killing machine looks a
lot like the Armenian Genocide during World War I.
An estimated 1.5 million of the 2.1 million Armenians living in Turkey
were killed or died of starvation in epidemics that swept through the
concentration camps, according to the Armenian National Institute,
a nonprofit "dedicated to the study, research and affirmation" of
the genocide.
Turkey has yet to acknowledge the 1914-1918 Armenian genocide.
"Because it is not recognized all over the world, it is a kind of
bleeding wound," said Father Krikor Zakaryan of the Armenian Apostolic
Church of the Desert in Rancho Mirage, which formed in 1977.
Never heard of the Armenian genocide?
You're not alone.
Hitler is purported to have said, according to reports by the
Associated Press bureau in Berlin in 1939, that those in his command
should "send to death mercilessly and without compassion, men, women
and children of Polish derivation and language. Only thus shall we
gain the living space which we need.
"Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?"
Only about 20 countries have officially recognized the Armenian
holocaust. The U.S. is not among them.
On the campaign trail, President Barack Obama promised to officially
acknowledge the nearly century-old massacres, but since taking the
White House has stopped short, instead calling it "one of the worst
atrocities" of the 20th Century."
The genocide has become a part of their cultural fabric, Coachella
Valley Armenians say.
"It is a cancer in every Armenian's heart," said Alice Safoyan,
church treasurer.
Three years ago, the Armenian Apostolic Church began holding a memorial
service to remember genocide victims.
This year, the Tolerance Education Center in Rancho Mirage hosted
a 40-minute documentary called "The Armenian Genocide," narrated
by actress Julianna Margulies, and a Q and A with a representative
from the Armenian Assembly of America, a Washington, D.C.-based
Armenian-American advocacy group.
"The Turkish identity is built on the denial of the Armenian genocide,"
said Yeghig L. Keshishian, the director of the western regional
office of the Armenian Assembly of America in Pasadena. "It was 95
years ago. Why remember?
"You can't have a solid foundation for the present if you don't
reconcile the past."
New church on way
Like many of the valley's settlers, the first Armenians to put down
roots here were farmers, said Velo Herbekin, the church historian.
Many of those farmers grew dates and grapes, bringing grape seedlings
from Armenia.
In the 1950s, roughly 15 Armenian families lived in the Coachella
Valley. Today, church officials estimate, that number is about 2,500
individuals in season.
Armenian residents have worshipped in the parish hall on Vista Dunes
in Rancho Mirage with visiting priests from St. Margaret's Episcopal
Church in Palm Desert once a month.
Church members hope this year to move into their new sanctuary next
to the parish hall on Vista Dunes.
Zakaryan, the valley's first full- time Armenian priest and only the
second in Riverside County, was ordained in the fall.
"If you have a church, then the Armenians want to move there because
this is the center of the community," he said.
From: A. Papazian
Desert Sun
http://www.mydesert.com/article/20100601/NEWS01/6010313/Coachella-Valley-s-Armenians-reflect-on-genocide-thrive-in-desert
June 1 2010
CA
Through the lens of history, Adolf Hitler's killing machine looks a
lot like the Armenian Genocide during World War I.
An estimated 1.5 million of the 2.1 million Armenians living in Turkey
were killed or died of starvation in epidemics that swept through the
concentration camps, according to the Armenian National Institute,
a nonprofit "dedicated to the study, research and affirmation" of
the genocide.
Turkey has yet to acknowledge the 1914-1918 Armenian genocide.
"Because it is not recognized all over the world, it is a kind of
bleeding wound," said Father Krikor Zakaryan of the Armenian Apostolic
Church of the Desert in Rancho Mirage, which formed in 1977.
Never heard of the Armenian genocide?
You're not alone.
Hitler is purported to have said, according to reports by the
Associated Press bureau in Berlin in 1939, that those in his command
should "send to death mercilessly and without compassion, men, women
and children of Polish derivation and language. Only thus shall we
gain the living space which we need.
"Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?"
Only about 20 countries have officially recognized the Armenian
holocaust. The U.S. is not among them.
On the campaign trail, President Barack Obama promised to officially
acknowledge the nearly century-old massacres, but since taking the
White House has stopped short, instead calling it "one of the worst
atrocities" of the 20th Century."
The genocide has become a part of their cultural fabric, Coachella
Valley Armenians say.
"It is a cancer in every Armenian's heart," said Alice Safoyan,
church treasurer.
Three years ago, the Armenian Apostolic Church began holding a memorial
service to remember genocide victims.
This year, the Tolerance Education Center in Rancho Mirage hosted
a 40-minute documentary called "The Armenian Genocide," narrated
by actress Julianna Margulies, and a Q and A with a representative
from the Armenian Assembly of America, a Washington, D.C.-based
Armenian-American advocacy group.
"The Turkish identity is built on the denial of the Armenian genocide,"
said Yeghig L. Keshishian, the director of the western regional
office of the Armenian Assembly of America in Pasadena. "It was 95
years ago. Why remember?
"You can't have a solid foundation for the present if you don't
reconcile the past."
New church on way
Like many of the valley's settlers, the first Armenians to put down
roots here were farmers, said Velo Herbekin, the church historian.
Many of those farmers grew dates and grapes, bringing grape seedlings
from Armenia.
In the 1950s, roughly 15 Armenian families lived in the Coachella
Valley. Today, church officials estimate, that number is about 2,500
individuals in season.
Armenian residents have worshipped in the parish hall on Vista Dunes
in Rancho Mirage with visiting priests from St. Margaret's Episcopal
Church in Palm Desert once a month.
Church members hope this year to move into their new sanctuary next
to the parish hall on Vista Dunes.
Zakaryan, the valley's first full- time Armenian priest and only the
second in Riverside County, was ordained in the fall.
"If you have a church, then the Armenians want to move there because
this is the center of the community," he said.
From: A. Papazian