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,
Ayse-Berktay, Turkish Intellectuals
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)
——————————————————————————————————————————————
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
‘US Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story’ Named Book of the Month
‘Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story’ by Henry Morgenthau
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.
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
A story of Genocide and revenge
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.
report news.am
Turks in the dark of their past – Arsine Khanjian
Canadian-Armenian actress 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.
Report tert.am
Forget-Me-Not: A symbol of Genocide Centennial making its way into Armenians’ life
Alina Nikoghosyan
ArmeniaNow intern
Forget-Me-Not: A symbol of Genocide Centennial
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”.
Turkey Linking Major Arms Purchase To Armenian Genocide Recognition
by
Turkey’s Defence Minister Ismet Yilmaz speaks during a debate, photo by REUTERS/Umit Bektas
Turkey is reportedly linking its purchase a multi billion-dollar air-defense system to whether the bidder countries recognize the Armenian genocide.
That news, reported by a number of Turkish media, is the latest unexpected turn in the multi-year saga over the arms deal. The original bidders for the deal were companies representing the United States, Europe, China, and Russia, giving the program the air of a geopolitical litmus test. When Turkey announced that it planned to give the Chinese company the contract, it faced a barrage of pressure from its NATO allies who were concerned that linking that system with NATO air defense equipment already in Turkey could expose NATO secrets to China.
All along, Turkey has denied that there was any political subtext to its decision, saying that its choice of China was related solely to questions of price and the fact that China would hand over more of the technology to Turkey. Now, though, that appears to have changed. With the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide approaching in April, Ankara is reportedly waiting to see how the various bidders mark that event.
“Rumors in political circles in Ankara said that no decision will be made over the missile defense system winner before [April 24] since Turkey wants to first see France and the U.S.’s position on the 1915 incidents,” reported the pro-government Daily Sabah. “An agreement may be made with China if the U.S. and French administrations take a ‘pro-Armenian’ stance.”
Hurriyet Daily News has reported the same thing:
“We have agreed with the government leaders not to rush to a decision any time soon,” one defense procurement official said. “A decision before April 24 is out of the question.”
A senior diplomat confirmed that Ankara first wants to see the U.S. and French positions on the “genocide claims” before awarding a sizeable contract “to a bidder potentially from one of these countries.” report eurasianet
“How these countries observe the centennial of the events [of 1915-1920] will be an important input for our final decision,” he said.
And a “top government official for defense and security issues” told newspaper Defense News last month: “One imminent political deliberation is whether the US Congress will recognize the alleged Armenian genocide in April. We will wait Congress’ move before making a decision on the contract.”
Meanwhile, Turkey’s Ministry of Defense has said that whichever system it buys will not be linked to NATO’s. That would seem to open the door for buying the Chinese equipment. But it also has extended the deadline for the Chinese, American, and European bidders until the summer — as Defense News notes, the sixth time it has made such an extension.
It’s not clear whether official recognition of the Armenian genocide has any more chance to get through Congress this year than it has before. But arguments like Ankara’s have held sway in the past: in 2010, a coalition of American defense contractors wrote a letter to Congress arguing against genocide recognition: “Alienating a significant NATO ally and trading partner would have negative repercussions for U.S. geopolitical interests and efforts to boost both exports and employments.”
But the U.S. bid was relatively unlikely to win; the second-place offer, after China’s, was that of Eurosam, based in France, a country which not only recognized the genocide but even criminalized genocide denial.
Nazism and Turanianism led to two genocides in the 20th century in a conference in Athens
On February 16, in the room of the mayor of Nikia in Athens (Greece) held a conference on “Nazism and Turanianism comparative approach” led by writer and public figure Armenian-Greek Hovsep Kasesian. The conclusions of the conference on the comparison between “Nazism and Turanianism” were reported by the Secretary of Strategic Analysis Center “Armenian-Greek,” and corresponding newspaper “Haiastan” and “Nor Ashkhar” Hovsep Kasesian Greek. It shows that Nazism and Turanianism are the two political movements that culminated in the 20th century to the achievement of two genocide, the Armenian genocide and the Holocaust. H. Kasesian noted that in both cases, extermination was terrible, but the Armenians, in addition to their lives have lost their land, property and homes looted by Turkey.
Krikor Amirzayan
Armenia, About 200,000 tourists expected in Yerevan on 24 April 100th Genocide centennial
Armenian
Genocide memorial
Next April to mark the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide Yerevan will host hundreds of thousands of tourists with a large majority of Diaspora Armenians. The hotels in the Armenian capital full display. This is the statement Hrach Hagopian, founder of the polling company and market research “Oliver Group”. Hrach Hagopian says “According to our estimates, 24 April, nearly 200 000 tourists will be present in Armenia with many Armenians from the diaspora. Yerevan is ready to welcome them but during more than a month hotels and apartments for rent in Yerevan will be overwhelmed by this mass of tourists. And even though the number of tourists is only 100,000, anyway, the sector of the Republic of services and Yerevan will be the big beneficiary of this arrival of visitors, “concludes H. Hagopian.
Krikor Amirzayan
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 253
- 254
- 255
- 256
- 257
- …
- 371
- Next Page »