In Recognition of Asbarez-Armenian Daily Newspaper's 100th Anniversary
Floor Speech
IN RECOGNITION OF ASBAREZ-ARMENIAN DAILY NEWSPAPER'S 100TH ANNIVERSARY -- (Extensions of Remarks - August 01, 2008)
SPEECH OF
HON. ADAM B. SCHIFF
OF CALIFORNIA
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
THURSDAY, JULY 31, 2008
* Mr. SCHIFF. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the 100th anniversary of the Asbarez-Armenian Daily Newspaper. Asbarez, which translates to `arena' in English, was founded on August 14, 1908 in Fresno, California, by seven dedicated members of the Armenian-American community: Aslan Aslanian, Bedros Hagopian, Levon Hagopian, Abraham Seklemian, Hovaness Kabadayan, Avedis Tufenkjian and Arpaxat Setrakian.
* Like its counterparts in other Diaspora communities, such as Hairenik in Boston and Aztag in Lebanon, Asbarez has chronicled the Armenian experience worldwide. Among other things, they have written about the dire conditions in the homeland under Imperial Russia and Ottoman Turkey, the calamity of the Armenian Genocide, the World Wars, the rise and fall of the first Republic, Soviet rule, the tragic 1988 earthquake, the Karabakh ``Artsakh'' liberation and the independence of the Republic of Armenia.
* In the words of Edward Megerdichian, who worked at Asbarez from 1956-1963, ``[Asbarez] was ninety percent voluntary, and everyone had a sense of ownership, a sense of community--that this is our paper and our lives are described in this paper.''
* During the 1970's Asbarez Publishing Company moved its operations from California's San Joaquin Valley to the Los Angeles basin. Since its inception, the circulation of the newspaper has grown from 1,200 copies to thousands; it has become a formidable bilingual daily newspaper and a dependable source for information in the online community.
* It is my distinct honor to recognize Asbarez's unwavering commitment to inform and educate the public. I ask my colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives to join me in congratulating Asbarez on their 100th anniversary.
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