Glimpses into the ARF Photo Archives: Armenians and Their Neighbors
In my previous articles delving into photographs from the ARF Archives, we saw some familiar and unfamiliar visuals from our history and culture over the past century and more. One clear takeaway is that the Armenian people have never lived in a vacuum. Empires have passed over the lands where Armenians have lived. Large-scale conflicts have reverberated among the Armenian people, not least of which the Genocide during the First World War. Armenians themselves have also participated in and helped shape fashions and trends around them – including, not coincidentally, the spread of photography in the Middle East.
Unsurprisingly, then, there are subjects among the photographs in the archives outside of exclusively Armenian circles.
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LOOKING AT THESE PHOTOGRAPHS OF ARMENIAN FREEDOM FIGHTERS AND THEN SEEING ARMENIAN POLITICIANS (DEMOCRATS LIKE ADRIN NAZARIAN AND ARDASHES KASSAKHIAN FROM GLENDALE/LOS ANGELES) WHO DO NOT SUPPORT THE SECOND AMENDMENT (RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS) MAKE ME VOMIT. THEY FERVENTLY WORK TO MAKE GUN OWNERSHIP IMPOSSIBLE, TAX THE HELL OUT OF LEGAL GUN OWNERS, SUPPORT ANTI-GUN LAWS WHICH DIRECTLY AFFECT LEGAL AND LAW ABIDING GUN OWNERS AND NOT CRIMINALS. GUNS ARE WHAT PROTECTED ARMENIAN VILLAGERS. GUNS ARE WHAT GAVE ARMENIAN FREEDOM FIGHTERS A CHANCE TO FIGHT AND WIN. GUNS ARE WHAT KHYRIMYAN HAYRIK SAID ARMENIANS SHOULD GIVE ONE ANOTHER. GUNS! GUNS! GUNS! ONE OF THE FIRST THINGS THE TURKS DID BEFORE MASSACRING 1.5 MILLION ARMENIANS IS DEMAND THAT ALL ARMENIANS TURN IN THEIR GUNS. ARMENIANS CAN NOT AND SHOULD NOT, EVER, SUPPORT DEMOCRATS, AND OUR ARMENIAN DEMOCRAT POLITICIANS ARE NOT REPRESENTING ARMENIAN VALUES AND BELIEFS OF THE RIGHT TO DEFEND ONE’S SELF. NAZARIAN, KASSAKHIAN, AND ANY OTHER ARMENIAN DEMOCRAT POLITICIAN NEED TO CHANGE THEIR POLITICAL PARTIES TO TRULY REPRESENT ARMENIAN BELIEFS AND VALUES OF FAMILY, CHURCH, MARRIAGE BETWEEN MAN AND WOMAN, ENTREPRENEURSHIP, LOW TAXES, LESS GOVERNMENT, STRONG MILITARY, PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY, AND ACCOUNTABILITY FOR ONE’S ACTIONS. INSTEAD, THEY BELIEVE IN AND SUPPORT THE OPPOSITE BECAUSE THEY ARE AFRAID THEY WILL BE UNELECTABLE. THEY ARE COWARDS AND PHONIES. ARMENIANS MUST PROTECT THE 2ND AMENDMENT. ARMENIANS MUST ALWAYS SUPPORT REPUBLICANS. THE BEST ARMENIAN POLITICIAN THAT EVER EXISTED WAS GEORGE DEUKMEJIAN, GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA. HE WAS A PROUD REPUBLICAN WHO SERVED FOR EIGHT YEARS. NAZARIAN AND KASSAKHIAN NEED TO SPEAK BOLDLY AND HONESTLY ABOUT WHAT ARMENIANS VALUE AND BELIEVE WHICH ARE REPUBLICAN VALUES AND BELIEFS. OUR ARMENIAN FREEDOM FIGHTERS AND ARMENIAN SOLDIERS, ALIVE AND WHO DIED DEFENDING ARMENIA AND ARTSAKH, DESERVE IT.
The chief perpetrators of the Armenian Genocide had very much in common with the Nazi perpetrators of the Holocaust. They were not some rough looking illiterate moustachioed mountain men and bandits, like the Kurds they employed to do their murderous work, but were polished, highly educated, multilingual, cosmopolitan people, who were part of the Ottoman nobility or the Ottoman bourgeoisie, hence why murderers like them are even more chilling.