Armenian Heritage Park Event Commemorates Genocide Anniversary

Koutoujian stressed that Armenians, along with Assyrians and Greeks, all Christian minorities, were decimated by the Ottoman and later Turkish authorities.

He gave a special thanks to the North End community and former governor, Deval Patrick, for their support for the creation of the Armenian Heritage Park.

Adam Strom, director of scholarship and innovation at Facing History and Ourselves in Brookline, spoke about the importance of the recognition of the Armenian Genocide, not just for Armenians, but for people everywhere.

“I am not Armenian yet this history affects me profoundly,” he said. “It is an Armenian story and a human story.”

Strom said that he regards himself as a human being “who lives on this planet with responsibilities.”

He added, “Some acts are so terrible that all of us are injured” as a result, and the Armenian Genocide is one such act.

Strom then recited the story of how attorney Raphael Lemkin, himself the son of survivors of the Holocaust, came up with the word “genocide” to describe what had happened to the Armenians.

Dr. Suzanne Moranian, the president of the Armenian International Women’s Association, combined history, psychology and poetic imagery in her comments. She said her talk was in memory of her family, many of whose members had perished in Aintab.

The genocide has left a lingering affect, an “intergenerational trauma,” as psychologists refer to it, she explained.

As a result of this trauma, she said Armenians must choose to be “upstanders” rather than bystanders. Thus, she explained, we must take the paradoxical position of keeping the Genocide memory alive within us, so that we can hold onto the empathy needed to help other peoples who have similarly suffered.

She quoted Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.: “ Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

“Armenian ghosts are wandering and haunting Anatolia,” she noted.

She then asked, “We know when it [the Genocide] began, but the question is, when does a genocide end?”

Armenian arts, industry and language, all are vanishing from Turkey to this day, she said. Thus, she said, “I would suggest that it has not ended.”

The final speaker, Shant Mardirossian, Near East Foundation Board Chairman Emeritus, spoke about the history of the Armenian Genocide, the Near East Foundation and New England.

Several women from the region, he said, were instrumental in helping Armenian orphans. In addition, he said it is important to remember the legacy that those Armenian survivors conveyed to those who came after them. “They taught us how to laugh, sing and pray again,” he said.

The day’s activities had started with several hundred young people protesting in front of the Turkish Consulate on St. James Avenue at 1.30 p.m., before making their way to the Heritage Park, walking all the way with their signs and flags. The protest had been organized by the local Armenian Revolutionary Federation and Armenian Youth Foundation chapters.

While the Armenian Heritage Park program hit many somber notes, Armenian music, poetry and dance brought a smile to all and injected a dose of energy into the day.

Several young girls next recited a poem by Gevork Emin, titled “Zarmanali Hay,” or wondrous Armenian. In addition, two girls sang patriotic songs about Armenia and Artsakh. And finally, the Sayat Nova Dance Company performed three energetic numbers.