Azerbaijan reportedly lost 558 troops and 1293 wounded during the “Four Day War” in April 2016

August 18, 2017 By administrator

According to Armenpress, Armenian political scientist Hrant Mélik-Chahnazarian published on the site voskanapat.info a letter issued on 28 April 2016 by a senior Azerbaijani army official, General Nedjmedin Sadikov, to Zakir Hasanov, the defense minister of Azerbaijan in which he reported Azeri losses during the “4-day war” against the forces of the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh).

In this letter N. Sadikov writes that the losses of the Azerbaijani army between 2 and 6 April during the war against the Armenian forces on the frontier of Artsakh are 558 Azerbaijani soldiers killed and 1,293 wounded. Of these injured, 58 were in serious condition. It should be noted that on the Talish-Martakert front alone, Azeri losses were 98 soldiers. On the Armenian side the casualties were 102 soldiers and civilians.

Krikor Amirzayan

Meet Turkish Journalist Who Lost Custody Of Kids Over Critical Reporting

May 25, 2016 By administrator

Photo: Arzu Yildiz’s Twitter account.

By Mahir Zeynalov

Journalist/Columnist, Today’s Zaman/Al Arabiya

Relentless crackdown on journalists and media outlets in Turkey is not news. But the censorship has taken a whole new level last week when a Turkish court stripped a prominent journalist of legal rights over her two children for publishing a video about the Syria arms delivery.

Arzu Yildiz, an unwavering journalist mostly reporting about court battles and a fierce critic of the government, was also given a 20-month prison sentence for publishing the video on YouTube last year. The video is a two-hour long court defense of a prosecutor who intercepted a truck in southern Turkey full of arms heading toward a Syrian territory held by Ahrar al-Sham, an Islamist extremist group.

From Supporter To Critic

Yildiz, a mother of two, was actually a staunch supporter of the government back when tens of thousands of people thronged streets across Turkey to protest against then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan‘s increasingly authoritarian rule in the summer of 2013. She later joined Turkiye, a government mouthpiece paper.

In Turkiye, she broke a story about two senior female administrators within the ruling AKP suspected of spying for Iran. The story led to an investigation and several arrests. But the authorities later sued the newspaper over the story. Yildiz wrote a number of high-profile stories during her time in Turkiye, but her editors refused to publish most of them for being too critical of the authorities. A growing discord over the newspaper’s editorial line forced her to resign.

Her departure from Turkiye coincided with a corruption scandal involving Erdogan and his inner circle as well as a raucous election campaign viewed as the one of the most heated and divisive political wrangling.

Stepping Into Minefield

In a Wednesday night in January 2014, Yildiz published a bombshell story on T24, a news portal she joined after quitting Turkiye. Initially it was several paragraphs long, but it was enough to cause an uproar in the public. She reported that prosecutors from Adana, a southern Turkish city, intercepted trucks carrying arms into Syria. She knew that she was stepping into a minefield, because publicly debating or questioning this issue was off-limits.

That story sparked such an outrage from the country’s top leadership that Erdogan made it his life’s mission to cover up the scandal. The arms-filled trucks, allegedly administered by the Turkish spy agency, justified rumors that Turkey helped fostered radical groups in Syria and ultimately the ISIS. Erdogan publicly derided prosecutors and law enforcement who participated in an operation to halt the trucks, calling them “traitors” and accusing them of “spying.”

The prosecutors were later locked up. They still languish in jails, without any prospect of being released anytime soon.

Erdogan and then-President Abdullah Gul repeatedly asserted that the trucks were carrying humanitarian aid to Syrian civilians, but the content of the trucks were “state secrets.” The government, however, could not keep its narrative consistent. Senior AKP official Yasin Aktay acknowledged that the trucks were heading to Syrian rebels. I asked Erdogan’s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin during his visit to Washington last year if this was true. He said he had no idea why that official made such a remark and that the trucks were only carrying humanitarian relief.

But Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu brought into the surface another narrative, claiming that it was carrying arms to Turkmen rebels who were besieged by forces loyal to the Syrian regime. Turkmens fired back: We did not receive any weapons.

While the story slowly ebbed away over the time, the Cumhuriyet daily published photos and footage of medical supplies and arms in the Syria-bound trucks. The revelations infuriated Erdogan. He vowed that Can Dundar, the newspaper’s top editor, “will pay a heavy price” over the story. Journalist Dundar was locked up for three months, survived an assassination attempt and sentenced to five years in prison. Erdogan displayed little flexibility in tolerating stories linked to the Syrian arms delivery.

Reporting At a Price

Joining efforts with other journalists who had recently lost their jobs due to the government pressure, Arzu Yildiz co-founded a web-site called grihat, where she continued her critical and exclusive reporting. One of these reporting included the publication of a video of Prosecutor Ozcan Sisman‘s court defense. The video ricocheted across the social media, revealing details of how Turkish public officials aided radical groups in Syria as well as helped terrorists in bombing attacks such as in Reyhanli and Cilvegozu.

He made clear in his defense that he acted out of fear that these arms could end up in the hands of terrorists and that he did not know that the trucks were administrated by the spy agency, whose agents have an immunity to a prosecution.

Obtaining or spreading the footage of the court defense is illegal in Turkey, but the court preferred to punish the journalist who published it, not the one who leaked it. Turkey recently made it a crime to publish any classified document linked to the spy agency, a law that was widely criticized by global rights groups.

As Arzu Yildiz pleaded not guilty in the court, she told the judge that her publication of the video was a pure journalistic activity and that people deserve to know details of such a high-profile case.

At a time when even veteran Turkish journalists are cowed into submission, Yildiz’s brave reporting came with a price. She lost her freedom, but also her children. It is a chilling reminder to other journalists of what they may expect if they go down a similar path. Erdogan did not only threaten Can Dundar, but also other reporters who may choose to report on this sensitive matter.

Azerbaijan have lost at least 13 soldiers and had more than 30 injured last week

December 20, 2015 By administrator

arton120067-480x320 Last week -from 13 to 19 December- more than 19,000 projectiles were fired by Azerbaijan towards the Armenian positions on the border of Karabakh according to the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Nagorno Karabagh. Some of these shots came rocket launchers guns TR-107. Several attempts raid were also committed by the Azerbaijani troops. All were repulsed by Armenian forces. Azerbaijanis have at least 13 soldiers killed and over 30 injured during these operations. Armenians replicating each time and repelling enemy attacks.

Krikor Amirzayan

Armenians have lost faith in Russia #ElectricYerevan

July 5, 2015 By administrator

Unrest in Armenia reflects a renewed sense of outrage over Russia’s arrogance towards this small, landlocked country.

By Richard Giragosian

hese demonstrations are different from the ones in Armenia’s past, writes Giragosian [AP]

After more than a week of sustained protests over increasing electricity prices, Armenian activists have demonstrated a new sense of empowerment in the face of an increasingly embattled government. But it is actually the broader implications of this unrest in Armenia that is much more significant, for two distinct reasons.

First, although this wave of protests is clearly rooted in a set of underlying problems reflecting the unique socioeconomic and political conditions of Armenia, the discontent and dissent in Armenia have already reverberated well beyond the borders of this small, landlocked country.

More specifically, the trajectory of the protests have already exceeded the confines of the initial focus of anger over the Armenian government’s decision to impose a price rise for electricity.

The fact that it was a price rise that was sought by a Russian-owned energy firm in Armenia sparked a renewed sense of outrage over Russia’s general arrogance towards Armenia.

Reliable partner

For years, Armenia stood alone in the South Caucasus as the only reliable partner for Russia in the region. Armenia is the host of the only Russian military base in the region. This partnership also included ceding control of two of Armenia’s borders to Russian border guards.

And beyond even that basic infringement on sovereignty, the terms of the Russian military base agreement are rather insulting, as the host government not only forgoes any “rental” payment for the land, but is also required to incur all operating costs of the base itself.

This was generally seen as a necessary trade-off for a Russian security guarantee for Armenia, which is considered an imperative in the face of heightened military tension with neighbouring Azerbaijan – due to the unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Yet the terms of this trade-off are now being challenged due to three recent developments. The first challenge stems from the long-term trend of Russia’s emergence as the number one arms provider to Armenia’s rival Azerbaijan. There has been a serious escalation in ceasefire violations. These violations are no longer measured in bullets fired, but rather by bodies of victims. For many Armenians, it’s impossible to ignore that the weapons killing their people are directly supplied by their “partner” Russia.

Russian security guarantees

A second development is the disappointment over Russia’s reaction to these attacks on Armenia. There was a general lack of response in the face of the Azerbaijani attacks which has deeply shaken Armenian faith in Russian security guarantees.

Yet, it was the third development that has profoundly inflamed and personalised public anger in Armenia. In January, a tragic murder of an entire Armenian family by a rogue Russian conscript, stationed at the Russian base, sparked a series of protests. But in this case, it was not merely the tragedy itself, but the mishandling of the murder by both Moscow and Yerevan that only exacerbated the situation.

While the Armenian government’s response was slow and minimal, the Russian reaction was widely seen as arrogant and demeaning, as it initially insisted on ignoring demands for an Armenian trial of the confessed murderer.

The combination of these recent developments resulted in an eruption of public outcry and organised protests, not necessarily over the strategic partnership between Armenia and Russia, but challenging the asymmetry and lack of respect inherent in the terms of that relationship.

Within that broader context, the current unrest in Armenia stands as a significant test of relations and reliance on Russia as a partner and patron for not only Armenia, but for several other post-Soviet states. And so far, Moscow seems grossly inept and grandly ignorant of the deeper repercussions of what is now becoming a crisis in Armenian-Russian relations.

With an equal degree of resonance, the waves of dissent and underlying resentment in Armenia has revealed new cracks and weaknesses in the post-Soviet model of authoritarian rule. In the case of Armenia, which has been plagued by a deeply entrenched trend of authoritarian governance with little legitimacy and even less popularity, years of apathy and a deceptive degree of stability have now been replaced by activism and protest.

New generation of activists

Empowered by the emergence of a new younger generation of activists much less timid and remarkably less fearful, a broader cross-section of the Armenian population have taken to the streets in a show of support and solidarity with these recent demonstrations.

These demonstrations are different from the ones in Armenia’s past, and these differences are rooted in both context and content.

The context is different because this wave of unrest stems from a deadly combination of political dissent and economic discontent. And unlike earlier examples of political protest, the recent downturn in the Armenian economy has deprived the government of any capacity to placate or pacify a disgruntled population.

The content of this unrest is also different, as the protest has succeeded in mobilising an accumulated frustration with a government that relies more on ruling and less on governing the country. The government is increasingly vulnerable from a lack of legitimacy grounded in a lack of elections and an absence of public trust.

While the outcome for Armenia is far from certain, the shock of a resilient challenge to the traditional post-Soviet authoritarian model should worry a number of neighbouring countries. As Russian rule loses stability in the region, the seeds of unrest are bound to spread and grow.

Richard Giragosian is the founding director of the Regional Studies Center, an independent think-tank in Yerevan, Armenia.

Source: aljazeera.

Bedrosyan: Searching for Lost Armenian Churches and Schools in Turkey

March 31, 2015 By administrator

By Raffi Bedrosyan

Armenian churches in Turkey before 1915

Armenian Weekly)—On July 21, the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee overwhelmingly adopted the Berman-Cicilline Amendment based upon the Return of Churches resolution spearheaded by Representatives Ed Royce and Howard Berman, with a vote of 43 to 1, calling on Turkey to return stolen Armenian and other Christian churches, and to end the repression of its Christian minorities.

Where are these lost or stolen Armenian churches in Turkey? How many were there before 1915, the turning point in the Armenians’ world, when they were uprooted and wiped out from their homeland of more than 3,000 years? How many churches are there now? Considering that every Armenian community invariably strove to build a school beside its church, how many Armenian schools were there in Turkey before 1915, and how many are there now? How many Armenian churches and schools are left standing now in Turkey is the easier part of the issue: There are only 34 churches and 18 schools left in Turkey today, mostly in Istanbul, with about less than 3,000 students in these schools. The challenging and frustrating issue is how many were there in the past.

Recent research pegs the number of Armenian churches in Turkey before 1915 at around 2,300. The number of schools before 1915 is estimated at nearly 700, with 82,000 students. These numbers are only for churches and schools under the jurisdiction of the Istanbul Armenian Patriarchate and the Apostolic Church, and therefore do not include the numerous churches and schools belonging to the Protestant and Catholic Armenian parishes. The American colleges and missionary schools, mostly attended by Armenian youth, are also excluded from these numbers. The number of Armenian students attending Turkish schools or small schools at homes in the villages are unknown and not included. Finally, these numbers do not include the churches and schools in Kars and Ardahan provinces, which were not part of Turkey until 1920, and were part of Russia since 1878.

Armenian schools in Turkey before 1915

The two maps show the wide distribution of Armenian churches and schools in Turkey before 1915. The two lists for the Armenian churches and schools are by no means complete, but should be regarded as a preliminary study that can serve as foundation for further research. The place names are based on the old Ottoman administrative system, instead of that of modern Turkey. They are ably assembled by Zakarya Mildanoglu, from various sources such as the Ottoman Armenian National Council Annual reports, Echmiadzin Journal, Vienna Mkhitarists, and studies by Teotig, Kevorkian, and Nishanyan.

Lost Churches

Adana: Center and villages, Yureghir, Ceyhan, Tarsus, Silifke, Yumurtalik, Dortyol, Iskenderun, 25 churches

Amasya: Vezirkopru, Mecitozu, Merzifon, Havza, Gumushacikoy, Ladik, 15 churches

Ankara: Center, Haymana, Sincan, 5 churches

Antakya: Center, Samandagh, 7 churches

Antep: Center, Nizip, Halfeti, 4 churches

Arapkir (Malatya): Arapkir and Kemaliye villages, 19 churches

Arganimadeni (Elazig): Erganis, Siverek, Bulanik, Kahta, 10 churches

Armash (Akmeshe): 2 churches

Artvin: Center and villages, 11 churches

Balikesir: Balikesir, Mustafakemalpasha, Biga, Bandirma, 6 churches

Bayburt: Bayburt center and villages, 34 churches

Beshiri (Diyarbakir): Beshiri and villages, 14 churches

Bilecik (Bursa): Golpazar, 4 churches

Bingol (Genc): Center and villages, 11 churches

Bitlis: Center and villages, 30 churches

Bitlis: Tatvan, Ahlat, Mutki, Hizan, 66 churches

Bolu: Duzce, Akyazi, 5 churches

Bursa: Center, Orhangazi, 11 churches

Charsancak ( Tunceli): Mazgirt, pertek, Pulumur, Hozat, and villages, 93 churches

Chemishgezek (Tunceli): 20 churches

Chungush (Diyarbakir): Chungush center and villages, 2 churches

Dersim: Hozat, Pertek, 28 churches

Divrigi (Sivas) Center and villages, 25 churches

Diyadin (Erzurum): Diyadin and villages, 4 churches

Diyarbakir: Center and villages, 11 churches

Edirne: Center and villages, 4 churches

Egin (Erzincan): Kemaliye, Ilic, and villages, 17 churches

Egin: 3 churches

Eleshkirt (Erzurum): Eleshkirt and villages, 6 churches

Ergani: Ergani and villages, 11 churches

Erzincan: Erzincan center and villages, 52 churches

Erzurum: Center, Aziziye, Yakutiye, Ashkale, Narman, Ispir, Oltu, Shenkaya, Horasan, Pazaryolu, and villages, 65 churches

Giresun: Tirebolu, 1 church

Gumushane: Center, 4 churches

Gurun (Sivas): Center and villages, 5 churches

Harput (Elazig): Harput center and villages, Karakochan, Palu, Keban, 67 churches

Hinis (Erzurum): Hinis and villages, 19 churches

Hoshap: Hoshap and villages, 14 churches

Istanbul: European/Trachean region, 36 churches; Asian/Anatolian region, 8 churches; total 44 churches

Izmir: Center and villages, Manisa, Turgutlu, Akhisar, Bergama, Nazilli, Odemish, 23 churches

Izmit: Gebze, Kocaeli, Sakarya, Kandira, Geyve, Karamursel, 50 churches

Kastamonu: Tashkopru, Boyabat, Inebolu, 7 churches

Kayseri: Center and villages, Nigde, Aksaray, Bor, Nevshehir, Tomarza, Develi, Bunyan, Talas, 57 churches

Kemah (Erzincan): Kemah and villages, 14 churches

Kighi (Bingol): Kighi and villages, 58 churches

Konya: Center, Bor, Burdur, Nevshehir, 7 churches

Kutahya: Center, Tavshanli, 7 churches

Lice: Lice and villages, 19 churches

Mardin: Center and villages, 3 churches

Mush: Center and villages, Batman, Malazgirt, Bulanik, Varto, Hizan, 148 churches

Ordu: Karaduz, Ulubey, 3 churches

Palu (Elazig): Palu center, Kovancilar, Karakochan, and villages, 44 churches

Pasinler (Erzurum): Pasinler and villages, 4 churches

Pulumur (Tunceli): Pulumur and villages, 6 churches

Rize: Yolusti, 1 church

Samsun (Canik): Center and villages, 43 churches

Samsun: Ordu, 1 church

Shebin karahisar: Shebinkaya center, Giresun, and part of Sivas, 32 churches

Silvan (Diyarbakir): Silvan and villages, 34 churches

Sivas: Center and villages, Hafik, Zara, Ulash, Yildizeli, Sariz, Bunyan/Ekrek, Gemerek, 110 churches

Tercan (Erzincan): Erzincan and Tercan villages, 33 churches

Tokat: Center and villages, 32 churches

Trabzon: Center and villages, Of, Machka, Surmene, Akchaabat, Fatsa, Yorma, Arakli, 89 churches

Urfa: Center and villages, Birecik, Siverek, Suruch, Hikvan, Harran, Bozova, Halfeti, 17 churches

Van: Center and villages, Edremit, Gurpinar, Edremit, ozalp, Ercish, Timar, muradiye, Tatvan, Bashkale, Gevash, Bahchesaray, Chatak 322 churches

Yozgat: Center and villages, Bogazliyan, Sarikaya, Cayiralan, Sorgun, Shefaatli, and villages, 51 churches

Yusufeli (Artvin): Center and villages 4 churches

Zeytun (Marash): Center and villages 14 churches

Lost Schools

Adana: 25 schools, 1,947 boys, 808 girls, 2755 students, 40 male, 29 female, 69 teachers

Akhtamar: 32 schools, 1,106 boys, 132 girls, 1238 students, 36 male teachers

Amasya-Merzifon: 9 schools, 1,524 boys, 814 girls, 2,338 students, 54 teachers

Ankara: 7 schools, 895 boys, 395 girls, 1,290 students, 20 male, 9 female, 29 teachers

Antakya; 10 schools, 440 boys, 47 girls, 487 students, 10 male teachers

Antep: 9 schools, 898 boys, 798 girls, 1606 students, 31 male, 27 female, 58 teachers

Arapkir: 18 schools, 713 boys, 223 girls, 936 students, 23 male, 2 female, 25 teachers

Armash: 2 schools, 190 boys, 110 girls, 300 students, 5 male, 1 female, 6 teachers

Bandirma: 8 schools, 700 boys, 644 girls, 1,344 students, 22 male, 13 female, 35 teachers

Bayburt: 9 schools, 645 boys, 199 girls, 844 students, 27 male, 5 female, 32 teachers

Beyazit: 6 schools, 338 boys, 54 girls, 392 students, 11 male, 2 female, 13 teachers

Bilecik: 10 schools, 1,120 boys, 143 girls, 1,263 students, 18 male, 3 female, 21 teachers

Bitlis; 12 schools, 571 boys, 63 girls, 634 students, 20 male teachers

Bursa: 16 schools, 1345 boys, 733 girls, 2078 students, 34 male, 20 female, 54 teachers

Charsancak: 12 schools, 617 boys, 189 girls, 806 students, 16 male, 2 female, 18 teachers

Chemishgezek: 12 schools, 456 boys, 272 girls, 728 students, 14 male, 1 female, 15 teachers

Cyprus: 3 schools, 63 boys, 37 girls, 100 students, 8 male, 1 female, 9 teachers

Darende: 2 schools, 260 boys, 70 girls, 330 students, 4 male, 1 female, 5 teachers

Divrigi: 10 schools, 757 boys, 100 girls, 857 students, 18 male, 2 female, 20 teachers

Diyarbakir: 4 schools, 660 boys, 324 girls, 1014 students, 18 male, 9 female, 27 teachers

Egin: 4 schools, 541 boys, 215 girls, 756 students, 13 male, 9 female, 22 teachers

Erzincan: 22 schools, 1389 boys, 475 girls, 1864 students, 54 male, 9 female, 63 teachers

Erzurum: 12 schools, 485 boys, 10 girls, 495 students, 12 male teachers

Erzurum: 27 schools, 1,956 boys, 1,178 girls, 3134 students, 44 male, 41 female, 85 teachers

Gurun: 12 schools, 736 boys, 78 girls, 814 students, 18 male, 2 female, 20 teachers

Harput: 27 schools, 2,058 boys, 496 girls, 2,554 students, 49 male, 9 female, 58 teachers

Hinis: 8 schools, 352 boys, 15 girls, 367 students, 11 male, 1 female, 12 teachers

Ispir (artvin): 3 schools, 80 boys, 3 male teachers

Istanbul: 40 schools, 3,316 boys, 2,327 girls, 5,643 students.

Izmir: 27 schools, 1,640 boys, 1,295 girls, 2,935 students, 55 male, 54 female, 109 teachers

Izmit: 38 schools, 5,900 boys, 3,385 girls, 9,285 students, 142 male, 82 female, 224 teachers

Kastamonu; 3 schools, 110 boys, 50 girls, 160 students, 2 male teachers

Kayseri: 42 schools, 3,795 boys, 1140 girls, 4,935 students, 107 male, 18 female, 125 teachers

Kemah: 13 schools, 646 boys, 28 girls, 674 students, 16 male teachers

Kighi: 9 schools, 645 boys, 199 girls, 844 students, 27 male, 5 female, 32 teachers

Konya; 3 schools, 213 boys, 137 girls, 350 students, 6 male, 6 female, 12 teachers

Kutahya: 5 schools, 825 boys, 349 girls, 1174 students, 16 male, 7 female, 23 teaches

Lim and Gduts Islands, Van: 3 schools, 203 boys, 56 girls, 259 students, 5 male, 1 female 6 teachers

Malatya; 9 schools, 872 boys, 230 girls, 1,137 students, 16 male, 3 female, 19 teachers

Marash: 23 schools, 1,261 boys, 378 girls, 1,669 students, 34 male, 10 female, 44 teachers

Mush: 23 schools, 1,034 boys, 284 girls, 1318 students, 31 male, 4 female, 35 teachers

Palu: 8 schools, 505 boys, 50 girls, 555 students, 14 male, 1 female, 15 teachers

Pasen: 7 schools, 315 boys, 7 male teachers

Samsun (Canik): 27 schools, 1,361 boys, 344 girls, 1,705 students, 44 male, 15 female, 59 teachers

Shebinkarahisar: 27 schools, 2,040 boys, 105 girls, 2,145 students, 38 male, 4 female, 42 teachers

Siirt: 3 schools, 163 boys, 84 girls, 247 students, 9 male, 2 female, 11 teachers

Sis/Cilicia: 7 schools, 476 boys, 165 girls, 641 students, 15 male, 4 female, 19 teachers

Sivas: 46 schools, 4,072 boys, 459 girls, 4,531 students, 62 male, 11 female, 73 teachers

Tokat: 11 schools, 1,408 boys, 558 girls, 1,966 students, 37 male, 13 female, 50 teachers

Trabzon: 47 schools, 2,184 boys, 718 girls, 2,902 students, 72 male, 13 female, 85 teachers

Urfa: 8 schools, 1,091 boys, 571 girls, 1,662 students, 19 male, 7 female, 26 teachers

Van: 21 schools, 1,323 boys, 554 girls, 1,877 students, 47 male, 12 female, 59 teachers

Yozgat: 12 schools, 1,179 boys, 557 girls, 1,736 students, 30 male, 13 female, 43 teachers

Zeytun: 10 schools, 605 boys, 85 girls, 690 students, 14 male, 1 female, 15 teachers

These churches and schools were the lifeblood of the Armenians in Turkey. These buildings witnessed countless Armenians’ baptisms, weddings, and funerals; they served as learning centers where eager teachers transferred knowledge to the children; and these buildings became community gathering centers for happy times and sanctuaries during troubled times, until the bitter end at 1915. As the Armenian population got wiped out of Anatolia in 1915, so did these churches and schools. Along with the hundreds of thousands of homes, shops, farms, orchards, factories, warehouses, and mines belonging to the Armenians, the church and school buildings also disappeared or were converted to other uses. If not burnt and destroyed outright in 1915 or left to deteriorate by neglect, they became converted buildings for banks, radio stations, mosques, state schools, or state monopoly warehouses for tobacco, tea, sugar, etc., or simply private houses and stables for the Turks and Kurds.

At present, out of the 34 active Armenian churches in Turkey, only 6 are left standing in Anatolia. The biggest of these buildings is Surp Giragos Church in Dikranagerd/Diyarbakir, the largest Armenian church in the Middle East, which is now being reconstructed as an Armenian church, under the jurisdiction of the Istanbul Armenian Patriarchate. The process of re-claiming more than 200 deeds of lost lands and property belonging to this church has also been initiated. The project funding and construction is already two-thirds complete, with an expected church opening and first Holy Mass to be performed on Oct. 23, 2011. At present, pilgrimage tours are being organized for this historic occasion, along with visits to other historic sites in Eastern Turkey such as Akhtamar/Van and Ani/Kars, continuing to Armenia and Javakhk. There will be more announcements about these tours in the near future.

Sources:

Zakarya Mildanoglu, Agos newspaper April 22, 2011, Istanbul, Turkey

Ottoman Armenian National Council, annual reports 1910-1914, Istanbul, Turkey

Echmiadzin Journal, Yerevan, Armenia 1965-1966 all journals

Dr. H. Hamazasp, Armenian Monasteries in Anatolia, 9 volumes, Vienna Mkhitarist Union, 1940, Vienna, Austria

Raymond Kevorkian and Paul Paboudjian, Les Arméniens dans l’Empire ottoman à la veille du génocide (Armenians in the Ottoman Empire before the Genocide), Paris, 1992

Teotig Lapjinjian, Hayots Koghkota (Armenian Golgotha), 1923, Istanbul, Turkey

Vijagatsuyts, Kavaragan Azkayin Varjaranats Turkiyo, Dedr A-B, Vicag 1901 Darvo (Report on Armenian Schools in Anatolia, Turkey, Booklets 1 and 2, 1901 Status) Armenian National Education Commission Central Directorate, Istanbul, Turkey

Sevan Nishanyan, Adini Unutan Ulke (The Country That Forgot Its Name), Everest Press, 2010, Istanbul, Turkey

Turkish scholar affirms: Turkey has lost battle for the truth

November 26, 2014 By administrator

By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
TheCaliforniaCourier.com

In recent years, a growing number of Turkish intellectuals, scholars, journalists and human rights activists have taken bold positions on the Armenian Genocide, in opposition to their government’s denials. Although their number is small and their influence on Pres. Erdogan negligible, the fight for truth and justice has to be carried on two fronts: within and outside Turkey. Hopefully, over time, the ranks of such liberal Turks would enlarge, forcing their government to implement reforms on a variety of issues, including the Armenian Genocide.

These progressive Turks, however, should not be viewed as activists for the Armenian Cause. Their primary goal is to live in a democratic society that respects the rights of all citizens and acknowledges the dark pages of its past.

One such righteous Turk is Cengiz Aktar, Senior Scholar at Istanbul Policy Center, who has championed for many years recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the Turkish government.

Earlier this year, Aktar wrote two compelling columns, challenging Turkish denials of the Armenian Genocide. The first, published on April 21 in “Today’s Zaman,” was titled “The 99th Anniversary.” The second column, posted on “Al Jazeera English” website on April 24, was titled “Armenian Genocide: Turkey has Lost the Battle of Truth,” and subtitled “An empowered Turkish society is now challenging the state’s denialist paradigm on the tragic events of 1915.”

In his first article, Aktar described April 24 as “a symbolic day for Armenians who were forcibly dispersed all around the world. This collective disaster is still not recognized in Turkey. Even the fact that Anatolian Armenians were completely wiped out from their homeland is not enough for people and the state to recognize it.”

Aktar went on to ridicule Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s call for a “joint historical commission,” because it would be “composed of ‘genocide experts’ on the one side and of denialist professors on the other who cannot even convene, let alone arrive at a decision.”

Ending his column on an optimistic note, Aktar observed: “Unlike the state, Turkish society is today questioning the past and searching for appropriate answers. This is the soundest and most lasting way to face the truth. Peace will not come to these lands without confronting the past. 2015 will be the year when the quest for truth and memory will deepen, even if the government does not like it.”

In the Al Jazeera article, the Turkish scholar divided his government’s denialist campaign on the Armenian Genocide into three categories: lobbying efforts jointly with Azerbaijan, especially in the United States; hiring scholars to give Turkey’s “vulgar denialism” a scientific veneer; and diverting attention away from the Armenian Genocide Centennial by focusing on other events, such as “the Dardanelles battle victory” and “the military debacle of Sarikamis.”

Despite vigorous denialist propaganda, Aktar maintained that “Turkey has long lost the battle of truth. The destruction of the Armenian population on its ancestral land is a sheer fact, whatever else you might call it.”

Aktar proceeded to describe April 24, 1915 as “the dark day when the decision to erase Armenians from Anatolia began to be implemented by the Ottoman government of Young Turks or the Ittihadists. The rationale behind it was to engineer a homogeneous population composed of Muslims designated to form the backbone of the yet to be invented Turkish nation. Thus, there was no place for Christian populations despite their historic presence on those lands.”

The Turkish scholar then referred to a “report commissioned in May 1919 by the Ottoman government that came to power in 1918 after the demise of the Young Turks,” which stated that 800,000 Armenians had lost their lives by that date. Aktar also quoted from a book published in 1928 by the Turkish General Staff which reported that “800,000 Armenians and 200,000 Greeks died as a result of massacres, forced relocations and forced labor.” Aktar concluded: “when one adds those who died after 1918 in the Caucasus region due to hunger, illness and massacres, the figure surpasses one million. The cleansing work of Ittihadists was completed by Kemalists by obliging those throughout Anatolia whose lives were spared to take shelter in Istanbul and simultaneously by suppressing their places of worship and schools throughout Anatolia.”

The audacious Turkish intellectual ends his powerful article with a note of sober realism: “The genie is out of the bottle. When and how it will affect state policy is difficult to predict.”

Lost Zabel Yesayan Writing on Genocide Unearthed in Paris

August 22, 2014 By administrator

PARIS (Armenpress)—Turkish historian Umit Kurt and journalist Alev Er, in their studies at the Paris Nubarian Library, have discovered an hitherto unpublished document on the Armenian Genocide, the author of which is the well-known woman writer of that time Zabel Yesayan. Her 11-page document tells the details of what happened with Armenian women in 1915 and after. Zabel Yesayan submitted the document to the representative of the Armenian delegation at the Paris Conference of 1919, Poghos Nubar Pasha. Istanbul-based Turkish-Armenian periodical Agos has presented some parts of the document.

Yesayan particularly mentions that since the beginning of the war, the Union und Progress Party systematically exterminated the Empire’s non-Muslim population. Young women and children, whose numbers were more than 200 thousand, were forcibly kidnapped.

Zabel Yesayan, a gifted novelist, was born in 1878 in Scutari, a district of Constantinople. From an early age, she wanted to be a writer and as early as age 17 she published a short piece in a literary magazine. She obtained higher education in Paris where she worked her way through the Sorbonne by revising a French-Armenian dictionary and by writing articles and short stories for French and Armenian magazines. She returned to Constantinople at the age of 30 to enjoy an active literary life, well recognized for her talent. The Young Turks ranked her with Zohrab, Zartarian, Siamanto and Varoujan and placed her name – the only female writer – on their list for execution. She escaped to Bulgaria and from there managed to reach the Caucasus, from where she documented much of the atrocities taking place. In 1918 she went to Egypt, then to Cilicia and then to Paris, serving in the Armenian Delegation for Peace. Disillusioned, she became a Communist and urged all diaspora Armenians to recognize Soviet Armenia as the only motherland.

In 1927 she visited Soviet Armenia for the first time. Shortly afterwards she was invited to establish permanent residence. In 1933 at the age of 55, she left a comfortable Parisian life and settled in Soviet Armenia with her daughter, Sophie and son, Hrant. In Yerevan, she taught comparative literature and French literature to university students, wrote numerous articles, and published prolifically. It is believed, but not confirmed, that she was drowned and most likely died in exile sometime in 1943.