Yet Another Unfortunate National Custom
Richmond, Virginia
Alongside prominent members of the Richmond Armenian community, the gathering was also attended by Charles Evranian, the renowned Armenian-American sports executive with the Detroit Tigers, Atlanta Braves and Chicago White Sox. During his tenure as president, the Chicago Sting also won the championship of the North American Soccer League.
Our talented compatriot has now entered his seventies, yet he has retained the vitality and energy of an athlete.
With the enthusiasm of a young man, my conversation partner began recounting fascinating episodes from a life filled with memorable events. Eventually, however, he turned to a painful experience that remain a wound in his heart—experiences that, quite unintentionally, stirred and intensified similarly bitter feelings within me.
Let us now give the floor to our wounded and aggrieved companion:
“Nearly fifteen years ago, my close friend Gary Avedikian and I approached the leadership of the Football Federation of Armenia and offered to put our experience and knowledge in sports, and particularly in football, at the service of developing and improving athletic programs in our homeland.
“I should add that Gary had been the coach of the Ohio State University football team and had also served as president of the United States Soccer Coaches Association. He proposed traveling to Armenia to organize modern football training programs and clinics and, drawing upon his many years of experience, to help advance and strengthen our national team.
“For my part, I also wrote to the government of Armenia, offering to put my experience as a sports executive to work, in order to help expand and improve the country’s athletic programs through methods and knowledge, that had already been tested and successfully implemented in the United States. I, too, wanted to contribute to and improve programs that were already in place.
“Sadly, neither Gary nor I ever received any response whatsoever from the authorities in our homeland.”
I listened intently, with both sadness and regret, to the heart-breaking—and entirely justified—complaint of this Armenian-American former athlete and champion.
Unfortunately, this is nothing new. At virtually every level, the same scenario is repeated.
Our political, religious, intellectual and, in this case, athletic leadership could at least have shown the basic courtesy of sending these two patriotic Armenian-American sports professionals, either a positive response or, if their proposals were not acceptable, at least a simple letter of rejection, thanking them for their devotion.
Instead, their valuable, nation-serving offers were met with the disgracing and dismissive silence of indifference.
Sadly, this same pattern prevails, without exception, across virtually every sphere of our national life.
It is worth mentioning that this writer himself recently had the misfortune of experiencing a similar situation. Yet, I feel compelled to emphasize that these lines are not being written with the ulterior motive of attacking or criticizing any particular leader.
Allow me to explain.
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the late Unger Shavarsh Torikian’s historic visit to Sierra Leone West Africa, I reminded the current leadership on several occasions that, as a means of perpetuating the memory of our departed comrade, the Armenian National Committee (ANC) should undertake the publication of the Armenian translation of The Lions of Marash, the magnificent work on the Armenian Genocide by the renowned American historian Stanley Kerr. My translation had received the unreserved approval of late Unger Garo Momjian.
I also proposed that, to the extent possible, the ANC support the publication of the second, as yet unpublished volume of my Passport novel, whose underlying theme is the Armenian Cause and armed struggle.
It appears that, as is so often the case, my proposal has so far fallen on deaf ears.
Yet I have not lost hope.
Even after the stonewalling silence that has followed my appeals, I remain optimistic and continue to await a positive response from a source…
For the love of God and the Armenian people, let us reform this practice and put an end to the unfortunate custom and attitude that leaves our dedicated compatriots without an answer, wounding their sensibilities and treating their sincere efforts with contempt.
