The legacies of Vahan Cardashian and Raphael Lemkin celebrated at book presentation

Authors Yeghiayan and Bayzler reflect on their landmark studies of the human-rights pioneers

by Sarene Yacoubian

Published: Saturday January 31, 2009

Professor J. Bayzler speaking about his book, Raphael Lemkin's Dossier on the Armenian Genocide.. Sarene Yacoubian

Glendale, Calif. - On January 22, the Center for Armenian Remembrance hosted an evening of lectures by attorney Vartkes Yeghiayan and Professor J. Bayzler at the Glendale Public Library. Yeghiayan and Bayzler presented their respective books, Vahan Cardashian: Advocate Extraordinaire for the Armenian Cause and Raphael Lemkin's Dossier on the Armenian Genocide, both published by the Center for Armenian Remembrance. The event was sponsored by the Friends of the Glendale Public Library and the Temple Sinai of Glendale.

Based in Glendale, the nonprofit Center for Armenian Remembrance is a research and advocacy organization dedicated to the prevention of genocide and worldwide recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

In his introductory remarks, Glendale City Clerk Ardashes Kassakhian spoke of the pioneering advocacy work carried out by Vahan Cardashian (1883-1934) and Raphael Lemkin (1900-1951), both of whom were human-rights attorneys. Cardashian, to whom Kassakhian referred as "one of the grandfathers of the Armenian National Committee [ANC]," worked tirelessly to raise American public awareness of the massacres of Armenians and lobbied the U.S. government for defending the rights of the Armenian people as well as the first Republic of Armenia. Lemkin coined the word "genocide" and was instrumental in the enactment of the United Nations Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide (the Genocide Convention). Kassakhian summed up Cardashian's and Lemkin's legacies in the words of Gandhi: "Be the change you wish to see in the world."               

First to speak was Yeghiayan, whose compilation book sheds light on Cardashian's diverse accomplishments. Yeghiayan himself is a prolific advocate of human rights and specifically the Armenian Cause. Educated at the University of California, Berkley, and Hastings Law School, he worked for California Rural Legal Assistance (which defends the rights of low-income rural communities) and served as assistant director of the Peace Corps during the administrations of presidents Nixon, Ford, and Carter. In the late 1980s, after reading Ambassador Henry Morgenthau's memoirs, Yeghiayan became one of the lead attorneys (along with Mark Geragos) in the case against New York Life, which resulted in a $40-million settlement for descendants of the Armenian Genocide.

"Lemkin is world-renowned," Yeghiayan said. "Cardashian should be as well." Educated at Yale, Cardashian had begun a successful legal practice in New York. For several years before the Armenian Genocide, he was legal counsel for the Ottoman Embassy and Turkey's Consulate in New York. Following the Armenian Genocide, in which most of Cardashian's family perished, he devoted himself to documenting the atrocities and defending the rights of the Armenian people. He began by corresponding with influential American figures and writing dozens of letters to the New York Times, in an effort to raise awareness of the Armenian nation's plight.

Yeghiayan said that in 1918, when Cardashian closed his law office to dedicate his life to advocacy work, he contributed the entirety of his fortune to the Armenian Cause. His "lifetime achievement," Yeghiayan said, came in 1919 with the establishment of the American Committee for the Independence of Armenia (ACIA, the precursor of the ANC), which secured U.S. recognition for the first Republic of Armenia. Yeghiayan pointed out that Cardashian had "20,000 [American] clergymen, 35 governors, and 200 presidents of universities and colleges supporting the ACIA."

Cardashian's lobbying efforts didn't stop there. "As the driving force behind the American Committee Opposed to the Lausanne Treaty, he persuaded Congress to reject the Lausanne Treaty," Yeghiayan said. And, "as attorney for the Delegation of the Independent Republic of Armenia, he charged that the administration of President Coolidge had sold out Armenian rights for a share in Mosul Oil."

While researching Cardashian's work, Yeghiayan said he studied over 14,000 pages of his writings, including letters, memorandums, and newspaper articles. "He kept everyone busy reading his articles," Yeghiayan noted. "He was a fighter, a crusader, stunningly eloquent." Yeghiayan compiled some 300 pages of material for his book Vahan Cardashian: Advocate Extraordinaire for the Armenian Cause. In the conclusion of his lecture, Yeghiayan spoke of both Cardashian's and Lemkin's achievements and said, "Mr. Lemkin's place in the Pantheon is secure now. It is time to resurrect Cardashian's reputation as well."

Next to take the podium was Professor Michael J. Bayzler, who spoke of the legacy of Raphael Lemkin and his book Raphael Lemkin's Dossier on the Armenian Genocide. A professor of law for over 25 years, Bayzler currently teaches a course on genocide and the law at the Chapman School of Law.

"Even as a young man, he [Lemkin] has been a student of atrocities committed by one group against another," Bayzler said. After studying the Armenian Genocide, Lemkin, a Polish lawyer of Jewish descent, campaigned in the League of Nations to ban what he called "barbarity" and "vandalism." By the Second World War, when Germany invaded Poland and Lemkin lost many of his family members, "he was no longer a student of mass murders but a personal survivor," Bayzler said.