Armenian Genocide commemoration was held in Worcester

PanARMENIAN.Net - An Armenian Genocide commemoration was held at the Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic Church in Worcester, and featured speakers Bilgin Ayata (Johns Hopkins University) and Dr. Dikran Kaligian (Regis College). The event was sponsored by the Armenian Church of the Martyrs, the Armenian National Committee, the Armenian Relief Society, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, the Armenian Youth Federation, the Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic Church of Worcester, and the Surp Asdvadzadzin Armenian Apostolic Church of Whitinsville.



Arpi Aprahamian, the mistress of ceremonies, welcomed the audience—which numbered 200—and talked about the importance of commemorating the genocide. She said the number of survivors have dwindled over the years, and acknowledged the presence of the only survivor in the audience, Almas Boghosian. She then introduced Bilgin Ayata.



"A few days ago when I participated at a panel discussion at Bentley College, I found out that among the Armenian community here in Worcester, there are several families who are descendants from Armenians of Chemisgezek of the Dersim region," said Ayata. "I was born and raised in Germany, but my parents are from Dersim as well, not from Chemisgezek but from Ovajik, a small town in the valley of Dersim. After the genocide in 1915, the cultural diversity of Dersim was extinguished and today, the population consists of mainly Alevi-Kurds and Zazas," she said.



Worcester Mayor Konstantina Lukes spoke next. After talking about the importance of genocide recognition by the current U.S. administration, she read a declaration urging all Worcester residents to commemorate the Armenian Genocide with their Armenian neighbors.



George Aghjayan from the ARF Worcester "Aram" Gomideh made a few comments, urging the community to continue the struggle and, when thinking about the failure of President Barack Obama to recognize the Armenian Genocide, to not forget all the victories that have been achieved.