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Forced into Genocide: Memoirs of an Armenian Soldier in the Ottoman Turkish Army

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The Armenian Assembly of America is pleased to co-sponsor a book presentation of Forced into Genocide: Memoirs of an Armenian Soldier in the Ottoman Turkish Army by Adrienne G. Alexanian. The event will take place on Thursday, November 16th in Glendale, CA at Abril Bookstore, with an introduction of the author by Armenian Assembly Western Region Director Mihran Toumajan. Click here for the flyer.
There will be a book signing immediately after the book presentation, during the reception. Admission is free and open to the public.

Forced into Genocide is the riveting memoir of Yervant Edward Alexanian, an eye-witness to the massacre and dislocation of his family and countrymen in Ottoman Turkey during World War I. Adrienne G. Alexanian, Yervant’s daughter, has spent years preparing her father’s manuscript for publication.

Terrorist State of Turkey: Four Kurdish HDP lawmakers taken by force to give testimony

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DIYARBAKIR-AMED, Turkey’s Kurdish region,— Four Kurdish lawmakers from the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) were detained on Jan. 25, including Sanliurfa MP Osman Baydemir, Diyarbakir MP Imam Tascier, Igdir MP Mehmet Emin Adiyaman and Mus MP Ahmet Yildirim.

HDP MPs Baydemir, Yildirim and Tascier were taken by force to testify on Wednesday. Another HDP MP Adiyaman was taken by force too to give testimony. All four deputies were released following their testimony.

Yildirim and Baydemir were detained in accordance with a warrant of taking by force in Diyarbakir Courthouse where they went to watch trial.

Same action was taken against HDP Diyarbakir MP Imam Tascier a few hours before that.

A probe was launched by Diyarbakir Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office into Tascier on charges of “overtly insulting government of Republic of Turkey”, “defaming President”, and “defaming a civil servant based on his/her duty”.

The prosecutor’s office on Wednesday has issued a warrant to take them by force. In line with the warrant, Tascier was detained as he left his home and brought to Diyarbakir Courthouse.

HDP Igdir MP Mehmet Emin Adiyaman as well was taken to prosecutor’s office by police in accordance with the warrant of taking by force this morning.

Meanwhile, the jailed and ousted mayor of the southeastern province of Mardin, Ahmet Turk, was taken to hospital in the eastern province of Elazig in order to obtain a health report. His lawyer and family have repeatedly said his health condition is deteriorating.

In May 2016, parliament voted to strip lawmakers of their legal immunity, paving the way for the HDP legislators’ arrests.

In November 12 Kurdish HDP lawmakers, including the two co-leaders, Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, were arrested on charges of links to the PKK which they deny.

Thousands of officials from the HDP have been detained since 2015. Turkey detained 200 HDP members in December 2016.

The government accuses the HDP of having links to the PKK, a charge that the HDP denies.

The PKK took up arms in 1984 against the Turkish state, which still denies the constitutional existence of Kurds, to push for greater autonomy for the Kurdish minority who make up around 22.5 million of the country’s 79-million population.

A large Kurdish community in Turkey and worldwide openly sympathise with PKK rebels and Abdullah Ocalan, who founded the PKK group in 1974, and has a high symbolic value for most Kurds in Turkey and worldwide according to observers.

65 Armenian Families Forced Out of Mosul amid Extremist Takeover (Video)

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BEIRUT—According to sources at the Armenian Prelacy in Iraq, 65 Armenian families and a priest in Mosul were forced out of the city after Islamist militants raided the city iraqand took control of Iraq’s second largest city, reported the Aztag Daily newspaper.

Insurgents raised black flags over parts of the city on Tuesday, as soldiers fled their posts after Sunni extremists known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) took the city after four days of heavy fighting against Iraqi forces.

“When the battle got tough in the city of Mosul, the troops dropped their weapons and abandoned their posts, making it an easy prey for the terrorists,” Osama Nuajaifi, the speaker of Iraq’s parliament who hails from Mosul, said during a news conference in Baghdad, according to Time Magazine. “Everything is fallen. It’s a crisis. Having these terrorist groups control a city in the heart of Iraq threatens not only Iraq but the entire region.”

According to Time.com, terrified residents were streaming out of the city—the International Organization for Migration reports 500,000 people have left their homes since Saturday—and there were reports that water and electricity were cut off. On its Twitter account, ISIS gloated about seizing arms and vehicles abandoned by the city’s supposed Nusra-Front_bannerdefenders. Elsewhere in the country, its fighters have been spotted driving Humvees captured from government forces in previous encounters.

The situation was dire in more ways than one. Besides its symbolic importance as Iraq’s second-largest city—and the historic home of the country’s oil industry—Mosul has crucial strategic significance. It sits near both Turkey and the largely autonomous Kurdish zone of northern Iraq, but most importantly functions as Iraq’s most prominent doorway to Syria, where ISIS emerged as one of the main rebel forces arrayed against Syrian President Bashar Assad, reported Time.

Despite warnings from analysts that the insurrection was at heart a political problem that might only be worsened by a heavy-handed military response, al-Maliki announced his government had created a Crisis Unit and was preparing a counter-offensive that, according to one report, would include civilian volunteers armed by his government. Nuajaifi, the parliament speaker, warned: “They will re