German Bundestag set to approve Armenian Genocide resolution

May 31, 2016 By administrator

213591 Co-chairman of the German political party Alliance ’90/The Greens Cem Ozdemir –who is of Turkish descent – said that the Bundestag memberswill on June 2 approve a resolution on the recognition of the Armenian Genocide, Ermenihaber.am reports citing Zaman newspaper.

On June 2, the Bundestag intends to approve a resolution condemning the century-old Ottoman massacre of Armenians by describing it as genocide. The majority of foreign policy specialists from the relevant parties have given a clear signal that they will support the resolution.

Ozdmir slammed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s proposal of creating a panel of historians for studying the issue as pointless.

According to him, Turkey must clarify its prioroties in the framework of the Armenian Question, adding that the Muslim country made a mistake by first signing the Zurich Protocols and later backing from them.

The Zurich Protocols constituted an agreement signed in 2009 between Armenia and Turkey designed to allow the opening of borders and to set up formal diplomatic relations between the two countries.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW OF A NAM EMC OZDEMIR “The bundestag will recognize the genocide”

May 30, 2016 By administrator

In this exclusive interview with News Armenia Magazine and published in its June issue, Cem Ozdemir, Turkish co-chair of the German Greens, explains why the Bundestag will recognize the Armenian Genocide June 2 It reviews the history of this long struggle, he is involved, and explains the meaning of his commitment.
News of Armenia Magazine: On June 2, a discussion of Armenian Genocide recognition will take place (…)

Pictured: Cem Özdemir, Green member of the Bundestag and co-chair of the Alliance 90 / The Greens, Norbert Lammert, President of the Bundestag, Selahattin Demirtaş co-chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party and chairman of the parliamentary group of the party at the Great national assembly of Turkey

Photographer: Achim Melde

Netherlands: A 100% party created by Turks Criticizing Erdogan is completely taboo refuse to recognize the Armenian Genocide

May 27, 2016 By administrator

turks party The German newspaper Die Welt reports that he is now the Netherlands a party for immigrants and persons of immigrant: Denk. This “movement”, as he calls himself, is more and more talk about him, not just in the media. Denk was founded late 2014 by two members of Turkish origin, Tunahan Kuzu and Selcuk Ozturk, who had left the Social Democratic group after a dispute over the government’s integration policy.

Tunahan Kuzu and Selcuk Ozturk had brought in June 2015 their support for the Belgian MP Mahinur Ozdemir expelled from the party CDH for denial of the Armenian genocide.

What looked like the beginning to a turf war two devout Muslims against critical Dutch social democracy vis-à-vis Turkey, took these days among young Dutch foreign dimension of a phenomenon fashion.

[…] What was considered a splinter group finally got there a week advertising nationally when Sylvana Simons, known presenter of television whose family is originally from the former colony of Suriname, announced his candidacy for national elections next year.

Öztürk and Kuzu oppose discrimination they provide growing from Dutch society, which is denied jobs or promotions people because of skin color or an Islamic name. [. ..]

For them, we absolutely can not qualify the massacres of Armenians by Turks during the First World War as genocide. Criticize Erdogan is completely taboo.

In one year, the party received membership of over 2000 members, and sociologists talk of an electoral potential of up to one million Dutch. At their first participation in elections next year, they hope […] at least five seats in The Hague.

Some social networks mocked the denial of Turkish leaders Denk.

Germany: A resolution on the Armenian Genocide in preparation

May 27, 2016 By administrator

Genocide preparation Berlin, May 26, 2016 (AFP) – A resolution recognizing the first genocide of the Armenians by the Ottoman Empire and the “responsibility” of Germany in these crimes is being prepared in the Bundestag, according to a draft the text obtained by AFP Thursday.

The Bundestag, the lower house of the German Parliament “deplores the acts committed by the Young Turk government of the time, which led to the almost total annihilation of the Armenians”, in the text entitled “Remembrance and commemoration of the genocide of Armenians and other Christian minorities there 101 years. “

The resolution presented by both the members of the coalition parties in power in Berlin – conservative CDU-CSU and SPD Social Democrats – and the opposition Greens, evokes “the movement and annihilation planned more one million Armenians “, and must be voted on Thursday.

The Bundestag also regrets “the deplorable role of the German Reich which, as the main military ally of the Ottoman Empire and despite explicit information of diplomats and German missionaries on the movement and organized the extermination of the Armenians, n has done nothing to stop this crime against humanity. “

“The empire bears a share of responsibility for these events,” the text of the resolution, echoing what was said last year President Joachim Gauck, Germany’s first senior official to be qualified as genocide the massacre of Armenians by the Ottoman empire in 1915.

“The experience of Germany face its own history shows how difficult it is for a company to take on the darkest chapters of its past”, yet the text says, referring to slow the country’s working memory of the Nazi period but also the difficulties of Turkey against the Armenian issue.

Like its President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey accuses those who recognize the genocide “to support claims based on Armenian lies.”

The Bundestag vote on this text thus risk of stoking German-Turkish tensions, already weakened by a controversy over a satirical poem insulting Erdogan, designed by a German comedian.

Friday, May 27, 2016,
Stéphane © armenews.com

UCSC Student Government Passes Armenian Genocide Recognition Resolution

May 26, 2016 By administrator

UC Santa Cruz Armenian Students’ Association

UCSC SANTA CRUZ—On Tuesday, May 24th, the student government at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz), the Student Union Assembly (SUA), unanimously voted to pass the “Armenian Genocide Commemoration Resolution.” The effort was led by the Armenian Students’ Association (ASA) at UC Santa Cruz. Approximately thirty students attended the SUA meeting at the school’s campus.

The resolution sheds light on the massacres of the 1915 Armenian Genocide and the Ottoman Empire’s attempt to systematically annihilate the Armenian people. Furthermore, it brings awareness to the Republic of Turkey’s continuous genocide denial campaign and efforts to hide its crimes against humanity.

Four Armenian students at UC Santa Cruz, Maral Tatoian, Nara Avakian, Daniel Sarkissian, and Haik Adamian, worked on finalizing the language of the resolution. At last Tuesday’s SUA meeting, Tatoian presented about the resolution, speaking on the history of the Armenian Genocide, the cycle of genocide that continues today, as well as what the passing of the resolution would mean for genocide education and the recognition of the Armenian Genocide on a national level.

“Being one of the co-founders that re-established ASA [at UC Santa Cruz], I have seen this organization grow over the past four years and partake in movements like this. It is very touching for me and truly shows the impact we are making on campus in order to make our voices heard. After all, they tried to bury us, but they didn’t know we were seeds and we will continue to grow!” said Tatoian, a fourth-year linguistics major and education minor undergraduate at UC Santa Cruz.

The resolution calls on SUA to not only commemorate the Armenian Genocide, but also “condemn those attempts made by governments as well as other entities, both public and private, to distort the historical reality and legal relevance of the Armenian Genocide to the descendants of its survivors and humanity as a whole.”

Through this resolution, the students hope to raise awareness about the Armenian Genocide and the ongoing denial by the Republic of Turkey and the United States. Moreover, they hope to work with SUA to educate students on campus about the cycle of genocide that continues with denial.

“For me, the passing of this resolution means a lot. Having a prominent student association recognize our cause as Armenians is a big step. But this is only the first step of many toward the recognition of the Armenian Genocide” said Nara Avakian, a first-year sociology major and global information and social enterprise studies minor undergraduate student.

Furthermore, through the passing of this resolution, SUA “supports the efforts of the Armenian-American community at UC Santa Cruz to establish April 24th as the official Day of Remembrance for the Armenian Genocide.”

“For me, this means the progress of the marginalized Armenian Diaspora. As I am a descendent of genocide survivors, it is an honor to have represented my nation in a monumental step on our campus. With Turkey launching a major anti-genocide [recognition] campaign, every step we take as Armenians towards recognition is valuable to our community” said Daniel Sarkissian, a second-year neuroscience undergraduate student.

The ASA at UC Santa Cruz will be meeting with the school’s Executive Vice Chancellor to discuss the next steps that need to be taken to ensure that April 24th will become Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day at UC Santa Cruz

“Passing the resolution marks the beginning of the battle for getting UC Regents, and other authorities to give up their strategic ties to bodies and companies who are active participants in Turkey’s genocide denial and normalization campaigns. At the very least, we can help to expose the role of the education industry in the widespread denial of the Armenian genocide” said Haik Adamian, a second-year anthropology major at UC Santa Cruz.

Armenian students at the University of California, Irvine (UCI), California State University, Northridge (CSUN) and California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) ensured the adoption of similar genocide recognition resolutions last year on their respective campuses.

Last June, the UC Santa Cruz ASA introduced and ensured the unanimous adoption of “A Resolution to Divest from the Republic of Turkey to End the Perpetuation of the Armenian Genocide”, which calls for UC Santa Cruz, the UC Santa Cruz Foundation, and the University of California to divest $72.6 million dollars worth of University of California bonds and investments in the Republic of Turkey for its crimes in, and continued denial of the Armenian Genocide. The resolution was a part of the greater #DivestTurkey campaign led by the Armenian Youth Federation – Western United States (AYF-WUS) and campus-based ASAs.

GENOCIDE RECOGNITION A vice president of the Bundestag discusses the bill in Yerevan

May 25, 2016 By administrator

recognation genocide The German parliament is moving forward as it will discuss next week a bill to recognize the Armenian Genocide, has provided one of the vice presidents of the Bundestag Edelgard Bulmahn, during his visit to Armenia yesterday.

“It is intended that this document be adopted by the Bundestag on June 2,” Bulmahn said after talks with his Armenian counterpart Eduard Sharmazanov. “The resolution condemns, first and foremost, the deportations and massacres of Armenians and other Christian minorities of the Ottoman Empire. With this resolution, we wish to remember the victims of the Armenian genocide. “

“We will also condemn the infamous role of the German Empire, which was the main ally of Ottoman Turkey,” she added at a news conference with Eduard Sharmazanov.

The resolution was drafted by MPs representing the party of Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU), its coalition partner – the Social Democrats (SPD) and the opposition Green Party.

Bulmahn SPD member, discussed with Sharmazanov. The latter praised his “courageous” position on the issue.

German President Gauck described the massacre of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire as genocide in April 2015, on the occasion of the commemoration of the genocide in Berlin centennial.

The Bundestag debated a corresponding resolution at the time, but it was not ultimately adopted following telephone interviews the Turkish Prime Minister at the time, Ahmet Davutoglu, with Angela Merkel. Davutoglu asked the Chancellor to persuade the Bundestag not to “offend Turkey.”

Earlier this month, Ambassador of Turkey in Germany Huseyin Avni Karslioglu warned the Bundestag against the adoption of the resolution: “The role of national parliaments is not to judge history.”

As expected, Armenia has welcomed the draft German MPs. “We believe that by condemning the genocide of the Armenians and other Christian peoples in Turkey, we can prevent new genocides,” Sharmazanov said yesterday.

Wednesday, May 25, 2016,
Claire © armenews.com

Germany: Bundestag resolution on Armenian ‘genocide’ is imminent

May 22, 2016 By administrator

G-0,,19210908_303,00 In June, the Bundestag intends to approve a resolution condemning the century-old Ottoman massacre of Armenians by describing it as “genocide.” The nomenclature would anger Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

When German Chancellor Angela Merkel meets Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday, she will presumably have to deal with his anger at plans by a broad Bundestag coalition to describe the crimes of the Ottoman Empire against ethnic Armenians as “genocide.” For the first time, the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Christian Social Union (CSU) parties and center-left Social Democrats and Greens look set to make the nomenclature official.

There have been debates on the subject for years, and those ratcheted up in the context of last year’s centenary of the events that left more than a million Armenians dead or deported from the land that would become Turkey. Bundestag President Norbert Lammert and German President Joachim Gauck have already used the term “genocide,” which provoked protests from Ankara. However, several attempts to reach consensus on how to officially refer to the tragedy have been put off.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier remains skeptical as to whether the Bundestag’s likely position will be helpful in regards to coming to terms with the past. A resolution that the Greens had wanted to put forward back in February was postponed in order not to sabotage negotiations as the European Union sought a controversial deportation deal with Turkey when refugees continued to arrive in large numbers. In return, Volker Kauder, the parliamentary leader of the CDU-CSU bloc, shook hands with Greens co-chair Cem Özdemir and promised that a joint resolution would move forward in the first half of 2016. Though critics said Germany was caving on the issue once again, Kauder appears to have kept his word.

“I’m going by the Bundestag’s published timetable,” Raffi Kantian, the chairman of the Hanover-based German-Armenian Society, told DW.

And, indeed, the Bundestag website indicates that an hour has been set aside on June 2 for agenda item No. 5: “Remembrance and Commemoration of the Genocide of Armenians and Other Christian Minorities 101 Years Ago.” A CDU-CSU parliamentary spokeswoman confirmed that the session would go ahead. After all, she said, the text of the resolution is ready, having been prepared by no less than three parliamentary working groups. However, there will not be a roll-call vote on the declaration on June 2. This means that members of parliament will not be obliged to attend. The resolution will be voted on by a show of hands.

The majority of foreign policy specialists from the relevant parties have given a clear signal that they will support the resolution. “There may well be trouble with Ankara,” Özdemir told the Sunday edition of the mass-circulation broadsheet Bild. “But the Bundestag does not allow itself to be blackmailed by a despot like Mr. Erdogan.” CDU-CSU foreign policy spokesman Franz-Josef Jung and Bernd Fabritius, who represents the CSU in the human rights committee, both noted that Germany had historical responsibility in the matter.

Germany culpable, too

In 1915, the German Reich, a predecessor to the modern state, was military protecting the Ottoman Empire in accordance with a strategic wartime alliance. The German side received numerous indications of atrocities and ethnic cleansing by the Young Turk government of the day. According to scholarly estimates, as many as 1.5 million Armenians in the Ottoman Empire were deported and killed. The German Reich did not intervene; furthermore, it guaranteed postwar asylum for the responsible parties after they had been stripped of their power.

Germany now intends officially to apologize for this. Kantian, of the German-Armenian Society, hopes that this apology will be part of the final text to be approved on June 2. That much isn’t certain yet, but the Left party and the Greens have both demanded not only that the term “genocide” be used but that Germany apologize.

The Greens even put as much in writing back in February: “The German Bundestag regrets the inglorious role of the German Reich, which, despite unequivocal information, including from German diplomats and missionaries, about the organized expulsion and extermination of the Armenians, did not attempt to stop these crimes against humanity.”

Turkish Scholar Discusses Armenian Genocide Reparations

May 20, 2016 By administrator

gag-turkish intlect YEREVAN (Armenpress)—It is hard to expect confrontation from Turkey, from a society which created its whole world through taking the neighbor’s wife, girl, work and fields. It is very difficult to overcome the moral and psychological situation which was created in 1915, Turkish scholar Sait Çetinoğlu said.

He stated that the Armenian Genocide was committed by the party-army-people cooperation, that’s why we deal with the issue of collective responsibility. “Besides the fact that Turkish people gained material interest from the Genocide, they declared the perpetrators of that crime as their heads which is another issue of responsibility. From this perspective, the recognition of the Genocide will mean destruction of paradigm of the country’s foundation,” he said.

He referred to the fact that nowadays Turkey commits Genocide beyond its borders. “The Turkish assistance to the “Islamic State” can be considered as an action to spread genocide beyond its borders since it results in the killings of the Genocide survivors. We can say the same also in case of the Karabakh attack.

“Kesab, Malula, Khabur, Ninova, Sinjar…what happened in these places and the separation of Syria are the other parts of the continuing genocide. Turkey gives opportunity to transform genocide from its borders. Closing eyes and supporting the IS actions put in danger the future of Christians, Yazidis, non-Muslim people of the Middle East. The actions against them are in accordance with the provisions of the UN Convention on Genocide”, Çetinoğlu stated.

Speaking about the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by Turkey, Çetinoğlu said he does not see that happening in the near future. “However, if we take into account the point where the people reached, it is also impossible to continue denial. Sooner or later the Genocide will be recognized and the issue of reparations will be discussed,” Çetinoğlu stated this highlighting the role the international community has on this issue.

Reparations, according to Çetinoğlu, can be achieved through several steps:

“First of all, forgiveness, acceptance of the crime of genocide, shame release, and acceptance of the collective responsibility of the genocide are all important steps. It is vital that each family understands what happened in 1915. To be a part of the collective responsibility, everyone should ask themselves “What was my grandfather doing in 1915?”

Being a part of the collective responsibility, everyone is obliged to apologize.

Apology from the State and build a monument entitled “Never again” for the memory of the victims. The names of the people associated with Genocide should be removed from schools, avenues, streets and other public places. Buildings should be returned to their real heirs…

Political parties should express clarification on the conditions the officials who took others’ property as a result of genocide and should return to them to their heirs. Parties with freedom and socialist ideologies should especially express this.

Coming to the individuals, it is important that intellectuals take the lead in this matter.

Islamized women and children should become known to the public.

Counties that agreed on the forced trade of Armenians must apologize.

Archives and documents should be opened for researchers.

Citizenship and the right to live must be given to Genocide victims and the third generations of the exiled people.

Only after these steps, the reparation issue is possible to begin,” Çetinoğlu concluded.

Michigan State Senate approves Genocide education in schools

May 19, 2016 By administrator

212681 Older schoolchildren must be taught about the Holocaust and the 1915 Armenian Genocide under a bill that won approval Wednesday, May 18 in the Michigan State Senate, the Oakland Press reports.

The lessons would be taught at some point between grades 8-12, according to the bill by Republican Rep. Klint Kesto, and Gov. Rick Snyder would have to make appointments to a 15-member genocide education panel.

The bill says instruction doesn’t need to be limited to the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust, but those were the only two formally acknowledged in the legislation.

Though the House approved it once, the bill will go back to that chamber for consideration before needing a signature from Snyder. Kesto said he hopes that happens next week.

Eleven other states require instruction on the Armenian Genocide, according to the Genocide Education Project.

As many as 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks in the Genocide.

Democratic state Sen. Steven Bieda offered an amendment Wednesday, which was narrowly defeated to also include instruction on the massacres in Darfur, Rwanda, Cambodia, Bosnia and others.

The Armenian Genocide

The Armenian Genocide (1915-23) was the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I. It was characterized by massacres, and deportations involving forced marches under conditions designed to lead to the death of the deportees, with the total number of deaths reaching 1.5 million.

The majority of Armenian Diaspora communities were formed by the Genocide survivors.

Present-day Turkey denies the fact of the Armenian Genocide, justifying the atrocities as “deportation to secure Armenians”. Only a few Turkish intellectuals, including Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk and scholar Taner Akcam, speak openly about the necessity to recognize this crime against humanity.

The Armenian Genocide was recognized by Uruguay, Russia, France, Lithuania, the Italian Chamber of Deputies, majority of U.S. states, parliaments of Greece, Cyprus, Argentina, Belgium and Wales, National Council of Switzerland, Chamber of Commons of Canada, Polish Sejm, Vatican, European Parliament and the World Council of Churches.

What looked like the beginning to a turf war two devout Muslims against critical Dutch social democracy vis-à-vis Turkey, took these days among young Dutch foreign dimension of a phenomenon fashion.

For them, we absolutely can not qualify the massacres of Armenians by Turks during the First World War as genocide. Criticize Erdogan is completely taboo.

(CBC) Thousands marched through downtown Montreal to honour victims and call for genocide prevention,