Los Angeles: 26 Coalition Groups Join April 24 Rally for Justice #Armeniangenocide

April 15, 2016 By administrator

LOS ANGELES—The Armenian Genocide Centennial Committee announced the addition of twenty-six coalition partners for the upcoming Rally for Justice on April 24, 2016, in commemoration of the 100+1 anniversary of the Armenian Genocide and the calls for recognition and accountability on the part of the Government of Turkey.

The coalition partners, which include non-profit, civil rights, unions, labor, community based and student organizations affirmed their commitment to the global demand for justice for the Armenian Genocide, and advancing the call for accountability on the part of the Turkish government in acknowledging their crimes against the Armenian people.

“Recognition of the Armenian Genocide has never solely been an Armenian issue, but one that belongs to all guarantors of truth and justice. Our partners’ commitment to standing in solidarity with the Armenian community demonstrates the power of grassroots partnerships and coalition-building.” said Raffi Kassabian, Esq., on behalf of the Armenian Genocide Committee. “Human rights violations against Armenian and other minorities by the Turkish government continue today and require immediate intervention by and call for accountability by the international community,” added Kassabian.

The historic “March for Justice” in April 2015 witnessed 166,000 people participate in the largest such gathering in Los Angeles history. This year, the Rally for Justice will include members from neighboring communities in Southern California, increasing the scope and depth of the impact that grassroots activism has had on bringing the Armenian Genocide to the forefront of global human rights issues.

The Rally for Justice will take place on Sunday, April 24th at 1:00 pm at the Turkish Consulate in Los Angeles.

The statement of support and list of partner organizations is below.

For over a century, the government of Turkey has refused to heed worldwide calls by dozens of governments, world leaders, non-governmental organizations, and even Turkish intellectuals to accept responsibility for the Armenian Genocide of 1915 in which over 1.5 million defenseless Armenian men, women and children in the Ottoman Empire were systematically massacred in a premeditated campaign of ethnic cleansing. The Armenian People, who were the first nation to accept Christianity in 301 A.D., were deliberately disenfranchised from their ancestral homeland of 4,000 years, and their cultural and religious monuments were defaced and destroyed in an attempt to erase proof of their existence.

The 101st anniversary of the Armenian Genocide reaffirms the global demand for justice by Armenians worldwide and by all people of good will to acknowledge this Crime Against Humanity and to call for accountability from the government of Turkey to make appropriate moral, financial and territorial restitution, as mandated by the fundamental norms of international law and civilized society.

The signatories below stand in solidarity with the Armenian People in their quest for a just resolution to this unpunished crime of genocide.

AF3IRM National (Association of Filipinas and Feminists Fighting Imperialism Re-feudalization & Marginalization)
American Hellenic Council
All-Armenian Student Association
Assyrian-American Association of Southern California
Assyrian Universal Alliance- Americas Chapter
Center for Asian-Americans United for Self-Empowerment
Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking
Iraqi Transnational Collective
Jakara Movement
Jewish Voice for Peace- Los Angeles Chapter
Jewish World Watch
Kurdish American Education Society
Kurdish Community of Southern California
Kurdish Human Rights Advocacy Group
Kurdish National Congress of North America
Loyola Law School Armenian Law Students Association
Pepperdine University School of Law Armenian Law Students Association
Rojava Solidarity Committee of Los Angeles
SEIU RN 121
Southwest Asian North Afrikan (SWANA)- Los Angeles Chapter
UNA Pasadena
United Staffworkers (USW)
United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA)
University of California Los Angeles Armenian Law Students Association
University of Southern California Armenian Law Students Association
University of California Berkeley Armenian Law Students Association

Assyrians tell Presidential Candidates Europe Attacks Reminiscent of Armenian Genocide

April 13, 2016 By administrator

A priest gives communion to an Iraqi Christian woman, during mass at Mar George Chaldean Church in Baghdad, March 1, 2015. Iraqi Christians say they have no intention of leaving the country despite the recent abduction of over 100 Assyrian Christians by the Islamic State. Picture taken March 1, 2015. REUTERS/Ahmed Saad (IRAQ – Tags: RELIGION CIVIL UNREST) – RTR4RQVD

WASHINGTON (Christian Post)—Leading Assyrian Christian organizations have collectively penned an open letter to the five remaining U.S. presidential candidates, urging them to fight against radical terror groups and to recognize the past genocide that Christians have suffered under the Ottoman Empire.

The letter, addressed to Hillary Clinton, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, Bernie Sanders, and Donald Trump, states that Assyrian Christians are being “tortured, kidnapped, raped and murdered by radical terrorist organizations such as ISIS.” Assyrians – also known as Chaldeans, Syriacs, and Arameans – are an ethnic group indigenous to the Middle East who trace their ancestral homeland to today’s northern Iraq, southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran and northeastern Syria. Assyrian people are almost entirely Christians.

Yazidi Activist Describes Horrors of Islamic State Persecution to Congress: ‘We Are Being Burned Alive’

“We have seen this terror in Paris, Brussels, and other cities around the world, committed in the name of Islam by radical Islamic organizations. For Assyrians it feels like 1915 all over again,” the groups write, referencing the ethnic and religious cleansing carried out by the Ottoman Empire, present-day Turkey, between 1915-1924, when 750,000 Assyrians, 500,000 Greeks and 1.5 million Armenians lost their lives.

“One hundred years have passed since the era of World War I when no one heard the cries of our ancestors, the Assyrian people, in their suffering in that genocide that is known as the Armenian Genocide,” the letter reads.

“26 countries have recognized the Armenian Genocide. 12 countries, governments and institutions have recognized the Assyrian genocide. Turkey, however, continues to deny the genocide,” the Assyrian organizations pointed out.

Assyrian organizations that are listed as signers of the letter are: Assyrian Genocide and Research, Federation des Assyriens de Belgique, Institut Syriaque de Belgique, Sefyo Center Belgium, Assyrian Universal Alliance Americas Chapter, Restore Nineveh Now Foundation, American Mesopotamian Organization, Institut Assyrien de Belgique, Central Union of Assyrian Associations in Germany and European sections, Assyrian Democratic Organization, and Assyrian Chaldean Syriac Student Union of Canada.

The mass genocide of Christians marked its 100th year anniversary on April 24, 2015, bringing together world leaders to Yerevan, Armenia, to pay their respects to the dead.

“I bow down in memory of the victims and I come to tell my Armenian friends that we will never forget the tragedies that your people has endured,” said French President Francois Hollande.

President Barack Obama faced criticism from Armenian-American activists, however, when he failed to refer to the 1915 massacre as a genocide last year.

“The president’s surrender represents a national disgrace,” said Aram S. Hamparian, executive director of the Washington-based Armenian National Committee of America, at the time. “It is a betrayal of the truth, and it is a betrayal of trust.”

Although Obama had promised during his election campaign in 2008 that he would use the word, the White House later clarified that it does not want to sour its relations with Turkey, a NATO-partner.

In their letter, the Assyrian leaders reminded the presidential candidates that Secretary of State John Kerry has designated the ongoing massacre of Christians, Yazidis, and other religious minorities in Iraq and Syria as a genocide.

“As President of the United States, would you do everything in your power to end these atrocities, bring the perpetrators to justice, and aid the survivors?” the Assyrian groups asked in the letter.

“As President of the United States, would you acknowledge the Ottoman Genocide against Christians – Assyrians, Armenians and Greeks – during World War I and support reparations for the victims?” they added.

“It is our hope that as President you would aid the victims of genocide, both past and present, and bring relief to their suffering.”

http://www.christianpost.com/news/assyrian-christians-cruz-clinton-trump-kasich-sanders-paris-terror-attacks-armenian-genocide-161589/

How a tweet brought down a Boston billboard denying the #ArmenianGenocide in a day

April 10, 2016 By administrator

Jeremy Koo snapped this picture of an ad that appeared in the North End. When a Somerville resident tweeted it, outrage spread.

April 7 The outrage machine could have started anywhere, but it started with a tweet.

After outrage quickly spread online, a billboard in Boston from a group denying the Armenian genocide had a remarkably short run this week.

It appeared in the North End Tuesday night. By mid-morning Thursday the billboard’s owner Clear Channel Outdoor peeled it away and replaced it with an Ad Council spot promoting adoption.

It featured the words “Truth = Peace” and a link to the site FactCheckArmenia.com and the statement: “Proudly paid for by the Turkic platform, Istanbul.”

Clear Channel spokesman Jason King later said the ad had been “placed there in error.”

A Twitter firestorm about the ad could have started anywhere, but it started with Somerville’s Elizabeth Weinbloom.

Horrific billboard in Boston's North End, denying the Armenian Genocide. @marty_walsh, do something. @universalhub pic.twitter.com/oi3old3SD8

— Liz Weinb (@LizWeinbl) April 6, 2016

“Horrific billboard in Boston’s North End, denying the Armenian Genocide. @marty_walsh, do something,” she tweeted around 1p.m. Wednesday.

Her tweets about the ad were retweeted more than 100 times and spurred many others to pepper Mayor Marty Walsh, MassDOT and Clear Channel with calls to action. There was also a widely circulated petition.

Weinbloom, a onetime candidate for Board of Aldermen, said in an interview she couldn’t believe how quickly it all happened.

“I guess I’ve never had the privilege to experience social media being so incredibly effective at correcting an injustice,” she said. “Once they got 200 tweets at them, they backtracked” – referring to the billboard-owning company.

She said she never saw the billboard in person. The picture she shared came from the Facebook page of a friend, North End resident Jeremy Koo. Most of the extensive barrage of tweets that followed happened from her seat on a bus bound for New York, Weinbloom said.

“I was almost concerned that maybe it had never been there,” she said. “I said, ‘You definitely saw that billboard yourself last night, right?’”

Koo said in an email that he spotted the ad on his way home via Government Center. From a distance, he said, he assumed it was some kind of call for global unity. Realizing it wasn’t was “infuriating,” he said. So he snapped a picture.

Weinbloom was especially sensitive to the issue, she said, and especially tuned into the ad’s coded messaging – or “dog whistles” as she called them. As it happens, she spent time last year traveling in Turkey and studying the Turkish government’s opposition to the genocide designation.

“That is a billboard that is 100 percent meant to be seen and understood by Armenians and Turks exclusively,” she said.

The U.S. is among many countries that do not recognize the killing of hundreds of thousands of Armenians in the early 20^th Century as genocide – although 43 states, including Massachusetts, do.

The ad was not far from Boston’s Armenian Heritage Park and Holocaust Memorial. And its placement came just after a visit from Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan and before an annual Walk Against Genocide in the area.

This being Twitter, when Weinbloom’s message caught on, she braced for hate-filled responses. There were some, but not many. Some read her last name and fired off anti-Semitic comments or confronted her about Israeli policy. Most sent encouraging words.

Among them, she got this message from a friend: “Only use your powers for good.”

The Turkish Legacy of Blood, Invasion, Theft, Massacre and GENOCIDE

April 9, 2016 By administrator

Source: originsdiscovery.com/genocide.html

Turkish blood trace

The deceptive Turkish Billboard Denying Armenian Genocide Removed in Boston

April 7, 2016 By administrator

By Rupen Janbazian

BOSTON, Mass. (A.W.)—A billboard paid for by the “Turkic Platform, Istanbul,” located a few blocks from the Armenian Heritage Park in Boston’s North End, has been removed by Clear Channel Outdoors—the owners of the billboard structure. The billboard, which listed the address for a website called “Fact Check Armenia,” featured pictures of a hand making a peace sign with the Turkish flag on it; two other hands with crossed fingers draped in the colors of the Armenian and Russian flags; and the words “Truth=Peace” running across it.

A spokesperson for Clear Channel Outdoor told various news outlets early Thursday that the billboard was placed “in error” and was going to be removed. Pictures on social media later confirmed that the billboard was in fact removed by Thursday morning.

Similar billboards reportedly have been spotted in various spots across the Eastern United States. The Armenian Weekly contacted Clear Channel Outdoors’ corporate office asking for comments regarding the billboard, including whether there were similar billboards in other locations. “The ad was placed there in error and was removed today,” wrote back Jason D. King, vice president of Corporate Communications at Clear Channel Outdoors.

Public outcry about the billboard and its message encouraging Armenian Genocide denial flooded social media outlets on Wednesday. Several photographs of the billboard—including one by Elizabeth Weinbloom—were tweeted, as community members and the public at large were encouraged to direct their complaints to the company in charge. “@MassBillboards – You’re running a billboard denying the Armenian Genocide over Armenia Heritage Park? Shame on you,” read Weinbloom’s tweet.

The Armenian Students Associations (ASA) of the Greater Boston Area organized a phone campaign to have the billboard removed on early Thursday morning. “We were all pretty upset with the billboard and figured it had to be brought down, so we thought a phone campaign would be the most effective way,” Lori Yogurtian, member of the Armenian Students Association at Suffolk University, told the Armenian Weekly. Yogurtian and her fellow executive members reached out to other ASAs in the Greater Boston Area and invited more than 2,000 people to take part in the campaign. “People started calling the [Clear Channel Outdoor] offices at 8 a.m. to voice their concern with the billboard. Only a few people actually got through—most just left voice messages—but they got the message,” she said.

“What was most encouraging was the huge outpour of support by the non-Armenian community downtown,” said James Kalustian of the Armenian Heritage Park Foundation. Speaking to the Armenian Weekly, Kalustian said that the North End community and residents were very helpful in letting Clear Channel know that the billboard did not belong there. “This [Thursday] morning, when I got up, there was already a petition started by some North End residents on Change.org—by non-Armenians—demanding that the billboard be taken down,” he said.

“Clear Channel’s statement says that the billboard was put ‘in error.’ We’re not sure what that error was, but we’re certainly going to pursue it,” Kalustian said.

The Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) of Greater Boston Area, released a statement condemning the billboard and its message shortly following its removal. “The JCRC of Greater Boston is appalled by the billboard recently posted in Boston’s North End that denies the existence of the Armenian Genocide. This is a disturbing affront to the Armenian community and to all decent people in Boston. As one neighborhood resident rightly says in today’s Boston’s Globe, this billboard, placed across from the Armenian Heritage Park, is ‘like putting a Holocaust denial ad right above a Holocaust memorial.’ We are pleased that Clear Channel Outdoors, owners of the billboard, has indicated that the message was put up in error and has removed it,” read the statement.

Kalustian said that the JCRC’s statement—as well as the support from other communities—has been “amazing.” “Especially with Sunday’s walk against genocide, where all the communities will be united to speak about against atrocities against mankind, it was very reassuring to see that it wasn’t just our community that was speaking out, but also many other residents and community members who were offended by not only the billboard itself, but also its proximity to the Armenian Heritage Park.”

The Third Annual Walk Against Genocide will take place in Boston on April 10 at 1:30 p.m. featuring speakers on genocides and mass killings of the 20th and 21st centuries. It will start with a gathering at the New England Holocaust Memorial followed by a walk to the Armenian Heritage Park on the Greenway for a closing program.

Araz Chiloyan, a member of the Armenian Youth Federation (AYF-YOARF), said that she went to see the billboard after seeing various social media posts about it on Wednesday. “I was very disappointed to see the billboard put up by Clear Channel Outdoors at an intersection only a couple of blocks down from the [Armenian Heritage] Park,” she told the Armenian Weekly. “Luckily, community members were quick to react and shared their disgust with the company—the same company which removed billboards commemorating the Armenian Genocide, since the message on it was ‘too political,’ back in 2014,” Chiloyan said.

About one week before the 99^th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, in April 2014, Peace of Art, Inc. was notified by Clear Channel Outdoor that the Armenian Genocide commemorative billboard, at Lechmere Station in Cambridge, Mass., had to be removed. The message “Recognize the Crime of the Century, the Armenian Genocide” was considered to be of a political nature by certain groups who complained to Clear Channel. A year earlier, in April 2013, billboards with the message “Honoring the memory of 1.5 million lives lost, Armenian Genocide. Recognition and condemnation,” were paid for by Peace of Art, Inc. and displayed in the same location and without incident.

According to Fact Check Armenia’s website, the group is “dedicated to providing accurate and reliable information to the world about the events that led up to and during 1915. It provides historical data on the Armenian uprisings that gave way to the Ottoman Turks actions and counters Armenian misinformation.”

“It is alarming to see the ease with which a foreign lobbying group can post a billboard that in addition to being deceptive, is deeply offensive to Boston’s Armenian and Russian populations,” said Armenian Weekly contributor and president of the Boston Chapter of The Society for Orphaned Armenian Relief (SOAR) Katie Vanadzin, who was early to raise awareness about the billboard on social media on Wednesday. “The fact that it [the billboard] was approved to be posted near the Armenian Heritage Park to coincide with an annual day of mourning and remembrance makes me wonder what wouldn’t be approved by Clear Channel,” she added.

Cenk Uygur, The Young Turks, and The Denial of The Armenian Genocide

March 30, 2016 By administrator

Ce1QTW7UUAAymnL Source: unsafespeech.com

Cenk Uygur, host of the online show The Young Turks, has a dark history of both denying the genocide of the Armenian people, and subsequently naming his show after its Turkish perpetrators.

Unsafe Speech via The Lowdown with Lalo March 30 ’16@unsafespeech thelowdownwithlalo

The Armenian Genocide

In 1908, under the Ottoman Empire, a political group named the Young Turks waged a rebellion against Sultan Abdul Hamid II forcing him out of political office. By 1915, this political party would become the perpetrators of what has come to be known as the Armenian Genocide, in which up to 1.5 million were estimated to have been systematically dislocated, tortured, and massacred. This event culminated on 24 April 1915, when Young Turk members arrested, and later killed, 250 various Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in the Ottoman capital of Constantinople. The evidence confirming the Armenian Genocide is not only abundant, but also dishearteningly tragic.

In 1915, The New York Times alone published 145 articles describing the Armenian massacres as “systematic” and “authorized and organized by the government.” Leslie A. Davis, American Consul to the US Ambassador to Turkey, wrote:

“Practically every male Armenian of any consequence at all here has been arrested and put in prison. A great many of them were subjected to the most cruel tortures under which some of them died. Another method was found, however, to destroy the Armenian race. This is no less than the deportation of the entire Armenian population, not only from this province, but, I understand, from all six provinces comprising Armenia. For people travelling as these Armenians who are going into exile will be obliged to travel it is certain death for by far the greater part of them.”

American Ambassador Henry Morganthau Sr. said in his memoirs: “When the Turkish authorities gave the orders for these deportations, they were merely giving the death warrant to a whole race; they understood this well, and in their conversations with me, they made no particular attempt to conceal the fact.” U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt described the massacres of the Armenian people during WWI as, “The greatest crime of the war.” Raphael Lemkin, the Polish Jewish lawyer who coined the term ‘Genocide’ in 1943, stated in 1949 that he was partly inspired to create the term after having learned of the Armenian Genocide. And in 1997, the Association of Genocide Scholars of North America passed a resolution in which an assembly reaffirmed the mass murder of over a million Armenians in Turkey in 1915, declared that the event conformed with determined characteristics of a genocide, and lastly, condemned the denial of the Armenian Genocide by the Turkish government.

Even today, despite an abundance of evidence, any mention of the Armenian Genocide is illegal under Article 301 of the Turkish penal code, which states that insulting Turkey, the Turkish nation, or Turkish government institutions is not permitted. People such as Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk, and prominent Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink were both charged with violating the law after having spoken about the Armenian Genocide. Dink also received death threats for years and was subsequently assassinated in 2007.

Cenk Uygur

In November 1991, while Cenk Uygur was on the Student Activities Council representing the Turkish Students Association at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, he published an article in the The Daily Pennsylvanian titled ‘Historical Fact or Falsehood?’ In the article Uygur wrote:

“The claims of an Armenian Genocide are not based on historical facts. If the history of the period is examined it becomes evident that in fact no such genocide took place… there cannot be any harm in taking a closer look at history to find the truth. After all, if the genocide did take place it should be relatively easy to prove. It is kind of hard to miss the planned extermination of 1.5 million people, isn’t it?”

Towards the end of the article Uygur states:

“Once you really examine the history of the time it becomes apparent that the allegations of an Armenian Genocide are unfounded. So the question arises of why the Armenians would bother to conjure up such stories, and even go as far as committing approximately 200 acts of terrorism since 1973 to further their cause, resulting in countless deaths and injuries to government officials and civilians. The answer is that they want their demands met.”

In June of 1999, in the ‘Letters to the Editor’ section of Salon, Uygur wrote:

“The United States helped to sponsor war propaganda against Turkey during World War I as part of an official campaign to smear its enemies, as it did with Germany. Part of this propaganda was the evil butchery of the Turks against the defenseless Christian Armenians. This is what has been rooted in the popular memory of America, with very few Turkish-Americans to combat the insinuations of savagery, yet this is not propaganda?”

Uygur concludes this letter by stating:

“I once asked a professor of mine who taught a class on the laws of war and war crimes at Columbia Law School to deprogram me from all the propaganda I had received growing up Turkish. I asked him to please find me evidence of the genocide by neutral scholars so I could know the truth.

After investigating the issue, he came back and said that he could not find one non-Armenian scholar who believed this was a genocide, but since ‘it looked like a duck, it walked like a duck and it talked like a duck, it must be a duck.’ If that’s not the product of excellent propaganda, I don’t know what is.”

*I encourage everyone to read the full context of what Cenk Uygur wrote, as it is only worse in its entirety.

The Young Turks

A few years later, in 2002, Cenk Uygur started a talkshow on Sirius Satellite Radio called ‘The Young Turks’. Of course, no one who has actually read Uygur’s previous statements could believe that the naming of the show could be completely unrelated to the history of Turkey and Armenia, yet this is what Uygur and his co-hosts at the Young Turks are attempting to have their audience believe.

During an appearance at a California State Democratic Party convention in 2012, Uygur found himself confronted by protesters who were upset by Uygur’s past comments on the Armenian genocide. To this Uygur responded that he completely understood the tremendous pain the Armenian community feels about the “historical situation that happened in that era”, and that he could sympathize with the concerns about the name of the show. He further excused himself, and his past denial of the genocide, by stating that “It (The name ‘Young Turks’) has no historical reference what so ever”, and that the dictionary definition he “looked up” said “young progressives looking to overthrow an established system”. Uygur promised that he would “work with the Armenian community further, and at a different time, to resolve the issue”. So how did Cenk resolve the issue? By sweeping it under the rug.

When searching for references to ‘Armenian Genocide’ or simply ‘Armenia’, no entries come up on the The Young Turks channel, except for some videos about the Kardashians (notice how in this video Cenk and Ana are careful to avoid mentioning the 100th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide when speaking about the Kardashians’ visit to Armenia, despite that being the main reason for their visit). Furthermore, The Young Turks channel made no videos highlighting the 100th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in 2015. However, Uygur’s Armenian co-host Ana Kasparian, made a video commemorating the Armenian Genocide on her own personal YouTube channel, whereby she ironically complains about the denying of the genocide by the US government and Turkey. Why Kasparian’s video could not be featured as an official segment on The Young Turks one can only speculate.

On an episode of TYT on November 18th, 2015 (at minute 41), Ana Kasparian angrily said:

“People are such clowns on the internet. Like ‘Did you know that the name of the show is the Young Turks?’ ‘How can an Armenian work for the Young Turks?’ It’s crazy I had no idea. Did you know Rod Stewart also had a song called The Young Turk? Do you think he was endorsing the Turks of like a century ago? Are you fucking kidding me right now? You think that an American show would name itself Young Turks because it’s paying homage to these fucking terrible people from a century ago? Get the fuck out of here with your dumb bullshit. Grab a dictionary, read, educate yourself.”

Well, Rod Stewart isn’t a Turkish immigrant who has written Armenian genocide denial articles for open publication, and Cenk Uygur is not Rod Stewart. Though, this does beg the question, are Armenians offended by the name?

Here is a statement from Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the Armenian National Committee of America and what he has to say about Cenk Uygur and the show’s name:

“Denying a genocide, belittling its survivors, and then naming your political show after its perpetrators should be troubling not only to Armenian Americans but anyone concerned about human rights. Cenk Uygur not only did just this, but after hearing numerous concerns about the name of his show, went on to support two of the most virulent Armenian Genocide denying organizations (ATAA and ATC) in the country, both of which have, as primary objectives, denying the Armenian Genocide and preventing its teaching.”

I would ask Kasparian, should Aram Hamparian also “get the fuck out of here with his dumb bullshit”? I actually did ask a similar question to another TYT co-host, also of Turkish background, Hasan Piker:

https://twitter.com/LaloDagach/status/715316210129199104

The Hypocrisy

Besides all this, The Young Turks seem to have no problem holding others to a moral standard that they themselves do not practice. The Young Turks have done multiple videos expressing their belief that the American football team ‘The Redskins’, should change their name because it is offensive to an entire community. Uygur and Kasparian even went as far as to agree with the passing of a law that would ban the name ‘Red Skins’. Uygur asserted that anyone who complained about the law was “Stuck in 1955”. When referring to the offensiveness of the name, Uygur said that if we won’t stand for a football team named ‘The Chinamen’, then we should not stand for the name ‘The Redskins’. True enough. Though equally, if we would never tolerate a show named ‘The Third Reich’, due to the systematic massacres they committed against a specific ethnic group, we should also not tolerate a show entitled ‘The Young Turks’ for precisely the same reasons. Uygur, however, is taking advantage of the fact that most people are ignorant of the history of the Ottoman Empire and The Young Turks political party, whose members were responsible for the torture and deaths of over a million Armenians.

There are of course many more examples of this moral hypocrisy from The Young Turks channel. Ben Mankiewicz, when speaking about Saudi Arabia, thought that the Saudi multinational construction conglomerate called The Binladin Group, had “some balls” for keeping the name, because of the family connection to Osama bin Laden. Uygur did a segment on the offensiveness of the town seal of the village of Whitesboro, in which he expressed understanding for people’s attachment to names and symbols, but sometimes it’s best to “let it go”. In a video produced for Columbus Day 2015, Uygur explained that once one learns about the massacres Columbus had committed, it makes celebrating Columbus Day seem “childish”. Uygur added:

“You are making an active choice to deny facts and history, and say ‘I like to be ignorant’… but now that I know the facts, well obviously I change my mind on Christopher Columbus, cuz no one ever told me what the real facts were. You would have to be a monster to want to celebrate this guy.”

Though hypocritically Uygur chooses to remain ignorant on the facts of the Ottoman genocide of the Armenian people, and does not feel it is monstrous to celebrate The Young Turks.

Even if Uygur was ignorant of the historical meaning of the show’s name, the name itself is offensive to an entire community. Yet, who could honestly believe that Cenk Uygur, an immigrant from Turkey who has written articles denying the Armenian genocide, and only a few years later named a show after the perpetrators, was oblivious to the historical connotations of the name ‘The Young Turks’, and had solely the literal dictionary definition in mind when choosing a title?

The Young Turks channel is not a news outlet, but a YouTube based commentary show in which Cenk Uygur holds the entire world up to very high standards of scrutiny, which in itself is perfectly fine. Everyone should keep very high standards of ethics and morality for themselves, as well as for others. However, Uygur can not expect to be a public voice on cross-cultural matters and not have his audience hold him up to the same standards that he projects onto everyone else on a daily basis.

Continue the Discussion

Egyptian films #ArmenianGenocide documentary wins Audience Award at New York Film Festival

March 29, 2016 By administrator

whocopy Armenian Genocide documentary wins Audience Award at New York Film Festival

Two Egyptian films – ‘Before the Spring’ and ‘Who Killed the Armenians?’ – garnered top awards at the Socially Relevant Film Festival in New York, Ahram Online reports.

The festival runs from 15 to 22 March, with both films screened on 19 March at the Bow Tie Chelsea Cinemas.

Before the Spring, directed by Ahmed Atef, won the festival’s Grand Prize for Best Narrative Feature Award.

The feature film – which is based on true stories and stars Ahmed Tawfik, Hanan Metawe and Hana Shiha – centres on a young blogger who lost both his eyes during Egypt’s 2011 revolution, telling his story in flashbacks.

Who Killed the Armenians? is a documentary prepared by Egyptian satellite TV anchor Myriam Zaki and director Mohamed Hanafi.

The film, which is a documentary on the Armenian genocide, won the Audience Award and The Vanya Exerjian: Empowering Women and Girls Award, which went to Zaki.

Through rare footage and documents from World War I, the film investigates the different aspects of the genocide and how it occurred, with filming taking place in Egypt, Armenia and Lebanon.

Hanafy and Zaki were both present at the festival for a Q&A session after the screening.

The Socially Relevant Film Festival’s mission is “raising awareness towards social issues through the powerful medium of cinema,” as stated on its website.

Films selected for the festival centre on “human interest stories, character driven situations and good storytelling without the need to rely on gratuitous violence, crime and violent forms of storytelling.”

Demand Truth + Justice for the Armenian Genocide

March 25, 2016 By administrator

Urge Passage of Senate and House Armenian Genocide Resolutions

Ask your Senators and U.S. Representative to work for a truthful and just resolution of the Armenian Genocide by supporting the adoption of S.Res.140 and H.Res.154

This is the right time to act, during the Armenian Genocide Centennial year and in the wake of the vast global awareness raised around April 24th by Pope Francis and so many others.

H.Res.154, a bipartisan measure spearheaded by Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chairman Robert

http://cqrcengage.com/anca/app/write-a-letter?0&engagementId=103633#action

Pasadena to commemorate Armenian Genocide at Memorial Park

March 24, 2016 By administrator

208774 The Pasadena Armenian Genocide Memorial Committee (PAGMC) invites the community to mark the one-year anniversary of the Pasadena Armenian Genocide Memorial on Sunday, April 17, at the Memorial Park, Pasadena Now reports.

Last year, 1500 people were moved and inspired on the 100th Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide and the unveiling of the Pasadena Memorial.

Residents and community members are urged to join Pasadena Armenian Genocide Memorial Committee this year on April 17 to celebrate the Armenian culture and visit the outstanding and moving memorial.

Repairs of the Armenian Genocide, between dreams and reality – By Raffi Kalfayan – View from the Diaspora

March 20, 2016 By administrator

arton120571-360x270 This article discusses critically the public theses that are currently underway and pending legal actions regarding the individual or collective reparations demanded by institutions or individuals of Armenian diaspora. It follows a statement issued on the occasion of a round table organized in Istanbul, Saturday, June 27, 2015, as part of the REPAIR project by the French-Armenian NGO Yerkir Europe and the Turkish Foundation Anadolu Kültür supported by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation and the Embassy of France in Turkey.

These theses or statements raise many questions both politically and legally. The author of the article analyzes the approaches and claims of each other. The objective of the roundtable as the article is the same: to tell some truths killed by diaspora organizations to face these realities to act better, in fact launch a pan-Armenian debate, which was confiscated until right here.

Read suite… http://repairfuture.net/index.php/fr/genocide-armenien-reconnaissance-et-reparations-point-de-vue-de-la-diaspora-armenienne/reparations-du-genocide-armenien-entre-reveries-et-realites