[Students at Rock]
ON MONDAY OCTOBER 2, STUDENTS FROM THE ARMENIAN STUDENT ASSOCIATION(ALSO KNOWN AS ASA) GATHERED AT THE ROCK ON SOUTH CAMPUS. FOR THE FIRST TIME IN NORTHWESTERN’S HISTORY, THEY PAINTED THE FLAG OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARTSAKH, IN RED, YELLOW, BLUE AND WHITE.
[Students at Rock: Paint sounds]
THIS WAS IN RESPONSE TO RECENT VIOLENCE IN THE TERRITORY OF NAGORNO-KARABAKH. THIS TERRITORY IS LARGELY RECOGNIZED AS PART OF AZERBAIJAN. BUT MOST OF ITS POPULATION CONSISTS OF SEPARATIST ARMENIANS, ORGANIZED UNDER THE REPUBLIC OF ARTSAKH.
[Students at Rock]
IN LATE SEPTEMBER, MILITARY FORCES FROM AZERBAIJAN QUICKLY OVERWHELMED THE TERRITORY, LEADING TO A MASSIVE ARMENIAN EXODUS FROM THE REGION. THE CONFLICT HAS LED TO THE REPUBLIC OF ARTSAKH ANNOUNCING ITS DISSOLUTION BY JANUARY OF 2024.
HERE’S ISABEL TOGHRAMADIJIAN(she/her), WEINBERG THIRD-YEAR AND PRESIDENT OF ASA.
[Isabel Toghramadijian] And that’s our indigenous homeland. So, it wasn’t a shock, but I wasn’t necessarily expecting it. I remember, like opening Instagram, I was eating breakfast on the first day of school and just like breaking down and Sarge. Because, you know, even if it’s somewhat sought coming, it still was like, completely devastating.
CASUALTIES HAVE REACHED INTO THE THOUSANDS, INCLUDING AT LEAST 68 KILLED IN A GAS STATION EXPLOSION. BUT IN LARGE RED LETTERS, THE NUMBER 120,000 WAS PAINTED IN BIG RED LETTERS ON THE LEDGE IN FRONT OF THE ROCK.
[Students from the Rock, explaining the meaning of the number 120,000]
[IT] Yeah, so Armenia just doesn’t really have the infrastructure resources to support 120,000 Extra citizens. So that’s what a lot of the charity and aid is going to now is just like providing resources to be able to accommodate the new arrivals of refugees who are coming.
REFUGEES HAVE ATTEMPTED TO FLEE THE REGION VIA THE LACHIN CORRIDOR, A ROAD THAT LINKS NAGORNO-KARABAKH TO ARMENIA. BACK IN DECEMBER OF 2022, AZERBAIJAN BLOCKADED THIS CORRIDOR, PREVENTING THE FLOW OF FOOD AND MEDICAL RESOURCES TO THOSE TRYING TO FLEE THE REGION.
[IT] So no food supplies, international aid have been able to get in, like very few people have been allowed to get from ourselves to Armenia proper to receive medical care. Um, there’s been an increase in like miscarriages, everyone’s starving
THE DEGREE OF CIVILIAN VIOLENCE AND DISPLACEMENT HAVE CAUSED MANY TO LIKEN THESE EVENTS TO THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE OF THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY.
[Martin Mkrtchian] Yeah, a lot of photos circulating in the internet, where you can see how people are fleeing the Western Armenia in 1990. Fans, and how they they are fleeing arts are in 2023. So there are a lot of Carlos and it’s very similar. The only difference is that in 1915, it was 1 million Armenians. Now it’s like 120,000. Yeah, I still leave. There are not proper options against what is happening now. And that 120,000 can easily become another 1 million, you know?
THAT WAS MARTIN MKRTCHIAN, A WEINBERG SECOND-YEAR. AS AN INTERNATIONAL STUDENT FROM ARMENIA, HE RECALLED WHAT IT WAS LIKE WHEN VIOLENCE BROKE OUT IN HIS HOME BACK IN 2020.
[MM] It was a 44 day long war. And at that time, I was in my high school. And basically, the situation was so bad that everyone on campus, all the Armenians were depressed. I went to an international high school, so 20% No, 10% of the students are Armenians and the rest are international. Know, the Nationals had no idea what’s going on. And all the armies were so depressed that the head of the school and then director of the residential services had to give us opera give permission to us not to go to classes for product for the hallway, because everyone was just crying in their relatives, their framework dying
NOW AT NORTHWESTERN, DISTANCE AND A LACK OF EASY COMMUNICATION POSE ENTIRELY NEW OBSTACLES.
[MM] And actually, my aunt son is also serving in the army right now. There is a mandatory service in Armenia, that you have to serve for two years in the Army. So right now he’s doing that. So he’s in his second year of serving in the army. So it’s also very difficult for us to realize that he’s there fighting and like anything that can happen any second. So they’re constantly trying to be up to date to know whether he’s fine, or he’s not.
ISABEL ALSO EXPRESSED HOW DIFFICULT IT IS TO BE DISTANT FROM FAMILY AND HOME DURING TIMES OF VIOLENCE, ESPECIALLY WHILE BALANCING SCHOOL AND WORK OBLIGATIONS IN THE US.
[IT] But I think for a lot of people, you kind of have to compartmentalize, because it’s impossible to really, like be fully aware of the situation and process your emotions, while also simultaneously going through the stresses of the first two weeks of the quarter and Northwestern. So I think there’s definitely some compartmentalizing that goes on for everybody. Just a different stance
[Pause]
[Fade into Rock nat sound]
BUT FOR MANY ARMENIAN STUDENTS, ASA HAS PROVIDED AN IMPORTANT MEDIUM FOR COMMUNITY. THIS IS BOTH IN THE CONTEXT OF INTERNATIONAL CONFLICT, BUT ALSO FOR CONCERNS LIKE HOMESICKNESS OR CULTURE SHOCK.
[MM] I can tell you that when I first got here in the US, I had these cultural shocks. And a lot of things in the US culture seemed very different from what I had experienced in Armenia. So AC was the space where I could kind of get back to where I came from.
[Sarine Meguerditchian] And so I found that like through ACA, I’ve been able to find those people that, like, truly understand what’s happening and can truly, like, sympathize because they’re in the same position. But also I think that we have found that our sadness and our grieving has turned into activism because we’re like, we don’t want to sit around and just mourn the loss of the land and mourn the loss of the monasteries and the churches and the people who have been completely stripped away from their homeland. Instead, we want to turn that into activism and try to get some type of like, voice for ourselves.
THAT WAS SARINE MEGUERDITCHIAN, A WEINBERG SECOND-YEAR AND MEMBER OF ASA’S EXEC BOARD. SHE’S BEEN INVOLVED IN ACTIVISM FOR THE ARMENIAN COMMUNITY OUTSIDE NORTHWESTERN, INCLUDING BEING A PART OF THE ARMENIAN YOUTH FEDERATION.
SHE TALKED ABOUT HOW SHE’S NOT ONLY FOUND AFFINITY WITHIN ASA, BUT ALSO AMONG OTHER AFFINITY GROUPS ON CAMPUS.
[SM] So I know that Mena, the Middle Eastern North African group, has reached out and asked us if we if, if we what they can do to help us. Also, Armenians, like many of us, recognize ourselves as Middle Eastern. So that meant a lot to to AC to hear Mena and like to have them come to us and ask what they could do. Balkans, the new Balkan Student Association has reached out to us as well. We’ve done partnerships with Ukraine and with SJP. We also like have close ties as well. So all of these affinity groups, I think like if not. Like. Like we’ve either reached out to each other and like we’ve said, like we’re here for you and for your own problems that you’re having. Or like, there’s this kind of, like, recognition of solidarity.
[Pause]
STUDENTS FEEL THAT THE LACK OF ATTENTION SURROUNDING THE CONFLICT HAS MADE THE OUTBREAK OF VIOLENCE ALL THE MORE PAINFUL.
[Students at Rock: someone asking what Armenia is]
[IT] I feel like my close friends have been very supportive of me personally, in terms of understanding the emotional toll that this is taking on me and trying to be there to support me in, like my mental health or just my stress levels. But honestly, I think, for a lot of Armenians and myself included, it’s very disheartening. Like, the lack of attention that this issue gets, I think, taking, for example, the war between Russia and Ukraine. If you look at the situations a lot, there are a lot of parallels. But because our people are so much smaller, and it’s a much less trendy topic, I’ve basically seen And nobody outside of our Armenian community speak up about it.
ISABEL POINTS OUT THAT NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY’S RESPONSE TO THE CRISIS HAS BEEN DISAPPOINTING AS WELL.
[IT] No, we have gotten nothing from the school. I mean, the school hasn’t released any public statement, the school hasn’t reached out to us as individuals. So really, the school has been silent.
[IT] Other similar institutions, other schools have, for example, like NYU released a statement. And I think USC also did after a lot of activism from their Isa. So I think there is a precedent for the school to do something to somehow support us. But we really haven’t gotten anything.
WITH THE FALL OF ARTSAKH, ARMENIAN ACTIVISTS HAVE HAD TO CONSIDER HOW THEIR GOALS MIGHT HAVE TO SHIFT, IN ORDER TO RAISING AWARENESS, BOTH ON AND OFF CAMPUS.
[SM] It’s really, really sad. But what they were going to do has been done. The blockade was successful. The ethnic cleansing of Armenians in the region was successful. All of these Armenians, 120,000 Armenians, were forced to seek refuge since then. And so now it’s really I think back then it was more towards just trying to get our foot on campus. But now it’s kind of more of a first of all, like Armenian matters or Armenian voices matter and like kind of a lot more of a, I think, aggressive approach on this campus to making sure that Armenian voices are heard because it’s been Armenians have been on campus for a while.
[SM] And then also what Assad is going to do is we’re planning a couple of fundraisers for the coming weeks to try to send immediate aid to displaced, displaced, displaced people who are now living in Armenia.
[Fade into students at the roc]
BUT EVEN IN THIS VIOLENT AND CONCLUSIVE HISTORICAL MOMENT, FINDING PRIDE AND JOY WITHIN THE ARMENIAN COMMUNITY REMAINS AS CENTRAL TO ASA’S MISSION AS EVER BEFORE.
[SM] I think that being Armenian comes with the necessity to be aware and be active in a sort of way. It’s it’s kind of like being Armenian. It’s a cultural thing, but it’s also like the necessity to help out the homeland is ingrained in it.
[Fade into students at the rock]
FROM WNUR NEWS, I’M PAUL O’CONNOR.
