The surrounding country of Azerbaijan invaded the region of Artsakh, also known as Nagorno-Karabakh, in late September. Artsakh surrendered Sept. 20.
Dean of Students Rob Flot wrote in an Oct. 3 campus-wide email that tens of thousands of Armenians who lived in Nagorno-Karabakh had fled to Armenia. Flot said that the conflict directly touches the Armenian community at Occidental and in the surrounding region, which has the largest population of Armenians in the United States. Occidental’s Armenian Students Association (ASA) hosted a series of events Oct. 2-4 to raise awareness of the situation of Armenians in Artsakh.
According to Sareen Armenian (sophomore), who helps coordinate event for ASA, Critical Theory and Social Justice Professor Malek Moazzam-Doulat inspired ASA to plan the awareness campaign after Azerbaijan attacked Artsakh in September.
“We realized that no one was talking about [the attack] on campus,” Armenian said. “It was really important to us that we could show our presence on campus.”
According to Rachel Iskanian (senior), president of ASA, many Armenian Americans have experienced a common struggle with the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh.
“We’ve gone through the genocide already, now they’re going through something similar,” Iskanian said. “My family was very much impacted by the 1915 genocide.”
Peter Vartanian (junior), vice president of ASA, said the situation in Artsakh isn’t a solitary incident, but the result of over a hundred years of anti-Armenian sentiment and politics against a small minority trapped between Turkey, Russia and Iran.
According to Iskanian, many Armenians found their way to Southern California following the 1915 Armenian genocide and today, LA has one of the largest Armenian populations outside of Armenia. Iskanian said that, while many of the citizens of Artsakh haven’t come to LA yet, many who have fled Artsakh are going to Armenia proper, and that the connections between LA’s Armenian population and Armenia could lead to many refugees from Artsakh coming to LA.
According to Vartanian, many who approach the conflict in Artsakh view it as a simple territorial struggle without knowing the full context behind the powers at play, especially the Azerbaijani government.
“Azerbaijan is a petrostate, it’s very existence is perpetuated by the flow of oil,” Vartanian said.
Vartanian said that, in contrast to the Armenian government, the government of Azerbaijan weaponizes hatred of Armenians to keep its authoritarian government afloat. According to Iskanian, this fight is not new, and Armenia — one of the oldest civilizations on Earth — has had to fight for its existence for a long time.
According to Vartanian, Armenians are a very diasporic community, and many members of ASA are half or quarter-Armenian. Vartanian said that ASA’s membership tends to fluctuate — for example, he said that last year there were six members in ASA, and that they barely met. However, according to Vartanian, there are now over 20 members in the club.
“Clubs, especially at a small liberal arts college, die, and from their ashes, beautiful phoenixes will rise,” Vartanian said.
According to Armenian, the first event that ASA hosted was an information booth where the members created a pamphlet summarizing the history of Artsakh and the current situation in the region.
“To a non-Armenian, it might just seem like something really abstract,” Armenian said. “We really wanted to build that connection between the Armenian cause and the students on campus.”
On the second day, Armenian said that ASA hosted a bake sale where they sold traditional Armenian baked goods including lahmajun (an Armenian pizza), nazook (an Armenian pastry) and ponchik (Armenian donuts). ASA donated all the proceeds, totaling to $380, to the Armenian Relief Society, Armenian said.
The final event, according to Armenian, was a candlelight vigil held Oct. 4. Armenian said that the purpose of the vigil was to commemorate the lives and land lost in efforts to liberate Artsakh.
At the vigil, candles were placed in the shape of a cross with a poster reading “In our Hearts, Artsakh.” Other posters on the ground juxtaposed scenes from the 1915 Armenian genocide with similar scenes from the 2023 conflict in Artsakh, each reading in bold letters “Armenian genocide denied is Armenian genocide repeated.” Two students gave speeches at the vigil, including Armenian, who discussed the need to raise awareness for Armenian issues.
“Land you have to kill for isn’t yours, land you have to die for is,” Armenian said.
Contact Avinash Iyer at iyera@oxy.edu
