ASSASSINATIONS STUN ARMENIAN COMMUNITY.

Byline: Lee Condon Staff Writer

Armenians in Southern California, the largest community of Armenians outside their homeland, struggled Wednesday to understand why the country's prime minister and others were assassinated and whether the attack heralded more bloodshed.

``I don't see this as anything that will lead to an overthrow. If it's a coup d'etat, it's a lousy coup d'etat,'' said Vicken Sonentz-Papazian, executive director of the western region of the Armenian National Committee.

Armen Melkonian, consul general at the Armenian Consulate in Beverly Hills, said he knew several of those killed.

Melkonian said modern Armenia is still a young country - one of the 15 independent republics that emerged from the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. But he stressed that people in Armenia and abroad today have faith in the strength of the government.

``This was a terrorist act,'' Melkonian said.

He expects local Armenians to support their homeland as it attempts to fill the political leadership void left by the killings.

``They will do more than ever to help Armenia out of this economic crisis,'' Melkonian said.

He added the Armenian community in Glendale and elsewhere in Southern California is likely to hold memorials in coming days. A condolence book will be set out at the consulate building for people to sign, Melkonian said.

One of the five gunmen, Nairi Unanian, said in a telephone interview with a local television station that the attack was carried out to protest the government's lack of attention to hunger and the poor economy. But local Armenians said the situation in the country was worse in the wake of such previous hardships as the 1988 earthquake and the country's struggle for independence from the Soviet Union.

``Things have been tougher in the past and it never came to this,'' Sonentz-Papazian said.

Sonentz-Papazian also said there was no evidence outside Parliament or elsewhere in the country of an organized revolt.

As news of the death of the prime minister and at least six others trickled out, many of the 450,000 Armenians living in Southern California were glued to their televisions and radios.

``Something like this really touches everyone's heart. There is a very strong connection between Armenians living in the United States and Armenia,'' said Levon Marashalian, a professor of history at Glendale Community College.

``I'm shocked and upset. It's a great loss of Armenian leaders,'' said Glendale Councilman Rafi Manoukian.

Marashalian said it did not make sense for the gunmen to kill these politicians in a protest about hunger and a bad economy. The professor said he believed Prime Minister Vazgen Sarkisian was the leader of a government effort to finally do something about the poor economy. Previous political leaders had ignored the economic crisis in the country, he said.

``It reflects a lot of the anger and frustration people feel toward a bad economic situation,'' Marashalian said. ``The irony is the very people they took this action against were the very people who are taking concrete action to fix the economy.''

For many Armenians here, the attack on the Parliament is as upsetting as an attack on the U.S. Capitol would be for Americans, Sonentz-Papazian said.

Local Armenians have played a key role in helping people in their homeland before, when it suffered a devastating earthquake in 1988, struggled to gain independence from Soviet Union, fought a war with neighboring Azerbaijan and endured economic blockade by Turkey and Azerbaijan.

Local Armenians have been generous in supporting frequent airlifts of food and supplies to Armenia and many send money to their relatives there.

Rep. James Rogan, R-Pasadena, said he met Sarkisian when the prime minister visited Washington, D.C., three weeks ago.

``Prime Minister Sarkisian was a patriot and cared deeply about the cause of independence. I am saddened at the loss of a respected leader,'' Rogan said.

Rogan himself visited Armenia in September.

``I was in Yerevan just over one month ago, and I saw firsthand the Armenian government's success in expanding democracy and developing a healthy economy,'' Rogan said. ``I am saddened that rogue terrorists would try to compromise this work with acts of violence.''

CAPTION(S):

Photo: Editors of Azbarez, an Armenian newspaper based in Glendale,stayed glued to TV monitors Wednesday, watching for updates.

Eric Grigorian/Special to the Daily News