armenia-genocide Archives

Armenian genocide has long been largely hidden: Now, California schools might change that

November 28, 2016 by administrator

“New history lessons adopted by the California Board of Education this year may especially resonate with Fresno students and families,” Mackenzie Mays writes in an article published by The Fresno Bee.

Schools are now required to teach about the Armenian genocide – an important history in the Fresno area, which has a large Armenian American community. Teachers also are to provide information on the “unprecedented American humanitarian response” to the genocide: relief efforts raised more than $117 million in the aftermath, saving more than 1 million refugees.

The new content, which is more inclusive and aims to teach students to think critically about historical events, is expected to show up in textbooks by 2018.

“Turkish authorities first arrested hundreds of Armenian intellectuals who eventually were killed. The remaining Armenians were ordered onto death marches into the Syrian desert, during which they were subjected to rape, torture, mutilation, starvation, holocausts in desert caves, kidnapping and forced Turkification and Islamization,” reads the curriculum framework for California’s 10th-graders.

“The Armenian genocide has been ignored in history textbooks,” said Barlow Der Mugrdechian, director of Fresno State’s Center for Armenian Studies. “I know several local teachers who have already been providing materials on it, but it’s absolutely essential for all teachers. It brings to light an example of how government can choose to go down a path toward genocide and what conditions allow that to happen.”

Der Mugrdechian pointed to Adolf Hitler’s quote before invading Poland, in which he asked who remembered the annihilation of the Armenians – leading many to believe that it encouraged him to proceed with plans to kill millions of Jews.

That alone “is a clear statement about the necessity to remember history,” Mugrdechian said.

Fresno Unified school board member Brooke Ashjian’s great-grandmother survived the Armenian genocide. He says contributions made by Armenian Americans have shaped the city and beyond, pointing to famous writer and Fresno native William Saroyan.

“It’s a valuable lesson because it’s something you don’t want to repeat,” Ashjian said of the Armenian genocide. “Armenian people are resilient.”

Germany: Bundestag motion on Armenia ‘genocide’ set to infuriate Erdogan – The Financial Times

May 16, 2016 by administrator

Germany’s parliament is pressing ahead with a motion condemning the Armenian massacres by the Ottoman Turks during the first world war as a “genocide”, in a move that will probably infuriate Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish president, and threaten the fragile EU-Turkey deal on refugees.

The vote, scheduled for June 2, comes amid a diplomatic scandal over a German comedian’s obscene anti-Erdogan poem and growing concerns in the EU about a central element in the refugee deal — the planned visa-free travel accord for Turks in the Schengen zone.

The motion could further complicate the intensive efforts of Angela Merkel, German Chancellor, to placate Erdogan and persuade him to drop threats to scrap the refugee accord out of anger at what he sees as EU-based disrespect for Turkey.

Ms Merkel could meet the Turkish leader again as soon as next weekend, when she is visiting Istanbul for a UN conference on emergency aid.

The Bundestag has been discussing a possible genocide motion on the Armenian massacres since well before last year’s 100th anniversary of the killings, in which up to 1.5m Armenians died. But even after a passionate parliamentary debate in April 2015, Ms Merkel’s government resisted efforts led by the opposition Green party to hold a formal vote.

Even before the refugee crisis, Ms Merkel was concerned about the potential damage to German-Turkish relations and to the feelings of nearly 4m people of Turkish origin living in Germany.

However, the government decided last year it could no longer hold the line in the face of some politicians in the ruling conservative-social democrat coalition breaking ranks and a wave of explicit genocide declarations coming from elsewhere, including the Pope.

After negotiations with the Green party, party managers of the CDU/CSU and SPD have agreed to back a genocide motion. This means it is almost certain to be passed.

While the text has yet to be published, the agenda item already makes the intentions clear: “In remembrance and commemoration of the genocide of the Armenians and other Christian minorities in the Ottoman Empire 101 years ago.”

The long delay in the vote means it comes at an even more awkward time than a year ago. However, Cem Özdemir, the Turkish-origin co-leader of the Greens, told Bild am Sonntag newspaper: “It can well be that there will be anger in Ankara. But the Bundestag is not letting itself be blackmailed by a despot like Mr Erdogan.”

Many MPs are already furious that Ms Merkel permitted prosecutors last month to pursue a criminal case against Jan Böhmermann, a television comedian who read out a poem accusing Mr Erdogan of having sex with animals, and “kicking Kurds and beating up Christians while watching child porn”.

German political leaders have also expressed reservations about the visa-free travel plan, insisting Turkey must first fulfil tough conditions, including reforming its anti-terror laws. Mr Erdogan has threatened to reopen Turkey’s borders for refugees heading for Greece if he does not get an early travel deal.

Horst Seehofer, CSU leader and Ms Merkel’s most important domestic political critic, warned this weekend in the Welt newspaper that it was “dangerous” for Germany to be so despondent on Turkey. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the foreign minister from the SPD, also told Tagesspiegel newspaper that it was up to Turkey to meet the conditions for visa-free travel. “Turkey knows what needs to be done,” he said.

I wish the ground would swallow you up – Turkish analyst slams Erdogan’s message to Armenian leader

January 26, 2015 by administrator

A Turkish political analyst has criticized President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s move to invite the Armenian president to the country next year to join the Gallipoli battle’s 100^th anniversary events on the day coinciding with the Armenian Genocide centennial.

“I wish the ground would swallow you up. I see you have turned a blind eye to those people’s pain, but you could have at least abstained from mocking at them. Against the background of such a disgrace, Erdogan is inviting Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan to Çanakkale,” Bakin Oran said in an article published in Radikal.

He noted that Turkey earlier traditionally celebrated the the Çanakkale (Galippoli) battle anniversary on March 18. “The president will this year head to Çanakkale with the Azerbaijani despot Ilham Aliyev, the Turkish foreign policy’s biggest ‘attraction stone’. And they will celebrate [the anniversary] on the day symbolizing the heinous atrocities against the Armenians, committed by butchers of Ittihat ve Terakki,” he wrote.

In his invitation letter, sent to the Armenian leader on January 16, Erdogan said that they plan hold massive on April 23 and 24 to mark the centenary of the battle. In his response message, issued shortly after, President Sargsyan said that “it is not our rule to be hosted without receiving an answer to our own invitation”.

Erdogan: Move Gallipoli commemorations from March 18th, to April 24 to shadow Armenian Genocide 100 year centennial

January 25, 2015 by administrator

DENİZ ARSLAN / ANKARA

The Turkish government’s move this year to invite more than 100 leaders around the world for the centennial commemorations of the Gallipoli Campaign of World War I to be held on the same day as the Armenians’ centennial commemoration “Armenian genocide” has been perceived as a crude attempt to distract attention from the Armenian commemorations.

In an attempt to reduce the impact of the centennial commemoration ceremonies of the Armenian “genocide” this year on April 24 in Armenia, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has come up with the idea of celebrating the 100th anniversary of World War I’s Gallipoli Campaign on two-day-long ceremonies on April 23-24.

Turkey traditionally commemorates its fallen soldiers in the Battle of Gallipoli — also known as Çanakkale on March 18 every year. But just two years ago, then-president-Abdullah Gül marked the 98th anniversary of the Çanakkale Battle on March 18 in 2013.
No one in Turkey at the time suggested that the Çanakkale Battle should be remembered on April 24. March 18 is the day the British started its bombardment of the Dardanelles peninsula.

The Gallipoli commemorations will take place on April 23-24 this year for the first time and the Turkish government has sent invitations to more than 100 leaders around the world, whose soldiers fought in World War I, including Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan.

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu had to explain last week that other ethnic groups, including Arabs and Armenians also fought at Gallipoli. “We [Turks and Armenians] fought together at Gallipoli. That’s why we have extended the invitation to President Sarksyan as well,” he said.

Speaking to Agos daily after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s invitation to Sarksyan, many Turkish citizens of Armenian descent reacted strongly to Erdoğan’s invitation to Sarksyan, calling it a “joke” and an “ill-mannered” act, and further criticizing it as a “political maneuver.”

In an open letter addressed to President Erdoğan, Sarksyan immediately rejected the invitation to the Gallipoli commemoration ceremonies, adding that the invitation itself shows that Turkey continues to pursue its “denial policy” of the Armenian “genocide.”

Richard Giragosian, director of the Regional Studies Center (RSC), an independent think tank in Yerevan, said the timing of the Gallipoli invitation could not have been worse.

“In fact, in what seems to be a rather selective reinterpretation of history, the Turkish government has set the two-day Gallipoli commemoration for April 23-24, in a blatant disregard for the traditional April 24 commemoration of the Armenian genocide,” said Giragosian in an email reply to Today’s Zaman.

Giragosian stated that Erdoğan’s move only triggered an intense negative reaction in Armenia and tended to confirm the perception of Turkey as an “insincere and unreliable interlocutor,” as the timing of the Turkish state commemoration of Gallipoli is viewed as “a crude attempt to distract from and deny the Armenian genocide commemoration.”

Armenia is preparing a wide-scale anniversary ceremony for the 1915 events on April 24 and invited a number of leaders around the world. French President François Hollande and US President Barack Obama are among those invited to Yerevan for the ceremonies in Armenia.

Yerevan commemorates the mass killings of Armenians every April 24 and often use the anniversary as an opportunity to lobby Western countries to brand the killings as genocide. Ankara denies claims that the events of 1915 amounted to genocide, arguing that both Turks and Armenians were killed when Armenians revolted against the Ottoman Empire during World War I in collaboration with the Russian army, which was then invading Eastern Anatolia.

Giragosian pointed out that there are concerns over recent developments in Turkish politics. “For one, the rapid rise of President Erdoğan as the most powerful, but most polarizing politician is a cause for worry. And given his rather unpredictable and inflexible personal posture on many issues, there is concern that he will have and hold too much personal and political power, without due deference to the rule of law or democratic institutions within Turkey,” he said.

“At the same time, the future of both Turkey’s broader regional policy and its more specific policy towards Armenian-Turkish normalization are ever more hostage to the outcome of domestic Turkish politics,” Giragosian added.

Erdoğan’s invitation could be interpreted as an olive branch to Armenia, with which Turkey has no diplomatic relations. But Sarksyan in his letter to Erdoğan last week indicated his doubts about the sincerity of the invitation and expressed his expectation that Turkey will reply first to Armenia as to whether it will attend the ceremonies to commemorate the Armenian “genocide” in Yerevan.

“For his part, the Armenian president had little choice but to reject the invitation,” said Giragosian.

Last year, the Turkish government pulled another trick from its bag, only one day before April 24 to reduce the impact of the April 24 commemorations by Armenia. In a historic first for the Turkish Republic last year, Erdoğan, who was prime minister at the time, extended Turkey’s condolences to the grandchildren of Armenians who had lost their lives in 1915.
The statement, which doesn’t include the word “genocide,” was welcomed by the West and Armenians living in Turkey, but was short of satisfying Yerevan.

Another “olive branch” to Armenians came this week from Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu. The prime minister released a statement on Tuesday to commemorate slain Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink eight years ago and called for a new beginning in Turkish-Armenian relations.

He stated that a relocation policy and the events of 1915 took place under the harsh conditions of World War l, and Turkey shares the pain of Armenians.

“Our desire to share pain, heal wounds and re-establish friendships are sincere. Our prospect is friendship and peace,” Davutoğlu said.

Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Tanju Bilgiç also denied on Wednesday that Erdoğan’s message for Armenians last year and Davutoğlu’s statement addressed to Armenians are “tactical” steps to reduce the effects of centennial commemorative events of 1915.
Speaking at a press conference on Jan. 21, Bilgiç said that both statements by Erdoğan and Davutoğlu are “sincere.”

Nalbandian: ‘It’s inappropriate’

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian, who was visiting Brussels to attend the Armenia-EU Cooperation Council on Jan. 20, told journalists that it’s not appropriate to organize the Gallipoli commemoration events in Turkey on April 24.

“I don’t think it is appropriate to organize such an event in Turkey on April 24 and I couldn’t believe that anybody could perceive this as a proper step,” said Nalbandian.

He also recalled that the Armenian president had invited Erdoğan to participate in the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian “genocide” in April 2015.

“I conveyed the written invitation to President Erdoğan being in Ankara in August of last year,” said Nalbandian.
He had attended President Erdoğan’s inauguration ceremony in Ankara in late August. “Till now we haven’t received any response,” he added.

The chief spokesman for the Armenian Foreign Ministry, Tigran Mkrtchyan, posted a tweet on Jan. 20, after Davutoğlu’s call for a new beginning with Armenia saying, “How can we speak of a ‘new beginning’ if the starting point is an aggressive denial of the Armenian genocide — a double crime!”

Mkrtchyan also accused Erdoğan of “seeking to keep foreign leaders away from the Armenian commemorations by creating an impromptu — and historically inaccurate — anniversary of his own, “ according to an article by Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty on Jan. 16.

IRAN A Monument to Armenian Genocide opened in Tehran

January 25, 2015 by administrator

A monument dedicated to the victims of the Armenian Genocide was erected in the courtyard of the Catholic Church of Saint Gregory the Illuminator in Tehran.

As reported by the Armenian Alik daily Iran monument was dedicated by Patriarch Nerses Petros XIX. In his speech after the consecration, the Patriarch said that the existence of a monument dedicated to the Armenian Genocide side of the church remind heirs of Armenian Genocide victims once again their Armenian roots and values from these roots, and the need to preserve national identity and to obtain the rights that have been stolen from the Armenians.

The patriarch also said that Pope Francis will be present at a Divine Liturgy dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide at the Vatican April 12, 2015.