A deputy prosecutor general of Armenia praises the European Court of Human Rights’ ruling in the case Perincek vs Switzerland, considering the outcome positive for the Armenian side.
“This ruling is a very good result for Armenia and the Armenians,” Emil Babayan told Tert.am, commenting on the Grand Chamber’s judgment delivered earlier today.
He particularly hailed the statement saying that the ECHR has no authority to make a legally binding pronouncement on a point falling within the logic of criminal law.
“First, it neutralizes the comments of those lower chamber judges who were not inclined to think that the 1915 killings of the Armenians could have amounted to a crime of genocide. The Court ruled that they do not have any authority to issue any conclusion on that point – that the lower chamber’s decision was wrong and could not have any weight or influence,” Babayan noted.
The next important point, he said, was the Chamber’s statement saying that the Armenians have a right to respect the dignity of the ancestors who suffered the Genocide. “That’s a decision of a great importance. It means that the states in Europe can punish the denial of the Armenian Genocide, if [such an act] is calculated to incite violence or disharmony. The idea behind suing Switzerland for the Perincek case was to state that he is just a stool pigeon whose words wouldn’t be taken for granted or inflict damage on anyone. [That’s why the Court ruled] that it was not necessary, in a democratic society, to subject Perincek to a criminal penalty,” he added.
Babayan cited the Chamber’s reassertion of the right to freedom of speech as the next key point in the judgment. “That means that the laws ‘insulting Turkishnes’ [Article 301 of Turkey’s Criminal Code] cannot be applied here as was the case with Hrant Dink and other Turkish and Armenian citizens who are conducting research to study Turkey’s complicity in the Genocide. So Turkey must now stop the violations against freedom of speech,” he added.
Oxford’s Bodleian library to commemorate Genocide centennial
The Bodleian library in Oxford will host an exhibition to mark the centenary of the Genocide of the Christian minority under the Ottoman Empire, which scattered surviving Armenian families and their possessions across the world, the Guardian reports.
David Howell, head of conservation research at the Bodleian library in Oxford, will use hyperspectral imaging as part of an exhibition of Armenian treasures, to restore a demon lurking in the corner of a precious 17th-century Armenian gospel that was deliberately scraped from the page by pious readers.
The creature is no longer visible to the naked eye, but once vied with the angel opposite him for the souls being weighed in the balance on judgment day, captured in the superbly illustrated gospel made by the renowned Armenian manuscript scribe, illuminator and theologian, Mesrop of Xizan, almost 400 years ago.
The Bodleian, one of the largest and oldest university libraries in the world, began collecting Armenian manuscripts in the 17th century, but many of the pieces are far older, including an 11th-century manuscript copy of John Chrysostom’s commentaries, and the only known copy of the first book printed in Iran, a book of psalms dating from 1638.
Another item on display, a matchbox-sized prayer book printed in Venice in 1831, has lengthy notes in frequently incorrect Mandarin, written in minute script by a former owner, the orientalist Solomon Caesar Malan who left his collection to the university. On one page he wrote “this is the wrong prayer”.
The exhibition will span more than 2,000 years of Armenian culture. Richard Ovenden, the director of the library, said the exhibition would have many objects of exceptional beauty.
“The Bodleian Libraries is honoured to take part in the commemorations for the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide by helping to share the history and culture of the Armenian people,” Ovenden said.
A crimson silk altar curtain, embroidered in silver thread, was given in 1788 to the monastery of Surb Karapet in Taron, in present-day south-east Turkey. The monastery, founded in the fourth century, was destroyed after 1915.
As well as the spectacular manuscripts, the exhibition will include more humble objects precious to the Armenian families who have loaned them, including photographs and textiles. There is a lace collar that was made in 1890 for a donor’s grandmother, and a tattered copy of a book of mystical poems by Saint Gregory of Narek passed down through generations of the same family and believed to protect the household.
A samovar and a set of coffee cups and saucers – which traditionally were used for telling fortunes from the dregs after the coffee was finished – has been loaned by the Chalvardjian family. The history of the objects illustrates the wandering lives of many Armenians after 1915. They were first used in Cilicia – now southern Turkey – and then brought with the family to Milan, Cairo and then the UK. The samovar was made in Russia, but the cups and saucers completed a circuit, originally made for export in Staffordshire.
Armenia official: That was what we wanted from ECHR in Perincek case
FRANCE SWITZERLAND ECHR PERINCEK
Even though the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) Grand Chamber rejected Switzerland’s petition in the case of Perincek v Switzerland, the judgment can be considered a triumph of the Armenian party in the sense that the lower chamber ruling’s unacceptable evaluations, which questioned the fact of the Armenian Genocide, are removed from the text of this judgment.
Deputy Minister of Justice of Armenia Arman Tatoyan, who is also the Armenian government’s deputy authorized representative at the ECHR, told the aforesaid to Armenian News-NEWS.am, as he commented on Thursday’s ECHR Grand Chamber judgment.
“The Republic of Armenia, as a third party, sought that the ECHR would not make an assessment on the genocide,” said Tatoyan. “In fact, the ECHR Grand Chamber recorded in its judgment that it has no authority and cannot give an assessment on what occurred in 1915, which the genocide term can be characterized in any way within the meaning under international law, and cannot make any legally binding pronouncements.”
In his words, Armenia, as a third party, pursued this very objective from the very beginning.
“Turkey needed a clear statement that there was no genocide, [that] there had been some events,” added the Armenian official. “Whereas the European Court not only noted that it will not give a response to such a matter, but it has no authority and it is not the court to respond to this matter. That was exactly what Armenia claimed.”
The ECHR Grand Chamber judgment also specifically states: “As regards the scope of the case, the Court underlined that it was not required to determine whether the massacres and mass deportations suffered by the Armenian people at the hands of the Ottoman Empire from 1915 onwards could be characterised as genocide within the meaning of that term under international law; unlike the international criminal courts, it had no authority to make legally binding pronouncements on this point.”
In 2008, a Swiss court had convicted Turkish ultranationalist politician Dogu Perincek for denying the Armenian Genocide. In December 2013, the ECHR had ruled in favor of Perincek’s lawsuit that was filed against Switzerland. Subsequently, the Government of Switzerland petitioned that the Dogu Perincek case be referred for a review by the ECHR Grand Chamber.
Separately, Armenia had petitioned to the ECHR, and it now acts as a third party in this case, whose ECHR Grand Chamber hearing was held on January 28. Armenia was represented at this hearing by renowned attorneys Geoffrey Robertson and Amal Clooney.
Dogu Perincek is chairman of the left-wing Patriotic—formerly Workers’—Party of Turkey. In addition, he heads the Turkish ultranationalist Talaat Pasha organization, which actively fights against the Armenian Genocide’s recognition in Europe.
European Court Issues Contentious Ruling On Perincek Case
STRASBOURG, France—The European Court of Human Rights on Thursday issued a contentious ruling in the case of Perincek vs. Switzerland, which concerned the criminal conviction by Switzerland of Turkish politician Dogu Perincek for publically challenging the existence of the Armenian Genocide.
While the ruling upholds Perincek’s right to freedom of speech in this narrow case, the court also upholds the “right to dignity” of Armenian people and maintains legality of laws criminalizing genocide denial.
Armenia was represented at Thursday’s hearing by human rights attorney Geoffrey Robertson and Armenia’s Prosecutor General Gevork Kostanyan, with leaders of the European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy present at the court.
The ruling does correct several errors in the original judgment, by specifically stressing that “it was not required to determine whether the massacres and mass deportations suffered by the Armenian people at the hands of the Ottoman Empire from 1915 onwards could be characterized as genocide within the meaning of that term under international law; unlike the international criminal courts, it had no authority to make legally binding pronouncements on this point.”
This provision strikes down the Chamber’s “doubt[…] that there could be a general consensus as to events such as those at issue, given that historical research was by definition open to discussion and a matter of debate, without necessarily giving rise to final conclusions or to the assertion of objective and absolute truths.”
The Grand Chamber decision concerning the crucial question of the distinction between Holocaust denial and denial of the genocide of the Armenian people in 1915, is contentious. So is its assertion that in his statements, Perincek “had not expressed contempt or hatred for the victims of the events of 1915 and the following years.”
“The Court still leaves open other situations where one could punish an individual for denying the Armenian Genocide in certain circumstances. The Court noted that they were it was wrong to convict Perincek partly because there were no heightened tensions or special historical overtones in Switzerland. So one could conclude from the opinion that if there are situations where there are heightened tensions between Armenians and Turks because of the denial, than denial of the Armenian Genocide maybe punishable,” said Kasbar Karapetian, President of the EAFJD.
“This is a mixed decision, because fundamental principles were not followed. This confused court has created a very problematic decision, which will encourage hate speech not only against Armenians but all minorities,” said Kate Nahapetian, the Governmental Affairs Director of the Armenian National Committee of America.
Seven Jurists issue dissent to ECHR decision
In a document issued after the ruling, seven of the 17 judges dissented from the ruling, among them the court’s president Judge Dean Spielmann. This underscored the contentious nature of the ECHR ruling.
“That the massacres and deportations suffered by the Armenian people constituted genocide is self-evident. The Armenian genocide is a clearly established historical fact,” said the jurists in their dissent.
“To deny it is to deny the obvious. But that is not the question here. The case is not about the historical truth, or the legal characterization of the events of 1915. The real issue at stake here is whether it is possible for a State, without overstepping its margin of appreciation, to make it a criminal offence to insult the memory of a people that has suffered genocide,” added the dissent.
“In our view, this is indeed possible… The statements in question contain an intent (animus) to insult a whole people. They are a gross misrepresentation, being directed at Armenians as a group, attempting to justify the actions of the Ottoman authorities by portraying them almost as acts of self-defence, and containing racist overtones denigrating the memory of the victims, as the Federal Court rightly found,” the dissenting judges said.
“Within six months at most, Switzerland will report on how it intends to proceed to the Committee of Ministers of the European Council, which is responsible for monitoring the execution by Member States of final judgments. The report must set out the action that Switzerland has taken to eliminate the consequences of the violation determined in this individual case, as well as to prevent such violations in the future. If Switzerland is not yet able to report fully on the execution of the judgment, it must at least present a binding schedule indicating when the intended implementation measures will be undertaken,” said a statement by the Swiss Justice Ministry.
Armenia’s Prosecutor General’s Office Reacts
Armenia’s Prosecutor General’s office issued a statement, in which it expressed satisfaction with the ruling pointing out:
1. It overrules the comments by several judges in the lower court who thought that the mass murder of the Armenians in 1915 might not amount to genocide. The Court held that they had no jurisdiction to consider findings on this issue. So the lower court judgment was wrong and can no longer have any weight or influence.
2. The Court declared that Armenians have “the right to respect for their and their ancestors’ dignity including their right to respect for their identity constructed around the understanding that their community has suffered genocide” (para 227). This is a ruling of great importance. It means that states in Europe can punish Armenian genocide denial if it is calculated to incite violence or racial disharmony. The problem with the Swiss prosecution of Perincek was that he is a worthless provocateur whose speech would not have been taken seriously or done any harm, so there was no need in a democratic society to use criminal law against him.
3. The reaffirmation of free speech principles by the court means that the laws against “insulting Turkishness” in the Turkish criminal code (Article 301) cannot be used as they were against Hrant Dink and other Turkish and Armenian citizens who probe Turkish guilt for the Genocide. Turkish infringements of free speech must now end.
Armenian Boy’s Memoir of Survival, 1915-1919 “An Armenian in the mountains of Eastern Anatolia” Book
Four Years in the Mountains of Kurdistan: An Armenian Boy’s Memoir of Survival, 1915-1919’ by Aram Haigaz (Maiden Lane, 396 pages, $26.95)
By William Armstrong – william.armstrong@hdn.com.tr
In June 1915, the entire Armenian population of Shabin Karahisar set fire to their homes and fields and headed to a fort on the mountain above the town. They had heard news of the deportations and massacres of Armenians across eastern Anatolia, so decided to stock up on food and animals and took to the old Roman castle. Up there, 5,000 held out against Ottoman battalions for one month until famine forced them to surrender.
The 15-year-old Aram Haigaz was among them. Almost his entire family was killed in the siege, and he was sent with his mother on one of the forced marches leading to the Syrian desert. His mother was massacred and her body thrown into the Euphrates, leaving her son as the only surviving member of the family. He managed to survive by converting to Islam and was took on by a local Turkish master, proving his usefulness as a worker and as one of the few left who could read and write.
“Four Years in the Mountains of Kurdistan” vividly describes Haigaz’s time as an “orphan and slave” in the badlands of eastern Anatolia. It is an extraordinary document, an ethnographic treasure trove on the years after the massacres and deportations of 1915. It describes a harsh land of tribesmen and chieftains, nomads and illiterate peasants. Bandits haunted the mountains, Ottoman army deserters moved furtively from village to village, Kurdish gangs rebelled against the authorities, wolves stalked the land. The Ottoman Empire was still at war and its already destitute population was subjected to endless calls for equipment, leather, wool, and animals. The Russians had driven deep into Anatolia, subjecting civilian Muslim Turks to atrocities as they occupied the land up to the city of Erzurum.
The ruin of physical and psychological trauma is everywhere. “I could not speak or pray in my mother tongue,” Haigaz writes at one point, “Had anyone known that every night after lights were out, I secretly prayed to the Christian God of my forbears, my head would have been cut off.” Occasionally he comes across other Armenian “leftovers of the sword,” nervously hiding their identity in the now-entirely Muslim landscape – women taken on as wives or servants, or boys young enough to become Muslim and survive as serfs.
The Kurdish tribes had in many places executed the massacres against the Armenians, but in Haigaz’s account they despised the Turks even more. The Kurds, he writes, “looked upon their Turkish rulers as a source of unspeakable evil and malice.” At one point one of the (many) local girls he tries to woo somehow finds out that he is Armenian, so he says he is willing to become Kurdish just for her. “If the Turks come to collect us again, I am going to find a way to get to Dersim. I will become a Kurd and live with them in peace,” he writes. The boundaries of ethnic and religious identity can be hazy, but they can also be the difference between life and death.
Perhaps surprisingly, “Four Years in the Mountains of Kurdistan” is not just a catalogue of misery. It is also the story, sometimes even humorous, of a rich and adventurous life in an ancient society. Occasionally that story drags over the course of more than 300 pages. Once the initial horror has passed, the book sometimes seems like a hard-to-distinguish parade of events. But some episodes really do stand out. At one point Haigaz is involved in the cold-blooded murder of an unarmed Turkish boy, described in shockingly blank language. The author does not return to the subject again; apparently desensitized after so many years of bloodshed.
Haigaz grew from boyhood to manhood during his four years as a shepherd and servant, before making a daring escape at the age of 19. He eventually settled in the U.S., where this book was published in Armenian in 1972. Surprisingly, this volume is its first appearance in English. Amid countless other titles cashing in on the 100th anniversary of the genocide this year, it is certainly worth seeking out.
published on: hurriyetdailynews.com
* A shorter, edited version of this review appeared in the Times Literary Supplement.
October/15/2015
Armenian girl’s murder by Azerbaijani boy is captured on video
Moscow police have arrested the young Azerbaijani man who killed Anna, a nineteen-year-old Armenian girl.
The young man has been taken into custody for two months.
There is no doubt that Emil Zulfagharov had committed this crime.
The victim’s father said the boy was not leaving his daughter alone.
Since Anna had rejected his love, the Azerbaijani youth had started following her.
The girl’s relatives had to always accompany her to and meet her from the university she was attending, reported NTV television of Russia.
A street video camera has captured the last seconds of this Armenian girl’s life. The recording shows the boy hitting the girl several times in the stomach and fleeing the scene. Subsequently, the bleeding girl falls on the pavement and dies before an ambulance arrives.
Anna’s father noted that even though he had repeatedly petitioned to the police, the latter had ignored his complaints about this Azerbaijani boy.
Source: news.am
Retracing a grandmother’s steps in Armenian Genocide
Sunday services at St. Hripsime in Etchmiadzin, Armenia, built in 618.(Photo: Michelle Andonian)
By
Photographer Michelle Andonian traveled to Turkey last year to retrace her grandmother’s steps after she was driven from her village during the Armenian Genocide of 1915.
The Turkish government, however, has always denied the genocide, maintaining that the deaths were just an unfortunate consequence of wartime chaos.
The visit to Turkey was a profoundly affecting experience for Andonian. Out of it came a photo exhibition at the College for Creative Studies Center Galleries, up through Oct. 24, and a book — “This Picture I Gift” — just published by Wayne State University Press.
On Sunday, Andonian will participate in “Hope Dies Last” at the Detroit Film Theatre, a multimedia performance with violinist Ida Kavafia commemorating the Armenian Genocide.
Where did the title for the book and exhibition come from?
Andonian (Photo: Michelle Andonian)
I came across a picture postcard of my grandmother and aunt while going through my grandmother’s things, and it said that on the back. It’s a literal translation of the Armenian.
She sent it to a relative in Detroit they were coming to live with. I felt it was saying, “Here we are. We’re coming. We’re leaving everything we know behind, but this picture I gift to you.”
What did you take on this project?
My nephew saw that picture in my loft one day, and he asked who it was. I said, “My goodness, that’s your great-grandmother. You don’t know who that is? You don’t know what she went through?”
I realized all that would get lost in the next generation. Fear of losing that history was really the inspiration. And I learned so much about my people I didn’t know. I’m still learning.
When did you go?
July 2014. I was in Turkey and Armenia about a month, though I’d been in Armenia a number of times before.
Did your grandmother die in the genocide?
No, she died in 1987 when I was 28. Her name was Sara. She raised us. We lived next door to her in southwest Detroit. Both my parents worked, so my grandmother took care of us. But she was also the grandmother to the entire neighborhood.
Why did your grandmother and family leave their village?
In 1915, my grandmother’s father —a shepherd — was killed. Murdered. The course of the atrocity went like this: Ottoman Turks would go into the villages, take away all the men, and for the most part, kill them. They deported the women, children and older people who couldn’t fend for themselves.
They said, “It’s a war, you’re going to leave. Pack your stuff on a donkey.” But it was a death march, marching through the desert toward Syria.
How old was your grandmother?
Seven or eight. The family basically walked for three years with no food, no water. You know the migrants today, from Syria to Turkey to Greece to Hungary? It’s basically the same thing. My grandmother remembered stepping over dead bodies. She remembered the smell. Her baby brother died in her mother’s arms. But those who did survive did so because of the kindness of some Turkish and Kurdish families.
Where did they go?
They walked from their village of Iskhan to Homs and Salamiyah, in present-day Syria (over 400 miles). From there they got to Somalia, and finally back to Aleppo in Syria. But I couldn’t go there because of the civil war. Eventually she went back to Turkey in the early 1920s.
How did your grandmother get to America?
She came to the U.S. in 1922 from Istanbul. She came over with her aunt and uncle to Ellis Island, and was promised as a bride to my great-aunt’s cousin.
Did you tell people in Turkey what you were doing?
Not in Turkey. I played it low, with small cameras. I didn’t want to carry a big camera with a long lens and look like a professional photographer.
Are there still Armenians in Turkey?
Yes. There’s a fairly large community, though nothing like it used to be. I stayed with relatives of friends while there. But Armenians are definitely looked down upon.
What particularly affected you?
The ancient city of Ani. It’s this haunting heartbreak, a ruined, medieval Armenian town once known as the Land of 1001 Churches. The earliest inscriptions on the walls are from 1031. It’s literally a stone’s throw from the border of (present-day, independent) Armenia. That’s where I kind of lost it, I have to say. To see something so incredibly beautiful in such a state of ruin, so close to Armenia — the Turks could give it back to us without even a thought. It’d be an easy gift. For the 100th anniversary of the genocide, why not give us Ani?
Did you do all this alone?
No. I traveled with my friend Ani Boghikian Kasparian from Detroit, who’s an Armenian scholar. She teaches the language at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and Dearborn. We’d been talking about this for years. She did so much for me. She arranged the guides, she arranged the connections.
What’s takeaway from all this?
Had the Armenian Genocide been validated, and Ottoman Turkey forced to recognize and do something about what happened, maybe it wouldn’t have given a permission slip to other atrocities.
You know what Hitler said when planning the holocaust? “Who today remembers the Armenians?”
The Syrian refugees today are just like the Armenian refugees, forced to leave their monuments and homes and history. It’s the same story. The timeliness of all this is horrifying to me.
mhodges@detroitnews.com
twitter.com/mhodgesartguy
‘Hope Dies Last’
3 p.m. Sunday
Detroit Film Theatre, Detroit Institute of Arts, 5200 Woodward, Detroit
Tickets: $19.50 – general; $15, DIA members and Wayne, Oakland and Macomb county residents
(313) 833-7900
dia.org
‘This Picture I Gift’
Through Oct. 24
Center Galleries, College for Creative Studies, 301 Frederick, Detroit
10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday
Free
(313) 664-7800
France: Afternoon Armenian-Greek dancing for successful Ucfaf Valence (Drôme)
Sunday, October 11, the Ucfaf (French Cultural Union of Armenians of France) Valencia proposed to the room of La Valentine (Bourg-Les-Valence) an Armenian-Greek dancing afternoon with the delivery of a Greek dance troupe coming from Grenoble monitoring Armenian dances. Vartkes Vartanian the president of the Valencia-Ucfaf first thanked the audience -more than 200 people- come to this appointment which was a first. He was accompanied by many members of which Ucfaf Sonia Sarkissian, Zarmig Nourissian, Bédig or Hermine Ohanian Kéchichian. In the audience, many personalities, among them the father Andranik Maldjian, Khosrof Iliozer (President of the Association of Malatia), Krikor Amirzayan (President of “Arménia”). Greek dancing troupe performed several traditional dances from various regions of Greece (Peloponnese, Thrace, Macedonia) as well as Anatolia and Armenia … with the dance “Tanzara” popular dance Kharpert region. Then the troupe led the public to perform some sirtakis and Greek dances that look elsewhere lot “Kotchari” Armenian traditional dance. Chaining kotcharis and some Greek dancing on the dance floor the atmosphere was at most. Bédig Ohanian has even performed in a Greek dance around a glass placed on the ground …
The public, at the tables of Armenian specialties, appreciated this friendly event. The singer Koko Bardakjian synthesizer accompanied by Sonia Vartanian Vasken Alachian and then animated the Armenian dances. Vartkes Vartanian has to his credit two discs of Armenian pop songs also sang for the greatest pleasure of the public. Koko Bardakjian then held the audience on the dance floor late into the evening. A beautiful afternoon of Ucfaf that continued late into the evening.
Krikor Amirzayan in Valence (Drôme) text and photo-reportage
EU authorized Commission to open negotiations on new agreement with Armenia
The EU Foreign Affairs Council authorized the European Commission and the High Representative to open negotiations on a new, legally binding and overarching agreement with Armenia.
The decision has been adopted during the EU ministers during their meeting on Monday.
This agreement will replace the current EU-Armenia partnership and cooperation, Virginie Battu-Henriksson, press officer for foreign affairs and development cooperation, said in a response to inquiry by Armenian News-NEWS.am.
The EU is committed to further develop and strengthen comprehensive cooperation with Armenia in all areas of mutual interest within the Eastern Partnership framework. The official launching of negotiations is envisaged to take place before the end of the year.
Prominent Russian-Armenian scientist drowns in Turkey’s Antalya
Renowned Armenian scientist from Russia, Sargis Karamyan, drowned in the sea at Kemer seaside resort and district of Antalya Province, on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey.
Two people had drowned while swimming in the sea on Sunday evening, reported Sabah daily of Turkey.
Once the dead bodies were brought ashore, it became apparent that these two victims were scientists from Russia, and one of them was Karamyan.
He was working at a nuclear research institute in Russia.Armenian-russian
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