Armenian community of Pasadena to mark Armenian Genocide
Armenian community of Pasadena will mark anniversary of Armenian genocide, sgvtribune.com daily report says.
The report quotes Armenian-American Khatchik Chahinian as saying he will never forget the scar on his grandmother's back. As a boy in Beirut, Lebanon, he was puzzled one day to hear his grandmother, Anoush Manoukian, praying for names of people he did not know. When Chahinian asked who they were, she froze, told him to sit down and shared her story with him for the first and last time. Turkish soldiers, she said, invaded her Armenian family's home in the Ottoman Empire town of Kharpert in 1915. They killed her first husband, their two children and stabbed her in the back as she tried to run.
"She showed me a deep scar in her back and she said, `don't forget the scar,"' Chahinian said as tears welled in his eyes.
The story says that Armenian-American historian John Ahmaranian of Pasadena authored a book published in 2010 that compiles and translates newspaper articles, mostly from Turkish sources, documenting the massacres. The book is titled "Turkey Has Recognized the Armenian Genocide."
The Armenian American Coalition, for which Chahinian is chairman, published the book and mailed a copy to each U.S Congressman.
Ahmaranian, who lost 37 relatives in the genocide, will be one of the guest speakers Tuesday at City Hall.