New Grand Commander Takes the Helm of the Knights of Vartan: Dennis Papazian

Charitable work is done chiefly through other organizations. “We give about $700,000 a year to charities and have given overall $2 million to schools in the Republic of Armenia. The latter actually was turned into $20 million due to the World Bank multiplying their contributions by a factor of 10.” The goal in Armenia is not only to provide education to the new generation but also “to help them practice entrepreneurial activities to bring wealth to Armenia. We consider that educated people will become involved in entrepreneurship,” Papazian explained.

Education is a big part of the work in the US too. Both Armenian day schools, and churchaffiliated weekend schools are financially supported. There is an Armenian Studies fund administered by the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR): “We wanted a permanent place where people can apply for funds. NAASR processes the applications with its advisory committee of scholars, but our board makes the final decision as to who gets a grant, and distributes the money,” said Papazian.

The Knights also gives money to the Zoryan Institute, the Armenian Assembly of America and other Armenian organizations that directly engage in activities. One of the most important events organized by the Knights is the annual commemoration of the Armenian Genocide in Times Square, an international media center. Co-founded by the late Sam Azadian in 1985, it takes place every year around Armenian Martyrs Day. Papazian exclaimed: “It is much more important than most people realize. These events are videotaped by many organizations, open and surreptitiously, and even by the Turkish government. We even had various international TV groups. The publicity does not always come with it, but it is very prominent. We will never let the world forget.”

In recent years, Armenian organizations from one end of the spectrum to the other have joined together at this event and the audience has been increasingly a young one, including student groups from colleges and universities. Papazian pointed out that “often the young people sleep in Kavookjian Hall [in the Diocesan complex in Manhattan] the night before. We give them pizza, and then they come the next day. We bus in people from Boston, Washington DC, Philadelphia and other places.”

Despite increasing difficulties in getting permission from the city government for any protest or demonstration at Times Square, the fact that it has been taking place for so long has “grandfathered” it in.

Proposed Changes
Originally, the Knights was a leadership organization, but in recent times, it has emphasized service: “I’m trying to explain to the Knights that all life is politics. I’m returning to what the Knights of Vartan was — an organization that felt it had an obligation to give leadership and wise council to the community. I think we must participate again in community life on a fuller scale.”

In the past, the Knights’ ranks swelled with each new wave of Armenian immigration from other countries. However, not too many Armenians from the newest immigrants — from Armenia and the former USSR — are joining (interestingly, a good number of these are ADL members). Maintaining and increasing the size of the organization is a concern. For this goal, Papazian is looking to “people who are middle aged, with families and young kids. These are the keys to the future.” To ease their entrée, he wants to allow new candidates to be able to start without having to go through the full set of obligatory rituals. Instead they can take the
first step of becoming first degree Knights. In order to make the rituals more accessible, Papazian wants to simplify and modernize their early 20th-century style and language.

Papazian will attempt to appeal to the interests of these potential candidates: “Their patriotism may be different from what ours was. Our old quarrels and knowledge may mean nothing to them. I want to preach that the Irish help the Irish, the Italians help Italians; so if you want Armenian power, stick together and you’ll get Armenian power. You young guys stick together — you have a natural family already.”

Part of the problem in enlarging the Knights is that there is no permanent central headquarters: “Since we do not have a physical office, I want to establish a virtual office — a website which includes a private or closed section only open to members. One of our great problems is that we have taken the techniques of communication of 1916 and somehow glorified them into being virtuous. My personal belief is that if e-mail existed then, our leaders would have used it.”

Papazian wants to restructure the finances of the organization. In the past, it kept two separate set of accounts, one as a tax-exempt fraternal organization donations to which are not tax deductible, and one as a charitable organization to which donations are tax deductible. “The question is, what is educational and what is fraternal? The Knights of Vartan have not understood that many of our functions are educational. One example is our newsletter [Avarayr] which is available to the public. This should be publishable with tax-deductible funds.”

The Knights never established branches in Europe or other parts of the diaspora because it was designed for the American-Armenian community. It was not thought practical in the past because “in the old days, it would take a week to get from New York to Europe,” he explained.

More recently, the organization has considered opening an office in Armenia, since much of its attention has been turned there in the last two decades: “Some did want it. The problem is that service leadership — private leadership — is not well developed in Armenia yet.”

Papazian’s Greatest Happiness and Disappointment
Papazian took a break from his job at the University of Michigan and worked for four years as executive director of the Armenian Assembly of America (1973-76). “My greatest disappointment in life was that the Assembly did not succeed in bringing together all the Armenian organizations.”

It seems a bit paradoxical, but the happiest day in Papazian’s life was December 7, 1988, and it provided a lesson that he feels is still important for Armenians: “When the earthquake hit Armenia, we saw the word ‘Armenia’ appear for the first time in Detroit’s newspapers. Only then could we see Armenia on television. We suddenly had cooperation in the community. People saw we had bigger problems to work on together. This should be a shining example of how to get things done when you have a common goal. This was a breakthrough. We paid a big price for it. If we learned from it, maybe it was worth it. But if we didn’t, then it was in vain.”

For more information on the Knights of Vartan, see www.kofv.org.