Holy Martyrs Armenian Elementary and Ferrahian High School of Encino–CA is one of 12,000 schools in the country subscribed to Channel One News – a daily televised 10-minute newscast beamed via satellite during the school year to various junior and high schools in the US.
After viewing special segmen’s on the Jewish Holocaust and the atrocities committed in Rwanda and Bosnia–Ferrahian students decided to contact Channel One so that the Armenian Genocide would also be presented in a subsequent edition.
This year’s April 24th broadcast featured a special on the Armenian Genocide–and reached over 8 million students in the country.
The segment features interviews by Dr. Richard Hovanissian–Professor of History at UCLA–who presents an overview of the Genocide.
Ferrahian senior Nareg Minissian and his 102-year-old great uncle Sarkis Poladian were also interviewed.
Another survivor–Samuel Kadorian–describes how his village was rounded up and deported.
The systematic denial of the present Turkish government is also addressed in the Channel One special. The reporter was denied an interview by the Turkish Consulate in Los Angeles. Instead–he was referred to Turkish-American community leader Ergun Kirikovali–who adamantly denies the Genocide in his interview.
Horizon Television was granted permission by Channel One to air the Genocide special in its entirety. The segment will be aired on Horizon on Friday–May 11. The greater Los Angeles area can watch the exclusive on Friday’s nightly Horizon program. The Glendale and Burbank communities will be able to view the special on Horizon Evening News aired on 24-Hour Armenian Cable Television–Charter Media–Channel 55.