Israel's Armenian Genocide recognition dilemma, truth or political

[Yervant1]

Israeli Professor: Process of recognition of Armenian Genocide
proceeds brilliantly with outstanding results

11:38, 2 May, 2016

YEREVAN, MAY 2, ARMENPRESS. Israeli researcher, Executive Director of
the Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide in Jerusalem Israel Charny
had his significant contribution in the development of genocide
studies throughout the world. Professor Charny gave an interview to
“Armenpress” on the issues of the Armenian Genocide and the denialism
over it.

-Professor Charny, you have long been a staunch advocate for the
recognition of the Armenian Genocide. What is your assessment of that
process at the moment?

-The process of recognition of the Armenian Genocide has proceeded
brilliantly with outstanding –though still incomplete—results around
the world. I think our efforts should continue, especially towards
the two stubbornly disturbing countries of the USA and Israel. But I
also agree with Harut Sassounian (Editor-in-Chief of “California
Courier” journal) that the times has come when there is a basis for
Armenians suing through legal channels for reparations and not only
seeking recognition.

-Do you think that the recognition of this genocide by the
international community might force Turkey to face its history?

-It certainly won’t hurt. The image and status of Turkey
internationally is falling progressively, in my opinion. However, who
knows what the next developments in Turkey will be. To maintain his
fascist controls. Erdogan has persecuted so many people on charges of
revolting that one can pray he himself will yet bring about popular
resistance.

-As a genocide scholar how would you explain the phenomenon of
denialism on the Turkish side?

-For me it is a mixture of motives—beginning with continuation of the
very dark motives (such as claims of ethnic superiority) that made the
genocide to begin with that have not passed, continuing with a
desperate collective psychology of guarding against being shamed as a
nation and culture, and add to those the dynamics in many an
organization in this world that fight against change of any entrenched
idea. Ultimately, the denial makes the Turks look like fools – and
fascists.

-What role could the recognition play in the prevention of future
genocide, while we witness genocides and mass atrocities in Syria
today?

-The more human civilization establishes codes of honest history and
clear recognition of acts of destruction, the better life could be on
our planet—which tragically still acts like a psychiatric hospital
that has spun out of control.

-You have also advocated for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide
by Israel, though it never came true yet. How would you explain this?
What are the main reasons for Israel to refrain from the recognition?

-Oh, dear God. Our shame as a country indeed continues and even
deepens despite the fact that we have demonstrated overwhelming
support for recognition of the Armenian Genocide in the Knesset, also
by our fine President Rivlin, and by the people at large. For example,
today’s Haaretz again publishes a prominent article calling for
recognition of the Armenian Genocide, and I have been informed by the
electronic newspaper Times of Israel that they will be publishing a
piece by me protesting the sale of Israeli arms to an enemy of
Armenia. The culprit in our system is the government including the
Foreign Ministry. And they remind me so clearly of the US State
Department’s deep resistance to helping Jews in Europe during the
Holocaust. (My bad luck is that these are the two countries in which
I hold citizenship.) The realpolitik considerations of the Israeli
government are of course the benefits of relationships with Turkey and
Azerbaijan – both of which in my opinion are untrustworthy, let alone
that in a matter of genocide I am convinced that moral principle
should prevail over any realpolitik interests.

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[Yervant1]

Israel’s siding with Turkey means betraying Armenians, Kurds: JPost

May 2, 2016 - 14:49 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - There are currently 2,000 open investigations and
court cases in Turkey against individuals suspected of and charged
with “insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan,” political adviser and
writer on the Middle East Annika H Rothstein says in an article on the
Jerusalem Post.

“After recently having a Dutch journalist arrested in her home after
criticizing Erdogan on Twitter and demanding of Germany that a Turkish
satirist be arrested and extradited (a demand that was granted by
German Chancellor Angela Merkel) there is little doubt that the
Turkish government is serious about playing offense against foreign
media daring to stand up to the regime,” Rothstein said.

“This is happening on top of the ongoing and persistent violence
toward and oppression of Kurds in Turkey, something that, much like
theArmenian Genocide, is vehemently denied by Erdogan and his
henchmen.”

Citing Erdogan’s recent remarks that the Armenian Genocide never
happened and that “anyone who claims it did is an enemy of Turkey,”
the author analyses the reasonability of Israel’s moves to mend ties
with the Muslim nation.

“This development is worrisome for many reasons, and Israel should
think twice before getting in bed with the likes of Erdogan,”
Rothstein says.

Remembering the millions of Armenians, Greeks, Kurds and other
minorities murdered by the Ottoman Empire in the Genocide of 1915, the
author says that Israel has great friends in the Kurds, and standing
with Erdogan and his AK Party means actively selling them out, and to
a larger extent selling out the values that “Israel alone champions in
the region by not using its voice to condemn the anti-democratic
Islamist regime in Ankara that goes beyond laws, borders and decency
to oppress its people.”

“Whatever short-term gains could come from not speaking truth to
Erdogan’s power will surely be counteracted by the long-term harm of
warming up relations that are better kept deep-frozen,” the writer
adds.

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[Yervant1]

So called Israeli allies, can't understand how can the Israeli government help the Turkish government when these young historians are future Turkish leaders praising Hitler, go figure!

2 Turkish students may be imprisoned for 2 years for “Heil Hitler!” in Auschwitz

22:52, 03.05.2016

Two Turkish students have been detained in Poland for their fascist
greetings by the memorial gates of Auschwitz concentration camp .
Moreover, the students turned out to be historians.

The law breakers were noticed by the security guards and museum
workers, Polish TVN24 TV channel reports.

According to the spokesperson for the Polish police Mariusz Ciarka,
the security guards noticed a young man and a girl by the main gates
of the camp. They showed Hitler’s gestures, including the so-called
greeting “Heil Hitler!” The police arrived at the scene and detained
them. The detainees turned out to be 22-year-old students from Turkey,
who study history in one of the European universities.

“We detained them for a night. We [also] listened to witnesses. Photos
are available. Besides, we plan to listen to the museum director and
file charges on the basis of all the materials. These actions contain
apparent elements of fascist state order propaganda. This violation is
punished by up to two years of imprisonment,” Ciarka noted.


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[Yervant1]

Haaretz, Israel

May 8 2016

Aznavour Belatedly Sings Praises of His Family, Who Saved Jews From Nazis

Charles Aznavour's family hid Jews in their home during the German occupation of Paris in World War II, French-Armenian singer reveals in new book.

Avner Shapira

“I knew the chains/I knew the wound/I knew the hate/I knew the hurt/ the thirst and hunger/I knew the fear/from one day to the next.”

So go the lyrics to Charles Aznavour’s song “J’ai Connu,” from his 50th studio album, released in 2011. The song, told from the perspective of a Jewish prisoner in the Nazi concentration camps, doesn’t describe the singer’s direct experiences during World War II. But Aznavour, who will celebrate his 92nd birthday later this month, did have some personal awareness of some of the horrors depicted in the song, as the son of refugees who survived the Armenian genocide and rebuilt their lives in Paris after losing most of their relatives.

Although Aznavour’s life has been extensively chronicled, up to now he has said very little about an especially humane and heroic chapter in his and his family’s life: Their decision to shelter and save Jews, Armenian deserters and underground activists in their home during the German occupation of France during the war, and their involvement in anti-Nazi activity.

Now Aznavour has decided to tell the whole story, in Hebrew, in a self-published book, “Matzilim (Tzadikim) Ve’Lohamim” (“Righteous Saviors and Fighters”), by genocide researcher Prof. Yair Auron. The latter spoke at length with Aznavour and his sister, Aida Aznavour-Garvarentz, who told him about their lives under the German occupation and what led their family, especially their father, to take part in rescue missions despite the many risks. The book, which will also be translated into French and Armenian, recounts a specific case, but offers a moral lesson on human behavior under conditions of widespread terror, and political and ideological violence. Above all, it is the moving story of survivors of one genocide who, at great personal risk, felt compelled to help victims of another.

In an interview conducted by email, Aznavour emphasizes the common threads that bind the Armenians and Jews.

“We come from the same pain and the same suffering, and without the annihilation of the Armenians in 1915-1918, the annihilation of the Jews in the Holocaust would not have been possible, because the Germans learned from their predecessors,” he writes.

He cites what Hitler told the commanders of the German army in August 1939, on the eve of the invasion of Poland, as he tried to dispel their anxiety over the use of extreme violence: “Who talks about the annihilation of the Armenians anymore?”

Auron says German officers who were involved in the command of the Turkish army in World War I and signed orders to expel the Armenians later served in high-ranking positions in the Nazi leadership and took part in the annihilation of the Jews.

Aznavour say he knew many Jews when he was a child in Paris.

“We grew up together in the Le Marais district, where many refugees and immigrants – including many Jews and Armenians – lived in the period between the two world wars. My father’s stall in the market was next to the stalls of some Jewish vendors.

“Armenian peddlers, including my father, looked after the stalls of the Jews after they were arrested in the mass deportation of Parisian Jews [“the roundup”] in July 1942. So taking in and hiding Jews in our home during the war was a very natural thing for us to do: they were our neighbors and friends,” he adds. “We had a life together. We were there for them and they were there for us. We had to try to help them, just as it was natural for us to try and help the Armenians who were drafted into the German army and deserted.”

In his three previous autobiographical works, Aznavour made very little mention of these acts of salvation. He told Auron he didn’t think they were so special and didn’t want to be perceived as immodest. But the professor convinced him of the importance of telling the story. Now the singer says, “I’m very proud of my family’s story and the beautiful, noble humanity of the act of rescue. Nothing makes me happier than to think that my dear parents saved people’s lives.”

http://www.haaretz.com/polopoly_fs/1.718584.1462730208!/image/1895962933.jpg_gen/derivatives/headline_857x482/1895962933.jpg A portrait photograph of the Aznavour family in the 1920s. Charles' father, Mischa (center), is next to his wife, Knar. Aznavour family

Burning the uniforms

Aznavour was born in Paris on May 22, 1924, not long after his parents first arrived there. His father, Mischa Aznavourian, was born in Georgia in 1895 and lost his entire family in the Armenian genocide. His mother, Knar Baghdasaryan, was born in Izmir in 1904, and only she and her grandmother out of her entire family survived the genocide.

The couple fled Turkey on an Italian ship that brought them to Thessaloniki, Greece, where their eldest daughter, Aida, was born in 1923.

The family had many Armenian friends in Paris, among them a couple named Mélinée and Missak Manouchian. The latter was the military commander of the underground group known as L’Affiche Rouge (The Red Poster), which was the first to carry out armed resistance actions against the Nazis. Aznavour’s family aided the group on many occasions and also hid the Manouchians for several months while they were being hunted by the French police and Gestapo.

The first time the family hid someone during World War II was when a friend of Aznavour’s father brought his brother to them – a Romanian Jew who lived in Germany, was accused of subversion and sentenced to death. He had managed to escape to France disguised as a German soldier, and he knew that the Gestapo was after him. He found refuge in the family’s three-room apartment at 22 rue de Navarin, in Paris’ ninth arrondissement.

At the start of the war, Aida recounts in the book, “We understood that the Jews were going to be the victims of brutality. We looked upon the Jews with sadness and sorrow. We knew what genocide was.” She says her parents showed no hesitation in taking in the Jewish refugee, “even though it was clear that if the Nazis found this man in our house, they’d kill us right away. We told him that our home was his home, and we treated him warmly, like a good friend who had to extend his stay. For a few days, he even slept in the same bed as Charles.”

Sheltering 11 refugees at a time

The two Aznavour children, who were 16 and 17 at the start of the German occupation in 1940, pitched in to help, not knowing then that they would go on offering shelter to strangers. But then a woman came to the family, asking them to hide her Jewish husband, whose name was Simon. He had escaped from the Drancy internment camp, where the Jews of Paris were sent before being sent to the concentration camps outside of France.

For a while, the family also sheltered another Jew, and later on their apartment also served as a hideout for Armenians who’d deserted after being forcibly drafted into the Germany army.

Aznavour and his sister say there were days when 11 refugees were all hiding in the family’s apartment simultaneously. They hid in different corners of the house, and at night had to sleep on the floor.

The family prepared false papers for them, and one of the tasks assigned to the two children was to burn the deserters’ German uniforms and dispose of them far from the house.

How aware were you of the political significance of hiding wanted people in your family home? How aware of the danger were you?

Aznavour: “My parents knew the danger was there every day, but my sister and I only grasped it later. We were ‘crazy’ young people. We were living out our youth and we followed in our parents’ footsteps. Only after the war did we realize how great the risk really was.”

Auron dedicates a large part of his book to the activities of L’Affiche Rouge – whose story is barely known in Israel, despite significant Jewish participation in it.

The group, which was associated with the French Communist Party and whose members were mostly immigrants without French citizenship, was active in 1942-1943 as part of the French Resistance, and carried out armed attacks against the French police and Gestapo, inflicting casualties among the Germans.

It was named after the red propaganda poster the authorities distributed against it, which included photographs of 10 members who were apprehended.

The group had about 200 members; 67 were arrested, including 34 Jews and three Armenians. Of the 23 who were sentenced to death, 12 were Jews and two Armenian, including Missak Manouchian.

When Manouchian was arrested, his wife found refuge with her friends the Aznavours, after other friends refused to take her in. Aznavour says his parents’ close friendship with the Manouchians was part of the special kinship shared by Armenian survivors. He has vivid memories of the couple from his childhood – “Missak taught me to play chess,” he recalls.

He says that although his parents didn’t officially belong to the Resistance, they aided much of the underground’s activity. His mother helped a group transport weapons that were hidden in a baby carriage.

When Manouchian was arrested, he sent a postcard to Aznavour’s mother, telling her that her son would bring honor to the Armenian people and glory to France. His words helped reassure his mother and planted hope for her son’s future success.

Auron says there were many other Armenian families, like the Aznavour family, who saved Jews during the Holocaust. Twenty-four of them have been recognized by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations, but there were even more.

Because of this connection between Armenians and Jews, both Auron and Aznavour are upset by Israel’s stance on the Armenian genocide. “I’m very sorry that Israel does not recognize the Armenian genocide,” says Aznavour, “because it was the model the Nazis used for the Jewish genocide.”

 

http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/culture/.premium-1.718587

[Yervant1]

President of Israel says it is impossible to ignore events of 1915

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21:46, 10 May, 2016

YEREVAN, MAY 10, ARMENPRESS. President of Israel Reuven Rivlin visited Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem on May 9 to convey his greetings to the leaders of different Christian Churches located on the Holy Land. Prelates of the Dioceses of Armenia Apostolic, Greek-Orthodox and Latin Churches were present at the meeting with President Rivlin at the Armenian Patriarchate.

“The Nazi regime succeeded in its plans against the Jewish people as the world kept silence and did not voice about the Armenian Genocide”, “Armenpress” reports, citing Nouvelles d`Armenie, Nurhan Archbishop Manoogian said, hoping that Israel will recognize the Armenian Genocide during the presidency of Reuven Rivlin.

President of Israel Rivlin stated that Israel has a moral obligation to recognize the first genocide of the previous century, the Armenia Genocide, though he avoided using the term “genocide, adding that “it is impossible to ignore what happened”.

“We are obliged to speak out about facts, but not to deny them”, Rivlin said. The President of Israel congratulated the Christians on May 9 and the past Easter holidays, adding that human rights defense is a priority issue for Israel.

“Armenians were killed in 1915, and my relatives can recall thousands of Armenian refuges. No one denies in Israel that an entire nation was massacred. Today, together with all of you, I will pray for the souls of all the victims here, in Jerusalem, in the Armenian Patriarchate”, Rilvin concluded.

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https://armenpress.am/eng/news/846776/president-of-israel-says-it-is-impossible-to-ignore-events-of-1915.html

[Yervant1]

Malevolently Mendacious MealyMouthed Murinson

13/6/16

BY GAREN YEGPARIAN

A hack by the name of Alexander Murinson has finally gone far enough
(a la Donald Trump) to elicit a response, hopefully so scathing as to
cause him to disappear from the public sphere… yes, I know, that’s
wishful thinking.

This guy, who got a PhD from the School of Oriental and African
Studies, University of London, otherwise a highly respected, is
effectively accusing us, Armenians, the government in Yerevan, of
plotting to use a “dirty bomb” against Azerbaijan. A dirty bomb is
one that uses conventional, not atomic/nuclear, explosives but
contains radioactive materials which act to poison/kill people.
Murinson claims the Medzamor power plant would provide these dangerous
substances. His ludicrous assertion appeared under the title “The
other nuclear threat” in “The Washington Times” on May 3. Perhaps
some of the depleted Uranium coming out of that power plant should be
used to wash out Murinson’s lying mouth, soap would not be sufficient
to that task!

This is not Murinson’s first offense, nor am I the first to criticize
his perfidy (see Harut Sassounians “Armenia’s Jewish Community Leader
Lashes out at Pro-Azeri Propagandists” in the January 30 issue of
Asbarez). He seems to have decided to be Azerbaijan’s white-washer,
especially in the realm of that country’s relations with Israel.

So he has a puff piece appear about Mountain Jews in Azerbaijan who
have lived there for 2500 years (Jews in Azerbaijan: a History
Spanning Three Millennia) in an Azeri propaganda publication. Isn’t
that nice? But most readers in the non-Armenian, non-Azeri,
non-Turkish world would never realize how irrelevant that is since
Azerbaijan is a recent, artificial, construct. But his writings go
far beyond mere history-used-to-make-murderers-look-nice pieces.

We have Baku to the Future: Azerbaijan, Not Armenia, Is Israel’s True
Ally, co-written with Maxime Gauin appearing in Israel’s “Haaretz”
newspaper, and many more including Armenia And Azerbaijan Adapt To A
New Geopolitical Reality In The Near East – The Daily Caller, Op-Ed:
Strategic Realignment and Energy Security for Israel – Israel National
News, BTK Railway Project to Improve Economic Climate in Region, “Iran
Targets Azerbaijan,” “A Welcome New Stage In Azerbaijani-Israeli Ties”
– JerusalemPost, “The Ties Between Israel and Azerbaijan,” “Good
Relations between Azerbaijan and Israel: A Model for Other Muslim
States in Eurasia?” co-written with Soner Cagaptay (another Turkish
apologist). Some of these are analyses written through his
affiliation with the Begin Sadat Center. You can see Murinson is
steeped in the filthiest, sleaziest, of fields – Turkey, Azerbaijan,
and energy (oil and gas).

Plus, Murinson is cited copiously by others which magnifies the impact
of his delusional rantings. How did he get to be such an “authority”?
He published a book that got him started… “Turkey’s Entente with
Israel and Azerbaijan: State Identity and Security in the Middle East
and Caucasus” which caught everyone’s attention. At that time, he was
lauding Davutoglu’s policy prescriptions. Later, with Turkey and
Israel’s falling out, he changed his tune somewhat, but continues to
sing Azerbaijan’s praises.

This seems to consistently include lying to smear Armenia and
Armenians. He even asserted that the Armenian side started the April
hostilities! Of course, he uses the canard about “Armenia occupying”
Azeri territories, since it doesn’t suit him and his masters to
recognize NKR’s existence in any way. In fairness, he is credited with
revealing that on March 31, Azerbaijan got some anti-tank weaponry
from Israel. It’s easy to connect that with the attack against
Artzakh that started two days later.

All of this might even be “swallowable” in the context of nasty
politics but for the fact that his bio on the Tel Aviv University’s
Program in Ottoman and Turkish Studies describes his specializations
thus: “Modern Turkish History, Nationalism, Turkish Foreign Relations
(Middle East, Caucasus, Russia), the late Ottoman Period
(Pan-Islamism, pan-Turkism).” Anyone who has studied the late Ottoman
period and witnessed the rise of Pan-Islamism and its mutation into
Pan-Turkism and all the evil the latter connotes, MUST know and
understand Armenians’ situation. Yet, Murinson has cast himself
firmly on the side of the murderous bearers of that ideology in
today’s world. This man must be shunned and his worked exposed for
the mockery of scholarship that it is.

If it looks like I’ve given you a lot of reading to do, you’re right.
Look at those articles, then contact the publishers and inform them
that they are ruining their own reputations by providing a forum for
someone who can’t get the facts straight. He must be trashed and his
disreputability established so he can never work as an analyst again.
Let him go paint picket fences white instead!

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[Yervant1]

Israeli MP calls Lieberman an Azerbaijani agent

20:38, 25.05.2016

Head of Israel’s Meretz party Zehava Gal-On accused head of “Our Home
Israel” Avigdor Lieberman of being a foreign agent. This happened at a
meeting of the Knesset Committee on legislation, which discussed the
draft law on transparency of NGO funding.

In response to the statement that “activists of these organizations
are foreign agents in Israel”, Gal-On said that “a foreign agent will
soon head the Ministry of Defense”, NEWSru reported.

A similar incident occurred in February 2016, when Gal-On said that
the representatives of “Our Home Israel” are agents of the Azerbaijani
government, and receive all kinds of benefits from Baku. According to
her, during his tenure as a foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman
promoted the interests of the companies owned by the Azerbaijani
government.

"You are striving for non-recognition of the Armenian genocide,
because you are ‘agents’ of the Azerbaijani government. How can you
demand ‘transparency’ from the non-governmental organizations after
that?” she asked.

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[Yervant1]

The result of Jul. 5th debate is obvious after Turkey and Israel made peace. What Genocide? Never heard about it!

 

Knesset to hold debate on Armenian Genocide on July 5

12:49, 29 Jun 2016

Siranush Ghazanchyan

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On July 5 the Knesset will hold a debate on the Armenian Genocide,” Israeli historian Yair Auron said in an interview with the Zoryan Institute.

“Israel refrained from allowing a public debate to have a free vote on the subject of the Armenian Genocide for fear of alienating the Turkish government, a key ally to Israel and the United States,” Dr. Auron said.

“On May 15, 2016, Jerusalem Post, reported that the Knesset speaker, Yuli Edlstein, had called on the government to recognize the 1915 genocide of Armenian people, by the Ottoman Turks, at a special debate on the subject in the parliament. ‘It is no secret that Israel has taken too ambivalent of a stance on the Armenian Genocide,’ Edlstein said. ‘There are many reasons, diplomatic and otherwise, for the Israeli stance being too hesitant and restrained, which downplayed the magnitude of the historical event. We Jews who are still suffering from the impact of the Holocaust cannot minimize the tragedy,’ he added.

“This year, on July 5th, the Knesset will hold another debate on this subject. This debate comes almost a month after Germany’s parliament voted to recognize the 1915 massacre of 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman forces as ‘genocide.’ The Bundestag resolution admitted Germany’s historic role, as a military ally of the Ottoman Empire, in aiding the ‘organized expulsion and annihilation of the Armenians’ from their ancestral homeland and failing to stop ‘these crimes against humanity.’ The resolution also acknowledged ‘the German Reich’s complicity in the events,’” Yair Auron said.

“When we look at the recent German recognition of the Armenian Genocide against that background, a few lessons stand out. The modern Republic of Turkey is not the perpetrator state of the Armenian Genocide, but it is the legal inheritor of all rights and responsibilities of the Ottoman Empire. Rather than acknowledge that genocide, every successor administration of the Turkish Republic has gone out of its way to obfuscate and deny it. Moreover, it has used its considerable geo-political, military and economic leverage to coerce and co-opt other countries to go along with its denial policy, the historian added.

“Two of the most notable countries that have acquiesced in this are the United States and Israel. United States officials so thoroughly documented the Genocide, and the American peoples’ response was a massive and unprecedented outpouring of humanitarian aid for the ‘starving Armenians.’ Furthermore, the US has gone out of its way to honour the memory of another genocide, the Jewish Holocaust. Unfortunately, even today, certain academics and governments insist on the uniqueness of the Holocaust. I cannot accept that because the Holocaust is not unique, and needs to be studied as one example of genocide and not in isolation. Israel, a state born out of the Holocaust, is expected not to barter with the memory of the genocide of another people. In fact, there are moral strictures in the Talmudic tradition against ‘standing idly by the blood of your neighbour.’ (Leviticus 19:16) Yet, Israeli officials have explicitly denied that what happened to the Armenians is anything like what happened to the Jews,” he said.

“American presidents have produced high-sounding statements for April 24 every year, ostensibly to acknowledge the memory and lessons of the Armenian Genocide, but studiously avoid using the word ‘genocide.’ Israel has gone even further, not only denying the status of the Armenian Genocide, but honouring the tragic killing of a small group of Azerbaijanis at Khojaly during the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict. Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said at a commemoration in 1915, ‘We are gathered here today to talk about the necessity to combine the experience of Israel and Azerbaijan in order to prevent such tragedies in the future,’” the scholar said.

According to Dr. Auron, “when modern Germany admits the complicity of Imperial Germany in the Armenian Genocide, how can anyone go along with Turkish denial? Indeed, legally, this denial would make modern Turkey an accessory after the fact.”

He said “it’s past time that Israel officially recognizes the Armenian Genocide, if, as Foreign Minister Lieberman claims, we need to combine Israeli experience with that of others in order to prevent genocide in the future. Every year now, the Knesset debates this issue. The votes are there, but the government does not allow it to come to a vote. Let this year be different. Let the Knesset have a free vote on whether or not to recognize the Armenian Genocide.”

Dr. Auron completed his interview by stating: “Now that Israel and Turkey have mended fences and are about to renew their diplomatic ties, the Knesset must give a clear message that Israel’s relations cannot be held hostage to Turkey’s denial of these incontestable historical facts, especially after Germany’s admittance of its complicity, as an ally of Ottoman Turkey. It should further emphasize that Armenian Genocide recognition by Israel is not about friendship or enmity towards Turkey, but it is rather a moral responsibility of Israel. Furthermore, after Germany’s admittance of complicity, the failure of the Israeli Knesset to openly label the ‘events of 1915’ as ‘genocide’ is no longer only a simple moral issue, it is also a matter of credibility.”

Yair Auron is an Israeli historian, scholar and expert specializing on Holocaust and genocide studies, racism and contemporary Jewry. He is a board member of The Zoryan Institute of USA & Canada.

 

[Yervant1]

No, Mr. Wiesel, you don’t speak on my behalf!

By Dikran Abrahamian BA, MD October 31, 2007

A Lebanese identity card written in Arabic states as follows:

Name & Surname: Joseph Abrahamian
Date and Place of Birth: 1916, Adana
Religion: Armenian Orthodox

That’s my late father’s identification in my hand. He passed away at the age of 69 back in 1985 in one of the prairie cities out west up north. There isn’t much joy in telling about his childhood. Misery and deprivation were his constant companions on the way of escaping from the Genocide in a boat. He landed in a Greek port with my grandfather and uncle. He was initially brought up without a mother; later his step-mother took over the upbringing of the two little boys. The whereabouts of my biological grandmother and her fate are not known. Like so many other grandmothers who were either raped, abducted, perished or lost, she ultimately “vanished”…Rumor has it that she was a beautiful woman and prior to the atrocities a certain Turkish ***** was “attracted” to her.

I’ll stop there. The subsequent Odyssey of my grandfather and his two sons are not relevant to what I’d like to tell the distinguished Nobel Laureate Mr. Elie Wiesel. It is prompted by his recent bizarre statements that he made in an interview with The Philadelphia Jewish Voice.

Mr. Wiesel, I guess chronologically I should be considered as a second generation survivor. My question to you is very simple. You are a survivor of the Holocaust, and there is no doubt in my mind that you have told stories after stories about your horrible experiences to your family, friends and the world. Did anybody give you permission to do so? Were you told by anyone to remember? Why on earth then you give to yourself the cavalier attitude of speaking on my behalf. I require nobody’s permission, including yours, to remember, and ask others to remember.

Simply because you are a Holocaust survivor does give you neither the moral nor the legal right to tell me what I want and what I do not want. You must be deluded to think that I don’t ask the Turks to take responsibility for the horrible crimes that their ancestors committed. No, Mr. Wiesel, you are wrong when you assert that “seven generations separate us from the events that happened in World War I”. What, you think the likes of me are hares that procreate and multiply in no time? Was it a slip of the tongue, or an insinuation that it happened a long time ago and it’s not worth fighting over it? I do remember well what I was told in so many vivid terms. Even Turkish scholars acknowledge that the Turks of today have to take responsibility by acknowledging the past; they differ only in what to call it.

What on earth was going through your mind when you stated, “The Armenians don’t want reparations”, and “they don’t even want an apology”? Shame! An apology is owed not only to Armenians, it is owed to humanity. I thought you would have understood that by now. I am disillusioned. I respected you as a scholar, a humanitarian, a Human Rights activist, and foremost as a survivor, because I never made any distinctions between an Armenian, a Jew, a Cambodian, a Rwandan or a Darfurian when Genocide was involved.

It was back in mid 1960’s when I was in my early twenties that I visited Adana. Unfortunately it was winter; not so pleasant roads hampered my short visit to go around and explore. I could not see much, specially the orchards that I had heard about. It was sort of a pilgrimage and I was somewhat content with what could be achieved under the circumstances. My question to you Mr. Wiesel is why did I go to Adana? Explain it in whatever way and terms you want. The crux of the matter is that there is a yearning to go back, to see the land, kneel and honour the people who were sacrificed and loudly say, “This land belonged to my ancestors, it is my rightful inheritance, you stole it in the most fiendish brutal way! I have come to reclaim it.”

One final point does exact your patience. Why is it that your friend prefers to use “tantamount to Genocide” and you try in an obtuse manner reminding that the word Genocide did not exist at the time the Armenians were massacred? You are well aware that your compatriot Lemkin had exactly the Armenian massacres in mind when he was deliberating what to call the tragic phenomenon and enact laws that would prevent such occurrences. He was fully aware that a calamity of the sort could be in the making, and his people would be the victim. Otherwise how to explain his pleas to his father, family and friends to leave their homes and move to safer countries? Another great compatriot of yours immortalized the heroic stand of Musa Dagh to tell his own people of what could happen, and inspire them to resist and fight. Have you forgotten Mr. Wiesel? It seems you have not followed your own advice to remember. I need not remind you of your other compatriot who was one of the first diplomats who talked about race extermination. You know it all too well, better than many.

Please, enough of this crippled game on words and twisting arguments. You are treading along a path which is not any different than what some “progressive” scholars in Turkey are trying to do. To make things palatable to their respective audiences, some have even contemplated using translations of expressions in Armenian when the word Genocide was not coined yet.

No, Mr. Wiesel, you don’t speak on my behalf!

http://www.keghart.com/node/44

[Yervant1]

“The discussion of the Armenian Genocide in the Israeli Parliament
will not produce any positive outcome.” Armen Petrosyan

July 4 2016

Almost one month after the adoption of the resolution recognizing and
condemning the Armenian Genocide in the German Bundestag, on July 5,
the Israeli parliament will discuss the Armenian Genocide issue. This
information was conveyed to the media recently by famous genocide
expert Yair Auron. In an interview with Aravot.am on this subject,
expert on Arabic studies Armen Petrosyan first stated that the
recognition of the Armenian Genocide in Israel is usually marked on
the days preceding April 24 but no such a thing happened this year,
“The reason is that there was quite an active process of normalization
of Israeli-Turkish relations. To avoid ruining it and the parties
eventually come to a reconciliation, also a traditional launching of
the Armenian Genocide recognition process took place by the
instructions of the authorities.”

Referring to the expected discussion, Armen Petrosyan said that it
cannot have any serious impact on raising the issue, “Presumably, a
general discussion will be held in Knesset, if of course, it takes
place, then the discussion of the issue might be instructed to any
parliamentary committee as it has been done in the past and the issue
will remain in this framework.” As observed by Armen Petrosyan, the
normalization of the Israeli-Turkish relations is in the initial
phase, consequently, Israel will refrain from causing new problems
with Turkey, as the parties were waiting for reconciliation for a long
time, “I think that the discussion of the Armenian Genocide issue will
be a formal process: in short and compressed procedure. When it was a
turning point in the Turkish-Israeli relations, Israel was not
preventing by the government level, on the contrary, it allowed to
raise the issue at least by the campaign level, and they were trying
to use it as a means of pressure against Turkey.”

As described by our interlocutor, since 2013 when the process of
rapprochement between Turkey and Israel commenced, the Armenian
Genocide recognition lost its political and campaign significance,
“Almost every year, an attempt is made to raise this issue at the
Israeli parliament but it does not get to the outcome. It is logical
and presumable that this year it will be the same.”

Luiza SUKIASYAN
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__en.aravot.am_2016_07_04_178358_&d=DQIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=LVw5zH6C4LHpVQcGEdVcrQ&m=JPQawmZN4Tveu-nMyKWf-q3Vrrj11KVR2lv_OmEw9jM&s=LL8GQbLdMMoKEW9hw5e8dnFDPkeo_Q9pGOz9PAkZhUE&e=

[Yervant1]

Yair Auron: Yet Again, Israel Denies the Armenian Genocide

12:57, 05 Jul 2016
Siranush Ghazanchyan

By Yair Auron
Haaretz

On May 31, a few days before the lower house of the German Bundestag
recognized the murder of the Armenian people – an act that
reverberated worldwide – there was supposed to be a discussion of the
subject in the Knesset. However, it was postponed under pressure from
the Foreign Ministry (which is headed by Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu). The discussion is due to take place in the Knesset on
Wednesday.

This is a discussion of great importance for the battle that has been
waged for years for Israeli recognition of the Armenian genocide. In
the past year I hoped that if not the Israeli government, at least the
Knesset would finally recognize it. But apparently there is very
little chance of that, in light of the rapprochement agreement signed
with Turkey. After all, who would endanger the agreement because of a
negligible thing like whether or not there was a genocide of another
nation.

There’s no chance that the Israeli government will recognize the
Armenian genocide, but during the course of the year commemorating the
100th anniversary of the murder of the Armenian people, there was
nevertheless a hope that perhaps the Knesset would do so. But
apparently that hope is also evaporating.President Reuven Rivlin has
in the past expressed profound identification with the suffering of
the Armenians. When he served as Knesset speaker he even said that
Israel should recognize the Armenian genocide. It’s a shame that he
has refrained from repeating that since being elected president,
saying only “I haven’t changed my mind.”

In a discussion in the Knesset Education Committee in July 2015, in
which Edelstein participated, all the speakers from the coalition and
the opposition supported recognition. Only a representative of the
Foreign Ministry had reservations, claiming that the concept of
“genocide” has become politicized, and therefore Israel should not use
it. Imagine if any European government were to claim that the
“Holocaust” is a political concept, and therefore their government
should not use it.

At the conclusion of the discussion the Education Committee called on
the Knesset to recognize the genocide and on the Education Ministry to
teach about it, but nothing happened. The annual discussion to take
place in the coming days is the moment of truth: The thawing of
relations with Turkey and the weapons deals between the governments of
Israel and Azerbaijan, worth billions of dollars – weapons designated
for clashes with the Armenians – are not glad tidings for the chances
of recognition.

Even if people and institutions in Israel won’t be happy to hear these
words, they must be said: Israel denies the Armenian genocide. We are
one of the only democratic countries in the world, if not the only
one, to do so, and to support Turkey’s stubborn policy of denial. The
United States neither recognizes nor denies the genocide. When we deny
the Armenian genocide, we are desecrating the memory of its victims.
In my opinion, in so doing we are also desecrating the memory and the
victims of the Holocaust.

Because of this last sentence, which I refused to omit, the
administration of Yad Vashem rejected a scientific article that I was
invited to write for the institution’s newsletter, Teaching the
Legacy. But I will continue to say and to write that sentence until
the State of Israel, if only via the Knesset, recognizes the Armenian
genocide.

Today it’s already known and has been proven: When we deny a genocide
that took place in the past, we are preparing the ground for a future
genocide.

The discussion in the Knesset should arouse great interest in the
world, and of course among the Armenians in Armenia and in the
Diaspora, and hopefully here too. Those who are fighting for
recognition are requesting “a vote now.” Transferring the discussion
to the committee was an important step for years, but it has become a
cynical political means to conceal the truth. We continue to deny.

Israeli recognition (which is not anticipated, to my regret) would
probably lead to recognition of the Armenian genocide by the entire
world. If Israel recognizes it, U.S. President Barack Obama won’t be
able to continue to remain on the sidelines either. What is true of
genocide is also true of the battle against its denial: Anyone who is
not on the side of the victims is on the side of the deniers.

Prof. Auron is a genocide scholar who has been working for years for
recognition by Israel and the world of the Armenian genocide.

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.haaretz.com_opinion_.premium-2D1.728904&d=DQIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=LVw5zH6C4LHpVQcGEdVcrQ&m=247kGF-ZGfVrykhrGx4PizSQpf-hQdeajRMgjdqW2Bc&s=41q4hawMTNxaOSBfZiGoKufFerVBr2coYUGZ5yd3pXE&e=


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[Yervant1]

Knesset Speaker: We must not ignore, diminish or deny the Armenian Genocide

20:44, 05 Jul 2016
Siranush Ghazanchyan

During Tuesday`s special plenary debate marking the Armenian genocide,
Knesset Speaker Yuli-Yoel Edelstein said, ”It is no secret that [in
Israel] as well this event has been controversial, at least with
regards to the publicity it should be given. I am reiterating this
year as well, and from this podium: We must not ignore, diminish or
deny this terrible genocide. We must differentiate between our current
interests and the difficult past, which this dark chapter is a part
of.”

”This is the correct and appropriate thing to do, seeing as we are
part of the family of nations and a nation whose values of morality
and compassion towards every human being are paramount. Let us not
remain indifferent, albeit a bit late, to the suffering the Armenians
experienced,” Edelstein said, while pledging that the Knesset would
continue to send representatives to memorial ceremonies in the
Armenian capital of Yerevan.

MK Zehava Galon (Meretz), who initiated the debate, said, ”For years
[MKs] have been coming here, to the plenum, in order to ask that the
genocide be called by its name. This year, after the agreement with
Turkey has been signed, I know that granting this request has become
particularly difficult. There was pressure from the Foreign Ministry
and from elements in the government – `why are we suddenly raising
this issue, with all the diplomatic sensitivity?` But despite this, I
am declaring that the Knesset must recognize the Armenian Genocide.”

”Over the years we have let the recognition of the genocide turn into
a toy that can be dangled when relations with Turkey are in crisis,
and then shelved to placate Erdogan,” she added. ”We have started
walking along the most dangerous path of politics, where everything is
for sale.”

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.armradio.am_en_2016_07_05_knesset-2Dspeaker-2Dwe-2Dmust-2Dnot-2Dignore-2Ddiminish-2Dor-2Ddeny-2Dthe-2Darmenian-2Dgenocide_&d=DQIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=LVw5zH6C4LHpVQcGEdVcrQ&m=qIKHqzZ7vuE4SrdwdvMF988C3Strmnci-5vapl8KmC4&s=CoapWl6iprsYMTmNc06g1CDLpN44679i-DW96d3dDWw&e=

[Yervant1]

Once again the double talk is alive and well , I say this you say that and we're all happy job well done. Which is first the stick or the carrot?

Knesset doesn’t shy away from Armenian Genocide after Turkey deal

By LAHAV HARKOV \

07/05/2016 20:22

“We must disconnect current interests from the past; we cannot remain
apathetic,” Edelstein says.

KNESSET SPEAKER Yuli Edelstein addresses the Bundestag’s Foreign
Affairs and Defense Committee. (photo credit:BOAZ ARAD)

Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein and other MKs called for the government
to recognize the Armenian Genocide Tuesday, despite recently signing
an agreement improving relations with Turkey.

“We cannot ignore, dwarf or deny this terrible genocide,” Edelstein
stated. “We must disconnect current interests of this time and place
from the difficult past.”

Edelstein quoted Nobel Prize-winning author, philosopher and Holocaust
survivor Elie Wiesel, who died on Saturday, as saying apathy to
suffering helps the enemy.



“We cannot remain apathetic, even if it’s late, to the suffering the
Armenians experienced. Recognizing the Armenian genocide is important
to us as human beings who carry the moral responsibility and
constantly hope to improve the world and society,” Edelstein stated.

Meretz chairwoman Zehava Gal-On, who initiated the discussion, also
quoted Wiesel, in an open letter his foundation published in 2007
calling to recognize the Armenian Genocide.

“Children and grandchildren of survivors must know what genocide looks
like and how one tragedy turned into another giant one. But here, in
the Knesset, the elected parliament of the state in which the memory
of the Holocaust is constant and ‘never forget’ is a moral commandment
– we haven’t heard about it,” she said.

Gal-On said that despite the agreement with Turkey making recognition
more difficult, Israel must do it.

“This is a decision Israel must make. Sometimes there is a price to
doing the right thing, and sometimes the right choice is not the easy
one. We are tested when we have to pay a price,” she stated.

Minister without portfolio Tzachi Hanegbi presented the government’s
position, say he understands the emotions behind the MKs’ speeches,
but did not use the Hebrew phrase for “genocide,” simply saying
“tragic events.”

The MKs present approved Gal-On’s motion to the agenda, and the
discussion will be moved to the Knesset Education Committee.

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.jpost.com_Israel-2DNews_Politics-2DAnd-2DDiplomacy_Knesset-2Ddoesnt-2Dshy-2Daway-2Dfrom-2DArmenian-2DGenocide-2Dafter-2DTurkey-2Ddeal-2D459575&d=DQIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=LVw5zH6C4LHpVQcGEdVcrQ&m=5k63EQWkGOrbfq3A4I3u-51OYUiIh4tvjPlZr03m8rI&s=2jjKlWlTkbIV6FHVosNaBcjxcB8ZUjM7F5h4cNzl3Fo&e=

 

[Yervant1]

Armenia MP: Knesset decision was predictable

13:00, 06.07.2016

YEREVAN. – What was predicted happened Tuesday at the Israeli Knesset
(parliament).

Tevan Poghosyan, secretary of the opposition “Heritage” Faction of the
National Assembly of Armenia, stated the aforesaid at a press
conference on Wednesday.

“The matter was discussed in the Knesset for the third time,” said
Poghosyan. “In the case when six [israeli MPs] delivered remarks the
first time, this time—24.

“We need to step by step ensure that Israel recognize the Armenian
Genocide. I believe we will achieve [respective] results thanks to
consistent work.”

The Armenian lawmaker recalled, however, that it is very important not
to forget Turkey’s role in Armenian-Israeli relations.

On Tuesday, the Knesset was expected to vote on the matter of Armenian
Genocide recognition. The Israeli parliament, however, decided to send
the matter again for consideration by a special committee.

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[Yervant1]

The Times of Israel
July 6 2016


Knesset speaker urges Israel to recognize Armenian genocide

In parliamentary debate days after Israel and Turkey reconciliation
deal, Yuli Edelstein says ‘we must not deny this terrible genocide’
despite Ankara’s opposition

By Marissa Newman

Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein (Likud) on Tuesday urged Israel to
recognize the Armenian genocide, despite the friction this might cause
in ties with Turkey, with which has recently normalized relations.

“We must not ignore, belittle or deny this terrible genocide,”
Edelstein declared as the Knesset marked the 1915 mass killing. “We
must disconnect the current interests, bound to this time and place,
and the difficult past, of which this dark chapter is a part.”

Israel’s refusal thus far to formally recognize the Armenian genocide
is based on geopolitical and strategic considerations, prime among
them relations with Turkey, which vehemently denies that Ottoman Turks
committed genocide. Israel and Turkey signed a rapprochement deal last
week, upgrading the diplomatic relationship after years of frosty ties
over the 2010 Mavi Marmara incident.

“Let us not remain indifferent, even belatedly, to the suffering of
the Armenians,” Edelstein continued. “Preserving the memory of the
Armenian genocide is important for everyone as human beings, as those
who have moral responsibility and who strive constantly to improve and
fix the world and society.”

Dozens of members of the Jerusalem Armenian community rallied outside
of the Knesset on Tuesday demanding the government recognize the
atrocities 101 years ago.

Meretz leader Zahava Galon, who initiated the Knesset plenum session,
said there had been Foreign Ministry pressure on the parliament not to
hold the session due to “diplomatic sensitivity” over Turkey.

“But I say that despite this, the Knesset should recognize the
Armenian genocide,” she said.

President Reuven Rivlin, who was one of the most outspoken advocates
for recognition of the genocide during his time as Knesset speaker,
skirted the term during the centenary commemoration last year,
disappointing Armenian leaders. He used it, however, several weeks
earlier at a different event.

Israel’s ongoing denial of the Armenian genocide has thus far survived
several debates in the Knesset and even efforts by a former education
minister to add the topic to school curricula.

Last month, Ankara came out against Pope Francis for recognizing the
slaughter of some 1.5 million Armenians over 100 years ago.

In its first reaction to Francis’ recognition of the 1915 genocide,
Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Nurettin Canikli called the comments
“greatly unfortunate” and said they bore the hallmarks of the
“mentality of the Crusades.”

Raphael Ahren and agencies contributed to this report.

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.timesofisrael.com_knesset-2Dspeaker-2Durges-2Disrael-2Dto-2Drecognize-2Darmenian-2Dgenocide_&d=DQIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=LVw5zH6C4LHpVQcGEdVcrQ&m=Pa_mLKJiMbHn63sEIRX1dW_um6zx-5KaAb6KK2MZ_OE&s=dZFHh5RrJlHW8QZnLJ5BWWB5x3_Y6LJXA-gDPG6eBdU&e=

[Yervant1]

Committee of Israeli Parliament recognizes Armenian Genocide, plans to include in plenary session

17:34, 1 August, 2016

YEREVAN, AUGUST 1, ARMENPRESS. On August 1, the Committee of Education and Sport of the Israeli Knesset hold a discussion on the Armenian Genocide.

On July 5th the Knesset decided to send the issue of the Armenian Genocide to the Committee of Education and Sport of the Knesset for additional research and discussion. After the discussion in the Committee of Education and Sport of the Knesset the Chairman of the Committee Mr. Yakov Margi declared that the Committee of Education and Sport of the Israeli Knesset officially recognizes the Armenian Genocide. Moreover, he called upon the Israeli government to recognize the Armenian Genocide and upon the Knesset and the Speaker of the Knesset Mr. Yuli Edelstein to recognize the Armenian Genocide. He promised to initiate petition in order to bring the issue of the recognition of the Armenian Genocide to the agenda of the Knesset.

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/855800/committee-of-israeli-parliament-recognizes-armenian-genocide-plans-to-include-in-plenary-session.html

[Yervant1]

Ynetnews, Israel
Aug 1 2016


Knesset committee recognizes Armenian genocide


After years of Israel's refusal to recognize Armenian genocide which
claimed more than 1 million lives, Knesset committee says 'It is our
moral obligation to recognize the holocaust of the Armenian nation.'

Jonathan Benedek/TPS|Published: 01.08.16 , 23:13


The Education, Culture and Sports Committee decided to recognize the
Armenian genocide on Monday at a meeting initiated by Meretz
Chairwoman MK Zehava Galon.

“It is our moral obligation to recognize the holocaust of the Armenian
nation,” said the committee’s chairman and Shas MK Yaakov Margi.

The declaration by the committee represents a symbolic and important
change in light of Israel’s maintenance hitherto of a policy to
refrain from officially recognizing the Armenian genocide in which
approximately 1.5 million Armenians were reportedly massacred by
Ottoman Turkish forces during World War I.

Israel has previously abstained from recognizing the genocide in order
to avoid potential negative repercussions on its relationship with
Turkey. Israel signed a reconciliation agreement with the country last
month following a strain in bilateral relations since the summer of
2010.

Nevertheless, MK Margi called upon Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein to
follow through on remarks he made last year at a committee meeting
during which he said that he would work to have the Knesset formally
recognize the Armenian genocide.

“I will try to promote the issue and I hope that MKs will know the
right way to vote at the moment of truth,” Edelstein said in July
2015.

“I visited one of the Armenian memorial sites and it is very hard to
ignore what I saw there,” he continued . “I expect that I, and the
Knesset, act appropriately so that we can make decisions according to
the moral standards of a democratic state.”

MK Galon also lamented Israel’s continued failure to recognize the
Armenian genocide.

“Each year we instill false hope in the people sitting here,” said
Galon. “It is a disservice to the Knesset to continue going on and on
about this issue, year after year, without reaching a decision that
the State of Israel and the Knesset recognize the genocide of the
Armenian people.”

Georgette Avakian, chairwoman of the Armenian National Committee in
Jerusalem, echoed the remarks made by Margi and Galon.

“The Knesset and the president of the State of Israel must recognize
the genocide of our people,” she insisted.

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.ynetnews.com_articles_0-2C7340-2CL-2D4836080-2C00.html&d=DQIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=LVw5zH6C4LHpVQcGEdVcrQ&m=vcx0oi6Br1-fuXM7Zsg2z1lViQHSr-T9RJQps4Qb7_o&s=uQSmJuLVQJbJ7RMzmHUfcgPj2N9Utbjsp56YmISVRA8&e=

[Yervant1]

The Media Line
Aug 2 2016


Israeli Parliamentary Committee Circumvents Government, Recognizing
Armenian Genocide

By Michael Friedson | The Media Line

August 2, 2016

An Israeli parliamentary committee ran an end-run around long-standing
government policy when it issued a declaration recognizing the killing
of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turkish forces during
World War I as “genocide.” The declaration was made by the Education,
Culture and Sports Committee following an effort spearheaded by Member
of Knesset (parliament) Zahava Gal-on, head of the Meretz Party.
Successive governments have refused to acknowledge the mass killings
as genocide because of the delicate nature of Israel’s diplomatic
relations with Turkey and Ankara’s extreme sensitivity on the subject.
But recognizing genocide is an issue which transcends traditional
political alliances in the Jewish state, largely because of its
citizens’ experiences as victims of another genocide. In fact, the
Armenian declaration united Gal-on, who chairs the nation’s most
left-wing party with the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party, a member of which
chairs the Education, Culture and Sports Committee. Knesset Speaker
Yuli Edelstein, a member of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Likud Party,
had opened the door to genocide recognition a year ago when he told
the committee that he would work toward that end. The issue will not
end with the committee declaration. Those who favor genocide
recognition continue to demand action by the parliament and the
president on behalf of the state.

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.themedialine.org_mideast-2Ddaily-2Dnews_israeli-2Dparliamentary-2Dcommittee-2Dcircumvents-2Dgovernment-2Drecognizing-2Darmenian-2Dgenocide_&d=DQIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=LVw5zH6C4LHpVQcGEdVcrQ&m=nLCTbgJyONlIbxbcJEi5EDgt8ZNE0buY87BHv2IojQU&s=AMn1y840Ea0n4qELyHfcfqTsVqAVKZpRJOtT9oy318U&e=

[Yervant1]

The Times of Israel
Aug 1 2016


Knesset Education Committee recognizes Armenian genocide

Chair Yakov Margi urges house speaker to declare that Israel’s
parliament considers 1915 mass killing a genocide

By Marissa Newman

The Knesset’s Education, Culture and Sports Committee on Monday
announced it recognizes the Armenian genocide and urged the government
to formally acknowledge the 1915 mass slaughter of 1.5 Armenians as
such.

“It is our moral obligation to recognize the Armenian genocide,” said
committee chair Yakov Margi (Shas) at a committee meeting.

Margi expressed regret that the State of Israel does not currently
recognize the genocide by Ottoman Turks 101 years ago, and called on
Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein to do so.

Israel’s refusal thus far to formally recognize the Armenian slaughter
as genocide is based on geopolitical and strategic considerations,
primary among them its relations with Turkey, which vehemently denies
that Ottoman Turks committed genocide. Israel and Turkey signed a
rapprochement deal in June, upgrading their diplomatic relationship
after years of frosty ties worsened by a fatal melee between IDF
soldiers and Turkish activists aboard a Gaza-bound ship in 2010.

During Monday’s meeting, Meretz MK Zehava Galon, Zionist Union MKs
Zouheir Bahloul and Nahman Shai, and Joint (Arab) List MK Dov Khenin
voiced support for the measure.

Earlier this month, Edelstein (Likud) urged Israel to recognize the
Armenian genocide, despite the friction it might cause with Turkey.

“We must not ignore, belittle or deny this terrible genocide,”
Edelstein declared as the Knesset marked the 1915 mass killing. “We
must disconnect the current interests, bound to this time and place,
from the difficult past, of which this dark chapter is a part.”

President Reuven Rivlin, who was one of the most outspoken advocates
for recognition of the genocide during his time as Knesset speaker,
eschewed using the term during the centenary commemoration last year,
disappointing Armenian leaders. He used it, however, several weeks
earlier at a different event.

Israel’s ongoing denial of the Armenian genocide has thus far survived
several debates in the Knesset and even efforts by a former education
minister to add the topic to school curricula.

Raphael Ahren and news agencies contributed to this report.

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.timesofisrael.com_knesset-2Deducation-2Dcommittee-2Drecognizes-2Darmenian-2Dgenocide_&d=DQIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=LVw5zH6C4LHpVQcGEdVcrQ&m=bXznIHZ7djzRJsOD4DM5aqtzFnEtpzXsY6hcohqn89Q&s=NPNQBGGvOpJRdbDkh5vfxYATQ9hWxe2WgPwXJEwyxXg&e=

[Yervant1]

Leora Eisenberg: Is Israel being honest with itself in issue of Armenian Genocide?

23:04, 05.08.2016

Israel has partially recognized the Armenian Genocide, but it is necessary to understand whether it is being honest with itself, wrote Leora Eisenberg, blogger of Times of Israel, who shoots a documentary about the Armenian district of Jerusalem.

“Tucked away between the constant thud of children’s feet in the Jewish Quarter and the intoxicating smell of the Arab shuk is the Armenian Quarter. Almost alarmingly quiet, the calmest quarter is walled off — and those who have lived in the Old City for years are unlikely to have ever entered.

I lower my head to squeeze through the arch, and am greeted by a large square. You might see children running to the soccer field, old men playing backgammon, or maybe a priest walking to the seminary across the street.

You will probably hear Armenian, but some of the young deacons might be speaking Russian. The stones are the same as those of any other quarter, but the crosses that decorate the area are uniquely Armenian.”

“Armenians have been in Jerusalem, uninterrupted, since the seventh century.”

“We asked our interviewees a variety of questions — where are they from, where are their parents from, what do you like most about Jerusalem, etc. But the question that taught us the most was the following:

“What is your struggle, as an Armenian in Israel?”

Each priest whom I asked paused for moment.

“Let the world be honest,” said one. “The Armenian Genocide is a fact. Whether or not you recognize it, it happened.”

“It is indeed our ethical prerogative to recognize the massacre and deportation of 1.5 million+ people.[…] But, in my opinion, we, as human beings, must award all those massacred the humanity that they were systematically denied.”

“Geopolitical concerns certainly play a role here; I can’t deny that relations with Turkey and Azerbaijan certainly are important. But relations with Armenia and Israel’s Armenian community are not trivial — and, at the end of the day, Israel’s moral compass must point in the direction of recognizing the genocide that Hitler trivialized with his famous words: “Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?”

Answer: we should.

It seems that we speak about it every few months in Israel. We bring it to one Knesset committee and then another. On August 1, we finally had some success — the Education, Culture and Sports Committee finally recognized the Armenian Genocide with support ranging from the far right to the far left. Certainly a step forward — but is Israel, as the first priest said, being honest with itself?” Eisenberg writes.

http://news.am/eng/news/340694.html

[Yervant1]

Հէրթցէլ Հայերը «Ծախեց» Հրէական Պետութիւն Մը Ստեղծելու Համար. Haaretz

http://www.ragmamoul.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/175.jpg

Հէրթցէլ Հայերը «Ծախեց» Հրէական Պետութիւն Մը Ստեղծելու Համար. Haaretz

Posted By: adminPosted date: August 29, 2016in: Լուրեր ԱշխարհէնNo Comments

1890-ականներուն թուրքերու կողմէ իրականացուած հայերու զանգուածային սպաննութիւններու ժամանակէն սկսած՝ հայկական հարցը առկայ եղած է սիոնական շարժման մէջ, նոյնիսկ մինչ առաջին Սիոնական քոնկրէսի կայացումը: Համաշխարհային սիոնականութեան հիմնադիր Թէոտոր Հերթցէլի ռազմավարութիւնը կառուցուած էր փոխանակման գաղափարի շուրջ, այսինքն ՝ Պաղեստինի ճանաչման եւ հրէական պետութեան հաստատման համաձայնութեան դիմաց հրեաները պէտք է մարէին Օսմանեան կայսրութեան ահռելի պարտքը: Հերթցէլ անօգուտ ջանք կը թափէր Սուլթան Համիտ Բ-ին համոզելու ընդունիլ իր առաջարկը։ Այս մասին Haaretz-ի մէջ գրած է Երուսաղէմի հրէական համալսարանի կրթութեան ու մշակոյթի պատմութեան մասնագէտ դոկտ. Ռէյչըլ Էլպոյմ-Տրորը:

«Սուլթանին փող առաջարկելու փոխարէն՝ անոր տուէք հայկական հարցի քաղաքական աջակցութիւն, եւ ան շնորհակալ կ’ըլլայ եւ կ’ընդունի ձեր առաջարկը՝ գոնէ մասամբ»,- Հերթցէլին ըսած է, անոր դիւանագիտական գործակալ Ֆիլիփ Մայքլ Նեւլինսկին (որ նաեւ եղած է սուլթանի խորհրդականը):

Եւրոպայի քրիստոնեայ երկիրները քննադատաբար կը մօտենային իսլամներու կողմէ հայ քրիստոնեաներու սպաննութիւններուն, եւ տարբեր վայրերու մէջ հայերուն օժանդակող կոմիտէներ կը ստեղծուէին, Եւրոպան հայ ապստամբութեան ղեկավարներուն ապաստան կ’առաջարկէր: Այս իրավիճակը շատ կը բարդացնէր Թուրքիոյ՝ Եւրոպական դրամատուներէն վարկեր ստանալու գործը:

Հերթցէլ անմիջապէս կ’ընդունի խորհուրդը: Ան կը զգար, որ պէտք էր ամէն ճիգ իրականացնել հրէական պետութեան հաստատումը արագցընելու համար: Այդպիսով ան կը համաձայնի գործիք դառնալ սուլթանին համար եւ հայ ապստամբ առաջնորդներուն կը փորձէ համոզել, որ եթէ անոնք յանձնուին, ապա սուլթանը կը կատարէ անոնց որոշ պահանջները: Հերթցէլ նաեւ կ’աշխատէր Արեւմուտքին ցուց տալ, որ Թուրքիան փաստօրէն աւելի մարդկային է, քան կը կարծուի, եւ ան հայ ապստամբներուն հետ այսպէս վարուելէ բացի այլ ելք չունէր: Հրեայ առաջնորդը մեծ ջանքերու շնորհիւ 1901 թուականի 17 մայիսին նաեւ հանդիպում կ’ունենար սուլթանին հետ։

Սուլթանը յոյս ունէր, որ յայտնի լրագրող Հէրթցէլ կը կարողանայ փոխել Օսմանեան կայսրութեան բացասական դէմքը: Եւ այսպէս՝ սուլթանի ցանկութիւնը ի կատար ածելու համար Հէրթցէլ կեդրոնացած կերպով գործի կ’անցնի ՝ հանդիսանալով խաղաղութեան միջնորդ: Ան կապեր կը հաստատէ եւ գաղտնի հանդիպումներ կ’ունենայ հայ ապստամբներու հետ՝ փորձելով զանոնք համոզել դադարեցնել զինուորական գրոհները: Սակայն հայերը համոզուած չէին անոր անկեղծութեան, եւ չէին վստահիր սուլթանի խոստումներուն: Այս նպատակով Հերթցէլ նաեւ եռանդուն փորձեր կը ձեռնարկէ իրեն ծանօթ՝ Եւրոպական դիւանագիտական կապերով հասնիլ իր ուզածին:

Ինչպէս բնորոշ էր իրեն՝ ան այլ սիոնական առաջնորդներու հետ չէր խորհրդակցէր եւ իր գործունէութիւնը գաղտնի կը պահէր: Բայց օգնութեան կարիք ունենալով՝ ան աւելի ուշ ստիպուած կ’ըլլայ գրել Մաքս Նորտաուին՝ անոր այդ գործին մէջ ներգրաւելու նպատակով: Նորտաու կը պատասխանէ մէկ բառէ կազմուած հեռագրով. «Ո՛չ»: Թուրքերէն Պաղեստինի հրովարտակը ստանալու իր ջանքերուն յաջորդող ամենամեայ սիոնական քոնկրէսի ժամանակ, հակառակ ներկայացուցիչներու ընդդիմութեան, Հէրթցէլ հրապարակայնօրէն կը յայտարարէ, որ սիոնական շարժումը իր հիացմունքն ու շնորհակալութիւնը կը յայտնէ սուլթանին:

Այդ հարցին մէջ Հերթցէլի գլխաւոր հակառակորդը Պեռնարտ Լազարէն էր՝ ֆրանսացի հրեայ մտաւորական, ձախակողմեան, յայտնի լրագրող եւ գրաքննադատ, որ ակնառու կերպով պայքարած էր Տրէյֆուսներու դատին դէմ եւ «հայկական հարց»ին աջակից էր: Զինք կը բարկացնէր Հերթցէլի գործունէութիւնը, եւ որպէս արդիւնք այդ լարուածութեան ան 1899 թուականին դուրս կու գար սիոնական կոմիտէէն եւ ընդհանրապէս կը լքէր շարժումը: Լազարէ բաց նամակ կը գրէր Հերթցէլին, ուր հարց կու տար անոր, թէ ինչպէս անոնք, որպէս հին ժողովուրդի ներկայացուցիչներ, որոնց պատմութիւնը գրուած է արեամբ՝ կրնան բարեկամական ձեռք մեկնել մարդասպաններուն, եւ ինչպէս սիոնական քոնկրէսի ոչ մէկ պատգամաւոր իր բողոքը կը բարձրացնէ:

Այս բոլորը, պարզապէս օրինակ են , այն մասին, թէ ինչպէս հրեայ մեծ առաջնորդը համամարդկային արժէքները ստորադասելով յանուն հրէական պետութեան կը ծառայէր թուրք հեղինակութիւններուն: Իսրայէլը անընդհատ հանդիպած է այսպիսի ողբերգական տիլեմաներու եւ որուն վկայութիւնն է Հայոց ցեղասպանութեան փաստի մերժումը, ինչպէս նաեւ շարք մը այլ որոշումներ, որոնք կ’արտացոլեն համամարդկային արժէքներու եւ քաղաքական նկատառումներու միջեւ իրական հակասութիւն եւ լարուածութիւն:

[Yervant1]

Azerbaijan hinders recognition of Armenian genocide in Knesset

September 7, 2016 14:23
EXCLUSIVE
1040 views

http://www.groong.com/news/attachments/msg585121/pnge5mAkpuxjU.png

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel's Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman.

Photo: REUTERS


Yerevan /Mediamax/. Head of Jerusalem Armenian National Committee Georgette Avagyan told Mediamax that Israeli government continues to pressure the Knesset members regarding recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

“The members of Israeli Parliament are expected to discuss the resolution on recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide once again in November. Many Knesset members told us that they recognize the Genocide but are pressured by the government. They are frightened,” Georgette Avagyan told Mediamax.

“The biggest issue today is caused by Azerbaijan. Defense Minister of Israel Avigdor Lieberman in particular has very close ties with Azerbaijan. Unfortunately, Lieberman is the one who hinders our work greatly. In other countries Turkey is responsible for hindering recognition of the Armenian Genocide, but Turkey says nothing in Israel, as its friend and ally Azerbaijan already has large influence,” she said.

Meanwhile, Georgette Avagyan Office expressed the hope that “Israeli MPs will be able to find the right solution for this situation.”

“I hope that the resolution will be adopted this time, because the majority of the population of Israel (around 80%) state it is a shame that Israel has not yet recognized and condemned the Armenian Genocide”, she noted.

Georgette Avagyan believes that once Israel recognizes the Genocide, many other countries will follow, USA especially.

Israeli Knesset Education, Culture and Sports Committee recognized the Armenian Genocide on August 1.

- See more at: http://www.mediamax.am/en/news/foreignpolicy/19755/#sthash.7Mrw1kBR.dpuf

[Yervant1]

We do not have anything against Israel and we do accept the Holocaust! Lack of morals!!!!!!!!!

 

Knesset Deputy Speaker: “We cannot recognize the Armenian Genocide”September 22, 2016 17:27

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Israeli Knesset Deputy Speaker Tali Ploskov

Photo: http://main.knesset.gov.il/

Yerevan /Mediamax/. Israeli Knesset Deputy Speaker Tali Ploskov said in an interview with Mediamax that "Today Israel does not have the opportunity to recognize Armenian Genocide on state level”.

 

 

“President of Israel and President of Knesset said that they accept the fact of the tragedy. But the political relations between Israel and other states do not allow Israel to recognize Armenian Genocide on state level. Although all of us deep inside accept that horrible tragedy and offer our support to the Armenian side,” Knesset Deputy Speaker said to Mediamax correspondent during her visit to Yerevan.

Nevertheless, Tali Ploskov emphasized that progress was registered in the process of recognition of the Armenian Genocide by Israel, when Knesset Education, Culture and Sports Committee officially recognized it in June, 2016.

“The next step is supposed to be the recognition by President of Israel or Minister of Foreign Affairs, but I am not quite sure it will happen. This issue is not going to change yet. Such issues are not solved quickly,” he said.

Knesset representative noted that it is very important for Israel that “Everyone in Yerevan understands that we do not have anything against Armenia”.

“Yes, we cannot declare what our Armenian counterparts would like us to say. We have reasons that everyone understands. But this does not mean we cannot cooperate,” the MP said

Tali Ploskov informed that he is in Armenia to participate in the celebration of the 25th anniversary of Independence of Armenia.

“Besides the main purpose of my visit, my counterpart Artak Zakaryan and I decided to hold a conference for entrepreneurs, which will host representatives of different spheres from both countries. We plan to hold the first such meeting on September 24,” Tali Ploskov said.

Israeli Knesset Deputy Speaker informed that he will have meetings with the Speaker and MPs of Armenian National Assembly to discuss inter-partliamentary cooperation related issues.

“Last year cooperation was intensified in different spheres between our two countries, which should be continuous. We should work hard to achieve it. I am convinced that there will be no obstacle on our way,” Israeli Knesset Deputy Speaker Tali Ploskov said in an interview to Mediamax.

- See more at: http://www.mediamax.am/en/news/society/19919/#sthash.WNUCBP4K.dpuf

 

[Yervant1]

Saviors in History: Ara Jeretzian By Gayane Mirzoyan

In 1981 Ara George Jeretzian became the first of more than 20 Armenians whose name appears on the list of the Righteous Among the Nations – an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to save Jews from extermination by the Nazis. During World War II, Jeretzian saved more than 400 Jews by hiding them in a hospital that he founded in occupied Budapest.

One of five children, Ara Jeretzian was born in Constantinople in 1918. Soon after his birth his entire family fled to Hungary to escape the on-going violence against Armenians. In the 1930s Jeretzian joined the youth movement of Hungary’s Fascist Arrow Cross Party, but resigned when the persecution of Jews began. He went into tailoring.

In March 1944 Budapest was occupied by the German army. The city’s Jews were subjected to a curfew and ordered into a ghetto. More than 220,000 people were supposed to be moved there prior to being sent to death camps in Poland.

Jeretzian was quick to spot the parallels between the events his family witnessed 30 years earlier and what he was observing in the very heart of Europe.

His son, Ara Jeretzian Jr, a businessman in Vienna, explains: “His mother told a lot of stories about the persecution of minorities in Turkey, and so my father felt a moral obligation to do everything he could to help other people who found themselves in the same circumstances. After all, he was only human.”

The Jeretzian family (left to right): Ara’s wife Maria, daughter Sofia, mother Sofia, son Ara Jeretzian Jr and Ara. From the family archive of Ara Jeretzian.

In the fall of 1944 the Soviet army approached Budapest. Ara Jeretzian, just 26 years old, was appointed commander of civil defence in the sixth district of Budapest. Ilby Frank, one of the people whom Jeretzian saved, continues the story: “As Jeretzian himself told us, he left the Fascist Party at the beginning of the war, but he didn’t draw a lot of attention to that. So he put on his old military uniform and went to the interior minister. Jeretzian told him that the Russians were very close, there were lots of wounded people in the city and the existing hospitals couldn’t cope. He proposed the creation of a new hospital where he would gather the best doctors and surgeons. The minister signed the decree that gave the hospital everything it needed. It was just incredible.”

According to Frank, Jeretzian also stole several seals and letters signed by the minister, which he later used to protect the hospital’s residents.

Together with well-known Hungarian-Jewish psychiatrist Ferenc Völgyesi, he opened a clinic in the basement of 1 Zichy Jeno Street. This clinic would save save hundreds of lives.

https://youtu.be/vKb35WDYZMc

 

Robert Holczer was just 15 years old when he and his mother moved to his aunt’s house, trying to escape Nazi persecution in the late fall of 1944. His story is kept in the archives of the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. His aunt’s one-bedroom apartment sheltered ten relatives, but despite such cramped quarters they were all happy because they could sleep peacefully, at least. Holczer believes the decision to move to this house was fateful – that was where Jeretzian and Völgyesi’s clinic had opened. “Jeretzian was a tall, handsome man. He wore a Fascist uniform and scared a lot of people, but he was very kind to us,” Holczer remembers.

Ara Jeretzian moved to the basement hospital with several loyal associates. Together with Völgyesi, they were able to staff the clinic with top-tier professionals. Anyone who was persecuted by the Nazis could find refuge in the hospital, whether as a patient or a member of staff. To make this happen, Jeretzian procured false papers. They managed to save 440 Jews in total, including 40 doctors. The Arrow Cross Party rarely bothered with inspections, despite numerous reports that Jeretzian was hiding Jews. The Fascists were distracted by detailed accounts of the hospital’s medical prowess.

1 Zichy Jeno Street, Budapest

In his book “Stories of a Survivor,” Canadian physician Norbert Kerényi shares his recollections of his time in the hospital. Kerényi was 17 years old at the time. One day, he met a former high school classmate on the street. The boy, wearing a Nazi uniform, didn’t shake his old friend’s hand, but instead reported to the commander of the sixth district that he had seen a Jew entering the hospital and asked for permission to arrest him. The commander (Jeretzian himself) said that he knew this Jew personally, adding that if the young man was so full of patriotic fervor, he should go to the front and fight there.

“This certainly was a dangerous situation, but our commander, George Jeretzian Ara protected me,” writes Kerényi.

The clinic played an important role in the city’s life by providing free medical assistance to the district’s residents. In November 1944, when the Soviet army surrounded Budapest, the clinic was turned into a full-fledged military hospital. During the siege, the Nazis were impressed by Jeretzian’s patriotism, as he treated Hungarian soldiers and Budapest residents at his own expense.

The forged documents of one of Jeretzian’s patients. From the Open Society Institute archive.

“The days during the siege were full of events, with constant actions and interactions. In a way, they could to a certain extent be compared to ‘Forty Days of Musa Dagh’ written by Franz Werfel, describing a small group of Armenians resisting a holocaust of Turkish design. We had essentially passive resistance, using forged papers and the hospital’s protection,” writes Norbert Kerényi.

Before the occupation, more than 250,000 Jews lived in Budapest. During the Holocaust, most were annihilated by the Nazis. Mass murders continued all the way untill the Soviet army entered the city.

Any Jews found outside the ghetto were taken on a death march toward the Danube.

Several non-Jewish families lived in the hospital building. Some of them hoped that this would give them protection when the Red Army entered the city. But even then, there were those who continued to inform on their neighbors.

Ara Jeretzian with his wife Maria, daughter Sofia, and son Ara, 1956. From the family archive of Ara Jeretzian.

“Not long before the military assault on the city, a neighbor informed on us, and the Fascists attempted to disarm Jeretzian’s people to stop them from guarding us. He seemed somewhat bewildered. We all got ready to pack up and go, but suddenly Ara was back with some document from a higher authority and ordered them to leave because this was a protected territory and the clinic was working for the government,” Holczer recalls.

Here’s how Ilby Frank remembered this story: “Early in the morning on January 2 we were woken by the Hungarian Nazis. They ordered us out into the courtyard. The winter air was very cold. Jeretzian came in wearing a Nazi uniform, and he ordered them not to touch anyone until he had spoken with the higher-ups. Several hours later he was back with a letter signed by the minister. Two days later Jeretzian admitted to my husband that he couldn’t find the minister because the government was already in chaos. He simply took a piece of paper with the minister’s signature, wrote the letter himself and stamped it with one of the seals he stole earlier.”

 

Ara Jeretzian Jr with his daughters Constance and Clarissa. From the family archive of Ara Jeretzian.

On February 13, 1945 Budapest was overtaken by the Soviet army, which began arresting Nazis and their collaborators. After the city was liberated, Ara Jeretzian was arrested and spent about six months in the custody of the Soviet intelligence service. “There he met an Armenian prison guard who advised him not to sign any confessions. Thus, after suffering through much torture, he was finally freed,” says Jeretzian Jr.

In the early 1960s Ara Jeretzian moved to Vienna. He kept in touch with very few of the people he saved.

“Father didn’t think much of gratitude. For him, everything he did was a matter of course,” says his son.

It wasn’t until 1982 that the Israeli Ambassador to Austria and the bishop of the Armenian church presented Ara Jeretzian with a Yad Vashem medal at a ceremony in the Armenian church of Vienna.

Ara Jeretzian died in 2010. He was 92.

“For many years nobody was interested in this story of salvation. But over the last few years, my father has been awarded several prizes posthumously. Right now, they are filming a documentary about him, and they plan to hang a memorial plaque on the building where the hospital was,” Ara Jeretzian Jr. says proudly.

https://auroraprize.com/en/aurora/article/heroes/10025/saviors-history-ara-jeretzian

[Yervant1]

Turkish Writer Exposes Persecution of Jews in Turkey

• 10:40 | April 19,2017 | Politics
• Հայ

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

Israel National News published an extremely interesting article written by Turkish journalist Uzay Bulut on the discrimination and persecution that Turkish Jews have suffered since the establishment of the Turkish Republic in 1923.

This is an important exposé since the Turkish government has gone to great lengths for many decades to deceive the international community that there is great tolerance for Jews in Turkish and that Jews lived in a democratic society which protected their civil and religious rights. The aim of this Turkish propaganda campaign was two-fold: To keep Israeli leaders and American Jews happy so they would support Turkish interests in Washington and enlist the political lobbying clout of American Jews in Washington to counter congressional efforts to recognize the Armenian Genocide.

The Turkish government back in 1992 commemorated with a big splash the 500th anniversary of Jews fleeing from Spain and relocating in Turkey. Ankara co-opted many of the Jewish community leaders, including the Chief Rabbi, into propagating this false historical narrative. When I wrote an editorial back then exposing the lies of that celebration, I got a letter from the head of the commemorative events, asking why I wanted to cast a negative light on their celebration. Interestingly, that Jewish leader did not contest any of the facts in my article on the persecution of Jews in the Ottoman Empire throughout the centuries.

Bulut’s article is significant because it describes the persecution of Jews not centuries ago but during our own times in ‘modern’ Turkey! The article begins with a news item from the Turkish Milliyet newspaper reporting that dozens of historic Jewish synagogues “run the risk of disappearing forever.” One of the main reasons why these synagogues are disappearing is that the majority of the Jewish community of Turkey has departed from Turkey fleeing from “systematic discrimination and campaigns of forced Turkification and Islamization.” Bulut reports that in 1923, at the beginning of the Turkish Republic, there were 81,454 Jews in Turkey. That number has dwindled to “fewer than 15,000.” The last of Jewish schools was shut down by the Turkish government in 1937, according to Bulut.

Here is the list of the major episodes of Turkish persecution and discrimination against Jews and other non-Turkish minorities in recent decades, as compiled by Turkish journalist Bulut:

— The Turkish Law of Family adopted in 1934 forced Jews and other non-Turks to abandon their ethnic names and adopt Turkish sounding names.

— “Jews were deprived of their freedom of movement at least three times: in 1923, 1925 and 1927.” Bulut also mentions that “during the Holocaust, Turkey opened its doors to very few Jewish and political refugees and even took measures to prevent Jewish immigration in 1937.”

— Hate speech and anti-Semitic comments are very prevalent in Turkish society and the media. Activities in support of Israel by the Jewish community were banned by the Republic of Turkey.

— The Turkish government has assigned secret code numbers to individuals of Jewish, Armenian and Greek descent. That way the government can track them down and expose their background when necessary.

— “Laws that excluded Jews and other non-Muslims from certain professions:” The Republic of Turkey banned these minorities from holding government positions. “Thousands of non-Muslims lost their jobs,” according to Bulut.

— Prohibition of the use in public of all languages except Turkish. The “Citizen Speak Turkish” campaign in the first years of the Republic mainly targeted the Jewish community, according to Rifat Bali, the leading scholar of Turkish Jewry.

— “The Jews of Eastern Thrace were targeted by pogroms from June 21-July 4, 1934. These began with a boycott of Jewish businesses, and were followed by physical attacks on Jewish-owned buildings, which were first looted, then set on fire. Jewish men were beaten, and some Jewish women reportedly raped. Terrorized by this turn of events, more than 15,000 Jews fled the region.”

— The conscription of non-Muslims in the Turkish Army (1941-42). “On April 22, 1941, 12,000 non-Muslims (also known as “the twenty classes”), including Jewish men — even the blind and physically disabled — were conscripted. But instead of doing active service, they were sent to work in labor battalions under terrible conditions for the construction of roads and airports. Some of them lost their lives or caught diseases.”

— “On Nov. 11, 1942, the Turkish government enacted the Wealth Tax Law, which divided the taxpayers in four groups, as per their religious backgrounds: Muslims, non-Muslims, converts (‘donme’), i.e. members of a Sabbatean sect of Jewish converts to Islam, and foreign nationals. Only 4.94 percent of Turkish Muslims had to pay the Wealth Tax. The Armenians were the most heavily taxed, followed by Jews. According to the scholar Başak İnce, ‘the underlying reason was the elimination of minorities from the economy, and the replacement of the non-Muslim bourgeoisie by its Turkish counterpart.’”

— “During the 6-7 September 1955 government-instigated attacks against non-Muslim communities in Istanbul, Turkish mobs devastated the Greek, Armenian, and Jewish districts of the city, destroying and looting their places of worship, homes, businesses, cemeteries, and schools, among others.”

— “Murders of Jews: Yasef Yahya, a 39-year-old Jewish dentist was brutally murdered on August 21, 2003 in his office in the Şişli district of Istanbul, many Jewish lawyers and doctors in Istanbul removed the signs on their offices in order not to have the same fate as Yahya.”

This list of continued harassment and persecution of Jews and other minorities should be sent to the international media each time that the Turkish government misrepresents its record of mistreatment of the Jewish community in Turkey.

It is a shame that the Israeli government does not whisper a single word of criticism in the face of such persecution of fellow Jews in Turkey. On the contrary, Israeli officials cowardly buckle under pressure from Turkey to deny the Armenian Genocide and ban this crime against humanity from Israeli TV and academic conferences.

http://en.a1plus.am/1259149.html