Armenian Genocide Commemorations List and related articles

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COMMENTARY: HEROES AND BYSTANDERS

Indiana Gazette
Feb 2 2015

by NICHOLAS KRISTOF

One of the great heroes of the 20th century was Auschwitz prisoner No.

4859, who volunteered to be there.

Witold Pilecki, an officer in the Polish resistance to the Nazi regime,
deliberately let himself be captured by the Germans in 1940 so that
he could gather information about Hitler's concentration camps.

Inside Auschwitz, he set up resistance cells -- even as he almost
died of starvation, torture and disease.

Then Pilecki helped build a radio transmitter, and, in 1942,
he broadcast to the outside world accounts of atrocities inside
Auschwitz -- as the Nazis frantically searched the camp looking for
the transmitter. He worked to expose the Nazi gas chambers, brutal
sexual experiments and savage camp punishments, in hopes that the
world would act.

Finally, in April 1943, he escaped from Auschwitz, bullets flying
after him, and wrote an eyewitness report laying out the horror of
the extermination camps. He then campaigned unsuccessfully for an
attack on Auschwitz.

Eventually, he was brutally tortured and executed -- not by the Nazis,
but after the war, in 1947, by the Communists. They then suppressed
the story of Pilecki's heroism for decades (a book about his work,
"The Auschwitz Volunteer," was published in 2012).

I was thinking of Pilecki last week on the 70th anniversary of the
liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camps. I had relatives
killed in Auschwitz (they were Poles spying on the Nazis for the
resistance), and these camps are emblems of the Holocaust and symbols
of the human capacity for evil.

In the coming months, the world will also commemorate the 100th
anniversary of the start of the Armenian genocide -- which, despite the
outrage of Turkish officials at the term, was, of course, a genocide.

There, too, I feel a connection because my ancestors were Armenian.

Then, in the summer, we'll observe the 70th anniversary of the end
of World War II -- an occasion for recalling Japanese atrocities in
China, Korea, the Philippines and elsewhere. All this is likely to fuel
more debates focused on the past. Should we honor Armenian genocide
victims with a special day? Should Japan apologize for enslaving
"comfort women"?

But, to me, the lesson of history is that the best way to honor
past victims of atrocities is to stand up to slaughter today. The
most respectful way to honor Jewish, Armenian or Rwandan victims of
genocide is not with a ceremony or a day, but with efforts to reduce
mass atrocities currently underway.

The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington is a shining example
of that approach, channeling outrage at past horrors to mitigate
today's -- from Syria to Central African Republic. But, in general,
the world is typically less galvanized by mass atrocities than
paralyzed by them.

Even during the Holocaust, despite the heroism of Pilecki and others
like Jan Karski, who tried desperately to shake sense into world
leaders, no one was very interested in industrial slaughter.

Over and over since then, world leaders have excelled at giving
eloquent "never again" speeches but rarely offered much beyond lip
service.

This year, I'm afraid something similar will happen. We'll hear
flowery rhetoric about Auschwitz, Armenia and World War II, and then
we'll go on shrugging at crimes against humanity in Syria, Central
African Republic, Sudan and South Sudan, Myanmar and elsewhere.

Darfur symbolizes our fickleness. It has disappeared from headlines,
and Sudan makes it almost impossible for journalists to get there,
but Human Rights Watch reported a few days ago that the human rights
situation in Sudan actually deteriorated in 2014.

Indeed, the Sudanese regime is now engaging in mass atrocities not
only in Darfur but also in the Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile regions.

Sudan bombed an aid hospital in January in the Nuba Mountains, and
the Belgian branch of Doctors Without Borders has just announced the
closure of operations in Sudan because of government obstructionism.

A decade ago, one of the most outspoken politicians on Darfur --
harshly scolding President George W. Bush for not doing more --
was an Illinois senator, Barack Obama. Today, as president of the
United States, he is quiet. The United Nations force in Darfur has
been impotent.

Granted, humanitarian crises rarely offer good policy choices, but
there's no need to embrace the worse option, which is paralysis. We've
seen in Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Kurdistan and, lately, Yazidi areas
of Iraq and eastern Congo that outside efforts sometimes can make
a difference.

So, sure, let's commemorate the liberation of Auschwitz, the horror
of the Holocaust and the brutality of the Armenian genocide by trying
to mitigate mass atrocities today. The basic lesson of these episodes
is not just that humans are capable of astonishing evil, or that some
individuals like Witold Pilecki respond with mesmerizing heroism --
but that, sadly, it's just too easy to acquiesce.

https://www.indianagazette.com/news/opinions/commentary-heroes-and-bystanders,21432592/

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Commentary
Pan-Armenian Declaration Reveals
Plans for Legal Claims Against Turkey

By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com

The Presidents of the Republics of Armenia and Artsakh along with
leaders of major Diasporan organizations issued an unprecedented joint
declaration last week, announcing the preparation of a comprehensive
dossier of `legal claims' from Turkey to restore `individual, communal
and pan-Armenian rights and legitimate interests.'
The declaration does not detail the specifics of Armenian demands,
since a legal team headed by Gagik Harutyunyan, President of the
Constitutional Court of Armenia, is in the process of finalizing a
thorough analysis of Armenian claims against Turkey.
The January 29 declaration was issued during the session of the State
Commission on the Coordination of Programs Dedicated to the Centennial
of the Armenian Genocide with the participation of over 50 regional
Centennial Committees from around the world. Later that night,
Pres. Serzh Sargsyan read the full text of the declaration during a
somber wreath-laying ceremony at the Armenian Genocide Memorial
Complex in Yerevan.
When Catholicos Aram I inquired if the declaration would become the
official policy of the Republic of Armenia, Pres. Sargsyan responded
by assuring everyone that the adopted document would guide not only
Armenia's foreign policy, but all government officials!
Here are highlights from the Pan-Armenian Declaration:
- Condemning the genocidal acts against the Armenian people, planned
and continuously perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire and various regimes
of Turkey in 1894-1923, dispossession of the homeland, the massacres
and ethnic cleansing aimed at the extermination of the Armenian
population, the destruction of the Armenian heritage, as well as the
denial of the Genocide -- all attempts to avoid responsibility, to
consign to oblivion the committed crimes and their consequences or to
justify them -- as a continuation of this crime and encouragement to
commit new genocides;
- Considering the 1919-1921 verdicts of the courts-martial of the
Ottoman Empire on that grave crime perpetrated "against the law and
humanity'' as a legal assessment of the fact;
- Appreciating the joint declaration of the Allied Powers on May 24,
1915, for the first time in history defining the most heinous crime
perpetrated against the Armenian people as a "crime against humanity
and civilization" and emphasizing the necessity of holding Ottoman
authorities responsible, as well as the role and significance of the
Sevres Peace Treaty of 10 August 1920 and US President Woodrow
Wilson's Arbitral Award of 22 November 1920 in overcoming the
consequences of the Armenian Genocide:
- Reiterates the commitment of Armenia and the Armenian people to
continue the international struggle for the prevention of genocides,
the restoration of the rights of people subjected to genocide and the
establishment of historical justice;
- Expresses gratitude to those states and international, religious and
non-governmental organizations that had the political courage to
recognize and condemn the Armenian Genocide as a heinous crime against
humanity and even today continue to undertake legal measures to that
end, also preventing the dangerous manifestations of denialism;
- Appeals to UN member states, international organizations, and all
people of good will, regardless of their ethnic origin and religious
affiliation, to unite their efforts aimed at restoring historical
justice and paying tribute to the memory of victims of the Armenian
Genocide;
- Expresses the united will of Armenia and the Armenian people to
achieve worldwide recognition of the Armenian Genocide and elimination
of the consequences of the Genocide, preparing to this end a file of
legal claims as a point of departure in the process of restoring
individual, communal and pan-Armenian rights and legitimate interests;
- Condemns the illegal blockade of the Republic of Armenia imposed by
the Republic of Turkey, its anti-Armenian stance in international fora
and the imposition of preconditions in the normalization of interstate
relations, considering this a consequence of the continued impunity of
the Armenian Genocide, Meds Yeghern;
- Calls upon the Republic of Turkey to recognize and condemn the
Armenian Genocide committed by the Ottoman Empire, and to face its own
history and memory through commemorating the victims of that heinous
crime against humanity and renouncing the policy of falsification,
denialsm and banalization of this indisputable fact;
- Expresses the hope that recognition and condemnation of the Armenian
Genocide by Turkey will serve as a starting point for the historical
reconciliation of the Armenian and Turkish peoples;
- Considers the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide an
important milestone in the ongoing struggle for historical justice
under the motto "I remember and I demand."
It is noteworthy that the Pan-Armenian declaration counters the
persistent Turkish falsification that the claims against Turkey are
being advanced by the Diaspora and not the Republic of Armenia. The
unanimously adopted declaration clearly reflects that Armenians
worldwide, both in the Homeland and Diaspora, are firmly committed to
pursuing their just demands from the Republic of Turkey!

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http://en.hayernaysor.am/%D5%A4%D5%A1%D5%BF%D5%A1%D5%BA%D5%A1%D6%80%D5%BF%D5%A5%D5%9B%D6%84-%D5%A1%D5%B6%D6%81%D5%B5%D5%A1%D5%AC%D5%A8-%D5%B8%D6%80%D5%BA%D5%A5%D5%BD%D5%A6%D5%AB-%D5%B9%D5%A4%D5%A1%D5%BC%D5%B6%D5%A1/

In Remembrance of All Genocide Victims 1915-2015. The Centennial of the Armenian Genocide

http://hayernaysor.am/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Recognize-Genocide-300x189.jpg

Peace of Art Commemorates the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide

 

Boston, MA – In commemoration of the centennial of the Armenian Genocide, beginning January 2015 and through the end of the year, Peace of Art, Inc., will be displaying large electronic panels in the United States. Peace of Art, Inc., will begin such electronic displays in Massachusetts; the first of which will be located on Route 1 in Foxboro, about 1/4 mile from Gillette Stadium and Patriot Place. The images and the messages on the electronic displays pay tribute to the victims, refer to the Armenian Genocide, as well as all other genocides that took place during the past one hundred years following the Armenian Genocide.

Peace of Art, Inc., president Daniel Varoujan Hejinian said that “We are sending a message of peace to the world, to condemn the past crimes of genocide, and resolve that no other nation be the next target of genocide.” With the electronic billboards, Peace of Art’s message is that genocide continues to be a threat to humanity, it urges viewers to condemn the crime of genocide, be alert, “don’t be the next victim,” and put an end to this crime against humanity once and for all.

The first of the electronic billboards will read “CONDEMN THE PAST, DON’T BE THE NEXT VICTIM. REMEMBER 1915 THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE.” Within the word “Genocide” the letter “O” is a target.

The second of the electronic billboards will read ” IN REMEMBRANCE OF ALL GENOCIDE VICTIMS 1915-2015. THE CENTENNIAL OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE.” Within the word “Genocide” the letter “O” is a circle with the flags of countries that have recognized the Armenian Genocide and within the circle is a dove, a symbol of peace.

Since 1996, the artist Daniel Varoujan Hejinian has been displaying large billboards in Massachusetts to inform the community at large to the reality of the Armenian Genocide. In 2003, Hejinian founded Peace of Art, Inc. a non-profit organization, that uses art as an educational tool to bring awareness to the universal human condition, and promote peaceful solutions to conflict. The organization is not associated with political or religious organizations, and its focus is on the global human condition. www.PeaceofArt.org. Since then, Peace of Art, Inc., has sponsored the billboards to commemorate the Armenian Genocide.

In the last one hundred years, since the Armenian Genocide took place, millions of people have been the target of genocide, torture, rape, removed from their homes, or killed. Refugee camps are just a footnote on this ongoing tragedy. The indifference of the international community has been shown to be dangerous, allowing the crimes to be repeated without impunity. These are only some of the genocides and mass atrocities that followed the Armenian Genocide of 1915:

 

1933-1945 the Holocaust. Six million Jews were exterminated in concentration camps.

1975-1979 Cambodia. “Death Valley” 1.7- 2.2 million Cambodians were killed.

1992-1995 ethnic cleansing in Bosnia about 97,000 people were killed.

1994 Rwandan Tutu extremists within 100 days killed 800,000 to 1 million people.

2003 Ethnic-political conflicts in Darfur killed some 300,000 Africans.

A century ago in the Ottoman Empire, genocide was carried out against the Armenians, while reporters and foreign dignitaries, ambassadors and consuls, alerted the leadership of their countries of the ongoing slaughter of Armenians. Henry Morgenthau, the United States ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, sent countless letters to the Ottoman executioners as well as to the State Department. In 1915, The New York Times published 150 articles, one just about every other day, reporting on the on going atrocities. Governments remained indifferent, and proceeded with non-action according to their political interests. The German imperial adviser Bethmann Hollweg said “Our only goal is to keep Turkey by our side until the end of the war, regardless of whether Armenians perish in the process or not.”

One hundred years have passed but many nations remain still today as they did a century ago when Armenians were being slaughtered, and continue to ignore the crime of genocide taking place around the world. The international community has the power to put an end to these crimes against humanity, and it should begin by recognizing and condemning the Armenian Genocide.

 

by Rosario Teixeira

http://hayernaysor.am/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Recognize-Genocide.jpg

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CANONIZATION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE VICTIMS DUE ON APRIL 23

15:00 03/02/2015 >> SOCIETY

After an interval of about 400 years, for the first time, the Armenian
Apostolic Church will conduct a canonization ceremony on April 23,
2015, in the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, for the victims of the
Armenian Genocide, Director of the Office for Conceptual Issues of
the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, Bishop Bagrat Galstanyan, told
reporters on Tuesday.

He said that it will be collective canonization. Special rites have
been developed for the ceremony.

The ceremony will start at 4:30 pm or 5:00 pm and will end at 7:15
pm, symbolizing the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Bells
will ring one hundred times in all Armenian churches all across the
world, and the attendees will observe one minute's silence for the
Genocide victims.

Invitations have been sent to various churches throughout the world.

http://www.panorama.am/en/society/2015/02/03/galstanyan/

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I REMEMBER THE BLOODSTAINED EUPHRATES

February 3, 2015

We are natives of Bitlis. I'm the granddaughter of Moukhsi Vardan. The
Turks destroyed our house. Our family was composed of seventy members.

There were seven boys and five girls in our family. All the boys have
been killed by the Turks. From our large family, only I have survived
and Missak, who is now a general in Moscow

Before the deportation, in 1914, they took my eldest brother to the
army; he became a corporal. Once he came to see us. My father said:
"Khosrov, lao, don't go."

My brother said: "How can I? I'm a corporal, if I don't go, the Turks
will burn you."

He went and never came back. A few Armenian soldiers had decided to
run away; the Turks opened fire on them, but they threw themselves
into the Arax River and were saved. They joined the Russian army.

My father had run from the Turkish army and had hidden in the straw
heap. The Ottoman Turks came, drew him out and killed him. We remained
orphans.

Our neighbor, Turk Yousouf efendi had pity on us and took us to his
house. The Kurd Hamidie soldiers came and asked my mother: "Where
are your gold coins?"

Terror-stricken, my mother said: "There, they are in the jar."

The Turks took the gold coins and went away.

Our Turk neighbor, who had taken care of us, got angry with mother
and asked why she hadn't given the gold to him and put us out of
his house. We came out; the corpses of the killed Armenians were
everywhere; they had massacred all the Armenians. Those who were
still alive, were driven we did not know where. On the road there
was confusion and uproar. The Turkish gendarmes drew us forward with
bayonets. At night they came and took away the young women and girls.

One day they took away my mother, too, and then they brought her back.

It was good that my father was not alive and did not see himself
dishonored.

I remember, on the road of exile our cart turned over into the water.

Many people were drowned in the Euphrates River and many were killed
and thrown into the river. That was why the Euphrates River was
completely colored bloody red.

Walking on foot we reached Kars. We saw the statue of Loris-Melikov
- a man, who had put his foot on an eagle. From there we walked to
Igdir. With the refugees we reached Edjmiadsin. The exiles, sick,
emaciated and exhausted, lay under the walls of the monastery: old and
young, all of them ill and dying. Two men came and distributed bread
and eggs to the children. They gave mother an egg and some bread. My
mother said: "I have two children." They gave one more egg and we ate.

In fact, one of these kind men was had been Hovhannes Toumanian.

Suddenly it began pouring and all the exiles remained under the rain.

My mother covered us with tarpaulin.

Hov. Toumanian sent the sexton to the Catholicos to fetch the keys
to the monks' chambers, to give shelter to the refugees, but the
Catholicos had refused saying that they would soil the chambers. Hov.

Toumanian took an axe and began to break the doors of the chambers
and let in the exiles. He said: "Go and say that the Catholicos of All
Armenians refused, but the poet of all Armenians Hovhannes Toumanian
broke the door with an axe and sent in the refugees."

My mother took away the tarpaulin, poured away the water and took
us into a room, where it was warm. But in the morning many of the
refugees had died. Cholera had infected most of them. My poor mother
also died of it. I remained all-alone. Together with the refugees,
I came to Yerevan. They did not accept us well in Yerevan. They used
to call us "refugees."

In Yerevan I studied at the school named after Khachatour Abovian. In
1933 I graduated from the Agricultural Institute, which, at that time,
was a faculty of the University. From 1933 till 1936 I worked in
Stepanavan as an agronomist. I was acquainted with Aghassi Khandjian,
while Matsak Papian was the chairman of our kolkhoz. I have received
the title of "Honored Agronomist." During the war I served in the
rear and have received rewards. For fifty-five years I have worked
at the Ministry of grain storage as a chief specialist, and I have
received rewards.

Verjine Svazlian. The Armenian Genocide: Testimonies of the Eyewitness
Survivors. Yerevan: "Gitoutyoun" Publishing House of NAS RA, 2011,
testimony 20, p. 117.

http://www.horizonweekly.ca/news/details/60867

[Yervant1]

Massispost:

 

100 Years of Genocide, or Why My Grandfather Didn’t Want to Be Armenian

By MassisPost

Updated: February 3, 2015

http://massispost.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Pierce-Nahigyan-500x400.jpg

By Pierce Nahigyan

If my grandfather had it his way, he never would have been born Armenian.

A Bostonian to the bone, and a fish monger at that, he once spent an afternoon telling me about all the work he lost on account of his race. “To hell with it,” he said. “It’s not worth it.”

He was descended from Soo-ren Nahigian, an atheist Bible salesman who changed the “i” in his last name to “y” on the hope that it would get folks to stop pronouncing the “g” like a “j.” In the 100 years or so of Nahigyan family history, it has yet to do the trick.

Soo-ren came to America for his education, but when it was time to return to Armenia his father wrote to him saying don’t come back. My great-great grandfather was Kashador – or maybe Kachador – Nahigian, and he died with the rest of the Armenian Nahigians in 1915.

My great-grandfather Soo-ren didn’t talk about Armenia with my grandfather. My grandfather resented being Armenian to my father, and my father, second-generation and with a Bostonian accent thicker than his father’s, was just a very hairy American. Because of this tumultuous family history, and because my father died when I was seven, and because my mother is as white as a loaf of Wonder, I didn’t learn about the Armenian Genocide until I came upon a very disconcerting paragraph in my sixth grade History textbook.

It is a quote by Adolf Hitler that is now inscribed on a wall in Washington, D.C.’s Holocaust Memorial Museum. The quote is from a speech he gave a week before the German invasion of Poland in 1939 [emphasis added]:

“I have issued the command – and I’ll have anybody who utters but one word of criticism executed by a firing squad – that our war aim does not consist in reaching certain lines, but in the physical destruction of the enemy. Accordingly, I have placed my death-head formations in readiness…with orders to them to send to death mercilessly and without compassion, men, women, and children of Polish derivation and language. Only thus shall we gain the living space which we need. Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?”

No one in my life.
I stared at the page and tried to fathom what exactly der führer was talking about. Below the quote was another disconcerting paragraph mentioning that somewhere in the neighborhood of a million Armenians had been killed earlier that century. In my century. My life has been predicated, I suddenly realized, by a million, dead, unknown Armenians. Chief among them had always been my father, but behind him, I now knew, were the shades of not just ancestors but their neighbors, and their neighbors’ wives and their children, and the villages where they lived in the twentieth century. Until they suddenly didn’t, anymore.

It was a very big thought for a very small paragraph, and for a very long time that day I didn’t know what to think – because I kept asking myself why no one had mentioned this to me before. Because it is, still, a very big thought.

“A single death is a tragedy,” Josef Stalin is supposed to have said. “A million is a statistic.”

This April will mark the 100th year since the beginning of the Armenian, Assyrian and Greek Genocide. Its historic roots stretch back roughly 3,000 years and if I had that many pages to describe them I would still not have a decent explanation for you, because there are no decent explanations for killing a person, let alone 1.5 million.

I can say that the killings began in 1915 and continued through 1923. Turkish soldiers and mercenaries took Armenians, Assyrians and Greeks into the Anatolian and Syrian deserts and made them march until they died. Some were shot, some were roped together and thrown in rivers, some were thrown off cliffs or burned alive, and some were crucified. There is evidence of these murders for anyone who goes looking for it, be it in photographs or around the hill of Margada in the eastern Syrian desert. Bones can still be found there buried in the shallow dirt.

Children below a certain age were taken from their parents and, if not shot and buried in shared graves, given to Turkish families to be converted to Islam and raised Turkish. This offends me far less than more zealous Armenians, because, after all, the children did survive – even as their mothers, fathers and elder siblings were slaughtered and their homes given over to the Turks. What disturbs me more are the thousands of women who would go on to raise children born from the mass rapes of this era, and the decades of agony that follow these families unto the present day.

The Western Front
According to journalist Robert Fisk in his article, “The First Holocaust,” U.S. diplomats were among the first to record the Armenian genocide. Leslie Davis was the American consul in Harput at the time and wrote an account of seeing “the remains of not less than ten thousand Armenians” around Lake Goeljuk. Germans, too, who had been dispatched to Turkey to help organize the Ottoman military, reported mass slaughters and even more abominable acts. In the United States itself, The New York Times first began reporting of Armenian rapes and exterminations as early as November 1914. British diplomats across the Middle East, Fisk writes, received first-hand dispatches of the systematic slaughter. Private diaries of Europeans living in the region at the time exist and contain grisly and despairing passages of the event.

The West has known about this from the beginning. There is no disputing the fact that Armenians and other ethnic groups were massacred in Turkey in the early twentieth century.

In Turkey, however, it is effectively illegal to admit this. Today, Article 301 of the Turkish penal code prohibits citizens from insulting the Turkish nation or government. Even suggesting that the Turks of 100 years ago pursued an agenda of ethnic cleansing can be rewarded with death.

Journalists have been killed for writing about the genocide. In truth, writing anything in Turkey can be hazardous to one’s health. It ranks 154th in the World Press Freedom Index (out of 179 listed countries), and is currently “the world’s biggest prison for journalists.”

And because Turkey refuses to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide as a genocide, the United States, too, has remained mute on the subject.

From a legal standpoint, recognizing a genocide brings with it a host of complicated issues for a country – all of which perhaps pales in comparison to simply accepting blame for the planet’s most heinous criminal act. Turkey is a rare international ally for America – a Middle Eastern state that retains a non-violent relationship with Israel. For that reason, the United States has refused to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide. Doing so would be politically impolite.

This socio-political problem has transcended administrations and party lines. A resolution to recognize the Armenian Genocide was introduced by the 110th Congress in 2007, but then-President George Bush II publicly opposed it. Before succeeding the office, Barack Obama pledged that he would do what Bush could not. In 2006, Senator Obama criticized Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for firing John Evans, the Armenian Ambassador at the time, “after he properly used the term ‘genocide’ to describe Turkey’s slaughter of thousands of Armenians starting in 1915.” Those are Obama’s own words.

“I shared with Secretary Rice my firmly held conviction that the Armenian Genocide is not an allegation, a personal opinion, or a point of view,” he added, “but rather a widely documented fact supported by an overwhelming body of historical evidence.”

In 2008, Obama reiterated his stance: “America deserves a leader who speaks truthfully about the Armenian Genocide and responds forcefully to all genocides. I intend to be that President.”

In the six years since taking office, Obama has not been that President. He has refused to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide even once.

With Justice for All
I was not raised to hate Turks. As my mother would have it, I was not raised to hate anyone. But as I have grown up and learned more about the world and pursued my career in journalism, there is one prejudice that has been impossible to fight. I hate lies.

I hate any form of enforced ignorance that claims “2 + 2 = 5” and strikes down the indomitable voices that scream “4” until they’re silenced. By denying genocide, by denying the forced marches of Assyrians, of Greeks and of Armenians, by denying the tortures and the rapes, by denying the crucifixions and persecutions, Turkey is denying a final peace for so many. And they have been doing so for far too long.

My grandfather doesn’t think of himself as Armenian. He is a Bostonian first and a New Englander second, an American third and a businessman fourth. This fight for recognition is not his fight. This is not to say he bears no love for his father’s country; it is simply that time has moved on, America is now his home, its pledge the only allegiance he knows. The stories and the prayers of Kashador – or Kachador – and the traditions of the dead Nahigians are now a century extinguished.

What I’ve learned about Armenia has come from books, from fellow Armenians who have reached out, and from a diaspora that refuses to let the wax of its own dying candles cool. It wants what any culture wants, what any human deserves – and that is the truth.

My grandfather never wanted to be Armenian. But I am. And one hundred years later, I know how much that means.

Pierce Nahigyan is the editor-in-chief of Planet Experts (http://www.planetexperts.com/author/piercen/).

His articles have appeared in several publications, including Foreign Policy Journal, Intrepid Report, the Los Angeles Post-Examiner, New Internationalist and SHK Magazine.

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February 3, 2015

USC INSTITUTE OF ARMENIAN STUDIES
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, California, USA
Contact: Salpi Ghazarian/Director
Armenian@usc.edu
213.821.3943


The Armenian Genocide's Legacy, 100 Years on
March 6-7, 2015, The Hague, The Netherlands

The University of Southern California Institute of Armenian Studies
has joined with the Centennial Project Foundation and the Netherlands
Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies to convene a two-day
conference at The Hague Institute for Global Justice, in the
Netherlands, on March 6-7, 2015.

This major interdisciplinary gathering will bring together academics
and professionals from various fields to discuss the impact of the
Genocide. Experts will examine such issues as impunity, sexual
violence, demographics, compensation, memorializing, political
discourse and media approaches.

Keynote speaker, Ronald Suny, Professor Emeritus, University of
Chicago and University of Michigan, will open the conference. He will
be followed by experts in the field of Law (Geoffrey Robertson - QC,
Susan L. Karamanian, Nolwenn Guibert, Sun Kim, Najwa Nabti, Alexis
Demirdjian, Hannibal Travis), historians Ugur Umit Ungor, Jakub Bijak,
Lorne Shirinian, experts in social sciences and humanities (Levon
Chorbajian, Seyhan Bayraktar, Nanor Kebranian, Ayda Erbal, Eugene
Sensenig-Dabbous, Anthonie Holslag), literature, media, education and
journalism scholars Barlow Der Mugrdechian, Lisa Siraganian, Esra
Elmas, Marie-Aude Baronian, Joyce Sahyouni.

Alexis Demirdjian, Director of the Centennial Project Foundation and a
trial attorney in the Office of the Prosecutor at the International
Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, said, "We are pleased to
partner with the University of Southern California Dornsife Institute
of Armenian Studies.
We look forward to a conference that is significant going forward
beyond the centennial."

Additional information and participants' bios are available at
http://www.centennialprojectfoundation.org/. Contact details may be
found on the website. The conference is open to the public, free of
charge. Advance registration will open on February 6, 2015.

[Yervant1]

BRITISH PRIEST CALLS TO COMMEMORATE THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

16:48, 04 Feb 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

"We must not forget Armenia's suffering," Alexander Lucie-Smith,
a Catholic priest, doctor of moral theology, writes in the Catholic
Herald. The article reads:

Earlyrly February is a good time, liturgically speaking. On Monday we
celebrated the lovely feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the
Temple, when candles were blessed, marking the fortieth day since
Christmas, and on Tuesday we celebrated St Blaise, when throats
were blessed.

St Blaise is one of those saints of which we know very little, even
though his is a famous cult. As is the case with so many early martyrs,
legends sprang up and accounts were written down many centuries later,
which have no historical value. But we can be sure that Blaise was a
bishop and a martyr and lived in what is now called Sivas in Turkey,
but in which those days was called Sebastea in Armenia.

Once Armenia covered much more territory than that presently covered by
the former Soviet Republic in the Caucasus. A look at a map placesSivas
in the middle of modern Turkey, but up to a hundred years ago the town
still had a flourishing Armenian and Greek Christian population. Then
came the fateful day: April 24 1915. It was on this day that the
Ottoman government began to arrest and deport Armenians who had been
living in Anatolia from time immemorial. This organised campaign of
arrest, deportation, massacre and extermination led to the deaths
of between one million and one and a half million Armenians. It is
for this reason that visitors to Turkey today will find plenty of
Armenian history but no actual Armenian people, or at least very few.

The Armenian genocide is commemorated all over the world, but not in
Turkey and not much in Britain, which studiously avoids mentioning
the genocide in order not to jeopardise relations with Turkey. This
is a pity, to put it mildly, as it is hard to see how any nations -
ours or the Turks - can flourish when we deny truth.

St Blaise, ever popular throughout the Catholic Church, is the
only Armenian saint in the Universal Calendar. He is the solitary
representative of his culture, but what a culture! The nation of St
Blaise is the oldest Christian nation, having been converted to Christ
by St Gregory the Illuminator in 301, before the time of Constantine.

Moreover, Armenia has arguably produced more martyrs than anywhere
else, given that the victims of the genocide were killed in odium
of the Christian faith. Right now we are rightly concerned by ISIS's
cruelty; let us not forget the Armenians of 100 years ago.

Adolf Hitler's view of the Armenian genocide is worth recalling,
and his reference to it, made in August 1939, worth quoting:

Our strength is our quickness and our brutality. Genghis Khan had
millions of women and children hunted down and killed, deliberately
and with a gay heart. History sees in him only the great founder of
States. What the weak Western European civilization alleges about
me does not matter. I have given the order - and will have everyone
shot who utters but one word of criticism - that the aim of this war
does not consist in reaching certain designated [geographical] lines,
but in the enemies' physical elimination. Thus, for the time being
only in the east, I put ready my Death's Head units, with the order to
kill without pity or mercy all men, women, and children of the Polish
race or language. Only thus will we gain the living space that we
need. Who still talks nowadays of the extermination of the Armenians?

Who indeed? That is why we need to talk about Armenia and remember
them this April. Put the date of that hundredth anniversary in your
diary now.

Alexander Lucie-Smith is a Catholic priest, doctor of moral theology
and consulting editor of The Catholic Herald.

http://www.armradio.am/en/2015/02/04/british-priest-calls-to-commemorate-the-100th-anniversary-of-the-armenian-genocide/

http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/commentandblogs/2015/02/04/we-must-not-forget-armenias-suffering/

[Yervant1]

WALES' ARMENIANS: STILL CAMPAIGNING FOR RECOGNITION OF THE GENOCIDE SUFFERED BY THEIR PEOPLE IN 1915

walesonline.co.uk
February 3, 2015 Tuesday 8:20 PM GMT

By Martin Shipton

Genocide is a highly emotive term - so much so that when a cross
commemorating the Armenian "genocide" was placed outside the Temple
of Peace in Cardiff a few years ago, it was soon smashed up.

In Turkey it remains a crime to use the term when describing the
events of 1915 that saw nearly 1.5m ethnic Armenians murdered.

Among many others, the Turkish Nobel Prize-winning novelist Orhan
Pamuk has faced prosecution after telling his country to admit to
what happened. But so far there is little sign of Turkey doing so.

In Wales, where there is a small but thriving Armenian community,
preparations are under way to mark the centenary. But community members
are disappointed by the lack of support shown for their cause by the
Welsh Government.

Historians have described what happened in Turkey 100 years ago as
the first full-scale ethnic cleansing of the 20th century.

Armenians were uprooted from their homes by the thousand, deported
to remote locations within Turkey and murdered.

The political scientist RJ Rummell has written: "Turkish leaders
decided to exterminate every Armenian in the country, whether a
front-line soldier or pregnant woman, famous professor or high bishop,
important businessman or ardent patriot. All two million of them.

Rummell has used the term "democide" to describe "the murder of any
person or people by their government, including genocide, politicide
and mass murder".

Of the Armenian massacres he wrote: "Democide had preceded the Young
Turks' rule and with their collapse at the end of World War I, the
successor Nationalist government carried out its own democide against
the Greeks and remaining or returning Armenians. From 1900 to 1923,
various Turkish regimes killed from 3.5 million to over 4.3m Armenians,
Greeks, Nestorians and other Christians."

Based on all the available evidence, Rummell estimates that the
Turks murdered between 300,000 and 2,686,000 Armenians - probably
1.4 million.

A report in the New York Times from November 1915 reported the
testimony of an American committee set up to investigate the
atrocities. It quotes an unnamed official representative of the
committee who went to a camp occupied by displaced Armenians saying:
"I have visited their encampment and a more pitiable site cannot be
imagined. They are, almost without exception, ragged, hungry and sick.

This is not surprising in view of the fact that they have been on the
road for nearly two months, with no change of clothing, no chance to
bathe, no shelter and little to eat. "I watched them one time when
their food was brought. Wild animals could not be worse. They rushed
upon the guards who carried the food and the guards beat them back
with clubs hitting hard enough to kill sometimes."

"To watch them one could hardly believe these people to be human
beings. As one walks through the camp, mothers offer their children
and beg you to take them. In fact, the Turks have been taking their
choice of these children and girls for slaves or worse. There are very
few men among them, as most of the men were killed on the road. Women
and children were also killed. The entire movement seems to be the
most thoroughly organised and effective massacre this country has
ever seen."

Many relatives of Cardiff businessman John Torosyan, a leading
member of the Welsh Armenian community, were murdered, including his
grandfather's twin.

He said: "More than 75% of Armenians were killed. At the time Britain
was at the forefront of calls for justice for this genocide. The word
'genocide' was in fact coined by a Jew, Raphael Lemkin, with the
Armenians uppermost in his mind.

"One hundred years on and how things have changed. The UK Government's
position is clear - they do not want to use the word genocide because
it would upset Turkey, a Nato ally.

"Nevertheless, 22 other countries have accepted the Armenian genocide
as fact, some of them being in Nato with no diplomatic or trade issues
with Turkey.

"Neither Israel nor Jewry in the UK including such commendable
organisations as the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust acknowledge the
Armenian genocide." Progress in Wales towards getting official
recognition of the genocide

Mr Torosyan said there had been progress in Wales towards getting
official recognition of the genocide: in 2004 a vote was taken by
Gwynedd council to recognise it, and last year a plaque was erected
at the council's offices in Caernarfon.

He said: "Prior to 2006 the Armenian community participated in the
Holocaust Memorial Day events in Cardiff. It was then a hit and miss
affair, where we were remembered in some years but not in others. The
last even we participated in actively was in 2010.

"In 2007 the National Assembly gave us some land at the Temple of
Peace and allowed the word 'genocide' to be used on the memorial. The
then Presiding Officer conducted the opening ceremony.

"We had two statements of opinion where a majority of AMs accepted the
reality of the Armenian genocide. The Church in Wales voted unanimously
to recognise April 24 as Armenian Genocide Day and special prayers
were written in Welsh and English.

"We currently have three memorials in Wales - at the Temple of Peace,
in Caernarfon and at St Deiniol's Church at Hawarden, Flintshire,
where Armenians gave a silver chalice, a silver Bible and a stained
glass window in recognition of help given by Britain at the time of
the first Armenian genocide in 1896.

"Soon we will be erecting a statue at St Davids Cathedral, the
spiritual centre of Welsh Christianity.

"Unfortunately we feel that with the exception of the Church in Wales,
the country's official institutions are now completely sidestepping
the Armenians' cause. The Welsh Government deems it a foreign policy
matter and not within the remit of a devolved administration. This
is a very convenient and easy solution, but it ignores the Armenian
community in Wales.

"We wrote to the First Minister last year, but only received an
acknowledgement. Our appeals for nine months that Holocaust Memorial
Day events this year should just mention the Armenian victims fell
on deaf ears. Unfortunately Cardiff is toeing the Foreign Office line."

Geoffrey Robertson QC, one of Britain's most distinguished human
rights lawyers, wrote a lengthy legal opinion six years ago condemning
the UK Government's unwillingness to describe the events of 1915 as
genocide. His conclusion said: "The truth is that throughout the life
of the present Labour Government and - so the Foreign and Commonwealth
Office (FCO) admits - throughout previous governments, there has been
no proper or candid appraisal of 1915 events condemned by Her Majesty's
Government (HMG) at the time and immediately afterwards in terms that
anticipate the modern definition of genocide and which were referred
to by the drafters of the Genocide Convention as a prime example of the
kind of atrocity that would be covered by this new international crime.

"HMG has consistently ... wrongly maintained both that the decision
is one for historians and that historians are divided on the subject,
ignoring the fact that the decision is one for legal judgement and
no reputable historian could possibly deny the central facts of the
deportations and the racial and religious motivations behind the
deaths of a significant proportion of the Armenian people."

Mr Robertson states that the "inevitable" conclusion is that the
treatment of the Armenians in 1915 answers to the description of
genocide. "Foreign policy is a matter reserved to the UK Government"

A Welsh Government spokesman said First Minister Carwyn Jones had
written a letter to Mr Torosyan dated September 1 last year, which
said: "I am writing in response to your letter of July 17 on behalf
of the Armenian community in Wales.

"Foreign policy is a matter reserved to the UK Government and one for
which the Welsh Government has no remit. However, the UK Government
has acknowledged the terrible suffering that was inflicted on the
Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th Century. The
crimes committed were rightly and robustly condemned by the British
Government of the day.

"While we remember the victims of the past, our priority today must
be to promote reconciliation between the peoples and governments of
Turkey and Armenia."

The spokesman issued a slightly amended statement to us, which said:
"Foreign policy is not devolved, but we condemn any persecution and
mass loss of life.

"The UK Government has acknowledged the terrible suffering that
was inflicted on the Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire in the
early 20th century and the crimes committed were rightly and robustly
condemned by the British Government of the day.

"The First Minister has paid homage to Armenian victims during
Holocaust Memorial commemorations in the past and there are a number
of memorials in place around Wales including one in the capital. But
while we remember the victims of the past, the priority today must
be to promote reconciliation between the peoples and governments of
Turkey and Armenia."

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/wales-armenians-still-campaigning-recognition-8574903

[Yervant1]

PRESS RELEASE:
Haigazian University
Mira Yardemian, Public Relation Director
Kantari - Beirut
Email: mira@hiagazian.edu.lb<mailto:mira@hiagazian.edu.lb>

Conference on `Armenian Genocide Centennial: Addressing the
Implications' at Haigazian University

Beirut, 4/2/2015 - On the occasion of the centennial commemoration of
the Armenian Genocide, and under the high patronage of the President
of the Union of the Armenian Evangelical Churches in the Near East,
Rev. Mgrdich Karageozian, a conference titled `Armenian Genocide
Centennial: Addressing the Implications' was organized by Haigazian
University and the Armenian Genocide 100th Anniversary Commemoration
Lebanon Committee, from January 31 to Februray 1, 2015.

The auspicious opening, which was attended by ministers, members of
parliament, officials, religious leaders, and academicians, featured
guest speaker, prominent scholar and historian, Prof. Masoud Daher
from the Lebanese University, on the topic of `the Armenian Question
in the Age of Globalization: the Current Situation and its Prospects'.

The conferenced also witnessed parallel events: a worship service in
the First Armenian Evangelical Church, with a special message by
Haigazian University President, Rev. Paul Haidostian, in addition to
two Arabic book launches and presentations, `100 years of the Armenian
Genocide: 100 Testimonials', by author Dr. Nora Arisian, and `Karabagh
Dailies, Green and Black: no War no Peace', by author Tatul Hakobyan.

The conference convened four sessions on two consecutive days,
covering eight topics, presented by eight scholars coming from
Armenia, Turkey, Syria and Lebanon.

Panelists were Dr. Suren Manukyan on `The Demographic, Cultural,
Psychological, Geographic, Economic, Psychological and Political
Consequences of the Armenian Genocide', Dr. Vladimir Vardanyan on
`Responsibility for the Armenian Genocide: International Legal
Obligations of the Ottoman Empire Concerning its Armenian Population',
Dr. Zaven Messerlian on `the Reaction of the International Community
during and after the Armenian Genocide', Dr. Saleh Zahreddine on `the
Blackmailing of Turkey by the Great Powers Regarding the Armenian
Genocide', Prof. Arsen Avagyan on `the Relations of Turkey and the
Republic of Armenian (1991-2014), Mr. Tatul Hagopyan on `the Relations
of Turkish-Armenian non-state Actors', Dr. Bulent Bilmez on `the
Position of the Turkish State vis-à-vis its Minorities (1923-2014)',
Dr. Hranush Karadian on `the Status of the Armenians in Contemporary
Turkey: the Case of the Converted Armenians.'

Presentations and sessions were moderated by Dr. Antranig Dakessian
and Mrs. Seta Khedeshian.

[Yervant1]

http://www.armradio.am/en/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/logo_en.png

Australian Genocide Centenary Committee plans publicaton of a Memory Book

11:38, 05 Feb 2015 Siranush Ghazanchyan

 

http://www.armradio.am/en/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Australia-Committee-620x300.jpg

The Armenian Genocide Centenary Commemoration Committee (AGCCC) of Australia has announced the publication of a limited edition Memorial Book (hooshamadian/յուշամատեան) dedicated to the Centenary of the Armenian Genocide.

This unique Australian publication will be released on 24 April 2015, at the National Armenian Genocide Centenary Commemoration Evening, which is to be held at the Sydney Town Hall.

The book will include historical facts, as well as tributes from members of the Armenian-Australian community, who wish to pay respect to their own ancestors that suffered the ordeals of the Armenian Genocide.

The intention of this publication is to create a lasting legacy for the Armenian-Australian community, and to honour the lives of those killed during the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1923.

Individuals are able to secure space for their tribute message – a quarter page for $250, half page for $500, or full page for $1,000 – in this publication. As spaces are strictly limited, all tributes will be treated on a first in basis.

Proceeds from this Memorial Book (hooshamadian/յուշամատեան) will be directed towards the National Armenian Genocide Centenary Commemoration Evening on 24thApril, 2015.

[Yervant1]

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE CENTENNIAL TO BE COMMEMORATED AT THE NATIONAL PRAYER BREAKFAST

15:29, 05 Feb 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

The "National Prayer Breakfast"--a sixty-two year tradition in
Washington, held annually on the first Thursday in February--will
this year commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide,
accoridng to Eric Reeves, professor of English language and literature
at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts.

Bringing together a wide range of guests from all fifty states and
more than 100 countries, the event is hosted by the U.S. Congress
and is designed to facilitate engagement between various social and
religious groups. This year President Obama and the Dalai Lama are
headline guests.

Eric Reeve notes that "he Armenian genocide should be commemorated
at a National Prayer Breakfast; the refusal to recognize this
genocide--and the belated recognition by much of the world--is a
failure to acknowledge the terrible suffering and destruction of the
Armenian people a century ago--it remains a 'stain on our soul'."

Eric Reeves is professor of English language and literature at Smith
College in Northampton, Massachusetts. He has spent the past seven
years working full-time as a Sudan researcher and analyst, publishing
extensively both in the US and internationally.

http://www.armradio.am/en/2015/02/05/armenian-genocide-centennial-to-be-commemorated-at-the-national-prayer-breakfast/

http://sudanreeves.org/2015/02/04/the-armenian-genocide-the-khartoum-regime-and-the-national-prayer-breakfast-4-february-2015/

[Yervant1]

11:43 07/02/2015 » SOCIETY

Armenian groups target Genocide denial lobbyists

On Thursday, January 29, a coalition of organizations representing Armenian Americans sent more than 200 letters to businesses, universities, and NGOs working with one of the five firms that currently work for Turkey for the purpose of denying the Armenian Genocide. These firms include those led by former Congressional leaders Dick Gephardt (Gephardt Government Affairs) and Dennis Hastert (Dickstein Shapiro), Asbarez reports.
Despite international consensus from historians about the Armenian Genocide, Turkey is well known for its aggressive, ongoing denial of this crime, which witnessed the planned and systematic murder by Ottoman Turkey of over 1.5 million Christian Armenians between 1915 and 1923. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the genocide, and Armenian Americans along with allies nationwide will be protesting and drawing public scrutiny to both Turkey’s primary lobbying firms, and the companies and organizations that continue to do business with them.
“It’s a disgrace that Dick Gephardt and Dennis Hastert – two former leaders of the U.S. House – are making millions enforcing a foreign government’s gag-rule on our White House and among the Congress in which they once served,” said Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the Armenian National Committee of America. “Gephardt and Hastert should drop their Turkey contract, and, if they won’t, their clients should drop them.”
The letters request that the companies demand their firm end its contract with the Turkish government in light of its participation in genocide denial efforts. If the firm does not end its relationship with Turkey, the letter requests that the company end its own contract with the firm. If neither occurs by Wednesday, February 25th – 60 days out from April 24, 2015, the global day of remembrance for the genocide – Armenian Americans will start protests against these firms and their clients.
According to U.S. Department of Justice Foreign Agent Registration Act records, Gephardt Government Affairs, Dickstein Shapiro, Greenberg Traurig, Alpaytac, and LB International all support Turkey’s genocide denial agenda. Their clients receiving letters include PepsiCo, TIME Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Chrysler, among others.
Coalition partners include four of the largest Armenian American organizations: the Armenian National Committee of America, Armenian Assembly of America, and the Armenian Youth Federation of both the Eastern and Western United States.

Source: Panorama.am

[Yervant1]

American University of Armenia
Diana Manukyan | AUA PR Manager
Office of Communications
40 Marshal Baghramyan Ave. | Yerevan, 0019, Armenia
Tel: +374 60 612 522; Email: Diana@aua.am | www.aua.am


AUA Instructor Commemorates Genocide Centennial with 100 Years, 100 Facts


YEREVAN, Armenia - On February 2, 2015, American University of Armenia
(AUA) Instructor Nareg Seferian gave a presentation on The 100 Years, 100
Facts Project*. *The presentation was part of AUA's 1915 Centennial series
commemorating the one hundred years since the Armenian Genocide.

The 100 Years, 100 Facts Project*, *accessible through 100years100facts.com,
is a joint initiative of Seferian and friend Lena Adishian. It is a
collection of one hundred facts about Armenians and Armenia, with topics
ranging from those related to the genocide, to Armenian music, language,
religion, notable figures, various Diaspora communities, and much more. The
purpose of the online initiative is to educate and raise awareness about
Armenian history and culture as a way to commemorate the centennial of the
Armenian Genocide.

`Although we have one hundred years of this tragic history, Lena and I
wanted us to celebrate our identity in a diverse way that emphasizes
education and awareness and allows us to know who we are, where we come
from, and where we're going,' Seferian said.

The project began on April 24, 2014 and will continue until April 24, 2015,
serving as a year-long campaign that leverages the power of the internet
and social media. In addition to the main website, facts can also be viewed
through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Google+.

The website has already been translated into Portuguese and French by
self-initiated volunteers. `Of course, this project is aimed at the
Armenian world, but we'd also love to reach out to people in Turkey. We're
still waiting to hear about whether it can get translated,' Seferian said.

Nareg Seferian is an AUA instructor, researcher, and writer. He was born
and raised in New Delhi and received his higher education in Yerevan, Santa
Fe, Boston, and Vienna. His writings can be read on naregseferian.com
<http://www.naregseferian.com/>.

*Founded in 1991, the American University of Armenia (AUA) is a private,
independent university located in Yerevan, Armenia and affiliated with the
University of California. AUA provides a global education in Armenia and
the region, offering high-quality, graduate and undergraduate studies,
encouraging civic engagement, and promoting public service and democratic
values.*

[Yervant1]

CONCERT COMMEMORATES ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

Dearborn Press & Guide, MI
Feb 6 2015

Published: Friday, February 06, 2015

The Armenian Genocide Centennial Committee presents Grammy
Award-nominated Armenian Canadian soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian in
concert with her husband, pianist Serouj Kradjian, and the Henrik
Karapetyan String Quartet in My Songs, My Heritage at 7 p.m. March
7 at the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center, 15801 Michigan Ave.

Tickets are $50, $35 and $25, and are available through the theater
box office at 313-943-2354, online at dearborntheater.com, or from
them, by contacting Armenian Genocide Centennial Committee members
Leslie Balian at 248-303-4690 or Shakeh Basmajian at 248-981-6825.

Concert selections include Armenian sacred hymns, folk songs, chamber
music and 20th century songs, with English surtitles.

Bayrakdarian, a Canadian of Armenian heritage, immigrated to Canada as
a teen. She graduated from the University of Toronto cum laude with
a degree in biomedical engineering science in 1997, the same year
she was a winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions.

Her opera career, now in its second decade, makes her an eagerly
anticipated artist at opera houses and concert halls worldwide.

Celebrated for her multi-hued voice as well as her beauty, presence
and style, Bayrakdarian's career expands beyond opera.

She is a featured vocalist on the Grammy-award winning soundtrack of
Lord of the Rings: the Two Towers, and topped Billboard charts as a
guest soloist with the Canadian band Delerium on their 2007 Grammy
nominated dance remix Angelicus.

Bayrakdarian won four consecutive Juno Awards, presented to
Canadian musical artists for outstanding achievement in the recording
industry, from 2004 to 2007, for classical album of the year, vocal or
instrumental, for Azulao, Cleopatra, Viardot-Garcia: Lieder Chansons
Canzone Mazurkas, and Mozart: Arie e Duetti.

Bayrakdarian received a Grammy nomination for the BBC-produced short
film HOLOCAUST - A Music Memorial Film from Auschwitz. She was also
the focus of a Canadian television Gemini-nominated film, A Long
Journey Home, documenting her first trip to Armenia.

A century ago, the Armenian Genocide, planned by the leaders of the
Ottoman Empire, systematically exterminated 1.5 million Armenians
in what is now Turkey. The genocide had two phases: the wholesale
killing of able-bodied men through massacre and forced army labor,
followed by the deportation of women, children, the elderly, and
the infirm on death marches to the Syrian Desert. Military escorts,
driving the deportees forward, deprived them of food and water,
and subjected them to periodic robbery, rape and massacre.

In Michigan, the Armenian Genocide Centennial Committee of Metro
Detroit, comprised of 15 of the area's leading Armenian-American
organizations, has organized commemorative events throughout 2015
to honor the genocide victims, demand recognition and reparations,
and increase public awareness of all genocides. For more information,
go to armeniangenocidecentennialmi.com.

http://www.pressandguide.com/articles/2015/02/06/life/doc54d4c41acf2e8509291812.txt

[Yervant1]

CTG & ADAA TO OBSERVE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE WITH STAGING THE UNSTAGEABLE READING, 4/28

Broadway World, NY
Feb 5 2015

In observance of the centennial of the Armenian Genocide, Center
Theatre Group, in partnership with the Armenian Dramatic Artists
Alliance (ADAA), will present "Staging the Unstageable: The Esthetics
of Dramatizing Atrocity" at the Kirk Douglas Theatre, Tuesday, April
28 at 8 p.m.

"Staging the Unstageable" is a reading of excerpts from plays that
dramatize in different ways the Armenian Genocide, which was the
systematic extermination (beginning in April 1915) by the Ottoman
Empire of its minority Armenian subjects.

The performance will be followed by a panel discussion with notable
guests from the Armenian community and with Los Angeles theatre artists
who have grappled with the responsibilities of bringing historical
tragedies to the stage. Key to the discussion are the questions -
does theatre have a role in ensuring that communities around the world
never forget historical sins, and how can a theatre-maker bring such
trauma to the stage?

Tickets for "Staging the Unstageable" are priced at $10, and can be
purchased beginning February 18 online at www.CenterTheatreGroup.org
or by calling (213) 628-2772. The Kirk Douglas Theatre is located at
9820 Washington Blvd. in Culver City, 90232.

The presentation of "Staging the Unstageable" is part of the
DouglasPlus programming at the Kirk Douglas Theatre. DouglasPlus
provides the flexibility to explore new work and push boundaries
through fully and minimally staged events, workshops and readings
and traditional and non-traditional performance configurations.

http://www.broadwayworld.com/los-angeles/article/CTG-ADAA-to-Observe-Armenian-Genocide-with-STAGING-THE-UNSTAGEABLE-Reading-428-20150205

[Yervant1]

ARMENIAN EXHIBITION TO BE OPENED AT MUSEUM BULGARIAN CAPITAL'S HISTORY

Focus News, Bulgaria
Feb 6 2015

6 February 2015 | 09:05 | FOCUS News Agency

Sofia. Museum of the History of Sofia hosts a special photo exhibition
themed Armenia - Ancient and Modern. The exhibition was officially
opened by Ehiyazar Uzunyan, honorary consulate of the Republic of
Armenia in Bulgaria, FOCUS News Agency reporter said.

The start of the current exhibition was set back in 2012 when
Mr Uzunyan organised a photo-planner in Armenia with two amateur
photographers - Milko Iliev and Hristo Dimitrov. The two had never
visited Armenia before and were left astonished by the cultural and
historic heritage of the country.

Looking back to the past, the Republic of Armenia is a small part of
the Great Armenia in the Armenian Highlands.

The Armenian nation is as old as the Sumers and the Egyptians. Over the
years, until nowadays, it managed to preserve its authentic culture,
unique writing of 405 and is the first nation to adopt the Christianity
for official religion.

The photo exhibition is a story about the Armenians and their culture.

It is part of a series of events organised by the Armenians in Bulgaria
and all over the world to mark the 100th anniversary since the genocide
against the Armenian nation in the Ottoman Empire in 1915.

http://www.focus-fen.net/news/2015/02/06/362454/armenian-exhibition-to-be-opened-at-museum-bulgarian-capitals-history.html

[MosJan]

Yervand jan should we marge this 2 ? http://hyeforum.com/index.php?showtopic=67635&do=findComment&comment=327190

 

Done!

Edited February 7, 2015 by Yervant1

[Yervant1]

German-Armenians plan to submit petition to Chancellor

14:17, 7 February, 2015


YEREVAN, 7 FEBRUARY, ARMENPRESS. Within the frames of the events
dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide,
German-Armenians are planning on holding a protest near the Turkish
Embassy and organizing a march to the residence of the German
Chancellor to submit a petition. The Berlin-based Genocide Recognition
Task Force (GRTF) has also planned other events. This is what
Professor of the Free University of Berlin, member of the
Armenian Genocide Centennial Germany Committee, Dr. Jirair Kocharian
said in an interview with "Armenpress"."The events will be held in
different cities across the country. From February 11 to May 28, there
will be a photo exhibition at the Anna Frank Educational Institution
in Frankfurt, and German scholar, Armenologist Tessa Hoffman will give
a lecture. On April 11, the translated versions of martyred writers
will be read during an event that we will organize with the Armenian
Church Union in Berlin. On April 18, the GRTF will organize a
commemorative vigil in front of the Turkish Embassy, as well as a
march to the residence of the Chancellor to submit a petition. On
April 24, two lectures will be given at the Marien Church in central
Berlin. The ceremonies will continue all week long," Kocharian said in
detail.

According to Kocharian, the presence of the nearly 4 million Turks,
some of which are already citizens of Germany, as well as the
country's political and economic interests and Turkey being an ally to
NATO serve as a reason for Germany's position on the Armenian
Genocide. He recalls that in its decision in 2005, the Bundestag still
didn't use the terms "Genocide" and "Deportation", saying that Germany
signed the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the
Crime of Genocide on 22 February 1955 and that has a regressive force.
"Of course, this is just an excuse; otherwise, this law should have
applied to the Holocaust as well,"Kocharian underscored. According to
him,
Germany is escaping from responsibility for being an imperial
accomplice to sultan Turkey during WWI.

http://armenpress.am/eng/news/793166/german-armenians-plan-to-submit-petition-to-chancellor.html

[Yervant1]

After Genocide Armenians' rights not yet restored: Al Arabiya News

13:34, 7 February, 2015


YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 7, ARMENPRESS: The Arab Al Arabiya News published an
article, devoted to the centenary of the Armenian Genocide. Armenpress
reports that the author of the article is the famous Lebanese
politician Nayla Tueni. <commemorate 100 years since the genocide which the Ottomans committed
against them, killing 1.5 million Armenians and displacing millions of
others across the world. Those displaced Armenians integrated in the
new communities they arrived to and became a fundamental part of their
economic and social structure.

Their presence in Lebanon and Syria is proof to that. The Armenians'
problem after 100 years is that Turkey does not recognize the act and
refuses to compensate the victims' sons and grandsons on the financial
and moral levels and it also refuses to return property to them.

The Turks occupied the rest of the kingdom of Cilicia and
Alexandretta, where many Armenians resided. It's been 100 years and
the crisis is still on. Turkey has developed in the military and
tourism industries but it hasn't recognized the massacres against the
Armenians. Perhaps talk is of no use amidst this heated struggle. The
horrifying truth before us is that it's been 100 years since this
Armenian genocide but there's no possibility of retrieving any of the
Armenians'
rights. Are the region's people prepared to keep nothing in the
world's memory except massacres, displacement and all sorts of
underdevelopment?

Nayla Tueni is one of the few elected female politicians in Lebanon
and of the two youngest. She became a member of parliament in 2009 and
following the assassination of her father, Gebran, she is currently a
member of the board and Deputy General Manager of Lebanon's leading
daily, Annahar. Prior to her political career, Nayla had trained,
written in and managed various sections of Annahar, where she
currently has a regular column.


http://armenpress.am/eng/news/793160/after-genocide-armenians%E2%80%99-rights-not-yet-restored-al-arabiya-news.html

[Yervant1]

Armenians and Alavis create union in Turkey

14:09, 7 February, 2015


YEREVAN, 7 FEBRUARY, ARMENPRESS. The Armenians and the Alavis have
created the "Union of Friendship of Armenians and Alavis of Dersim"
(DERADOST) in Dersim, Turkey, as "Armenpress" reports, according to
Demokrat Haber.

It is mentioned that the goal of the creation of the Union is to help
the two ancient nations get to know each other since relations were
destroyed after the Armenian Genocide and due to reasons known to us
all. Among the participants of the opening ceremony of the
organization were Deputy Mayor of Dersim Hüseyin Tunç and
representatives of civil society.


http://armenpress.am/eng/news/793165/armenians-and-alavis-create-union-in-turkey.html

[Yervant1]

18:30 09/02/2015 » POLITICS

Motion on Armenian Genocide submitted to European Parliament

Belgian MEP Gerolf Annemans, chairman of Vlaams Belang party, submitted to European Parliament a motion calling on Turkey to recognize the Armenian Genocide.
The document says:
– having regard to Rule 133 of its Rules of Procedure,
– having regard to the many studies and historical data on the situation of the Armenian
population in Turkey at the beginning of the twentieth century,
– having regard to the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of
Genocide which defines genocide,
– having regard to the European Parliament resolution of 18 June 1987 on a political
solution to the Armenian question,
– having regard to subsequent Parliament resolutions in which it has argued to a greater or
lesser extent in favour of recognising the Armenian genocide of 1915,
A. whereas these resolutions have not yet induced the Turkish government to recognise
the genocide;
B. whereas a century after the events, the time has come to initiate reconciliation;
1. Calls on the Turkish government officially to recognise the 1915 genocide of the
Armenians living in Turkey perpetrated by the last government of the Ottoman Empire;
2. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Turkish government, the Armenian government, the Commission, the Council and the Presidents of the Parliament of the Republic of Turkey and the Parliament of the Republic of Armenia.

The motion was signed by Marine Le Pen, Louis Aliot, Marie-Christine Arnautu, Nicolas Bay, Dominique Bilde, Marie-Christine Boutonnet, Steeve Briois, Mireille D'Ornano, Edouard Ferrand, Sylvie Goddyn, Jean-Francois Jalkh, Gilles Lebreton, Philippe Loiseau, Dominique Martin, Joelle Melin, Bernard Monot, Sophie Montel, Florian Philippot, Jean-Luc Schaffhauser, Mylene Troszczynski, Matteo Salvini, Mara Bizzotto, Mario Borghezio, Gianluca Buonanno, Lorenzo Fontana, Marcel de Graaff, Hans Jansen, Olaf Stuger, Harald Vilimsky, Barbara Kappel.

Source: Panorama.am

[Yervant1]

Once again The Armenian Genocide was hijacked by another issue as usual!

Religious Freedom Coalition

February 7, 2015 Saturday


Washington: Obama's 'Moral Equivalency' Distortions Were On Display At
National Prayer Breakfast

Washington


PINO (President-In-Name-Only) Obama used yesterday's National Prayer
Breakfast to defend Islam and to smear Christianity as a violent
religion.

Obama used the argument of a petulant child who defends himself from
punishment by claiming his sibling also was guilty of a similar
offense - a thousand years ago.

Obama dredged up a false narrative about the Crusades and the
institution of American slavery to make his point that all religions
are equally violent.

Ironically, the theme of the National Prayer Breakfast was the
Armenian genocide by Muslims of 1.5 million Christians during the
early years of the 20th century.

Obama's speech must have been written by a junior high school student
using Wikipedia for his primary source of historical information.

As Robert Spencer points out in his book, The Politically Incorrect
Guide To Islam (And the Crusades), the Crusades were fought to defend
Christians from persecution by Muslim armies.

He writes:

The conquest of Jerusalem in 638 stood at the beginning of centuries
of Muslim aggression, and Christians in the Holy Land faced an
escalating spiral of persecution. A few examples: Early in the eighth
century, sixty Christian pilgrims from Amorium were crucified; around
the same time, the Muslim governor of Caesarea seized a group of
pilgrims from Iconium and had them all executed as spies--except for a
small number who converted to Islam; and Muslims demanded money from
pilgrims, threatening to ransack the Church of the Resurrection if
they didn't pay.

Later in the eighth century, a Muslim ruler banned displays of the
cross in Jerusalem. He also increased the anti-religious tax (jizya)
that Christians had to pay and forbade Christians to engage in
religious instruction of others, even their own children. Brutal
subordination and violence became the rules of the day for Christians
in the Holy Land. In 772, the caliph al-Mansur ordered the hands of
Christians and Jews in Jerusalem to be stamped with a distinctive
symbol. Conversions to Christianity were dealt with particularly
harshly.

And what about American slavery of Africans? It was Christians in
England and in America who were the driving force behind the effort to
free the slaves and to treat all men as equal in the sight of God.
William Wilberforce was the driving force in England and in America,
the Christian abolitionist movement was the force for the freeing of
African slaves. And, it was the Republican President Abraham Lincoln,
who ultimately led our nation into war and issued the Emancipation
Proclamation, freeing the slaves.

Writing in How Christianity Changed The World, historian Alvin Schmidt writes:

Pro-slavery advocates and defenders were not backward or illiterate.
For the most part they were well educated; some were presidents of
colleges in the North. And among the pro-slavery clergy, for example,
Yale and Princeton had the highest representation.

But although slavery in America was condoned and defended by many who
were members of Christian denominations, there were also strong
countervailing voices of prominent Christian leaders who came to be
known as abolitionists.

The Christian abolitionists not only had the mind of Christ and
powerful references of the New Testament on their side, but they also
had noteworthy antislavery precedents in Christian history, as cited
earlier.

Many American defenders of slavery, as has already been mentioned,
called themselves Christians, and every state also had its clergy who
argued that slavery was compatible with biblical Christianity.

But the abolitionist movement had a considerably higher percentage of
Christian clergy than did the pro-slavery defenders. Two-thirds of the
abolitionists in the mid-1830s were Christian clergymen. This made for
a phalanx of vociferously active clergy abolitionists.

As usual, Obama gets it wrong on Islam, wrong on the Crusades, and
wrong on Christianity and the scourge of slavery - which is currently
being practiced by the Islamic State. Obama might want to recall that
America abolished slavery after a bloody Civil War that resulted in
the deaths of half a million Americans.


http://www.religiousfreedomcoalition.org/2015/02/06/obamas-moral-equivalency-distortions-were-on-display-at-national-prayer-breakfast/

 

[Yervant1]

Huge ‘Odar’ Crowd at Genocide Commemorations

Keghart.com Reporter, 26 January 2015

In the past year Keghart.com has promoted the idea that when commemorating the centennial of the Genocide Armenians should make an effort to invite non-Armenians to participate or at least tell the story to them. The below gathering in Toronto had more than 900 attendees with 90% non-Armenian.--

Editor.

“We have a moral obligation of memory for the century of tears which began with the genocide of Armenians,” said Hon. Jason Kenney, the Minister of Employment and Social Development and Minister of Multiculturalism at a Toronto gathering, on January 25, for the centennial commemorations of the Genocide of Armenians which was attended by more than 900 people. Mr. Kenney also said that Canadians have a special obligation to join the “Armenians across the world in a sacred act of memory.”

http://www.keghart.com/sites/default/files/images2/Catch-Fire.jpg

The gathering, organized by Majed el-Shafi, founder and president of One Free World International (OFWI), took place at the Catch the Fire revivalist congregation’s centre west end of the city. Three members of parliament, including the parliamentary secretary; Armenia’s Ambassador to Canada Armen Yeganian; and representatives of more than a dozen ethnic, religious and human rights groups took part in the remembrance gathering.

Mr. Kenney said Armenians are the first nation to adopt Christianity as state religion and that they had “suffered waves and waves of persecution” for their religion. “They are among the greatest underdogs of history…they are a people who have tasted the bitter pill of violence and persecution” he added.

“When I visited Armenia last year, I was greatly impressed by the fidelity and courage of Armenians,” Mr. Kenney said. After condemning the current persecutions of Christians in Iraq, he pointed out that Armenians were once again being victimized for their religion and ethnicity but this time in Iraq where forefathers had sought shelter after the Genocide. In closing his speech, the minister reconfirmed Canada’s recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

Rev. Shafie, who was jailed and tortured in Egyptian jails because he had converted from Islam to Christianity, established the OFWI after settling in Canada. The mission of his organization is to defend religious freedom and human rights around the globe. He has toured Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Turkey, India, and Bangladesh and confronted officialdom everywhere he has gone and assisted individuals and groups who are persecuted for their ethnicity and religious beliefs. He also visited Armenia last year and met Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and visited Echmiadzin. Clippings from the video he made of his Armenia and Iraq trips were screened at the beginning of his presentation.

After talking about the importance of forgiveness, Rev. Shafie said the Canadian government should “press Turkey to open the border with Armenia and persuade Israel, the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom, to recognize the Armenian Genocide.” He also said he looks forward to the opening of a Canadian embassy in Yerevan.

As a token of appreciation and gratitude for his work, Rev. Shafie was presented by certificate of citation by the Armenian Canadian Conservative Association. The presentation was made by Vache Demirdjian, the national chair of the group.

Other speakers included lawyer Chantal Desloges and Egyptian-born Rev. Hany Bogossian, pastor of The Well on Bayview Church in Toronto. In his message about the importance of forgiveness, Rev. Bogossian quoted the 12^th century Armenian religious leader and writer St. Nerses Shnorhali.

Ambassador Yeganian demanded that Turkey acknowledge Genocide and listed the reverberating and tragic consequence of the Genocide. He said that despite the attempt to exterminate them, the Armenian people had risen again and founded an independent state.

Ambassador Yeganian said the Armenian Genocide was the model for ethnic group extermination as political strategy. He said that the Ukrainian Holodomor, the Holocaust, the Cambodian and Rwandan Genocide had their origins in the Armenian Genocide. The ambassador also indirectly condemned politicians and historians for not including the 1.5 million Armenian dead in their count of WWI casualties. He said that about three-quarters of the Armenian nation were slain during the Genocide yet that almost-mortal hurt was not even considered as casualty. He added that Assyrians and Greeks also suffered genocide as a result of Ottoman ethnic cleansing. The ambassador said that there will be at least 60 Genocide commemorations in Canada this year. Archpriest Zareh Zargarian of the Holy Trinity Armenian Church thanked Canada for recognizing the Genocide.

Final speaker Hakan Tastan, pastor of the Life Church in Istanbul, added further drama to the gathering by his presence and by what he said. It was the first time anyone had made a Christian Turk. A convert to Christianity, he had specially flown to Toronto to participate in the commemorations. Rev. Tastan said he converted 19 years ago while visiting an Armenian church in Svaz, Turkey. He added that his grandfather, who as a child had witnessed the Genocide, had described graphically the killing of Armenians. Rev. Tastan apologized to Armenians on behalf of the Turkish nation and exchanged a Turkish Bible and Armenian Bibles with Rev. Bogossian. The Turkish clergyman said that he looked forward to building an Armenian/Turkish association to be called ArTur which would act as a bridge between the two nations. Writer Raffi Bedrosyan translated Rev. Tastan’s message.

The commemorations were opened by Pastor John Arnott of the Catch the Fire congregation. Also attending the gathering were representatives of the Evangelical Asian Church, the Bahai community, the United Christian Federation, Chaldean, Syriac, Assyrian, Alevi communities, Federation of Democratic China, B’nai Brith, Ahmadiyya Muslim Jammat, Emergency Relief and Development Overseas, Yazidi Human Rights Organization International, the Archdiocese of Toronto, the International Christian Embassy, Jerusalem, Falun Dafa Associations of Toronto and Ottawa, the International Centre for Human Rights in Canada, Canadian Ethnocultural Council.

The Turkish ambassador and consul general had been invited to the gathering but they refused to participate because the word “genocide” was mentioned in the invitation. Concerned in Turkish agitation, Rev. Shafi had hired a security service.

Representatives from the Armenian Canadian Conservative Association, the Armenian Community Centre, Social Democrat Hunchagian Party, the advisor to the Armenia’s Minister of Diaspora, Hayastan All-Armenia Fund, Armenian Evangelical Church of Toronto and many other individual Armenians were present at the two-and-a-half-hour gathering.

Later the same day pastor Tastan delivered a speech titled “The Church in Turkey and Armenian/Turkish Reconciliation” at the Armenian Evangelical Church of Toronto.

http://www.keghart.com/Report-Odar-Commemoration

Commemoration ceremonies at 19:30
His Excellency Armen Yeganian, Ambassador of Armenia at 40:45
Hon. Brad Butt MP at 54:44
Hon. Jason Kenney MP, Minister of Employment and Social Development and Minister for Multiculturalism at 57:12
Mr. Vache Demirdjian, Chair of ACCA at 2:02:59

Edited February 9, 2015 by Yervant1

[Yervant1]

BOOK ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE PUBLISHED IN TURKEY

13:53, 9 February, 2015

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 9, ARMENPRESS: A new book "The Cry of a Century.

Diyarbakir on Collective Memory Traces - 1915" was published in Turkey,
telling about the Armenian Genocide.

Armenpress reports that the authors of the book, Adnan Celik and
Namık Kemal Dinc, told the Turkish Radikal that they have collected
live testimonies about the massacres of the Armenians, carried out
in Diyarbakir (Tigranakert) a century ago.

They stated that even a century later, the people of the city tell
about the massacres of the Armenians like it happened yesterday.

According to them, the Kurds of Diyarbakir characterize the massacres
of the Armenians as Â"destructionÂ", Â"dry the rootsÂ", Â"annihilation
eraÂ", etc.

http://armenpress.am/eng/news/793297/book-on-armenian-genocide-published-in-turkey.html