Jim Walker/Conventures, Inc.
A group of 20 runners honored the 100th anniversary of the Aremanian Genocide by running the Boston Marathon, including Laurie Nahigian of Watertown, front row, far left.
More than 20 runners in the 119th Boston Marathon, including one from Watertown, proudly honored the history and legacy of the Armenian Genocide, which marked its centennial just four days after the internationally famous race on Friday, April 24, 2015.
Each of the runners wore a specially designed emblem on race day to call attention to the genocide’s 100th anniversary and to salute how Armenians have not only survived but thrived in the generations that have followed, according to the announcement from the Armenian Genocide Commemoration group.
This program was coordinated by the The Knights of Vartan, Ararat Lodge of Cambridge. While planning the events for the commemoration of the genocide’s centennial on April 24, it occurred to its members that the Boston Marathon was a perfect opportunity to raise awareness.
Member Ron Sahatjian of Lexington started looking for runners of Armenian descent who were taking on the marathon this spring. Sahatjian scoured through the 30,000-plus names of runners looking for those ending with the traditional Armenian “ian” and made contact with them.
Through emails, briefs in various regional and ethnic newspapers, callouts on Facebook, and word of mouth, the marathon runners started to appear – runners from Vancouver, and California, a state trooper from Rhode Island, a Harvard Law student and Armenian and non Armenian supporters. More than 20 runners eventually signed on, all willing to give up precious space on their running shirt to wear a 3-inch-by-8-inch emblem to remind people not to forget the one and half million Armenians who were killed 100 years ago.
Runners in the group included: Shant Hagopian of Los Angeles, California; Tommy Tomasian of South Boston; Sarkis Chekijian of Belmont, Mary Demers of Uxbridge, Talia LaPointe of Jefferson, Roupen Bastajian of Greenville, Rhode Island, Steven Najarian of Belmont, Cera Adams of Brighton, Jennifer Sahatjian of Woburn, Jenny Konjoian of Andover, Suzie Oliviera of Wakefield, and Marie Castle of Danvers. Front row from left to right: Laurie Nahigian of Watertown, Kristen Murphy of Lynnfield, Nicole Arpiarian of Sudbury, Apo Ashjian of Belmont, Mike Donabedian of Vancouver, Washington, Christine Donabedian of Vancouver, Canada, and Pat Lanagan of Newton. Participants not in the photo are: Mike Hovagimian of Hopkinton and Debbie Gilligan of Lowell. (Photo by Jim Walker/Conventures, Inc.)
History
The Armenian Genocide is the first mass murder of modern times, a still unpunished crime in which one and half million Armenians were taken from their homes and intentionally and systematically slaughtered by the Ottoman Turkish government under the cover of World War I because of their Armenian ethnicity and Christian religion, according to the announcement
The date marking the start of the Genocide is April 24 – the day in 1915 of the first mass arrests, and later murders, of more than 250 Armenian community leaders, writers, poets, educators and intellectuals.