September 15, 2004

Armenian-Americans Join "Sudan: Day of Conscience" in San Francisco

San Francisco, August 25, 2004 – Armenian-American community members joined hands with others at San Francisco’s Civic Center to raise public awareness about continuing massacres in Sudan.  The event, called "Sudan: Day of Conscience" was organized by the Save Darfur Coalition in tandem with several other organizations, including the Bay Area Armenian National Committee,  the Interfaith Council, Human Rights Watch, the Jewish Community Relations, and the United Muslims of America. Local Armenian priests from the St. Gregory and St. John churches also participated it the rally.

In light of the escalating violence and the looming threat of genocide in Sudan, representatives spoke about the desperate need for united action on all levels—regionally, statewide, nationwide, and globally.  Referring to the recent past, they illustrated the destructiveness of international blindness to gross violations of human rights.  It was only ten years ago that the genocide in Rwanda took the lives of 800,000 victims as the world stood idly by despite the many warning signs of the atrocities.  In Sudan, government-backed Arab militias, known as the Janjaweed, have been engaging in campaigns to displace and wipe out entire communities of African tribal farmers. Witnesses report that villages have been razed, women and girls are systematically raped and branded, men and boys murdered, and food and water supplies specifically targeted and destroyed. There have also been reports of government aerial bombardments of explosives as well as barrels of nails, car chassis and old appliances hurled from planes to crush people and property. Over fifty thousand have died and over a million have been driven from their homes.   Only in the past few weeks have humanitarian agencies had limited access to a portion of the affected region.

Representing the ANC, Haig Baghdassarian spoke to the several hundred people gathered about the Armenian Genocide and traced the bloody history of the 20th century, pointing to the genocides which followed and condemning international reluctance to take action.  "When will we learn that we cannot tolerate this to happen time and time again? Perhaps not until, we as Americans, can tell our Turkish allies, that although we may be friends, we will not allow them to deny history and escape with impunity for the murder of a nation.  And perhaps, not until, we as Americans can come to terms with our own bloody past – and the destruction of the indigenous peoples of America."

"But these noble goals may take years or even decades to achieve, and we cannot stand by and watch yet another genocide occur, whether it’s in central Europe or in the heart of Africa, or on the very periphery of human civilization," said Bagdassarian.

Reverend Father Avedis Torossian, pastor of St. Gregory Armenian Apostolic Church, and Reverend Father Sarkis Petoyan, pastor of St. John Armenian Apostolic Church were also present to express their solidarity with the "Sudan: Day of Conscience".  The peaceful collaboration of the representatives of the Armenian community with those of the Jewish, Cambodian, and Rwandan communities demonstrated how the one common aspect of these groups’ histories can unite them in trying to prevent genocide from becoming a dark chapter in the lives and history of another people.