Rally in Amsterdam to commemorate the Armenian Genocide anniversary

April 23, 2017 By administrator

Armenian organizations of the Netherlands held a protest march on Saturday in Amsterdam to commemorate the 102nd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

As the Facebook page “Diary of the Netherlands” reports, the event kick-started from Amsterdam Centre Stopera and marched through the city central streets. Participants of the rally observed a moment of silence to honor the victims of the Armenian genocide.

According to the source, representatives of Turkish, Kurdish, Assyrian as well as Armenian and Dutch public and political figures attended d the commemorative event.

Canada’s Prime Minister: We pay tribute to the memory of the Armenian Genocide victims

April 22, 2017 By administrator

Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau has released a statement on the occasion of the 102nd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, Horizonweekly.ca reports.

“On this day, we solemnly gather to commemorate the tragic loss of life among the Armenian population, which took place over a century ago.

In 2015, the House of Commons unanimously passed a motion declaring April 24th as Armenian Genocide Memorial Day.

This day honours the memory of those who unjustly lost their lives and suffered during the genocide. We pay tribute to them and their descendants, many of who now reside in Canada.

On this occasion, Canadians – regardless of faith or ethnic background – stand together in solemn remembrance and reaffirmed dedication to ensuring that we never stand indifferently in the face of hate or violence in any form,” reads the statement.

Armenian genocide film’s IMDb page flooded with negative reviews even before release

April 22, 2017 By administrator

CTVNews.ca Staff

“The Promise,” a new Hollywood drama starring Oscar Isaac and Christian Bale, hasn’t even been widely released yet, but that hasn’t stopped thousands of people from denouncing it with poor online ratings.

According to Sevag Belian, the executive director of the Armenian National Committee of Canada, that’s because the love story set in the time of mass killings of Armenians during the First World War, has become the target of a “politically motivated campaign.”

“It’s preposterous and ridiculous to say the least,” Belian told CTV News Channel on Thursday, a day before “The Promise” opens in theatres across North America.

The movie premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last fall, but has only been screened a handful of times since then. Nevertheless, more than 126,000 people have rated it on IMDb, where it now has 5.4 stars out of 10.

The intense online reaction is fuelled by people who deny that 1.5 million Armenians were massacred during the First World War by the Ottoman Empire, parts of which formed modern-day Turkey.

Although numerous countries, including Canada, have formally acknowledged the mass killings as genocide, Turkey has refused to do so. The Turkish government maintains that Armenians were not targeted and that victims were collateral damage.

“The fact that thousands of people have surged onto the internet to write negative reviews about a film that they haven’t even seen is a clear indication that this is a politically motivated campaign,” Belian said.

“It’s unfortunately the result of years and years of denial of this atrocity by the Turkish government…Turkey, unfortunately, has not been ready to face its own history.”

Further fuelling the controversy was the March release of another movie that looks very similar to “The Promise.” Starring Ben Kingsley and Josh Hartnett, “The Ottoman Lieutenant” was made by Turkish producers and it highlights Turkey’s version of what happened during the First World War.

The makers of “The Promise” accused “The Ottoman Lieutenant” producers of trying to confuse the two movies.

“The Promise” was financed by the late American-Armenian billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian. Numerous Hollywood actors, as well as high-profile athletes and artistsincluding Cher, Kim Kardashian, Sylvester Stallone and Elton John have expressed their support for the film.

“The main message of ‘The Promise’ is that the suffering of the Armenians will not be forgotten,” Belian said. “After so many years, despite the continuous denial, it will not be forgotten.”

With files from The Associated Press

Source: http://www.ctvnews.ca/entertainment/armenian-genocide-film-s-imdb-page-flooded-with-negative-reviews-even-before-release-1.3377178

Trump administration unlikely to recognize Genocide – Richard Giragosian

April 21, 2017 By administrator

In an interview with Tert.am, Director of the Regional Studies Center Richard Giragosian shared his expectations of regional developments in the run-up to the Genocide anniversary and the possible use by US President Donald Trump of the right legal wording in his April 24 address.

Mr Giragosian, with April 24 drawing near, Armenians are again beset with the question whether or not [President] Trump will say “genocide” after all. Most think he will not, as he never spoke about that, and also because [US ] has [common] interests with Turkey. Certain analysts, however, find that Trump is an unpredictable [political] figure who may be expected to do absolutely anything, and even use ‘genocide’.
It is very unlikely that the Trump Administration will recognize the Armenian Genocide on 24 April. While Washington is likely to keep the same wording as previous White House statements, there are two factors suggesting that there will be no change in US policy. First, President Trump is planning a new more friendly strategy to engage Turkey in the fight against ISIS and over operations in Syria. This is also evident in Trump’s very quick message of “congratulations” to President Erdogan, despite even what the State Department saw as a flawed and tainted referendum. A second factor is, of course, Trump’s past business ties to Turkey, which seems to determine his policy preferences, in a negative way ad to the detriment of US interests.
The Armenian organizations in the United States were earlier reported to be trying to establish ties with Trump and his administration, but to the best of our knowledge, they haven’t yet succeeded in their efforts. What reasons do you think prevent them from doing that, and what are your predictions?
I have no idea. I have been living in Armenia for over 10 years, and I do not know what is going on in the Diaspora.
The US-Russia relations have entered a new phase of crisis; moreover, the Russian TV channels seem to be heralding the Third World War. With this in mind, to what extent do you think that [first President Levon] Ter-Petrosyan was realistic in his analysis that Russia has given the west it “Blessing” to settle the [Nagorno-]Karabakh conflict, with only a couple of issues remaining unsettled.

Of the many shortcomings in the former president’s analysis, his most serious error is to place too much hope and far too much power in the assumption that Russia will unilaterally determine the agenda in the region. Even for Putin, he has to be more careful, and the situation is not as basic as Ter Petrosyan seems to believe.
With Turkey’s new Constitution giving an increasing power to Islam, what hazards do you see for Armenia as a neighbor?
President Erdogan will still struggle to manage a growing set of challenges. With an economy in crisis, as unemployment is at a seven-year high, tourism has sagged, and the currency has weakened by one-fifth in less than a year, Erdogan also faces a triad of threats, comprised of a mounting internal military campaign against the Kurds, a difficult cross-border military intervention in Syria, and an ever-present terrorist threat. And with the largest Syrian refugee population in the world, the outlook for the Turkish leader, no matter how powerful, remains as discouraging as it is daunting.

At a meeting with his Azerbaijani counterpart, Iran’s minister of defense expressed hope that the Karabakh issue will be resolved without a third power’s intervention. Do you think it was a hint warning Turkey against intervention, or did he mean a third country?

Clearly, Iran is pressing to exclude both Turkey and Russia from more active engagement in this region. And despite this message, Iran is not ready to fully or forcefully return as a regional player powerful enough to stand against either Moscow or Ankara, however.
What expectations do you think we should have from the Tsarukyan Alliance [the second majority party elected to parliament]. Is it likely to declare itself an opposition political force, and if so, will it be a radical opposition or just try to offer “an alternative” as did its predecessor [the Prosperous Armenia party].
It is still too soon to say, but there is an interesting scenario, whereby the 30-seat Tsarukyan Alliance is pressured and persuaded to enter into a new “national unity” coalition. Under both options, the Republican Party would still retain the primary position. And even based on the second option, the inherent vulnerability of Gagik Tsarukyan, the oligarch leader of the alliance whose own sources of wealth could always be justifiably used by the state as grounds for a tax audit or criminal investigation, grants the Republicans important leverage. For that reason, it is also highly unlikely that the Tsarukyan Alliance would continue to pose as an opposition force, especially as the political risks for its leader would be too high to forego the obvious benefits of returning to government.

Anush Dashtents

The 1915 deportations depicted in the works of a Turkish painter #ArmenianGenocide

April 20, 2017 By administrator

Turkish painter Arzu Basharan

Turkish painter Arzu Basharan has opened another exhibition entitled “There” to spotlight the topic of deportations starting from the times of the Armenian Genocide in 1915 to the recent cases of forced migration in Syria and Turkey’s Diyarbakir.

Ermenihaber writes, Bashara’s painting style includes distinct dots of color and various accessories applied in patterns to form an image, that transfers the topic of deportation. In an Interview with Turkish medyascope.tv, Basharan has told her exhibition is the record of all the past occurrences related to the Armenian Genocide, Rwanda and Bosnian massacres, as well as the recent developments in Diyarbakir.

The Artist has next stressed that the idea of raising the topic came to her after Hrant Dink’s assassination, adding, the exhibition is not limited down to the tragic events of the 1915, but also covers the human stories of our days in Syria and Diyarbakir, who are forces to leave their houses in search of peace and shelter.

The source adds, that the exhibition at 44 Art Gallery of Istanbul will be open until May 15.

Path to screen for Armenian epic includes evading a knockoff

April 18, 2017 By administrator

By JAKE COYLE, AP Film Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — “The Promise,” the grandest big-screen portrayal ever made about the mass killings of Armenians during World War I, has been rated by more than 111,300 people on IMDb – a remarkable total considering it doesn’t open in theaters until Friday and has thus far been screened only a handful of times publicly.

The passionate reaction is because “The Promise,” a $100-million movie starring Oscar Isaac and Christian Bale, has provoked those who deny that 1.5 million Armenians were massacred between 1915 and 1923 by the Ottoman Empire or that the deaths of Armenians were the result of a policy of genocide. Thousands, many of them in Turkey, have flocked to IMDb to rate the film poorly, sight unseen. Though many countries and most historians call the mass killings genocide, Turkey has aggressively refused that label.

Yet that wasn’t the most audacious sabotage of “The Promise,” a passion project of the late billionaire investor and former MGM owner Kirk Kerkorian.

In March, just a few weeks before “The Promise” was to open, a curiously similar-looking film called “The Ottoman Lieutenant” appeared. Another sweeping romance set during the same era and with a few stars of its own, including Ben Kingsley and Josh Hartnett, “The Ottoman Lieutenant” seemed designed to be confused with “The Promise.” But it was made by Turkish producers and instead broadcast Turkey’s version of the events – that the Armenians were merely collateral damage in World War I. It was the Turkish knockoff version of “The Promise,” minus the genocide.

“It was like a reverse mirror image of us,” said Terry George, director and co-writer of “The Promise.” George, the Irish filmmaker, has some experience in navigating the sensitivities around genocide having previously written and directed 2004’s “Hotel Rwanda,” about the early ’90s Rwandan genocide.

George bought a ticket to see it. “Basically the argument is the Turkish government’s argument, that there was an uprising and it was bad and we had to move these people out of the war zone – which, if applied to the Nazis in Poland would be: ‘Oh, there was an uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto and we need to move these Jews out of the war zone,'” says George. “The film is remarkably similar in terms of structure and look, even.”

The nascent production company behind “The Ottoman Lieutenant,” Eastern Sunrise Productions, did not respond to queries for this article. Critics lambasted the film as “revisionist history” that “glosses over genocide.” Salon wondered , “What is Sir Ben Kingsley doing in ‘The Ottoman Lieutenant?'”

The killings of up to 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I is widely viewed by genocide scholars as the first genocide of the 20th century. Turkey, however, denies that the deaths constituted genocide, saying the toll has been inflated, and that those killed were victims of war and civil unrest.

While the creation of a rival historical drama is fairly unprecedented, Armenians have a long history of roadblocks in Hollywood. The first film to chronicle the genocide was a 1919 silent called “Ravished Armenia.” In the mid ’30s, MGM began pre-production on an adaptation of Franz Werfel’s “The Forty Days of Musa Dagh,” with Clark Gable to star. But under pressure from the Turkish government, it was scuttled.

Elia Kazan’s “America America” (1963), an immigrant’s odyssey modeled after Kazan’s family’s own experience, began with persecution of Armenians and Greeks. But the films to most capture Armenian persecution have been made outside Hollywood, by international filmmakers like Atom Egoyan (2002’s “Ararat”) and Fatih Akin (2014’s “The Cut”).

“The Promise,” bankrolled by the Kerkorian Foundation, was also made totally outside the studio system. Its makers are donating all proceeds to nonprofit organizations, and intend to use the PG-13-rated film as an education tool in schools. Its release has been timed to the April 24 anniversary of the genocide.

“One of the big things for us was taking the darkness of the Armenian genocide and moving it into the light,” said producer Eric Esrailian, a Los Angeles physician and friend to Kerkorian. “Genocide denial is one phase of genocide. The way systematic denial has tried to crush it and bury the truth for so many years, it’s amazing to see it all come to light now.”

“The Promise” was modeled after epics like “Doctor Zhivago” and “Casablanca,” charting a love story across wartime. Most of the horrors occur off-screen. Kerkorian, who died in 2015, dreamed of a classical treatment that would render the Armenia plight with the grandeur it has long been denied.

“It’s still a movie,” said Esrailian. “It’s not a political statement. It’s just the truth.”

Bale, who plays an Associated Press correspondent in the film, was drawn to the altruistic nature of the project. “To my shame, I knew nothing about the Armenian genocide,” said Bale. “When I first read the script, it was an uncanny moment.”

He suspects many are like he was: only vaguely aware of the events, even though they were extensively covered by the press at the time. Hitler even cited the lack of remembrance of the Armenians as justification for the Holocaust. Still, the U.S. government in recent decades has declined to classify it genocide, despite the promises of some presidents, including Barack Obama , to do so. Turkey is a valuable NATO ally to the U.S. in, among other things, the fight against the Islamic State.

“I really only hope that the film can help and not actually exacerbate any problems,” said Bale. “But to me, it doesn’t take a genius to see that there’s an embarrassment to having to acknowledge the atrocities that occurred in the birthing of a nation. It happens to many nations.”

—

Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP

France: PRESIDENTIAL 2017 Armenia News questionnaire: the replies of Mr François Fillon

April 18, 2017 By administrator

As we had agreed with the presidential candidates who agreed to reply to the questionnaires of News of Armenia Magazine (CF NAM 238), we republished their answers on armenews.com all week. They are listed in alphabetical order. Tuesday April 18th: Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, François Fillon. Wednesday, April 19: Benoît Hamon, Marine Le Pen. Thursday 20 April: Emmanuel Macron Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

News from Armenia Magazine: Since 2012, the genocide of Armenians is commemorated every April 24 by the Republic, with the participation of the President of the Republic and / or a minister. If you are elected, do you intend to continue this tradition? Can you promise that April 24 will be officially considered a national day of commemoration of the Armenian genocide and will be included as such in the Republican calendar?

François Fillon: Like my predecessors, if I am elected President of the Republic I will commemorate April 24th. It is important not to forget the thousands of victims. This genocide removed the Armenians from the eastern provinces of Asia Minor of the Ottoman Empire. 1.5 million people, or ¾ of the Armenian population were affected.

In France, eleven annual national days have been instituted by legislative or regulatory texts, for example, the commemoration of the victory of 8 May 1945, the commemoration of the Armistice of 11 November 1918 or the national day of homage to Harkis of 25 September and the death toll of the Algerian war and the fighting in Morocco and Tunisia on 5 December. The French of Armenian descent also insists on writing April 24 in our Republican calendar. It is legitimate.

What is your view of the Armenian community of France, constituted by the survivors of the genocide of 1915? In the face of the denial of the Turkish state, do you understand its fight for the international recognition of genocide and do you think it is fair for France to support it?

François Fillon: The French of Armenian origin and the Armenian community of France constitute an example of integration, of success, of patriotism. Everyone loves France but all also have a bit of their heart in Armenia. With the law of January 29, 2001, France publicly acknowledged the Armenian genocide of 1915. By recognizing the existence of the first genocide of the twentieth century, the French Republic symbolically gave the Armenian drama a place in the collective memory of mankind.

But the recognition of the genocide of 1915 could not be a completion, it was necessary to go further to avoid any competition of memories and any unequal treatment between the victims of the genocides recognized by French law and their descendants.

Why is the issue of the recognition of the 1915 genocide and denialism important?

François Fillon: The five hundred thousand Frenchmen of Armenian descent felt abandoned, left helpless by the Republic they had defended, sometimes at the cost of their blood. The descendants of Holocaust victims against Holocaust deniers were protected by law. The descendants of the survivors of the Armenian genocide had to face, alone and disarmed, an unprecedented phenomenon: the negationism of State. Turkey is very wrong not to look at its past. Every nation has its share of shadow and gains to recognize it.

The French Republic has a duty to protect all its citizens, including our citizens who have found asylum, homeland and freedom in France. It is up to the justice of the Republic to act to ensure respect for its citizens. An important legislative work had to be carried out in order to draw all the legal consequences of this recognition, that is to say, the penalization of denial.

Valerie Boyer has campaigned to penalize Holocaust denial in the name of human dignity and justice. I thank her for her commitment on this issue, not forgetting all the parliamentarians, associations and lawyers who have been mobilized for many years.

Today, repressing the denial of genocide is echoing a burning current, in the context of persecutions against the Christians of the East in Iraq and Syria in particular, described by Ban Ki-Moon as crimes against humanity.

I also visited Iraq, in 2009, 2014 and 2016, in particular in Erbil, and in June 2015, I wished to organize an evening of support for the Christians of the East at Cirque d’Hiver Which brought together more than 2,000 people.

Today, it emerges from the various testimonies that a hundred years later, History begins again. That is why it is normal that this fight against Holocaust denial has finally come to fruition thanks to the mobilization of deputies and senators.

Are you for Turkey’s accession to the European Union?

François Fillon: On this issue, I have always been consistent. I have never changed my opinion: Turkey’s accession to the European Union is neither possible nor desirable. I regret that France and Europe do not have the courage to say it sincerely to the Turkish authorities.

Do you think that France should continue to have a special relationship with Armenia?

François Fillon: Today our country has 500,000 French Armenians. The links between France and Armenia have always been strong. In 1909, the French navy helped the Armenians of Cilicia. Our ships were also there in 1915.This tragic story has created unfailing links.

France was the first to welcome surviving, driven, massacred Armenians. They were stateless, they became French. They also paid the price of blood by fighting alongside us during the two world wars.

Today, I also want to pay tribute to the educational cooperation between our two countries, which I have always been keen to preserve. Like the French university in Yerevan. It should also be noted that Armenia is an associate member of the International Organization of la Francophonie.

Let us also not forget our economic relations since France is the first European investor in Armenia.

These relationships are strong and continue to grow. The Franco-Armenian friendship has long and beautiful days before it …

Are you in favor of the recognition by France of the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh?

François Fillon: In April 2016, for six days, the Southern Caucasus had once again flamed.

Confirmed by international indifference, Azerbaijan had tried to retake by force Nagorno-Karabakh. This murderous offensive ended with a precarious ceasefire.

Today our French citizens of Armenian origin are worried and I am also worried because the Nagorno-Karabakh region is a powder magazine. Let us not forget that the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh is due to Stalin, who arbitrarily detached him from Armenia to Azerbaijan in 1921. Now there is no choice but to find a Peaceful and lasting solution through the United Nations.

Would you be for the creation in Paris of an Armenian center of civilization and memory and would you be ready to help in its realization?

François Fillon: We need a place of sharing and meditation. But beyond the existence of an Armenian center of civilization and memory, I wonder about the future of the Armenian Museum of France (MAF) at the Musée Guimet.

Indeed, in recent years, the Musée Guimet, on which the Hôtel d’Ennery depends, has begun renovation work. The Armenian Museum was then asked to move some of its collections, with the assurance given by the Minister of Culture to be able to return to the site at the end of the site. It must be noted that this undertaking was not kept.

While the MAF funds represent the largest Armenian art collection in Europe: nearly 1,200 works recounting 3,000 years of history, the Government remains vague. Why not save the MAF? I attach great importance to the preservation of our national heritage, of which the collection of the MAF is now a part.

What message would you like to address to the 500,000 French of Armenian origin?

François Fillon: I want to salute the memory and the courage of the Armenians who became French, known or anonymous. They fought for truth, dignity, social success. They are the example of a successful assimilation. They participated in the construction of our national narrative. As Charles Aznavour says so well, they knew how to remain “100% French and 100% Armenian”. I want to pay tribute to them.

Orange County California: sets April 24 Armenian Genocide remembrance day

April 12, 2017 By administrator

For the second consecutive year the Orange County Board of Supervisors issued a proclamation designating April 24 as Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, commemorating those who perished during the first Genocide of the twentieth century,

Representatives of the Armenian American community of Orange County were in attendance.

Chairwoman Michelle Steel opened the program by stating that this year marks the 102nd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide that took the lives of one and a half million Armenians. She stated that “not only were Armenians massacred within their historic homeland but their lands and property were stolen.” The Chairwoman explained that Orange County continues to do its part in honoring the victims of this tragedy to ensure it is not forgotten or repeated.

Reverend Fathers Moushegh Tshajian from St. Mary Armenian Church in Costa Mesa and Karekin Bedourian from Forty Martyrs Armenian Church in Santa Ana took the podium and addressed the crowd. They thanked Chairwoman Steel and the County Board of Supervisors for their commitment to accurately remembering the past and honoring the victims of the Armenian Genocide, then together lead with the prayer.

1.5 million innocent Armenians were massacred between 1915 and 1923 at the hands of the Ottoman Empire. Some three dozen countries, tens of international organizations and hundreds of cities and communities have recognized the killings as Genocide. Turkey still denies.

Connecticut State Capitol Armenian genocide commemoration in the Hall of the Connecticut State Capitol at 11 a.m April 22.

April 11, 2017 By administrator

Connecticut State Capitol

HARTFORD – The Armenian Genocide Commemoration Committee of Connecticut has announced its program in recognition of the 102nd anniversary of the genocide.

The commemoration will take place in the Hall of the House at the Connecticut State Capitol at 11 a.m. on Saturday April 22.

The keynote speaker this year will be John M. Evans, a former U.S. ambassador to Armenia. Evans, ambassador from 2004 to 2006, stirred controversy in February 2005 by publicly dissenting from the policy of the George W. Bush administration on the issue of the Armenian genocide of 1915.

A native of Williamsburg, Va., educated at Yale and Columbia, Evans served in Tehran, Prague, Moscow and Brussels, and with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in St. Petersburg and Washington, reaching the rank of minister-counselor. He is the author of “Truth Held Hostage: America and the Armenian Genocide: What Then? What Now?” and “Therefore, God Must Be Armenian! Sixteen Talks Given on Armenian Issues (2007-2012).”

Now retired from the State Department, he lives with his wife, Donna, in Washington. He is a frequently-sought speaker.

Attorney Harry N. Mazadoorian of Kensington, a member of the Connecticut committee, stated: “We were thrilled to have Ambassador Evans accept our invitation and are privileged to have him with us this year. He served with distinction and has had an illustrious career in the Foreign Service. Throughout his career he has demonstrated outstanding integrity and courage. He has offered some realistic and thoughtful recommendations for the role that the United States can play in bringing about true recognition of the genocide and moving forward.”

Clergy and parishioners from the three area Armenian churches – the Armenian Church of the Holy Resurrection and St. Stephen’s Armenian Church, both of New Britain, and St. George Armenian Church of Hartford – will participate, as will clergy and parishioners from the Armenian Church of the Holy Ascension, Trumbull.

John Geragosian, Connecticut’s auditor of public accounts, who will emcee the Capitol event, stated, “ It is important that the magnitude of the atrocities which took place in 1915 be recognized for what they were, genocide.”

The April 22 event is free and open to the public. State Rep. Edwin Vargas Jr., who is hosting the event, has invited several civic, political and religious leaders to attend.

On Friday, April 21, the committee is hosting a fundraiser reception to support its ongoing activities, including developing a Armenian genocide curriculum for public schools and universities as well as for establishing a permanent genocide monument. The event will take place at the Armenian Church of the Holy Resurrection in New Britain from 5-7 p.m. Evans will be present available to sign copies of his books, which will be on sale.

While no reservations are required for the commemoration at the Capitol, reservations are required for the April 21 reception. For further information or to buy tickets at $25 per person, contact the committee’s treasurer, Melanie Brown, at mel.brown25@sbcglobal.net.

source: http://www.newbritainherald.com/NBH-General+News/278450/armenian-genocide-to-be-remembered

Congressional leaders call on Trump to properly commemorate #ArmenianGenocide

April 11, 2017 By administrator

The Chairmen and Ranking Members on both the House Foreign Affairs and Intelligence Committees joined today with the leadership of the Armenian Caucus and more than eighty of their U.S. House colleagues in calling upon President Trump to properly commemorate the Armenian Genocide in his April 24th White House statement, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

In a bipartisan letter calling upon the President to “appropriately mark April 24th as a day of American remembrance of the Armenian Genocide, signatories noted that, “by commemorating the Armenian Genocide, we renew our commitment to prevent future atrocities.”

“We join with Members of Congress in calling upon President Trump to reject Turkey’s gag rule and embrace an honest American remembrance of the Armenian Genocide,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “It’s long past time for America to stop outsourcing our national policy on the Armenian Genocide to Recep Erdogan’s increasingly authoritarian and anti-American regime.”

In calling upon President Trump to properly mark April 24th, the signatories highlighted the U.S. record of past recognition, including “President Reagan, who recognized the Armenian Genocide in 1981, and the Eisenhower Administration, which did the same in a 1951 submission to the International Court of Justice.” These actions, as well as resolutions by the House of Representatives in 1975 (H.J.R.148) and 1984 (H.J.R.247), while clearly constituting U.S. recognition, just as clearly did not translate into either consistent official annual Armenian Genocide commemorations or sustained U.S. pressure on Turkey to end its denials of this crime.

The letter specifically cites Christian populations targeted by the Ottoman Empire’s genocidal campaign, including “Armenians, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Greeks, Pontians, Syriacs, and other persecuted peoples.” The full text of the letter is provided below.

On March 22nd, Rep. Trott was joined by Rep. Adam Schiff and the Congressional Armenian Caucus leadership in introducing a bipartisan anti-genocide resolution (H.Res.220) calling on the United States to apply the lessons of the Armenian Genocide in seeking to prevent modern day atrocities across the Middle East. That measure stresses that “proper commemoration and consistent condemnation of the Armenian Genocide will strengthen our international standing in preventing modern day genocides,” and, building upon the 2016 official U.S. designation of an ISIS genocide against Middle East minorities, specifically calls for the following: “[T]he United States, in seeking to prevent war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide against Christians, Yezidis, Muslims, Kurds, and other vulnerable religious and ethnic groups in the Middle East, should draw upon relevant lessons of the United States Government, civil society, and humanitarian response to the Armenian Genocide, Seyfo, and the broader genocidal campaign by the Ottoman Empire against Armenians, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Syriacs, Greeks, Pontians and other Christians upon their biblical era homelands.”

#####

Congressional Letter to President Trump Regarding the Armenian Genocide

Dear Mr. President,

We are writing to encourage you to properly commemorate the Armenian Genocide on April 24th.

In leading an honest and accurate American remembrance of this known case of genocide, you will stand with President Reagan, who recognized the Armenian Genocide in 1981, and the Eisenhower Administration, which did the same in a 1951 submission to the International Court of Justice. The House of Representatives has also commemorated the Armenian Genocide, through HJR148 in 1975 and HJR247 in 1984.

Armenia remains deeply committed to expanding the bonds of friendship that have long connected the American and Armenian peoples. Among the proudest chapters in our shared history is America’s remarkable record of protesting the Genocide and in caring for the survivors of this crime. The United States Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire in 1915, Henry Morgenthau, helped to chronicle the brutal extermination of the Armenian people through a campaign of mass murder and violent expulsion.

In the years after the genocide, Ambassador Morgenthau and other concerned Americans launched the Near East Relief, a Congressionally chartered humanitarian organization, which raised $116 million (over $2.5 billion in 2017 dollars) to aid the victims of the Ottoman Empire’s mass murder of millions of Armenians, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Greeks, Pontians, Syriacs, and other persecuted peoples. The generosity of the American people saved countless lives and helped to ensure the continued survival of the Armenian culture.

The Armenian Genocide continues to stand as an important reminder that crimes against humanity must not go without recognition and condemnation. Through recognition of the Armenian Genocide we pay tribute to the perseverance and determination of those who survived, as well as to the Americans of Armenian descent who have helped strengthen our country. It is our duty to honor those contributions with an honest statement of history recognizing the massacre of 1.5 million Armenians as the 20th century’s first genocide. By commemorating the Armenian Genocide, we renew our commitment to prevent future atrocities.

In that spirit of honoring the victims and redoubling our commitment to prevent genocide, we ask you to appropriately mark April 24th as a day of American remembrance of the Armenian Genocide.

Thank you for taking our views into consideration.