Greeks Archives

Armenians and Greeks of US call to bloc sale of F-35 fighters to Turkey

February 9, 2018 By administrator

The Hellenic American Leadership Council (HALC) and the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) have launched a campaign against reckless sale of America’s most advanced fighters to Turkey.

The statement of the organization warns against the sale of F-35 fighters to a country that may very well turn them against American forces or our regional allies, including Greece, Cyprus, Israel, and Armenia.

The organizations call on American citizens to ask their U.S. Senators to oppose the F-35 sale.

The Japanese saved Armenians and Greeks during the genocide

February 3, 2018 By administrator

Statue of Viscount Eiichi Shibusawa in his former Tokyo residence now a museum.

BY VICKEN BABKENIAN

In 2010, I published excerpts from Japan’s humanitarian response to the Armenian Genocide in an article for The Armenian Weekly. I mentioned how an Armenian relief fund was established in Tokyo after a visit by Reverend Loyal Wirt, international commissioner of Near East Relief Organization, in February 1922. The Armenian relief fund was led by a banker and diplomat Eminent Japanese Viscount Eiichi Shibusawa. The Viscount is recognized today as the founder of modern Japanese capitalism and a great humanitarian. He has been involved in the founding of more than 500 business and economic organizations and some 600 organizations for social welfare, education and international trade. Contributions to the Armenian relief fund came from all classes of Japanese society, from ordinary citizens to government ministers to businessmen and royalty. A school of Japanese girls has even assumed full responsibility for two Armenian orphans.

Another important Japanese link to the Armenian Genocide will soon be the subject of a major documentary produced in San Francisco by Mimi Malayan. Mimi is the great-granddaughter of Diana Apcar, a Burmese Armenian who lived in Japan from 1891 until her death in 1937. Apcar was a prolific writer, businesswoman and diplomat. In particular, she was appointed consul of the Republic of Armenia in Japan during the short-lived Armenian Republic (1918-1920). It was a diplomatic post that allowed him to speak on behalf of a sovereign state when speaking to individuals and institutions. In this way, Diana was able to obtain special permission from the Japanese government to allow Armenian refugees to enter Japan from Russia. This approval alleviated the distress among refugees and helped them find a permanent settlement in the United States and elsewhere during transit in Japan.

The most remarkable story of Japanese humanitarianism during the Armenian Genocide may have been the role played by the captain and crew of a Japanese ship in saving lives during the Smyrna disaster of 1922. Hundreds of Thousands of Armenian and Greek refugees had taken refuge on the Smyrna embankment as Turkish nationalist troops entered and occupied the city on September 9, 1922. The Turkish occupation was followed by the usual massacre and deportation of Armenian and Greek civilians. A fire broke out in the Armenian neighborhood four days later, destroying much of the city. About 20 warships and cargo ships stationed in the port, including one from Japan, had a complete vision of the disaster. Many foreigners have seen the Japanese ship mobilize to save the frenetic refugees. Mrs. Anna Harlowe Birge, the wife of the American professor Birge of the International College of Smyrna, saw the desperate refugees huddle each other on the docks while Smyrna began to burn. Men and women could be seen swimming in the hope of rescue until they drowned. Anna wrote:

“In the harbor at that time was a Japanese cargo ship that had just arrived loaded on the decks with a very precious cargo of bristles, lace and porcelain representing several thousand dollars. The Japanese captain, when he realized the situation did not hesitate. The entire cargo was sown in the dirty waters of the port, and the cargo ship was loaded with several hundred refugees, who were taken to Piraeus and safely landed on Greek shores, “writes Stavros T. Stavridis in an article published in the journal of the American Helenic International Foundation Policy.

Another story was published on September 18, 1922 by The New York Times:

“The constantly arriving refugees are telling new details about the Smyrna tragedy. On Thursday, September 14, there were six steamboats at Smyrna to transport the refugees, an American, a Japanese, two French and two Italians. The American and Japanese steamers accepted all the arrivals without examining their papers, while the others took only foreign subjects with passports.

The Japanese ship’s humanitarian actions were also recorded by Armenian and Greek survivors from Smyrna. They are among the many testimonies and testimonies that historians Stavros Stavridis and Nanako Murata-Sawayanagi from Japan have brought to light in their research on Japan and the Smyrna disaster. Recently, Stavridis discovered the name of the ship – the Tokei Maru – which had been published in many contemporary Greek newspapers. In June 2016, Greek community organizations in Athens handed a shield plaque to the Japanese ambassador, Masuo Nishibayashi, in recognition of his country’s efforts to rescue his country in Smyrna in 1922. It is a gesture that Armenian communities should follow.

Japan’s humanitarian response is just one of many stories of international goodness during the catastrophic events that almost completely destroyed the indigenous Christian communities of the Ottoman Empire. More than 50 countries participated in the global humanitarian effort to save survivors of the Armenian Genocide. While much of the genocide scholarship has focused on the evils committed, there are innumerable stories of human compassion and generosity that still need to be explored by scholars.

Vicken Babkenian is co-author (with Professor Peter Stanley) of the book “Armenia, Australia and the Great War” (NewSouth Publishing 2016) available on Amazon.

Saturday, February 3, 2018,
Stéphane © armenews.com

The Genocide of the Greeks in Turkey Massacres of 1920-21

December 7, 2017 By administrator

The Genocide of the Greeks in Turkey

Survivor Testimonies From the Nicomedia (Izmit) Massacres of 1920-21

by Kostas Faltaits

Translated and Edited by Ellene S. Phufas-Jousma and Aris Tsilfidis

With a Prologue by Tessa Hoffman

Kostas Faltaits was a Greek Journalist for the Newspaper Embros and covered the Greek Struggle in

Nicomedia (Izmit) in 1921. What Mr. Faltaits reported on was the systematic extermination of the Greek

population by the Kemalist armies under General Mustafa Kemal. Indeed, surviving witnesses to the

slaughter of civilians in Greek villages stated that Kemal himself presided over some of the massacres.

As with any text that deals with the horror of genocide, it is not easy to read and I found myself stunned by

the various eyewitness accounts documented by Mr. Faltaits. Mothers killing their own children to spare them

from the Kemalist horrors. The raping of Greek women. In one particular case, a Greek Priest named Father

Phillipos Kalokidis was humiliated and degraded before being murdered in cold blood.

This is a historically important work that was originally translated into French. This book was widely distributed

in Greece at the time and was cited as documentary evidence by the Greek Foreign Ministry in making the

case for Greece’s rights in Asia Minor at the time. The book included horrifying details of massacres in Greek

villages throughout Nicomedia. The original title of the book at the time of publication according to the editors

was “These are the Turks”.

This is an important document about the Greek genocide and deserves to be placed alongside other works of the

1920’s such as the Black Book of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, George Horton’s the Blight of Asia, and Edward

Hale Bierstadt’s the Great Betrayal. The book has introduced me to a Greek hero that I knew nothing about.

Mr. Faltaits was a superb journalist who bravely went about reporting on the horrors undertaken by the Kemalist

forces and during a period when Greece was being actively betrayed by alleged western “allies”.

There is a heartbreaking chapter on the Armenian genocide where Mr. Faltaits spoke with the local Bishop

of the Armenian Apostolic Church. The Bishop said that out of the 80,000 Armenians in his flock, 70,000

were slaughtered. The Bishop provides graphic details of the torture, rape, and murders of the Armenian

people. A common theme in all the chapters of this book is the sadistic pleasure of the Turks in raping,

torturing, and slaughtering defenseless Armenian and Greek civilians.

A century later, Turkey has still not been punished for its crimes against humanity. A few years ago, when

resolution for the Armenian genocide was introduced in Congress, the Bush administration lobbied against it.

In addition, eight living past and present Secretaries of State actively lobbied to block recognition of the

Armenian genocide. The pro Turkish policies that enabled the rise of Mustafa Kemal to complete the work

begun by the Young Turks remain in effect up to the present day.

Mention is made in the prologue by Tessa Hoffman of Arnold Toynbee. Toynbee was a parodoxical figure. During the

First World War, Toynbee worked for British intelligence and unequivocally condemned the Armenian Genocide

and had published a book “Armenian Atrocities The Murder of a Nation”. Toynbee subsequently turned into a

supporter of the Turks and proceeded to accuse Greece of atrocities while ignoring or diminishing the horrors of

the Kemalists.

This is an excellent historical work on the genocide of the Kemalists. It is also an excellent example of principled journalism.

Mr. Faltaits has done a great service to history and helped to ensure that the victims of Turkish genocide would not

be forgotten.

Petition to Nominate Greeks for Nobel Peace Prize Gains Some 290,000

January 24, 2016 By administrator

A petition calling for nomination of Greek islanders, who help save thousands of refugees, for the Nobel Peace Prize gained over 293,000 signatures from around the world on Sunday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — According to the recent data of the EU border agency Frontex, some 880,000 of refugees arrived in Greece in 2015, while the Greek islands of Lesbos, Chios and Samos saw the biggest number of people coming to their shores by sea.

“Ordinary residents of Greek islands and other volunteers have been on the front lines of Europe’s refugee crisis for months… For their compassion and courage, for treating those in danger with humanity, and for setting an example for the rest of the world to follow, we citizens from around the world, nominate these brave women and men for a Nobel Peace Prize,” the petition named “Nobel Peace Prize for Greek Islanders” said.

The nomination deadline is February 1.

Europe is struggling to find a solution to a massive refugee crisis, with hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing conflict-torn countries in the Middle East and North Africa. Frontex detected over 1.83 million illegal border crossings in 2015, in contrast to some 283,000 in 2014.

France: Armenian, Assyrian-Chaldeans, Syriacs and Greeks in memory of the victims of the 1915 genocide

April 9, 2014 By administrator

This Sunday, April 6, memorial day of the genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda, Eastern Christians, on the initiative of the Armenian Institute of France, chaired by Antoine Bagdikian, gathered in one heart in memory of the victims of 1915 genocide perpetrated on the orders of the Ottoman Young Turk government.

The ecumenical service is given for this second edition in the Saint-Denis Basilica, brought together Armenians, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Syriacs and Greeks, Apostolic, Catholic and Orthodox rites before an audience of nearly 700 people and personalities, such as His Excellency Viguen Tchitetchian Ambassador of Armenia in France, Mr. Apostolas BALTAS First Counsellor of the Embassy of Greece, Ms. PAPATRIANTAFYLLOU Second Counsellor of the Embassy of Greece, Helena MINA First Counsellor of the Embassy of Cyprus, as well as M . LUSIGNAN Philippe Roux, descendant of King Leo V of Cilicia ..

Choir of the Orthodox Church of Antioch Greque

Each community sang and prayed in his tongue in a huge wave of solidarity and strong emotions triggered by choirs consist mainly children, in memory of the 1.5 million Armenians, 250,000 Assyrians and Chaldeans, Syriacs and 100 000 300 Pontic Greeks exterminated 000 between 1915 and 1923.

The surprise came from the mouth of Father Manuel RACHO-Hovanessian, representing the RP Mesrop BARSAMIAN which, in a firm and long sermon, repeating and paraphrasing the inquiry of the Pharisees denounced with extreme force carelessness community International before the drama unfolding in Syria.

Every first Sunday of April, all of these communities will come together to make themselves known and to create a movement to better know how to defend against the destruction of the Christian heritage still continue with such aggression in the city Kessab Syrian territory by Islamists came and encouraged by laTurquie.

Read below for speech Antoine Bagdikian, Philippe Haroutounian and Daniel Augustus for Assyro-Chaldeans.

Jean Eckian + photos

Turkish wrestler banned for insulting Armenians, Greeks

August 12, 2013 By administrator

August 12, 2013 – 14:19 AMT

Turkey’s Olympic medalist wrestler Rıza Kayaalp was given an immediate suspension of six months by the International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles (FILA) judge for his racist remarks against Armenians and Greeks three weeks ago, according to Hurriyet Daily News.

Kayaalp had targeted Greeks and Armenians in his tweets posted when the Gezi Park unrest rocked the country for nearly two months.

European and World champion Kayaalp, who also won a bronze medal at the Olympic Games in London last year, advocated that “Armenians” were at the root of the Gezi protests, in a series of tweets he later deleted.

His tweets included “You just leave the streets to Armenians, you f**ing looters” and “F**k you traitors”.

FILA President Nenad Lalovic has told Greek daily Ekathimerini in an interview that Kayaalp was suspended for his racist tweets from the international matchs.

“He was given an immediate suspension of six months by the FILA judge, and he has the right to appeal. I do not know the exact details as I do not interfere in such activities. We have a prosecutor and a judge. The prosecutor informs the judge about what happens in such incidents. I know this person, he is a young boy and a very good wrestler. I am shocked that he has done this, but it may have been an emotional moment for him, I am not sure that he really thinks that way. But I am not here to judge, just to secure all the democratic procedures, the eventual punishment and so on. The investigation goes on, there will probably be a hearing, an appeal may be,” Lalovic reportedly said.

Kayaalp’s tweets wereactually on the anti-government protests which spread throughout the country in June after a police crackdown on a group performing a sit-in against a controversial city center renovation project.

He had deleted his tweets about the protesters, Armenians and Greeks after a reaction from the social media.

Kayaalp had been picked to bear the Turkish flag during the opening ceremony of last month’s Mediterranean Games in Mersin and has also featured in a public service announcement prepared by the Minister of Youth and Sports. Kayaalp is one of the most famous sportsmen in Turkey. He had been picked to bear the Turkish flag during the opening ceremony of last month’s Mediterranean Games in Mersin.

Turks, Greeks, Brazilians join in protests in US (calling Erdoğan “a wolf in sheep’s clothing,)

June 23, 2013 By administrator

NEW YORK – Anatolia News Agency

Protesters from Turkey, Greece, Brazil and Mexico jointly demonstrated in New York in support of the ongoing protests in their countries.

Around 300 people, mostly Brazilians, gathered at Zucotti Park in New York’s Manhattan neighborhood to chant slogans, shouting, “We are the public, we are strong, we will not be defeated,” and “This is just the beginning, resistance goes on.”

A group called the Turkish-Greek Solidarity carried banners declaring joint resistance, while some of the Americans and tourists were seen showing support for the protests. The group dispersed peacefully after posing for the media with their flags and banners.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had likened the Gezi Park protests in Turkey to the demonstrations in Brazil on June 22, arguing that the same thing was at stake in both countries.

“The same plot is being laid in Brazil. The symbols, the banners, Twitter and the international media are the same. They are doing everything they can to accomplish what they couldn’t achieve in Turkey,” said Erdoğan.

Thousands of people marched against Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Germany’s Köln on June 22, calling Erdoğan “a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” German daily Die Zeit reported.

The protesters in Köln demanded Erdoğan’s resignation and early elections, while they held a minute’s silence for all the people who had lost their lives for the sake of freedom and democracy.

June/23/2013