ASP 16th Annual Banquet Features Vartkes Yeghiayan of Glendale

More than 25 students were recognized for receiving Armenian Studies scholarships at the 16th Annual Banquet of the Armenian Studies Program, held on a sunny and warm Sunday afternoon in the Residence Dining Facility on campus.

Barlow Der Mugrdechian of the Armenian Studies Program, made welcoming remarks and gave a brief overview of the academic year activities of the Armenian Studies Program.

This was followed by the screening of video clips from the Armenian Studies Program “Hye Talk” television show. One clip, was about the ASP, showing students in class and interacting with faculty. The second clip focused on the Armenian Studies Study Trip 2001 participants, 18 students who had traveled with Der Mugrdechian to Armenia for three weeks. The students discussed the impact that the trip had made in their lives and reminisced about the trip. Students spoke about the highlights of the trip.

Dr. Luis and Mrs. Wendy Costa, Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities, was present at the banquet, as well as Dr. Varoujan Altebarmakian, Chair of the Armenian Studies Program Advisory Board.

Attorney Vartkes Yeghiayan of Glendale, California was the keynote speaker at the April 14th banquet. The month of April has been particularly busy for Mr. Yeghiayan, as he was recently in Paris to encourage the formation of a European Armenian Lawyer’s Association. He has recently lectured at Glendale City College and Whittier Law School and was invited to New York to speak at the annual Times Square commemoration of the Armenian Genocide.
Mr. Yeghiayan’s keynote speech was on “Armenian Insurance Claims from the Genocide Era,” a topic he is very familiar with as he has been one of the lead lawyers in the class action suit against the New York Life Insurance Company. New York Life has yet to pay survivor policies from the 1915 genocide. In the past few years, Armenian survivors of the genocide and their relatives have sought compensation for life insurance policies purchased by their victim relatives, but never honored by the companies.

In his fascinating presentation, Mr. Yeghiayan outlined the background facts of the case, the legal issues involved, and the current status of the case.

Mr. Yeghiayan became interested in the issue of Armenian insurance claims in 1987, while reading U.S. Ambassador Henry Morgenthau’s memoirs. Morgenthau mentions that the insurance policies of Armenians who had been massacred, were being demanded by the Ottoman Turkish government. This provided the impetus for Yeghiayan’s pursuit of justice, beginning with correspondence with the then Secretary of State George Schultz, which led to the discovery of many pertinent documents.

Mr. Yeghiayan outlined the basic facts of the class action law suit, Marootian v. New York Life. Between 1895-1915, New York Life sold more than 5,000 life insurance policies to Christian Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. Business was good for New York Life, as they sold more policies in Ottoman Turkey than they had in twenty-one states in the United States. After the Genocide of 1915-1923, many Armenian survivors attempted to be compensated for the loss of life of their relatives. New York Life kept very good records of whom it sold its policies to, maintaining a card file with names and addresses of policy holders. There are more than 35,000 pages of evidence and documentation on this issue. For years New York Life claimed that they could not find the survivors of the Armenian genocide who had held policies.

Martin Marootian and his family have been pursuing their rights since 1922. In 1999 he continued his correspondence with New York Life and succeeded in getting New York Life to negotiate the claim. It was claimed that there were no other persons in a similar situation, but a list of more than 3,000 names were uncovered.,

The legal basis for the class action suit became possible with the passage of Armenian Genocide Claim legislation in California. Then State Assemblyman Chuck Poochigian was instrumental in getting the legislation passed, which provided that Armenians would have the right to sue for the insurance claims in California until 2010.

Attorney Mark Geragos of Los Angeles will be the lead attorney in the Marootian class action suit, which should be ready to be tried in November or December of this year.
In 1928, New York Life claimed that it did know who the Armenians were that held policies, but today Yeghiayan emphatically states that, “No one should profit from the Genocide.” Armenians are only asking for justice, delayed for more than eighty-five years. He clearly articulated the position of the Armenian Genocide survivors in the case and his determination to pursue the case was evident.

Next in the program was Melissa Valgeirson, a faculty member from the Department of English, Communications and Theatre at Fresno Pacific University. She performed a series of readings based on Saroyan’s dramatic prefaces. She artfully presented Saroyan’s battle with the critical theatre elite, bringing to life the emotional struggle that Saroyan faced.

Der Mugrdechian then introduced the student scholarship recipients, stating their major, field of study, and involvement in Armenian Studies. Many of the students are active members of the Armenian Students Organization and some are involved in the production of Hye Sharzhoom. As each student was called, he or she was recognized for their achievements with a round of applause.
For community members and parents, the Armenian Studies Program Annual banquet is a way to interact with faculty, students, and staff of the Program.

The Annual Banquet has become an enjoyable tradition of the Armenian Studies Program at Fresno State.