Thursday, November 01, 2007

Armenian genocide topic in class

2 Nov. 2007
Advertiser-News

VERNON —Vernon teacher Phil Tintle presented Sam Azadian with a plaque in appreciation of his commitment to telling the story of the 1915 Armenian Genocide. Now in his 80s, Azadian has been a regular visitor to Tintle’s Issues of Conscience class at Vernon Township High School for several years and always captivates the students with his ability to make history come to life, albeit sadly. Azadian, co-founder and chairman of the Times Square Armenian Genocide Commemoration, grew up with a father, mother and sister who survived and escaped the 20th century’s first genocide.

In the Spring of 1915, the Turkish government ordered the systematic deportation of the Armenian people. Village by village and town by town, men, women and children were taken away and murdered. An entire nation was destroyed and the Armenian people were effectively eliminated from their homeland of nearly 3,000 years. The genocide was from 1915 to 1923. Over one million people died in 1915 alone. To this day, the Turkish government claims the people were just “casualties of war,” blaming World War I on causing the deaths. Congress recently tried to pass a resolution condemning the killings as a genocide, but strong opposition killed the measure, at least for another year.

Azadian was invited by Tintle to speak to his class, which covers the topic of genocide throughout history. As a result of his commitment to his family history and Armenia, Azadian has been named Man of the Year by both the Knights of Vartan and the Armenian General Athletic Union.


Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.

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