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Assassination Of Archbishop Leon Tourian


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#21 America-Hye

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Posted 27 June 2004 - 02:49 AM

The Archbishop was seen as a traitor to the Armenian Cause. He was co-operating with the Soviets who incorporated Armenia into a Transcaucasian Republic, thereby completely relinquishing Armenian sovereignity.

#22 Nakharar

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Posted 27 June 2004 - 10:43 AM

I don't see his unwillingness to make a sermon under the Armenian tricolore a justification for assassinating him. The flag was still seen as a Dashnak symbol during that time. The Dashnak hijacking of church services is what cost him his life in the end. As for his complicity in relinquishing Armenian soverignity. That's just pure - to put it politely- hearsay.

#23 -=VAHE=-

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Posted 28 June 2004 - 09:27 AM

I didn't know the Armenian Flag came from the Dashnaks. Is that really true?

#24 MJ

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Posted 28 June 2004 - 11:08 AM

QUOTE (Vahe G. @ Jun 28 2004, 11:27 AM)
I didn't know the Armenian Flag came from the Dashnaks. Is that really true?

No. It is not true. The Dashnak flag is red (like a communist flag) with some extra symbols on it, partially borrowed from the Masonic Fraternity.

#25 Arpa

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Posted 28 June 2004 - 03:07 PM

QUOTE (Vahe G. @ Jun 28 2004, 03:27 PM)
I didn't know the Armenian Flag came from the Dashnaks. Is that really true?

Those are the exact words for which that son of a bitch was extreminated when in Chicago he declared, with interspersed x-rated words that he would not stand in the shadow of that "Dashnak flag"
The Tricolor was never a Dashnak flag, it was the flag of the Republic, even if the majority were Dashnaks.
The sad part is that even today some people still refer to the Tricoolor as the "Dashnak flag". The SSOs (shunshannaordi-s)! Where were they when their ilk were using the Tricolor to wipe their toilets with??!!

Above all. What business that son of a bitch called Turian had to do with the flag? Is not his flag supposed to have the sign of the cross on it?

Note; The SOB designatation is not my invention. Remember the patritotic song that goes; "Turian shun@ spannetsink yekeghetsvo mej".

#26 Boghos

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Posted 28 June 2004 - 05:57 PM

Dear Arpa,

I understand what you are trying to say but flag or no flag, killing Turian was just an act of barbaric fratricide with no justification whatsoever. How many times non-Tashnaks were called "garmir" just because they were not Tashnaks ? In some cases people paid with their lives for that...No force was more damaging to the Armenian diaspora in recent period than Tashnak "xenophobia".

Edited by Boghos, 28 June 2004 - 05:58 PM.


#27 Arpa

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Posted 29 June 2004 - 03:18 PM

Barbaric? Yes!
"Fratricide"?
You know that "frater" means brother.
Whose brother?
See below.
Was that meant to address his clerical "brotherhood"?

Does anyone have access to Abp. Turian's complete bigraphy?
I don't. I have read snippets about him. It seems no one has seen fit to research him. It all depends which media one reads, he has been considered a satan or a saint. In fact a short time ago there was a movement to consecrate him and make him a saint. That movement did not go far.
My impression was that he came from Istanbul and Izmir, and that he had to leave in a hurry because the Turkish authorities were looking for him to answer charges of indiscretions. I never learned what those indiscretions were. Some have suggested they were of financial nature and others- of moral and ethical.
I saw one account on the internet that suggested that he had arrived in NY from Soviet Armenia (?) in 1932. I have also seen where he was accused of being an agent of Moscow.
Does anyone know the truth?

As to Dashnaks acting as tools and stooges of the CIA and FBI, I have heard that during the heat of the Cold War, the McCarthy era they had been employed, or volunteered as informers to point out "agents", "karmirs" if you will, and that those "stooges" were pointing their fingers indiscrimately, i.e at anyone that subscribed to the Diocese. Those are also the times when the Prelacy was expanding in leaps and bounds.

As to canonization and sainthood, there are two other Turians that may qualify. As above, there is very little said about this particular bishop, whether he had any connection to the other Turians. The other two Turians are Petros whom we know quite well and his younger brother Patriarch (of Jerusalem) Yeghishe Turian, who worthy to his older brother's legacy was a much respected and admired clergy if for no other reason that he was, just like Petros an accomplished practitioner of Armenian literature and a poet in his own right.

Was Ghevond Turian of the same clan as the other two?
It is only fair that a family that had reared two saints also rear a satan to balance things out.

Note: Boghos, as always your note was well balanced except that I did not understand the Dashnak "xenophobia". Please expand.

Edited by Arpa, 29 June 2004 - 03:22 PM.


#28 Artsakh

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Posted 29 June 2004 - 09:34 PM

quote from bogos: "but not so long ago in many places a ramgavar marrying a tashnak was almost a crime. and rightly so"
-----------------------
and rightly so??? this political party c r a p is nonsence. they are both armenian, and they can marry eachother.

i dislike those who try to put political interests above national interests.

but i guess(or hope) that we all know who and for what purpose the 3 traditional parties were created by and for.

#29 Boghos

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Posted 30 June 2004 - 01:20 AM

QUOTE (Artsakh @ Jun 30 2004, 03:34 AM)
quote from bogos: "but not so long ago in many places a ramgavar marrying a tashnak was almost a crime. and rightly so"
-----------------------
and rightly so??? this political party c r a p is nonsence. they are both armenian, and they can marry eachother.

i dislike those who try to put political interests above national interests.

but i guess(or hope) that we all know who and for what purpose the 3 traditional parties were created by and for.

Were it not for the fact that you forgot the smile after "rightly so" which denotes irony, I would be in total agreement with you.

#30 aghzar

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Posted 18 December 2006 - 02:39 AM

is this "tourian shoune sbannetsink" song real???!!!

ive heard of the tashnags claiming it wasn't really them who did it, or that whatever tourian got he deserved anyways, but ive never heard of anyone singing about it like any other fedayee song, as if they are proud that they did this!! not only did they murder the archbishop of the diocese, the leader of all armenians in america, but they did it in church during badarak!!! with a butcher knife!!

wtf if i heard someone sing that i think i would knock them out...the tourian incident was probably the worst thing the tashnags ever did, instead of "saving" the armenian church from supposed soviet domination it split the armenian american community pretty much irrevocably in half...in my parents and grandparents time, you weren't even supposed to associate with people from the "other side". not only that, you couldn't be neutral, you could only be "tashnag" or "ramgavar" depending on which church you went to, whether or not you were a card-carrying party member. of course most non-party people such as my family went to the so-called "ramgavar" church but this only made ramgavars seem even more so as the "do-nothing, rich *****" party which the tashnags claim them to be, since people who did not get involved in politics were usually at the same church as them.

tourian may not have been a saint, but there is no excuse for what they did to him.

anyways, since no-one on here has given a real explanation of what happened with the tourian assasination, i will do so.

THE TOURIAN STORY

first of all, ghevont (or levon) tourian was a cousin of bedros and yeghishe tourian. he came from i believe smyrna or bolis. he was elected as arachnort of the armenians of america. he was considered by the tashnags to be highly pro-soviet. this was at the height of the period in which diaspora armenian political life was divided into two camps, the tashnag (pro-independent armenia) and the anti-tashnag (pro-soviet armenia). the ideologies are well known but suffice it to say that tashnags were committed to the dream of armenia as a free country, which they had realized for a few years post-world war II, while the anti-tashnags (a coalition of ramgavars, hunchags, and "harachtimagans" or armenian communists) thought that armenia would be safe from turkey under soviet rule, as well as some of them being communists and liked soviet rule.
the conflict spilled over into the church as the people especially tashnags expected the arachnort, as traditional head of the armenian community, to take a political stand on this issue. arpa though i think many of the names you are callling people are offensive, you are right in saying that "his flag should have the sign of the cross on it" in other words the church should not get involved in politics. this is exactly the stance of most non-party member armenians, which is the same as the majority of the "echmiadznagan diocese" unfortunately having no political stance amounts to the same thing as supporting the status quo, and the status quo was soviet armenia. so whether tourian was really a communist or not is unimportant, in my opinion, since as a clergyman he wasnt supposed to be supporting armenian independence movement anyways.

back to what tourian did: first of all he banned all clergymen from attending april 24 memorials not being held at a church. of course this makes sense according to separation of church and politics, but the underlying reason is that the non church memorials were usually held by a party, usually the tashnag party, and included expressions of anti-soviet sentiment. since the catholicos of echmiadzin, which at this time was the undisputed head of the armenian church of the entire world except lebanon syria and cyprus, was in ussr, and was "under the thumb of the communist party" it would be bad to criticize the soviet union as clergymen, because KGB could retaliate by taking away the rights of echmiadzin.

the second thing he did was they had the worlds fair of 1933 in chicago illinois. every ethnic group had their "day" and there was "armenian day" as well. for the "opening ceremonies" of armenian day, the highest armenian religious leader available, archbishop tourian, was brought to say a prayer or something like that. now for all the ethnic groups they had the flag of the country displayed. but since armenia was under the soviets, the armenian day committee decided not to have any flag, not soviet or armenian, but only the american flag. (it is debatable whether this commitee was anti tashnag). of course, some tashnags brought the tricolor anyways, which in this time period was beginning to become an emblem of the pro-independent armenia movement, the only party which supported it was the tashnags, and thus de facto became a "tashnag flag". anyways, they put the flag up and then tourian was like no im not doing the prayer if they have the flag there, then there was kind of a melee in the armenian crowd, fights broke out, the cops tried to take a vote of the crowd present and decided that by raising of hands, the armenians seemed to agree to get rid of the flag. but the cops didnt want to take the flag down, because they didnt want the tashnags to blame it on them. they were like let the armenians do it themselves. so tourian was like whatever ill take it down myself, so he did. after that the tashnags really, reallly hated tourian.

so the tashnags who up until now had not necessarily been too involved in the church decided to vote this man out of office. remember the armenian church is democratic. the tashnags started a campaign to get their members elected to the general assembly of the american arachnortoutiun. sometimes resorting to shady tactics, such as conning old armenian guys who didnt know what was going on to vote for them by paying them some money. anyways, the tashnags eventually got themselves elected to be about half the delegates. again, whether they cheated in this election or not is up for debate, but this is my perspective. so they had the assembly, and tourian was too scared to go, he sent another bishop as his proxy to run the assembly. now one of the agenda items of a general assembly is to elect the arachnort. usually the incumbent just gets reelected. but of course the tashnags are out to get tourian. so they try to vote against him, and they lost i believe, but it was close. but throughout this whole assembly, which was being held in the church hall, a bunch of random armenians are watching the proceedings as observers, many of whom are tashnags, and they are yelling stuff at the people, they are probably yelling about tourian etc. according to different accounts, someone killed the lights and then all the ramgavars started freaking out because according to them there was a tashnag plot to assasinate the main 3 or 4 ramgavars when the lights went out. anyways, all this craziness and the fact that there were randoms watching the assembly, they took a vote to have the assembly moved to a private hall, in this nearby hotel. the ramgavars were the ones who wanted to do this, the tashnags had the angry mob on their side so they wanted to stay. anyways, the ramgavars as i already said had a slight majority, so they won, and adjourned to the "hotel martinique" the tashnags were like whatever screw them, well continue this meeting ourselves. so they did. the presiding bishop stayed with them, but he later claimed it was under threat of his life. so now there are two diocesan assemblies, one which re-elects tourian, and another which votes against him. so this is the origin of the "diocese" and the "prelacy" of the armenian church of america. because the assembly is the legislative body of the diocese.

well the vehapar pf echmiadzin of course recognized the "ramgavar" meeting as the legitimate one and tourian as the legitimate arachnort. so the tashnags, or some tashnag members decided to kill tourian. the method of killing is described in the article at the beginning of this thread. after the split, the "tashnag prelacy" had no source of legitimacy, they had no catholicos over them, because they (the prelacy), as well as rejecting tourian, rejected the authority of echmiadzin administratively, though accepting echmiadzin as a "spiritual head." the prelacy claimed to be the "real armenian church of america" unfortunately they only had a couple priests who went to their side, two of whom had previously been defrocked, and the leader of the "tashnag" priests was Father Ghevont Martoogesian, a very shady character who i can tell more about if you like. also, by court order, two or three churches were given to the tashnags, one of which was st illuminator church in nyc, which is where the legendary assembly with the angry mob had been held. so on the basis of these court mandated ownership of church properties, and a couple defrocked priests, the "prelacy" of armenians in america began, or was "saved" depending on what side you are on. the prelacy for a long time was headquarted at tashnag central, the hairenik building in boston MA. interestingly, the us government tended to side with the tashnags. the two killers of tourian were later pardoned by the governor of new york, and their death sentence reduced to life in prison. the government also sort of recognized the prelacy as the continuation legally of the original prelacy. before 1933 the legal english name for us govt purposes was "prelacy". in like 1950 the diocese finally gave up calling itself the prelacy also, and started using "diocese", because apparently (not sure about this) the us govt was recognizing the prelacy as "prelacy", the original name. although interestingly the diocese uses the original pre 1933 logo of the "prelacy/diocese" while the prelacy does not.

finally in 1956 the tashags of lebanon and syria succeeded in getting their candidate elected to Catholicos of Cilicia. Catholicos Zareh. before this, the Cilician Catholicos was Karekin Hovsepian who was more leaning toward ramgavar. Zareh announced that the "prelacy" of america was now under his jurisdiction. this then set a precedent that dioceses could change which catholicos they were under. so iran and greece voted to go over to cilicia even though thats questionably not allowed according to armenian church rules. the catholicos of cilicia, previously only in charge of lebanon and syria (and cyprus), now gained new jurisdictions, though this is not recognized as legit by echmiadzin. (see the directory of churches in the official calendar of the diocese)

as for the armenian american community, the first generation born in america experienced 1933 in their childhood years and their whole lives were affected. families split up etc. and people were not allowed to associate with, let alone marry, those of the other side, branded as "traitors to the hai tad" and "traitors to the armenian church" respectively. this lasted into their children's time, but their grandchildren, my generation, largely do not know any of this history, but just know the basic stereotype of the other side. this was supposed to end when armenia became free, which makes the entire disagreement meaningless, unless you are an armenian communist, which don't exist in america anymore anyways. or it was supposed to end when karekin catholicos of cilicia became catholicos of echmiadzin. it didn't happen then either. people who are in certain positions of power do not want to give up their control of their sphere by merging with the other side, and thus they are preventing the merger. those who are doing so unfortunately are members of the political parties. to those patriotic party-member armenians i say: so many of you are anti-church and think that the church weakens armenians, is old fashioned, etc. fine. you have your opinion. in that case, stay out of church business. just as a democratic country cannot be ruled by religious law, so the diasporan armenian political parties have no right to rule the armenian church. separation of church and state is a two way street, even if "state" is represented by political parties in exile.

interestingly, even if tourian hadn't been killed, the split would have still happened. it happened before they killed him, but i guess they thought if they got rid of the leader of their opposition, they would take control as the "true church." of course what happened is the church remained split.

#31 Dave

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Posted 18 December 2006 - 08:40 AM

QUOTE
is this "tourian shoune sbannetsink" song real???!!!


I don't think it's true. Arpa is parodizing the patriotic songs sung by Tashnags. But thanks for the description.

Unfortunately, it seems that being separated is in the nature of Armenians ever since the small Armenian kingdoms of the Middle-Ages.

The reason why it still continues is that the Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia considers itself the direct descendant of the ancient Armenian Catholicosate, starting from S. Krikor Lousavorich. They think that when Bagratid Armenia fell in 1045, and Armenian sovereignty was reestablished in Cilicia, the Church leaders moved to Cilicia alongside the Armenian leadership. Moreover, the Catholicosate of Echmiadzin was recreated towards the 14th-15th century:

http://www.armenianp...a/armchurch.htm

I've heard that the pro-Communist Armenians would desecrate Antelias churches and assassinate Tashnag leaders. Is that true?

Today, the 2 Catholicoi would intermittently visit Canada in order to reaffirm their sovereignty in the country. Moreover, the Cilician "side" thinks it's a better representation of what the Armenian Church used to be, and that it is more "pure", because the Catholicosate of Echmiadzin is affected by years of Communism.

Edited by Dave, 18 December 2006 - 08:50 AM.


#32 Takoush

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Posted 18 December 2006 - 10:21 AM

Though I didn't read much of the above posts except the last couple of them; but just for clarification purposes, Tashnagtsoutyoun never claimed the Armenian Republic's flag as their own. Through the years though after the 1921 Republic fell through, other Armenian parties didn't want to recognize Armenia's flag as they felt that since Tashnagtsouyoun was the main party during those few years when Armenia was free, then they felt that they didn't want to recognize it for that purpose. Which wasn't right of them to think and do so.

Tashnagtsoutyoun hence always protected the then Armenian Republic's flag and have always recognized it, respected it and fought for it's recognition amongst all Armenians in the diaspora.

For those of you who don't know or hasn't seen it yet the first one is Tashnagtsoutyoun's flag,

and the second one as you all know is the flag of the Republic of Armenia.

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#33 Takoush

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Posted 18 December 2006 - 10:35 AM

I also like this one with the Armenian Republic's emblem with the flag.

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Edited by Anahid Takouhi, 18 December 2006 - 10:37 AM.


#34 karakash

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Posted 18 December 2006 - 11:04 AM

The summaries of what happened at Holy Cross Church that day are pretty accurate. There was a woman at my church in NJ who was in the church when the assassination took place. She was pregnant at the time and the hysteria and shock caused her to lose her baby. She a German woman and was married to an Armenian police officer who later became an officer down in Asbury Park where the Armenians used to vacation through the 1960s and 1970s. She passed away a few years ago.

For those of you who want to learn more, I suggest a short book written by the late Archbishop Mesrob Ashjian about the history of the Armenian Church in America. See link:

http://www.armenianp.../booksrelig.htm

The contains the most thorough description of what happened at the Assembly at St. Illuminator's and the Hotel Martinique. An argument can be made that the Prelacy is the true holder of the seat and the people siding with Tourian were the group that splintered off.

Having grown up in the AYF and having attended a Diocese affiliated church, I don't like to take sides. I believe both sides are to blame for the current situation. The Prelacy people don't want to lose control and the Diocese people don't want to show any respect. I remember very well in 1996 at a dinner in honor of Karekin I in NYC. The Primates of Canada, the Western Diocese, and the Eastern Diocese were all introduced with their titles and positions. His Eminence Archbishop Vatche Hovsepian, Primate of the Western Diocese, etc. Yet when it came time for the MC to introduce the Prelate, he was introduced as "Archbishop Mesrob Ashjian of New York." No mention of the Prelacy, no mention of his title as the Prelate. Ashjian received more applause than any of the others...

The leadership of the Diocese cannot pretend that the Prelacy does not exist. Without cooperation there cannot be unity. Thankfully, the sides cooperate for genocide commemorations in Times Square every April. In April of 2006, the venue was changed to the Kavookjian Hall at the Diocese. The Primate was out of town but the Prelate was present. Daniel Decker sang Giligia and the representative of the Ramgavars gave the most rousing speech about justice. It was an incredible sight. In 2007, the Knights of Vartan plans to place huge screens all over Times Square to broadcast the gathering.

#35 Takoush

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Posted 18 December 2006 - 11:19 AM

From what I have heard, Tourian before coming to America from Smyrna, he abandoned the Armenians in there and came to America when he very well knew that Armenians were going to be annihilated, and as we all know in 1922 most of the Armenians in Smyrna were annihilated by the Turks. Tourian himself by the way had a shady character and past.

Though it was very wrong and bad for anyone to kill any human being let along a priest or an Archbishop; but from what I've heard it was not Tashnagtsagan members who killed Turian, but they were individuals who did it.

Tourian was the one who initially wanted to separate the church, not Tashnagtsoutyouns or Tashnagtsagans.

#36 Boghos

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Posted 18 December 2006 - 11:25 AM

This is preposterous and false.It is well documented that tashnakazagans killed Tourian.Accusing him of abandoning Armenians is just pathetic.This whole "eshplanation" sounds like fanaticism instead of fact based history.

#37 Takoush

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Posted 18 December 2006 - 11:31 AM

QUOTE(Boghos @ Dec 18 2006, 12:25 PM) View Post
This is preposterous and false.It is well documented that tashnakazagans killed Tourian.Accusing him of abandoning Armenians is just pathetic.This whole "eshplanation" sounds like fanaticism instead of fact based history.

It is the truth not fanaticism at all. Check it out. He abandoned the Armenians in Smyrna before the massacre and came to America.

But again, it was very wrong for anyone to have killed him. That was very bad and wrong.

Just for your information, I happen to have friends and relatives that belong to both parties or churches, and I believe myself to be Armenian first.

Edited by Anahid Takouhi, 18 December 2006 - 11:35 AM.


#38 Takoush

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Posted 18 December 2006 - 11:43 AM

You can verify as to what I have heard. But I am not a phanatic at all, I am merely repeating what I have heard.

I go to both churches and believe in all the good work that both do and I actually support both churches as they work hard for the good of Armenians in the diaspora and they also send a great deal of money and support our Republic of Armenia.

Edited by Anahid Takouhi, 18 December 2006 - 11:44 AM.


#39 Boghos

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Posted 18 December 2006 - 12:39 PM

Death of an Archbishop
TIME
Monday, Jan. 1, 1934
A solemn procession moved up the aisle of Manhattan's small, crowded Holy Cross Armenian Apostolic Church last Sunday morning. In it, in cope & mitre, was

Archbishop Leon Tourian. towering, grey-bearded primate of his Church in the Americas. Suddenly a knot of men sprang at him in the aisle. There one of them plunged a butcher knife through brocaded vestments deep into the Archbishop's midriff. The Archbishop groaned, leaned heavily upon his gold crozier, toppled to the floor dead. In horror the congregation milled about the defiled church.

Schism has rent the American Armenian Church ever since Archbishop Tourian became its shepherd two years ago. Part of Armenia is a Soviet Republic but all Armenians do not relish U. S. S. R. rule. Especially hostile to the Soviet is Tashnag, an organization dedicated to the restoration of the old Armenian Republic. Archbishop Tourian, 54, only churchman at the Manhattan banquet to Maxim Litvinoff last November, was accused of being proSoviet. He aroused factional wrath last summer, on Armenian Day at the Chicago World's Fair, by declining to make a speech until a pro-Soviet Armenian flag was removed. After being ganged last August at a church picnic in Westboro Mass, the Archbishop maintained an armed bodyguard. But last week his bodyguard leaped too late to his defense. Arrested for the murder were five Armenians, four of them members of Tashnag. Police heard that Tashnag assigned the Archbishop's assassins by drawing lots.

Edited by Boghos, 18 December 2006 - 12:40 PM.


#40 Boghos

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Posted 18 December 2006 - 12:44 PM

The divisions in the Armenian community were aggravated and made permanent by the assassination of Archbishop Ghevont Tourian in Holy Cross Church in New York City on Sunday, December 24, 1933.

Election of Archbishop Ghevont Tourian as Primate of North America. Dashnak hostility.
Archbishop Tourian was elected Primate of the Diocese of North America and arrived in New York on May 28, 1931. The long-standing antipathy held against him by Dashnaktsutiun was aggravated by a number of incidents after his arrival in the United States. Because of the sensitivity of the position of the Church under the Stalinist regime of the Soviet Union (the Catholicate of All Armenians was located in Etchimadzin, Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic), clergymen outside Armenia were warned not to aggravate the situation by becoming involved in anti-Soviet propaganda. At the same time Dashnaktsutiun was maintaining a vocal program of agitation and propaganda against Soviet Armenia. In accordance with this directive, Archbishop Tourian ordered clergy not to participate in April 24 commemorations (Armenian Martyrs' Day) outside churches. He was invited to preside at one such event to be held in New York and declined, citing a previous engagement. Archbishop Dirayr Der Hovannesian was invited instead and when Archbishop Tourian heard about it, he sent Archbishop Der Hovannesian a telegram forbidding the latter to preside at the meeting. Der Hovannesian did not preside but read the telegram aloud to the assembly. The result was a constant stream of vituperation directed against Tourian in the Dashnak press, which increased in frequency and stridency. At the same time he was supported all the more strongly by the non-Dashnaks.

The "flag incident" in Chicago.
On July 1, 1933, there was to be an "Armenian Day" at the Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago. Archbishop Tourian was invited to preside. The Tricolor flag of the former Republic of Armenia had now become identified solely with Dashnaktsutiun as a symbol of defiance of the Bolshevik regime. Archbishop Tourian stated that he would not appear on the platform if it was displayed, explaining that he could not insult the present regime by implying that the former regime was still the legitimate government of Armenia. Therefore it was agreed that only the American flag would be displayed, and neither the Tricolor flag nor the Soviet flag. The Dashnaks, however, insisted that either the Tricolor flag had to be flown or strongly pro-Dashnak and anti-Soviet United States Senator William H. King had to give a radio address from the event. the organizing committee refused to accede to the Dashnak demands.

On the day of the event, contrary to the previously-made arrangements, before the time of the scheduled event, a woman accompanied by twenty children bearing tricolor flags placed a large tricolor flag on the podium and pandemonium ensued. The police were called and Archbishop Tourian explained to them that he could not mount the podium with the tricolor flag because it would be interpreted as endorsement of a particular political viewpoint and bring reprisals on Armenians from the Soviet government. The American organizer of the event asked those who had placed the flag to remove it, and when they refused, a riot erupted which was put down by the police and the program contined.

Archbishop Tourian assaulted by Dashnak youths
The Archbishop was then excoriated mercilessly in the Dashnak press as a traitor and the situation deteriorated further. On August 13 the Primate celebrated the Divine Liturgy at Holy Saviour Church in Worcester, Massachusetts and then attended the church picnic in Westboro. As he was pronouncing the benediction, he was assaulted by a gang of seven young Dashnaks who had been incited by speakers at their picnic being held simultaneously at another location and then traveled to Westboro in a truck. Five of the attackers escaped and two were arrested. The Dashnak press explained that the attack was caused by the Primate's "insult" to the Armenian flag in Chicago.

Split at the Diocesan Assembly of September 2-3, 1933.
The climate deteriorated further, abetted by constant attacks on the Primate in the Dashnak press and from the platform, with responses in kind from the non-Dashnaks. In this climate the Diocesan Assembly was held on September 2-3, 1933 at Holy Illuminator Church in New York. The result was a split of the meeting, with one faction withdrawing to the Martinique Hotel and supporting the Primate, and the other faction remaining in the church and "removing" him. The meeting was held in tumultuous conditions and under threat or fear of violence. The Primate did not attend, claiming ill health. Both sides appealed to the Catholicos to ratify their actions, and he responded by telegram on September 11 vindicating Archbishop Tourian but directing that a new meeting be held because of the irregular situation of the previous one. The Dashnaks refused to accept the decision and went on the attack, using in particular Ghevont Vartabed Martoogesian, who ridiculed the Primate from the platform [a transcript of one of his speeches is given in the dissertation, pp. 372-373].

Activities of Garegin Nzdeh.
At this time the situation was inflamed even further by the arrival in the United States of Garegin Nzdeh, a former Dashnak military hero and now a field organizer for Dashnaktsutiun. He traveled the country preaching "tseghagronutiun," his coined term meaning "race-worship," and signing up members to the "ookht," or pledge. This organization was the beginning of the Armenian Youth Federation or AYF. His preaching increased anti-Bolshevik and anti-Ramgavar hatred among his followers.

The Litvinov Affair
On November 16, 1933 President Franklin Delano Roosevelt extended diplomatic recognition to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and exchanged letters with Maxim Litvinov, the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR. The governments of the United States and the USSR mutually pledged each other to refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of the other and not to permit the formation, residence, or activity on its territory of any group which claimed to be the government of or made an attempt on the territorial integrity of the other. Archbishop Tourian sent a letter of congratulations to Commissar Litvinov and was present, along with 30 other prominent Armenians, at a banquet in his honor on November 24 at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York. For this he was again abused by the Dashnaks for the alleged indecency of supporting the atheistic Communist regime.

The Struggle for the Churches
The struggle for control of the individual parish churches between Dashnaks and non-Dashnaks, which had its beginnings more than a decade earlier, now intensified and in some cases became the subject of litigation in the courts.

The Assassination of Archbishop Ghevont Tourian
On Sunday, December 24, 1933, Archbishop Ghevont Tourian had been invited to celebrate the Divine Liturgy at Holy Cross Armenian Apostolic Church, 587 West 187th Street, New York City. As he entered the church in a solemn episcopal procession and while he was blessing the congregants with the crucifix, he was suddenly surrounded by a number of individuals, seized, and stabbed to death with a large butcher knife. In the ensuing pandemonium it was reported that one or more of the assassins escaped. Two men, Madteos Leylegian and Nshan Sarkisian, were arrested and subsequently convicted in a New York court of the crime, along with 7 other persons. All were Dashnaks. Leylegian and Sarkisian were condemned to death but later their sentences were commuted and eventually they were released from prison.

Responsibility for the Assassination
The assassination of Archbishop Tourian caused a permanent split in the community. Dashnaktsutiun did not accept any responsibility for the crime, but instead maintained either that (1) Archbishop Tourian had brought it on himself by insulting the flag; or (2) that the murder had been carried out by Soviet agents in order to defame Dashnaktustiun. The non-Dashnaks were outraged and incensed, and in retaliation, among other incidents, the alleged mastermind of the assassination, Ghevont Vartabed Martoogesian, was himself shot the following year in Cranston, Rhode Island, and subsequently died of his injuries. It cannot now be known if Martoogesian, already a convicted felon involved in the extortion and assassination of the wealthy rug dealer Hovhannes Tavshanian in Jersey City, New Jersey, in 1905, was actually involved in the planning of the murder or had merely incited it with his activites against the Primate.
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