ARF Urges Closures on April 24

April 19, 2013 By administrator

GLENDALE—The Armenian Revolutionary Federation Western US Central Committee issued an appeal this week, urging community members to take the day off or close their businesses on April 24 as a fitting gesture to commemorate the 98th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

Below is the translated text of the appeal:

The Armenian Genocide anniversary is upon us and every Armenian, once again, is preparing to honor the memory of the victims of this heinous crime by attending commemoration events or protests and expressing the commitment to our demands and the cause.

We are all mourners. We all have demands. While the struggle for justice is a daily matter, for all of us April 24 remains the day to honor the sacred memory of our martyrs. It is the day when we appreciate the extent of our personal and collective losses and a time when we must reevaluate our present and determine the course of our struggle, in the name of justice and the restoration of our rights.

By taking a personal day from work or closing businesses on April 24 many people instinctively express their firm stance befitting our national day of mourning.

However, some of our compatriots have veered from that tradition and, just like any other day, they go to work and keep their businesses open.

April 24 cannot be considered an ordinary day for any Armenian. Hence, we call on our community to assume responsibility for our martyred ancestors by closing their businesses and taking part in the day’s commemorative events.

Rep. Schiff calls on Obama to recognize Armenian Genocide

April 18, 2013 By administrator

April 18, 2013 – 11:55 AMT

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), the lead sponsor of the Armenian Genocide resolution in Congress, called on President Barack Obama to finally recognize the Armenian Genocide on April 24.

Each year, Obama has issued a statement marking the anniversary of the start of first genocide of the 20th century, but has consistently failed to properly refer to this campaign of killing as Genocide.

“Next week marks the 98th anniversary of the start of the systematic murder of 1.5 million Armenian men, women and children, and I urge you to refer properly to this campaign of killing as “genocide” in your annual statement marking the April 24 anniversary of the start of the Armenian Genocide,” Rep. Adam Schiff said in a letter.

“In the spring of 1915, the government of the Ottoman Empire unleashed a savage campaign of massacres, forced desert marches, rape, and looting upon the Armenians of eastern Anatolia. By 1923, one and a half million Armenians were dead and the world’s oldest Christian nation had been shattered – with its survivors scattered around the world.

As a Senator, you spoke often of the massacres of Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman government as genocide, a view shared by the overwhelming majority of historians, including some notable Turkish historians. The Armenian Genocide has also been recognized by many local and state governments here in the United States and by many governments around the world.

I urge you to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide in your statement this year, to call genocide, genocide, and to stand with the ever-dwindling number of survivors, as well as the descendants of those who were lost, and who must otherwise continue to suffer the indignity, injury and pain of denial,” he said.

Remember, Remind, and Reclaim: Guidelines for the Genocide Centennial

April 17, 2013 By administrator

BY HARUT SASSOUNIAN

Armenian communities around the world are gearing up for the Centennial of the Genocide on April 24, 2015, by coordinating their commemorative plans at the local, regional, and international levels.

A Pan-Armenian Centennial Committee was established in Armenia two years ago consisting of the leadership of the Republics of Armenia and Artsakh (Karabagh), heads of religious denominations, and representatives of major Armenian political, charitable, and cultural organizations. Local committees have also been formed throughout the Diaspora. As reported earlier, the international committee of Armenian Genocide experts met in Yerevan last month to recommend specific projects to be adopted by the Pan-Armenian Centennial Committee during its May 30 meeting.

On April 6, the Centennial Committees of eight Middle Eastern countries (Cyprus, Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, and Iran represented by committees in Tehran, Esfahan, and Tabriz,) met in Beirut to coordinate their plans on a regional basis. Also attending was Hayk Demoyan, Secretary of the Pan-Armenian Centennial Committee in Armenia.

His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of Cilicia, presided over the meeting and gave a timely keynote address outlining the principles that should guide the regional committees in planning for the Centennial. Aram Vehapar succinctly formulated the objectives in three key Armenian words: “Hishel, Hishetsnel, yev Bahanchel” [To Remember, To Remind, and To Reclaim].

His Holiness went on to explain: “for 100 years, we stressed the remembrance of the Genocide. We lit candles, organized commemorative evenings, and published books. These important activities will imbue our youth with the sacred testament and souls of our martyrs. Yet, we should not singly focus on this subject. For 100 years, we reminded people through demonstrations, lobbying, and raising our voices. We aim to continue
these activities with different approaches. However, it is imperative that we stress our demands for restitution.”

The Vehapar reminded the attendees about the international conference organized by the Catholicosate of Cilicia a year ago with the theme: “From Recognition to Restitution,” with the participation of international legal experts. “We need legal experts in order to present, defend, and pursue our claims appropriately in international courts,” the Catholicos stated.

Aram I went on to suggest a division of labor between the Republic of Armenia and the Diaspora: “We should work in unison. Our approaches and emphasis could be different from one another; and sometimes they must be different! Let’s not forget that Armenia is a state, and the Diaspora is a diaspora. Neither the state nor the diaspora can speak on each other’s behalf. Each has its own unique voice and function. But, there should be intra-Armenian harmony and coordination. In other words, we should plan and work with a common purpose, holding on firmly to our demands for restitution.”

The Catholicos then urged Armenians to include the far-flung regions of Africa, the Far East, and South America within the scope of the Centennial activities. Turning to the Middle East, Aram I made three important points:

1. The pursuit of the Armenian Cause in the Islamic world requires a special approach, because Turkey is a Muslim state.

2. Turkey’s ever-increasing and penetrating influence in the region is a serious problem. “In my meetings with leaders of countries in the region, I always tell them: ‘you have kept your doors very wide open in front of Turkey. The day will come when you will recognize your mistake. Turkey uses different masks.’ Therefore, we must be alert as the genocidaire is closely following our steps. We will not retreat and will not weaken in the face of Turkish meddling.”

3) Genocide is not an event that belongs to the past. The Diaspora is a consequence of the Genocide, and in a sense, it is still continuing.

Catholicos Aram I concluded by categorizing the Armenian efforts for recognition and restitution into three dimensions: historical, political, and legal. “The time has come, without ignoring the first two, to place a clear priority on the legal aspect. In this regard, we have a massive amount of work to accomplish,” he stated.

Significantly, Hayk Demoyan, Secretary of the Pan-Armenian Centennial Committee, also speaking at the regional meeting in Beirut, noted: “We know that we cannot undo some of the consequences of the Armenian Genocide, such as the lost lives and destroyed churches, nevertheless, the major consequence is the loss of the territories!”

Police, protesters face off outside Turkish embassy

April 16, 2013 By administrator

April 16, 2013 10:18 AM
The Daily Star

BEIRUT: Families of the nine remaining Lebanese hostages in Syria clashed Tuesday with security forces trying to prevent them from storming the Turkish Embassy in Rabieh, north of Beirut.

Riot police and Lebanese Army commandos managed to push the dozens of protesters back. Security forces, however, allowed the protesters to set up a tent outside the embassy.

“We’re not going to stop our actions,” ex-Lebanese hostage Awad Ibrahim told The Daily Star from Rabieh.

“We are going to target all the Turkish interests in Lebanon, including Turkish Airlines offices, factories, shipments and the embassy,” he vowed.

Ibrahim, one of the two Lebanese hostages released late last year, said the relatives plan to head to Beirut port later in the day in an effort to prevent Turkish vessels from unloading their shipment.

The brief confrontation came a day after the families of the nine Lebanese hostages targeted Turkish interests in Beirut as part of their protest over the failure to secure the release of their loved ones.

The relatives rallied outside the fish market in Beirut’s Karantina neighborhood shortly before midnight Monday, preventing drivers of refrigerated trucks from unloading their cargo. Their move was part of a recent decision to boycott Turkish products in a bid to pressure Ankara to do more to secure the release of their relatives.

The protesters vowed to adopt even harsher measures.

“Since we got fed up with false promises, we will continue to step up our action until the release of the kidnapped [men],” said Adham Zogheib, speaking on behalf of the relatives.

He said the relatives plan to target “entire Turkish interests [in Lebanon] by all methods and means.”

Police and the Lebanese Army deployed Tuesday along the road leading to the Turkish Embassy in Rabieh after they received a tip-off that the relatives intend to stage a sit-in outside the premises.

Turkey has said it is making every possible effort to secure the release of Lebanese hostages held in Syria since last May.

“There are no updates over the case but we are following up, especially after the actions of [the hostage’s] relatives. We are upholding efforts in this area,” Turkish Ambassador to Lebanon Inan Ozyildiz said Sunday.

Eleven Shiite Lebanese were abducted in the region of Aleppo, north Syria, on their way back home from a pilgrimage in Iran 10 months ago.

Ibrahim was released in September. Another hostage was let go in August.
Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2013/Apr-16/213893-lebanese-hostages-families-move-against-turkish-goods.ashx#ixzz2QdR6KZ98
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)

More than 200 Converge on Sacramento for ANCA-WR Advocacy Day

April 16, 2013 By administrator

SACRAMENTO—More than 200 activists, from every corner of California, joined the Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region on Monday, April 15 for the Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide in the California State Legislature.

Participants observed the State Assembly and Senate commemorations which recognized various community groups including the ANCA-WR and were spiritually inspired by invocations from Archbishop Mousegh Mardirossian of the Western Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church and Archbishop Hovnan Derderian of the Western Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church respectively.

The day’s events were highlighted by passage of two Armenian Genocide Resolutions. Notably, Assembly Members Katcho Achadjian and Adrin Nazarian, two Assembly Members of Armenian descent, introduced and ushered passage of Assembly Joint Resolution 2 which strongly recognizes the Armenian Genocide, designates April 15 – 19, 2013 as a “Week of Remembrance for the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1923,” and calls on the Congress and President of the United States to formally and consistently recognize the Armenian Genocide’s historical truth.

Alongside the commemorative events, the ANCA-WR held its annual Advocacy Day in the State Capitol through which participating activists were able to educate state legislators about issues of concern to the Armenian-American community. Additional details to follow.

French Armenians urge Hollande to adopt Genocide bill

April 15, 2013 By administrator

April 15, 2013 – 13:30 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – “Hayastan” cultural union of France continues the signature campaign, urging President François Hollande to keep his election promise and adopt the bill criminalizing the Armenian Genocide denial. Hundreds of people have joined the initiative in Valence, with the campaign ongoing in Paris, Lyon and Marseille.

“The adoption of the Genocide denial bill is one of the French president’s election pledges. Moreover, Hollande earlier expressed commitment to the criminalization of the denial of the crime. 600 000 French Armenians and their friends are now waiting for his statement, with the Diaspora representatives concerned about the remarks by the Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius regarding the French-Turkish relations,” the French Armenians’ letter reads, according to Nouvelles d’Armenie.

“Hayastan” Union plans to take the letter to Élysée Palace on April 24, on the 98th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

Iranian lawmaker: Coordinated action needed to battle pan-Turkism

April 11, 2013 By administrator

Coordinated action is needed to battle pan-Turkism, Vice Chairman of Iranian Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Mansour Haghighat-Pour said at a meeting with students of Ardabil University, according to Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency.

Referring to the recent forum of the anti-Iranian South Azerbaijan National Liberation Movement in Baku, the Iranian lawmaker said, in part, “The unification of the Azeris was discussed during the recent forum in Baku, and opinions were voiced that allegedly the Iranian Azeris wish to unite with “Northern Azerbaijan.” Thus, Iranian youths should battle pan-Turkism and pan-Azerism in a coordinated and clever way so as not to allow the enemies to violate the unity of the Iranians.”

Earlier, Vice Chairman of Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Mansour Haghighat-Pour said that “a forum will be held in the near future to discuss Caucasus issues, and issues related to joining a number of Azerbaijani cities – including Baku – with Iran will be discussed at the forum in view of the fact that the residents of these cities are inclined to unite with our country.”

Iranian ambassador to Azerbaijan: Turkey spreading pan-Turkism

Fars: Iranian MPs preparing bill to re-annex Azerbaijan to Iran

Maine recognizes independence of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic

April 11, 2013 By administrator

April 10, 2013 | 22:31

The Maine House of Representatives and Senate passed a joint resolution this morning recognizing the independence of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), and calling on the U.S. President and Congress “to support the self-determination and democratic independence” of NKR.

The resolution urged the President and Congress to support NKR’s “constructive involvement with the international community’s efforts to reach a just and lasting solution to security issues in that strategically important region”, Armenian Weekly reported.

The resolution was introduced by Rep. Scott Hamann (South Portland) and co-sponsored by Rep. Andrew M. Gattine (Westbrook) and Sara Gideon (Freeport).

Rep. Hamann worked closely with the ANCA of Maine and key community leaders, chief among them Anna Astvatsaturian Turcotte, a Baku pogroms survivor, lawyer, and noted author of the book “Nowhere: A Story of Exile.” The measure, which was brought to the floor for a vote earlier today and overwhelmingly adopted on a bipartisan basis, makes Maine the third U.S. state to pass legislation recognizing the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, ANCA reported..

“I am so proud of my state, the State of Maine, for supporting the right of the free Armenian people of Nagorno-Karabakh to freedom, democracy and independence through self-determination,” said Astvatsaturian Turcotte. “I hope other states follow their sister states Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Maine and do the right thing.”

The resolution passes nearly a year after the Rhode Island General Assembly passed a resolution in May 2012 supporting the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic’s efforts to develop as a free and independent nation. Through the diligent efforts of the ANCA of Rhode Island, the state became the first in the nation to urge the president and Congress to recognize the independence of Artsakh. Soon thereafter, the Massachusetts House of Representatives also passed a resolution supporting the self-determination and democratic independence of Nagorno- Karabakh.

Canadian Museum for Human Rights to open exhibit on Armenian Genocide

April 10, 2013 By administrator

April 10, 2013 – 13:05 AMT

The Armenian Genocide will not be left behind when the Canadian Museum for Human Rights opens, the museum’s head of stakeholder relations said, according to Winnipeg Free Press.

“Human rights lessons from the Armenian genocide will be explored in a number of ways in the CMHR, including in an exhibit exploring Raphael Lemkim’s work (he coined the term genocide), an exhibit examining the 1948 Genocide Convention, and in a gallery that will explore a cross-section of global mass atrocities, including the five atrocities that the Canadian Parliament has recognized as genocides,” Clint Curle said.

Calling the killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks a genocide may hurt lucrative trade between Canada and Turkey but the Canadian Museum for Human Rights is not about to call the slaughter of an estimated 1.5 million people anything other than genocide, Curle stressed.

Curle said genocide is a timely human rights issue. “Ongoing denial of this historic atrocity, waged in the name of ethnic homogeneity, makes it a contemporary human rights concern.” He recently visited Yerevan in Armenia to see the Genocide Museum there and will be working to develop links between it and the human rights museum in Winnipeg.

Germany ‘bases Greece and Cyprus policy on stereotypes’

April 9, 2013 By administrator

By Jeevan Vasagar, Berlin

Germany bases its policy towards Greece and Cyprus on stereotypes of idleness and criminality, according to a German MEP of Greek descent who says he is quitting politics as a result.

Mr Chatzimarkakis accused German politicians, including his own party, of belittling Greece.

Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, a MEP with Germany’s Free Democrats, declared that he is quitting German politics over his country’s treatment of its European partners, citing the Cyprus bail-out as the last straw.

He told the Daily Telegraph: “Politics should respect people and not only geopolitical and financial interests.” The case of Cyprus, in which the EU warned that it would withhold bailout loans unless depositors shared in the cost of the rescue, has “provoked an intense euro-sceptic reaction,” Mr Chatzimarkakis said.

After an outcry, savers in Cyprus with less than 100,000 euros will be spared, but the levy on larger depositors will cause intense damage to the Mediterranean island’s economy, which is dependent on offshore banking.

Mr Chatzimarkakis, 46, whose party is the junior member of Angela Merkel’s ruling coalition, said: “Germany has proven several times during the last three years that it is feasible to change course. My decision not to pursue an active role in Germany is linked to the fact that German politicians have ignited a fire in our European house. It has nothing to do with the German citizens whom I greatly respect.”

Mr Chatzimarkakis accused German politicians, including his own party, of belittling Greece. He said that within his own party, ideas such as “sell your isles and the Acropolis” had been circulated as measures to pay off Greek debt. “They were so extreme that I couldn’t go to the party’s convention.”