ARMENIAN GENOCIDE SPOTLIGHTED; NEW STANDARDS REQUIRE TEACHING ON TOPIC IN 10TH GRADE.

Byline: Lee Condon Daily News Staff Writer

The Armenian genocide has been part of the approved world history curriculum for 10th-grade students in California since 1985, but few schools have actually been teaching the subject.

On Thursday, local Armenian-American community leaders said at a news conference in Glendale that new standards approved by the California Department of Education should change that.

State education officials have added the Armenian genocide into the state's required content standards for teaching World War I history. In addition, a question about the Armenian genocide will be included in statewide standardized assessment exams.

``For the first time, the Armenian genocide will be mandatory study in state schools,'' said Steven J. Dadaian, a member of the board of directors of the Armenian National Committee, Western Region. ``It will find its rightful place in the world history of our schools.''

In addition, Assemblyman Scott Wildman, D-Burbank, is attempting to secure $120,000 in state funds to revise and reprint ``Model Curriculum for Human Rights and Genocide,'' a guide more than 12 years old.

The guide does not include recent examples of mass killings in the world, as in Rwanda and Yugoslavia.

``Today more than ever, given the unabated ethnic and racial strife that prevails throughout the world, teaching about human rights and human rights abuse must become a priority in our schools,'' Wildman said.

Teri Burns, deputy superintendent for external affairs for the California Department of Education, said the Armenian genocide was included earlier this year as part of the new statewide content standards for 10th-grade world history.

``Now not only do you have to teach it, we're going to test you on it,'' Burns said.

The current guide is being circulated among teachers in Glendale schools, which have a large number of Armenian-American students. State officials hope that, with the Wildman funding, they will be able to circulate updated guides this year.

The genocide curriculum contains information for teachers and students not only about the Armenian genocide, but also about the 1932-33 genocide in the Ukraine and the Holocaust during World War II.

Local Armenian-Americans hold commemorative events in the third week of April because on April 15, 1915, hundreds of Armenian religious, political and intellectual leaders were rounded up and slain by Turkish armies serving the Ottoman Empire. The killing of Armenians, who were predominantly Christian, at the hands of the Turks, who were predominantly Muslim, continued for eight more years. Most of the Armenians the Turks deported to Syria died along the way of starvation.

Despite repeated demands by Armenians, the Turkish government has refused to acknowledge that genocide occurred.

To the Turks, the deaths were related to a civil war in which Armenians were attempting to break away from the Ottoman Empire. Ottoman authorities expelled the Armenians because they feared Armenian revolutionaries would aid Russia's attempt to invade the Ottoman Empire, said Kurdet Oytan, consul for the Turkish Consulate in Los Angeles.

Oytan said the Turkish community in California is opposed to the teaching of Armenian genocide in schools because only the Armenian side of the story is being told.

``The two different sides of the story should be addressed. It should not stigmatize or discriminate against Turkish-Americans living in this state,'' Oytan said.

Burns said teachers will have the freedom to teach all sides of the Armenian genocide.

``Some districts will be much more aggressive about having that side represented than others,'' Burns said. ``As with most curriculum, as teachers see a need to bring in additional information, they can do so.''