To Remember… To Remind… To Reclaim!

By Ani Hackett

“To remember, to remind, and to reclaim” was the theme of the 2014 AYF Junior Seminar. As a Junior, I have been taught and have realized that I have the power to make a difference in my local chapter, the Greater Boston “Nejdeh” Chapter, and help my ungers remember the genocide. But I had never felt I had the power to make a difference outside of my Boston community. I also never knew what Historic/Western Armenia was really like, and how our history has been changed in our rightful lands.

This all changed after my weekend at Junior Seminar. I went in with the mindset that I was only going to learn about what I’ve heard many times before. But I was pleasantly surprised after attending lectures like Unger Ken Sarajian’s, Ungerouhi Nairi Khatchatourian’s, and Unger Yervant Kachichian’s about the Genocide Centennial next year and Western Armenia. These lectures impacted me the most, because they opened my eyes to a different and wider perspective than I usually see.

Unger Ken’s lecture was about the Genocide Centennial. He made me realize that I could make a difference in my school by providing the educational resources to help my fellow students and teachers learn about the genocide. He also made me realize that I have so much power, and that a significant point in making the Armenian Genocide known is raising awareness. It made me question that if people don’t know what the genocide is, how will they know what to recognize? The main point I took away from this lecture about the Centennial is that if we have a local or countrywide memorial, we need to push for the big picture to make a difference. Comparing our cause for genocide recognition to other protests in the past, it takes a large amount of people to be heard, which is what we as an Armenian community have to do today to make the impact we want to see.

Now on to another meaningful lecture from Ungerouhi Nairi and Unger Yervant. In this lecture my heart broke as my love for Armenia grew. I saw pictures of how Ani, the city I am named after, and the city of a thousand and one churches, now has a Turkish flag on top of it. Not only that, but it also has a plaque completely changing the history of what actually happened here. The more pictures I saw of crumbling churches and Armenian symbols and writing scratched away, the more my heart broke. It was disappointing to see the history of my ancestors deliberately ruined, and horrifying to hear the stories of how they are covered up by the Turkish government. Even though I was disappointed, I was more so inspired. The pictures by Ungerouhi Nairi and Unger Yervant in Western Armenia inspired me to visit it as soon as I have the opportunity to. It also inspired me to fight harder for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide and to reclaim our rightful lands. The beautiful churches, lakes, and of course mountains (Ararat) belong to Armenia.

The lectures I heard at seminar taught me to never forget my Armenian history, to remind and teach others of my history, and to always fight for recognition, reparations, and restorations. I now have the courage and the drive to help the AYF organize a Centennial event, and although on my 5^th grade graduation trip from St. Stephen’s Armenian Elementary School, I visited modern-day Armenia, I now want to visit Western Armenia to see all of my homeland. I will always remember, remind, and reclaim.