The California
Courier Online, April 13, 2023
1- Turkey Bought Poison Gas from Nazi Germany
To Kill
Kurdish Alevis & Armenians in 1938
By Harut
Sassounian
Publisher,
The California
Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
2- ANCHA Monument
to be Dedicated in Fresno
3- Armenian
Genocide to be Commemorated in Glendale
on April 24
4- 2023
Pasadena Showcase House of Design opens April 23
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1- Turkey Bought Poison Gas from Nazi Germany
To Kill
Kurdish Alevis & Armenians in 1938
By Harut
Sassounian
Publisher,
The California
Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
Prof. Taner Akcam of UCLA wrote a revealing article in
Turkish, in Istanbul’s Armenian Agos newspaper
on March 31, 2023, regarding the Turkish government’s brutal massacre of tens
of thousands of minorities in Dersim, an Eastern province of Turkey,
in 1938. The article was titled: “[President] Mustafa Kemal and [Prime
Minister] Ismet Inonu ordered the use of poison gas during the Dersim
massacre.”
While this is not the first time this information has been
revealed, Prof. Akcam uncovered additional Turkish documents that confirm the
details of this horrible massacre ordered by Ataturk and Inonu. The two Turkish
leaders issued a secret decree in 1937 for the purchase of 20 tons of poisonous
mustard gas and 24 twin-engine airplanes from Germany to exterminate through aerial
spraying and bombing of Kurdish Alevis and Armenians who were living in hiding
in the mountainous caves of Dersim. The thousands of Armenian inhabitants of
Dersim were survivors of the Armenian Genocide who had fled and converted to
Alevism to save their lives.
Many articles and books have been published in recent years,
documenting Hitler’s admiration of Ataturk. The cooperation between the Turkish
government and Nazi Germany is another indication of the criminal partnership
of these two states. Even today, the Turkish military continues to use
poisonous gas purchased from Germany
in recent years, in violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention, to
exterminate Kurds in Turkey
and allegedly in Northern Iraq and Syria.
One of the ironic twists of the Dersim massacre is the
participation of Sabiha Gokcen, an Armenian girl orphaned during the Genocide
of 1915 and subsequently adopted by Ataturk as his daughter. She became the
first female pilot in Turkey
and participated in the bombing of Dersim, renamed Tunceli. It is not known if
she was aware that she was taking part in killing her fellow Armenians who were
survivors of the Genocide, just like her. One of the two Istanbul airports is named after her, as a
‘War Hero.’
A Turkish court ruled in March 2011 that the Turkish
government’s massacre in Dersim could not be considered genocide according to
the law because they were not directed systematically against an ethnic group.
However, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, while Prime Minister in 2011, issued an apology
for the 1938 Dersim massacre. Erdogan’s apology was viewed with suspicion as an
opportunistic move to win the votes of the large Kurdish population in Turkey from the
government’s main opposition political party, CHP, which is a continuation of
Ataturk’s Republican Party. Erdogan described the Dersim massacre “as the most
tragic event in our recent history.” He added that, while some sought to
justify the killings as a legitimate response to events on the ground, it was
in reality “an operation which was planned step by step…. It is a disaster that
should now be questioned with courage. The party that should confront this
incident is not the ruling Justice and Development Party. It is the CHP, which
is behind this bloody disaster, who should face up to this incident.” These
comments were pointedly directed at opposition leader Kemal Kılıcdaroglu, who
in fact is from Tunceli, and Erdogan’s main opponent in the May 2023
presidential election. One wonders if Erdogan would have also apologized for
the Armenian Genocide if there were millions of Armenian voters living in Turkey now.
In one of the footnotes of his article, Akcam referenced a
document of the German Parliament where several members asked the German
government in 2019 for the details of the Turkish purchase of poisonous gas and
airplanes from Nazi Germany. German chemical weapons experts were also brought
to Turkey
in 1938 to train the military in the use of the poisonous gas. In its reply,
the German government acknowledged “the suffering of the [Dersim] victims and
their descendants” and added: “the federal [German] government is ready if the
events of that time are processed by Turkey to examine German
participation.”
While these mass killings cannot be justified under any
circumstance, the Turkish government was trying in the 1930’s to suppress
domestic opposition and impose its rule in the Dersim region. During a speech
in parliament on Nov. 1, 1936, Ataturk described Dersim as “Turkey’s most
important interior problem.” Pursuing a policy of Turkification of ethnic and
religious minorities, the Turkish government adopted in 1936 the “Law on the
Administration of the Tunceli Province” which aimed to resettle the local
population to other parts of Turkey.
Over 50,000 Turkish soldiers were dispatched to Dersim. They captured and
hanged the ringleaders of the local rebellion and indiscriminately bombed and
killed thousands of its inhabitants. Even though the Turkish government
admitted that 13,806 inhabitants of Dersim were killed, some put the casualties
much higher at 70,000 or more. Many of the survivors were moved to other parts
of the country and Kurdish girls were given to Turkish families for adoption.
Regrettably, Turkey
is still in denial about its past mass crimes. The Dersim massacre is just one
example of the exterminations of various minorities beginning in the Ottoman
Empire and continuing in the Republic
of Turkey era.
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2- ANCHA
Monument to be Dedicated in Fresno
FRESNO—The dedication
ceremony of a 13ft 1-inch tall monument paying homage to the mission of the
American National Committee to Aid the Homeless Armenians (ANCHA) will take
place on Sunday, April 16, 2023, at 12:30 PM in the complex of the Holy Trinity
Armenian Apostolic
Church, located at 519 “M” Street, Fresno, CA
93721.
The Monument is a tribute to the founders of ANCHA, George
Mardikian, Suren Saroyan, and Brigade General Haig Shekerjian. The intent is to
educate the public about the vital role that the founders of ANCHA played
following WWII and become an inspiration for future generations.
A special plaque honoring Unsung Heroes responsible for
preventing the death of Armenian prisoners of war (P.O.W.s) and hundreds of
thousands of Armenians during WW II is part of the Monument. Confronted with
similar discrimination as other minorities in Europe at the time, exterminating
Armenians living under Nazi-controlled Eastern Europe,
France, Greece, Bulgaria,
and Romania,
was inevitable. They were to face the same tragic outcome as the people of
Polish and Jewish origin.
The Monument also recognizes the families and the
organizations that supported ANCHA’s mission in the United States of America and worldwide.
They include worldwide Prelacy Churches, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, the
Armenian Relief Society, Inc., and locally the Holy Trinity
Armenian Apostolic
Church and the Armenian
American Citizens’ League. Beginning with Displaced Persons (D.P.s) in Germany, they moved on to assist some 25,000
Armenians from Europe and Middle Eastern countries to settle in the United States.
George Mardikian had once served as Chairman of the Board of
Trustees at Holy Trinity Church.
In 1953, President Harry S. Truman bestowed George Mardikian
with the Medal of Freedom award – the nation’s highest honor for his
humanitarian services to the country.
The public is invited to a reception at the Church’s Sunday
School gym, courtesy of the Fresno ANCHA Committee.
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3- Armenian Genocide to be
Commemorated in Glendale
on April 24
GLENDALE—The City of Glendale will host its Annual Armenian Genocide
Commemorative Event at the Alex
Theatre, at 7 pm, on
April 24. This year’s theme, “The Armenian Experience Through the Lens,”
celebrates the 100th anniversary of Armenian cinema, as declared by the
Armenian Ministry of Education, Science, Culture, and Sport.
The program will commence with a tribute to the ongoing
atrocities in Artsakh, reflecting the commitment to raising awareness of
humanitarian crises. Additionally, there will be a preview of Armenia’s submission to the 2023 Oscars Best
International Film category, Aurora’s Sunrise. Joe Manganiello,
a celebrated actor, producer, director, published author, and Emmy-winning
voice actor, will deliver the keynote address at the Alex Theatre
commemoration. Manganiello will discuss intergenerational trauma, drawing from
his family’s history and the story of his maternal great-grandmother, Terviz
“Rose” Darakijan, who survived the Armenian Genocide.
From April 16 to 25, the Week of Remembrance will be
observed featuring satellite events across the city to honor the memory of
those who perished and recognize the resilience of those who survived.
Sunday, April 16: Glendale Arts + Armenian Film Society
Present Celebrating 100 Years of Armenian Cinema: Feature Film Screening of
Vigen Chaldranyan’s Alter Ego; 7 pm at AMC Americana at Brand 18.
Monday, April 17: Slam Poetry Night; 7:00pm at Brand Library
Recital Hall.
Wednesday, April 19: Armenian Film Society presents a
Q&A with Inna Sahakyan, Director of Aurora’s Sunrise; 7 pm at Glendale Central Library’s
Auditorium.
Thursday, April 20: Film screening of Songs of Solomon; 7 pm
at AMC Americana at Brand 18 (Tickets to be released soon) .
Monday, April 24: The Armenian Experience Through the Lens, Glendale’s Annual
Armenian Genocide Commemorative Event; 7 pm at The Alex Theatre.
Tuesday, April 25: Film screening of The Other Side of Home;
7:30pm The Alex Theatre.
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4- 2023 Pasadena Showcase House of
Design opens April 23
PASADENA—Continuing
in its 58th year, the Pasadena Showcase House of Design, will be open starting
from April 23. The 2023 Showcase House will reimagine Stewart House, a 1933
grand colonial estate with spectacular acreage in a storied Pasadena neighborhood. Public tours of the
Showcase House will take place April 23 – May 21, 2023.
Designed by Marston & Maybury, one of Pasadena’s most celebrated architectural
partnerships, Stewart House harkens back to the days of gracious architecture
and quintessential Showcase with over 11,000 square feet of living space sited
on two acres of carefully landscaped and exquisitely manicured grounds.
21 interior and landscape designers have been selected to
participate this year. The following Armenian artists and designers are
involved in this year’s Showcase House: Lara Hovanessian of Blue Brick Design
(for the Jewel Box Powder Room); Varand Zadoorian of Organized Garage Solutions
(for the Workshop); Eileen Hovsepian
of Courtney Thomas Design (for the Primary Suite); Linda Sarkissian, muralist
(for multiple rooms); Laura Durgaryan, muralist (for multiple rooms); Arpy
Daghlian, muralist (for multiple rooms).
Following just four short months of renovation, over 20,000 guests will
tour through the 30+ interior and landscape design spaces highlighting
cutting-edge trends in high-style living. Guests can expect the famous Shops at
Showcase, offering a variety of boutique and craft merchants, as well as several
on-site restaurants offering hot meals, grab & go snacks, as well as wine
and spirits.
Special programming has been planned throughout the event
featuring local musicians, docent-led garden tours, special brunches, and more.
For more information, visit
www.pasadenashowcase.org/showcase-house
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