Gagrule.net

Gagrule.net News, Views, Interviews worldwide

An Armenian Genocide khachkar placed in Copenhagen (Denmark) angry Turkish Ambassador

By

arton110351-480x320The Turkish Embassy in Denmark through the voice of its ambassador Mehmet Donmezi reacted strongly with the Danish authorities for the exhibition of an Armenian khachkar for 10 days on one of the most important places of the Danish capital Copenhagen. The work of the Armenian sculptor Alen khatchkar Sayeghi being dedicated to the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. The Turkish ambassador in Copenhagen in a letter to the Danish newspaper Politikan is “outraged” that the Danish authorities have granted permission to place this khatchkar in the city center of the capital of Denmark.

Krikor Amirzayan

Debunking propaganda from Turk Ministry of Foreign Affairs website justifying genocide.

By

Also see
Erdoğan Belligerent call Bring your documents, gagrulenet Video Respond

 

 

Karabakh: Source: Turkish instructor among killed servicemen

By

photo by news.am

photo by news.am

YEREVAN. – A Turk was among the servicemen of Azerbaijani special subdivision that was neutralized by the military units of Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army, a source told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

According to a source, one of the killed was an instructor from Turkey.

As reported earlier, the adversary violated the ceasefire on the Line of Contact between the Karabakh-Azerbaijani opposing forces more than 80 times, between late Thursday night and early Friday morning.

During this time, around 4,500 shots were fired in the direction of Armenian military positions, and by way of mine throwers and other weaponry.

In addition, the adversary made use of the ZIK -23-2 weapon in the northerly (Shahumyan Region) direction. The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) Defense Army vanguard forces took appropriate action to neutralize this weapon. As a result, at least three Azerbaijani soldiers and the aforementioned weapon were rendered ineffective.
 

Turks desecrate grave of Armenian architect who built Istanbul

By

grave-istanbultThe tombstone of renowned Armenian architect Garabet Balyan, who was the creator of Istanbul’s best historical structures, was found at a construction site.

The tombstone of Balyan, who was the architect of the Dolmabahce Palace which is a symbol of Istanbul, was discovered in a construction area in Istanbul’s Kartal district, reported Agos Armenian bilingual weekly of Istanbul.

The persons in charge at the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, however, did not respond to Agos’ query as to how this tombstone, which was lost for numerous years, had appeared at a construction site.

Genocide and Kim Kardashian: The Bloody History Behind System of a Down’s Tour

By

720x405-177472309Frontman Serj Tankian on the mission driving the band’s music and the hopes for a new album.

By |

Between their spasmodic rhythms and jagged melodies, System of a Down have always been committed to a sobering cause: raising recognition for the Armenian genocide of 1915. The group’s self-titled debut LP contained a song called “P.L.U.C.K.,” in which frontman Serj Tankian sang “A whole race, genocide/Taken away all of our pride,” and over the years the band has held several one-off “Souls” concerts to help raise awareness of the tragedy. Interview rollingstone

Now the group, whose members are all children of survivors, is commemorating the 100th anniversary of the genocide – in which Ottoman Turks began arresting and executing some 1.5 million Armenians, something that Turkey and several countries still refuse to recognize officially – with an international tour named “Wake Up the Souls.” This will end on April 23rd, the day before Armenia commemorates the anniversary, with the group’s very first performance in the country of their ancestors. The band plans on livestreaming the concert so people all over the world can watch.

System of a Down have also set up an interactive “heat map” on their website, allowing fans to learn about how different parts of the world have reacted to the genocide, including which countries have officially recognized it. Elsewhere, they host a call to action motivating fans to ask the Turkish president and parliament for recognition.

“Part of it is bringing attention to the fact that genocides are still happening, whether you use the word ‘genocide,’ ‘holocaust’ or ‘humanitarian catastrophe,'” Tankian says. “None of that is changing. We want to be part of that change. We want the recognition of the first genocide of the 20th century to be a renewal of confidence that humanity can stop killing itself.” He chuckles. “I say that, laughing, because obviously it’s ridiculous.”

Why have you decided to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide with a tour?
This is a recommitment and expansion of some of the work that we’ve been doing with the Armenian genocide for years. The whole “Souls” concept became a tour, and it’s something that we all believe in because we’re all children of survivors of the genocide. It’s important for the recognition of the genocide as an end result, as well as attaining justice.

What are the steps toward attaining justice?
I think for us it’s important for Turkey to know its own history in a truthful manner. It’s not just about the genocide of the Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians, but what’s going on now. There are no executable international agreements that have to do with stopping the genocide. Irrespective of a number of great U.N. bodies and even U.S.-based bodies in terms of genocide prevention, there’s no binding resolution on any genocide or holocaust occurring. We still see them happening. I read in today’s press that they discovered a mass grave in Deir Ezzor in Syria of ISIS massacres of this one tribe there, and it reminded me of all the bones that are under those sands in Deir Ezzor from the first genocide of the 20th century in the exact same place. If that’s not symbolism, I don’t know what is.

Your grandparents both lived through the Armenian genocide. What did they tell you about it?
They had these incredible, haunting stories of their survival. They were both toddlers, small children. My grandmother and her grandmother were saved by a Turkish mayor in a small city, as they were being marched through Turkey toward Syria, toward Deir Ezzor, the desert. They were saved in that way. My grandfather lost the majority of his family on the pogrom. He ended up in a number of different orphanages and ended up in Lebanon, in terms of finding a home there and growing up there. Just really heart-wrenching stories.

When my grandfather was still alive, we had them on camera for this film that we were part of called Screamers. It was a nice partial telling of his story, which was very fulfilling for me. We got a camera crew to tape 16 hours of these important stories that are disappearing because the survivors are almost all gone.

You’ve played in Armenia as a solo artist. How was that experience for you?
It was really amazing. The first time was with my band, the F.C.C., on my solo tour throughout Europe. We played a show in a beautiful, large theater. The second time, I played with an Armenian orchestra called the Opera Orchestra of Armenia. We played at the opening of a non-profit technology center called Tumo. There were about 11,000 people in this beautiful courtyard by a park, on a built stage overlooking this gorgeous gorge. It was truly amazing. A lot of youth, a lot of excitement. It was really very encouraging as to what the future of Armenia has to embrace.

Have you gotten a sense of how people there feel about the band doing this concert?
In Armenia, our status is unparalleled. I don’t want to use any monikers like the Beatles or anything, but it’s a unique kind of thing. So we want to go there and play for the people, which we’ve never done as System of a Down. It’s quite exciting.

How is it that System of a Down have never played Armenia?
You know, that’s a really good question. I don’t have a direct answer to that. We’ve been asked to play, but it’s never transpired either due to timing or the challenge of investment in infrastructure. It takes time for any of the large performance infrastructure to take place.

Has the band ever played in Turkey?
No. We were looking into Turkey as one of the dates of this Wake Up the Souls tour. We needed to get permission from the government, based on our outspokenness about the genocide and against the actions of [then-Turkish Prime Minister Recep] Erdoğan’s government in particular. At the time, the new prime minister had just stepped in, which was the old foreign minister, and of course Erdoğan became president and left the prime minister’s post. We waited a while, but we never got a response, so we planned the rest of the tour.

What is your relationship with Turkish fans like? It must be hard for you not to be able to play for them.
Totally. I personally want to go play there. Our relationship with them has been really cool. Years ago, someone planted things in the Turkish press trying to denounce us, I’m assuming an agent of the government, saying that we’ve done things that we’ve never done. So we put up something on our website saying that all of this is misinformation, please don’t listen to it. It’s all lies. Our fans were the ones that protected us in Turkey. They wrote to the editors of those newspapers who were planting this misinformation, this disinformation, and fought for us. Our jaws dropped. Here we have fans in Turkey that are protecting System of a Down. No society is unipolar.

Do you think Turkey will ever recognize the genocide?
I think it’s very possible. I just read that there is a resolution for recognition for all past crimes, including the Armenian genocides – named specifically – that was just introduced to the Turkish parliament by a minority Kurdish MP, Sebahat Tuncel. Although I’m sure they don’t have majority to pass it, that’s an amazing sign not just of courage for her to bring that up, but that times could be changing, and that’s a positive thing.

Speaking of times changing, there are Armenian celebrities drawing attention to the genocide lately.
Absolutely. For all the flak people give Kim Kardashian, I could say that with her yearly commemorations of the Armenian genocide and spreading that word, she’s been valuable. She’s been great.

She can raise a lot of awareness.
Absolutely. She’s got more Twitter people than I do, that’s for sure [laughs].

Shifting topics, it’s been 10 years since the last System of a Down album. Are you guys talking about making a new one yet?
There has been talk, and we are going to play this tour, come back and we’re going to see where we are. If we have songs that work for System, if I have them and Daron [Malakian, guitar] has them. The openness is there to work together, but we haven’t made any particular plans that we can announce.

Have you personally written songs with System in mind?
I have a few that could apply, but I’m not sure until the time comes where I can actually play them for the guys and see if it’s something that vibes off them.

Right now, I’m actually focusing on a film score. It’s actually a really cool score, and it’s for a film based on, again, the genocide. That’s all I’m dealing with right now. It’s called 1915. It’s a very interesting drama that’s actually shot in Los Angeles at the Los Angeles Theater, a very old and distinguished theater. It’s a really, really interesting psychological thriller, modern story. It deals with denial and the psychological impacts of a genocide rather than the physical aspects of it.

Getting back to a new System album, I’m sure your fans are curious where you’re at.
They will be the first to know. Fans will know before the press knows, I assure you.

Related links:
RollingStone. Genocide and Kim Kardashian: The Bloody History Behind System of a Down’s Tour

Dutch party expels two Turkish-origin lawmakers

By

AMSTERDAM

turk-expelsSelçuk Öztürk (R) and Tunahan Kuzu (L) spoke to the Turkish media after being expelled from the Dutch Labor Party (PvdA) on the night of Nov. 13.

Two lawmakers of Turkish descent from the Netherlands’ Labor Party (PvdA) have been expelled after refusing to support their party’s critical remarks about a number of Turkish organizations that were accused of being “too focused on promoting Turkish and Islamic identity.”

The social democratic party, which constitutes one half of the coalition governing the Netherlands, decided to oust Dutch lawmakers of Turkish descent, Selçuk Öztürk and Tunahan Kuzu, during an emergency meeting on the night of Nov. 13, as they refused to support Deputy Prime Minister Lodewijk Asscher’s integration policy.

Speaking to Turkish media on Nov. 14, the parliamentarians said they were asked to sign a declaration during a party meeting aimed at stepping up surveillance on four Turkish organizations, but they refused to do so and were removed from the party as a result.

“We are experiencing a sad day in Netherlands’ democratic history,” said Kuzu. “Elected lawmakers have been attempted to be silenced. We didn’t accept this and never will. We will work to bring a new voice into the harsh integration policy that has become more racist, stiff and right-wing over the past 10 years and we will express this in Parliament until our last breath.”

Öztürk also vowed to continue responding to the needs of millions of people who think they are not represented. “Millions of people feel they are not represented in the Netherlands Parliament. We wanted to respond to these people, but the party didn’t allow it. They wanted us to remain silent. We didn’t and we won’t,” he said.

According to Dutch reports, the PvdA wanted to monitor a number of conservative Turkish organizations, as Asscher argued they are interfering with the integration of Turks into Dutch society by promoting Turkish and Islamic identity values.

Asscher had reportedly written a letter to the Dutch Parliament, asking to put four Turkish Islamist organizations under close watch for five years over allegations of violation of transparency rules and lack of harmony with the Netherlands’ integration policies.

November/14/2014

Turkey’s Harvard fellow scolds Gül over ‘democracy lessons’

By

A Turkish Harvard research fellow sternly challenged President Abdullah Gül during the latter’s visit to the US, asking why the president was not 185873_newsdetailashamed to deliver lessons on democracy after thousands of people had suffered in a harsh police crackdown on the Gezi Park protests of last summer.

Gül was paying a non-official visit to the US, a NATO ally of Turkey, to attend his son Mehmet Emre Gül’s graduation ceremony at Harvard University, and was also invited to make a speech at the panel discussion “A View from Turkey: Current Regional Issues and the Way Forward” at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government on Friday.

Introducing his questions by recalling the first anniversary of the Gezi events, Altındiş first reminded the Turkish president about an article written by Altındiş and his colleagues, some of whom have won Nobel prizes, for Science magazine, in which they urged the Turkish government to end its violent crackdown on the protests that began with the Gezi Park events in late May of last year and later spread across the country.

“We have decided to protest against the Turkish government as it has killed eight citizens and caused 90 people to undergo head trauma, nine people to lose their eyesight and millions of people to be covered in tear and pepper gas. However, the violence still continues in Turkey. Every day three women are killed and four workers are murdered in workplace accidents. During the Roboski massacre the military, headed by you, killed 34 people. Seventeen of them were children. You live in Ankara. Ethem Sarısülük was shot in the head in [Ankara’s] Kızılay. His murderer is free. Aren’t you ashamed to lead such a state? How dare you offer us a sham of democracy here? How do you sleep at night? Berkin Elvan was 14 years old. Your prime minister has called a 14-year-old child a terrorist,” Altındiş asked Gül in Turkish, urging the organizers of the panel to translate his words into English.

Gül, enraged by Altındiş’s questions, said: “Now, you listen to me. No one can give you the right to ask a question in this way.” In response, interrupting Gül, Altındiş said, “I would get a whipping if I were in Turkey.”

Greek cemetery ‘fashion shoot’ international crisis has created

By

Orthodox cemetery in Kyrenia in the Turkish students fashion shoot turned into an international crisis. Cyprus has apologized to the Greek press.

fft81_mf2084577In the TRNC, the Greek Orthodox cemetery in Kyrenia in Cyprus picked up the fashion shoot. Island crisis in graphics and design department at a university freshman at the Orthodox cemetery of Bilal Baştemur his ‘model shots’ after the burst. Basten, shooting yayımlayın was confused mess on their personal websites.

Greek media, “the Turks did disrespect for our cemetery” broadcasts began to be made. Fileleftheros newspaper, “Greeks, in this case ‘barbarism’ and ‘looting’ that qualify as” he wrote.

We condemn the desecration

Greek Orthodox Church also took issue with close follow-up, the UN and EU officials were forwarded to the responses. Cyprus in the media, “I’m sorry” from the Greeks throwing cuff apologized. Greek Church, Cyprus also contact the Office of Religious Affairs was. TRNC President of the Religious Affairs Office Talib Atalay, “the sadness in the face of disrespect” transmitting Greek Church, “to investigate the incident” was requested. Atalay, the apartment was “following the issue will be” assured. Nationality to Atalay, “We condemn this shooting. Unacceptable disrespect for belief, “he said. Cemeteries also Basten, who shot the model, “with the permission we entered inside, never thinking of disrespect,” he said.

Apologized to the Greek

“I’m very sorry because of reports” he is Basten, “I’m sorry for the Greek people. We have received permission from security when entering the cemetery there. I think it would be something like this. I never thought such a provocation, “he said. Composer, after the events raised’s photo. Model shooting attack took place on the first page in Greek newspapers.