Gunman attacks Armenian church in Istanbul

May 6, 2013 By administrator

An unknown assailant opened fire into the air outside a small Armenian church in Istanbul on Sunday while an Orthodox sermon was being held inside, according to Turkish media.

The church where the incident happened is in Gedikpasa, not far from the official Armenian Patriarchate. Garo Paylan, who was attending the event, said that someone fired seven shots into the air while standing in front of the church’s gate. He said that the congregation panicked and ran outside. Paylan also added that he believed the reason why this happened in front of the smaller church is because there are less security cameras around it as opposed to the street where the patriarchy is located.

He said that the police had arrived at the scene and started investigations to identify the shooter. They were also to review footage from nearby cameras.

Azeri Report: In U.S. Azerbaijanis tricked the locals in Heydar Aliyev’s anniversary celebration

May 6, 2013 By administrator

On May 5, many Americans unknowingly celebrated the 90th birthday of a corrupt foreign communist dictator by attending the “Flower Day” event hosted in the National Mall in Washington DC by a foreign lobbying group Azerbaijani-American Alliance (AAA), the Azeri Report says.

According to the article the event was described as a mere “Celebration of Azerbaijani Culture and Friendship”. AAA clearly and deliberately misrepresented the facts and hid the real reasons behind the “Flower Day” festivities from residents and visitors of the US capital, trying to trick them into celebrating the late Azerbaijani dictator’s birthday.

It says that the “Flower Day” is established in Azerbaijan as an official May 10 birthday commemoration for the founder of corrupt and repressive Aliyev dictatorship, the former communist boss and KGB general, Heydar Aliyev, who is also the father of the current president Ilham Aliyev.

But AAA’s announcement of Flower Day celebration in DC mentions nothing about Heydar Aliyev, to whom the event is dedicated in Azerbaijan. Instead, it provides false and misleading information, by stating that “The Azerbaijani holiday of Flower Day occurs in early May and has been recognized for more than half a century. Flower Day celebrates the arrival of spring and the spirit of hope and renewal that blooming flowers represent.”

“The real “arrival of spring and the spirit of hope and renewal” have been celebrated for centuries in Azerbaijan during the Novruz holidays in March – at the same time as in many other countries of the region. The information about Novruz holiday in Azerbaijan can be found easily on internet, anywhere from Azerbaijani President’s official websites to AAA’s own Novruz webpage,” the Azeri Report says.

As for the Flower Day, it is marked for Heydar Aliyev’s May 10 birthday commemoration that started only in the year 2000, not “more than half a century” ago as AAA states. And it really took off only after his death in 2003, when his son Ilham Aliyev took over the presidency in fraudulent elections marred with violent crackdown on peaceful protests, the article reads.

“Each year, on May 10th, millions of dollars of state funds is spent on bringing exotic flowers to Baku and organizing lavish displays to mark the birthday of a long dead founder of Aliyev regime. This is just one of many expressions of personality cult around the figure of Heydar Aliyev. The Azerbaijani Academy of Sciences has a whole department dedicated to “Aliyev Science”. His giant portraits and statues are present all over country; the country’s largest airport bears his name, and so do thousands of streets, parks and buildings,” the article reads.

It is noted that Azerbaijani officials and opportunity seekers at all levels try to outdo each other in issuing praises and hosting events in honor of the “Dear Leader” Heydar Aliyev. “This is largely aimed to please his son, the current head of the corrupt and repressive regime, Ilham Aliyev. The Azerbaijani government also exerts considerable efforts and spends large sums to advance this personality cult outside the country’s borders,” it says.

According to the author of the article, it is not surprising that a lobbying group like Azerbaijani-American Alliance (AAA) would promote corrupt Aliyev regime’s personality cult in the US. After all, AAA is run by Anar Mammadov, the son of the Azerbaijani minister of transportation Ziya Mammadov, whose name is mentioned as one of the top corrupt Azeri officials anywhere from Wikileaks diplomatic cables to international Organized Crime and Corruption reports. AAA funding, according to FARA records, comes from Ziya Mammadov’s shadowy business empire “ZQAN Holding”.

“Apparently that money enables them to buy some fun time with US officials, including the House Speaker John Boehner, among many, and a favorable PR articles in prestigious US magazines,” the article says.

According to the article apparently, the Aliyev regime suffered major embarrassments from recent setbacks to its attempts to spread the Heydar Aliyev personality cult abroad. “It seems that once the truth about who Heydar Aliyev really was emerges, people in foreign countries are not so eager to celebrate former KGB general’s birthday and host his statues, even when paid millions of dollars by the Azerbaijani government to do so. Perhaps some within the regime in Baku and its representatives abroad recognize this as well, and they now try to hide the “shame” of their personality cult “addiction” by disusing it as innocent May “Flower Day” celebrations of “the arrival of spring”.

Source: Panorama.am

Turkish Authorities Involved in Stealing Body Organs of Injured Syrians victims (Another Turkish crime against humanity)

May 5, 2013 By administrator

BEIRUT, (SANA)- The Lebanese ad-Diyar newspaper revealed that the Turkish authorities are involved in trafficking the body organs of injured Syrians who reach the Turkish territories.

In its issue on Saturday, the newspaper said the Turkish authorities transport young Syrian injured of those who enter Turkey to hospitals in Antalya and Iskenderun in cars guarded by Turkish police and intelligence.

It added that the injured Syrians have their body organs excised after being anesthetized to be later killed and mostly buried in the Turkish lands or sent to the border.

The newspaper noted that the body organs of the injured people that are mostly trafficked are livers, kidneys and hearts to be given to people who are waiting for treatment in Turkey, according to confirmed information.

A French doctor confirmed to Ad-Diyar that stealing of human body organs of injured Syrians in Turkey has actually taken place.

The Lebanese newspaper pointed out that European scientific websites known for their credibility revealed acts of stealing body organs that took place at Antalya Hospital, noting that body organ theft and transplantation operations have increased in Turkey over the past two years since the beginning of the crisis in Syria.

It added that Syrian doctors who have come from Germany, France and Belgium to treat the injured have found out about human body organ stealing, but were prevented from getting any information by the Turkish army.

Ad-Diyar stressed that Turkish doctors confirmed that out of 62,000 civilian and military injured people who were transported to Turkey, body organs of 15,622 of them were excised, with the injured people sent back to Syria to be buried.

The newspaper cited an incident when families of one of those sent to be buried in Syria opened the coffin only to discover the truth, noting that the Syrian doctors were prevented from seeing any of the dead bodies inside Turkey.

Ad-Diyar said the World Health Organization has started an immediate investigation into the issue and asked the Turkish Health Ministry to provide a list of the number of organ transplantation surgeries performed over many years for comparison and the names of the patients.

H. Said

Divine Liturgy dedicated to NKR Defense Army held in Shoushi

May 5, 2013 By administrator

On May 5, Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan attended a Divine Liturgy dedicated to the NKR Defense Army held at Shushi Ghazanchetsots church of Christ the Savior.

Defense Minister Movses Hakobyan, supreme command staff of the NKR Defense Army and servicemen attended the event, Central Information Department at Artsakh President’s Office reported.

General of Azerbaijani Armed Forces: Turkey used to help and continues helping Baku, but will not fight in Karabakh

May 5, 2013 By administrator

“I just want to remind you that Turkey was on the side of the Azerbaijan Republic from the very beginning of the conflict. In state-to-state relationship we had and still have a wide range of military-technical cooperation and comprehensive material and technical support,” told Vesti.az major general of Azerbaijan Alexander Vasyak commenting on the question of Turkey’s role in the region.

Major-General reminded that, in the media and the Azerbaijani expert community rumors were being discussed about the possibility of direct participation of Turkish army in the conflict, which will be conducted at the level of Special Forces. Unification of land troops and air strikers is also possible.

“I have already spoken about this and there is no sense to repeat it as it is absolutely clear that no one will is going to fight for us. But Turkey has helped Azerbaijan and will help in educating military personnel, training of the staff and all the control components of troops and weapons, aircraft logistics, study and development of NATO standards, development of documents and construction plans for military and national security,” Vasyak says.

According to military experts, in political point of view, the possibilities of Ankara are now shackled by the role of Turkey in Syrian conflict and by unpredictability of its development. In this regard, Vasyak expressed doubts that Turkey will pursue an active policy in the South Caucasus, nevertheless, he recalled the words of the American Council expert on foreign policy Wayne Merry, “Turkey undertook the patronage of Azerbaijan.”

“Turkey has always been a major regional player in our region, but I would not dare to predict and give her a leading role in Karabakh conflict settlement process,” A. Vasyak noted.

Source: Panorama.am

Opinion: Kurdish issue resolution may help tackle Armenian question

May 5, 2013 By administrator

May 4, 2013 – 16:12 AMT

Hopes that Turkey could ever solve its almost intractable Kurdish issue have never been as high as they were in the first quarter of 2013. If this peace process can continue with all its ups and downs but without rupture, it could that suggest that another perennial issue as old as the Kurdish issue, the Armenian question, can also be tackled, Turkish journalist Cengiz Çandar says in “No Incentive for Turkey, Armenia To Normalize Relations” article published by the Assyrian International News Agency.

“Of course, there is a fundamental difference. The Kurdish issue directly concerns 15 million people living in Turkey as Turkish citizens and more than 30 million other Kurds living in the region and majority populations of tens of millions living in those countries. The Armenian question is about the perishing of a national community on the land they have been living for time immemorial. Today, the question is more about its deep psychological scars rather than its physical aspects,” he says.

“For the Armenians, a large part of historical Armenia, what they call Western Armenia, covers a substantial portion of today’s eastern Turkey. It is not unusual for countries and lands to change names but for the Armenians and Turkey, the issue is more than losing land but the almost total annihilation of a nation on the land where they used to live,” he says.

“In the meanwhile, we have to remember that the assassination in 2007 of Turkey’s most influential and best known democratic figure, Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, constituted a breaking point in Turkey’s Armenian issue that heralded the emergence on the political stage of the “Turkish Armenian” identity, even though they are but a 60,000-strong minority living only in Istanbul, down from 1.5 million in 1915,” Çandar continues.

“Since that time, an increasing number of Turks and Kurds of Turkey, in solidarity with Armenians, began to discuss the Armenian issue and to observe April 24 as Genocide Remembrance Day, first in the center of Istanbul and then, this year, in many provincial capitals, led by Diyarbakir.

Turkey faces a complex structure of Armenia-Diaspora-Turkey’s Armenians. For the late Hrant Dink, normalization of relations between Turkey and Armenia was a life mission. A year and half after his assassination we came very close to his ideals,” Çandar says.

“2015 will be the 100th anniversary of the genocide, and Armenian mobilization in the international arena in 2015 will be a potential irritant for Turkey. But, then, Turkey’s own domestic developments and bringing in the Diaspora to share April 24 observances, also means that genocide will no longer be something Turkey owes to Armenia. In other words, the need for closure of the Genocide File is no longer an incentive or sine qua non for normalization of Turkey-Armenia relations. No Turkey-Armenian normalization is detected in the horizon. And there won’t be unless there are mutually enticing and strong incentives,” he concludes.

Odette Bazil: Penal Code 301 and Turkish scholars

May 4, 2013 By administrator

Journalists are the conscience of the people. By removing and killing them, Turkey is killing and removing its own conscience.

Again, another Turkish journalist is to be thrown in jail for – according to Turkish Penal Code 301 (insulting the Turkish Nation, the Turkish Republic, its government or governmental institutions), one of the leading London-based Armenian activists, Odette Bazil says.

April 18, 2013 She continues to say:

“The name of that Turkish journalist is Temel Demirer.

At his first trial, he had been charged for the crime cited in Penal Code 301 and had been sentenced to two years in prison. Then he was told that the sentence could be withheld if during the coming 3 years he would refrain from committing the same crime.

Immediately after the trial, just in front of the Court buildings Temel Demirer said: “If, for the coming 3 years, I don’t say there was an Armenian genocide in Turkey, I will be acquitted. Right now, five minutes after the trial, without waiting for another 3 years I say: the Turkish State is the murderer of Hrant Dink. Hrant Dink was not killed because he was Armenian. Hrant Dink was killed by the Turkish State for saying that there had been an Armenian genocide in Turkey. If the Court security forces or the MINISTRY OF INJUSTICE that have postponed my trial do not open another trial, they will be committing a crime”

“I am not inciting anyone to commit a crime. What I am saying is that ideas can NOT and should NOT be shackled. I have learned from ISMAIL BESICKCI, FIKRET BASKAYA and BASKIN ORAN (all Turkish Academics imprisoned or tried for their work ) that FREEDOM OF THOUGHT MUST STAND STRONG. There has been an Armenian genocide in this country. The Turkish State DID kill Hrant Dink. These are my thoughts. So, if you want , you try me again.

On 12th April 2012, I wrote an article, wishing that there would be one and half million good Turks with a conscience who would, EACH ONE, do one good deed for ONE of the one and half million innocent victims of the Armenian genocide.

I never believed, even in my wildest dreams, that my wish would come true so quickly and from such important quarters for there is a huge difference between what is said publicly by an ordinary man or woman in the street and what is researched, written , advocated and published by a journalist. Every journalist’s prerogative and duty is to report the truth, to report what has happened, to make the reader aware of that truth and make that reader motivated by what has happened.

Journalists are the conscience of the people. By removing and killing them, Turkey is killing and removing its own conscience.

Today journalists in Turkey are being prosecuted, tortured – even killed – for affirming that the Ottoman government of 1915 DID commit the genocide of one and half million innocent Armenians. Many journalists have died because of the tortures received, many publishing houses and offices have been set to fire and dozens of Turkish Scholars have left their families, their friends and their country in fear of reprisal and in fear of their lives. Now, protected in foreign lands, they are writing in foreign papers and are even publishing in foreign languages but, committed to their ideals of freedom and justice, they advocate with more effectiveness for the condemnation (by Turkey and the world at large) of the Armenian genocide, knowing that at last they can proclaim the truth without being hunted down, jailed and tortured.

By removing its journalists and making them disappear in the secret holes of its jails, by silencing them hoping that they will be so scared that they will never speak again of the Armenian genocide, Turkey is, like an ostrich, hiding its head in the sand and is only delaying what will one day be acclaimed and accepted in Turkey, not only by its journalists, but by its entire population. Soon there will be one and half million good Turks with a conscience who will stand up, will confess to the committed genocide, doing ONE good deed for each one of the one and half million innocent victims of the Armenian genocide

Today, in Turkey students are questioning their teachers about the empty pages of their History books, where the period of Turkish history between 1915 and 1923 is not mentioned, nor printed, nor described or discussed. The Turkish student, wanting to know, will ask its family members. Sometimes there might be an elderly relative who will describe the atrocities committed. If that student has a conscience, then it will carry its research and will find the truth. It is the moral duty for that student to tell its Turkish compatriots and the world at large of what has happened in 1915 .It is the moral duty of that Turkish student to become a good Turk and do one good deed for one innocent victim of the genocide it has found out to have happened in its country.

Today in Turkey, the young educated Turk is asking why are they so many churches in Turkey whereas Turkey is a Muslim State, why are these churches empty? When and who did worship in them and Where are these people? Each Turk, be it young or old, male or female, educated or not, MUST ask where are these people? What happened to them? And WHY did it happen?

Today the Turkish dignitaries visit various countries who, having interests to protect in Turkey would not shy from any injustice, any lie or deceit to protect these interest, and lobby these countries to join the Turkish State in its denial of events which are questioned, publicised , researched and exposed by the Turkish population and specially by its young intellectuals and its journalists .

Turkey must understand and accept that the process of acknowledgement and condemnation of the Armenian genocide has already begun in Turkey. It will never be stopped.

Is the Turkish government to imprison all its journalists, all its historians, all its intellectuals, all its good people with a conscience?

Are new jails to be built in Turkey, equal to the same number of mass graves which were dug in 1915 to bury those million and half innocent victims, and are these jails to be used to bury the truth?

Now, in 2013, although the dead Armenians will never be able to leave their graves to testify, but the Turkish journalists who serve their two or three years sentences in Turkish jails WILL get out one day and WILL testify.

Most revolutions are instigated by young idealist intellectuals and are exposed to the public by journalists. So far, the Turkish government has partly succeeded in keeping its young intellectuals in the dark and the crimes committed by their ancestors a secret, but , day by day, with an increasing number , with accrued effectiveness and sharpened awareness of every citizen’s right, Turkish Scholars , historians and journalists are speaking out and are advocating for the truth about the Armenian genocide .

Similar to the Armenian women who have never been able to bring themselves to talk about the rapes and the sexual outrages committed against them by the Turks during the Armenian genocide because of the SHAME they felt, maybe the Turkish government too cannot bring itself to talk about the crimes committed by its ancestors because of the SHAME it feels.

Yes any human being, any government, any state would feel – very rightly – a deep and dark SHAME to find itself the heir to such morbid legacy, a legacy of injustice, of crime, of theft, of torture, of rape and of murder.

The SHAME felt towards this legacy should generate apologies and remorse NOT denial and persecution of the ones who expose that legacy and that truth.

Ten years ago, my grand-son Connor Bazil whose mother is American, wrote in his homework ; “Turkey must say yes its great-grand fathers had killed the Armenians because , like between friends, once a bad thing has been done, if the guilty party says Sorry , then friendship can start again, then that bad action can be forgiven and once again people who are neighbours can live next to each other without hating each other , so two countries will not be enemies anymore”.

Albanian leaders fan flames of nationalism, unnerving West

May 4, 2013 By administrator

if you read what Turkish foreign ministers is saying and what Albanian leaders are saying, both saying we don’t recognize the borders set 100 years ago. they want Ottoman empire border so now NATO created two Turkish Republic (Kosovo and Bosnia) will NATO now help create new Ottoman empire? time will tel..

By Benet Koleka

TIRANA | Tue Apr 16, 2013 5:46pm EDT

(Reuters) – The walls of Kreshnik Spahiu’s office in the Albanian capital bear the names of towns far beyond the borders of this Adriatic state, in modern-day Greece, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia.

Albanians regard the settlements as their own, dating from when the Balkans marked the western reaches of the sprawling Ottoman Empire. Some are still home to Albanians, restive minorities in the 100 years since the borders of today’s Albania were set by the Great Powers in London.

A century on, Spahiu says they should be united, and the nationalist rallying call of his Red and Black Alliance political party is resonating among impoverished Albanians ahead of a parliamentary election in the NATO member state in June.

The trend mirrors the rise of nationalists in other parts of southern Europe hardest hit by an economic slump, soaring unemployment and falling living standards.

Some polls put Spahiu’s party third in the June 23 election, and he could emerge as a kingmaker, swaying policy in any future government.

“If Albanians want to live tomorrow with the Greeks, Serbs, Italians, Spaniards and the Portuguese (in the European Union), what’s stopping them from removing the borders between themselves?” Spahiu, a former district court judge, said in an interview with Reuters.

Few observers see any imminent threat of yet more border changes in the Balkans, which splintered with the collapse of federal Yugoslavia in the 1990s, spawning wars in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo, and Albanian insurgencies in southern Serbia and Macedonia.

But diplomats say the fiery rhetoric is far from helpful as the EU tries to coax Serbia and its former Kosovo province – where Albanians are the majority – towards a delicate rapprochement and to cement a fragile calm in Macedonia, which flirted with civil war in 2001.

Spahiu’s strain of hardline nationalism was once confined to the margins, but a sense of national awakening has sharpened with the 100th anniversary of Albanian independence last year and a 2008 declaration of independence by Kosovo.

“ALBANIAN LANDS”

Spahiu’s success has dragged mainstream leaders to the right, including Prime Minister Sali Berisha, as the close-run election draws near.

Marking the 100th anniversary of independence, Berisha referred to towns in Macedonia, Greece, Serbia and Montenegro as “Albanian lands”.

In January, he hailed fallen Albanian guerrillas in Serbia as “heroes of the Albanian nation.”

Then in February, in a Munich speech railing against “Albanophobia”, Berisha rejected the idea that Albanians could be regarded as five different nations because they live in five different Balkan states.

“Albanians cannot accept this,” he said. “The national unity of the Albanians will be the alternative to this.”

Ethnic Albanians laid down arms in Macedonia and southern Serbia’s Presevo Valley in 2001 on the promise of better lives inside NATO and the EU. But progress has been painstakingly slow, and they remain far from satisfied with their lot.

Albania’s NATO allies and the European Union that it wants to join are making their displeasure known, in unusually blunt terms.

“Is nationalism in a form we hear it from Tirana really based on Euro-Atlantic values?” Stefan Fule, the EU commissioner tasked with steering the countries of the Western Balkans towards membership of the bloc, tweeted last month.

His remark followed an unusually blunt intervention by the United States, a close ally of Albania and Kosovo, in a State Department memo to the Albanian Foreign Ministry in February that was leaked to media.

It told Tirana to “stay out of the affairs of Serbia” and warned that nationalist rhetoric could “erode peace and stability”.

Berisha has denied that Albanian nationalism poses any threat.

Some analysts put it down to pure electioneering, with the June vote expected to be a close-run affair and Berisha and his rivals trying to harness the discontent of Albanians struggling with the fallout from Europe’s debt crisis.

Albania was a closed Stalinist dictatorship from World War Two until 1990, but enjoyed enviable rates of economic growth from the turn of the century until the crisis broke in Europe’s single currency bloc, cutting into remittances from some 1 million Albanian migrants in Italy and Greece.

The Albanian economy grew a relatively meager 1.6 percent in 2012, its lowest level in 16 years.

KING-MAKER?

“In a society undergoing a grave economic crisis, morally degraded and culturally miserable, nationalism is a food that can be easily digested, a mental catastrophe that turns the mass into an idolatrous crowd,” said historian Artan Puto.

“That’s my biggest fear,” he said.

“It will be interesting to see what influence this nationalism will have after the elections; will they press their agendas once they enter parliament, or turn to other pursuits?”

Albania’s bid to join the EU has faltered due to the country’s deep polarization between its two traditional parties, Berisha’s Democrats and the opposition Socialists.

Their inability to get along has slowed reforms, and occasionally boiled over into violence.

If the polls are correct and Spahiu’s party – which takes its name from the colors of the Albanian national flag – comes third, he could have the casting vote in deciding who rules. That would put the next government in an awkward spot given the Red and Black Alliance’s demand for a referendum on uniting Albania and Kosovo.

Spahiu’s slogans and straight-talking has struck a chord with Albanians frustrated with the two biggest parties that have dominated government since the collapse of communism, with mixed results.

“If he’s in government, I’m sure no police officer would take a bribe and spend it on beer,” said 20-year-old Xhevit Sula, at a rally addressed by Spahiu in the southeastern town of Korce.

Despite a diploma as a construction technician, Sula said he had struggled to find work over the past couple of years, with the construction sector in decline.

Critics, however, says Spahiu’s nationalism shares the ugly, xenophobic agenda of other right-wing groups such as the anti-immigration Golden Dawn in Greece, which has witnessed a surge in support from Greeks angry at years of brutal austerity and recession.

The U.S. embassy in Tirana was particularly alarmed by a November incident involving members of Spahiu’s party allegedly intimidating ethnic Macedonians to quit their village in Albania. A community leader confirmed the incident to Reuters.

The EU mantra is that borders between the countries of the Western Balkans will become irrelevant once they all join the bloc.

But at least another decade will pass before that happens, and even then there are deep doubts in the Balkans as to whether the troubled bloc will still want them after it takes in its 28th member, Croatia, on July 1.

“This is just the beginning,” said Gentian Rrugia, a member of the Red and Black soccer fan group, which shares Spahiu’s ideology. “Nothing is impossible,” he said. “We already live as if in an ‘ethnic Albania’, we don’t recognize the borders set 100 years ago.”

(Editing by Matt Robinson and Mike Collett-White)

Greece to push claim for German war reparations: foreign minister

May 4, 2013 By administrator

(Reuters) – Greece is planning to pursue a long-dormant claim for reparations from Germany over World War Two, a further strain on relations with Berlin, which foots most of the bill for its 240-billion euro rescue.

The Finance Ministry has compiled a report that takes stock of all relating available documents spanning more than six decades, Greek Foreign Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos told parliament on Wednesday.

It will be submitted to Greece’s legal advisers and then Athens will decide how to officially press its claim, he said.

Avramopoulos did not say how much would be sought.

“We will exhaust every means available to arrive to a result,” he told lawmakers. “One can’t compare the times, but also not erase the memories.”

Germany, whose forces occupied Greece in World War Two, says it has already paid all reparations owed.

The issue has resurfaced since last year as Greece suffers under austerity measures imposed on it by its creditors, mainly Germany, as a condition for its international EU/IMF bailout.

Avramopoulos said it was wrong to link the issue to the debt crisis.

“This has been an open issue for 60 years, it is too large an issue to fit into the confines of the fiscal crisis,” he said.

Greece’s fragile coalition government has so far earned praise from Chancellor Angela Merkel for starting to fix Greece’s finances.

But conservative Prime Minister Antonis Samaras was pushed to raise the reparation issue by the main opposition, anti-bailout Syriza party.

(Reporting by Harry Papachristou; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

R-Mean and his supporters raise Genocide awareness through “Our Wounds” movement – INTERVIEW

May 4, 2013 By administrator

May 04, 2013 | 00:20

By Anna Ghazaryan

Armenian media outlets have recently published a photo of The Game wearing a T-shirt with “Our Wounds Are Still Open-1915” – the name of a movement launched ahead of the 98th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Meanwhile, “Open Wounds” song by R-Mean was quickly spread in the Armenian social networks. It was revealed that the movement was organized by a group of American Armenian young people who wanted to pay tribute to the Armenian Genocide victims and raise Genocide awareness all over the globe. Those who were behind the idea – rapper R-Mean and active Armenian community member from Boston Zareh Zurabyan told about the project in an interview with Armenian News-NEWS.am.

Who is the author of this movement? How did the idea come along to write “Our Wounds Are Still Open-1915”? Who designed it and whose idea was it to have a design like that?

R-Mean: My manager Alex Kodo and I had the idea of making a new video for this song because we knew it was a jewel. And along with it we wanted to do t-shirts…. I had written the song and called it “Open Wounds” so I felt like the shirt had to make the same statement as the song. “Our Wounds Are Still Open” was perfect. It was Alex’s idea to add the “1915”. Then we contacted our graphic designer, the owner of “Extra Good” clothing line, Narek Churukyan who we sat down and did the actual design with.

How did you start to spread the shirts? What makes people of other nationalities buy the shirt?

Zareh: The social medias were very helpful in spreading the new video, and the shirt sales. R-Mean having a huge following throughout the world specifically in the West Coast of USA, and me having a large connection here in the East Coast specifically Massachusetts, Boston and Rhode Island, Providence and NY, Brooklyn, I was able to spread the shirts around here. We kind of combined our large network of friends and jointly promoted the video and the shirts. Everybody was happy to be part of the movement, and to help the cause. Having all my friends and family being back home in Armenia, some studying abroad in Germany, Moscow, France, R-Mean having family and fans back in Amsterdam and other parts of the world, it was easy to spread the word and have all the communities in these cities to buy the shirts – especially when they knew the proceeds will go to ArmeniaFund.

Just from top of my head, shirts were bought from all over USA, Canada, UK, Norway, Sweden, Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Dubai, Budapest, Lebanon, Syria, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, and of course Armenia.

What got other races to buy the shirt has to do with couple of things. One of the reasons is the design of the shirt. Just from a style point of view, the design and the colors that are used are modern and it speaks to the youth. People want to wear it to look good. Another reason is the saying, it is different, and it doesn’t say Armenian Genocide on it as many other shirts say, which in turn isolates us from others. In this case the shirt is somewhat universal. It can be related to many injustices in the world that are not recognized. The 1915 pinpoints the Armenian Genocide, but the Wounds can be related to many other injustices. As Martin Luther King Jr said, “Injustice anywhere, is threat to justice everywhere.”

How did The Game decide to wear the shirt?

Zareh: The Game and R-Mean are both from California, and they did a song together called “Lost Angels” before, so when the “Open Wounds” movement started, the mutual respect between them resulted in The Game to pay his respect to the victims of the Genocide, and to the large Armenian community in California. It was very nice of him and it is greatly appreciated.

What other famous people were wearing the shirts, except for The Game? How did it happen that Kim Kardashian’s fan page posted the video?

R-Mean: It was important for us to show how many people in position, and people outside of the Armenian community were supporting this “Open Wounds” movement… We started contacting our connects in the music industry and really just anyone with a following that we knew people look up to and asked them if they wanted to be a part of this and support. We had legendary radio DJ’s Julio G, Romeo of Tha Goodfellas, Sway from MTV and Tech on the world famous Wake Up Show (on Eminem’s radio station Shade45)… We had Armenians like boxer Vanes Martirosyan, UFC fighter Manny Gamburyan, Dj Vick One, Capital Z, Maria Cozette, Hrach Titizian, Super Sako, and so many more… We had Singer/Actress Farrah Franklin (formerly from Destiny’s child), and then of course The Game. These are all people we knew and they respected the movement and what we were trying to do so they supported. They posted pictures and the video online for all of their huge followings to see. We also got in touch with Congressman Adam Schiff who has always supported the Armenian cause in Congress. Our fans started reaching out to The Kardashians on twitter, IG, and FB telling them about the “Open wounds” song and the movement… Eventually they posted it on Kim’s official fan page. That was real cool.

“Open Wounds” song was loved by many people and it was widely spread in the Armenian social media very quickly. Please tell a little bit how it was written and who did the video?

R-Mean: Several years ago I had the idea of doing this song. A genocide song named “Open Wounds”. I knew which producer I wanted to do it and I knew which singer I wanted on it. I also knew I wanted it to have duduk samples so I collected a lot of duduk CDs and took them to my producer Blind. He made the beat… And then I took the beat to Soseh. As soon as I played it she came up with the idea to use “Kilikia” I hadn’t thought of doing the chorus in Armenian but when she said it I felt it was genius. Then I just put my heart into the verses and that was it. It truly came together magically.

My manager Alex Kodo, who is also my director, did the video. He also did the video for my last song “Lost Angels” with The Game. But “Open Wounds” was all him. From the ideas, the footages, the concepts, the editing, everything… He really killed it.

What other ideas do you have to raise awareness about the Armenian Genocide?

R-Mean: As a Hip Hop artist, this is what I do. I put the message in my music and try to reach as many youth as possible and as many non-Armenians as possible. The song and the video will continue the spread… But more importantly we will be spreading the shirts all year long. This is not a once a year in April thing. We will keep spreading these because a good looking t-shirt is a great way of making a statement and spreading the message. Everyone keeps asking what that t-shirt means.

Zareh: Like R-Mean said, Hip-Hop is the voice of the youth, and his song has aided me enormously in promoting the shirts and the awareness here in Boston. Local artists here like G-Eyez, Tha Jist, Chris aka Chief, Dark Blue and many more who have never heard of the Armenian Genocide or have, but didn’t know how to pay their respect to the cause or bring awareness, reposted the video on their social networks. It was very nice of them to do so and I thank them for it. I went to the AYF Boston chapter and presented them with the shirts, went to High Schools, many of my friends in different business areas wore the shirts, and we only got positive feedback.

Boston Armenian community had been very passive these last couple of years. The protests have had minimal participation from the youth. A lot of the kids didn’t seem to have that passion that the elder generations used to have. So when the Boston community saw an artist like R-Mean being so passionate in his song for everyone to see, and spreading awareness on such a limelight along with these famous artists – it injected this fresh breeze of pride in the youth.

It got to a point where I would see random people in the most unexpected places wearing the shirts. It is beautiful. Best part is that people always ask what the shirt says, so we are inclined to inform them of our history.

April 24th, 2013 is over, I am still getting orders almost every day, Armenian and non-Armenian. It is a beautiful thing and I am very proud of the Boston Armenian Community for their support, passion, and enthusiasm. Boston community is passionate once again, and excited to do next year’s protest in the newly founded Armenian Heritage Park in downtown for the Armenian Genocide Victims. We worked 5 years to finally get our own park here in Massachusetts, and we finally got it. It is time that we use that park with pride.