RACINE, Wisc.—“The people of Armenia are very engaged in the movement for international recognition of the events of 1915 as genocide,” reported Dr. Levon A. Saryan, the featured speaker at the 91st anniversary commemoration of Armenian Independence, sponsored by the Racine ARF “Marzbed” Gomideh and held at the Soultanian Hall at St. Hagop Armenian Church in Racine on May 31.
Saryan, a scientist with Aurora Health Care in Milwaukee and an active member of the local Armenian community and the “Marzbed” Gomideh, recently returned from a nine-day visit to Armenia in April. He was in Yerevan on April 24, where he had an opportunity to observe the political and social conditions there first hand.
Saryan divided his illustrated presentation into three segments: current developments in science in Armenia; improvements, or lack thereof, in the life of the average person; and recent political/genocide recognition issues.
“I was invited to Yerevan as a guest of the Republic of Armenia National Academy of Sciences, the nation’s highest scientific and academic body,” he said. “I gave a short presentation on environmental lead exposure in Armenia, and was inducted as a newly elected overseas member of the academy. My presentation was very well received. This is a great honor for me personally and professionally, which I attribute to the wonderful opportunity that I have had to work with Armenia’s talented scientists.”
For nearly two decades, Saryan has collaborated with medical scientists affiliated with the Ministry of Health on issues relating to lead poisoning and the protection of workers from harmful chemical exposures. As one outcome of these studies, about nine years ago the government of Armenia banned the import of leaded gasoline.
Saryan showed several slides of the new construction and progress that has taken place in Yerevan over the past decade. Today, there are brand new five-star hotels, myriads of stores, the new St. Gregory the Illuminator Church, a beautiful and totally renovated airport facility, and of course the Northern Boulevard pedestrian walkway with its high-end buildings and shops. “Unfortunately, despite these enhancements, life for the average person does not seem to have improved very much,” he said. “The old Soviet-era apartment blocks, built in the 1950’s and 1960’s, were poor quality buildings when they were erected. Repairs are infrequent, to say the least. These buildings are now decades older and even more dilapidated than before. Most people, especially those on fixed incomes, cannot afford to move to newer housing. Basic creature comforts, such as running hot water and good sanitation, are still lacking in many areas. I watched an investigative report on TV showing how people in towns outside Yerevan were de
sperately struggling to protect their living quarters from incoming rain. Meanwhile, local officials seemed unable or unwilling to ameliorate the problem.”
Manufacturing in Armenia has taken a huge hit. Once a source of good-paying jobs, many formerly thriving industries are permanently closed down, and unemployment is high. “In the southern section of Yerevan, near the Erebuni Museum, we drove past half a dozen or more shuttered factories.” Saryan said. “The gates are padlocked, the glass windows are knocked out, and the insides of the buildings are empty—pillaged, they say, by former government cronies. Jobs have evaporated, and people are reduced to driving taxis to make a living. Yerevan was once a manufacturing hub; today it seems to be converting to a service-based economy. The worldwide economic crisis is only exacerbating the situation.”
Politically, Saryan sees a clear connection between the “roadmap” agreement between Armenia and Turkey announced on April 22, and President Obama’s failure to use the word genocide. “I saw a report from the Armenian Assembly suggesting that there was no connection between the roadmap and Obama’s April 24 statement,” Saryan said. “This is pure poppycock. Successive U.S. administrations have demonstrated that they are not as interested in historical justice as they are in peace and stability in this volatile region of the world. What probably happened is that President Obama, in secret discussions in Ankara several weeks prior to April 24, told the Turkish government that it had better make friends with Armenia in a hurry, or he would use the “G-word” on April 24. Meanwhile, he also seems to be pressuring Armenia with the threat of a reduction in American humanitarian and military aid. This roadmap, which the government of Armenia seems to have agreed to, was the result. I fail to see how any provision of the r
oadmap benefits Armenia. To me, it looks like a disaster.”
Saryan was highly critical of the Obama Administration’s back-tracking on the use of the term genocide to describe the 1915 annihilation of the Armenian community of Turkey. “I joined a million other Armenians for the April 24 commemoration at the Martyr’s Monument at Dzidzernagapert [the Genocide Memorial]. At the eternal flame at the crest of the hill, I was approached by a news reporter and interviewed for Armenia TV,” Saryan said. “After ascertaining that I was from the U.S., the first question that the young reporter asked was whether I thought President Obama would use the term genocide in the annual April 24 presidential statement. On the street nearby, I photographed assemblages of hundreds of young people making their way to the monument, carrying placards thanking by name the dozens of countries that had already officially recognized the Armenian Genocide. Genocide recognition is clearly a topic of great popular interest in Yerevan. The following day, as news of Obama’s statement using the term Medz
Yeghern (Great Calamity) instead of genocide reached Yerevan, the disappointment was palpable.”
Saryan enthusiastically agreed with the withdrawal of the ARF from the coalition government of President Serge Sarkisian. “The ARF in Armenia is now part of the opposition. The ARF played a constructive role in the government as long as it could do so without compromising its principles. The roadmap, however, with its provisions for endorsement of the Treaty of Kars and a so-called historical commission that the Turks will try to exploit as part of their denialist campaign, is totally unacceptable,” Saryan said emphatically. The Treaty of Kars, enacted between the Soviet Union and Turkey in 1921, essentially renounces the Armenian claim to the lands of western Armenia, which were confiscated during the genocide but granted to the Armenian people by President Woodrow Wilson and the Treaty of Sevres.
“There is no way that the ARF could ever endorse the Kars Treaty because the ARF can never abandon our claim to the western territories. This is perhaps the most dangerous provision in the roadmap, and it is totally unacceptable to the Armenian Diaspora. I applaud our ungers in Armenia for standing firm on this point,” he declared.
As to the future, Saryan expressed the opinion—and hope—that despite the fanfare, the roadmap might not go anywhere, just like the Turkish Armenian Reconciliation Commission (TARC) a few years back. He also said that the Azeris seem to be upset with some of the reported roadmap terms as well, and are pressuring Ankara to back away from the agreement.
A vigorous question-and-answer period followed the program, which was preceded by a tasty lunch served to all attendees. The 91st commemoration program was enthusiastically received by the 60 people in attendance. The Racine community felt fortunate to have a dedicated scholar and activist such as Saryan in their midst, and said they look forward to another presentation by him soon.
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