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Protest action to be held on April 24 in Brussels in front of Turkish Embassy

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10:38, 23 April, 2013

YEREVAN, APRIL 23, ARMENPRESS: Events devoted to the 98th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide of 1915 will be held in various countries of the world. As Armenpress was reported by the Representative for the Department of the Public Relations of the European Office of the Armenian Cause Peto Demirchyan, a candle lighting ceremony woul716224d be held around the Armenian cross stone on April 23 in Brussels. The event will be attended by the representatives of the Armenian structures of Brussels.

During the day it is intended to show the German film devoted to the Armenian Genocide “Aghet” (Genocide). The event will be attended by the Armenian Ambassador, members of the European Parliament, deputies and the representatives of the Armenian organizations functioning in Brussels.

On April 24 after the noon a protest action will be held as well in front of the Turkish Embassy in Brussels, after which the participants of the rally will organize a procession from the Turkish Embassy towards the European Union building.

At the years of the World War I Turkey massacred 1,5 million Armenians in the Western Armenia, making hundreds of thousands people refugees. The fact of the Armenian Genocide has been recognized by 26 states of the world, 41 American States out of 50 and international organizations, including the European Parliament and the European Council.

By the Decree of the President of the Republic of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan, a state Commission was established and the Commission Staff was defined to foster the international recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide and to coordinate the events devoted to the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. The Chairman of the Commission is the President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan.

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Experts meet in Yerevan to strategize for Armenian Genocide Centenary

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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

Genocide is the Right Word, Justice is the Ultimate Goal!

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BY HARUT SASSOUNIAN

President Serzh Sarkisian’s comments generated much controversy last week when he reportedly stated at a campaign stop in Yerevan on Feb. 5 that Harut Sassounian“tseghasbanoutyoun” (genocide) and “yeghern” (atrocity) are synonymous. He asserted that President Obama, without uttering the word “genocide,” had said “everything.” The Armenian head of state was referring to President Obama’s use of the term ‘Medz Yeghern’ (Great Atrocity) rather than ‘Armenian Genocide’ in his annual April 24 commemorative statements.

The words Yeghern or Medz Yeghern were used by Armenians mostly before Raphael Lemkin coined the term genocide in 1943 to describe the organized mass killings of Armenians during the 1915-23 period. Before 1943, Armenians used various expressions to refer to those killings, such as ‘chart’ (massacre), Medz vojir (great crime), ‘aghed’ (disaster), ‘deghahanoutyoun’ (deportation), and ‘aksor’ (exile). However, none of these words have the legal connotation of tseghasbanoutyoun or genocide under international law.

Since 1943, Armenians have spent much time and effort to convince the world that they were the victims of genocide and are now seeking justice from Turkey under international law. This is fundamental reason why Armenians demand genocide recognition, not massacres, atrocities or deportations!

The only reason President Obama has used the term Medz Yeghern in his annual statements is to avoid the words Armenian Genocide, in acquiescence to Turkish pressures. If Medz Yeghern and genocide have the same meaning, why doesn’t President Obama use the term genocide instead of Medz Yeghern? After all, presidential candidate Obama did not promise Armenian-American voters that if elected he would recognize the Medz Yeghern; he pledged to recognize the Armenian Genocide.

Thus, all who allege that Medz Yeghern and genocide are synonymous are simply giving President Obama a free pass and allowing him not to keep his solemn pledge. They are also undermining several decades of extensive lobbying efforts for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide!

Those who claim equivalence between Medz Yeghern and genocide do it not out of ignorance in Armenian terminology. They know full well that the two words don’t have the same meaning. Their real reason is to declare victory by making people believe that the President of the United States did after all acknowledge the validity of the Armenian Genocide.

There are a couple of fallacies in this approach. First, regardless of what Medz Yeghern means to Armenians, it is a meaningless term to all those who do not speak Armenian. Second, equating Medz Yeghern and genocide in order to claim success on genocide recognition is a futile exercise. It is really unnecessary to twist the meaning of President Obama’s words. The United States recognized the Armenian Genocide as far back as 1951, when the US government submitted an official document to the International Court of Justice (World Court), acknowledging the Jewish Holocaust and the Armenian Genocide as examples of genocide. Another US President, Ronald Reagan, issued a Presidential Proclamation on April 22, 1981, where he mentioned the Armenian Genocide. Moreover, the House of Representatives acknowledged the Armenian Genocide by adopting two resolutions in 1975 and 1984.

Consequently, there is no longer a pressing need to pursue further acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide by passing repeated congressional resolutions or demanding that President Obama utter the words Armenian Genocide. Nor is there a need to reinterpret President Obama’s statements, claiming that by using the term Medz Yeghern he has automatically acknowledged the Armenian Genocide. The only reason President Obama should recognize the Armenian Genocide is to be a man of his word!

It is imperative for Armenians and their supporters to concentrate their efforts on the eve of the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide not on gaining further recognition — an already accomplished fact — but on securing justice for the massive crimes committed against their ancestors a hundred years ago.

Rather than demanding that the United States or even Turkey acknowledge the Genocide, which would not result in any concrete benefit, Armenians should focus their energies on more meaningful steps such as filing lawsuits against the Turkish government in national and international courts.

Once Armenians regain their territories and properties from Turkey through legal action or as a result of unexpected geopolitical developments, the Turkish government can go on denying the Genocide as long as it wants!

RA NA vice speaker hails Turkish MP’s call to apologize for Genocide

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February 8, 2013 – 15:03 AMT

The vice speaker of Armenian parliament hailed the statement of a Turkish MP Ahmet Turk, urging for recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

“I welcome Turk’s call for his country to come to terms with its past. Turkish leadership must follow the MP’s suit in apologizing to Armenian people for this crime against humanity,” Eduard Sharmazanov said.

Earlier, the main mediator in the negotiations between Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdoğan and the leader of Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Abdullah Öcalan, Turkish MP Ahmet Türk commented on the role of Kurds in the Armenian Genocide.

According to Milliyet daily, Türk said, “It is high time, we came to terms with our past. Our forefathers and ancestors of Ottomans massacred Armenians, Assyrians and Yezidis. Our ancestors’ hands are stained with the blood of Armenians, Assyrians and Yezidis. We are obliged to apologize to Armenian descendants. The apology means a lot for our future. I hope Turkey will admit the truth and will apologize to Armenians. That’s historical necessity. Turkish authorities can’t deny the fact that a state decision was taken to annihilate thousands of Armenians, Assyrians and Yezidis during the Ottoman Empire. It won’t be difficult to apologize as the massacres were committed before the establishment of the Turkish State.”

Armenian Genocide history taught at Turkey-based French lyceum

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November 30, 2012 – 16:09 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – According to French curriculum, history of the Armenian Genocide is a mandatory subject at all French schools, including abroad. Genocide history is also taught at Ankara-based Charles de Gaulle French lyceum.

According to Nouvelles d`Arménie, member of Nationalist Movement Party (NMP) Özcan Yeniçeri issued an address to Turkish Ministry of National Education to clarify if the textbook has been approved and if Education Minister Ömer Dinçer is aware of the inclusion of Genocide history in the lyceum curriculum.

The three-volume work about the testimonies of the survivors of the Armenian Genocide is ready

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10:00, 19 November, 2012

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 19, ARMENPRESS. Toward the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide the National Archive of Armenia continues publishing important and unique documents and introducing them to the public. The book “the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire: the Testimonies of the Survivors. Archival Documents” is already finished. The testimonies of the survivors dated to 1916 are enclosed in the book.

In a conversation with “Armenpress” the head of the National Archive of Armenia Amatuni Virabyan stated that there was a program organized by the Russian Army and held in 1916-1917, which was aimed to the discovery of the events in the Western Armenia in 1915. Amatuni Virabyan stated: “During the liberation of the Armenian territories by the Armenian voluntary units and the Russian Army they have seen that almost no Armenian was left in that territories or a very small number of people remained there. And a row of intellectuals developed a questionnaire to discover the number of the population, income and residents of a row of villages before the aforementioned events: the number of the servicemen, their future fate, the date of the beginning of the massacre and deportation, the identities of the participants of those events, the survivors and the state of a village by 1916.”

As the Head of the National Archive of Armenia stated these are authentic testimonies, as they have been taken only a year after the tragic events, when the memory f the people was fresh and they could recall the names of those criminals. The testimonies spread light on those events and it becomes clear that among the executors there have been Turkish officials, policemen, heads of provinces and states, Hamidian units, the Kurdish mobs, the Circassians.

The head of the National Archive of Armenia Amatuni Virabyan emphasized the legal significance of those documents, as at the time of their record there had not been any conversation about the Armenian Genocide.

If Armenian Genocide was condemned we would not have to recognize Holocaust – Slovak judge

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October 13, 2012 | 19:30

Chairman of Slovakian Supreme Court Štefan Harabin is confident that France will finally adopt a law penalizing Armenian Genocide denial.

Not only France but other European states as well will raise the question of the Armenian Genocide sooner or later, he said in an interview with Golos Armenii newspaper.

“We will have to return to the issue regardless of economic and political interests. During my meeting with journalists in Saint Petersburg I also spoke about the Armenian Genocide,” he said. “If Genocide was condemned after the World War I, we would not have to recognize and condemn the Holocaust after the World War II.”

Armenian Media Ahead of the Genocide Centennial

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BY ARA KHACHATOURIAN

YEREVAN—The 6th Pan-Armenian Media conference kicked off Thursday in Yereven, with the aim of discussing challenges facing the Armenian media ahead of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Organized by Armenia’s Diaspora Ministry, some 150 representatives of print, broadcast and online media have converged on Armenia for a three day conference.

The conference opened on Thursday at the Yerevan State University Yeghgishe Charents Hall with welcoming remarks from Diaspora Minister Hranoush Hakopyan and was followed by welcoming messages from President Serzh Sarkisian, Nagorno-Karabakh Republic President Bako Sahakian, the Catholicos of All Armenians, the Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia and others.

The conference participant had an opportunity to attend a session of Armenia’s governmnet and visit the Dzidzernagapert Armenian Genocide Memorial Monument and Museum, befor leaving for Aghavnadzor to continue the three-day conference.

Various presentations ranging from the role of the press ahead of the Genocide Centennial, as well as assessment of the coverage of the Armenian Genocide in non-Armenian press in the West, the Middle East, Turkey and elsewhere, will serve as a basis for a final announcement to be adopted at the conclusion of the conference.

Asbarez Armenian Editor Apo Boghikian and I are representing the Western Region Armenian Revolutionary Federation press and will have our analysis at the conclusion of the meeting.

The one theme, which has been echoed from the beginning of the conference is the Armenian Genocide Cennetenial and common denominator to bring together all Armenians ahead of this milestone. The conference participants are echoing that sentiment, with the additional focus of the role of the media in not just gernering the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide, but also to amplify our demands for reparations and justice as the main political reality of the Genocide.

However, there seems to be a push to discourage the Armenian media from identifying—and more importantly covering—other aspects of our Armenian reality, such the current socio-political state of Armenia and resulting socio-economic crisis facing Armenia. We are being told that by covering those “negative” aspects of the Armenian reality will provide ammunition to our neighbors—Turkey and Azerbaijan—to further their anti-Armenian agenda.

This, of course, is a somewhat of a pedestrian approach to coverage of issues and goes counter to the norms and ethics of journalism to not cover issues for fear of providing ammunition to your enemies, who, for all intents and purposes, are not waiting for coverage of non-Genocide issues in order to advance their denialist and anti-Armenian policies.

One simple solution to minimize and end negative coverage of the current socio-political situation in Armenia is that those responsible for causing those headline—namely the governmnet of Armenis—to end its pillage of the national wealth and enact reforms that would be beneficial not just for the citizens of Armenia but the entire Armenian nation.

The best approach to confronting the challenges ahead of the Genocide Centennial is to end the rhetoric and the unrealistic expectations to veil the reality and take measures to correct the wrongs that generate those “negative” stories. That is the true challenge.

The price for denial about the events of 1915 Artical by: Orhan Kemal Cengis

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By:  Orhan Kemal Cengis

Around three or four years ago, when watching a presentation at Toronto University in Canada, I felt some emotions that are still now very difficult to describe. It was as though someone had asked Salvador Dali to draw some images of the whole Armenian issue, which were then used by this young man to make a presentation to us.

It is somewhere in the middle of the desert in Mexico. They are moving forward, passing between gigantic cactuses. Each man wears an enormous sombrero on his head, and each is heading towards a giant monument. We see that they stand in silent respect when the reach the front of the monument. Speaking a strongly-accented English, this young Mexican-Armenian’s presentation is about the “Armenian Genocide Memorial Ceremonies.” The photographs are somehow surreal; the young man points to the sombreroed men in one image, and says “These men are mostly Armenians who originated from places like Van and Muş in Turkey.” When he says this, I am completely blown away.

There are so many things in life that we finally understand on first encountering them. … Just at the moment when you are most unprepared, when you are not really focused on anything, some reality or deep truth transcends your internal walls of defense and sits deep in your heart. For me, when it comes to Armenian issues, there is this instance of the sombrero-wearing Mexican-Armenian men or the young Armenian working at the reception desk of a hotel in Yerevan, a youth who had never even been to Turkey, but who described himself as being from Van. Or the 100-year-old woman I met in Boston whose eyes misted over when talking about her love for her Turkish neighbors, but also about the terrible deeds done by some thugs way back when.

One of the most important things I have realized in between all of these encounters I have had with the Armenian issue is that we have cut all of our emotional ties when it comes to facing the “Armenian tragedy.” Just as we are completely disinterested in what the truth about 1915 really is, we also reject the option of actually encountering emotionally that event we prefer to label “relocation.” Even in the “officially-accepted” version of events, we do not want to accept or grasp that people were forcibly removed from their homes, made to wander hungry in the streets and pushed from their country. We thus in no way are able to feel what it must have been like for an elderly Armenian woman to be pulled by her arms from the home where she had spent her life, forced onto the street and watch as nearly half of her family perishes on the road, while the other half has to put down roots in places where the language and culture are completely foreign to them.

There is no doubt a price to be paid for all this lack of feeling and this constant state of denial. What this denial really does is to prevent our own maturation. It also creates a false sense of pride. And in our attempts to defend this false pride, we wind up belittling ourselves, retriggering over and over our “defense mechanisms.”

With its arms wrapped tightly around this neurosis centering on a refusal to confront the past, Turkey is easy to manipulate due to this neurosis. No matter which of its buttons are pushed, it is always clear what Turkey will do on this front, and it is always known that it will inevitably do the same thing. The option of behaving any other way does not exist. Turkey pays millions of dollars to lobbies every year to convince parliaments of other countries — countries that are convinced that what occurred was a clear genocide — not to pursue the matter. And since our budget is not transparent, we are actually unable to see the true proportions of this “diet of shame.”

According to the Armenpress news agency, Elizabeth Chuljyian, the media secretary of the Armenian National Committee of American (ANCA), sends regular letters to members of the US Senate, as well as holding frequent meetings with them, in order to increase support in this important governmental body for ANCA’s cause.

With Syria and Iran looming large on the agenda this year, it is most likely that once again, the US Senate will not put forth a decision on the Armenian issue. But what about later, a few years from now? I do believe that in the long run, the policy of denial on the part of Turkey will wind up — especially when certain international balances shift — being derailed. If only we could shoulder the idea and the reality of a sincere encounter and perhaps just listen to the story of a Mexican-Armenian whose origins were in Van. If this could happen, so many things could change. Not only would we as a society mature, but Turkey as a whole would be rescued from the very real danger of slamming up against the rocks as a result of the inevitable international winds.

In this particular arena, Turkey is so strongly guided by its fears that it does not dare even consider thinking about the real problem and some of the real solutions at hand. This being the case, my personal hope is that Turkey’s ever growing sense of self-confidence be used to take some steps towards lasting and effective solutions on this front.

Hurriyet: Come back, Diyarbakır mayor tells Armenians

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The mayor of Diyarbakir Metropolitan Municipality has invited all Armenians (and other non-Muslim peoples) whose ancestors were born in the southeastern province before being forced to flee during the 1915 events to return to the city, Hurriyet writes.

“An Armenian, an Assyrian and a Chaldean, whose grandfathers or great-grandfathers were born in Diyarbakır, have the same right to live in Diyarbakır as I have, as a Kurdish person who was born in Diyarbakır. Come back to your city,” Osman Baydemir told Turkish and Armenian journalists on Sept. 25 on the sidelines of a roundtable conference called “Expanding the Scope of Dialogue: Media and Armenia-Turkey Relations at the Current Stage” that was organized by the Yerevan Press Club in Diyarbakır.

According to “Talat Paşa’s Black Book,” written by the historian Murat Bardakçı, there were 56,166 Armenians living in Diyarbakır before the events of 1915. Baydemir also said “he curses the cruelty of 1915 within his conscience.” “We refuse the legacy of our grandfathers, who took part in this massacre [the events of 1915], we refuse to be a part of what they lived, and we commemorate those of our grandfathers who were opposed to this massacre and cruelty,” said Baydemir, who is from the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), which is focused on the Kurdish issue.

Many researchers have said the ruling Party of Union and Progress during the Ottoman Empire used Kurdish militias known as the “Hamidiye troops” against the Armenians in the events of 1915.

“Denying the crimes that were committed by some of our grandfathers would be the same as becoming a part of [those crimes]. We first have to accept the sufferings of the people in order to be able to heal the wounds,” the mayor said.

Baydemir said one of his biggest dreams was to construct a common monument in memory of all of those who were lost in the region, including Armenians, Turks, Kurds, Assyrians and Chaldeans up until the 1930s. “I would like to visit this monument with Turks, Armenians and Kurds all together and cry for our lost ones all together. Turks, Kurds, Persians, Arabs – we all have to succeed in negotiation and dialogue in order to be able to live with each other.”