Members of the UCLA Armenian Student Association Board of Directors are represented (from left to right: Mary Keushkerian, External Vice President; Mher Arutyunyan, President of Political Affairs; Angela Minasyan, President). The Association signed an open letter criticizing the Armenian border. (Joseph Jimenez/photo editing assistant)
Editor’s note: The main points of this article about war and violence might disturb some readers.
The UCLA Armenian Student Association joined several other Armenian student teams across the country in signing an open letter condemning the recent clash on the border with Armenia.
The biggest outbreak of violence in just two years amid the decades-long standoff between Armenia and Azerbaijan, two former republics of the Soviet Union, occurred on Sept. 13 and a ceasefire was declared the next day, according to AP News. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said 105 Armenian infantrymen had been killed, while Azerbaijan reported the deaths of 50 of its servicemen.
AP News also reported on Oct. 17 that the European Union had agreed to send up to 40 mavens to Armenia, with the aim of tracing its border with Azerbaijan and moderating between the two countries.
The ASA’s open letter, published Sept. 25, was a collaborative effort among teams of Armenian scholars at UCLA and other universities. It collected nearly 1400 signatures from academics, colleges and alumni of universities, in addition to UC Berkeley and the University of Southern California.
The letter raised considerations about the possible erasure of Armenian heritage, in addition to the victims resulting from the conflict.
Hagop Kouloujian, a Kachigian family Armenian language and culture professor in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, said in an email that he supports ASA’s letter.
Reports from the Armenian diaspora are largely based on the concepts of genocide and loss, Kouloujian said in a later interview. Azerbaijan’s attacks arouse strong feelings among Armenians, given the occasions of the Armenian genocide of 1915, he added.
Since December 2021, the Lemkin Institute for the Prevention of Genocide has issued several red flag alerts for genocide directed against Azerbaijan. In an October 7 update, he said Azerbaijan had perpetrated violence that could lead to long-term genocide. The United Nations and other human rights organizations have expressed fears about violence in the region, but in particular have commented on the option of genocide.
In the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, which Azerbaijan has controlled since the Soviet era, Armenia’s population declined between the 1920s and 1990s, Kuluzhian said. Ancient Armenian sites have also been destroyed in the republic, he added.
Recently, in 1990, there were pogroms against Armenians in Azerbaijan, where many or more were killed because of their heritage, and other people fled to Russia or Armenia, Kuluzhian said.
Mher Arutyunyan, ASA’s president of political affairs, said he was involved with his circle of relatives in Armenia. Armenia has a small population and men enlist without delay as soon as they succeed at the age of 18, he said, adding that this worries many Armenians about the clash with Azerbaijan.
“It is discouraging to communicate with the Armenians who are still there. . . There’s a sense of unease, there’s a sense of depression,” said Arutyunyan, who is also a fourth-year political science student. Daughters die, and there’s just no one to care about them, to be helping them. “
Angela Minasyan, a fourth-year psychobiology student and ASA president, said her sponsor recruited and sent to protect villages near the border. He was killed in action at the age of 18, Minanyan added.
Minasyan said the village where a member of her family circle lives has also suffered the effects of the conflict, adding that women and youth have been completely evacuated from some villages. The remaining men there had to take on the role of soldiers, he said.
“It’s just a horrible situation, and as academics in the United States, what we can do is protect as much as we can,” Minanyan said. “If you need the Armenian Bruins at UCLA, you need your teammates either way you can. . . . Please, please, percentage of this letter.
In reaction to the escalating conflict, the ASA organized a fundraising crusade that began Sept. 15 and raised thousands of dollars in just over a day, said Mary Keushkerian, a third-year psychobiology student and ASA external vice president.
The cash raised will go to the Armenian Wounded Heroes Fund, a nonprofit that provides first aid and medical rehabilitation to Armenian soldiers, according to ASA’s Instagram. The open letter also includes the fund as an organization.
Keushkerian said he felt it was important to express Armenia as a member of the Armenian diaspora, adding that he was looking for a private, organizational point on behalf of the ASA to help raise public awareness about Armenia.
“I try to communicate about Armenia to everyone I know because I think getting maximum visibility is the most productive way possible,” Keushkerian said. “Knowledge is power. Knowledge is where we can all grow, be informed of others, and not let history repeat itself.
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