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Armenian Genocide Awareness Billboards Go Up Across Massachusetts

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BOSTON, Mass.—Peace of Art’s 2017 campaign of Genocide awareness has begun. In commemoration of the 102nd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, billboards will be displayed from March 10 to April 30, at seven locations across Massachusetts.: Route 1A in Lynn, Route 1 in Malden, 495 in Methuen, and on April 1 on South East Expressway Boston.

Peace of Art will display a message of peace on electronic billboards, calling on the international community to recognize  the Armenian Genocide.

“April 2017 is the month of remembrance of the Holocaust and all genocides in the world, and on this occasion we are calling on Turkey to recognize the Armenian genocide by honoring the memory of the innocent victims of all genocides,” Daniel Varoujan Hejinian, the Peace of Art president said. “The billboards reflect the historical moment, when His Holiness Karekin II, together with Pope Francis on behalf of the Armenian and Catholic community worldwide, released doves soaring towards Mt. Ararat, sending a message of peace to Turkey to recognize the Armenian genocide.”

Every year since 1996, Hejinian has been displaying the Armenian Genocide commemorative billboards. In 2003 Peace of Art, Inc., began to sponsor the Armenian Genocide Commemorative Billboards. In 2015, Peace of Art, Inc. launched its Armenian Genocide Centennial awareness billboard campaign, “100 Billboards for 100 Years of Genocide,” in the U.S. and Canada to commemorate not only the victims of the Armenian Genocide but also the victims of all genocides.

Peace of Art is dedicated to the peace keepers and peace achievers around the world, and those who had the courage to place themselves on the line for the betterment of humanity.

Boston-Area Teachers Receive Training on Armenian Genocide Education

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genocide-trainingWATERTOWN, Massachusetts—The Genocide Education Project (GenEd) provided a full-day workshop on teaching about the Armenian Genocide for Boston-area History and English teachers on June 10th.

Held at the Armenian Library and Museum of America, the training covered historical context as well as various approaches to teaching the subject, including the use of survivor testimony, photographs, documentary film, book reading assignments, and persuasive composition. Teachers also met a local 106-year old Armenian Genocide survivor and were given a tour of the museum and library, and provided a traditional Armenian luncheon.

“I have been teaching for over 25 years and I have been to a lot of conferences, and this was by far one of the best. The survivor presentation was incredible as were the other speakers and many resources,” said Joanna Honig, Watertown High School English teacher.

Co-hosted by Armenian Library and Museum of America, the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research, Watertown and Boston Public Schools, and Project Save, and with the participation of the USC Shoah Foundation, the free workshop also provided numerous instructional materials, including a variety of lesson plans and a classroom poster and guidance through the downloadable resources, an online interactive lesson, and classroom videos accessible through GenEd’s website.

Sara Cohan, USC Shoah Foundation Armenian Education & Outreach Specialist and GenEd Education Adviser, discussed the value of the Armenian case in genocide coursework.  Cohan also introduced teachers to interviews of Armenian Genocide survivors filmed by documentary filmmaker, J. Michael Hagopian, and now being preserved, cataloged and posted online by USC Shoah Foundation.

Dr. Dikran Kaligian, historian and GenEd Board member, provided the historical and political context, timeline, and methodology of the Armenian Genocide, as well as the U.S. humanitarian response, and the government of Turkey’s denial of event and its ramifications on education, international affairs, and US policy.

GenEd Board Member Roxanne Makasdjian presented the biography of Genocide survivor Asdghig Alemian and then conducted a live interview with Alemian.  After her father and the other men of the town were killed by Turkish authorities, Alemian, her mother, sister, and two brothers were forced onto the death march into Syria. After her two brothers died on the trek, her mother gave her five-year old Asdghig and her older sister to a Turkish policeman, who smuggled them in large bags of plums loaded onto a mule, to a Turkish home. There, the girls were treated as servants and abused, forced to denounce their Christian faith, and punished severely for speaking Armenian.

Asdghig was later sent to another Turkish home in Aleppo. Asdghig told the workshop teachers of the anguish she felt when separated from her sister. Her sister escaped and the two were rescued, spending several years at Aleppo’s Evangelical Armenian orphanage, before relocating to their uncle’s home in Massachusetts.  Asdghig married another Genocide survivor from Keghi and together they ran a grocery and raised a family.

“It was a great privilege for me to learn about Asdghig’s extraordinary life and introduce her to the educators, to allow us all the benefit of her life experience and inner strength,” said Makasdjian.

Ruth Thomasian, Executive Director of Project SAVE – the Armenian Photograph Archive, discussed how she collects and uses family photographs as a teaching tool and window into the life of Armenians in the past.

Marc Mamigonian, Director of Academic Affairs at the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research focused on how novels and memoirs about the Armenian Genocide are valuable resources for English Language Arts and Humanities courses. Highlighting the books Forgotten Fire, Black Dog of Fate, Goodbye Antoura, and My Name is Aram, Mamigonian described their value both as good literature and as historical instruction.

The Genocide Education Project is a nonprofit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization that assists educators in teaching about human rights and genocide, particularly the Armenian Genocide, as the prototype for genocide in the modern era.

Panels in the State of Massachusetts say “Thank you Germany! “And invite the United States to take the step of recognizing the Armenian Genocide

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genocide billboardThe American organization Peace of Art to thank Germany for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide was placed in the town of Foxborough (Massachusetts State) panels on the side lines of communication. Information from the Armenian Weekly newspaper. On the panels is labeled the sentence “The Justice against national interests” with the German flag and the Capitol. To invite to Washington and also do not recognize the Armenian genocide.

According Varoujan Khedjinian, Armenians are grateful to Germany for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. They call the United States to follow the example of Germany on behalf of justice and leaving aside economic interests. Similar signs are also placed in various cities in Massachusetts.

Krikor Amirzayan

Massachusetts governor honors victims of Armenian Genocide

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17604172-mmmainGovernor of Massachusetts Charlie Baker participated in the ceremony marking the 101st anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

House Speaker Robert DeLeo and several legislators were present at the event held at the State House, wwlp.com reported.

DeLeo said, “We must ensure that human spirit outshines inhumanity. Today’s commemoration will help us renew that commitment.”

Armenia President visits Old North Church and Armenian Heritage Park in Massachusetts

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16516President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan, who is on a working visit to the U.S., is continuing his meetings in Massachusetts. The President is scheduled to meet with the Armenian organizations which have significant role and influence in the state, as well as representatives of the Armenian community and state authorities known for their pro-Armenian activity and other friends of Armenian people.

The President today visited the Old North Church in Boston, where a Holy Liturgy was served by the church pastor Rev. Stephen T. Ayres and Armenian clergymen.

Back in the 18th century, this very church gave an opportunity to the Armenians refugees to the U.S. to serve a liturgy within its building. The church built in the northern part of Boston in 1723 is considered the oldest church building of the city.

By his visit to the Old North Church which had a significant influence on the American Revolution, the Armenian President aimed to pay tribute to one of the symbols of the U.S. independence and appreciate the kind treatment of this church and, generally, the Anglican Church towards the Armenians.

Thereafter Sargsyan visited the Armenian Heritage Park, which was founded in memory of the victims of the Armenian Genocide and other genocides following it. The park also aims to honor the great contributions of the American-Armenians and other migrant communities.

The Armenian President toured the Armenian Heritage Park. He also visited the Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex, where he laid a wreath and paid tribute to the Armenian Genocide victims. During his tour, Sargsyan was accompanied by Massachusetts ex-Governor Deval Patrick, who greatly contributed to the opening of the park, Boston Municipality representatives, Coordinator of the Armenian Genocide Centennial events James Kalustian, member of the executive committee of “Armenian Heritage”Foundation which implemented the construction of the park, Sheriff of Middlesex County Peter Koutoujian, as well as other representatives of the Armenian community.

By the end of the tour, the Armenian President also paid tribute by the Holocaust memorial.

President Sargsyan will have a number of other meetings today.

 

“Thank You, Pope Francis” billboard installed in Massachusetts

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194701Peace of Art, Inc. is completing its Armenian Genocide Awareness Billboard Campaign, “100 Billboards for 100 Years of Genocide,” with one more billboard in Sharon, Mass., displaying displays a message of gratitude, and reads, “Thank You, Pope Francis, for Commemorating the Armenian Genocide Centennial,” the Armenian Weekly reports.

In April 2015, at St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Francis called the Armenian Genocide “the first genocide of the 20th century.” The event was unprecedented because, for the first time in history, the Pope mentioned the Armenian Genocide in his liturgy.

“Pope Francis called on all states’ leadership, international organizations, and world peace-loving communities, to recognize the truth and to oppose such offenses,” said Daniel Varoujan Hejinian, the founding president of Peace of Art, Inc. “Such a brave statement by the Pope, the head of the Catholic Church, definitely deserves high respect and appreciation.”

In January 2015, Peace of Art, Inc. launched the Armenian Genocide Awareness Billboard Campaign. Throughout the United States and Canada, Peace of Art, Inc. has displayed large electronic and stationary billboards dedicated to the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide, and in honor of the victims of all genocides of the last 100 years.

Photo: The Armenian Weekly
Related links:

The Armenian Weekly. ‘Thank You, Pope Francis’

Mass. Rabbis Call on Turkey, U.S., and Israel to Recognize Genocide

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Massachusetts Board of Rabbis

Massachusetts Board of Rabbis

The following statement was issued by the Massachusetts Board of Rabbis on the occasion of the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide.

The Massachusetts Board of Rabbis reaches out in solidarity and sorrow to Armenians everywhere on the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. We acknowledge the pain carried through generations of a people decimated, the psychic scars transmitted, the truncated branches of family trees yet to regenerate. We hear the echoes of pleading voices long stilled that call us to remember, to learn, to witness. We call for universal recognition of what happened on the plains of Anatolia, the 1915-23 atrocities carried out by the Ottoman government. Only truth shall be surety for the timeless cry of “Never Again.”  report Asbarez

Details unfold as a scroll of lamentation, these we remember and pour our hearts out. We remember the hundreds of Armenian intellectuals, the writers, artists, doctors and lawyers, the communal and political leaders arrested and executed on April 24, 1915. We remember the desert death marches, the killing squads, and the concentration camps. We remember the 1.5 million Armenians killed of some 2 million in their ancestral homeland prior to World War I, mourning the destruction and exile of an ancient people. We remember the use of trains for deportation to death, cattle cars packed with human beings, portent of genocide to come. We remember the heroic efforts of American Ambassador Henry Morgenthau, the missionaries and aid workers who cried out to the world for response. We remember the continuing denials and the shame of refusing to recognize what happened, to call it for what it was.

We remember words that challenge silence and disallow denial. Words of witness by Ambassador Morgenthau, laying bare the plan by its architect, Talat Pasha: “It is no use for you to argue…we have already disposed of three quarters of the Armenians…we have got to finish with them…” Igniting the flames of one genocide from the embers of another, Adolph Hitler, his memory be blotted out, cynically asked, “Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?” We honor with pride and humility the work of Raphael Lemkin, a Polish Jew who did speak, who coined the word “genocide” in 1943, his long-held anguish for Armenians merging in the midst of the Holocaust with anguish for his own people.

We take to heart Elie Wiesel’s lament for the “double killing” of Armenians that happens through silence. Challenging Turkey to acknowledge what happened, it is our challenge, as well. Recognition of another’s suffering and willingness to describe it accurately should never be a matter of political expediency. The prevention of future genocides rests with our willingness to acknowledge those of the past. As the Holocaust should not be subsumed within the Second World War, neither should the Armenian Genocide be subsumed within the First World War.

We call on Turkey to recognize the Armenian Genocide. Heirs to the Ottomans, Turkey’s burden is also an opportunity to insure that what happened 100 years ago will no longer define the relationship today between descendants of the victims and descendants of the perpetrators. We call on the United States to unequivocally recognize the Armenian Genocide, affirming our commitment to justice and giving meaning to annual expressions of condolence and sorrow. We call on Israel to unequivocally recognize the Armenian Genocide, giving voice to the moral legacy of its own emergence from the ashes of the Holocaust.

Toward healing among communities and peoples:

We call on the American Jewish community through its official organizations to unequivocally recognize the Armenian Genocide, to apologize for past reticence, to reach out from heart to heart.

We call on local Jewish communities to learn about the Armenian Genocide and to reach out to their Armenian neighbors, building friendship and cooperation.

We call on all people to refrain from manipulating past horrors to demonize members of any people or faith today, Christian, Muslim, or Jew.

In the midst of Anatolia where the Biblical Mount Ararat rises, Noah’s ark found rest, a dove with its olive branch still waiting to alight. To give rest to the dead and peace to the living, a rainbow promise of never again, the Massachusetts Board of Rabbis calls for universal recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

Massachusetts Governor proclaims April 24 Armenian Martyrs Day

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Massachusett-govMassachusetts Governor Charles Baker has signed a proclamation designating April 24, 2015 as Armenian Martyrs Day.

Sahag Kavlakian – a freshman at Suffolk University – undertook the effort on behalf of the Armenian Student Association, the Armenian National Committee of America reported.

“Americans of Armenian descent have contributed to the quality of life in the United States and Massachusetts in the best tradition of our nation and state, in times of war and peace,” the document reads.

Raffi Yessayan Now a Massachusetts Superior Court Justice

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By David Boyajian

Raffi-YessayanRaffi Nerses Yessayan has begun serving as a justice of the Massachusetts Superior Court.   Nominated by then-Governor Deval Patrick in September of 2014, he was unanimously approved two months later by the eight-member, elected Governor’s Council. report Writers Digest.

A graduate of the New England School of Law, the University of Massachusetts at Boston, and Boston Latin School, Yessayan, 46, moved to the United States from Lebanon with his family in 1970. 

He was born in Khalil Badawi, a Beirut suburb, to Nerses Yessayan and Azniv Garabedian Yessayan.

From 1995 to 2007, Yessayan was an Assistant District Attorney (ADA) for Suffolk County, which includes Boston.

During his tenure, the Brian J. Honan Charitable Fund gave him its award for “excellence in the courtroom and commitment to the communities we serve.”   

Yessayan was a board member of the George Lewis Ruffin Society.  Named after the first African American (1834 – 1886) to graduate from Harvard Law School, it serves minority communities.  Yessayan was also board president of the Dorchester Community Center for the Visual Arts, which offers art classes for children. For Read Boston, a literacy program for children, he read to students and helped to select books for its annual awards.  Says Yessayan of his community work, “I am trying to make a difference.”

He co-produced Understanding Violence, a gang prevention film and curriculum intended for young people, teachers, and mental health professionals.

In his first years as an ADA, Yessayan prosecuted violent felonies, drug trafficking, illegal firearm possession, and juvenile offenses.  As a Rapid Indictment Prosecutor, he brought shooting cases before grand juries within 48 hours. 

In 2002, he became Chief ADA for the “Gang Unit”.  Working with Federal and state agencies and the Boston Police, he supervised gang related prosecutions.

After leaving the DA’s office in 2007, Yessayan began a private practice focusing on criminal defense and immigration law.  His clients ranged from children, the poor, the mentally ill, and the drug-addicted to businesspersons and police officers.

In 2010, the Quincy (Massachusetts) Bar Association gave him its Public Service Award.  The Massachusetts House of Representatives appointed him to its Gun Advisory Group in 2013 because of his expertise in prosecuting gun offenses.

As a justice, Yessayan was required to give up his private practice. 

He has authored two crime novels published by Ballantine Books/Random House:  2 in the Hat and 8 in the Box.  Each focuses on the hunt for a serial killer in Boston.

On arriving in America in 1970, the Yessayan family settled in West Roxbury, a mainly blue-collar and middle class White and Irish Catholic neighborhood of Boston.   The father, Nerses, owned a local Mediterranean imports business.

When Raffi was 7, his mother Azniv passed away, leaving her husband, three daughters, and four sons.  The oldest children, Hasmig and Hagop, helped to raise their siblings.  Their father died in 2008.

Raffi Yessayan’s paternal grandfather, Yessayi Yessayan, hailed from the city of Aintab.  Though he survived the 1915 Genocide because the Turks needed his carpentry skills, he later died in his mid-20s in Aleppo, Syria. His wife’s name was Serpouhi.

Raffi Yessayan’s maternal grandmother, Rebecca Tashjian Garabedian, was from Severeg in the Dikranagerd/Diyarbekir province of Western Armenia.  She was the only member of her family to survive the Genocide.  Rebecca’s husband, Krikor, survived the Genocide that killed his family.  They met in an orphanage in Jibeyl, Lebanon.

Many Armenian Americans are familiar with the Superior Court because of the unsuccessful candidacy of attorney Joseph Berman.  Nominated by Governor Patrick in 2013, Berman failed to win approval by the Governor’s Council after a long, heated battle that aroused Boston media and the legal establishment.

Among the reasons for Berman’s loss were his large, questionable contributions to political candidates, and a lack of candor about having asked then-State Senator, now Congresswoman, Katherine Clark, to call Governor’s Councilors on his behalf.   

Another factor was Berman’s position as a National Commissioner of the Anti-Defamation League, known for diminishing the factuality of the Armenian Genocide and working with Turkey against a Congressional resolution on that genocide. Though Berman claimed to have opposed the ADL’s anti-Armenian policies when they made national and international headlines in 2007, there was little proof of that.

Associate Superior Court Justice Carol S. Ball testified for Yessayan at his Governor’s Council hearing.  She called him “extremely intelligent and talented” and “blessed with common sense and great compassion.” 

He is one of about eighty Superior Court justices in Massachusetts. Justice Yessayan’s wife, Candice, teaches college-level English.

Yessayan has addressed Armenian organizations, including the Men’s Club of St. James Armenian Apostolic Church in Watertown, Mass.

He is apparently the first Armenian American to sit on the Massachusetts Superior Court. 

David Boyajian is a freelance Armenian American journalist.  Many of his articles are archived at Armeniapedia.org.

Armenian Genocide monument unveiled in Massachusetts

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May 27, 2014 – 09:31 AMT

A monument to Armenian Genocide victims was unveiled earlier this month at Lowell City Hall, Massachusetts.

179274While other monument unveilings went through some tenuous moments in other parts of the world, this one was dedicated and blessed with fanfare as various churches and organizations staged a united stand behind a group called the Merrimack Valley Armenian Monument Committee, according to the Armenian Weekly.

The stone exceeds six feet in length and takes its place in Monument Park where other ethnic groups are represented. Anyone entering or leaving the building is bound to take notice.

The mother’s hands jets out over a khatchkar (cross-stone) wrapped around an elaborate border with an emotional message below. At the base, an inscription reads, “In Memory” in Armenian.

“There are approximately 230 monuments dedicated to the Armenian Genocide in 42 countries around the world,” said artistic designer Daniel Varoujan Hejinian. “Most of these monuments are located in land belonging to Armenian churches and organizations. What’s so special about this is the fact it is a first in the diaspora—an Armenian Genocide memorial in front of a government building.”

Combined with bronze and granite, the stone shows a mother’s weaving hands sculptured in clay, then refined through an elaborate process to exude a 3-dimensional effect.

As a model, the artist used his sister Lena’s hands. Buried into the foundation of the stone was an actual piece of crochet done by Hejinian’s mother as a symbolic gesture of his family history and the qualities that enhanced the concept.

“In spite of the pain and horror of our genocide, the Armenian people everywhere cast their hopes and dreams, knot by knot, as they bloom and prosper,” added Hejinian, who has personally put up more than 50 genocide billboards around Greater Boston over the past 18 years.

“Our mothers were dream weavers,” he said. “They worked the mills in Lowell, holding down nearly two-thirds of all textile jobs in this city. They came here to weave the fabric of our culture and we owe them all a debt of gratitude.”

In attendance was also 102-year-old Nellie Nazarian, the lone genocide survivor in Merrimack Valley, joined by her family.

 

The Armenian Weekly. Lowell Genocide Memorial Gets Rave Notice