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(Australia) Parliament of NSW Recognizes Assyrian, Greek, Armenian Genocide

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May 1, 2013 – 13:13 AMT

On May 1, in a historically unprecedented move at the request of the Assyrian Universal Alliance, the Australian Hellenic Council and the Armenian National Committee of Australia, the Legislative Council of the NSW parliament passed unanimously a motion recognizing the Assyrian, Greek and 717292Armenian genocides, AINA reports.

Mr. Hermiz Shahen, the Deputy Secretary General of the Assyrian Universal Alliance said; “this constitutes an extraordinary moment in the history of the Assyrian nation. The Assyrian nation is struggling for years to gain the International recognition of the genocide perpetrated against them by the Ottoman government under the leadership of a chauvinistic party, the Young Turk between1914 – 1923. This recognition will act as a powerful counter to those, especially in present-day Turkey, who still ignore or deny outright the genocides of the Ottoman Christian minorities. Assyrians in Iraq, Syria and Turkey are continuously paying the price as a consequence of the denial of their genocide.”

The motion reads that the NSW Parliament “joins the Assyrians, Armenians and Greeks communities of New South Wales in honoring the memory of the innocent men, women and children who fell victim to the first modern genocides.”

It “recognizes the importance of remembering and learning from such dark chapters in human history to ensure that such crimes against humanity are not allowed to be repeated.”

Collection of digital photos on Genocide prepared

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May 1, 2013 – 14:14 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – The Armenian Assembly of America, Armenian National Institute and Armenian Genocide Museum of America (AGMA) have prepared a collection of digital photos, maps and other documents about the Armenian Genocide.

156606The album mainly comprises digital photos, taken by photographers of German Empire and Austria-Hungary.

According to the director of Armenian National Institute, historian Dr. Rouben P. Adalian, the photos were mainly taken in Deir ez-Zor and in the territory of historic Armenia, particularity in the suburbs of Tigranakert, Yerznka and Erzurum.

“The fact that the photos were taken by soldiers of the allies of the Ottoman Empire makes their documentary value indisputable,” the author of the album, Mr. Adalian said.

The album is available in PDF format in the websites of Armenian Assembly of America and Armenian National Institute. According a museum trustee Van Krikorian, Armenian Americans are searching for new ways to raise awareness on Genocide ahead of the 100th anniversary of the tragedy, with new measures to be taken in the future.

Film on Genocide may be screened at Istanbul festival

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May 1, 2013 – 16:54 AMT

Nubar Alexanian, 62, has spent the past 35 years working as a photojournalist and filmmaker. He’s traveled to more than 40 countries shooting for 156645magazines such as Life, Newsweek, Time, National Geographic, Fortune and Geo, The Armenian Mirror-Spectator reports.

He has published five books and rubbed elbows with some of the most influential people throughout the musical world like Paul Simon, Wynton Marsalis and Garth Brooks.

Alexanian’s daughter, Abby, 24, is a recent graduate of Vassar College. Over the past decade, she has spent summers and vacations working on her dad’s still photography and film sets.

Together, they are a father-daughter team uniquely positioned to make a film that speaks to the challenges that Armenian families face today.

The Alexanians’ film is titled, “Journey to Armenia: Three Generations from Genocide.” It is the story of how a young woman’s curiosity propels her reluctant father to join her in finally confronting their family’s dark past and discovering how the denial of the 1915 Armenian Genocide affects them today.

The Alexanians explain that the film is different than other films of a similar variety. “There are no others I have seen about the effects of denial and the silence that has incurred over three generations,” said Nubar Alexanian. “It’s a feature length documentary about the scars of silence and how a staggering act of inhumanity has forever changed what it means to be Armenian.”

The Alexanians have set a release date of December 2014. The film will run 55-75 minutes and they have added Errol Morris to their production team. Morris’ film, “The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara,” won the Academy Award in 2004 for Best Documentary Feature.

Nubar Alexanian hopes to share not only his own family’s perspective, but also the shared experiences of those of Armenian heritage.

“The film tells a story that is deeply personal but also reflects the intergenerational experiences of immigrant families in America,” he said. “It explores larger questions about the devastating effects of denial, the scars of silence and the healing power of curiosity. It echoes the story of families all over the world who suffer tragedies, flee, create new lives with old traditions and search for their place and search for their place in a heritage they only half understand.”

The film incorporates DVD home video footage of Armenians visiting their ancestral land, shown over the past decade by Aroyan, who has been guiding tour groups for more than 20 years. The Alexanians have big plans for the film and hope to show it in movie theaters, film festivals, television and international broadcasts. The International Istanbul Film Festival has already expressed an interest.

“Beyond that, we plan to market our film for home viewing with a special emphasis on educational venues,” Nubar Alexanian said.

ANC starts rally in Armenia’s capital

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The Armenia55n National Congress (ANC) party has started its rally in Yerevan’s Freedom Square.

ANC leader, Armenia’s first president Levon Ter-Petrosyan, Vahagn Khachatryan (who tops the ANC list in the elections to Yerevan’s Council of Elders) and other members are to speak at the rally.

Moles, informants and double agents in Boston Marathon bombings

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The bizarre circumstances and dubious names in the Boston Marathon bombings have raised many questions that have yet to be answered by government officials and journalists.

g_image.phpThe most mysterious character is ‘Misha’ whom Ruslan Tsarni, uncle of the Boston bombers, described as an Armenian convert to Islam who had supposedly brainwashed and radicalized Tamerlan, the elder of the suspected Tsarnaev brothers. Ruslan described ‘Misha’ as a heavy-set bald exorcist with a long reddish beard!

Initially, no one could find ‘Misha.’ While his alleged affiliation with Tamerlan and Armenian origin was prominently and repeatedly mentioned in the media, it took the authorities 10 days to announce that they knew who ‘Misha’ was and that he had no connection to the terrorist acts!

Last Sunday, Christian Caryl of the New York Review of Books, was finally able to locate and interview the elusive ‘Misha’ in his Rhode Island home. Even though Caryl disclosed that ‘Misha,’ a native of Baku, Azerbaijan, is the son of an Armenian father and a Ukrainian mother, and that his last name is Allakhverdov, the media continues to refer to him as an ‘Armenian.’ Notably, neither Caryl nor anyone else mentions the fact that ‘Misha’ or ‘Mikayel’ — a common Christian name — cannot be the name of a Muslim! Moreover, after the break up of the Soviet Union, many Muslim Azerbaijanis applied for asylum in Europe and the United States, under the pretext that they were persecuted Christian Armenians! It is odd that ‘Misha,’ supposedly a Christian, would flee from Islamic persecution in Baku, only to convert to Islam in America!

Interestingly, Caryl reports that ‘Misha’ had nothing to do with the Boston bombings, which is exactly what government investigators had earlier announced. Could it be that US officials had put Caryl in contact with ‘Misha’ in order to confirm their declaration of his innocence, leading some analysts to speculate that ‘Misha’ may have been an FBI informant whose cover is now being meticulously protected!

The next suspicious character is Uncle Ruslan who has accused ‘Misha the Armenian’ of having a powerful influence over Tamerlan. Ruslan himself has had a checkered past, having worked for USAID and several Caspian Sea energy companies, while married to Samantha Ankara Fuller, daughter of Graham Fuller, a retired top CIA official. Because of Ruslan’s close relationship to the bombers’ family, his employment with Central Asian oil companies including Halliburton, and marriage to the daughter of a high-ranking CIA official, some analysts have suggested that the enigmatic uncle warrants a closer look.

Last week, prominent Armenian-American attorney Mark Geragos blasted Ruslan Tsarni on CNN, suggesting that “somebody needs to give this uncle a field sobriety test, because I think this guy is under the influence of something.” Geragos was furious that Ruslan had linked the Boston bombers to the ‘Armenian Misha,’ while Armenians worldwide were commemorating the 98th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide! Ruslan then tried to reach Geragos by telephone, seeking “to clarify” his earlier statement. Geragos refused to take his call.

Some analysts suggest that Tamerlan may have been recruited by the Russian secret services (FSB) to spy on Chechen extremists during his six-month stay in Chechnya and Dagestan last year. Having informed the FBI and CIA of Tamerlan’s links to radical Islamist groups, and not receiving a satisfactory response from US officials, it could be that the FSB took matters into its own hands and recruited the unemployed and penniless young Chechen during his lengthy stay in Russia.

Other analysts speculate that Tamerlan may have been an informant for the US government. Such a supposition is much more credible than assuming that the FBI and CIA were too incompetent or too busy to conduct a thorough investigation of Tamerlan’s background after the Russian FSB brought his name to their attention. It could be that US authorities knew Tamerlan only too well and may have even encouraged him to travel to Russia as their mole in Jihadist circles.

Finally, there are those who believe that Tamerlan ended up betraying both the Russian and American intelligent services, deciding instead to support radical Islamic groups, “out of anger over US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,” according to his younger brother Dzhokhar’s jailhouse confession.

Of course, these speculations are advanced by various analysts based on preliminary information, pending a thorough Congressional investigation to uncover the true facts. Americans killed and maimed in the Boston bombings deserve an honest answer!

Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier

Armenian Genocide commemoration at Pasadena City Hall

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Hundreds of Armenian Americans gathered under cloudy skies at the front steps of City Hall on the morning of Wednesday, April 24th, in Pasadena to commemorate the Armenian Genocide and calling for the official recognition of the atrocities committed by the Turkish Government on April 24, 1915, Asbarez reported.

g_image.php3333A crowd of almost 500 Armenian Americans, community leaders, dignitaries and State Officials assembled for the event organized by the local chapter of the Armenian National Committee of America, where city officials from Pasadena, Sierra Madre and La Crescenta Town Council were present for the momentous occasion. Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca was among those officials who spoke and conveyed his heartfelt message at the event, as did Former State Assemblyman, Anthony Portantino and Pasadena City Councilmember Gene Masuda, who presented ANCA – Pasadena Chapter’s Chairperson, Shoghig Yepremian, the city’s official Armenian Genocide Commemoration Proclamation recognizing the Armenian Genocide.

ANCA – Pasadena Chapter Chairperson Shoghig Yepremian reminded those present of the day’s significance in the history of humanity and that this crime of genocide has gone unpunished for far too long and that the time has come to put things right.

ACF Member Hovig Saliba’s speech reminded the Armenian Community that there’s much work to be done and we as Armenians can never rest until reparations, restitution and the recognition of the heinous crimes the Turkish Government committed against the Armenians and Humanity is fully, utterly and unequivocally accounted for.

Former Pasadena Mayor and Chairperson of the Pasadena Armenian Genocide Memorial Committee, Bill Paparian took the podium and grabbed the crowd’s attention by saying, “The scars are not healed.” “We are still haunted by the emptiness that comes from losing entire families. When a loved one disappears, the disappearance lasts forever. Before former Mayor Bill Paparian concluded his remarks, he’d introduced the Pasadena Armenian Genocide Memorial Committee Members after which he introduced the Art Center student who designed the memorial, Catherine Menard.

Catherine Menard, the Environmental Design student at the Art Center College of Design, whose well-researched and brilliant design of the Armenian Genocide Memorial has taken the city by storm since she was the Design Panel’s pick out of 17 submissions. Catherine’s deep and sincere words expressed her feelings as she researched the genocide and atrocities the Turkish Government committed, even quoting the famous Armenian poet, Siamanto, whose words clearly had an impact on Menard as she prepared her award winning design.

Describing the Armenians, as one of the most “vibrant communities in Southern California,” Menard took on the challenge to come up with a masterful memorial design worthy of the accolades that have been bestowed upon it so far, so that it would find its place in Pasadena’s Memorial Park by the time the 100th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide turns up on April 24th, 2015.

In the days leading up to the Armenian Genocide Commemoration on April 24th, The City of Sierra Madre City Council, at its regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday, April 23, 2013, presented a Certificate of Recognition to the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) – Pasadena Chapter for the 98th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

This is the first year that the City of Sierra Madre City Council has issued a proclamation declaring that the city acknowledges the April 24, 1915 atrocities perpetrated by the Turkish Government against the Armenian people, that as a community they stand together and join the Armenian community to memorialize their fallen ancestors, and to ensure that such horrible acts are not repeated ever again. John Harabedian, a current Council member, presented the proclamation to Shoghig Yepremian, the Chair of Pasadena Chapter ANCA.

Pasadena Unified School District (PUSD) Board, on April 23rd, 2013, also acknowledged the Armenian Genocide by adopting Resolution 2244, in part the resolution reads as follows:

Remembrance – Armenian Genocide, in which the Armenian Genocide is commemorated on April 24, the date in 1915 when the Turkish government arrested 200 Armenian leaders in Constantinople, thus beginning the wholesale slaughter, imprisonment and forced deportation of millions of Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire.

PUSD Board President Ms. Renatta Cooper, board members and School Superintendent, John Gundry, were all present along with ANCA – Pasadena board members for the passing of the Resolution.

Armenian Genocide commemorated in Congress and in communities around the world

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From our nation’s Capitol and across America and the world, Armenians and non-Armenians alike commemorated the 98th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, reported the Armenian Assembly of America.

g_image.php222On Capitol Hill, under the leadership of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues, co-chaired by Congressmen Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ) and Michael Grimm (R-NY), scores of Members on a bi-partisan basis observed the 98th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide with an evening program on April 24th.

With views of the Capitol in the background, the Armenian Genocide Observance took place on the top floor of the Senate Hart Office Building, and was held with the support of the Embassy of the Republic of Armenia and the Office of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic and in conjunction with Armenian American organizations, including the Armenian National Committee of America and the Armenian Assembly. Sarig Armenian, an attorney and a former congressional staffer, served at the Master of Ceremonies.

In addition to the Co-Chairs of the Armenian Caucus, the following legislators participated in the evening’s program: Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), along with Representatives Tony Cardenas (D-CA), David Cicilline (D-RI), Jim Costa (D-CA), Vice-Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus Joe Crowley (D-NY), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs Eliot Engel (D-NY), Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Scott Garrett (R-NJ), Janice Hahn (D-CA), Rush Holt (D-NJ), House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA), Linda Sanchez (D-CA), John Sarbanes (D-MD), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Brad Sherman (D-CA), Jackie Speier (D-CA), John Tierney (D-MA), Dina Titus (D-NV), and Niki Tsongas (D-MA).

“The Armenian Assembly appreciates the bipartisan, bicameral solidarity of our congressional friends,” stated Executive Director Bryan Ardouny. “We will continue to raise awareness, fight against genocide denial and urge all people of goodwill to stand with us to ensure that genocide is prevented in the future.”

In addition to remarks by Members of Congress, the Republic of Armenia’s Ambassador to the United States, His Excellency Tatoul Markarian and Nagorno Karabakh Representative to the United States Robert Avetisyan rounded out the program’s speakers. Archbishop Vicken Aykazian, the Legate of the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church of America gave the opening prayer, and the benediction was given by Archbishop Oshagan Choloyan, Prelate of the Armenian Apostolic Church of the Eastern United States.

Throughout the country from California to Maine and across the globe from Jerusalem to Argentina, communities paused to remember man’s inhumanity to man. In addition, the Administration sent officials to the Armenian Genocide commemorations held in Yerevan and Istanbul while in the United States, the Florida Senate passed its first resolution commemorating the Armenian Genocide.

In the week leading up to the Capitol Hill Commemoration, members of the Central and East European Coalition (CEEC) held an Advocacy Day to discuss a number of key issues, including support for U.S. affirmation of the Armenian Genocide. The CEEC is comprised of 18 nationwide organizations, including the Armenian Assembly and represents more than 20 million Americans.

Established in 1972, the Armenian Assembly of America is the largest Washington-based nationwide organization promoting public understanding and awareness of Armenian issues. The Assembly is a non-partisan, 501(c)(3) tax-exempt membership organization.

Source: Panorama.am

Archbishop Aram Ateshyan told about concealed Armenians in Turkey

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11:07, 30 April, 2013

YEREVAN, APRIL 30, ARMENPRESS: The General Vicar of the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople, Archbishop Aram Ateshyan gave an interview to the Turkish Bugun TV channel, where he told about the concealed Armenians living in Turkey, the number of which makes about a million. As 717130reported by Armenpress, the Archbishop Aram Ateshyan stated that those people were made to conceal their nation and become Muslims during the World War I, because of the well-known events, occurred to Armenians in the Ottoman Turkey.

“There are about a hundred thousand people in the present generation in Turkey, whose parents are Armenians and they are Muslims. They talk Armenian and wear a cross secretly. I cleared it out due to my personal contacts. They do not want to attend church, as it will reveal their identity. The liturgy held in the Saint Kirakos Church in Diyarbakir was attended by more than 400 people, half of which having Armenian roots. My family as well lives in Diyarbakir as Muslims. The sons of my elder sister also live in Diyarbakir. They accepted Islam under pressure in 1950.

My son-in-law was told if he does not accept Islam, he will be killed. I was born in 1954. When I was 4-5, my sister became a Muslim. Their children became Muslims as well. My sister wore her cross secretly and spoke Armenian. I lost them, as they did not attend our church and I could not christen them. Many of the concealed Armenians told about their being Armenians only before the death.

A 30-year-old man came to me and asked to christen him. I told him to prove his being Armenian and he could not. Then his father called me and asked to accept his son. He said that he worked in the municipality and when he retires, he will return to his roots. According to his son, 90% of the population of Tunceli are Armenians and now he is a member of our church”, – told the General Vicar of the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople, Archbishop Aram Ateshyan.

Armenian and Iranian prosecutor general’s offices sign memorandum of cooperation

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April 30, 2013 | 11:57

YEREVAN. – The prosecutor general’s offices of Armenia and Iran signed a memorandum of cooperation.

The document was signed, on Tuesday in Armenia’s capital city Yerevan, by Armenian Prosecutor General Aghvan Hovsepyan and Iranian Attorney 151256General Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei.

During the official signing ceremony, Hovsepyan noted that the parties are manifesting goodwill to deepen cooperation in the legal domain. In his view, Armenia and Iran collaborate actively, and therefore it is important to regulate relations in the aforesaid domain

“The signed document enables for direct cooperation between the prosecutor’s offices of both countries. In this way, all matters will be resolved quickly and efficiently,” Armenia’s chief prosecutor noted.

In his turn, the Iranian attorney general stated that even though relations between the two countries are friendly and their contacts are developing, these cannot be complete without the legal domain.

Author Peter Balakian speaks at Illinois Holocaust Museum

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April 30, 2013 – 09:33 AMT

Earlier this month, author Peter Balakian spoke to an audience of more than 250 people at the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center in 156411Skokie, a suburb of Chicago, and a town that is still remembered for the controversial march of neo-Nazi groups there in 1979, Asbarez reported.

The Museum is the second largest of its kind after the U.S. Holocaust Museum and Memorial in Washington, DC.

Balakian lectured for the occasion of the 98th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide commemorated on April 24. He also commenced his work with the Museum as Senior Scholar for the Armenian Genocide exhibit it will mount in 2015 for the genocide’s 100th anniversary.

In his opening remarks, Museum Executive Director Rick Hirschhaut said: “Our young people – our future – must be a bridge to the future, and ensure that we realize the lessons that were set forth by us, by the Armenian genocide, the Holocaust, and all such terrible atrocities. We must speak for those whose voices were silenced and for those who survived so we may remember and pledge never to forget. Today,” Hirschhaut continued, “at this gathering, we are reminded of a history that must be recognized, and remembered, and calls to the importance of lighting the torch of truth for the world community.”

Nairee Hagopian of the ANCA then introduced Balakian and expressed her gratitude to the Museum for initiating such an important and timely project.

Balakian thanked Hirschhaut and the Illinois Holocaust Museum for their leadership in partnering with the ANCA to build an Armenian Genocide exhibit for the 2015 anniversary, “a project,” he said, “that will serve as a model for others to come.”

Balakian also noted how crucial the ongoing support and intellectual work of the Jewish community has been, and continues to be, “from Ambassador Henry Morgenthau, Franz Werfel, and Raphael Lemkin to the work and support of so many superb scholars in our time including Elie Wiesel, Deborah Lipstadt, Robert Melson, Robert Jay Lifton, Andrew Goldberg, and many others, Jews who have made a decisive difference in clarifying our understanding of what happened to the Armenians in 1915.”

For the April 24 commemoration of the Armenian Genocide, Balakian then gave a lecture, “Raphael Lemkin, Cultural Destruction, and the Armenian Genocide.” He discussed Lemkin’s deep thinking about what happened to the Armenians in 1915 as a seminal case of genocide, noting how Lemkin’s intellectual commitment to what he came to call genocide was heavily influenced by his study of the Turkish mass killing of Armenians. It was Lemkin, he said, who first coined the term Armenian genocide in the 1940s, and explained the concept on a special CBS Television broadcast about the UN Genocide Convention, in February 1949. Balakian also explored how the destruction of Armenian culture (intellectuals and artists, churches, schools, libraries, forced conversions to Islam, etc.) constituted a key component of genocide.

In an extensive PowerPoint presentation, Balakian showed arresting images of magnificent, thriving Armenian churches before 1915, and those same churches, in Turkey, that are in ruins today. He concluded by observing that this kind of cultural destruction still has complex reverberations, and impacts on Armenians in Armenia, in the diaspora, and in Turkey.