CivilNet has prepared a map of some of the events taking place around the world to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. These events are primarily conferences or unique initiatives. We welcome your comments, suggestions and input to make it more comprehensive. Contact via info@civilnet.am.
Ayşe Berktay, Turkish Intellectuals Who Have Recognized The Armenian Genocide
By: Hambersom Aghbashian,
In December 2008, two hundred prominent Turkish intellectuals released an apology for the “great catastrophe of 1915”. This was a clear reference to the Armenian Genocide, a term still too sensitive to use so openly. The signatories also announced a website related to this apology, and called on others to visit the site and sign the apology as well. The complete, brief text of the apology says ” My conscience does not accept the insensitivity showed to and the denial of the Great Catastrophe that the Ottoman Armenians were subjected to in 1915. I reject this injustice and for my share, I empathize with the feelings and pain of my Armenian brothers and sisters. I apologize to them.” Ayşe Berktay was one of the Turkish intellectual who has signed the petition. (2)
Ayşe Berktay was one of the Turkish intellectuals who signed a petition against Denialist Exhibit in Denmark, an exhibition which was planned by the Turkish embassy to support their point of view concerning the Armenian Genocide . ” Don’t Stand Against Turkey’s Democratization and Confrontation with its History! ” was the message to the Royal Library of Denmark who has given the Turkish government the opportunity to present an “alternative exhibit” in response to the Armenian Genocide exhibition.(3)
In the 99th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, the members of the 24 April Commemorating Armenian Genocide Platform came together in front of the historical Haydarpaşa Railhead to commemorate the Armenian intellectuals who were put in trains from Haydarpaşa Railhead in 1915 and sent to death. The citizens left red carnations on the placards writing in both English and Armenian reading “We are remembering the victims of Armenian genocide” and they carried the photos of Armenian intellectuals. The Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Central Executive Board (MYK) member Garo Paylan, Author Ayşe Berktay, Academiscian Fatmagül Berktay, Human Rights Association (İHD) İstanbul Branch Head Ümit Efe, İHD executives, Armenians coming from Diaspora; and lots of citizens joined in the commemoration activity.(4)
Ayşe Berktay is a translator, scholar, author, cultural and women’s rights activist. Her publications include “History and Society: New Perspectives, 2008”, and “The Ottoman Empire and the World Around with Suraiya Faroqhi”; moreover, she is the editor of “Women and Men in the 75th Year of the Turkish Republic”. Her translations include “The Imperial Harm: Gender and Power in the Ottoman Empire, 1520-1656 “by Leslie Penn Pierce; and “The Ottoman Empire, 1700-1922 ,New Approaches to European History” by Donald Quataert.
Over the past decade, Ayşe conducted work at the History Trust, where she was part of the Prime Minister’s Advisory Board on Human Rights. In Dec. 2009 Ayşe became a member of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), which has 36 elected representatives in the Turkish Parliament. In March 2010 she was elected to the BDP Istanbul Province Executive, where she worked in the Press Committee, then in Oct. 2010 she was elected to the BDP Central Women’s Committee, Foreign Relations Office. Ayşe Berktay was arrested on October 3, 2011, and seized personal papers and materials. Eventually, she was charged under Turkey’s anti-terror legislation of “membership in an illegal organization” .She was released from Prison in Istanbul on Dec. 20, 2013 and still faces a lengthy trial process, where she could face up to 15 years in prison. (1)
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1- http://www.pen.org/defending-writers/ay%C5%9Fe-berktay
2- http://www.armeniapedia.org/wiki/200_prominent_Turks_apologize_for_great_catastrophe_
3- http://www.armeniapedia.org/wiki/The_Armenian_Genocide_and_the_Scandinavian_Respon
4- http://www.diclehaber.com/en/news/content/view/398100?page=11&from=314584322
Armenians of Bulgaria welcomed the withdrawal of the Armenian Parliament standardization protocols of Armenian-Turkish relations
The Association of Armenians in Bulgaria, welcomes the decision of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan to remove from Parliament the issue of protocols signed in Zurich in 2009 between Turkey and Armenia allegedly aimed at normalizing bilateral relations. “The Turkish authorities have once again demonstrated to the world that in refusing the desire for peace of Armenia are the direct heirs of those who committed the genocide of the Armenians. The gesture of the President of Armenia is fair and justified because Turkey not only regret the crimes of its past, but strengthens its anti-Armenian policy and its denial of genocide “wrote in a statement the Association of Armenians in Bulgaria. It also says that instead of respecting the memory of the victims of the Armenian Genocide on April 24, Ankara moves cynically that day celebrations of the victory of the Battle of Gallipoli. “Almost every day, the Turkish officials use various opportunity to distort history and deny the existence of the Armenian genocide and denying any responsibility for these crimes,” the statement continues by saying that Turkey supports the Azerbaijani government in the conflict opposes in Karabakh “what is foolish in these circumstances to speak of improvement of Armenian-Turkish relations.”
Krikor Amirzayan
Syria: The Armenian quarter of Aleppo again under the bombs
Aleppo is again plagued by heavy fighting while the Turkish jihadist forces are trying to gain a foothold in the second city of Syria, torn between forces loyal to the regime of Bashar Al Assad and rebels. Radical Islamists, whom the jihadists Daech have lent a hand, confronted the soldiers of the regime under a barrage of missiles. The Armenian quarter of Aleppo once again paid a heavy price for these particularly fierce fighting Tuesday, February 17.
The inhabitants of the Armenian quarter, which consist in self-defense militias since the beginning of the Syrian civil war, report of casualties and major destruction. The first results show 8 deaths and 36 injuries caused by missile strikes, which also caused extensive damage. The a UN special envoy to Syria Mr. de Mistura said that the forces of Damascus were ready to stop aerial bombardments on Aleppo for six weeks at for a cease-fire. De Mistura said that the Syrian regime’s proposal offered a glimmer of hope, even if the conditions for its implementation are still very vague. The Syrian National Council opposition parties coalition, said that the government would be judged by its actions rather than its promises.
Government forces are not ready to release the pressure, while they have deployed significant resources to try to cut a key supply route for the rebels. A hundred soldiers and rebels were killed in a single day, February 17 at the offensive by the army to take control of several villages north of the city of Aleppo.
Moreover, the Turkish Justice itself has brought evidence of the direct involvement of Turkey in the Syrian civil war, moreover alongside jihadists of the Islamic State (Daech). Turkish media have indeed echoes of the trial of EI activists accused of attacking the Turkish security forces in Nigde in 2014 that at the hearings of the Court, stated that the Turkish state not content to supply arms and ammunition to Syrian rebels but also provided them with support in heavy artillery.
Thus, in particular with the support of the Turkish heavy artillery, jihadist rebels had seized Kessab, a Syrian town near the Turkish-Syrian border and counting a major Armenian community. The jihadists, who were still a marginal force in the theater of Syrian military operations had demonstrated their cruelty, violently expelling Kessab Armenians and destroying their homes and churches.
The complicity of Turkey in the attack, which did not then sparked international outrage it deserved, was suspected. The trial transcript shows that Syrian rebels had held the Turkish military informed of the movements of the Syrian army in Kessab, obtaining their assistance in the capture of the city. Syrian forces loyal to the regime were to regain control of Kessab in 2014, for the return of Armenian inhabitants who fled partly in Lebanon.
Gari © armenews.com
‘US Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story’ Named Book of the Month
YEREVAN (Armenpress)—As the centennial of the Armenian Genocide approaches, the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute in Yerevan has launched a “Book of the Month” initiative. The Museum says it will carefully select a book about the Armenian Genocide to be featured each month.
The books must be the memoirs of Armenian Genocide survivors or witnesses, research papers, or other publications of great importance. The aim of this project is to introduce readers to rare and still unknown works related to the topic in order to raise awareness of the subject and provide an in-depth knowledge about the Armenian Genocide.
The Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute (AGMI) selected “Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story” to be the Book of the Month for February. These memoirs have the significance of being a unique primary source for the history of the Armenian Genocide, particularly for how it documents the unraveling of the Genocide, determined and planned by the Turkish government, and for how it identifies and explores the thoughts of the Turkish criminal regime of that time. The memoir of U.S. Ambassador Morgenthau is a monumental work indeed, where the represented facts and testimonies undeniably prove that the Armenian Genocide was planned and premeditated.
Morgenthau gives deep analysis of the situation reinforcing it by information from official sources. Moreover, he describes the process of decision-making, the intrigues of the Young Turks government, as well as introduces the reader to the German propaganda policy, which made Turkey involved in World War I. The story of Ambassador Henry Morgenthau, presented in accuracy of an eyewitness and an analyst, is an important primary source against the policy of denial in Turkish modern historiography.
“When the Turkish authorities gave the orders for these deportations, they were merely giving the death warrant to a whole race; they understood this well, and, in their conversations with me, they made no particular attempt to conceal the fact. . . I am confident that the whole history of the human race contains no such horrible episode as this. The great massacres and persecutions of the past seem almost insignificant when compared to the sufferings of the Armenian race in 1915,” Morgenthau wrote in his memoirs.
Las Vegas Strip Goes Dark in Memory of UNLV coach Jerry Tarkanian
LAS VEGAS– Every major Las Vegas Strip casino-hotel and several off-Strip and downtown properties went dark for three minutes at 10:30 p.m. Wednesday in honor of the beloved former UNLV coach, Jerry Tarkanian, who passed away last week.
Reportedly, the timing coincided with the end of University of Nevada at Las Vegas first basketball game since Tarkanian’s death.
A private funeral was helf Monday for Tarkanian, with services being held at Our Lady of Las Vegas church.
Tarkanian’s son, Danny delivered the eulogy of his father, which we present below:
Today, I am here to speak to you about the Greatest Man I have ever known.
I believe I can provide a unique perceptive on Jerry Tarkanian. I was his ball boy, his player, his assistant coach, and his attorney, but most importantly I am his son, and I loved him more than I have ever loved anyone. And he was most deserving of that love.
My father came from humble beginnings. His mother, Rose, barely escaped the Armenian Genocide. She watched her father and oldest brother beheaded and the rest of her family and friends herded into a church and burned alive. She migrated to America at a very young age and survived the Great Depression and the early death of her husband.
To provide a better life for her three children, she packed up her family’s entire belongings and drove to Calif. 300 miles every day, and as my father would say, most of the time on the wrong side of the road. Grandma Rose provided my father the love, support and guidance he needed to be successful in life.
Dad idolized his mother and could never speak about her without breaking into tears. I honestly believe that my father never quit when faced with insurmountable odds because of the perseverance, tenacity and determination his mother had demonstrated.
Dad had very little money when he was young. In fact, in college, he and his close friend Harry Gaykian would go to a coffee shop order hot water, pour some ketchup in the cup, add some crackers and call it tomato soup.
When Dad got married he didn’t even own dress shoes, he only owned a pair of tennis shoes. His mother bought him his first dress shoes for his wedding, which he kept in his closest to the day he passed.
Dad was a poor student. It took him six years to graduate college and would have taken him longer if my mom didn’t write a few papers for him.
Dad didn’t play for a great coach nor play at a powerful basketball school. He really didn’t have a mentor.
In fact, his stepfather even told him to forget sports and to be a barber. And for those of you that remember my 6th grade crew cut, you know Dad made the right decision being a coach.
With that background, how in the world did he become the greatest coach in the history of college basketball, change the lives of thousands of people, save the lives of many more and be the best father there ever was?
I think his brother stated it best. Dad was like Columbo. His appearance and the way he acted made you believe he wasn’t all there but in reality he was three or four steps ahead of all of us. There were many times Dad said or did something I didn’t agree with and then as late as several years later I understood why and realized he was right.
He understood people, how they thought, what they wanted and how to motivate them, better than anyone I know.
My father trusted people and he had the unique ability to earn trust in others. Early in his career, Dad met with a player named, John Q. Trapp. John had been kicked out of his previous 4 schools and had even spent nights in jail. He had never trusted a white person before.
Dad told John this was his last chance. That if he screwed it up there wouldn’t be another. But if he listened to what he had to say and worked hard, John would have a bright future.
He finished by telling John, “By the way, I am taking my wife to dinner. Will you watch my four children?” At the time, the oldest was only 11 years old.
Dad knew what he was doing. John ended up being our regular babysitter, even driving Pam to her weekly ballet class.
John’s father was quoted in the paper as saying, “No man had ever been able to handle John before, including myself. I would move to the ends of the earth to have my son play for Coach Tarkanian.”
As Dad had promised, John had a bright future, playing several seasons in the NBA
My father was fiercely loyal and he expected loyalty in return. In 1979 he turned down the Lakers job knowing they were going to win the NBA championship with Magic Johnson because UNLV stood by him when the NCAA tried to suspend him from coaching.
He was loyal to all of his players, and was often maligned by the press for doing so but his players were fiercely loyal to him in return. In 1990, when the NCAA placed the defending national champions on probation and barred them from post-season play, all four seniors could have transferred to another school and played immediately. All of the pundits felt they would. However, none of the players even considered transferring. They were too loyal to Dad, their teammates and the University.
Dad was honest with people. Of all the wonderful things said about Dad these past few days, the one from Colin Coward would have made him most proud. Colin is a former Channel 13 sportscaster and now works for ESPN. Colin said, “Without a doubt, the most authentic coach I have ever met in sports is Jerry Tarkanian.”
Sometimes Dad was brutally honest. He always said you could never B.S. players, they would see right through you. And he never did.
During my first season at UNLV, some of the players were complaining that Dad was favoring Sidney Green and Larry Anderson. Dad decided to put a stop to it. One day, after practice, he sat the team down and told them, “I heard some of you think I am favoring Sid and Larry. I want you to know, I am. Sid and Larry are carrying this team. If we were on a desert island and I had one cantina of water, I would make sure Sid and Larry had enough to drink. If there was anything left over I might share it with the rest of you.” I was thinking, even your own son, Dad.
He really knew how to motivate people. He didn’t do it by yelling or demeaning them. He did it with sarcasm and wit.
When our team wasn’t playing real hard in practice he would sit us down and tell us, “You all are a bunch of bandits. Next time you pick up your scholarship check wear a mask and gun because you’re robbing the University, that is what you are doing, you’re robbing the University.”
Dad had the most amazing work ethic and he required the
same from everyone who worked for him. He always said he would never hire an assistant coach who owned golf clubs or a fishing pole. He didn’t want assistants vacationing. He wanted them there to help his players
Dad knew how to treat people and understood the unique difficulties they faced. One of his favorite mantras was, never put a kid so far into a hole he can’t climb out of it. That is why he gave players a second and third chance.
He always hired an assistant coach who had just been fired. Because he knew how it felt to have someone try to take their job from him.
Dad loved people and loved to talk sports. His favorite time was sitting at a bar talking to sports fans. On numerous occasions, some drunk fan would tell Dad, “You need to do this or that and your team will play better,” Dad would patiently listen and respond, “Is that right, You don’t say”. The drunken fan would go home and tell his girlfriend how he straightened Coach Tark and his team out. Dad was most happy talking to people.
Dad had the greatest sense of humor concerning things that had to be very painful to him.Who could forget his famous line that “The NCAA got so made at University of Kentucky that they put Cleveland State on two more years’ probation.
Or the line, when asked why he took so many four year transfers, he replied “Because they all have their cars paid for.” That one came from Greg Goorijian. Remember that white Fiat you brought with you from Arizona State, Greg.?
For those of you that were lucky enough to attend Dad’s weekly booster luncheons I am sure you never laughed so hard.
Former assistant coach, Dan Ayala, said Dad’s best quality was his mental toughness and focus. Dad faced what should have been insurmountable distractions throughout his career, the NCAA battles, the court cases, the player suspensions, the attacks by his own administration but somehow he stayed focused and put one championship team after another on the court.
However, in my opinion, Dad’s best quality was the way he treated his family. There is a reason he is so deeply loved by all of us. It is because of the way he treated us, with more love and affection, than any of us deserved.
As busy and focused as Dad was in becoming the greatest coach in college basketball history he always made time for his family and included us in activities when other coaches wouldn’t.
Each year Nike paid for the coaches to attend a weeklong vacation at some exotic resort. While all the other coaches brought their wives or mistresses, my father insisted that his four children join him. Before long, all of the other coaches started bringing their children as well.
When we were young and had little money. Dad would speak at some event, such as Athletes in Action, and bring the entire family. We would pile in a RV and drive across country spending nights at the local KOA until we got to the event. Our family still believes those were the best times of our lives.
As we got older March Madness became our favorite time of year. It was three to four weeks of constant excitement. The memories of those trips would exceed those of most people’s lifetimes.
Each year we have a family reunion, with over 40 people in Bass Lake. In the evenings, we take over the entire deck listening to Dad tell timeless stories and drinking wine. It couldn’t get any better and left each of us waiting anxiously for the next year.
Dad never wanted his kids to move far from home. In fact, he never wanted us to move out of his home. As a result, all four have lived within blocks of him.
When I was young, I would accompany Dad to his office and shoot baskets in the empty gym while he worked.
Some of my best memories were accompanying the Long Beach State teams on road trips as the team’s ball boy. My favorite picture is my father and I sitting on the bench, with his arm draped around me and we are staring at the scoreboard in the final seconds of his first NCAA tournament win.
I was the ball boy sitting at the end of the bench in 1971 when Long Beach State almost upset the powerful UCLA Bruins. Sidney Wicks free throw hit the back of the room straight up in the air, skidded across the rim until it finally went in. The loss was that close and that heartbreaking. Dad had often said it would have been the greatest upset in NCAA history.
After we moved to Las Vegas, Dad agreed to help coach my middle school team before the City playoffs. However, that didn’t last long for me because he threw me out of practice when I wouldn’t listen to him.
That didn’t stop me from wanting to play for him and the Runnin Rebels. My first year at UNLV, I tried to call him Coach but it sounded phony. Dad hated phonies. So the last two years I just called him Dad because that is what he really was to me.
While at UNLV, Dad made it clear what he wanted from his point guard. In practice, during my first season, the point guard I was competing with took a shot on a 3 on 1 fast break and Dad screamed at him.
The point guard said, “Coach, just tell me, when do you want me to shoot the ball and when don’t you. I will do whatever you say.”
Dad responded, “Michael, if all 5 guys on the opposing team fall down and die and they are lying there listlessly on the court, then you can shoot the ball but I want it to hurt so badly you never want to do it again. Sometimes Dad’s honesty was a little hard to take.
One day in practice, the player I was guarding kept scoring on me. Dad yelled, “Danny, Is that player that good or is it just because you are guarding him.” Sometimes Dad’s humor was a little hard to take also.
However, one of the things I am most proud of in my life is our 1982-83 team became the first team in UNLV history to be ranked No. 1 in the country. We started the 10 year run where UNLV won 330 games, 10 league championships, 3 Final Fours and the National Championship by the largest margin in NCAA history.
I don’t want to spend a lot of time spewing out numbers but I must give you a few just so we can put Dad’s career accomplishments in perspective.
Dad took over a Riverside City College basketball team that had finished last in the league the two previous years. In his last four years he won 131 games and lost 9, while winning three straight State Championships something that had never been done before or since.
He took over a Pasadena City College team that had won only 3 games the previous year and in his two seasons won 67 while losing four. He won a fourth straight State Championship and lost the 5th by one point in overtime.
He took over a Long Beach State team that had not won a game outside of California in seven years. He won 121 games while losing only 20, going to the Elite 8 twice.
At UNLV, Dad won 509 games and lost only 105.
After 24 years on the collegiate level, Dad won over 83% of his games, the highest winning percentage in NCAA history
In Dad’s first 24 years of collegiate coaching his teams went to 15 Sweet 16s, 7 Elite Eights, 4 Final Fours and won the National Championship. He did this at small state schools with limited budgets and resources. And to be honest with you players, he didn’t have the best talent
And he did all of this while constantly being harassed and maligned by the NCAA, his own administration and some in the media. They tried time and again to destroy him but Dad kept battling back stronger than ever.
However, the true impact of his life isn’t measured in wins, loses and championships it is measured by the impact he had on some many people’s lives.
People stop me all the time and tell me about their favorite play or favorite game. They tell me how much Dad’s teams meant to them, often stating it was the most enjoyable time of their lives.
What Runnin Rebel fan doesn’t remember the red carpet, the multi-colored light and fireworks show, the jaws clap, the laser shark circling the arena and the Shark mascot roaming the court devouring people. There will never be a time like this again.
Over the past five days my family has been inundated with calls, emails, and texts from former players, and coaches who told their story of how Dad changed their lives forever, and many others who said he had actually saved their lives.
The night before Dad passed, Fresno State’s star center, Melvin Ely, called him from Japan. I put the phone up to his ear. Melvin told Dad, he took a troubled young boy out of Harvey, Illinois brought him to Fresno and turned him into the man he is today. If it wasn’t for Dad, Melvin said he would have died in the streets of Harvey.
I recently heard a stat that teachers and coaches touch more people’s lives in one year than most people do in a lifetime. Well, Dad didn’t just touch people’s lives, he touched the lives of people who needed it the most, the ones without hope, the ones in greatest despair, and the ones discarded by society. He was there to provide them a chance and to give them a future.
However, the longest lasting impact from my father’s life will be the greatest team he ever assembled, with my mother, his four children, 11 grandchildren and their children. We have a lot to live up to to earn the distinction of being a part of Dad’s family.
You wanna talk about the biggest upsets in all of history, it has to be a first generation Armenian, whose family survived the Genocide and the Great Depression, who endured the early death of his father, had little money and less education, but made such an impact in his life that the New York Times, Washington Post, the London Times, CNN, Espn, even Hong Kong, Israel and Madrid reported on him. The Las Vegas Strip, the most famous street in the world, is going to dim their lights in honor of my father, a distinction he shares with presidents Reagan and John F. Kennedy. Pretty impressive company.
Despite all of the adversity Dad faced, in death, as he did what he had done his entire life, he Won. I am sure Grandma Rose met him at the gates of heaven and told him how proud she was.
Starbucks Poster Photographer Apologizes to Armenian Community
BY ARA KHACHATOURIAN
Timothy Rose, the photographer responsible for a poster depicting women in Armenian traditional garb under the Turkish crescent and star, issued an apology to the Armenian community on his website Thursday, saying his intentions were not to offend.
“To all the Armenian community, I wish to apologize for the photograph taken for Starbucks from 2011. Neither I nor the photographer knew the dancers were Armenian. We were traveling around the world shooting photojournalistic images for the brand and captured this image during a festival in 2011 for Ataturk. There was no Photoshopping or models used. Once it came to my attention that this was rightfully offensive to the Armenian community, I took the image down. I am in full support of their plight and would never have knowingly supported any action that would hurt either them or cause unnecessary pain. My deepest apologies,” Rose posted on his web site.
The poster, which sprung up on several Starbucks locations around Southern California and elsewhere in the country, angered Armenians and prompted them to take to social media to voice their disappointment at the largest coffee retailer in the world. The Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region immediately launched a social media campaign urging followers to document locations and call Starbucks to complain with #BoycottStarbucks message.
Starbucks issued an apology and pledged to remove all posters from stores.
In an email to Asbarez, a Starbucks spokesperson said: “Serving as a place for the community to connect is core to our business and we strive to be locally relevant in all of our stores. We missed the mark here and we apologize for upsetting our customers and the community. We have removed this art in our Mulholland & Calabasas store in Woodland Hills and are working to make this right,” a Starbucks spokesperson told Asbarez via email. The spokesperson said that the company was “looking into this to ensure this image is not in any other Starbucks locations.”
After the apology and during the entire process one question remained unanswered: Why did Starbucks, a corporation known for its ethical positions, opt to put up the posters? Another mystery is why didn’t the posters show up in any of Starbucks’ Glendale locations, which have high concentration of Armenian clientele. Several inquiries to Starbucks on this matter were not answered.
Devil’s Due explore Armenian Genocide in Operation Nemesis
Devil’s Due are said to have a very interesting project coming out in April called Operation Nemesis: A Story of Genocide & Revenge a graphic novel honoring the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, Comicsbeat.com reports.
Writer Josh Blaylocl and artist Hoyl Silva tell the story of Soghomon Tehlirian, the Armenian survivor who killed Talaat Pasha on the streets of Berlin to revenge the execution of 1,500,000 Armenians in the Ottoman Empire … and walked away from court a free man.
In 1915, Talaat Pasha, leader of the Turkish Ottomon Empire ordered the mass execution of every Armenian within his nation’s borders, resulting in the death of over 1,500,000 victims.
Besides Blaylock and Hoyt, Greg & Fake Studio provide the colors, and David Krikorian and Thomas Dardarian are listed as producer and co-producer respectively. Pin-ups will be provided by Dan Panosian, Sedat Oezgen, and Harry Bogosian, son of monologist Eric Bogosian, and formerly a student of Paul Pope.
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Turks in the dark of their past – Arsine Khanjian
Canadian-Armenian actress Arsine Khanjian, who is now in Istanbul, Turkey to participate in the in the international independent film festival !f, has shared her impressions of the changes in the Turkish and Armenian societies, and the Armenia Diaspora.
“An episodic story focused on the Armenian Genocide is presented in Turkey, with Turks getting entangled when it comes to confronting the fact. I now see that it is very difficult,” she said, speaking to the Turkish-Armenian publication Agos.
The actress, who is on her fifth visit to Turkey and third visit to Istanbul, said she availed herself the opportunity to meet face-to-face with ethnic Turks trying to gain a better understanding of the motives behind the Turkish society’s behavior. “And I came to see that the Turks do not know a lot from history. Blamed for their past throughout their lives, they, as a matter of fact, have no idea about that past,” she noted.
Speaking of the Turkish-Armenians, the actress said she sees that they do not seem to have very great expectations. “Those in the diaspora know that the Armenians live in intimidation. The diaspora has lost touch with the Armenians in Turkey. We have lost our heritage, our people, language and culture, but we can maintain and continue the dialogue with the people residing here,” she added.
Asked about her expectations from the Genocide centennial commemoration, the actress replied, “The centennial events are for keeping history alight. So we’ll keep doing the same on the 101st anniversary. We have finally arrived at a point that makes our dialogue with the Turkish society possible. As early as 50 years ago, nobody would talk about the Genocide. But it isn’t so now. That is why I find the events important.”
As for the films dedicated to the Genocide topic, Khanjyan said she doesn’t think that it is possible at all to satisfy an Armenian audience’s expectations from such a serious topic as that. “They observed such a long silence over the Genocide that they are now at a point where the Armenian spectator does not know what he or she wishes to see in the movie. They want the film to tell them about everything. The Holocaust stories evolved after [the Second World] War, so the Jews did not need such a film. But the things were not arranged the same way for the Armenians. We weren’t able to address all the aspects of the Genocide, and now, gathering the stories in one place, we expect to have a movie about the Genocide. It isn’t feasible,” she noted.
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Forget-Me-Not: A symbol of Genocide Centennial making its way into Armenians’ life
Alina Nikoghosyan
ArmeniaNow intern
Forget-me-nots, a chosen symbol of commemoration of the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide, in colors symbolizing the past, the present and the future, the light and the eternity, have increasingly been taking a more prominent place in the life of Armenians in Armenia and around the world in recent days and weeks.
The massacres of Armenians that began in the Ottoman Empire still in the 19th century peaked in 1915 turning into a state genocidal campaign, with 1.5 million Armenians slaughtered in the subsequent few years. In 2015, Armenians in different parts of the world as well as in Armenia itself will be holding many events to commemorate the victims of the Genocide on its 100th anniversary.
Under a decision of the State Committee coordinating these events, the forget-me-not flower has been selected as the official symbol of the commemorations, while “I Remember and Demand” was chosen as the motto for the anniversary, because the flower represents the graphic image of 12 stone slabs of the memorial to the Armenian Genocide victims at Tsitsernakaberd (Swallow Fortress).
The five petals of the flower symbolize five parts of the world where Armenians were scattered after the Genocide and created the Armenian Diaspora.
The flower has four colors – black in the center, symbolizing the Armenian past, then it is surrounded by yellow which pictures the light and the eternity in the form of 12 pillars standing in a circle symbolizing the memorial of Tsitsernakaberd. Light purple is the present and the prevailing purple – the future.
The small flower that contains much notion in it has already managed to become widely popular among Armenians. Reporters of many TV stations appear on screens with a Forget-Me-Not badge.
The idea of the forget-me-not seems to have appealed to the ruling party as well, as both President Serzh Sargsyan and other senior Republican Party members appear in public wearing Forget-Me-Not badges.
Schools will not stay apart from the “Forget-me-nots”; among other events devoted to the Centennial of the Genocide the Armenian Ministry of Education and Science will organize an event in all public educational institutions on March 24, when all schoolchildren of 5-12 grades will prepare the symbol of forget-me-nots – 1.5 million pieces, which later, on April 24, will be handed to visitors of Tsitsernakaberd.
And although the official website of the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide says that already in April Forget-Me-Not badges will be provided for free, it did not avoid “business interests”, and those willing to purchase forget-me-nots earlier are offered a bunch of Forget-me-nots – not only badges, but also earrings, key-holders, etc.
According to some media reports, a local businessman has produced fake badges, selling them in his stores for 200 AMD (about 40 cent) a piece.
However, as a symbol the forget-me-not has not unanimously been accepted and has been criticized by some as well.
According to filmmaker Tigran Khzmlyan, who is also a former member of the Pre-parliament civil initiative, the forget-me-not is not a proper symbol for the Genocide Centennial, because according to him, Armenians have long had their symbolic flower.
“The forget-me-not is understandable in an abstract sense, however, it is not now that we are searching for cultural symbols for us, and in our poetry and folklore, in our image system a completely different flower symbolizes the Armenian pain, it is the poppy. In the image of the previous generation a poppy symbolized the blood of the diseased, meaning the beauty of the poor nature of our mountains, it is red, but has black in its heart,” Khzmlyan said.
As for the slogan of the flower – “I Remember and Demand”, according to the film director, it might create a misunderstanding in Turkey.
“If we take a forget-me-not, as a symbol of memory, we appear in a quite ambiguous situation. The thing is we have nothing to remember, we are not looking at it from aside and thus we seem to appear in the Turkish trap. Besides, there is also another unpleasant peculiarity – the forget-me-not, as it turns out, has numerously been used, it is a banal and discredited symbol, which we see in many political parties, religious units and most ridiculously, it is the logo of many trading companies,” Khzmlyan said.
Nevertheless, the symbolic “Forget-me-not” will at least this year be in the center of Armenian attention, and Europe’s biggest pop music contest, Eurovision, will be no exception.
Armenia has decided to unite around Eurovision 2015 the new generation of all Armenians who were scattered around the five continents (Europe, America, Asia, Africa, and Australia) in 1915 and five singers of Armenian origin are associated with five petals of the flower. They will be joined by one singer from Armenia who will unite the petals. The group that will be formed for the contest will be called The Genealogy – 6 artists, 6 destinies, one story, and the title of the song is – “Don’t Deny”.