Armenian

Hye Quality Bakery in downtown Fresno closed at the end of December after 63 years in business. In this audio postcard, Sammy and Paula Ganimian tell FM89’s Soreath Hok about the role this iconic business has played in the Armenian community.

Last week, Russia negotiated a ceasefire between Armenia and Azerbaijan, ending a six-week war that left thousands dead. The dispute was over Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory within Azerbaijan’s border but inhabited nearly exclusively by ethnic Armenians, many of whom are now forced to flee their homes - some reportedly burning them to the ground before they leave.

Mark Arax, who’s a journalist and author, says he remembers when William Saroyan would come over to his grandfather’s house in Fresno for dinner. And when he finally got a driver’s license, he recalls picking Saroyan up at his home on Griffith Way for those dinners.

Last week protests clogged the streets of Armenia’s capital Yerevan, in what some are now calling the “April Revolution.” The demonstrations resulted in the resignation of the republic’s prime minister Serzh Sargsyan. The change in power marks a turning point in Armenian affairs, and the end of the 20-year-long streak in power for Armenia’s Republican Party. So what does this mean for Armenians in America, and for the rest of the world? And given the context of recent Russian involvement in Ukraine and Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, what role is Russia playing in the turmoil?

Armenian-born classical pianist Sofya Melikyan has performed at Carnegie Hall and other prestigious halls across the globe. Now she brings her artistry to Fresno for a concert Friday October 14, 2016 that includes music by Franz Liszt and Granados, as well as Babadjanian and Liebermann.

Armenians around the world today are marking the centennial of the genocide which claimed over a million lives beginning in 1915. FM 89’s Jason Scott reports the San Joaquin Valley’s Armenian community is remembering the somber occasion with hopes for the future.

On Thursday, the Maple Mall at Fresno State became the center of remembrance of one of the most tragic tales of the 20th century, as the university unveiled its new Armenian Genocide Monument.

One hundred years ago this week, authorities of the Ottoman Empire rounded up hundreds of Armenian intellectuals and political leaders in Constantinople and executed them. One and a half million would eventually die in what we today know as the Armenian Genocide.

Acclaimed playwright Leslie Ayvazian wrote her humorous play "Nine Armenians" around 20 years ago about a young woman visiting her ancestral homeland for the first time. Now a new production of the play is in Fresno as part of the area's commemoration of the centennial of the Armenian genocide.

Ayvazian joined us on Valley Edition to talk about her thoughts on the play two decades after its premier, and how her attitudes about her culture and the Armenian genocide have evolved over the years.