Stepan Partamian launches pan-Armenian projects

Published: Tuesday August 17, 2010

Cover of Stepan Partamian's "Yes, We Have!" book published in 2009.

Burbank, Calif. - Stepan Partamian announced the launch of five major projects on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Genocide. All five initiatives - including unprecedented publications, documentary endeavors, and a dual-citizenship drive - will be implemented by the year 2015.

"In the run-up to the 100th anniversary of the Catastrophe, we must remind the world (and ourselves) that although the Armenian people was decimated in 1915, it went on to not only survive and regroup, but contribute its diverse talents to humanity, in every single country where Armenians settled during the decades following the massacres and deportations," Partamian said.

"I believe that beyond protest marches, commemorations, and efforts to obtain official recognition of the Genocide, we must mobilize the worldwide Armenian community around a number of outstanding projects designed to inform, provide a new level of affirmation, and empower," Partamian continued. "In addition, I think it's high time to help educate the Turkish masses about the history of the Armenians in the Ottoman era and the devastating impact of the Genocide."

Photos of 1.5 million Armenians

A publisher, television commentator, and president of the Armenian Arts Foundation, Partamian said the first project planned for the centenary is to collect portrait photographs of a minimum of 1.5 million Armenians whose ancestors included victims of the Genocide. The photos will be published in a full-color book titled One and a Half Million as well as posted online.

The goal, according to Partamian, is to identify a direct line between the victims and their descendants. The photos, which can include individuals, couples, or families, will be accompanied by captions indicating links between the victims and their progeny.

Also within the framework of this project, 100 "family reunions" will be photographed in front of Genocide memorials across the world. The group photos, featuring extended Armenian families which have lost members to the Genocide, will likewise be published in the One and a Half Million volume.

Dual-citizenship drive

The second project is to have a minimum of 1.5 million Armenians become dual citizens of Armenia by 2015.

"We all get deeply emotional when it comes to securing official recognition of the Genocide," Partamian said. "We're overjoyed when a country, even a city, proclaims recognition of the historic event, we get furious when the United States or some other government denies it. Yet a precious few Armenians in the diaspora are willing to become citizens of their own homeland, let alone move there. I think this is hypocrisy of the highest order. We demand recognition of the Genocide, we want Armenia to be strong and prosperous, but we refuse to live there ourselves. How is our homeland supposed to grow and thrive when an overwhelming portion of the Armenian people is absent from the land?"

To implement the dual-citizenship project, Partamian said, a public-awareness campaign - comprising community meetings, seminars, and other mobilization events - will be launched worldwide. The initiative will also be facilitated by offering the Armenian-citizenship application form online.

Partamian added that he will move to Armenia later this year. "I think anyone who considers herself or himself an Armenian must, at the minimum, seriously consider living and working in the homeland," he said. "I think, as a people, we would be engaging in gross self-deception and denial if we continue to choose to live outside the borders of Armenia, if, that is, we exclude from the equation the very source and center of our identity."

Gifts to the World Museum and book

The third planned project is a dual initiative which seeks to celebrate and honor the numerous gifts which Armenians have given the world in terms of art, literature, science, technology, sports, and scholarly work. The project, Partamian said, will be a natural extension of the book Yes, We Have, published by him in 2009, which lists and describes a great number of Armenian contributions to the United States.

The Gifts to the World project will consist of two major endeavors: 1) the establishment of the Gifts to the World Museum in Armenia, comprising sections dedicated to each country where Armenians have contributed their diverse talents to local life; and 2) a book titled Gifts to the World and honoring extraordinary Armenian contributions to humanity.

"The project will give us the opportunity to seek seed money from each of the countries which will be represented at the future Gifts to the World Museum," Partamian said.

Yes, We Have: Armenian contributions to Ottoman and modern Turkey

"No nationality has contributed more to the art, architecture, handcrafts, sports, science, and technology of the Ottoman Empire than the Armenians," Partamian said. "In fact, Armenians continue to contribute their talents to modern Turkey. Yet today the Turkish people, which has been instilled with decades of denialist propaganda, knows next to nothing about the crucial and far-reaching role that Armenians have played in Ottoman and Turkish life."

Therefore, Partamian explained, his fourth project is to publish a Turkish variant of Yes, We Have, which will celebrate the diverse contributions of Armenians to the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Turkey. In order to make the book available to as many Turkish-speaking people as possible, Partamian said, the book will be sold in Turkey and elsewhere at a nominal price or even distributed free of charge.

"If knowledge leads to understanding, we need to educate the Turks about the Armenian past and, consequently, the responsibility of their ancestors in the decimation of Armenian citizens of the Ottoman Empire."

For more information on Yes, We Have, visit yeswehave.org.