Armenian in Kuwait mark anniversary of genocide
Kuwait Times
Apr 25, 2005
KUWAIT: Hundreds of Armenians flocked at their Prelacy compound in
Salmiya yesterday to mark 90th anniversary of the mass killings of
Armenians, which happened during the reign of Ottoman Empire. To make
this anniversary more ideal, hundreds of their nationals voluntarily
donated blood to representative of Kuwait’s Central Blood Bank, while
others attended high mass celebrated by Orthodox Archbishop Dr Goriun
Babian. From early morning, Armanian filed into the circular burning
memorial flame erected in front of the Prelacy compound bringing with
them special flowers to remember millions of people perished during
the massacre. Ottoman authorities began rounding up intellectuals,
diplomats and other influential Armenians in Istanbul on April 24,
1915, particularly in the eastern parts of the country. Armenia
claimed up to 1.5 million Armenians ultimately died or were killed
over several years as part of a genocidal campaign to force them out
of eastern Turkey. Turkey acknowledges that large numbers of Armenians
died, but says the overall figure is inflated and that the deaths
occurred in the civil unrest during the collapse of the Ottoman
Empire.
Speaking to Kuwait Times, Archbishop Babian said, “We remember and
pray for our martyrs today, thanks God for the generosity and
hospitality of the Arab people including Kuwait, some of us have
survived the genocide. But we still seek justice for the deaths of our
fathers. We want Turks to recognise the genocide and confess for their
sins they committed. During the genocide, they have driven us out of
our territory and now we want to claim our territorial rights.”
According to Babian France, Russia and many other countries have
already declared the killings were genocide, but he was disappointed
to note that superpower, [United States], and United Kingdom failed to
label this atrocities as genocide. “These countries are just calling
this a tragic event in our history as massacre. Everyone in the world
recognised this as genocide and we want them condemn this act. We
don’t want this thing happen to others as well. Some other criminals
were punished, but the Turks were not,” he said.
Armenian communities around the world marked the deaths of millions in
the genocide, just like here in Kuwait. Armenians started to remember
the genocide from the first week of April.
Archbishop Babian thanked His Highness the Amir, HH the Crown Prince
and other cabinet officials for granting them full freedom they were
enjoying here. “We enjoy all kinds of freedom, education, religion and
promotion of our culture. We want to keep this relationship strong and
intact,” he said.
World War One gave the Young Turk government the cover and the excuse
to carry out their plan. The plan was simple and its goal was
clear. On April 24, 1915, commemorated worldwide by Armenians as
Genocide Memorial Day, hundreds of Armenian leaders were murdered in
Istanbul after being summoned and gathered. The now leaderless
Armenian people were to follow across the Ottoman Empire (with the
exception of Constantinople, presumably due to a large foreign
presence), the same events transpired from village to village, from
province to province.