Joint Commemoration Featuring Harut Sassounian Paying Tribute to 40th Anniversary of UN Recognition of the Armenian Gencocide
WATERTOWN — Publisher and syndicated columnist Harut Sassounian, delivering the keynote address at a community-wide commemoration of the 110th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide on Sunday, April 6, at the Armenian Cultural and Educational Center (ACEC), focused on the little-known anniversary of the United Nations’ recognition of that bleak chapter.
In August 1985, the UN SubCommission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, at a Geneva sitting, approved a report that included a paragraph marking the Armenian Genocide. Sassounian told the story to the assembled, unfurling the twists and turns, including his key role, like a mystery. That report is known as the “Whitaker Report.”
Harut Sassounian (Aram Arkun photo)
Sassounian, the founder and publisher of the California Courier, started by noting the contribution of Polish-born attorney Raphael Lemkin, who came up with the word genocide in the 1940s as a result of studying what had happened to the Armenians.
On December 9, 1948, the UN General Assembly adopted the convention of the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide, which went into effect in 1951.
Ara Balikian (Kenneth Martin photo)
That year, at a speech in the UN, Sassounian objected to Ruhashyankiko deleting the reference to the Armenian Genocide. “After lengthy debates, the commission on human rights suggested that the special rapporteur take into consideration the statements of several countries in favor of including paragraph 30. However, Ruhashyankiko was never heard from again. The genocide report was left hanging without Paragraph 30,” he said.
In 1982, Sassounian contacted Benjamin Whitaker, a member of the SubCommission, and asked him to accept to be the new rapporteur “since as the executive director of the Minority Rights group,…he was very knowledgeable about the Armenian Genocide.”
“I did not contact the rest of the SubCommission members so that Turkey would not get wind of my behind-the-scenes orchestration,” Sassounian said.
He then alerted in fall 1983 SubCommission Chair Madame Halima Warzazi of Morocco about the possibility of appointing Whitaker.
“On the opening day of the SubCommission’s 1983 session, when usually no agenda item is discussed, suddenly Madame. Warzazi, who was a close friend of Whitaker, lifted her gavel and said he would be the new rapporteur if there were no objections. Before anyone could react, Madame Warzazi banged her gavel and said since there were no objections, Whitaker was appointed the new rapporteur.”
He added, “The Turkish delegate was in total shock but it was too late to do anything about it.”
In his final report, in paragraph 24, Whitaker included the reference to the Armenian Genocide, with many footnotes.
The paragraph is as follows: “The Nazi aberration has unfortunately not been the only case of genocide in the twentieth century. Among other examples which can be cited as qualifying are the German massacre of Hereros in 1904, the Ottoman massacre of Armenians in 1915–1916, the Ukrainian pogrom of Jews in 1919, the Tutsi massacre of Hutu in Burundi in 1965 and 1972, the Paraguayan massacre of Ache Indians prior to 1974, the Khmer Rouge massacre in Kampuchea between 1975 and 1978, and the contemporary Iranian killings of Baha’is.”
He also quoted the German ambassador from 1915, saying that “the government was pursuing its goal of exterminating the Armenian race in the Ottoman Empire.”
“I met with most of the 26 members of the SubCommission to convince them to support the report,” he said. “The strangest idea I came up with was when I approached the Syrian member who was going to vote against the report in solidarity with the neighboring Islamic Turkey. I told him to leave the hall when the voting started and not to come back until it was over…. I was able to neutralize his no vote.”
Speaking in support of the report were representatives from Zambia, India, Greece, France, the UK and Argentina.
Whitaker’s report was put to a vote on August 29, 1985, with 14 votes in favor, one opposed and four abstentions.
“The result was astonishing because Turkey had the support of the then 12 NATO members and 40 members of the Islamic Conference. At the end they refrained from supporting Turkey,” he said.
“The Turkish government, having fought for a dozen years to delete the reference to the Armenian genocide, failing to do so, said the report wasn’t that important after all,” Sassounian said.
In 1988, Sassounian said he went to Geneva to speak about the massacres in Sumgait and Baku, “since as an NGO I had the right to speak.”
In addition to founding the California Courier, Sassounian is the president of the Armenia Artsakh Fund, a non-profit organization that has donated to Armenia and Artsakh over one billion dollars of humanitarian aid, mostly medicines, since 1989 (including its predecessor, the United Armenian Fund).
Before the talk, Hamazkayin Boston’s ArtNova Choir, led by artistic director Arthur Veranian offered several songs, including the hymn Soorp Soorp by Komitas.
In his introductory remarks, Ara Balikan chair of the Armenian General Benevolent Union New England District, paid tribute to the 110th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, saying it “scattered us all across the globe” but that the Armenians had not been silenced. Our resilience is testament to our ability to use our intellect and faith to rebuild and thrive,” he said.
He referred to the ethnic cleansing in Artsakh. “Let us use this occasion not just to talk, but to act. Let us use this occasion to remember that our Artsakh leaders, who remain unlawfully held as hostages, need our voice and actions to get back home as soon as they can.”
Balikian thanked Dr. Ara Nazarian and all the other organizations for hosting this unified program.
Aram Arkun, executive director of the Tekeyan Cultural Association of the United States and Canada, offered the closing remarks. He noted that as Sassounian’s talk made clear, though the road to justice for the Armenians is hard, they have to do something and not lose hope. Like Sassounian, every individual has the possibility of making a difference.
“There is always light somewhere on the horizon,” Arkun said. “It is an uphill battle, but every little bit of the uphill battle contributes to not having the cause forgotten.” This is true both for Artsakh and the events of 110 years ago.
He praised the Boston Armenian community as being strong and united, as shown by this joint commemoration.
Serving as master of ceremonies was Ani Khatchadourian representing the Armenian Revolutionary Federation.
The benediction was offered by the Very Rev. Hrant Tahanian of St. Stephen’s Armenian Apostolic Church.
The event was sponsored by the ARF and several of its affiliated organizations, in addition to the AGBU and the Tekeyan Cultural Association.
