Genocide Archives

Raffi Hovhannisyan: Arrests of opposition MPs in Turkey resemble the #ArmenianGenocide of 1915

November 7, 2016 By administrator

Raffi Hovhannisyan: Arrests of opposition MPs in Turkey resemble the Armenian Genocide of 1915

On November 6, Heritage Party Chairman Raffi K. Hovannisian attended and addressed a special conference on Migration and Refugees organized by the International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP).

The meeting, which brought together 40 political parties from more than 25 countries, was co-sponsored by the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party of Turkey.

Following inflammatory interventions by Azerbaijani and Turkish delegates, Raffi Hovannisian took the floor to present an Armenian perspective on historical and current developments in the region. He referred in particular to the unacceptability of the recent arrest of opposition MPs in Turkey and the crackdown on civil liberties which triggered flashbacks to 1915; the reality and legacy of the Armenian Genocide and Great National Dispossession of the Armenian and other peoples (Assyrians, Greeks, Kurds, Yezidis, and Alevis) as an unprecedented watershed in refugee creation; the Turkish official policy of denial and the untold story of thousands of righteous Turks who saved Armenian lives.

He underscored the tendency of states like Turkey and Azerbaijan to launch military activities in neighboring countries and then be compelled to manage refugee crises, seeking international support for their solution; Armenia’s experience with Syrian-Armenian refugees; Azerbaijan’s failed war of aggression against the Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh) Republic and the 500,000 Armenians who were displaced from Azerbaijan, Nakhichevan and other occupied Armenian lands; the imperative to secure for all refugees and internally displaced persons a guaranteed and equitable right of return to their places of origin, including the return of Armenians to and the establishment of communal life in Azerbaijan, Nakhichevan, and the western Armenian heartland in current-day eastern Turkey; and the need to be
self-critical in Turkey, Armenia, and all other countries and to take responsibility for developing just, democratic societies which are the only avenue to prevent non-conflict-driven emigration.

Upon completion of Hovannisian’s address, the vice chairman of the AK Party repeated Turkey’s denialist line and asked the reference to the word Genocide be deleted from the record. Hovannisian condemned this approach as an unacceptable, characteristic attempt at official censorship.

Source: http://www.armradio.am/en/2016/11/07/raffi-hovhannisyan-arrests-of-opposition-mps-in-turkey-resemble-the-armenian-genocide-of-1915/

Mustafa Bakri said that Egypt would soon recognize #ArmenianGenocide

November 6, 2016 By administrator

soon-to-recognize-genoce Mustafa Bakri, Egyptian MP bringing the motion of recognition of the genocide in his country, received Saturday, November 5th in Cairo a delegation from the CCAF Chrédo and came with European and Swiss French elected, inter alia, to learn about his initiative.

This defender of human rights and democracy in Egypt, El-director Aosboa newspaper, expressed his conviction that the resolution would be passed soon. 337 of 596 members of Parliament have indeed already signed this text that recognizes the business of extermination of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide. “We must recognize this genocide in the name of historical truth has he said, on behalf of the dignity of victims and their descendants and demand of the Turkish state not only recognition, but repairs. It is as important to him that the Arab States and the Muslim world in general condemns this crime against humanity still too little known. “If Egypt recognizes the Genocide, it will need an alliance with Lebanon, which has the same approach to convince others to do the same Arab countries,” said Mustafa Bakri, concluding, “If 337 MPs signed this text, it is not to keep it in a drawer. “

Besides the delegation of Chrédo, were present at the Patrick Karam meeting, Vice President of the Regional Council, Philippe Kaltenbach and Bernard Fournier senators PS and LR, Gerard Bapt MP PS, György Hölvényi MEP EPP, William Frei, former Swiss Minister for Relations with the European Parliament and co-chair of CCAF Ara Toranian and Sona Attamian the Armenian Diocese of France. The video of this meeting will be broadcast starting Thursday on Armenews.com.

Boston University launching minor in Genocide, Holocaust studies

November 2, 2016 By administrator

By Susan Seligson

Boston University will launch a new minor in Holocaust and genocide studies, BU Today reports.

Although genocides large and small have been perpetrated throughout human history, the courses will focus on historical events since 1900. These include the Armenian Genocide of 1915, when the Turkish-led Ottoman Empire had rounded up and deported or executed 1.5 million Armenians living there, most of them Ottoman citizens, by 1922; the Nazi Holocaust, from 1933 until the Allied liberation of the death camps in 1945, which claimed the lives of six million Jews and five million Slavs, Roma, disabled people, Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals, and political and religious dissidents from the European countries occupied by Germany; the Cambodian genocide, from 1975 to 1979, when the Maoist Khmer Rouge led by Pol Pot slaughtered an estimated three million; the Serbs’ “ethnic cleansing” of Bosnians in the wake of the 1992 collapse of the former Yugoslavia, killing 100,000; the 1994 Hutu-led killing rampage in Rwanda, which targeted Tutsis and moderate Hutus and slaughtered more than 800,000 over 100 days; and most recently, this century’s Sudan state-sanctioned murder of at least 300,000 Darfurian civilians in what is now South Sudan.

Instead of viewing these atrocities as distant in time and place, an emphasis is being placed on studying them as a mirror to present-day conflicts and simmering hatreds. The multimedia coursework also answers the more urgent question, could it happen again? The answer is yes—in fact, as the coursework illuminates, attempts at genocide could likely rise from many simmering ethnic, religious, and political conflicts in the world today.

Hate is a learned emotion, says Simon Payaslian, the Charles K. and Elizabeth M. Kenosian Professor of Armenian History and Literature. “We’re not born with it. It can be unlearned. Genocide can happen anywhere.”

Payaslian, who teaches courses in genocide prevention, notes in his course descriptions that the subject of genocide warrants rigorous study because genocidal acts and atrocities persist despite the 1948 United Nations adoption of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The convention, criminalizing genocide in the realm of international law, was institutionalized in 1951, and yet it has failed to prevent the string of genocides that has occurred since then.

According to its description on the Elie Wiesel Center for Jewish Studies website, the minor in Holocaust and genocide studies offers students “an opportunity to acquire basic academic tools of description and analysis of the various factors that contribute to the emergence of ultranationalist regimes and their genocidal policies.” The minor is also designed to help students “develop an awareness of the value of pluralism and an acceptance of diversity, as well as to explore the dangers of remaining silent, apathetic, and indifferent to the vilification and oppression of others.”

Genocide denial should be qualified as a crime, Chairman of the Belgian Senate says

November 1, 2016 By administrator

christine-defraigne The necessity for a legislative initiative criminalizing the denial for the Armenian Genocide was discussed at the meeting between Chairman of the Belgian Senate Christine Defraigne and the Speaker of Armenia’s National Assembly Galust Sahakyan.

“That is important in of view of the circumstance that a hundred years later the commemoration and condemnation of the genocide victims are actual today since the repetition of genocides are still a threat for the humanity,” Speaker of the National Assembly Galust Sahakyan stated during the joint press statement on Tuesday in Yerevan.

Chairman of the Belgian Senate Christine Defraigne informed that her official visit to Armenia had been planned earlier, yet the Brussels terrorist attacks in March postponed the visit.

Mrs. Defraigne next stated that Belgium Senate was among the first European Parliaments that adopted ‘a strong resolution’ in 1988 condemning the Armenian Genocide.

“We have started initiatives aimed at criminalizing the Genocide denial long before. The denial should be qualified as a crime, a criminal act. We couldn’t realize our goal then, yet I think that through adoption of the relevant resolutions at the level of different Belgian parliaments condemning the Genocide, we will fulfill our goal,” Christine Defraigne stressed, adding the idea is not about a parliament dictating a history, but rather giving an opportunity for the current generation to learn about that tragic event and once and for all condemn all genocidal acts.

Armenian Genocide movie gets 55,126 1-star ratings on IMDb off just three public screenings – The Independent

October 25, 2016 By administrator

genocide-film By Christopher Hooton

Either there are some absolutely enormous cinemas that I’ve somehow never heard about, or IMDb users are voting politically on The Promise without having seen it.

The Terry George-directed film stars Christian Bale and Oscar Isaac and is set during the final days of the Ottoman Empire, leading up to the Armenian Genocide that killed 1.5 million.

At the time of writing, it has 86,704 ratings on IMDb, 55,126 of which are one-star and 30,639 of which are 10-star, with very few ratings falling anywhere in between. The majority of votes come from males outside the US.
The Promise is believed to have only been screened to the public three times (we have contacted production company Survival Pictures for confirmation on this).

Armenian Diaspora communities have long been campaigning for recognition of the genocide by governments around the world. In 2010, a US congressional panel narrowly voted that the incident was indeed a genocide, a decision the Turkish government criticised, saying it had been accused of a crime it “had not committed”.

It is IMDb’s policy not to interfere with user ratings, but many have called for the database to step in.

France education minister establishes genocide research mission

October 24, 2016 By administrator

france-genocide-research Several days ago, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, the Minister of Education, Higher Education, and Research of France, launched an initiative.

The initiative envisions the studying of genocides and mass crimes, with the objective of grasping them to the utmost as well as fighting against denial, reported Nor Haratch Armenian newspaper of France.

This mission, which is to be established one year after the Armenian Genocide Centennial, will be entrusted to Vincent Duclert, General Inspector of National Education of France.

He will head the 46-member team comprising citizens of 12 countries.

This team shall prepare a report on genocides and mass crimes, so as to facilitate their comprehension and create new ways for their prevention.

The mission shall summarize its respective conclusions within one year.

Minister Vallaud-Belkacem noted that she hereby wishes to run a “policy of just memory.” She added that in this era, when denial is a reality and it “prospers,” the transmitting of history becomes an imperative in the fight against lack of memory.

The International Association of Bulgarians recognizes and condemns the Armenian Genocide

October 22, 2016 By administrator

international-bulgarian From October 15 to 16 held in Varna (Bulgaria) 7th meeting of the “International Association of Bulgarians” in the presence of numerous representatives of Bulgarian associations from Bulgaria and many other countries. At this meeting was unanimously voted a text recognizing and condemning the Armenian genocide as a crime against humanity that killed 1,650 million Armenians. According to the Armenian Foreign Ministry, this statement will be proposed to the National Assembly of Bulgaria for his vote.

Krikor Amirzayan

WikiLeaks: Hillary Clinton intended to raise money for campaign from Azerbaijan’s lobbyists

October 21, 2016 By administrator

clinton-money-azerbiajan The US presidential candidate,Hillary Clinton, and her campaign chair, John Podesta, discussed the appropriateness of fundraising from foreign lobbyists for campaign, including from people lobbying for Azerbaijan, Russian Today reports citing Clinton’s emails with Podesta published by WikiLeaks.

According to the article, particularly long email thread discusses what the campaign might do about donations from “foreign agents” – people acting on behalf of foreign entities such as governments. It is highlighted that in April of last year,John Podesta was in an email chain along with a number of key campaign figures over whether to allow those lobbying on behalf of foreign governments to raise money for the campaign.

It was also noted that Tony Podesta – John’s brother, who lobbies for Iraq, Egypt and Azerbaijan among many others – was included in the list of people, with whom Clinton’s campaign figures wanted to collaborate in raising money.

Brothers Tony and John Podesta head the lobbying organization “Podesta Group”, which is Azerbaijan’s main lobbyist in the USA. In February 2015, Azerbaijan’s embassy in the USA increased the organization’s monthly fee from $50000 to $75000.

Reportedly, “Podesta Group’s” registration documents uncovered hundreds of contracts with the US Congress offices, executive agencies, media outlets, and research centers, as a result of which Azerbaijan could “buy influence” in Washington, and many congressmen started to issue statements in favor of the official Baku. At the same time, the well-documented violations of the president Ilham Aliyev’s regime towards its citizens were not mentioned in any statement.

Canadian Museum for Human Rights Produces Film about Armenian Genocide

October 18, 2016 By administrator

Discussion with renowned Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan (Photo: Armenian National Committee of Canada)

TORONTO, Ontario—In partnership with the Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR), the Armenian National Committee of Canada co-organized the premiere of the museum’s new film about the Armenian Genocide, “Acts of Conscience: Armin T. Wegner and the Armenian Genocide” on October 13th, 2016.

The event took place at the Armenian Youth Centre of Toronto and attracted hundreds of community members and supporters of the ANCC and CMHR. The event was also attended by Peter Farenholtz, Consul General of Germany in Canada, MP Arnold Chan. Member of Parliament for Scarborough-Agincourt and Chair of the Canada-Armenia Parliamentary Friendship Group, Councilor Jim Karygiannis, Toronto City Councilor, TDSB Trustees and a large number of activists.

After the screening of the documentary, the event featured a discussion with renowned Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan, who narrated the short documentary which will play in the Museum’s “Breaking the Silence” gallery.

Subsequently, remarks were delivered by CMHR president and CEO, John Young, MP Arnold Chan – who also read a statement from The Right Hon. Justin Trudeau – and Councilor Jim Karygiannis, Toronto city councilor. Closing remarks were delivered by ANCC president, Shahen Mirakian. In his remarks, Mirakian said that it is only through our concerted efforts that we can stay true to our commitment and carry on the legacy of Wegner by standing up against any forms of injustice towards humanity.

The film “Acts of Conscience” looks at the genocide through the lens of Armin T. Wegner, a German war medic who photographed and documented atrocities against the Armenian-Christian minority that were occurring around him in the Ottoman Empire during the first World War – including forced “death marches” through the desert. In the 1930s, Wegner also voiced his opposition to the anti-Semitic policies of the Nazis and authored an impassioned plea to Hitler on behalf of the Jews of Germany.

Compelled by his conscience to take action despite great personal risk, Wegner’s story epitomizes the importance of efforts to combat the denial and minimization that often surround gross human rights violations.

An exhibit at the CMHR explores the efforts for recognition of the Armenian Genocide by Wegner and others. In 2004, the Canadian Parliament voted to officially acknowledge and condemn the Armenian Genocide.

The ANCC is the largest and the most influential Canadian-Armenian grassroots human rights organization. Working in coordination with a network of offices, chapters, and supporters throughout Canada and affiliated organizations around the world, the ANCC actively advances the concerns of the Canadian-Armenian community on a broad range of issues and works to eliminate abuses of human rights throughout Canada and the world.

French mayor urges Hollande to criminalize Armenian Genocide denial as soon as possible

October 16, 2016 By administrator

criminalize-genocide Former French lawmaker, Mayor of Bouc-Bel-Air Richard Mallié has urged President Francois Hollande to sign the law on criminalization of denial of Armenian Genocide adopted by the French Senate on 14 October as soon as possible, Nouvelles d’Armenie reported.