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Experts meet in Yerevan to strategize for Armenian Genocide Centenary

March 26, 2013 By administrator

Over 40 Armenian Genocide specialists from nine countries met in Yerevan on March 22-23 to strategize on how to devise a legal framework to mitigate the consequences of the Genocide, counter Turkish denialism, and organize genocide studies programs and museum exhibits. The conference was organized by the State Commission Harut Sassounian2coordinating activities leading to the 100th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

In his message to the conference, Pres. Serzh Sargsyan expressed regret that the Armenian Genocide has gone unpunished which paved the way for the Jewish Holocaust. He hoped that the 100th anniversary would be an occasion to demonstrate Armenian unity and resolve to alleviate the consequences of the Genocide, secure restorative justice, and pass on to the next generation new methods of struggle and survival. The President welcomed the fact that more conscientious elements of Turkish society are shattering the wall of silence and denialism, and reexamining the revisionist policies of their country. The President asked conference participants to recommend suggestions to the State Commission for the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

Here is a summary of the comments made by some of the genocide experts participating in the March 22-23 conference:

Israeli scholar Yair Auron criticized the State of Israel for not recognizing the Armenian Genocide, pointing out, however, that a large segment of the Israeli public acknowledges it. Having experienced a similar tragic fate during the Holocaust, Israel should have been the first country to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide, stated Prof. Auron.

Historian Richard Hovannisian of Los Angeles urged the State Commission to plan artistic and cultural events rather than academic conferences to reach out to more people around the world. He suggested organizing a pan-Armenian philharmonic orchestra that would tour the world during the months leading to April 24, 2015. He also expressed the concern that the Turkish government is better prepared to counter the Centenary activities than Armenians are in planning them.

Hayk Demoyan, Secretary of the State Commission and Director of the Genocide Museum in Yerevan, presented to conference participants the plans for the expansion of the museum by 2015.

Prof. Vahakn Dadrian of New York commented that when a denialist country is weak, it accepts its crimes more easily. As long as Turkey remains a powerful country, it will not recognize the Armenian Genocide, Dadrian observed.

Researcher Mihran Minassian from Aleppo, Syria, suggested that commemorative events be jointly observed with Greeks and Assyrians. He pointed out that Turkish denialists had not accused members of these two ethnic groups of joining the Russian Army or forming armed bands, yet they too became victims of mass violence and genocide.

Prof. Nikolay Hovannisyan of Yerevan explained that contrary to popular belief, the Ottoman Empire, not Uruguay, was the first country to recognize the Armenian Genocide through court verdicts in 1919-1926. Uruguay’s Parliament recognized the Armenian Genocide in 1965.

Vladimir Vardanyan, Head of International Treaties Department of Armenia’s Constitutional Court, stated that the concept of Crimes Against Humanity was first used on May 24, 1915 in a joint declaration issued by Britain, France and Russia, warning Turkish officials that they would be held responsible for the Armenian massacres. Similarly, after World War II, the Nuremberg Tribunal accused Nazi war criminals of committing Crimes Against Humanity rather than genocide. Vardanyan suggested that the Republic of Armenia set up a permanent state body that would research and develop the legal framework for the pursuit of genocide-related demands from Turkey in international courts.

Ragip Zarakolu, a prominent Turkish human rights activist from Istanbul who has been frequently jailed for publishing Armenian Genocide books, spoke about the “growing denial industry in Turkey.” He suggested that denialism encouraged terrorism in Turkey.

As a participant in the genocide conference, I spoke about the need to pursue “justice” rather than mere “genocide recognition,” which has already been accomplished. The concept of justice comprises all Armenian demands from Turkey: moral, financial, and territorial restitution.

I also suggested that before planning any specific activities for the Genocide Centenary, Armenians worldwide first develop a single message and agreed upon set of goals. Otherwise, they would be sending mixed messages to Turkey and the international community as to what they really want and seek to accomplish on April 24, 2015.

Finally, the pursuit of Armenian demands must not end in 2015. They should persist in seeking their just demands from Turkey until they accomplish “justice” for their cause!

Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier

Filed Under: News Tagged With: armenian genocide

CIA helping arms shipments to Syria rebels through Turkey: Report

March 25, 2013 By administrator

WASHINGTON – Agence France-Presse

Arab nations and Turkey, helped by the CIA, have dramatically increased military aid to Syrian rebels in recent months, The New York Times reported Monday.

n_43580_4The US Central Intelligence Agency was helping their efforts, the newspaper added, citing air traffic data and interviews with unnamed officials and the rebel commanders.

The airlift has grown to include more than 160 military cargo flights by Jordanian, Saudi and Qatari military-style cargo planes landing at Esenboga Airport near Ankara, and at other Turkish and Jordanian airports, the report said.

US intelligence officers have helped the Arab governments shop for weapons, including a large procurement from Croatia, it said. They had also vetted rebel commanders and groups to determine who should receive the weapons as they arrive.

Turkey had overseen much of the program, fixing transponders to trucks ferrying the military goods through Turkey so it could monitor shipments, the paper added.

“A conservative estimate of the payload of these flights would be 3,500 tons of military equipment,” Hugh Griffiths, of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), told the paper.

“The intensity and frequency of these flights,” were “suggestive of a well-planned and coordinated clandestine military logistics operation”, he added.

The armed uprising against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad sprang up in response to the Damascus regime’s crackdown two years ago on opposition protests.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: CIA helping arms shipments to Syria rebels through Turkey: Report

The Turks now super pass the Israel in control of Washington, PM Netanyahut apologize to Turkish Bully PM

March 23, 2013 By administrator

The Turk dispatch President Obama to go to Israel to force PM Netanyahu to apologize to Turkish Bully Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in Israel’s 2010 raid on a Turkish PM and ObamaTurkish ship.

The president’s involvement, a senior American official said, was crucial to both leaders, which is why Mr. Netanyahu scheduled the call before Mr. Obama’s departure from Israel. Mr. Erdogan insisted on speaking to Mr. Obama first before the president handed the phone over to Mr. Netanyahu. In the end, the call produced a win-win for all sides.

A Hamas official said Turkish Premier Erdogan phoned exiled Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal on Friday, March 22 evening and briefed him on the details of Netanyahu’s apology.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: PM Netanyahut apologize to Turkish Bully PM

UNHRC adopts Armenia-initiated genocide prevention resolution

March 22, 2013 By administrator

March 22, 2013 – 19:58 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) unanimously adopted Armenia-initiated resolution on prevention of genocides, according to RA Foreign Ministry’s Facebook page.

151084The Armenian Genocide was masterminded by the Central Committee of the Young Turk Party led by Mehmed Talat Pasha, Ismail Enver Pasha, and Ahmed Djemal Pasha. 98 years ago today, Armenian intellectuals of Constantinople were arrested, the figure reaching 800 during a week. Majority of them were killed in prisons, the others died when being exiled.

In all, from 1.5 to 2 million people were slaughtered in the Ottoman Empire during the WWI. The entire population of six vilayets of Western Armenia was annihilated. Those who survived found shelter in different countries of the world, forming the Armenian Diaspora.

Present-day Turkey denies the fact of the Armenian Genocide, justifying the atrocities as “deportation to secure Armenians”. Only a few Turkish intellectuals, including Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk and scholar Taner Akcam, speak openly about the necessity to recognize the Genocide.

The Armenian Genocide was recognized by Uruguay, Russia, France, Lithuania, the Italian Chamber of Deputies, majority of U.S. states, parliaments of Greece, Cyprus, Argentina, Belgium and Wales, National Council of Switzerland, Chamber of Commons of Canada, Polish Sejm, Vatican, European Parliament and the World Council of Churches.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: UNHRC adopts Armenia-initiated genocide prevention resolution

Steven Simpson: If there has ever been a country in the Middle East guilty of committing crimes against humanity, it is Turkey

March 21, 2013 By administrator

Below is an article by Steven Simpson, published in The American Thinker, in which he presents the crimes committed by Turkey.  
Turkey’s Islamist prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, is once again engaging in his favorite political pastime – Israel-bashing.

American ThinkerLate last month at a U.N. convention held ironically to promote religious tolerance, Erdoğan lambasted Israel by calling Zionism “a crime against humanity.” Indeed, Erdoğan even outdid the biggest anti-Israel institution in the world – the United Nations – which in 1975 passed its infamous “Zionism is Racism” resolution.

But Erdoğan’s continuous contempt for Israel shows the arrogance and hypocrisy of Turkey. For if there has ever been a country in the Middle East guilty of committing crimes against humanity, it is Turkey. Indeed, next to Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia, 20th-century Turkey ranks right up there when it comes to massacres, rapes, expulsions, and rapine perpetrated against ethnic and religious minorities – namely Armenians, Greeks, and Kurds.

Before documenting Turkey’s crimes against other people, it should first be noted that today’s Turkey has for all intents and purposes become an Islamic republic in everything but name only. The so-called “Turkish-Israeli” alliance has been in tatters since Erdoğan came to power in 2003. Aside from veering Turkey on an Islamist course – and cause – the Turks (even with Obama’s “apology tour” that began in Turkey back in 2009) remain extremely anti-American. This writer back in 2010 documented Erdoğan’s democratic ascent to power, his ideology and goals, and what an Islamist Turkey means to America, Israel, and the West in general.

Regrettably, Israel allowed herself to once again be verbally slapped down by the vitriolic and sanctimonious Erdoğan. With Erdoğan’s latest diatribe, all Israel could weakly say was “that it was a sinister and mendacious comment.” America, fearful of losing its only Muslim NATO “ally,” also was quite quiet when it came to Erdoğan’s latest bombastic tirade.

Ironically, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was on his way to Turkey to meet with officials when Erdoğan had his latest verbal apoplectic attack against Israel. Though the mainstream media made it out that the U.S. was furious with Erdoğan, Kerry simply called the comments “objectionable.” Indeed, Erdoğan upbraided Kerry when Kerry had apologized for being late to a dinner with the Turkish prime minister after holding talks with Turkey’s foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu. Mr. Kerry had commented to the prime minister that he had held lengthy discussions with Mr. Davutoglu. An irritated Erdoğan then acerbically stated to Kerry that they “must have spoken about everything so there is nothing left for us to talk about.” Kerry meekly responded “that there’s a lot to talk about.” However, it remains unknown what the two actually discussed, and if Kerry raised any objections to Erdoğan’s statements on Israel, no one has yet reported on the event.

This now leaves us with Erdoğan’s hypocrisy in lecturing Israel about supposed “war crimes” and leads us to actual war crimes perpetrated by Turkey during the 20th century – crimes that still go on today against the Kurds. It is a record that not only has caused of blood to be spilled, but still has repercussions felt to this day.

Probably the most well-known war crime that Turkey engaged in was the slaughter – if not genocide – perpetrated against the Armenians in the first two decades of the 20th century. In fact, the Turks were already slaughtering Armenians in the late 19th century in what has come to be known as “the Hamidian massacres.” Estimates of the slaughter range from hundreds of thousands to millions. In any event, Turkey has consistently and constantly denied that such crimes against the Armenians took place. Turkey is so sensitive to the charge of genocide that when the U.S. Congress in 2010 finally passed a resolution condemning this crime, Turkey threatened “serious consequences” to the “partnership” between America and Turkey. Ironically, Barack Obama, who had the audacity to say back in 2007 that “nobody is suffering more than the Palestinian people,” sought to stop the congressional resolution on the Armenian genocide.

Continuing with Turkish war crimes, and the hypocrisy of the neo-Ottoman crypto-Sultan Erdoğan, there were the massacres and expulsions of the Greeks from their ancestral homelands. This is another Turkish crime against humanity that is little-known, and even less spoken or written about. “The Pontian Genocide” took place between the years of 1916 and 1922. Again, estimates vary in the casualty rate, but the slaughter could have been as close to 1,000,000 Greeks killed. This doesn’t even take into account the surviving 1.5 million Greeks who lived in Asia Minor (Anatolia) for millennia before being expelled by the Turks to European Greece during this era.

Finally, there are the Kurds. If there was ever an authentic Middle Eastern minority of Muslims that deserves a nation-state, it is the Kurds. While Islamist governments in Iran and Turkey (as well as the Arab world) talk about “Islamic solidarity” when it comes to the so-called “Palestinians,” there is not even a syllable of talk regarding the plight of the Kurds. The Kurds have been killed and suppressed by Arab, Persian, and Turk for centuries, all of whom see the legitimate aim of the Kurds to establish their own state as a threat to the status quo of continuous Arab, Persian, and Turkish imperialism.

While the Kurds are spread out over Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Turkey, it has been in the last country that the Kurds have basically been written out of history by the Turks. The Turkish quest to deny any semblance of a Kurdish existence has been so bizarre that Turkey even banned the Kurdish language during the years 1983-1999 and routinely referred to them as “mountain Turks.” To this day, Turkey routinely crosses the Syrian and Iraqi borders to fight against “Kurdish terrorists.”

This background on Turkish war crimes is just a brief sketch of the brutal actions that Turkey has committed over the decades (if not centuries). The next time the arrogant, bellicose, and venomous Erdoğan along with his fellow Islamists lectures Israel about “crimes against humanity,” they should look in the mirror and admit to true war crimes.

Indeed, Israel – and America, for that matter – would do history a great justice if they reminded Turkey in the strongest language possible, of the Turks’ bloody crimes against their own minorities, instead of sitting back and allowing Turkey to pontificate about Israel’s nonexistent “crimes against humanity.” Continued silence will only strengthen bullies and thugs like Erdoğan, lend credence to his outlandish slander, and allow Turkey to continue to rewrite history in its own image.

Source: Panorama.am

Filed Under: News

The mystery of British SS Armenian and the Armenian Genocide

March 21, 2013 By administrator

13:54, 21 March, 2013

YEREVAN, MARCH 21, ARMENPRESS: The fact that SS Armenian once sailed the high seas and worked the cargo routes of the North Atlantic is news to most people, including Armenians. Brithish SS Armenian was built during the Hamidian massacares and sunk during the Armenian Genocide.
712259Built as a freighter, the SS Armenian was a valuable transportation vessel in the profitable cargo service that existed between Great Britain and North America at the turn of the 20th century. The exact location of its final resting place remained a mystery until 2008, when its wreck was discovered off the western coast of England and it was seen for the first time since World War I, reports Armenpress citing English language The Armenian Mirror-Spectator weekly.
For a ship born during the Hamidian massacres, it was perhaps inevitable that it would meet its doom in that darkest of years – in 1915 – at the same time as the people with whom she shared her name were being slaughtered.
The SS Armenian was built in 1895 by Harland & Wolff, the Belfast shipyard that would later become famous for making the legendary trio Titanic, Olympic and Britannic. The vessel was 156 meters long and had a displacement of 8,825 tons.
With very little contact between Great Britain and a nation called Armenia, the clue behind the sudden name change lies in the events inundating the British press throughout 1895. During this time, the sultan and the ruling elite of the Ottoman Empire were diligently putting into action their final solution to the ‘Armenian Question,’ a solution which required the destruction of the empire’s Armenian minority as a cohesive unit and its dispersal throughout the country .
In October 1895, reports of the slaughter of hundreds of Armenian men in the town of Erzurum provoked shock and indignation across the world. Newspaper articles regularly depicted the sultan as a bloodthirsty tyrant, a butcher of women and children, and sympathy for the Armenians was widespread. Leading newspapers such as the Times, Morning Post, Daily News, New York Times and Le Petit Parisien published articles and editorials by prominent public figures condemning the Turkish crimes.  With the constant flow of news reports causing outrage and clamors for justice, it is understandable why the people behind the building of the SS Armenian would choose to rename the vessel. It may have been a small but significant gesture, an expression of solidarity with the Armenian people in their hour of torment and agony.
While heading northeast off Trevose Head, Cornwall, a watchman on the Armenian sighted a German submarine in June 1915. In what proved to be an erroneous decision, Captain James Trickey ordered the ship ahead full-steam in an attempt to outrun the U-boat, which turned out to be the U-24. The captain was signaled to stop and surrender after two shots were fired across the ship’s bow, but he refused.
The Armenian was then sunk by two torpedoes fired into its stern.
While the propaganda war raged in the newspapers, President Woodrow Wilson considered the Armenian incident before making any official pronouncements, preferring to wait until the investigation was over. His procrastination proved expedient. The ship was undeniably engaged in the transportation of contraband to England.
The furor caused by the sinking of the Armenian eventually abated because of the circumstances surrounding the event, and the US did not declare war on Germany until April 1917.
The SS Armenian was finally located and identified by wreck hunter and archaeologist Innes McCartney in 2008.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: The mystery of British SS Armenian and the Armenian Genocide

American Student Composes Symphony dedicated to the Armenian Genocide

March 20, 2013 By administrator

12:50, 20 March, 2013

YEREVAN, MARCH 20, ARMENPRESS: After learning about the Armenian Genocide for the very first time, Francis Norton decided to vent his anger over the tragedy. As reports Armenpress referring to The Armenian Weekly,  inspired by  genocide studies classes the Wilmington High senior sat behind a computer and composed an Armenian 712103symphony he so aptly calls “Hellfire.” He debuted it inside a genocide studies class called “Facing History and Ourselves,” being taught by Lisa Joy Desberg and Maura Tucker.

The two-minute piece is full of ritualistic movement done with cello, violin, piano, and brass with multiple key and tempo changes, much like an early Alan Hovhaness work.

“It’s a dark theme that inspired the Armenian Genocide,” says Norton. “I thought of the mood and subject matter. In some instances, I had to stop writing when I thought about the torment and depression this nation faced. I felt the pain of the victims.”

Members of the Armenian Genocide Education Committee of Merrimack Valley have been making repeated visits to the school for each semester, as well as other communities throughout Greater Boston and Merrimack Valley.

While student essays on the subject of the Armenian Genocide are nothing unusual, the fact that it comes from a totally non-Armenian classroom setting taught by sympathetic instructors remains tantamount to our cause.

“They have a sincere desire to learn from outsiders who’ve approached our school with such motivation as the Armenians,” Desberg pointed out. “They want to be students who make a big difference in the world.”

Tucker’s symphony will be performed during a Merrimack Valley genocide presentation at local churches.

“I told them to pick their means of expression,” said Tucker. “Never did I expect a musical interlude on genocide.”

The results were vast and varied. Out of the assignment came an eclectic poem over an Armenian khatchkar done by Michelle Soel and Katie Finn.”

Another class at Melrose Middle School reciprocated by making a generous donation to the Armenian National Committee of America.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Symphony dedicated to the Armenian Genocide

Pope Francis talks to Armenian President

March 19, 2013 By administrator

March 19, 2013 | 15:45

After the inaug145125uration ceremony Pope Francis received heads of the states, including President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan. .

Pope talked to Sargsyan longer than to other guests, Nouvelles d’Arménie reported.

The website of French Armenians quotes Ulysse Gosset, who was making report for French BFM TV, recalling that Armenia has a special place in Christianity. It is the first state which adopted Christianity as a state religion.

 

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Filed Under: News Tagged With: Pope Francis talks to Armenian President

Official: Azeris should march to Aliyev residence, instead of NKR

March 19, 2013 By administrator

March 19, 2013 – 16:58 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – The head of the Central Information Department at NKR President’s Office David Babayan commented on young Azerbaijanis’ decision to organize a tour to Akna (previously called Agdam). Mr Babayan noted the step as another PR action, organized by state intuitions.

150503“Azerbaijani activists have chosen a wrong path if they truly have such an intention. They should march to Ilham Aliyev’s presidential residence and struggle against the country’s fascist policy. Azeri authorities are the key obstacle to Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement,” Mr Babayan said, adding that such initiatives usually fail due to the small number of supporters.

He further said that Azeri activists will likely come to some Azerbaijani border village, come up with a statement and leave.

A group of young Azerbaijanis have resolved to organize a tour to Akna (previously called Agdam), urging for an unarmed march to Nagorno Karabakh, haqqin.az. reported.

A page has been created on Facebook social network, with the following announcement posted:

“We ourselves will offer a solution to the unresolved problem. Neither the international forces, nor the current authorities will condemn our decision. We are against a war. We are just returning home. Together we will take an unarmed tour to Karabakh! The more people join us, the fewer obstacles we will face. We will prove that we are right,” the post reads.

The organizers called on other activists to join them for May 8 tour.

Filed Under: News

Iranian media on Azerbaijan’s role in Syrian war

March 18, 2013 By administrator

Young Azerbaijanis participate in the Syrian war on the part of Wahhabis, says an article on Arastabar.ir.

Citing Fakt Xeber, the Iranian website reports that in the Azerbaijani city of Sumgait, Salafi/Wahabbist instructors acquaint their pupils with the Salafist teaching and then Azerbajan Teroristafter a special training they are sent to participate in the military operations in Syria.

Arannews.ir reported recently that Azerbaijan gave 500,000 euros financial assistance to Syrian terrorists by Turkey’s mediation.

Iran’s Fars news agency said that Turkish National Intelligence Organization had transported 93 members of al-Qaeda and Taliban – nationals of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan – to Istanbul from Pakistan’s North Waziristan region on September 10, 2012, via Turkish Airlines.

Radio Liberty, citing Syria’s state-run news agency SANA, reported on October 19 that Azerbaijani national Hasin Ghazli was killed in a fighting between servicemen and armed terrorists in Aleppo.

Dozens of terrorists were killed in clashes between Syrian government forces and terrorists in Aleppo, one of which was an Azerbaijani national, Arannews.ir said on November 9.

Source: Panorama.am

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Iranian media on Azerbaijan’s role in Syrian war

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