GYO Celebrates 100 Years of Community Activism

Pasadena, CA – A crowded hall filled with proud Gaidz Youth Organization members, as well as three generations of alumni, and supporters attended the 100th anniversary celebration of GYO on Saturday, April 9 at the Armenian Educational Benevolent Union center in Pasadena.

The attendees were greeted by GYO members Harry Unell, and Razmig Der-Tavitian who presented the attendees with the historical significance, achievements of the past, and the goals of the organizations in next hundred years.

The members reminisced on the organization’s founding in 1910 in Constantinople by Kegham Vanigian (one of the SDHP “Twenty Martyrs”), Etvard Amadouni, and Arsen Gidour in 1910 under the supervision of the Social Democrat Hunchakian Party. The founders along with a dedicated group of Armenian youth who were in pursuit of higher education throughout the Ottoman empire, and European continent, published the Gaidz monthly in April 1911; wherein Armenian youth could find and foster the advancement of Armenian history, culture, and social democratic principles.

The GYO youth emphasized that within the next 100 years the Gaidz Youth and its alumni, would continue to pursue and fight for the matter of justice of the Armenian Genocide, and the establishment of a truly democratic Armenian Republic; where social and economic rights are guaranteed and respected.

The night’s entertainment of patriotic folk songs was provided by British-Armenian singer Samvel Vardanyan specifically to honor the occasion.