PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr.Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:
PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon
Armenian version:
VIDEO SCREENING IN THE CATHOLICOSATE OF CILICIA
“THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE 90 YEARS LATER”
The Armenian Church University Students’ Association (HEHOM) organized a
screening of “The Armenian Genocide 90 Year Later” in cooperation with
“Aztag” Armenian Daily in the Catholicosate of Cilicia on the evening May
13. The video screened in the hall of the “Cilicia” museum was prepared by
the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies of Minnesota University.
Saro Kendirdjian from the Students’ Association delivered the opening
remarks of the event, stressing that the Armenian Genocide and the Armenian
Cause have become unifying factors for the entire Armenian nation to fight
against injustice. Kendirdjian added that the struggle for Armenian rights
has become the nation’s principal aim and highest value.
“The pursuit of the Armenian Cause has been the source of our nation’s
survival and eternity, it has been our sanctity, our spirit, our blood, our
identity and our pride,” Kendirdjian said. He pointed out that the Armenian
Cause progressed due to the efforts of Armenian unions and organizations and
entered into the hearts of each Armenian.
Highlighting the efforts of the students’ union in this context, Kendirdjian
described its main aim as gathering the Armenian youth under one concern,
that of justice, the realization of rights and national aims. He said these
efforts might have been incomplete without the support of the media and
thanked “Aztag” Daily for securing the video to be screened during the
event.
The English language documentary “The Armenian Genocide 90 Years Later” was
then screened for the first time in the Middle East. Stating that the
survivors of the Armenian Genocide revived their cause, the video featured
Armenian, foreign and Turkish academicians and their approaches on the
Armenian Genocide.
Among others, the video included appearances from Eric Weits (professor at
Minnesota University), Stephan Feinstein (Director of the university’s
Holocaust and Genocide Studies Center), professor Taner Akcam, Lou Ann
Matossian (daughter of Genocide survivor, lecturer and administrative
officer in the Kafsedjian Institute). It also featured descendants of
Armenian Genocide survivors.
Each of the academicians and speakers presented their views and knowledge on
the reasons behind the Armenian Genocide: the Turkish policy towards
minorities, the role and importance of Armenians in the regions which were
worrying factors for Turkey. Thus, Turkey preferred the annihilation of
Armenians and the islamisation of the region.
Foreign academicians referred to evidence of more than two million Armenians
living on the region and of their disappearance in a short period of time.
They stressed the existence of great evidence about the Armenian Genocide in
American and German archives, but pointed out that these remain concealed
because of political interests.
The professors assured that news about the Armenian Genocide filled the
pages of newspapers in 1915 along with news about the First World War.
Without playing with words, everybody wrote that collective massacres are
occurring in the deserts in Der Zor, that people are dying from fatigue,
torture and starvation.
Speaking about the Armenian Genocide, Taner Akcam considered it a crime
against humanity. He assured that it is not a crime executed by a couple of
criminals, but an inhumane act carried out by the aid of the Turkish
society, something Turks deny today still because psychologically they can’t
accept that their predecessors were criminals.
The speakers then talked about the role of the Armenian Genocide in Turkey’s
EU bid and the former Turkish laws that punished people referring to the
Armenian Genocide.
##
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the youth
activities of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of
the Catholicosate, The Cilician Catholicosate, the
administrative center of the church is located in Antelias, Lebanon.