Author: Garo Vardanian

A call to acknowledge Armenian Genocide was made during a commemoration of its 102^nd anniversary at Taksim Tunnel, Washington Hatti reports.

As part of the 102^nd anniversary of Armenian Genocide, a commemoration at Taksim Tunnel was organized by 24^thApril Remembrance Platform. Starting with silent protests, many people including HDP Istanbul MP Garo Paylan participated in the commemoration. A placard with a sign “It’s been 102 years, Face It!” was demonstrated while singing Armenian songs. In addition, another huge banner consisted of 234 Armenian politicians, journalists, judges, artists and intellectuals was rolled out while leaving flowers on it.

‘Life in Turkey has become barren even though we don’t notice’

A news conference took place immediately after the names of exiled scholars following 24^th April was cited. On behalf of demonstrators, Murat Çelikkan called to face the genocide by reminding what took place 102 years ago. Murat continued “whether we pay attention or not, life in Turkey has become barren since 24 April 1915. When a section of the public was dismissed with its values, indeed all values of the society were being harmed. While the cultural heritage of a group of people was destructed, the culture of living in together took a big blow.  Just like Armenian people, the cultural heritage left behind was being erased. Thousands of historical structures, churches and schools were preemptively turned into ruins. It was portrayed as if they never existed on this soil just like Armenians.”

‘Now is your turn’

By repeating the call made during the commemoration of its 102^nd anniversary, Murat went on to say “the call or the struggle to face the genocide is our obligation and debt to Hrant Dink, Sevag Balıkçı, Marisa Küçük and to all those brothers spread around the world as they were forced to leave their homeland. It is a responsibility to our own conscience. All of us owned the pain. Such pain will never heal by time, we apologized and will continue to. We are trying to come to terms with it and will continue to. We will never recess. Now it is your turn. We are done with the words of sympathies, looking for an apology. It has been 102 years. Don’t wait for its 103^rdanniversary. Apologize for it!”

The commemoration concluded with applauds by chanting “the struggle for the call to face the genocide will go on for those we lost on 24^th April, for Hrant and Sevag.”

Actor George Clooney and singer-songwriter Chris Cornell attended the London premiere of the Armenian genocide film The Promise.

Chris Cornell, who composed the theme song for the film, posted a photo on Twitter.

Elton John, Cher, Barbara Streisand, Andre Agassi, Sylvester Stalonner, Dean Cain and Leonardo DiCaprio have all expressed their support for the film.

The Promise,” which world-premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last September, will go on wide release in the U.S. on 2,000 screens via Open Road Films on April 21.

The roughly $100-million film is considered a breakthrough after several attempts to make a Hollywood film about the Armenian genocide failed during past decades.

“The Promise” centers on a love story involving a medical student (Oscar Isaac), a journalist (Christian Bale), and the Armenian woman (Charlotte Le Bon) who steals their hearts. All three find themselves grappling with the Ottomans’ decision to begin rounding up and persecuting Armenians.

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian will visit Tashkent April 6-7, press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informs.

Minister Nalbandian will attend the sitting of Foreign Ministers Council of CIS participating states.

 

 

 

The election results came as no surprise to political scientist Sergey Minasyan. The one thing he that was unexpected to him was the defeat of the Armenian Renaissance Party. He believes the party had to cross the threshold of 5 percent, considering the administrative resources its leader Arthur Baghdasaryan possesses and many other factors.

Sergey Minasyans says he’s impressed by the results of Yelk bloc, and wonders why the Armenian National Congress decided to form an alliance to run for Parliament. He believes the force could make it to the National Assembly as a party.

According to the political scientist, Levon Ter-Petrosyans’s recent interviews played into the hands of ARF Dashnaktsutyun. “My impression is that Levon Ter-Petrosyan did everything for the Congress to fail to collect 5 percent,” Minasyan told a press conference today.

The political scientist says Karen Karapetyan played a positive role for the Republican Party. “The rebranding of the party was important at least during the election campaign,” he said.

Minasyan says the assessment of the elections by international observers was more positive than expected.

“The assessment shows there must be no problems with the signing of the Armenia-EU Framework Agreement,” he said.

Sergey Minasyan says Yelk bloc will be the only opposition force in the National Assembly, while representatives of Tsarukyan Alliance will play more of a role of ‘constructive opposition.”

The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) is rolling out Quick Connect, a new calling system that directly connects community members with their U.S. legislators to advance Armenian American advocacy priorities.

Activists taking part in Quick Connect get an immediate automated call-back on their phone, providing them with customized voice prompts and suggested phone scripts. They are then directly connected with the Washington, DC office of their U.S. Representative, so they can leave a short message with the receptionist or on voice-mail.

The ANCA’s inaugural Quick Connect campaign is in support of the Armenian Caucus letter urging President Trump to properly commemorate the Armenian Genocide this April 24th. U.S. Representatives who have already signed will get thank you calls, while others will be urged to support this bipartisan appeal.

“We are pleased to offer Quick Connect as a quick and easy way for friends to communicate their priorities with their Members of Congress,” said Nerses Semerjian, ANCA’s IT Director. “With research showing that phone calls are the single most effective way for grassroots communities to get the attention of U.S. legislators, we encourage everyone to take part and then to share this new tool with friends and relatives.

Six suspects, including a journalist, were detained on March 21 as part of an ongoing investigation into the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, Anadolu Agency has reported.

An Istanbul prosecutor issued a detention warrant for eight suspects for publishing images and footage of murderer Ogün Samast in some media outlets in 2007 and 2016 in front of a Turkish flag shortly after his apprehension in the Black Sea province of Samsun.

Police later detained journalist Muammer Ay and other suspects Murat Bayrak, Yüksel Avan, Birol Ustaoğlu, Yakup Kurtaran and Ahmet Çetiner in simultaneous operations conducted in six provinces.

The search for the other two suspects is ongoing.

Meanwhile, the Istanbul public prosecutor’s office also demanded another arrest warrant for the Gülenist prosecutor Zekeriya Öz, lawyer Halil İbrahim Koca, and journalists Faruk Mercan, Adem Yavuz and Ekrem Dumanlı.

Dink was shot dead at the age of 52 in broad daylight outside the offices of the Turkish-Armenian weekly newspaper Agos in central Istanbul on Jan. 19, 2007.

Ogün Samast, then a 17-year-old jobless high-school dropout, confessed to the murder and was sentenced to almost 23 years in jail in 2011.

But the case grew into a wider scandal after it emerged that the security forces had been aware of a plot to kill Dink but failed to act.

– Armenia is ready to take unpopular steps including cutting state spending and eliminating barriers to private investment in order to get the ailing economy back on a sustainable footing by next year, its prime minister said.

“Regular structural reforms will be implemented in Armenia, even if these reforms are unpopular,” Prime Minister Karenb Karapetyantold Reuters in an interview.

Cutting administrative expenses, and plans to reduce the budget deficit to 2.7 percent of national output this year from the 5.9 percent expected for 2016, might impact economic growth. But the measures were necessary, he said.

“It will have a negative impact … but we want to compensate it through private investment,” Karapetyan said.

“I think we will be able to withstand (problems) and achieve 3.2 percent growth this year.”

He said that his government would also focus on fighting corruption and “eliminating all barriers that impede business from developing”.

According to officials, the government is preparing an economic development programme that will target growth of between 4-5 percent from 2018.

Karapetyan said a new centre for strategic initiatives would look to draft short- and long-term projects with the private sector.

He said it was “realistic” to try to attract $850 million of investment this year, with the bulk coming from the private sector.

Armenia attracted $513 million in foreign direct investment in the first half of 2016, up from $323 million in the same period a year ago, according to national statistics office data.

Countries with significant investments in Armenia include Russia, Germany and France and the main sectors attracting funding are agriculture, energy and tourism.

Massis Post – The 34th annual Holocaust and Genocide Lecture Series at Sonoma State University presents the Bay Area premiere of the 2016 Regional Emmy Award-winning documentary “Women of 1915,” which chronicles the plight of Armenian women during the Genocide and the non-Armenian women who came to their rescue, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 4 p.m., in Warren Auditorium at Ives Hall, Sonoma State University. The screening includes a presentation by filmmaker Bared Maronian. This lecture is underwritten by the SSU Armenian Genocide Memorial Fund. Admission is free, parking is $5-$8 on campus.

The lecture series continues through May 9, with highlights including talks by Rabbi Michael Berenbaum, professor of Jewish studies at the American Jewish University in Los Angeles, and Dr. James Waller, the Cohen Endowed Chair of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Keene State College.

On March 28, Rabbi Michael Berenbaum speaks on the topic “Between History and Memory.” Berenbaum is the Director of the Sigi Ziering Institute: Exploring the Ethical and Religious Implications of the Holocaust, and a professor of Jewish Studies at the American Jewish University in Los Angeles. He is the author of over 20 books, and executive editor of the second edition of the Encyclopaedia Judaica. Berenbaum was also project director for the creation of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the first director of its research institute. His work in film has won Emmy Awards and Academy Awards. Dr. Berenbaum’s lecture is the annual Robert L. Harris Memorial Lecture and is underwritten by the Alliance for the Study of the Holocaust and Genocide, an SSU Academic Foundation Organization.

On April 4, professor James Waller, Ph.D., the Cohen Endowed Chair of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Keene State College and director of academic programs with the Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation, speaks on the topic “Becoming Evil.” Waller’s books include “Becoming Evil: How Ordinary People Commit Genocide and Mass Killing,” and “Confront Evil: Engaging out Responsibility to Prevent Genocide.”

This year marks the first time the archive of the Holocaust and Genocide Lecture Series is available on YouTube. Videos of lectures are currently available from as far back at 1987.

PHOTO: THE BLADE/AMY E. VOIGT

 

A manuscript handwritten by Armenian monks in 1351 containing the Gospels of Luke and John is the oldest book in the Rare Book Room of the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library, according to .

“It is not a complete Bible. Little holes in its leather cover probably once held stones or jewels,” says Edward Hill, Toledo-Lucas County Public Library special collections librarian.

On the third floor of the main Toledo-Lucas County Public Library is one of the building’s coziest rooms and one of its best-kept secrets.

Yet, the most important thing about The Blade Rare Book Room isn’t its decor but what’s inside.

And there are some beauties, not just because they’re old or valuable.

“Some of these books go beyond books and are works of art,” Edward Hill, says.

The oldest item in the collection isn’t a book; it is a Babylon clay tablet believed to be 4,000 years old. It has a cuneiform inscription, one with wedge-shaped characters used in ancient writing systems.

Vice President-elect Mike Pence has appointed Ken Nahigian to replace Rick Dearborn as executive director of the Trump-Pence presidential transition, the transition team said in a press release on Wednesday.

Nahigian, who served as the head of strategic planning and support for President-elect Donald Trump, will now support Trump’s nominees through their confirmation hearings.

“In the days following the election, [Nahigian’s] role evolved to not only manage President-elect support, but also prepare our great cabinet designees for their hearings,” Dearborn was quoted as saying in the release. “The transition is in capable hands with Ken Nahigian, who has tirelessly supported it from day one and will carry it through the finish line.”

“Ken has been a tremendous and critical asset to the Transition,” said Mr. Dearborn.  “In the days following the election, his role evolved to not only manage President-elect support but also prepare our great cabinet designees for their hearings.  The Transition is in capable hands with Ken Nahigian, who has tirelessly supported it from day one and will carry it through the finish line.”

Throughout the pre-election and Transition periods, Mr. Nahigian served as the head of President-elect support, the body that oversees all strategic planning and support to the President-elect, Vice President-elect, their families, and nominees, where pre-planning is critical to ensure a strong foundation is built for a successful transition minutes after the election is called.  In this role, Mr. Nahigian and his team led the organization of critical functionality of the Transition pre-election, which included the creation of GreatAgain.gov, the structuring of a communications strategy post-election, the building of the resources infrastructure to be ready on day one, and creation of a network for public engagement during the Transition period.

“I’m honored that the President-elect, Vice President-elect and Rick Dearborn have entrusted me with this responsibility and it is my honor to continue my service to this new administration,” said Mr. Nahigian. “It has been a tremendous honor to be part of this historic and successful process of building our government.”

While not working on the Presidential Transition, Mr. Nahigian serves as a principal in a 17-year old public relations and communications planning and strategy firm.

Dearborn is leaving the post to assume his role as White House deputy chief of staff.

Trump’s inauguration will be held January 20 in Washington, DC, in front of the Capitol, the seat of the US Congress.