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Ferrahian
middle and high school students joined thousands and thousands
of Armenians this past Sunday, September 27, 2009 in Pelanconi
Park in Glendale, California, to the community’s unified and
unequivocal opposition to the Turkey-Armenia protocols, which
are set to be signed early next month. Over 10,000 people were
present at the rally, which sent both Yerevan and Ankara a clear
message, that conceding to Turkish pressure was unacceptable.
Organized
jointly by the Social-Democratic Hunchakian Party, Armenian
Democratic Liberal Organization-Ramkavar Party, the Armenian
Revolutionary Federation and the Unified Young Armenians,
Ferrahian took the initiative to encourage all students to
attend the protest. With buses the students, along with their
Armenian teachers, traveled to Glendale to join the thousands of
others concerned about the signing of the protocols, which is to
take place on October 10, 2009, according to Turkish
officials.
Dialogue
between the rival nations have had the community on edge, and
the announcement of the drafted protocols on August 31, 2009,
had much of the Diaspora outraged.
For many of
the students, it was the first of protest of such scale they had
ever attended.
“It was very
interesting to see all the political parties, the Dashnaks,
Hnchaks, and Ramgavars, all together, working for a common
cause, and to hear each party’s point of view, which I never
really got to see before,” said one student.
Shouting
chants, holding banners, signs and flags, and listening
carefully to each speaker, the students learned a lot about the
protocols and why they can be dangerous to the Armenian nation.
Ferrahian was one of the dew schools that had their students
attend the rally.
The
experience was both enlightening and uplifting for the students,
who felt a greater sense of pride and love for their homeland.
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