Author: Andres-Papazian

TWO ARMENIAN DOCUMENTARIES TO AIR ON PBS

14:44, 15 Apr 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

Two Armenian documentaries, by the same filmmaker, will be shown
back-to-back on a Los Angeles PBS station. Such will be the case,
on KLCS-TV, on Sunday, April 19 at 5 PM and on Tuesday, April 21 at
8 PM, according to armenianlife.com.

Emmy award-winning journalist Peter Musurlian will debut, on
non-Armenian television, “Historic Armenia” and “The 100-Year-Old
Survivor.” The documentaries will be seen by about 40,000 people,
at least a third of whom, will not be Armenian.

The documentary highlights families that came to the San Joaquin
Valley after the 1915 Genocide. Those immigrants became involved in
the Valley’s agriculture, education, arts and culture, politics and
government and business communities.

Those interviewed for the film include the family of basketball
coach Jerry Tarkanian, television journalist Stefani Booroojian,
retired California Supreme Court Justice Marvin Baxter, Fresno County
Supervisor Debbie Poochigian and Honorary Counsel of the Republic of
Armenia Berj Apkarian.

Special guests will be in the KVPT studios during the broadcast to
talk more about their experiences.

Peter Musurlain (PM) discussesed hope for the future and why the world
should never turn a blind eye to injustice in a Q&A with Dan Lothian
(DL) of Heart Beings.

DL: How significant was the Pope’s declaration calling the slaughter
of Armenians “the first genocide of the 20th century?”

PM: This Armenian Genocide, of 1915 to 1923, is unique in that it is
unresolved, with more than 1.5 million innocent people killed and
500,000 others fleeing for their lives, ending up in places like
France, England, Australia, the Middle East, and North and South
America. As a cardinal, the Pope was a beloved friend of the Armenian
community of Argentina. Some 20 countries and 43 of our 50 state
legislatures have recognized as “genocide” what Turkey has never
acknowledged. So, there have been no apologies, no reparations, no
restitution. Having someone as significant as Pope Francis effortlessly
pay tribute to the victims of “the first genocide of the 20th century,”
left Armenians around the world tearful and grateful.

Email and social media instantly sent reaction to the Pope’s comments
to hundreds of thousands of Armenians who are the children and
grandchildren of genocide survivors.

DL: The Pope used the analogy of “a wound bleeding without a bandage”
when he spoke about evil being concealed or denied. Is that the
reality of this event for Armenians?

PM: Armenians, even 100 years later, might be better off not thinking
about these things. But how do you ignore the fact that you are here
today, because someone in your immediate family survived an effort to
wipe out two-thirds of the Christian Armenians living in the Ottoman
Empire? How do you forgive, forget, and move on when the Turkish
government has spent a hundred years cleansing their history books
of the crime and even putting people in jail for suggesting that
it was a genocide? The wound is two to three generations removed,
but it is still as fresh as it was in 1915.

DL: What is your message to political leaders and others who have
been afraid to speak boldly on this issue because of diplomatic risks?

PM: Overwhelmingly, politicians and historians have nothing to argue
about. The denial of the events, as most know them to be, would be
almost laughable in any other context. But Turkey is a NATO ally.

Turkey has an air force base in an unstable part of the world. There
are members of congress who aggressively deny the Armenian Genocide
to curry favor with the well-financed Turkish lobby. The example
of an unrepentant and unpunished Turkey no doubt has emboldened
lawless governments to do what we have seen in Cambodia, Bosnia,
and far-too-many regions in Africa. We know Hitler said, “Who today
speaks of the annihilation of the Armenians?” as he prepared his
Final Solution.

DL: What can we all learn from this?

PM: We all see, in our everyday lives, the good in people, and that
gives us a sense of hope for the future. But we can also see how bad
people can succeed at executing the most vile crime on Earth and then
see good people rationalize a tempered reaction. It is disheartening
to see it, but it is a reality.

DL: Why is acknowledging one word, “genocide,” so important?

PM: “Genocide” means it was an organized, systematic government plan
to cleanse the crumbling Ottoman Empire of its Christian Armenian
subjects. Armenians had lived on that land for thousands of years. It
took less than a decade to eliminate them. The Turks want you to
believe there were atrocities on both sides and that the deaths were
due to civil war during the confusion of WWI. No one believes that,
but that is their story, and they’re sticking to it. To call it
anything short of what it was would be a lie.

DL: Why should people around the world who are dealing with their
own battles for truth and justice care about this?

PM: No doubt, history repeats itself, and it has. It also makes us
less human to turn a blind eye to such injustice. That noted, it
is difficult for people, in their everyday lives, to keep track of
everything that is happening in the world, let alone what happened 100
years ago. But our leaders should not be distracted or disinterested.

When that happens, you have military leaders in Bosnia, in the
1990s, in Europe of all places, think they can get away with ethnic
cleansing. Bill Clinton was proud of stopping the atrocities in Bosnia,
but he believes he could have saved 300,000 lives in Rwanda if his
administration had acted sooner.

DL: You have two new documentaries on Armenia. Why did you do these
projects?

PM: I have been shooting, writing, and editing short- and long-form
news stories for 30 years. It is what I do. I have come to a point in
my life where I have the time, resources, and perspective to report
on the Armenian Genocide, in documentary form, in ways not often seen
or ever attempted. The result, I hope, will educate every person who
sees the films and leave them searching for their own truths.

From: A. Papazian

PRESIDENT ERDOGAN ANGRY OVER POPE’S ‘MISTAKE’

Gulf Times, Qatar
April 15 2015

Istanbul
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday expressed anger over
the Pope’s use of the word genocide to describe the mass killings
of Armenians in World War I, saying such talk was nonsense and the
pontiff should not repeat such a mistake again.

Ankara at the weekend summoned the Vatican nuncio and recalled the
Turkish envoy to the Holy See in a furious reaction to Pope Francis’
description of the killings of Armenians at the hands of Ottoman
forces.

“If politicians and religious leaders do the job of historians then
we will not get to the truth and only end with nonsense,” Erdogan said
in a speech in Ankara in his first reaction to the pope’s comments.

“Respected pope: I condemn this mistake and warn against making it
again,” he said to applause from an audience of businessmen.

Turkey has vehemently rejected the use of the term genocide to
describe the Ottoman era killings and is keeping to its line in the
100th anniversary of the tragedy.

Armenians say 1.5mn of their ancestors were killed in a targeted
campaign of extermination by Ottoman forces. The Turkish government
said hundreds of thousands of Muslims and Christians were killed on
both sides in a wartime tragedy.

The comments by the Pope, who visited Turkey last November, have led
to unprecedented attacks on the pontiff by Turkish officials.

EU minister Volkan Bozkir said Monday that the Pope had made the
comment because of a strong Armenian lobby in his homeland of
Argentina.

“I think Pope Francis made this statement because he is an Argentine.

Unfortunately, in Argentina, the Armenian diaspora is dominant in
the press and business world,” Bozkir said, quoted by the official
Anatolia news agency.

Referring to the influx of war criminals to Latin America after World
War II, Bozkir declared that Argentina “welcomed Nazis, who were the
lead performers of the Jewish Holocaust”.

At St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican on Sunday, the Pope described the
Armenians as the victims of “the first genocide of the 20th century”,
rankling Turkey, which immediately recalled its ambassador to the
Vatican for consultations in Ankara.

Turkish officials have slammed the Pope’s remarks as historically
“false”.

Turkey will also have to deal with a vote in the European Parliament
today on a resolution which calls for joining “the commemoration of
the centenary of the Armenian Genocide”.

The legislative body of the European bloc in 1987 recognised the
events as genocide. Several European nations have also recognised
the massacres as such, though others have refrained from doing so,
some fearing damage to their relations with Turkey.

On Monday, a spokesman for UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon had
described the killings as an “atrocity crime,” and not genocide.

Official commemorations of the massacres are to take place on April
24 in Armenia.

From: A. Papazian

THE TURKISH GOVERNMENT IS TRYING TO DENY THE FACTS ESTABLISHED BY THEIR COURT JUDGMENTS

April 15 2015

3 years ago the Head of the Department of Constitutional Law in ESY,
Council President of “Center for Constitutional Rights”, Doctor of
Law, Professor Gevorg Danielyan publicly emphasized that the fact of
Armenian Genocide was first recorded in the 1919-1921 in a few dozen
convictions of Turkish court which should have a critical value in
our foreign policy and international organizations, parliaments and
courts for Armenian Genocide recognition and condemnation of the idea.

We found it appropriate to ask a few questions to determine future
developments. -Mr. Danielyan, years ago you were sure that your view
will sooner or later bring international recognition and condemnation
of the Armenian Genocide and will become the basis of developments
in the direction of our country’s foreign policy and the one of the
determinant factors. What is the reaction? -Concerning this case
I haven`t made a mistake, for the first officially response was in
2015, on January 25, the president made a declaration on the 100th
anniversary of Armenian Genocide

From: A. Papazian

CENTENAIRE DU GENOCIDE ARMENIEN : TISSER DES LIENS DANS LES RELATIONS TURCO – ARMENIENNES

EPRS | Service de recherche du Parlement europeen

Centenaire du genocide armenien : tisser des liens dans les relations
turco-armeniennes

Chaque 24 avril a lieu une journee de commemoration du genocide
armenien. Le deplacement force des Armeniens ottomans en 1915, il
y a un siècle, demeure l’un des aspects les plus importants et les
plus controverses des relations turco-armeniennes. Des centaines
de milliers d’Armeniens ont ete deportes dans des conditions
extremement rudes. Nombre d ‘entre eux n’ont pas survecus, et les
causes sous-jacentes de ce lourd bilan font aujourd’hui encore l’objet
d’une intense controverse. Cent ans plus tard, comment les deux pays
peuvent-ils etablir une communication, une cooperation et une confiance
mutuel le effectives ? Armenie et Turquie : un destin croise Toutes
les nations ont connu des jours glorieux et des jours noirs au cours
de leur histoire , qui faconnent leur identite. Les Armeniens et les
Turcs ont un destin croise , ne de leurs amères experiences de la
Première Guerre mondiale, dont ils ont tous deux grandement souffert.

Des millions de personnes de toutes les religions et de toutes les
ethnies ont perdu la vie dans cette guerre . L’une des plus vieilles
controverses dans la politique europeenne actuelle et en droit
international re ste la question du ” genocide armenien “. Du point de
vue des Armeniens, les preuves historique s du genocide sont gravees
dans le marbre. Les Turcs, quant a eux, contestent farouchement le
terme “genocide”. Bien qu’ils admettent que des crimes ont ete commis
lors des deportations massives de la population armenienne hors du
territoire turc en 1915 et 1916, ils affirment que les souffrances
infligees aux Armeniens etaient des actes de guerre contre une natio
n qui avait manque de loyaute envers l’ Empire ottoman , auquel elle
appartenait, en se ralliant a l’ennemi durant la Première Guerre
mondiale. Il y a exactement un siècle , en mars 1915, les flottes
britannique et francaise, aux côtes du corps d’armee australien et
neo-zelandais (ANZAC), tentèrent de franchir le detroit turc des
Dardanelles , afin d’attaquer Istanbul et d’ouvrir un nouveau front
dans la Première Guerre mondiale, lors de la campagne de Gallipoli (
Canakkale ). Parallèlement, le gouvernement ottoman avait entrepris de
deplacer sa population armenienne des regions orientales de l’Empire
voisines de son ennemi jure, la Russie. Dans le chaos de la guerre
, les Ottomans craignaient que la Russie ne pousse le “millet”
des Armeniens chretiens a la revolte et ne fragmente ainsi l’Empire
ottoman tandis que ses troupes affrontaient les allies de la Russie,
les Britanniques et les Francais. Le deplacement force des Armeniens
fut marque par des actes de violence et de dep redation. Aujourd’hui,
les Armeniens, rejoints par la plupart des historiens, affirment que
1,5 million de leurs ancetres furent deliberement et systematiquement
massacres dans le premier g enocide du monde moderne. Il n’existe
aucun chiffre precis et irrefutable attestant du nombre de victimes,
mais l’ampleur de la catastrophe paraît incontestable. 24 avril 1915
Le 24 avril 1915, le ministre de l’interieur Mehmed Talaat signa le
mandat d’arret de 250 intellectuels, personnalites culturelles et
hommes d’affaires d’origine ar menienne a Constantinople, qui furent
emmenes en centres de detention. Des centaines d’autres subirent
le meme sort. Quelques semaines plus tard, Talaat promulgua la
loi Tehcir , prevoyant l’expulsion de la population armenienne de
l’Empire. Les Armeniens furent chasses et expropries. Les soldats
ottomans massacrèrent des villages entiers, enterrant leurs habitants
dans des fosses communes. Certains Armeniens furent envoyes dans des
camps de concentration. En 1919, plus d’un million d’Armeniens avaient
ete tues. Dans un premier temps, l’Empire ottoman, vaincu, reconnut les
massacres des Armenie ns et jugea certains responsables, en Turquie
et, par la suite, a Malte . Cependant, quand Ataturk renversa le
regime ottoman et fonda la Turquie moderne en 1923, les attitudes
commencèrent a changer . Le procès de Malte et le vide juridique.

En 1919, plus de cent Turcs furent expulses a Malte par les
Britanniques pour y etre juges pour crimes de guerre, en ce compris
les crimes commis a l’encontre de la population armenienne. Le manque
de preuves concrètes, et l’absence d’un cadre juridique approprie,
avec une juridiction supranationale, se solda par le rapatriement et
la liberation des detenus turcs, en echange de vingt-deux prisonniers
britanniques detenus par Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk). Au lendemain de la
Première Guerre mondiale, les normes internationales relatives aux
crimes de guerre etaient limitees. Le juge Giovanni Bonello ecrit
dans son ouvrage Histories of Malta qu’une “serie de coïncidences
orchestrees” empecha le procès de Malte de jouer, a l’issue de la
Première Guerre mondiale, un rôle similaire a celui du procès de
Nuremberg après la Deuxième Guerre mondiale.

L’echec du procès de Malte laissa en suspens la controverse sur le
genocide armenien. En 1919, le vide juridique etait immense. Les
tribunaux militaires britanniques etaient seulement competents pour
juger trois types de delits (violation des termes de l’armistice,
obstacle a leur mise en application et mauvais traitement des
prisonniers de guerre britanniques), mais uniquement dans les
territoires occupes, et non a Malte. Tous les autres delits, y compris
les crimes perpetres contre la population armenienne, ” menacaient
de creer un desert juridique ; dès lors, il etait plus souhaitable
qu’un futur traite de paix statue sur ceux-ci”.

La conference de paix de Paris crea une “commission des responsabilites
des auteurs de la guerre et sanctions” . Les travaux de la
commission aboutirent a l’article 230 du traite de Sèvres qui
obligeait l’Empire ottoman a livrer aux puissances alliees toutes
les personnes soupconnees d’avoir commis des massacres pendant la
guerre, a reconnaître le droit des Allies a “designer” les tribunaux
competents pour juger les accuses et a fournir tous les documents
et renseignements necessaires pour apporter la preuve des faits
incrimines afin de veiller a ce que les accuses fassent l’objet de
poursuites. Malheureusement, cette base juridique, une première dans
son genre, etait trop vague. Le procès de Malte aurait pu revolutionner
le principe fondamental de la legalite des delits et des peines . Le
traite de Sèvres fut ensuite remplace par le traite de Lausanne ,
qui fixe les frontières de la Turquie moderne.

La definition juridique du terme “genocide” n’apparut que bien plus
tard, en 194 8, dans la Convention pour la prevention et la repression
du crime de genocide, et a depuis ete integree dans le statut de Rome
de la Cour penale internationale .

Avancees mineures, mais neanmoins substantielles

Le 24 avril 2015, des ceremonies de commemoration du centenaire de
ces atrocites seront organisees a Erevan et aux quatre coins du globe.

Dans le monde d’aujourd’hui, les rivalites tirees du passe et
la creation de nouveaux antagonismes ne sont pas propice s a la
construction d’un avenir commun qui pourrait apporter des avantages
mutuels. Celui-ci necessite un dialogue clair et une comprehension
mutuelle, qui permettent de tourner la page de cet evenement tragique,
de manière equitable. Au cours des dix dernières annees, la position
officielle de la Turquie s’est assouplie. En avril 2014, l’ancien
Premier ministre et president actuel de la Turquie, Recep Tayyip
Erdogan , a reconnu l’importance du 24 avril pour les Armeniens . Il
a qualifie les evenements historiques d'”inhumains” et a presente
ses condoleances aux petits-enfants de ceux qui ont perdu la vie dans
ces circonstances. Bien que dans sa declaration, M. Erdogan n’ait ni
presente ses excuses, ni reconnu le genocide en tant que tel, l’annonce
marque un changement radical dans le discours de la Turquie et dans
sa manière d’apprehender les evenements de 1915. La reconciliation
est confrontee a d’immenses defis et retentit tant sur l’identite
que sur l’histoire. Differentes actions de la societe civile turque
seront egalement organisees a l’occasion des commemorations de Erevan,
dans l’esprit prône par Hrant Dink , journaliste d’origine armenienne
assassine. C’etait egalement l’orientation qui etait generalement
privilegiee par les deux gouvernements avant qu’ils ne s’engagent
dans les discussions sur les protocoles de 2009 . Parmi les solutions
evoquees , le gouvernement turc pourrait decider, de son plein gre,
d’ouvrir sa frontière avec l’Armenie ; cela s’apparenterait a la
decision des autorites chypriotes turques, en avril 2003, de lever
les restrictions qui pesaient depuis longtemps sur le passage vers la
partie chypriote grecque, ce qui a contribue a apaiser les tensions
. Un geste similaire de la Turquie envers l’Armenie aurait un effet
semblable sur leurs relations, dès que les deux pays se seront occupes
de leurs propres commemorations de 1915.

La position du Parlement europeen La resolution du Parlement europeen
de 1987 “sur une solution politique de la question armenienne” n’a pas
encore conduit le gouvernement turc a reconnaître la realite historique
du genocide de 1915. Dans ses vingt resolutions relatives aux relations
entre l’Union et la Turquie, en ce compris le rapport annuel sur les
progrès accomplis par la Turquie en vue de son adhesion a l’Union
europeenne, le Parlement europeen a systematiquement reitere cette
demande au gouvernement turc. Par ailleurs, la Turquie a toujours
ete encouragee a signer le statut de la CPI, comme elle s’y est
d’ailleurs declaree disposee en 2004 . Cet appel apparaît a nouveau
dans la resolution du Parlement europeen du 12 mars 2015 concernant
son rapport annuel sur les droits de l’homme. Le 17 mars 2015, l’
Assemblee parlementaire Euronest a adopte une resolution sur le
centenaire du genocide armenien, invitant la Turquie a “accepter
son passe”, soul ignant que le deni du genocide represente l’etape
finale du genocide et que “l’absence de condamnation sans equivoque
et rapide du genocide armenien a largement contribue a l’echec de la
prevention de crimes ulterieurs contre l’humanite”

mercredi 15 avril 2015, Stephane (c)armenews.com

From: A. Papazian

TURKEY’S ETHNIC ARMENIANS WARY ABOUT FUTURE

EurasiaNet.org
April 14 2015

April 14, 2015 – 2:27pm, by Dorian Jones

The upcoming 100th anniversary of the Medz Yeghern, or the “Great
Catastrophe,” is highlighting the mixed feelings that Turkey’s tiny
ethnic Armenian minority has for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s
administration.

On April 24, Armenians around the world will mark the World-War-I-era
deaths of hundreds of thousands ethnic Armenians in Ottoman-era
Turkey. It is a tragedy that for many historians and analysts
constitutes an act of genocide.

Turkey denies the claim of genocide. On April 12, Ankara withdrew its
ambassador from the Vatican after Pope Francis termed the massacre
“the first genocide of the 20th century.”

Ankara’s official position is that the number of reported deaths is
exaggerated and that the victims died during a wartime attempt to
put down a domestic uprising.

Until recently, the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP)
seemed increasingly open to public acknowledgement of the massacre.

For example, for the past five years at Taksim Square, in the heart
of Istanbul, hundreds of ethnic Armenians and Turks held an annual
vigil on April 24 to commemorate the slayings.

“The state’s perception of 1915, of Armenians, has changed in
a positive way from before,” claimed Markar Esaian, a prominent
Turkish-Armenian columnist for the pro-government Yeni Safak newspaper.

“There is an unacknowledged fact that for the last 90 years, on April
24 we were not able to commemorate the people we lost in 1915. We
could not do commemoration ceremonies in the churches or visit the
cemeteries because it was very dangerous. It was not officially banned,
but if we had done it, it would have been seriously dangerous for
us. Now we can and do all these things.”

Last year, in a first for a senior Turkish official, then-Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered condolences to the relatives
of those who had died during the mass killings of 1915. The statement
was widely described as groundbreaking.

But as international preparations began for marking the centennial of
the killings, there has been a marked shift in the Turkish leadership’s
rhetoric.

Armenia and Turkey are locked in a verbal tussle not only over claims
of genocide, but over allegations that they are both trying to upstage
each other on April 24. On that day, Ankara plans to mark the World
War I triumph of Turkish troops over allied forces at Gallipoli. The
commemoration of that victory in previous years had been held in March.

The recent maneuvering has caused unease in Turkey’s ethnic Armenian
minority. “The atmosphere is changing,” claimed Yetvart Danzikian,
editor of the Turkish-Armenian-language weekly Agos. “We can see
hard language about Armenians again. Yes, the AKP did some reforms,
but we have entered a new period.”

During his presidential campaign last August, Erdogan termed being
called an Armenian “even worse” than the usual political insults.

Nationalist rhetoric often marks Turkish political campaigns, but
some fear that, in addition to the tension surrounding April 24,
anti-Armenian slurs could incite nationalist attacks. In March,
an Armenian church in Istanbul was covered in anti-Armenian graffiti.

The experience of the Jewish minority also provides cause for concern.

In March, a pro-AKP television station broadcast a 90-minute
documentary about alleged international Jewish conspiracies against
Turkey.

Political scientist Ayhan Aktar of Istanbul’s Bilgi University sees
the AKP’s nationalist remarks as rooted in Erdogan’s desire “to be
the defining leader of Turkey of the 21st century.” There is also a
pragmatic reason for Erdogan’s shift: for the past two years, he has
been engaged in a political struggle with former ally Fetullah Gulen,
an influential Islamic cleric who lives in self-imposed exile in the
United States. Some local observers believe that to win such a battle,
the president is trying to woo a new ally – the military.

Erdogan has had a tense relationship with the military, spending
much of his tenure as prime minister trying to diminish the political
influence of Turkey’s generals. But in March, Erdogan apologized to
generals arrested as part of a wide-ranging coup investigation for
wrongful prosecution. In April, the courts overturned all 236 related
convictions and released all those jailed.

Some of these individuals are popularly believed to have been part of
the so-called derin devlet, or deep state, a shadowy group of officials
and military brass that ran extra-legal operations. The deep state
is widely blamed for being behind assassinations and attacks against
Turkey’s ethnic Armenians.

“With the jailing, the attacks and intimidation [against ethnic
Armenians] stopped,” Agos Editor Danzikian noted. But now, the
president “is making an alliance with the army.”

“The consequence of this alliance is that Erdogan is much closer
to army thoughts, secular authoritarian thoughts and state
authoritarianism.”

Consequently, the releases pose a dilemma for ethnic Armenians about
how to view the AKP.

“They recognize this government has done more than their predecessors
[to normalize ties with the country’s ethnic Armenians]. That
is clear,” argued political scientist Cengiz Aktar of Istanbul’s
Suleyman Ã…~^ah University. “But [ethnic Armenians] also recognize
the present policies of the government on democracy, human rights,
and opening up of the public space are getting worrisome.”

Some Armenians still appear willing to give the government the
benefit of the doubt. Before the AKP came to power, “I felt … like a
foreigner, even a dangerous foreigner, but now I feel like an equal
citizen” in Turkey, declared columnist Esaian.” I am talking for
myself, but there are many who feel like me and we see that it will
get better.”

Hope persists that with the conclusion of the two centennials and
the June elections, tensions will subside. But some prefer to stay
cautious. “I want to believe the steps [toward better relations
with ethnic Armenians] are permanent, but I am not sure,” said Agos’
Danzikian.

Editor’s note: Dorian Jones is a freelance reporter based in Istanbul.

From: A. Papazian

ERDOGAN SLAMS POPE, WARNS HIM ON REPEATING ARMENIAN REMARK

Europe Online Magazine
April 14 2015

14.04.2015
By our dpa-correspondent

Istanbul (dpa) – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday
accused Pope Francis of speaking “nonsense” and cautioned the Catholic
leader not to repeat remarks about the Armenians being victims of
“genocide.”

At St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican on Sunday, the pope described the
Armenians as the victims of “the first genocide of the 20th century,”
rankling Turkey, which immediately recalled its ambassador to the
Vatican for consultations in Ankara.

“The honorable pope will likely not make this mistake again,” Erdogan
lashed out during a conference of Turkish exporters in Ankara, adding
that he was “warning” the Catholic leader.

“When politicians and clerics take on the work of historians, it is
not the truth that comes out but rather, like today, nonsense.”

Turkish officials have slammed the pope’s remarks as historically
“false.”

Turkey denies that the killing and mass deportation of Armenians in
the final years of the Ottoman Empire during World War I was genocide.

Armenians say up to 1.5 million people were killed.

Turkey will also have to deal with a vote in the European Parliament
on Wednesday on a resolution which calls for joining “the commemoration
of the centenary of the Armenian Genocide.”

The legislative body of the European bloc in 1987 recognized the
events as genocide. Several European nations have also recognized
the massacres as such, though others have refrained from doing so,
some fearing damage to their relations with Turkey.

On Monday, a spokesman for UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon had
desribed the killings as an “atrocity crime,” and not genocide.

Turkey, the successor state to the Ottoman Empire, says both Turks and
Armenians were killed in unrest during the war and accuses Armenia
of inflating the number of people who died. The deportations were
said to be for security reasons.

Official commemorations of the massacres are to take place on April
24 in Armenia. Memorial events are also scheduled in Istanbul, where
on that day in 1915 more than 200 Armenian community leaders were
rounded up by police to be deported.

From: A. Papazian

CHINA’S CONSTRUCTION OF SILK ROAD TRASNPORT CORRIDOR BENEFITS ARMENIA: LAWMAKER

People’s Daily Online , China
April 10, 2015 Friday

YEREVAN, April 10 — China’s construction of the Silk Road
transportation corridor running through Armenia serves the interests
of Armenia, a member of the Armenian Parliament has said.

Gagik Minasyan, deputy of Armenia’s National Assembly, was quoted
by local media reports as saying on Friday that Armenia is a most
favorable country for hosting construction of the transport corridor
within the framework of China’s initiatives on the building the Silk
Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road (popularly
known as the The Belt and Road Initiatives).

China’s investment in the construction of the transport corridor can
be safe in Armenia, Minasyan said.

In the meantime, he emphasized the importance of Armenian President
Serzh Sargsyan’s state visit to China on March 24-28, and the
agreements signed during his meetings with China’s top officials.

“The agreements also include the construction of North-South main road,
which actually can be a transport corridor of the Silk Road in south
Caucasus,” Minasyan concludes.

The Belt and Road Initiatives, firstly brought up by Chinese President
Xi Jinping in 2013, are intended to connect Asian, European and African
countries more closely and promote mutually beneficial cooperation.

Some experts believe the initiatives may also bolster China’s
industrial upgrading, urbanization and coordinated development among
the regions concerned.

From: A. Papazian

TURKEY RECALLS ITS VATICAN ENVOY AMID ROW OVER POPE’S REFERENCE TO ‘GENOCIDE’ OF ARMENIANS

The Japan Times
April 12 2015

ANKARA – Turkey on Sunday said it was recalling its ambassador to
the Vatican for consultations in an escalating diplomatic row over
Pope Francis’ use of the word “genocide” to describe the massacres
of Armenians by Ottoman forces during World War I.

“Our ambassador to the Vatican Mr Mehmet Pacaci is being recalled back
to Turkey for consultations,” the foreign ministry said in a statement
after earlier summoning the Vatican’s envoy to Ankara to the ministry.

Reaffirming similar comments earlier by Foreign Minister Mevlut
Cavusoglu, the foreign ministry said that the pope’s comments were
“incompatible with the legal and historical facts.”

It accused the pope of a “selective overview” of World War I and
“ignoring the atrocities suffered by the Turkish and Muslim peoples
who lost their lives” in favor of concentrating on Christians and
above all Armenians.

The ministry said the pope’s comments were a “serious deviation”
from the message of peace and reconciliation he brought during his
landmark visit to Turkey last November.

“Our views were made clear on this matter when the Vatican envoy was
invited to our ministry today,” it said, referring to the summoning
earlier of the papal nuncio to Turkey.

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE WAS IDEOLOGICAL, NOT RELIGIOUS: CATHOLICOS ARAM I

14:23, 15 Apr 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

The Armenian genocide was motivated by ideology, not religion, the
head of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Cilicia told Vatican Insider.

But he added that today, the Turkish government is seeking to focus
on religious differences, according to the Catholic Culture.

Catholicos Aram I said that while the Turkish regime resists the use
of the term “genocide” to describe the mass killings of 1915, “the
intent of Turkey was genocidal.” He explained that the Armenian people,
with their own ethnic culture, were an obstacle to the pan-Turkish
ideology of the secular regime. “Religion was not a factor,” he said.

Today, however, Turkey has angrily protested the reference by Pope
Francis to the Armenian genocide, saying that the Pope’s remarks
were based on prejudice–hinting at a Christian bias against an
Islamic country.

“Now they are using religion in order to create this sensitivity
between Christianity and Islam,” Catholicos Aram said. “That is
not acceptable.”

From: A. Papazian

WHAT IS ARMENIAN GENOCIDE DENIAL? 10 FACTS, QUOTES FOR THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MASS KILLINGS IN TURKEY

International Business Times
April 12 2015

By Elizabeth Whitman

It’s been 100 years since the Armenian genocide began and Ottoman Turks
started killing as many as 1.5 million Armenians over the course of
several years, primarily in what is now eastern Turkey. The genocide
is commemorated April 24 every year, but the descriptive term itself
remains the subject of fierce controversy. Below are 10 key facts to
know about the Armenian genocide.

1. Most estimates indicate between 600,000 and 1.5 million Armenians
died at the hands of the Ottoman Turks from 1915 to 1918. In an
attempt to keep Armenian men from joining forces with the Russians
during World War I, Ottoman authorities deported them to Iraq and
Syria. Many starved to death or were killed.

2. The U.S. refuses to officially call it a genocide, out of deference
to its ally Turkey. During his U.S. senate and presidential campaigns,
President Barack Obama promised to use the word “genocide” to
describe the mass killing. In 2008, he said, “The Armenian genocide
is not an allegation, a personal opinion or a point of view, but
rather a widely documented fact supported by an overwhelming body of
historical evidence.” As president, however, Obama has yet to declare
it a genocide.

3. A few U.S. politicians have proposed legislation or resolutions that
would officially recognize the Armenian genocide as such, but Turkey
has rejected these efforts. In 2014, the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee adopted a resolution to label the massacre a genocide,
and Turkey quickly condemned it. In March, four members of Congress
also proposed legislation to recognize the genocide.

4. Turkey claims the number of deaths is exaggerated and that they
came about not because of genocidal policies targeting Armenians but
because of civil war. According to Agence France-Presse, Turkish
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called for an impartial review
of the events and said, “If the results actually reveal that we have
committed a crime, if we have a price to pay, then as Turkey we would
assess it and take the required steps.”

5. Armenians in the diaspora are hopeful that this could be the
year Obama recognizes the genocide. Aram S. Hamparian, executive
director of the Armenian National Committee of America, told the Los
Angeles Times “very senior people in the White House” told him that
the administration would thoroughly review the matter this year,
for the first time since 2009.

6. The genocide is officially commemorated April 24, the date in
1915 when the Young Turks arrested about 200 leaders in the Armenian
community and later executed them. The date is frequently marked with
rallies and marches in Armenian communities around the world.

7. The modern-day Armenian diaspora is estimated to encompass 10
million people, and its members are scattered all over the world,
from Europe to Asia to North America.

8. The dispute over the term “genocide” still plays out in courts. In
January, attorney Amal Clooney, representing Armenia, faced off
against Armenian genocide denier Dogu Perincek in the European Court
of Human Rights. The court had overturned Perincek’s 2007 conviction
for denying the genocide, on the grounds that it violated his right
to free speech, and Armenia was appealing that decision.

9. When the genocide happened, it was largely condemned by the
international community, but no country took action directly against
the Ottoman Empire for the genocide. However, some governments
sponsored reports to document what the Armenians had gone through.

10. Massacres of Armenians during the genocide didn’t occur in Turkey
alone. Armenians were killed in Syria, as well. This map illustrates
the routes many Armenians were forced to follow during “death marches,”
not only throughout Turkey but also into Iraq and Syria.

From: A. Papazian