Author: Babajanian Karo

GERMANY PLANS TO RECOGNIZE ARMENIAN MASSACRE IN 1915 AS GENOCIDE

Bloomberg
April 20 2015

by Stefan Nicola

April 20, 2015

A picture released by the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute dated
1915 purportedly shows soldiers standing over skulls of victims from
the Armenian village of Sheyxalan in the Mush valley, on the Caucasus
front during the First World War. A hundred years after an estimated
million members of the empire’s Christian minority were forced from
their homes on death marches by Turkish forces during World War I,
Germany is still struggling to come to terms with its role in enabling
the massacres that many European governments, including Pope Francis,
call the first genocide of the twentieth century. Source: STR/AFP
via Getty Images

Germany plans for the first time to officially recognize the killing
of hundreds of thousands of Armenians by the Turkish regime 100 years
ago as genocide.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition will vote on April 24 to label the
murders as genocide as defined by the United Nations in 1948. The lower
house vote is on the same day as leaders meet in the Armenian capital
of Yerevan to commemorate the massacre that began in April 1915.

Germany’s ruling parties plan in their resolution to “find a
formulation which states the fact that a genocide took place in
Turkey,” Franz Josef Jung, deputy faction leader of Merkel’s Christian
Democrats, said in a statement Monday.

Germany has been under pressure from some of its European partners
to follow their example and more fully recognize the depth of the
Armenian tragedy. Germany maintains that the onus is on Turkey to
publicly come to terms with its past actions, as Germany did with
the Holocaust. Turkey recognizes the killings, while rejecting the
genocide label.

While it’s “very important” that Turks and Armenians reconcile over
the killings, “such a coming to terms with the past can’t be forced
on someone from abroad — it’s a domestic issue,” Christiane Wirtz,
a government spokeswoman, told reporters last week.

Merkel’s government faces a difficult balancing act in voting on the
measure, while trying to not further antagonize Turkey. Germany is
Turkey’s biggest trading partner in the European Union, its biggest
foreign investor and home to the largest group of Turks outside
the country.

Yerevan Event

France, Russia, Greece, Sweden and the Netherlands are among countries
that recognize the killings as genocide and will be sending senior
representatives to Yerevan on Friday. Merkel won’t attend, and instead
will send a junior foreign minister in her place.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced he will be
holding his own ceremony on the same day to mark the 1915 Gallipoli
campaign, even though the World War I battle is normally observed on
a different date.

The European Parliament will vote Wednesday on a resolution urging
Turkey “to come to terms with its past” and to recognize the scale
of its deed, a measure that Erdogan says he plans to ignore.

Last year, Turkey offered its first-ever condolences over mass
deportations that preceded the Armenian deaths. Armenia estimates
1.5 million ethnic Armenians were killed from 1915 to 1923. Turkey
says the figure is inflated and that killings of Armenians took place
during clashes in which thousands of Turks also died.

The fate of the Armenians “exemplifies the history of mass
extermination, ethnic cleansing, expulsion and genocide that
characterizes the 20th century in such a terrible way,” Jung said in
his statement.

PROSECUTION DEMANDS MINIMUM SIX YEAR SENTENCE IN VARDAN PETROSYAN CASE

Zaruhi Mejlumyan

17:45, April 21, 2015

Today, at the Court of Appeals, two complaints filed by prosecutor
Artur Sargsyan and the defendants’ lawyer were heard in the case of
Vardan Petrosyan.

Petrosyan’s lawyer Nikolai Baghdasaryan argued against the complaints
but Petrosyan wasn’t given the chance to express his own opinion.

The court sustained the motion of Ruben Baloyan, lawyer for the
defendents, and the court case was postponed until May 5.

Readers will remember that the prosecutor and the defendents are
opposed to the verdict handed down by the Kotayk Regional Court on
January 29 according to which Vardan Petrosyan was sentenced to five
years. They are demanding a minimum sentence of six years.

In addition, the prosector wants Petrosyan to be stripped of his
driving license for three years and not two as the court declared.

The main argument put forth by Baloyan is that the sentence handed down
by the court does not fit the crime; the death of two and four injured.

Petrosyan’s lawyer argued against the motions to modify his client’s
prison sentence, saying that they should be thrown out. The lawyer
noted that the examples brought by the prosecutor of cases where
the courts have revised earlier judicial sentences, making them more
severe, have no relvevance to the current case.

Baghdasaryan also stressed that his client still considers himself
innocent given that the regional court sentence was based on fabricated
evidence.

CENTENNIAL OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE: RECOGNITION AND RECONCILIATION

Huffington post
April 20 2015

David L. Phillips
Director of the Program on Peace-building and Rights, Columbia
University’s Institute for the Study of Human Rights

The following are remarks I gave at the New York University conference
“Armenians a Century After the Genocide: What Next?” on April 17, 2015.

My remarks concern the past, the present and the future.

The facts have been documented over a century of scholarship,
eyewitness accounts, and testimony in trials carried out in Istanbul
under Allied occupation after World War I. Sultan Abdul Hamid II
launched bloody pogroms in late 19th century, resulting in deaths of
250,000 ethnic Armenians living on territories of the Ottoman Empire.

Armenian community leaders were rounded up, killed, and deported
on April 24, 1915. During the ensuing eight years, Armenians were
systematically eliminated from their homeland. Up to 1.5 million died
between 1915 and 1923.

Enough interminable discussions about whether the extermination of
Armenians rises to the definition of “genocide.” Pope Francis recently
called the slaughter of Armenians by Ottoman Turks “the first genocide
of the 20th century.”

In turn, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan “condemned and warned” Francis
not to make “such a mistake again.” Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu
accused Francis of “blackmail,” saying the pontiff had joined an
“evil front.”

Erdogan wrote Armenia’s president, Robert Kocharian, on April 10,
2005. He proposed a joint history commission to study archives and
historical records. Erdogan expected the commission would refute the
genocide and undermine efforts aimed at genocide recognition. The
initiative was not a sincere effort aimed at illuminating the truth. I
have never supported officially sponsored history commissions. They
are usually disingenuous efforts, which open the door to assertions of
“shared suffering.” Moral equivalency is another instrument of denial.

I have been involved in Turkish and Armenian issues since 1998. Then
Turks were uncomfortable at the mere mention of Armenian issues. It
was a code word for genocide recognition.

Today things are different. Turks are no longer committed to
categorical denial. Armenian issues are widely discussed by Turks.

Hasan Cemal, the well-known journalist and grandson of Cemal Pasha,
a Genocide-era Turkish leader, wrote a book called The Armenian
Genocide. Despite logistical obstacles, civil society initiatives
engage Turks and Armenians on a broad range of issues. The European
Parliament resolution of April 15 urges Ankara “to recognize the
Armenian Genocide and thus to pave the way for a genuine reconciliation
between the Turkish and Armenian peoples.”

The Turkish-Armenian Reconciliation Commission (TARC), which I chaired
from 2001 to 2004, was the first systematic effort to foster dialogue
between Turks and Armenians. It was launched during the absence of
official contact between Ankara and Yerevan. TARC helped break the
ice and acted as a lightning rod so other initiatives could proceed.

TARC’s final recommendations provided a way forward. TARC:

Suggested confidence-building measures between Turks and Armenians.

Called on Turkey to end its embargo and open its border to Armenia.

Recommended that the Turkish and Armenian governments issue statements
in support of civil society programs in the fields of education,
science, culture, trade, and tourism.

Proposed intensified government-to-government contacts leading to
negotiations on normalization and opening the border for normal travel
and trade.

TARC also found a way to address the genocide. It asked the
International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) to facilitate
an independent legal analysis on the “applicability of the United
Nations Genocide Convention to events which occurred during the early
twentieth century.” Based on the definition in the Genocide Convention
(Article I, A-E), the finding concluded:

International law generally prohibits the retroactive application of
treaties…. The Genocide Convention contains no provision mandating
its retroactive application. … Therefore, no legal, financial or
territorial claim arising out of the Events could successfully be
made against any individual or state under the Convention.

(This does not exclude claims under other rubrics of international
or national law.)

The analysis continued:

The term genocide … may be applied, however, to many and various
events that occurred prior to entry into force of the Convention. …

[Based on the definition of genocide, the] core facts common to all
the various accounts of the Events … were met…. [A]t least some
of the perpetrators of the Events knew that the consequence of their
actions would be the destruction, in whole or in part, of the Armenians
of eastern Anatolia, as such, or acted purposively towards this goal,
and, therefore, possessed the requisite genocidal intent.

… [T]he Events … can thus be said to include all of the elements
of the crime of genocide as defined in the Convention, and legal
scholars as well as historians, politicians, journalists and other
people would be justified in continuing to so describe them.

I did not use the term “genocide” to characterize the events when
TARC was launched. Based on the ICTJ-facilitated analysis, I do use
the term today.

TARC was controversial. Some of TARC’s initial discussions were
confidential. Extremists on both sides were excluded. TARC was
accused of being a pawn of the U.S. government; TARC members allegedly
received compensation.

For the record: The U.S. supported TARC. So did five other
governments. No payments were made to TARC members. I took all
decisions regarding composition and agenda. Nobody in the State
Department told me what to do; U.S. officials knew better.

TARC’s findings and recommendations were endorsed by 53 Nobel
laureates. President George W. Bush twice commended TARC for its
contribution in his Remembrance Day statements in 2004 and 2005.

Track two is not a substitute for official diplomacy. Swiss mediation
picked up where TARC left off. Beginning in 2007, Swiss diplomats
facilitated talks between Turkish and Armenian officials. Negotiations
resulted in the Protocols on Establishment of Diplomatic Relations and
Development of Bilateral Relations (10 Oct. 2009). Prof. Dr. Michael
Ambuhl, Switzerland’s State Secretary for Foreign Affairs, played a
pivotal role.

The Protocols were a breakthrough. However, it became apparent
that Ankara negotiated in bad faith. Erdogan linked ratification to
resolution of issues in Nagorno-Karabakh (NK), though NK does not
appear in text or annexes. He dismissed reports of de-linkage as
“slander and disinformation.” He went to Baku and assured his Azeri
brothers that the Protocols would not be ratified as long as any
Azeri territory was occupied by Armenians. With Erdogan undermining
ratification, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton concluded,
“The ball is in Turkey’s court.”

It is time to see Turkey for what it is, not how it used to be or how
we wish it were. Under Erdogan, Turkey has become an authoritarian
state. In 2012, environmental demonstrations in Taksim Square’s Gezi
Park sparked protests in 60 cities. Police brutality was widespread.

Erdogan’s government does not tolerate dissent. It uses Article
301 of the Penal Code and Article 8 of the Anti-Terror Act to limit
freedom of expression. Political opponents are silenced, arrested
under trumped-up charges, and fired form their jobs.

Beginning in 2012, Turks aided jihadi groups including ISIS through
logistics, financing, weapons, and health services. Turkey has refused
the multinational coalition fighting ISIS access to Incirlik Air
Force Base near Turkey’s border with Syria.

NATO is more than a security alliance. It is a coalition of countries
with shared values. Turkey’s anti-Western and anti-democratic practices
make it unsuitable as a NATO ally. If NATO were being formed today,
Turkey would not qualify as a member.

The Way Forward

Following are some steps that Turkish and Armenian civil society can
take, and ways the international community can support their efforts:

Open the border and, at a minimum, establish diplomatic relations.

Assist contact, communication and cooperation between Turks and
Armenians by expanding the EU’s support for people-to-people projects.

The State Department can also support such efforts by making an
umbrella grant to an organization which would fast-track grants to
partners in the region.

Renew discussion about the ICTJ-facilitated analysis on the
applicability of the Genocide Convention. Both sides can find benefit
from its findings.

Foster alternative views within the AKP. Just two days ago, former
President Abdullah Gul warned about the dangers of an executive
presidency. Political pluralism in Turkey deserves support.

Organize a reunion of Turkish and Armenian diplomats who negotiated
the Protocols (after Turkey’s national elections on June 7). Swiss
Authorities could facilitate the informal meeting through their
ambassadors in Ankara and Yerevan.

Resist efforts to link ratification of the Protocols on progress in
Nagorno-Karabakh. Turkey-Armenia relations are a bilateral issue.

Azerbaijan under President Ilham Aliev is prone to conflict, not
conciliation.

Reengage Hillary Clinton in Turkish-Armenian issues. She invested
her personal prestige into the signing of the Protocols. Mrs. Clinton
has a stake in the issue.

Recognize the genocide. President Obama referred to the genocide as
“Meds Yeghern,” or “Great Calamity” in the Armenian language. Obama
says, “My personal views are well-known.” However, the president of
the United States is not entitled to a personal opinion. He should say
“genocide” in this year’s presidential statement on Remembrance Day.

Doing so would catalyze greater discussion in Turkish society. It
would put the United States on the right side of history. Genocide
recognition is also a legacy issue for Barack Obama.

I salute the heroic and visionary efforts of Turks and Armenians.

Reconciliation is a lot like riding a bicycle: Stop pedaling and you
fall over.

Contact and cooperation can advance to the goal of rapprochement.

Genocide recognition is also indispensable to reconciliation.

Thank you.

David L. Phillips is the director of the Program on Peace-building
and Human Rights at Columbia University’s Institute for the Study of
Human Rights.

GENOCIDE WAS LOSS NOT ONLY FOR ARMENIANS – EUROPEAN OFFICIAL

13:35 * 22.04.15

The Council of Europe’s secretary general expressed his deep sorrow
for the tragedy of the Armenian Genocide committed 100 years ago,
considering the condemnable crime a loss not only for Armenia but
also the entire world.

“I am sad, I am thinking about those people who lost their lives
during that tragedy. I am excited to be here. I am from Fridtjof
Nansen’s country, and I am even more excited in this connection,”
Thorbjørn Jagland said at the International Social and Political
Global Forum against the Crime of Genocide.

He called for active efforts by the international community towards
reaffirming the responsibility in the campaign against the violation of
human rights. He said world countries’ efforts towards the prevention
of genocides and the international community’s support to the process
should be based upon the core principles and values of the United
Nations.

Commenting upon the developments in Syria, the European official
said it is incredible for them to see that such a violence is still
possible in a country in the 21st century.

He said that the Council attaches a high values to Armenia’s support in
the global anti-xenophobia campaign, especially in the fight against
racism. Mr Thorbjørn said he sees that the Armenian people do exactly
what people in the other countries expect.

Describing Armenia as a state inspiring great hope, the European
official noted that the nation managed to turn its suffering into
something powerful which the world eye-witnessed over the past week.

GERMANY TO DECLARE TURKEY’S 1915 WAR CRIMES AGAINST ARMENIANS A GENOCIDE

Newsweek
April 20 2015

By Reuters 4/20/15 at 7:56 PM

BERLIN (Reuters) – The German government backed away on Monday from a
steadfast refusal to use the term “genocide” to describe the massacre
of up to 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turkish forces 100 years
ago after rebellious members of parliament forced its hand.

In a major reversal in Turkey’s top trading partner in the European
Union and home to millions of Turks, Germany joins other nations and
institutions including France, the European parliament and Pope Francis
in using the term condemned by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert said the
government would support a resolution in parliament on Friday declaring
it an example of genocide.

Try Newsweek: subscription offers

Germany had long resisted using the term “genocide” even though France
and other nations have. But Merkel’s coalition government came under
pressure from parliamentary deputies in their own ranks planning to
use the word in a resolution.

“The government backs the draft resolution … in which the fate
of the Armenians during World War One serves as an example of the
history of mass murders, ethnic cleansings, expulsions and, yes,
the genocides during the 20th century,” Seibert said.

Turkey denies that the killings, at a time when Ottoman troops were
fighting Russian forces, constituted genocide. It says there was no
organized campaign to wipe out Armenians and no evidence of any such
orders from the Ottoman authorities.

“We believe that there is no such black stain in our history,” Turkish
Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said when asked about the German
resolution, saying similar votes in other parliaments had not changed
Turkey’s position.

But in an apparent softening of tone, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu
said Ottoman Armenians would be commemorated at a religious ceremony
in the Armenian Patriarchate in Istanbul on April 24, the 100th
anniversary, in what he described as a “historic and humane” duty
for Turkey.

A source in his office said the ceremony would be attended by a
government minister, an unprecedented move.

“IMPORTANT ROLE”

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier had rejected using the
word genocide in an ARD TV interview on Sunday, denying any suggestion
that it was to avoid upsetting Turkey.

“Responsibility can’t be reduced to a single term,” he said.

Members of parliament from both Merkel’s conservative Christian
Democrats and their Social Democrat (SPD) coalition partners forced
the change.

Analysts said that the reluctance until now from Germany, a country
that works hard to come to terms with the Holocaust it was responsible
for, was due to fears of upsetting Turkey and the 3.5 million Germans
of Turkish origin or Turkish nationals living in Germany.

The German government also did not want to use the word due to
concerns that the Herero massacres committed in 1904 and 1905 by
German troops in what is now Namibia could also be called genocide,
leading to reparation demands.

“It’s a striking contradiction by the German government that Germany
is denying the genocide of Armenians,” said Ayata Bilgin, a political
scientist at Berlin’s Free University.

“Research has shown that external pressure on countries can have a
considerable influence and Germany could play a very important role
in this discussion on Turkey.”

TURQUIE : GENOCIDAIRE ET SANS REMORDS

REVUE DE PRESSE
Alors que de très nombreux pays dans le monde s’appretent a souligner
le 24 avril le 100e anniversaire du genocide armenien, l’attitude
de la Turquie montre pourquoi ce crime contre l’humanite doit etre
puni sevèrement.

Pendant que les petits enfants des survivants du genocide de 1915
perpetre contre les Armeniens organisent une commemoration pacifique
a Istanbul le 24 avril, le premier ministre turc Ahmet Davutoglu
nie que l’Empire ottoman ait organise le massacre systematique de sa
population armenienne pendant la Première Guerre mondiale. Pourtant,
les preuves du genocide qui a lieu d’avril 1915 a juillet 1916 sont
ecrasantes et indeniables. Le ministre de l’Interieur, Talaat Pacha,
avait alors utilise les tout derniers developpements technologiques
du temps, soit le telegraphe pour envoyer a tous les gouverneurs
ottomans des provinces d’Anatolie l’ordre de deporter ou de massacrer
sa population armenienne. Les hommes son assassine dès que les
convois sont suffisamment loin des villages et leurs corps sont jetes
dans l’Euphrate ou brûles dans des grottes. D’autres Armeniens sont
obliges de faire des marches forcees dans le desert et y meurent de
la manière la plus atroce. Si le gouvernement ottoman s’est employe
a systematiquement eliminer toute preuve du genocide, les rapports
des survivants, de nombreux temoins et diplomates qui sont presents
sur les lieux des massacres montrent le processus genocidaire.

Ce n’est pas pour rien que le 24 avril a ete choisi pour celebrer ce
centenaire. C’est qu’a cette date en 1915 sont arrete et assassines
froidement a Constantinople plus de 2300 intellectuels Armeniens. Bien
que les exactions contre les Armeniens aient commence a moindre echelle
a la fin du 20e siècle, cette date marque cependant le commencement
d’un genocide structure et execute avec precision. Le Pape Francois
a designe au cours d’une messe solennelle a Rome, ce massacre des
Armeniens comme le premier genocide du 20e siècle.

Quelques jours plus tard, soit le mercredi 15 avril, le Parlement
europeen adoptait a son tour une resolution sur le centenaire
du genocide armenien. Cette resolution venait a la suite de deux
precedentes interventions dans ce dossier. Le 18 juin 1987, ce meme
Parlement avait vote une resolution qui demandait une solution
politique a la question armenienne et voyait comme un obstacle a
l’examen d’une eventuelle adhesion le refus du gouvernement turc de
reconnaître ce genocide. Une autre resolution sur l’ouverture des
negociations d’adhesion avec la Turquie votee le 28 septembre 2005
l’appelait aussi a reconnaître le genocide des Armeniens comme un
prealable a l’adhesion a l’Union europeenne. Ce refus de regarder la
realite en face vient de loin. L’historien turc, Taner Akcam, montre
que le père de la Turquie moderne creee en 1923, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk,
a decide de proteger des tribunaux locaux les dirigeants qui avaient
fait ce massacre des Armeniens.

Entre 1,2 million et 1,5 million d’Armeniens de l’Empire ottoman
seront assassines lors de ce genocide. Sa commemoration n’est pas
l’affaire uniquement des Turcs et des Armeniens, mais de l’humanite
entière. Pourtant, la Turquie semble croire qu’il lui suffit de lancer
quelques insultes sur la scène internationale pour faire oublier
le passe. Un editorialiste d’un quotidien proche du regime a meme
accuse les Europeens de mener une guerre contre la Turquie en parlant
de guerres de religion et rappelant la sanglante histoire coloniale
de plusieurs pays europeens. Cette situation n’est pas nouvelle et
se perpetue dans le temps. Rappelons qu’un journaliste et ecrivain
turc d’origine armenienne Hrant Dink a ete assassine le 19 janvier
2007 par un nationaliste turc de 17 ans. Dire que de reconnaître le
genocide armenien de 1915 symbolise la montee du racisme en Europe est
pourtant une insulte a l’intelligence humaine. En arrivant a triturer
les chiffres au maximum, la Turquie est tout de meme obligee d’admettre
qu’elle a ete la cause de la mort d’un demi-million d’Armeniens. Selon
les dirigeants de ce pays, ces decès seraient survenus sans intention
malveillante. Cette question depasse desormais la seule question
turco-armenienne. C’est un signe du racisme qui persiste parmi une
certaine classe de citoyens en Turquie face aux Armeniens.

Par chance, les commemorations commencent a s’organiser dans le monde
entier. Près de 170 000 membres de la communaute armenienne de Los
Angeles devraient manifester le 24 avril pour souligner ce centenaire.

À l’heure actuelle, 23 pays ont d’ailleurs officiellement reconnu
le genocide armenien. D’autres comme l’Allemagne reconnaissent le
massacre sans cependant le considerer comme un genocide. Pourtant,
les Nations unies definissent le terme de genocide comme un acte
commis dans l’intention de detruire en tout ou en partie un groupe
national, ethnique, racial ou religieux. Le meurtre calcule de plus
d’un million d’individus entre pleinement dans cette definition. La
Turquie a pu s’en tirer jusqu’a maintenant sans avoir a affronter les
consequences de cet ignoble crime contre l’humanite. Dire qu’il faut
laisser l’Histoire aux historiens comme le fait le president turc
Recep Tayyip Erdogan est refuser qu’elle puisse aider a prendre de
meilleures decisions dans le futur. Pourrait-on voir dans l’aide de
ce pays a l’Etat islamique et dans son attitude actuelle face a ses
Kurdes une consequence de cette impunite que ses dirigeants croient
avoir face aux droits de l’homme ?

Michel Gourd

mercredi 22 avril 2015, Stephane (c)armenews.com

HAYPOST EXHIBITION OF STAMPS DEDICATED TO ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

15:19 22/04/2015 >> SOCIETY

Within the framework of “Against the Crime of Genocide” Global Forum
which takes place on April 22-23 at the Sports and Concerts Complex
in Yerevan, Armenia, HayPost CJSC has organized an exhibition of
Armenian stamps dedicated to the Armenian Genocide, perpetrated by
the Turkish Ottoman Empire in 1915.

28 stamps and souvenir sheets exhibited during the event are dedicated
to distinguished Armenian writers, poets, composers and public figures,
victims of the Genocide, such as Siamanto, Daniel Varuzhan, Grigor
Zohrap, Ruben Sevak, Komitas; as well as survivors of the Genocide
(Aurora Mardiganian, orphans of Melkonian Educational Institute in
Cyprus) as well as prominent figures who helped the survivors of the
Armenian Genocide and defended the Armenian case, such as Johannes
Lepsius, Fridtjof Nansen, James Bryce, Franz Werfel, Karen Jeppe,
Maria Jacobsen, John Kirakossian.

Within the framework of the events dedicated to the Centennial of the
Armenian Genocide, “Haypost” CJSC will also officially cancel and put
into circulation a postage stamp “Centennial of the Armenian Genocide;
Anatole France” on April 23rd 2015, at 13:30, the press service of
“Haypost” CJSC reports.

“I REMEMBER AND DEMAND”

Tuesday, 21 April 2015 09:37

April 24 marks exactly 100 years since the greatest crime in human
history – the Armenian Genocide committed in the Ottoman Empire,
which became a truly national catastrophe. On this day, Armenians
around the world will mourn the 1.5 million of innocent victims of
the tragedy, the pain of which is forever preserved in the genetic
memory of our people.

Although it is assumed that the Genocide was committed in 1915, when
the government of the Young Turks began with unprecedented cruelty the
mass killings of Armenians, its time scope is much broader. In fact,
the Genocide was carried out for nearly half a century, from 1876 till
1923, as a result of which our people lost much of their historic
homeland. Today, outside the areal of the millennial residence of
the Armenian people there are over 5 million of descendants of those
who escaped from the massacre and formed the Diaspora. It covers
a hundred of countries in the world and serves as a visible and
convincing proof of the Genocide committed by the Ottoman Empire.

The Armenian Genocide was the first crime in the new history of
mankind, which was developed and implemented at the state level to
annihilate an entire people. Despite the fact that a century has
passed since April 1915, the issue of responsibility of the Turkish
state for this grave crime, which does not and cannot have a statute
of limitations, is not resolved so far. Similarly, it is not and
cannot be forgiven, especially that Turkey has not repented yet.

Moreover, falsifying openly the history, it continues its aggressive
policy of Genocide denial and obstruction of its international
recognition. And this is while modern Turkey, in order to distance
itself from the crimes of the Ottoman Empire, declared its rejection of
succession. But, judging by the cynical behavior of the current Turkish
authorities, who are taking any actions to distort the historical
truth, the noted rejection serves only to evade the responsibility
for the Genocide.

It is also important to note that Azerbaijan has joined the campaign
of Genocide denial, confirming thus its complicity in this crime
and its equal responsibility for it, because it annihilated the
Armenian population in the Transcaucasia, in particular in Artsakh,
in 1918 and 1920. The abovementioned proves that the extermination
and deportation of the Armenian population of Western and Eastern
Armenia in the early twentieth century, which was continued at the
end of the same century in Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh, are
an integral part of the policy of Pan-Turkism, the ideologists of
which occupy high offices in Ankara and Baku. Turkey and Azerbaijan,
which were formed including in the territories of native residence
of the Armenian people, still pursue the same goals, continuing a
coordinated hostile policy towards Armenia and Artsakh.

In Turkey and especially in Azerbaijan, the short history of which
is rolled in the blood of Armenians, continue at the highest level
brazenly calling the Genocide “false.” Both genocidal states should
recall the history to know that after the overthrow of the Young Turks,
all their elite, which was accused of the extermination of the Armenian
population of Western Armenia, was sentenced to death in 1919-1921 by
the Ottoman extraordinary military tribunals. It should recall the
history also familiar with the confession of Ataturk, which he made
in an interview published in the newspaper “Los Angeles Examiner” on
August 1, 1926: “These remnants of the Young Turks Party must answer
for millions of our Christian nationals who were brutally deported from
their homes and murdered”. Will the squeaky deniers of the Armenian
Genocide in Azerbaijan and Turkey have courage to accuse Ataturk of
lying? The question is, surely, rhetorical, even if only because they
know the truth for sure, but they do everything for its concealment.

However, the truth cannot be hidden. In due time, prominent
German writer of the twentieth century Erich Maria Remarque said,
“Conscience usually hurts those who are not to blame”. The process
of international recognition of the Armenian Genocide is gaining a
wider scope. This is confirmed by the corresponding statements of
different countries and international organizations, in particular,
the recent resolutions of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Euronest
and the European Parliament, definitely qualifying the crime of the
Ottoman Empire as Genocide. A special place in this series is occupied
by the recent statement of Pope Francis, who called on April 12 the
events of 1915 the first Genocide of the twentieth century, which
caused a great resonance in the world. We’ll not be mistaken if we
say that a powerful impetus to the process was given by the adoption
in January of this year the All-Armenian Declaration on the 100th
anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, which marked a new milestone
in the struggle for the triumph of historical justice. And while in
the previous years our people mainly requested the recognition and
condemnation of the Genocide, now it rightfully demands not only the
recognition, but also the restoration of the lost.

It is no coincidence that this struggle is held under the motto “I
remember and demand”. The Declaration, in fact, has become a state
concept aimed at achieving the worldwide recognition of the Armenian
Genocide, as well as the elimination of its consequences. To this
end, a package of legal requirements is being elaborated, which,
as noted in the document, is considered as the beginning of the
process of restoring the individual, community and nationwide rights
and legitimate interests. This should be done also in the name of
millions of our compatriots – both direct victims of the Genocide
and their descendants.

Leonid MARTIROSSIAN Editor-in-Chief of Azat Artsakh newspaper

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE MUSEUM-INSTITUTE PRESENTS UNIQUE EXHIBITION – PHOTOS

21:47 * 21.04.15

The Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute has presented to the public
its new exhibits and contemporary design solutions.

The museum-institute’s building was completely renovated in 2011-2014,
which enlarged its exhibition halls by 2,400sq meters.

Director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute Hayk Demoyan told
reporters on Tuesday that no budgetary funds were allocated for the
renovation or exhibition.

“All the work was done on donations by philanthropists. A total of
US $4.5 was spent on the construction work,” he said.

Due to the collection work done over the past seven or eight years,
the museum has 90,000 original pieces, which has enabled it to organize
exhibitions in 50 cities round the world.

Thousand new exhibits are displayed at the new exhibition. Among
the exhibits are unique books, pictures, documents. One of them is
Ottoman Turkey’s a law on confiscation of deported Armenians’ property.

“The original document is in our museum, and we do not need to open
Turkish archives. Another unique document deals with the presentation
of a military award to Armenian serviceman Sargis Torosyan by Enver
Pasha, signed by him. During the Dardanelles Operation Sargis Torosyan
sank two warships and thus saved Istanbul. But his family was later
murdered,” Mr Demoyan said.

Some exhibits tell about world mass media’s reaction. A Danish
journalist’s article of 1911 has Talaat saying: “Either they or we.

And If I come to power, I am going to resolve this problem by
annihilation.”

“That is, as far back as 1911 Talaat announced his intention to commit
a great atrocity. Anyone seeing the exhibition will never doubt the
Armenian Genocide had been planned,” Mr Demoyan said.

The exhibition will be open to the public from April 25.

Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute presents unique exhibition

21:47 * 21.04.15

The Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute has presented to the public
its new exhibits and contemporary design solutions.

The museum-institute’s building was completely renovated in 2011-2014,
which enlarged its exhibition halls by 2,400sq meters.

Director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute Hayk Demoyan told
reporters on Tuesday that no budgetary funds were allocated for the
renovation or exhibition.

“All the work was done on donations by philanthropists. A total of
US $4.5 was spent on the construction work,” he said.

Due to the collection work done over the past seven or eight years,
the museum has 90,000 original pieces, which has enabled it to organize
exhibitions in 50 cities round the world.

Thousand new exhibits are displayed at the new exhibition. Among
the exhibits are unique books, pictures, documents. One of them is
Ottoman Turkey’s a law on confiscation of deported Armenians’ property.

“The original document is in our museum, and we do not need to open
Turkish archives. Another unique document deals with the presentation
of a military award to Armenian serviceman Sargis Torosyan by Enver
Pasha, signed by him. During the Dardanelles Operation Sargis Torosyan
sank two warships and thus saved Istanbul. But his family was later
murdered,” Mr Demoyan said.

Some exhibits tell about world mass media’s reaction. A Danish
journalist’s article of 1911 has Talaat saying: “Either they or we.

And If I come to power, I am going to resolve this problem by
annihilation.”

“That is, as far back as 1911 Talaat announced his intention to commit
a great atrocity. Anyone seeing the exhibition will never doubt the
Armenian Genocide had been planned,” Mr Demoyan said.

The exhibition will be open to the public from April 25.

“BAN PRODUCING HARVEST”: METS AYRUM COMMUNITY HEAD (PHOTO REPORT)

12:49 April 20, 2015

EcoLur

“If you substantiate that the harvest is toxic, ban producing any
harvest”: this was Mets Ayrum Village Head Sahak Nazaryan’s response
to expert Seyran Minasyan.

The expert drew Sahak Nazaryan’s attention to the fact that the lead
concentration in 60-70% of the peach samples from Mets Ayrum and
Tchotchkan communities exceeds the sanitary and health standards by
2-4 times because of Nahatak tailing dump operation.

‘We have 500 ha of plough land areas and today people take loans
and make investments in their land areas…If they substantiate,
that the harvest is toxic, let them ban producing any harvest,’
Sahak Nazaryan said.

On 17 April Mets Ayrum Village Head met with the participants of the
media campaign. The objective of the media campaign is to make aware
of the situation in Nahatak tailing dump, Akhtala Ore Dressing Combine,
Lori Region.

‘For many years an unofficial environmental and health disaster takes
place here: a tailing dump incompliant with standards, increase in
diseases, reduction of harvest etc,’ said Oleg Durgaryan, Mets Ayrum
Aldermen’s Council Member, ‘Community Union and Support Center’ NGO
Chairman. Chairman of Greens Union of Armenia Hakob Sanasaryan outlined
the extent of damage caused by Akhtala reclaimed and operating tailing
dumps cause and continue causing the water resources.

‘Environmental Academy’ NGO Chairman Greta Gabrielyan mentioned
that the toxic metals available in the tailing dumps het spread
into environment and penetrate into food chain together with soil,
water and plants. According to biochemist Dolores Ghapantsyan, heavy
metals penetrating into human organism are not digested and accumulaed
in biologically important organs and generate differnet diseases,
including cancer and other genetic deviations.