Israel: Knesset Speaker urges to recognize Armenian Genocide

July 8, 2015 By administrator

World News – March 18, 2013

Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein has called to recognize Armenian Genocide.

Many governments do not recognize the genocide, while their parliaments clearly do, he said during the meeting of a Knesset Education, Culture and Sport Committee, the Jerusalem Post reported.

“I will try to promote the issue and I hope that MKs will know the right way to vote in the moment of truth,” he stated.

His views were shared by committee’s chairman Ya’acov Margi (Shas) who urged Israeli government to recognize the Genocide and the Knesset plenum to make a historic decision in keeping with Jewish values.

Meanwhile, representative of Israeli government Oded Yosef said it is a political debate whether there was a genocide or not.

Kim Kardashian urges Obama to call Armenian massacre a genocide

April 25, 2015 By administrator

Reality TV star criticises president’s choice of words in Time magazine op-ed, saying she will ‘fight for the genocide to be recognized for what it was’
An influential voice has joined critics of President Barack Obama’s decision not to refer to the deaths of as many as 1.5 million Armenians in 1915 as genocide: Kim Kardashian West.

“I would like President Obama to use the word ‘genocide’,” the reality TV star, who is married to the rapper Kanye West, wrote in an op-ed piece for Time magazine. “It’s very disappointing he hasn’t used it as president. We thought it was going to happen this year.

“I feel like we’re close – but we’re definitely moving in the right direction.”

Historians estimate that up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks in 1915. Turkey, however, disputes the use of the word “genocide” to describe the killings and says the death toll has been inflated.

On Tuesday, the White House announced that the US would use the 100th anniversary of the genocide “to urge a full, frank and just acknowledgement of the facts”. Obama’s statement, however, did not include the word “genocide”.

On Saturday, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said France, Germany, Russia and Austria – whose leaders or parliaments have recently described the killings as genocide – supported “claims constructed on Armenian lies”. Erdogan also accused the US of siding with Armenia, despite Obama’s omission of the contentious word.

“They should first, one by one, clean the stains on their own histories,” Erdogan said.

Despite having previously described the events of 1915 as genocide, Obama has yet to do so as president. In 2008, Samantha Power, now US ambassador to the United Nations and then a campaign surrogate for Obama, recorded a campaign video urging Armenian-Americans to vote for him because he would “call a spade a spade and speak truth about it.

“I hope you in the Armenian community will take my word for it, but if not, I hope you will just pay attention in the coming days to everything that comes out of that person’s mouth, Barack Obama’s mouth, because he is a person who can be trusted,” Power said.

Kardashian, whose great-great-grandparents left Armenia in 1914, plans to increase awareness of the genocide and has called on other celebrities with an Armenian background to do so as well.

“So many people have come to me and said, ‘I had no idea there was a genocide,’” she wrote. “There aren’t that many Armenians in this business. We have this spotlight to bring attention to it, so why would we just sit back?

“I will continue to ask the questions and fight for the genocide to be recognized for what it was.”
Analysis The Armenian genocide – the Guardian briefing
Turkey has never accepted the term genocide, even though historians have demolished its denial of responsibility for up to 1.5 million deaths
Read more

This is not the first time Kardashian has called for the genocide to be recognized. In 2011, she wrote a similar blogpost to urge the US government to recognize it.

Kardashian and her family have spent the last month visiting Armenia. While Armenians might have been uneasy about her visit at first, it has changed the way Armenia is covered in the mainstream media, said historian Vahram Ter-Matevosyan.

“This discourse shows that Armenian identity is still alive,” he said. “I am sure Turkey is having nightmares about it. Some there said that Kim Kardashian was the latest weapon the Armenians are using. Once she leaves, she will be missed.”

Internationally renowned lawyer Robertson urges Australia to recognize Armenian ‘genocide’

April 25, 2015 By administrator

High-profile human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson QC has addressed members of the Australian Armenian community in a solemn night of commemoration.
Source: AAP
Internationally renowned human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson has called on the Australian government to recognise the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Armenians in modern-day Turkey 100 years ago as genocide.

As Australians prepared to commemorate the centenary of the Gallipoli landings, more than 2000 members and supporters of the Australian Armenian community gathered at Sydney Town Hall to remember the victims of mass killings that began in the Ottoman Empire on April 24, 1915.

Turkey has consistently denied the deaths of up to 1.5 million Armenians amounted to genocide.

“Isn’t it ironic that here we are, 100 years after (Gallipoli), celebrating the courage of young Australians in facing Turkish bullets, and we have a government that lacks the courage to stand up to Turkey?” Mr Robertson said in his keynote address.

“I can’t refute what is obvious to every honest scholar, that what went on in 1915 was genocide.”

Mr Robertson said the key difference between the original Anzacs – including his great-uncle Bill Robertson, who was among the first to die in sniper fire at Anzac Cove – and the Armenians, who were killed only hours earlier and in the years that followed, was that the diggers had volunteered to fight.

“They were victims of a crime,” he said of the Armenians.

“They deserve not just mourning, they deserve a particular concern and commemoration. Not just a remembrance, but a demand.”

Basque Country parliament condemns Genocide, urges Turkey for recognition

April 17, 2015 By administrator

The Parliament of the Basque Country condemned the Armenian Genocide and urged Turkey for recognition. It also called for peace between Armenia and Turkey, stressing the need for the latter to face its own history.

The parliament-adopted statement expressed solidarity and respect for the families of the Genocide victims who to this day suffer repercussions of the tragedy, Abc.es reports.

The parliament called for a transparent dialogue between Armenia and Turkey for a better future which can become a possibility through justice, understanding and recognition.

LA city council bill urges Obama to recognize Armenian Genocide

March 28, 2015 By administrator

Los Angeles City Councilmembers introduced a measure urging US President Obama to recognize the Armenian Genocide and voicing LA’s support for H-Res 154, the Armenian Genocide Truth and Justice resolution introduced in Congress last week, reported Asbarez.

“Los Angeles is home to one of the largest Armenian populations in the world, including a tremendous number of Genocide survivors and their descendants,” said Councilmember Paul Krekorian.

The European Parliament urges EU Member States to recognize the Armenian Genocide

March 13, 2015 By administrator

The European Parliament (EP) called on Thursday, March 12 member states of the European Union (EU) to recognize the Armenian genocide as we approach the 100th anniversary of the crime.

The European Parliament adopted the 2013 annual report on human rights and democracy in the world and the EU policy in this area. Article 77 of the adopted report says “the approach of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, invites all Member States of the Union to recognize the legal terms and encourages them and the European institutions, to continue to promote recognition; “

Section 129 of the report also mentions the fate of the Apostolic Armenians and other Christian minorities in the Middle East. The article “calls on the EU and its Member States to ensure that religious minorities are respected in the world and especially in the Middle East where Christians, such as Catholics, Armenian Apostolic, Coptic and Yezidis and Muslim minorities are persecuted by EIIL and other terrorist groups; “

The European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy (EAFJD) welcomed the report. “We expected this report for some years now, when the Special Representative of the European Union for Human Rights was established to promote the values of the European Union in the negotiations, Whether on foreign policy, trade, energy or other cooperation with third countries, “said the EAFJD in a statement.

“We welcome and support this resolution unequivocally, particularly in this centenary year of the Armenian Genocide, in particular paragraph 77 … We expect the EU to put pressure on Turkey to recognize that thus it officially the Armenian genocide it committed, “adds EAFJD.

The EAFJD also stressed the importance of the resolution, which protects all vulnerable groups, minorities and people “in these times of racism, xenophobia, and crisis in the Middle East, in the European neighborhood and the world whole. “

The adoption of the report was also welcomed by European Friends of Armenia (EuFoA). In a statement issued immediately after the adoption, the Director EuFoA Eduardo Lorenzo Ochoa, said: “After a long pause, the European Parliament reaffirmed its position on the Armenian genocide, and again reiterates that genocide and their negations are a human rights issue. During this special year, we are grateful for this strong signal of European solidarity with the Armenian people. “

Aram I Urges Armenians to Unite, Demand Justice from Turkey

September 9, 2014 By administrator

WASHINGTON—On Sunday, Sept. 7, his Holiness Aram I presided over the Holy Liturgy and addressed the faithful at the Church of the Holy Cross in Washington, DC. Archbishop Oshagan, Prelate of the Eastern Prelacy of the Armenian Orthodox Church of America, celebrated the Liturgy after welcoming His Holiness and explaining the purpose of his presence in Washington to the congregation.

The Catholicos thanked the Archbishop, greeted the faithful and expressed his joy at being with the community after so many years. In his message, he told the faithful that “Christian faith is the foundation of Christian life and is central to the teachings and miracles of Jesus.” He added that Jesus transformed the meaning and purpose of faith. He went on to point out that according to the Bible, Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth and Life, no one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:16). “To follow Jesus,” said His Holiness, “means discipleship, giving up everything and following him. Faith in Christ is the source of life; whoever lives a Christian life will be courageous before the challenges of the world.”

Referring to Armenians, the Catholicos said, “With this assurance our people lived their faith. Armenians were not only the first to accept Christianity as their national religion, they also shed their blood for their faith; as an ancient historian wrote, faith for Armenians is like ‘their skin.’” His Holiness then added that for this reason, in the 5th century, when the enemy wanted us to give up our faith, our people said, “No power in this world can take us away from our faith.” “This commitment to the faith,” he added, “has sustained our people throughout history.” The Catholicos then urged the people to remain faithful to their faith and their Church.

In the end His Holiness spoke of 2015, the 100th anniversary commemoration of the Genocide and asked all Armenians to unite and demand justice from Turkey for the one-and-a-half-million victims and the restoration of the rights of the survivors with one voice.

The Ambassador of Armenia, the representative of Karabakh and a member of the Church Council were among the people who attended the Sunday Liturgy.

After the Liturgy his holiness Aram I held meetings with Archbishop Oshagan, the Church Council members and members of the Armenian Genocide Committee.