Hye Sharzhoom Armenian Action
Sarah Soghomonian
Staff Writer
“It’s about time that we loudly repudiate the romantic conceit that ‘my pen is my gun.’ Pens are pens and guns are guns. There are more than enough ‘intellectuals’ in the diaspora. What we need are fighters, soldiers, fedaiis.” – Monte Melkonian
Hakop Tataryan
Editor
Heroes are like ghosts, many people speak of them, but only few have seen them. On March 15, the Fresno community was given the opportunity to know a fallen hero when they attended a talk by Markar Melkonian. This was understandably one of the bigger talks organized at Fresno State by the Armenian Studies Program. More than a hundred people, ranging from children to the elderly, showed up to hear and meet the author.
Melkonian appeared at Fresno State to discuss the biography he wrote about his brother Monte Melkonian called My Brother’s Road: An American’s Fateful Journey to Armenia. Monte was a good student from the San Joaquin Valley, who turned into a rebel, became a commander, and then finally became a world-renowned hero. Monte Melkonian graduated from UC Berkeley, where he studied archaeology and had a great interest in the tombs from the ancient kingdom of Urartu. At Berkeley he wrote many acclaimed pieces on the topic.
He graduated in three years and had a very prolific academic career. So what could have turned this law abiding American student into a bellicose rebel willing to die for Armenia? Well, this is the question that Markar Melkonian tries to answer in his book. He narrows the answer down to several pivotal events in his brother’s life that made him “tick.”
Monte’s experience of visiting his great-grandmother’s house in Turkey, and seeing the Turks who lived there, affected him. Later he learned from a woman in Cyprus how his maternal grandparents had been killed. These events and the profound patriotic feelings he had, added to his passion and led him to devote his life to the new Armenia that was formed due to the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Ultimately, Monte had an indescribable love for the country of Armenia and its people, which led him to the front line of the Nagorno-Karabagh war in the early 1990s.
Monte became a militiaman when he entered the Armenian Secret Army. There he began learning about special weapons and explosives, which eventually landed him in a French prison. He was ambitious, and rapidly gained competence in the arts of war. Aside from his self-sacrificial accomplishments, Monte’s great accomplishment was the way he stabilized and disciplined the fighters in Nagorno-Karabagh, who then were able to stand their ground against immense odds (a reoccurring scene in Armenian history).
There were many instances when his death was reported by mistake, but Monte Melkonian died in a battle with Azeris on June 12, 1993.
“He always showed bravery, Monte was always the first kid to jump off the highest rock,” described Markar about his brother.
This talk was especially touching; because of the deep roots the Melkonian family has in the Valley.
Melkonian ancestors were among the first settlers in Fresno in 1870. Monte’s great uncle Jacob Seropian, was one of the first settlers. Monte was known by many pseudonyms such as: Saro, Abu Sindi, Timothy McCormick and Avo, but for his great bravery and martyrdom the name Monte Melkonian will always be synonymous with “hero.” Monte Melkonian was born in Visalia, California on November 25, 1957.