Author: Badalian Vardan

TURKISH PM’S ARMENIAN ADVISER STEPS DOWN AFTER GENOCIDE REMARK

i24 News, Israel
April 17 2015

Turkey accused of belittling the centenary of the Armenian genocide
by advancing its Gallipoli commemorations

The first ever member of Turkey’s Armenian community to hold the
post of senior adviser to the Turkish prime minister has retired,
an official said on Thursday, after he described the mass killings
of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as a “genocide.”

The official, who asked not to be named, denied any link between
the departure of Etyen Mahcupyan and the looming 100th anniversary
on April 24 of the start of the 1915 killings of Armenians, which
Yerevan regards as genocide.

Mahcupyan, 65, “has retired on the grounds of age,” the official said,
noting this was the age limit for all Turkish civil servants.

Mahcupyan, who was appointed last year as senior adviser to Ahmet
Davutoglu, infuriated some within the ruling Justice and Development
Party (AKP) this week when he qualified the mass killings of Armenians
as a “genocide.”

“If accepting that what happened in Bosnia and Africa were genocides,
it is impossible not to call what happened to Armenians in 1915
genocide too,” Mahcupyan said in an interview published this week.

Turkey, which has always rejected the term genocide, has taken a
defiant line amid growing tensions over the characterization of the
tragedy ahead of the 100th anniversary.

The European Parliament on Wednesday urged Turkey to use the centenary
of Ottoman-era massacres to “recognize the Armenian genocide” and
help promote reconciliation between the two peoples.

The use of the word “genocide” by Pope Francis on Sunday infuriated
Ankara and prompted Davutoglu to accuse the pontiff of “blackmail”
against Turkey.

In an interview with AFP in December, Mahcupyan said 2015 would be a
“tough year” because of the anniversary.

He said the priority for the future should be establishing relations
with Armenia as well as the millions-strong diaspora, many of whom
harbor a deep hatred of Turkey.

Gallipoli commemorations

Meanwhile Turkey has been accused of belittling the upcoming centenary
of the Armenian genocide by advancing its Gallipoli commemorations
to the same day.

The ceremonies, to be marked on April 24, coincide exactly with the
100th anniversary of the mass killings of Armenians at the hands of
the Ottoman Empire.

“This is a very indecent political manoeuvre,” Ohannes Kılıcdagı, a
researcher and writer for Agos, an Armenian weekly, told the Guardian.

“It’s cheap politics to try to dissolve the pressure on Turkey in
the year of the centennial by organizing this event.

“Everybody knows that the two memorials around Gallipoli have been
held on 18 March and 25 April every year.”

Nazar Buyum, an Armenian columnist and writer, said: “It’s not just
Gallipoli…Someone also had the audacity to suggest the organization
of a Gallipoli memorial concert in an Armenian church in Istanbul for
24 April. The government does everything to overshadow the centennial
of the genocide this year.”

Erdogan has invited his Armenian counterpart, Serzh Sarkisian, to
attend commemoration ceremonies in Turkey.

The Gallipoli campaign was one of the most famous battles of World
War I when Ottoman troops resisted an invading Allied Forceseeking
control of the Gallipoli peninsula on the Dardanelles strait.

The war was also where the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal
Ataturk, made his name as a heroic military leader.

“We fought as a kind together. That’s why we have invited Sarkisian,”
a government official was quoted as saying by local media, referring
to the presence of Armenian minorities alongside Turks and other
peoples in the Ottoman army.

Britain, Australia and New Zealand reportedly want a flamboyant
ceremony to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the landings at
Gallipoli.

Local media said the prime ministers of Australia and New Zealand,
as well as Britain’s Prince Charles, with his sons, are expected to
attend the ceremonies.

An invitation has also been sent to German President Joachim Gauck.

Some 10,500 people from Australia and New Zealand who were selected
after a ballot are due to take part in a dawn service a day later on
April 25, an Australian embassy official told AFP.

War of words as Armenians fight for genocide recognition a century on

Mass killings? Mutual bloodletting? Genocide? The hundreds of thousands
of dead have been silent for a century, but generations on, Armenians
are still battling to get the World War I slaying of their ancestors
recognized as a genocide.As Armenians around the world gear up to
mark 100 years since the start of the slaughter on April 24, the
struggle to get the world — and above all Turkey — to use the term
“genocide” remains deeply divisive.

To Armenians the word represents definitive proof of their ancestors’
horrific suffering at the hands of the Ottoman empire during World
War I, but for Ankara the violence was perpetrated by all sides and
describing the events as “genocide” is a red line it cannot cross.

Trapped somewhere in the middle is an international community, notably
the United States, under pressure from Armenia’s large diaspora but
worried about upsetting a rising Turkey.

“For Armenians the word ‘genocide’ encapsulates what happened to their
forefathers in 1915 and also elevates the Armenian experience to the
level of that of the Holocaust,” said Thomas De Waal, an expert on the
region at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington.

“Precisely for the same reason, official Turkey has always rejected
the term, on the grounds that it equates the behaviour of their
grandparents with the Nazis and also out of paranoia that the
application of the word could lead to legal claims against Turkey.”

Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kin were systematically
killed between 1915 and 1917 by Ottoman authorities as their empire —
the precursor to modern Turkey — crumbled.

Turkey rejects the claims, arguing that 300,000 to 500,000 Armenians
and as many Turks died in civil strife when Armenians rose up against
their Ottoman rulers and sided with invading Russian troops.

– Rise of a movement –

For some 30 years after the killings no one thought of calling the
massacres of Armenians a genocide — because the term itself did
not exist.

Up until then, Armenians referred to the tragedy simply as the “Great
Catastrophe” — or Medz Yeghern in Armenian.

Coined only in 1944 by Polish-Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin, the word
“genocide” became codified in law in the 1948 United Nations Genocide
Convention, which defined it as “acts committed with intent to destroy,
in whole or part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.”

The start of the clamor for recognition came later in 1965 as Armenians
around the world marked the 50th anniversary of the killings.

In Armenia itself — then a republic of the Soviet Union —
discussing any official acceptance of the genocide was a taboo but
an unprecedented protest that saw some 100,000 take to the streets
forced the Kremlin to start reevaluating its position.

“It was like a genie was let out of the bottle,” Rolan Manucharyan,
a physics professor who took part in the 1965 demonstration in downtown
Yerevan, told AFP.

The 1980s then saw an surge in the international movement for
recognition, mainly fuelled by the Armenian community in the US,
with outbursts of violence as radical groups killed Turkish officials.

So far, Armenia says 22 countries — prominently France, with its
large Armenian community — have recognized the genocide.

Last Sunday Pope Francis became the latest international figure to
wade into the controversy as he used the term “genocide” to describe
the killings, sparking a furious reaction from Turkey.

For American presidents the issue has always been a thorny one.

Ronald Reagan used the term in the early 1980s but since then the
commanders-in-chief in Washington have shied away.

Barack Obama — who pledged before he won the presidency to recognize
the genocide — has sidestepped the contentious term by using the
Armenian term Medz Yeghern.

– Return of land? –

The fallout from the massacres still shapes the region with official
ties between Turkey and Armenia frozen.

Part of the fear in Ankara over the push for genocide recognition is
that it could see Armenians lay claim to land in eastern Turkey.

“The term ‘genocide’ is not just an academic concept but also a
legal one. It means that a crime was committed and suggests that
there should be punishment and compensation,” said Ruben Safrastyan,
the director of Yerevan’s Institute of Oriental Studies.

At present Armenia has no official territorial claims against Turkey
but in 2013 prosecutor general Aghvan Hovsepyan sparked fury in Ankara
by saying Armenians should have their “lost territories” returned.

But despite the dreams of some Armenians to reclaim their land,
analysts said few outside the community seriously think there will
be any move to retake the land.

“It would be very difficult for any Armenian political leader to say
that Armenia has no territorial claims to Turkey,” Svante Cornell
from the Washington-based Central Asia-Caucasus Institute told AFP.

“But Western politicians don’t take seriously” the possibility of a
land dispute.

As the 100th anniversary of the killings approaches, the struggle
for official recognition is as intense as ever.

And the burden of what happened — and getting recognition for it —
still weighs heavily over Armenia and Armenians around the world.

“The pain forces us to constantly look back into the past,” said
Armenian author Ruben Hovsepyan, whose mother fled the killings as
a child.

“It does not allow us to fully build our future as we use up so
much national energy and potential on forcing Turkey to recognize
the genocide.”

(AFP)

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE BANNER RETURNS TO WEST HARTFORD GREEN

Hartford Courant, CT
April 17 2015

By Suzanne Carlson

WEST HARTFORD — A banner commemorating the Armenian genocide was
removed from the town green Wednesday, but was replaced by the end
of the day Thursday.

Public works Director John Phillips said the banner did not comply with
town regulations, which require such signs to notify the public of a
specific event. The banner was modified to include notification of a
100th anniversary commemoration ceremony at the Capitol in Hartford on
April 25, sponsored by the Armenian Genocide Commemoration Committee
of Connecticut.

The banner, which had only included a general message commemorating
the mass killings of Armenians that began in 1915 under Ottoman rule,
“slipped through the cracks” and was installed Monday before the
error was corrected, Phillips said.

Lauren Varjabedian, commemoration committee chairperson, said the
group is pleased the banner was to be returned to the town green.

Because the initial banner was approved by the town and the group
was not notified of the error, Varjabedian said the banner is being
modified and reinstalled at no cost to the committee.

“The town of West Hartford has been great to work with in rectifying
the situation,” Varjabedian said.

Groups can apply to have a banner displayed on the north end of
Goodman Green at the intersection of South Main Street and Farmington
Avenue. Banners may also be placed at the south side of the bridge
on Park Road over Trout Brook, as well as the town auditorium on the
day of an event.

Phillips said town officials and representatives from the genocide
remembrance committee met Thursday to discuss the issue, and
Varjabedian said the banner will remain on the town green until Monday.

The Armenian Genocide Commemoration Committee of Connecticut has been
active for about 15 years. Although the group works with four Armenian
churches in the state to hold regular programs throughout the year,
the centennial remembrance is an especially important event for the
Armenian diaspora, Varjabedian said.

“We just make sure that we get the word out … and just really make
sure that not only the Armenian community is aware but the community
at large,” Varjabedian said.

The remembrance ceremony at the Capitol is scheduled for 11 a.m. to
1 p.m. on April 25, with keynote speaker Chris Bohjalian.

PESKOV: PUTIN COULD VISIT YEREVAN ON APRIL 24

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
April 17 2015

17 April 2015 – 2:50pm

Russian President Vladimir Putin could visit Yerevan on April 23-24,
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.

At the same time, he noted that there is also a possibility of a
meeting of the Russian leader with French President Francois Hollande.

“As far as we understand, Putin and Hollande’s arrivals in Yerevan
coincide, they will both be there at the same time, so a meeting
between them can’t be excluded on the sidelines of the program that
is planned by the Armenian side,” TASS cited Peskov.

THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE AND HAGIA SOPHIA

Kathimerini- Greece
April 16 2015

By Nikos Konstandaras

Pope Francis’s declaration that the slaughter of Armenians by Ottoman
forces 100 years ago was “the first genocide of the 20th century”
will hasten the conversion of the Hagia Sophia museum into a mosque,
the top Muslim official in Ankara responded. The Turkish government
has long wanted to turn the symbol of Orthodox Christianity into a
mosque, and last Friday – Good Friday for the Orthodox – verses from
the Koran were recited at the opening of an exhibition at Hagia Sophia,
84 years after it was converted from a mosque into a museum by the
founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. The statement by
mufti Mefail Hizli, reported by the Hurriyet Daily News on Thursday,
suggests that Turkey’s rage at its inability to stop a growing tide
of recognition of the Armenian genocide is encouraging autocratic
tendencies and bigotry. It is not only the country’s few remaining
Christians who will suffer but Turkish society as a whole.

It is difficult to comprehend how a papal statement on the Armenian
issue should weigh on Hagia Sophia, seeing as the roads of Catholic
and Orthodox Christians separated nearly 1,000 years ago (in 1054).

Today’s Turkish government shows the arrogance of a conqueror
who believes that all he sees is hostage to his will. The Ottoman
conquerors did convert the Hagia Sophia church into a mosque, but they
also commissioned their best architects to build grand new mosques –
the Fatih, Suleyman and Sultan Ahmet mosques – honoring Hagia Sophia
by trying to outdo it. In his conviction that Turkey had to be built
on secular foundations, Ataturk turned Hagia Sophia into a museum,
acknowledging the building’s ecumenical significance.

Under the dominance of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was prime minister
from 2003 until his election as president last year, Turkey is at the
crossroads between East and West, between autocracy and democracy,
between tolerance and bigotry. In next June’s parliamentary elections,
the AKP party which Erdogan founded and still controls, could triumph
with about 50 percent of the vote, according to recent polls. After
the election, Ergodan aims to strengthen the office of the presidency
and will do all that is necessary to achieve this. Converting Hagia
Sophia into a mosque will please the AKP’s religious voters and also
make clear that the secular regime founded by Ataturk is dead.

Recently, Erdogan has shown increasingly autocratic tendencies. Now,
the government’s inability to prevent international recognition of
the Armenian genocide is driving him to greater displays of anger,
arrogance, greed and envy. He will learn that he can neither ignore
history nor subject an ecumenical symbol to his will.

WHY DO THE INFLUENTIAL ESCAPE THE BLAME GAME?

The National, UAE
April 16 2015

Alan Philps

April 16, 2015

In recent days, 100-year-old black-and-white images of women carrying
infants through the desert have flashed up on the screens of news
channels. The images are followed by more recent footage of similar
head-scarfed women fleeing with their babies across the sand. The
first images are shots of the expulsion of Armenians from eastern
Turkey in 1915 during which up to 1.5 million were killed or died of
hunger and thirst. The modern footage is of Yazidi families fleeing
the onslaught of ISIL in Iraq last year.

Is it fair to put these two events side by side on screen, given the
power of images to suggest a continuum of oppression of religious and
ethnic minorities from the First World War to today? The question
will be hard to escape over the next week. Foreshadowing the 100th
anniversary of the start of the Armenian deportations on April 24,
Pope Francis lit the fuse for an explosive debate by describing the
Armenian massacres “the first genocide of the 20th century”.

The pope is used to poking sticks into hornet’s nests. The Vatican
diplomatic service cannot have failed to be aware of the likely
reaction in Turkey, a country recently visited by Francis and one
where the Roman Catholic hierarchy has invested much effort in good
relations. Turkey recalled its ambassador from the Vatican in protest.

On Wednesday, the European Parliament passed a resolution urging Turkey
to recognise the events of 1915 as genocide. The Turkish President,
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, responded angrily: “The stain of genocide on
our nation is out of the question.”

This is not the place to rehearse the arguments on both sides, which
have been aired in these pages, including by the Turkish ambassador
today. Under Mr Erdogan the taboo on discussion of the massacres has
been lifted, and he himself has expressed condolences to the Armenian
victims. But there is adamant refusal to accept the term genocide
even though the term is supported by many scholars.

The issue for the Turks is the context of these terrible events. They
took place during a war that caused industrial scale casualties and
against the background of the decades-long collapse of the Ottoman
Empire during which millions of Muslims died and were forced out of
their homes. The Armenians were far from the only victims.

The list of countries where genocide has been ruled by international
courts to have taken place usually includes Nazi Germany and Rwanda,
and in Bosnia at the hands of the Bosnian Serbs. But the powerful
countries escape. Was not Russia guilty of genocide by deporting the
Circassian Muslims in the 1860s from their homeland in the Caucasus,
land where the Sochi winter Olympics were held? And what about Stalin’s
treatment of the Muslim Chechens, deported en masse from their homes
in 1944 and left to die on the steppes of Kazakhstan? And shouldn’t
the European settlers in America be deemed guilty of genocide for
their destruction of the native peoples?

Americans would argue that this argument is ridiculous. After all,
that was in the past. But when did the past stop and the present
begin? Perhaps the line should be drawn from 1948 when the Convention
on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide was adopted
by the UN General Assembly.

No one can deny that battles over other people’s history are deeply
attractive to the media and to legislatures looking for an easy vote.

It is much easier for the European Parliament to approve a motion
on 1915 than to tackle the tragedy unfolding in the Mediterranean,
where thousands – Syrians, Eritreans and others – are likely to
drown in leaky boats over the summer trying to reach Europe from
Africa. There are no easy solutions there.

A visitor from Mars would be shocked that countries are arguing over
events a century ago while a real humanitarian crisis is unfolding
along Turkey’s southern border.

Some 40 to 50 million people around the world have been forced to
leave their homes by war, civil unrest or climate stress. What to do
about these people and the wars that have ruined their lives is the
real issue of our time. Who, for example, has found a way to help the
16,000 remaining residents of the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp on
the outskirts of Damascus, besieged and bombed by government forces
and then laid waste by ISIL? The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon,
made a desperate plea for outside intervention, describing Yarmouk
as the “deepest circle of hell”. There was not much response either
from Arab states or the outside powers.

Here lies the answer to why Pope Francis threw caution to the wind
last Sunday. It is not about redress for events 100 years ago. It
is about the future of the Christians in the Middle East at a time
of unprecedented war and dislocation. In the past, the Vatican has
spoken softly in defence of Christians in the region, aware that their
position as integral parts of their communities is undermined if they
appear to have colonial protectors. To put things in context again,
ISIL has killed many more Muslims than Christians or Yazidis.

That policy has not worked. Continuing war in Syria is hastening the
exodus of Christians from the region. If the pope took his gloves
off with Turkey, it is because of Mr Erdogan’s role in the Syrian
conflict, where he has given priority to toppling Bashar Al Assad over
containing the jihadists of ISIL. The Vatican sees things differently –
the triumph of ISIL would be a catastrophe.

Raising the Armenian issue is a stick to beat Mr Erdogan with. But
whether the western world has the right to give morality lessons in a
region where its intervention has caused so much pain and bitterness
is an open question.

Alan Philps is a commentator on global affairs

TEXAS: AMERICAN HERITAGE CLUB – DENYING GENOCIDE: FROM ARMENIA TO AUSCHWITZ

US Official News
April 14, 2015 Tuesday

Austin

The University of Texas at Dallas, The state of Texas has issued the
following news release:

American Heritage Club – Denying Genocide: From Armenia to Auschwitz
Thursday, Apr 16 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. Location: CN 1.102 This is the
second lecture of the Genocide Awareness month. Professor Patterson
will discuss the parallels between the Armenian Genocide and the
Jewish Holocaust.

GEOFFREY ROBERTSON’S BOOK ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE PRESENTED IN LONDON

14:14, 17 Apr 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

Well-known lawyer and human rights barrister Geoffrey Robertson’s
“An Inconvenient Genocide: Who now remember the Armenians” book was
presented at London’s prestigious British Academy on April 15. The
event was sponsored by Dr. Armen Sarkissian, Ambassador of the Republic
of Armenia.

Ambassadors and diplomats accredited to London, politicians and public
speakers, leaders of the British-Armenian community, representatives
of British media were in attendance.

Introducing the speaker, Ambassador Sarkissian noted the longstanding
dedication of Geoffrey Robertson to the issue of recognition of the
Armenian Genocide, which resulted in publication of this important
book and its presentation to the international public.

In his presentation the author told the audience about the motives
of the creation of the book and gave professional assessment of
the Armenian Genocide. After the speech Robertson answered numerous
questions of the attendees.

The book of Geoffrey Robertson has been published with the sponsorship
of the British branch of the Armenian National Committee and the
donation from Atom and Sella Tenjukians.

OP-ED: IT’S TIME FOR OBAMA TO RECOGNIZE THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

The Patch
April 16 2015

A Bedford Man issued an essay in light of the upcoming centennial
anniversary of the Armenian genocide.

By Barry Thompson

The following op-ed was sent to Bedford Patch by Robert Kalantari,
of 8 Donovan Dr., Bedford:

President Obama, during his 2008 campaign told the world, “My firmly
held conviction that 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.”

“The facts are undeniable. An official policy that calls on diplomats
to distort the historical facts is an untenable policy,” Obama wrote.

“As President I will recognize the Armenian Genocide.”

Armenian People in the United States and around the world are still
waiting for the president to fulfill his promise.

Speaking at the Mass on Sunday April 12, 2015, Pope Francis defined
the slaughter of 1.5 million Armenians as “the first genocide of the
20th century,” quoting the statement made by John Paul II. He continued
his speech acknowledging the other genocides of the 20th century.

“The remaining two were perpetrated by Nazism and Stalinism,” Francis
said. “And more recently there have been other mass killings, like
those in Cambodia, Rwanda, Burundi and Bosnia.”

Pope Francis said it was “necessary, and indeed a duty,” to remember
the Armenians killed, “for whenever memory fades, it means that evil
allows wounds to fester. Concealing or denying evil is like allowing
a wound to keep bleeding without bandaging it!”

In 1915, leaders of the Turkish government set in motion a plan to
expel and massacre Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire. By the
early 1920’s, when the massacres and deportations finally ended,
some 1.5 million of Turkey’s Armenians were dead, with many more
forcibly removed from the country.

As David Fromkin put it in his widely praised history of World War
I and its aftermath in the text, “A Peace to End All Peace”; “Rape
and beating were commonplace. Those who were not killed at once were
driven through mountains and deserts without food, drink or shelter.

Hundreds of thousands of Armenians eventually succumbed or were
killed.”

The man who invented the word “genocide” Raphael Lemkin, a lawyer of
Polish-Jewish origin was moved to investigate the attempt to eliminate
an entire people by accounts of the massacres of Armenians. He coined
the term “genocide” in 1943, applying it to Nazi Germany and the Jews
in a book published a year later, “Axis Rule in Occupied Europe.”

Today, most historians, including numerous Turkish historians and
scholars call this event genocide. However, the Turkish government
does not acknowledge these mass killings as genocide, and in fact they
have passed a law that criminalizes any mention of Armenian genocide
in Turkey. Sadly enough, our own government has not acknowledged
this crime as genocide, in spite of the fact that over 20 counties,
the Vatican, and 43 out of 50 states have officially recognized this
event and genocide.

In the past 30 years several bills to recognize the Armenian genocide
have been introduced by the congress, but none have passed. A similar
bill was recently introduced in 2009. However, once again, our leader
then and now, President Barack Obama and the Secretary of State,
Hillary Clinton campaigned so hard to prevent the US Congress
acknowledging that the Ottoman Turkish massacre of 1.5 million
Armenians as genocide.

When Hillary Clinton was in the senate, she had cosponsored successive
Armenian Genocide resolutions since 2002. But responding to a
question from a participant of a Town Hall Meeting on January 28,
2012 in CA she said, recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the US
“opens a door that is a very dangerous one to go through.” This is
the same Hillary Clinton who, four years ago, pledged that she would
recognize the Genocide as President of the United States.

The rational for such an irresponsible act by our current and past
leaders, (with the exception of President Ronald Reagan, who did in
his speech mentioned genocide) is that if the U.S. acknowledges the
Armenian genocide, then Turkey, “our ally” will retaliate and not help
the U.S. in the region. Based on the past, we all know that Turkey
has always shown their true colors and have not supported any U.S.

missions in the area.

As we all know, history will repeat itself if crimes are not punished
and acknowledged. Turkey did not punish the perpetrators of this
crime when it happened, and they have not recognized this horrific
crime. An unrecognized crime is a repeated crime.

April 24 is the centennial anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, the
first genocide of the 20th century. World leaders, who care about
preventing such crimes, will gather in Armenia to commemorate the
anniversary of this sad, unpunished crime forgotten by some nations.

We hope the 100 year anniversary will open the eyes of those who care
about the human race. We hope that once and for all there will be
acknowledgement and recognition of this crime as genocide and more
importantly for Turkey to accept the evil crime of their past. As
Pope Francis said, “Concealing or denying evil is like allowing a
wound to keep bleeding without bandaging it!”

To find out more about this horrific event, please search the web
about the Armenian Genocide.

L’ETAT DU NEVADA A RECONNU LE GENOCIDE DES ARMENIENS

Etats Unis 1915-2015

La vague de reconnaissance du genocide des Armeniens se poursuit. La
Chambre des representants et du Senat de l’Etat americain du Nevada
ont adopte une resolution reconnaissant le genocide des Armeniens,
soulignant de la necessite de le condamner.

Le document indique que le crime perpetre contre les Armeniens dans
l’Empire ottoman entre 1915 et 1923 a ete le premier genocide du XXème
siècle. Il prie instamment le president americain et le Congrès de
reconnaître ce fait politique, et exhorte la Turquie a accepter son
propre passe.

C’est le 43ème Etat americain a reconnaître le genocide armenien.

vendredi 17 avril 2015, Jean Eckian (c)armenews.com

KREMLIN: PUTIN, HOLLANDE MAY MEET IN YEREVAN AT COMMEMORATIVE EVENTS

YEREVAN, April 17. /ARKA/. Russian President Vladimir Putin and his
French counterpart Francois Hollande may meet in Armenia’s capital at
commemoration events dedicated to the centenary of Armenian Genocide,
Dmitry Peskov, the Russian leader’s spokesman, is quoted by TASS as
saying at a briefing.

“As we understand, Putin and Hollande will visit Yerevan at the same
time. This means their contacts on the field of the program planned
by the Armenian side can’t be ruled out,” Peskov told journalists.

The most of the commemorative events in Armenia will take place on
April 24. —0—-