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Statements on the Armenian Genocide By US, French and Turkish Presidents

April 30, 2018 by administrator

Harut Sassounian

Publisher, The California Courier

www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com

The Presidents of the United States, France, and Turkey issued statements on April 24, the 103rd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Of the three, only the French President Emmanuel Macron had the honesty and courage to call the tragic events by their proper name — Genocide. Pres. Trump avoided using the term genocide, while Pres. Erdogan, not surprisingly, issued a denialist statement!

Pres. Macron stated in his April 24 letter to Armenia’s President Armen Sarkissian: “With you, we remember April 24, 1915 and the murder of 600 Armenian intellectuals in Constantinople that marked the start of the first genocide of the 20th century. We will never forget those murdered men, women and children who perished on the road to exile, from hunger, cold and emaciation…. Together with Great Britain and Russia, France, as early as May 25, 1915, described those massacres as a crime against humanity and civilization. In September 1915, the French fleet, under fire, managed to save over 4,000 refugees from Musa Dagh.” In his compassionate letter, the French President accurately defined the mass killings of Armenians as Genocide — several times.

Pres. Donald Trump, on the other hand, repeated his last year’s statement avoiding the term genocide and using the Armenian words ‘Meds Yeghern’ which is meaningless to most Americans. ‘Meds Yeghern’ (Great Crime), among other terms, was used by Armenians, before the word genocide was coined by Jewish-Polish jurist Raphael Lemkin in the 1940’s. While ‘Meds Yeghern’ is simply a description of the Turkish atrocities against Armenians, genocide is a terminology of international law, according to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide adopted by the United Nations on December 9, 1948. Pres. Trump used the words ‘Meds Yeghern’ simply to avoid the term genocide in order to appease the Turkish government. It is shameful that Pres. Trump, a non-traditional leader who prides himself on taking unorthodox stands on many national and international issues, would follow the evasive tradition of his predecessors and go along with the denialists in Ankara!

On April 24, the White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, in response to a journalist’s question, confirmed that Pres. Trump had simply copied the language of his predecessors. Sanders stated: “The resolution that the President signed was consistent with past administrations as well.”

Using verbal gymnastics, Pres. Trump referred to the Armenian Genocide as “one of the worst mass atrocities,” “the horrific events of 1915,” and “painful elements of the past.” Pres. Trump’s advisers are providing a poor service by urging him to replace the term genocide with ‘Meds Yeghern.’ Rather than winning over Armenian-American citizens, this terminology is antagonizing them. If Pres. Trump does not have the courage to use the right word, he should not issue any statement at all on April 24. Previously, Pres. Ronald Reagan had issued a Presidential Proclamation on April 22, 1981 acknowledging the Armenian Genocide. In addition, the US House of Representatives had adopted two resolutions in 1975 and 1984 recognizing the Armenian Genocide, and the US government had filed a report with the World Court in 1951 mentioning the Armenian Genocide. Consequently, the Armenian Genocide has been repeatedly recognized by the United States government. All Pres. Trump has to do is to reaffirm the U.S. historical record on the Armenian Genocide.

The Armenian National Committee of America denounced Pres. Trump’s “failure to lead an honest remembrance of the Armenian Genocide…. Pres. Trump’s ‘Turkey First’ approach tightens Erdogan’s grip over U.S. policy on the genocide of Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians and other Christians.” Furthermore, the Armenian Assembly of America described Pres. Trump’s April 24 statement as “a missed opportunity to unequivocally reaffirm the Armenian Genocide.”

Not surprisingly, the Turkish Foreign Ministry issued a press release on April 25, 2018 to counter Pres. Trump’s April 24 statement: “We reject the inaccurate expressions and the subjective interpretation of history in the written statement by Mr. Donald Trump, President of the USA, released on 24 April 2018 regarding the events of 1915. Our expectation from the US Administration is a fair assessment of a period during which all the peoples of the Ottoman Empire suffered tremendously.”

The Turkish Foreign Ministry’s statement, as expected, contains several major factual errors:

1) It equates the deaths of “500,000 Muslims” during World War I to the murder of 1.5 million innocent Armenian men, women, and children. Genocide victims and war casualties are not the same thing.

2) It repeats the same lie that the Turkish government has opened its archives to researchers and offered to establish a ‘Joint Historical Commission.’ In fact, Turkish authorities have cleansed the Ottoman archives of incriminating documents, and the Joint Historical Commission is simply a ruse to delay the Turkish admission of guilt.

3) It boasts about Turkish President Erdogan’s statement sent to the Armenian Patriarchate of Istanbul on April 24, 2018 to commemorate the “Ottoman Armenians who lost their lives in the conditions of World War I.” We need to remember that the Armenian Genocide is unrelated to World War I, just like the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust were not casualties of World War II.

We hope that Presidents Erdogan and Trump will have the courage to call the Armenian mass killings by their proper name — Genocide. French President Macron has done it, so should Erdogan and Trump!

French film about the Armenian Genocide starring Gerard Darmon and Samy Naceri

April 3, 2018 by administrator

French film about the Armenian Genocide

Director Artak Igityan is at the moment shooting the film “Anatolian History” in France, which is based on the novel “Where wild roses blossom: Anatolian history” by Mark Aren (born Karen Margaryan). The composer of the film is a French musical composer Michel Legrand, Allinnet.info reports.

“Anatolian History” stars such renowned French actors as Samy Naceri (known for his main role in the French comedy franchise “Taxi”), Gerard Darmon, and Hermine Stepanyan in the leading female role. Stepanyan shared her yet scarce experience of working with the director:

“I met director Artak Igityan during the premiere of the film ”Dawn of the Van sea’. We didn’t manage to chat too much, I only congratulated him and left. Two years later, we met again at the “Moscow” cinema in Yerevan at the premiere of another film. This time, Igityan was with his wife Anna. I approached them and said that I loved the film. Artak’s wife looked at me and said: ‘Artak, she is an excellent character.’ Thus, began a conversation about the film, as well as some other topics, Stepanyan recalled.

“Of course, I have seen films starring Darmon and Naceri, and after I realized that we will be playing in the same film, I began to watch their every single movie and read their interviews to learn more about them. During the shooting, I will get acquainted with them better because of easier direct communication,” said Stepanyan, and then added that the shooting is planned for 2018.

The shooting of the film will start in 2018.

French court turns down Azerbaijani suit against France 2 reporters for calling the country a ‘dictatorship’

November 8, 2017 by administrator

The court in the Paris suburb of Nanterre dismissed on Tuesday the criminal defamation charges brought by Azerbaijani government against two French journalists for calling the country a “dictatorship.” In its November 7 ruling, the court dismissed the complaint for being ‘unacceptable.’ The hearing was the first case, involving a foreign government bringing a defamation suit against journalists before a French court.

To remind, Azerbaijan sued journalists Elise Lucet and Laurent Richard working for the France 2 network for defamation over a 2015 investigative report. The reporters were accused of defaming the Azerbaijani government by referring to it as a “dictatorship” when the former Soviet republic received a visit from then French president Francois Hollande.

The court decision was explained by references to the press law which “is designed to ensure the freedom of speech and prevent a state from launching a prosecution against individuals.”

The French Liberation paper quoted the court decision, saying “the press law has been put in place to prevent political censorship.”

The lawsuit against the two television journalists was earlier slammed by the media watchdog Reporters Without Borders’ (RSF) as “an act of intimidation highlighting the Azerbaijani government’s contempt for free speech.” Media freedom activists also pointed to the dangerous precedent by a foreign government to export censorship beyond its own borders.

Iraqi Kurdish and French journalists killed in Mosul

June 20, 2017 by administrator

raqi Kurdish Bakhtiyar Haddad (L) and French journalist Stephan Villeneuve killed by Islamic State mine in Mosul June 19, 2017. Photo: Ekurd.net/FB/Linkenin

MOSUL,— An Iraqi Kurdish journalist and a French journalist were killed and two other French reporters were wounded after a mine exploded in Mosul, where they were covering an advance by Iraqi forces against Islamic State militants, French media reported on Monday.

The television network said Iraqi Kurdish journalist Bakhtiyar Haddad was killed and three reporters, Veronique Robert and Stephane Villeneuve, were wounded and taken to a U.S. military hospital in northern Iraq.

Stephan Villeneuve later succumbed to his injuries, public broadcaster France Televisions said Tuesday.

Local Kurdish media had earlier reported the incident saying the French journalists were being treated at the U.S. base in the Iraqi town of Qayyara.

Islamic State fighters have been defending their remaining stronghold in the Old City of Mosul, moving stealthily along narrow back alleys as U.S.-backed Iraqi forces slowly advance.

The historic district, and a tiny area to its north, are the only parts of the city still under the militants’ control. Mosul used to be the Iraqi capital of the group, also known as ISIS.

On February 25, journalist and presenter for Kurdish Rudaw TV Shifa Gerdi was also killed as she was covering the Mosul operation.

(With files from Reuters | AFP | NRT)

BREAKING NEWS The centrist Emmanuel Macron will be France’s next president,

May 7, 2017 by administrator

Sunday, May 7, 2017 2:03 PM EDT
Emmanuel Macron, a youthful former investment banker with little political experience, was well ahead in France’s presidential election on Sunday, suggesting that his call for a new centrist approach to politics would handily defeat the staunch nationalism of his far-right opponent, Marine Le Pen, according to projections based on preliminary results.
Polls closed at 8 p.m. in France, and official results will be tabulated through the night.
If he wins, Mr. Macron, 39, will become the youngest president in the 59-year history of France’s Fifth Republic, after leading an improbable campaign that amounted to a stinging rebuke of the country’s long-dominant political establishment.

France: ‘Thirst for Change’: French Society Turns to Trump’s Ideas “Trumpism”

January 22, 2017 by administrator

The French newspaper Les Echos has published an opinion piece titled ‘The Frenchmen’s Desire for Trumpism’, where the authors analyze the results of a study on the degree of political trust, conducted by a Paris-based think tank, the Institute of Political Studies.

A think piece titled The Frenchmen’s Desire for Trumpism has been published in the French newspaper Les Echos, which summarized the results of a survey conducted by the Paris-based Institute of Political Studies which sought to determine how much faith the French had in their leaders.

The newspaper noted that according to the study, the French would like more protection at the national level and at the same time want “more conscious economic liberalism.”

However this doesn’t mean the country is sliding left; quite the opposite. According to The Economist, the French use the term ‘liberal’ to mean “faith in free markets and competition.”

Commenting on the matter, Veronique de Riche-Flores, chairwoman and founder of the independent think tank RF Research, told Sputnik France that the deterioration of the geopolitical and political situation has begun to “disturb” a rather large number of people.

She specifically cited “the concern that goes beyond the separate states and is already characteristic for many countries today.” This concern is related to economic instruments used under the current policy, which lead to a “sufficiently widespread emergence of protectionist temptations”.

“I think the most important thing is that there is a sociological movement in support of economic individualism, which rapidly turns into liberalism in its various forms,” Riche-Flores said.

Asked about the reasons for this surge of French interest in economic patriotism and protectionism, she pointed to transformations in the economic environment.

“Since the 2008 crisis, the economic environment has changed significantly, and attempts to ride out the crisis have failed,” she said.

Riche-Flores also dwelt on whether there is some contradiction between the French perception of Donald Trump personality and his statements regarding the economic sphere.

“It’s ironic, but I think it can be explained by the thirst for change and the fear caused by stagnation that has been in place in the past few years,” she pointed out.

She also predicted that even though the US electorate, who swept Donald Trump to power, will be unable to enjoy the fruits of his policy, hunger for power will certainly remain.

“It’s necessary to learn lessons from all this. When facing economic and political paralysis, citizens want to shake up everyone and see policy take the initiative once again,” she concluded.

Meanwhile, supporters of the new US President mingling with anti-Trump protesters in downtown Washington, DC told Sputnik they believe Donald Trump is an honest man who will improve economic prospects for Americans.

“People are going to think I’m insane but I think economically Trump will be good for the country,” a Trump supporter named Carly said, adding that “the only thing I’m really worried about is the environment.”

Three French deputies will travel to Aleppo Friday for solidarity with Christmas Armenian

January 5, 2017 by administrator

Paris, January 5, 2017 (AFP) – Three French deputies will travel to Aleppo Friday, “on their own strictly personal initiative” and “in solidarity with the Christians of the East” on the occasion of the Armenian Christmas celebration, They announced in a statement on Thursday.

The deputies LR Thierry Mariani and Nicolas Dhuicq and Jean Lassalle, deputy Pyrénées-Atlantique, former member of the MoDem, will visit to “mark again their solidarity with the Christians of the East by celebrating Christmas with the Armenian Orthodox community “From Aleppo, north of Syria.

They will also meet during this trip “various political leaders” in Aleppo and Damascus, they say in this statement, without further details.

Thierry Mariani, elected from abroad, has already visited Syria several times despite the disapproval of the French authorities. With Nicolas Dhuicq and other French parliamentarians, they spent the Paschal weekend in Damascus last March, “in solidarity with the Christians of the East.” On that occasion, they met with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad.

During their visit Friday, MEPs want “to see the reality of the situation of the city” and “to learn about the military and humanitarian situation” of the country, they specify.

French parliament adopts bill criminalizing Armenian Genocide denial

July 2, 2016 by administrator

The National Assembly (NA) of France adopted the amendments proposed to the bill on “Equality and citizenship”, which President François Hollande had also promised to make.

The amendments propose to establish 45,000 euro penalty for denying the crimes against humanity, 20Minutes writes. In fact, the document specifically mentions about criminalizing the Armenian Genocide denial.

The bill will now be directed for adoption by Senate.

The previous law criminalizing the Armenian Genocide denial in France was blocked by the country’s Constitutional Court, following which François Hollande initiated another bill.

French Minister of State: I’m happy for Bundestag voting on Armenian Genocide

June 3, 2016 by administrator

I’m happy for the Bundestag voting on the Armenian Genocide recognition, Minister of State for European Affairs of France Harlem Désir wrote on his Twitter page.

France continues to struggle for the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide, he noted.

The Bundestag, the lower house of the German parliament, on Thursday formally recognized the Armenian Genocide, with the aforesaid resolution and with only one vote against and one abstention. The resolution also notes that the Bundestag regrets that the German government at the time did nothing to stop this crime against humanity, and therefore the Bundestag also acknowledges the respective historical accountability of Germany.

French MP: Should we tolerate foreign propaganda against Armenian Genocide acknowledgement?

December 2, 2015 by administrator

Those who deny the [Armenian] Genocide and the Holocaust, do not do credit to themselves, but I believe in the freedom of speech also in this issue which personally relates to me. MP Patrick Devedjian stated the aforementioned at the debate on the bill on criminalization of denial of crimes against humanity introduced by his colleague Valerie Boyer during the session of the French Parliament Committee on Constitutional Laws and Legislation. In his speech, Devedjian said:

“This is a delicate and complicated issue in terms of law. The main issue is the denial by the state. Is it possible to exercise tolerance if a foreign state is disseminating organized denial propaganda in France? As an MP, I have received lots of such documents from organizations of one foreign country, which provides substantive means to the organizations which earn through Genocide denial. This propaganda is evidently for the category of French citizens who have a foreign descent but are nevertheless French like all the others.

I must respond with regret to the historians, who are worried about the interpretation of one or another event, that they get interested in these events when the latter become rather cruel.

The constant statements on that the history cannot be regulated by law are also ungrounded: the historic date of 14 July is the basis of our national identity. The politics, in the noble sense of the word, is based on memory and history.”