DEATH AND REMEMBRANCE EVENTS TO MARK ANNIVERSARY OF ARMENIAN KILLINGS.

Byline: Nicholas Grudin Staff Writer

GLENDALE - Dozens of Southland events this week will mark Thursday's 88th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, in which the Ottoman Turk Empire is estimated to have killed 1.5 million people.

``More than 1 million citizens of the Ottoman Empire were subjected to horrible torture, rape, plunder and massacre,'' said Glendale Community College professor Levon Marashlian, who will speak at more than five events during the week.

Marashlian's first lecture will be at a city discussion panel called ``Man's Inhumanity to Man'' today at the Glendale Public Library.

Glendale's largest remembrance will be held at the Civic Auditorium at 6 p.m. Thursday, where Armenian Genocide scholar Vahakn Dadrian will be speaking. There will be musical performances by Winds of Passion and the Three Armenians.

Glendale officials expect more than 2,000 people to attend the event, which will also feature a photo exhibit of the genocide, which took place from 1915 to 1923.

The Glendale Unified School District, where a third of the student body is of Armenian descent, is also hosting an Armenian Genocide event today at Glendale High School.

``This event is important to students my age because it is something that everyone should understand and recognize,'' said Rosie Iskanian, 18, president of the Glendale High School Armenian Club.

School officials expect about 1,000 people to attend the school district event.

Glendale is home to more than 50,000 Armenians.

Ardashes Kassakhian, director of the Armenian National Committee Western Region, said the events will strike a personal chord.

``Well over half of my father's family perished in the genocide,'' Kassakhian said. ``These are people who looked like me, when I see them in old family photos. I have an entire generation of ancestors and great- grandparents who were never even given proper burials.''

The passionate commitment to commemorating the Armenian Genocide is fueled by the Turkish government's denial of the massacre, Kassakhian said.

Turkish officials blame the killings on disease and war and say the number of dead has been inflated.

Other events will be taking place throughout the Los Angeles area, the largest of which is a rally at 2 p.m. Thursday in Hollywood at Argyle Avenue and Sunset Boulevard. Gov. Gray Davis, Sen. Barbara Boxer and Mayor James Hahn are all expected to attend.

Many Armenian-owned businesses will close Thursday to mark the genocide.

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(1 -- 2) Above, Shant Baboujian, right, and other members of the Armenian Youth Federation - Rozie Gevorkian, Mary Ashdjian, Hrat Saatjyan and Marita Medzachian - are planning a hunger strike to demand recognition of the Armenian genocide by the Turkish government. Below, two members of the federation wheel a display across Pico Boulevard to the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

John Lazar/Staff Photographer

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GENOCIDE EVENTS