Jane Topchian – Page 30 – Armenian Directory & News

Vanetsyan calls for an urgent gathering outside the Government building

May 24, 2021May 24, 2021 Jane Topchian

Panorama, Armenia

May 20 2021

The former Chief of Armenia's National Security Service, the Leader of "Homeland" party Artur Vanetsyan has called for an urgent gathering outside the government building in Yerevan.

"Join us outside the government building today at 19.00," Vanetsyan wrote on his Facebook page. The call came after reports that the Armenian authorities are negotiating a new “controversial document” with Azerbaijan and Russia, and caretaker Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is going to sign it.

Ex-deputy PM Armen Gevorgyan charged with money laundering

May 24, 2021May 24, 2021 Jane Topchian

12:35, 20 May, 2021

YEREVAN, MAY 20, ARMENPRESS. The Special Investigations Service (SIS) has charged Former Deputy Prime Minister Armen Gevorgyan with money laundering.

The indictment states that Gevorgyan allegedly used his official position from 2004-2018 to launder 4,921,302,379 drams in revenue. According to the Special Investigations Service, Gevorgyan and the persons affiliated with him had a total of 743,458,821 drams in legal income from 2002-2018, while in the same period of time 39 real estate properties worth many times more than the figure was registered by their names.

Gevorgyan is accused in abusing his powers to influence several mayors into holding illegal auctions and alienating municipality-owned land to the persons affiliated with him.

The said real estate properties were sold for 751,268,208 drams, whereas the market value was more than 4,843,530,000, while 10 other properties in the Czech Republic owned by Gevorgyan’s affiliated persons were valued at 391,920,000 drams, the SIS said.

Gevorgyan denies wrongdoing.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

Russian deputy FM, French Ambassador discuss NK conflict settlement

May 19, 2021May 19, 2021 Jane Topchian

14:38,

YEREVAN, MAY 18, ARMENPRESS. Russian deputy foreign minister Andrey Rudenko and French Ambassador to Russia Pierre Levy discussed the situation in the South Caucasus, including that around the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement, the Russian foreign ministry reports.

The meeting took place on May 18.

Other issues of mutual interest were also discussed at the meeting.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Russia committed to ensuring Armenia’s security – Lavrov

May 9, 2021May 9, 2021 Jane Topchian

Russia committed to ensuring Armenia's security – Lavrov

18:36, 6 May, 2021

YEREVAN, MAY 6, ARMENPRESS. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov emphasizes that Russia is committed to ensuring the security of its allied Armenia, ARMENPRESS reports Lavrov said in a conversation with caretaker Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan.

''We are committed to the ensuring the security of our ally, the Republic of Armenia. This has been confirmed in your talks with President Putin, as well as during the intensive and regular iteractions between our Ministries. There can be no doubts here'', Lavrov said.

The Russian FM noted that next year Armenia and Russia will mark the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations and the 25th anniversary of the Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance.

''That's a key document that defines our long-term relations and which is already consistently being implemented in all directions – economy, politics, military and military-technical cooperation’', Sergey Lavrov said.

Lavrov is in Armenia on a two-day visit. He will pay a working visit to Baku on May 9-10.

US acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide: Its implications

May 7, 2021May 7, 2021 Jane Topchian

JNS – Jewish News Syndicate

May 6 2021

Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs

Alan Baker

It is incumbent upon the international community and the United Nations to respond with commensurate measures to Iran’s genocidal threats against Israel.

(May 6, 2021 / Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) The recent formal recognition by President Biden of the genocide of the Armenian people at the hands of the Ottoman Turks in the early 20th century is not merely a pro forma gesture to the Armenian people. It is of vast historical significance. It corrects a century-old historic anomaly by acknowledging a reality that, due to political pressure from Turkey, has been deliberately overlooked.

The U.S. declaration

On April 24, President Biden, in an official statement commemorating Armenian Remembrance Day, expressed the United States’ formal acknowledgment and recognition of the Armenian genocide by Ottoman-era Turks during the years 1915-1923.

The atrocities by the Ottoman authorities included the arrest of Armenian intellectuals and community leaders and the systematic deportation and massacre of one-and-a-half million Armenians in different parts of Turkey.

Rejecting the U.S. declaration, the Turkish foreign ministry stated:

“We reject and denounce in the strongest terms the statement of the president of the U.S. regarding the events of 1915 made under the pressure of radical Armenian circles and anti-Turkey groups on April 24 … This statement of the U.S. … will never be accepted in the conscience of the Turkish people, and will open a deep wound that undermines our mutual friendship and trust.”

The consistent Turkish rejection of the allegations of genocide appears to run counter to considerable historical evidence pointing to the large-scale massacres that took place. A joint declaration by Britain, France and Russia, dated May 24, 1915, accused the Turkish government of responsibility for crimes against the Armenians:

“For about a month, the Kurd and Turkish populations of Armenia have been massacring Armenians with the connivance and often assistance of Ottoman authorities. … Inhabitants of about one hundred villages were all murdered. In that city, the Armenian quarter is besieged by Kurds. At the same time, in Constantinople Ottoman Government ill-treats inoffensive Armenian population.

“In view of those new crimes of Turkey against humanity and civilization, the Allied governments announce publicly to the Sublime-Porte that they will hold personally responsible [for] these crimes all members of the Ottoman government and those of their agents who are implicated in such massacres.”

The Turkish denial

The Turkish rejection of the U.S. declaration is consistent with the standard policy of denial of successive Turkish regimes. This despite eyewitness accounts, official archives, photographic evidence, diplomats’ reports and the testimony of survivors.

Turkey has even attempted to disrupt academic conferences and public discussions dealing with the Armenian Genocide. A notable example was the attempt by Turkish officials to force the cancellation of a conference in Tel Aviv in 1982 at which the Armenian Genocide was to be discussed. Such demands were amplified with threats to the safety of Jews in Turkey. The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council reported similar threats over plans to include references to the Armenian Genocide within the interpretive framework of the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington.

While there seems to have been a general consensus in the international community regarding the reality of the genocide, many countries (including Israel) have refrained from formally acknowledging it. The reasons for this reluctance vary, from bilateral relations and commercial interests to Turkey’s status in the international community and the considerable political pressure employed by the Turkish government.

Israel and the Armenian Genocide

Israel’s position has been influenced by many moral, humanitarian and political factors.

In 2001, Israel’s then-foreign minister (and later president) Shimon Peres, basing himself on the uniqueness of the Holocaust, refrained from drawing a parallel with the Armenian situation, claiming that “what the Armenians went through is a tragedy, but not a genocide.”

In 2011, when the subject was discussed in Israel’s Knesset, Speaker Reuven Rivlin (currently president) expressed his intention to convene an annual parliamentary session to mark the Armenian Genocide. Speaking to an Israel-based Armenian action committee, Rivlin said, “It is my duty as a Jew and Israeli to recognize the tragedies of other peoples.”

While the issue was referred to the Knesset’s Education Committee for more extensive deliberation, such recognition never materialized. Ultimately, because of Israel’s commercial, security, tourism and aviation interests with Turkey, as well as its relationship with Azerbaijan (Israel’s leading supplier of oil), then-foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman made it clear in 2015 that Israel did not intend to recognize the Armenian Genocide.

Implications of the U.S. declaration

The U.S. recognition of the Armenian Genocide portends a significant paradigm change in the way attempted genocides, large-scale atrocities and systematic murder and repression are likely to be perceived within the international community in general, and by major powers specifically.

Recent occurrences of such atrocities include:

• The 2015 attempted genocide of the Iraqi Kurds, committed by Islamic State (ISIS), Iraqi government forces and Iran, as well as the systematic attempt by ISIS to exterminate the Yazidis, Assyrian Christians and Shi’ites in Iraq since 2014.

• The ongoing attempted genocide by Myanmar of the Muslim Rohingya people that commenced in 2017.

•The repression of the Turkic Muslim Uyghurs in China since 2016.

• The attempted genocide and ethnic cleansing by South Sudan’s president against the Nuer tribal ethnic group in South Sudan since 2018, as well as ethnic massacres and killings by Arab militias of minority, non-Muslim groups in Darfur.

• The attempted genocide, displacement of millions, and ethnic cleansing of Christian militias by Muslim leadership in the Central African Republic.

• The mass killing of Yemenis by the Houthi rebels in Yemen since 2017.

• The ongoing persecution of Christians in Nigeria by radical Islamists.

Threats by Iran to annihilate Israel

The same moral and historical logic that brought the U.S. administration to finally acknowledge the Armenian Genocide might be expected to lead to similar acknowledgment of Iran’s oft-voiced genocidal intentions with regard to Israel:

• In 2005, Iranian President Ahmadinejad, in a speech to the U.N. General Assembly, called Israel a “tumor” and echoed the words of the former Iranian Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, by saying that Israel should be wiped off the map.

• In a 2006 speech during an emergency meeting of Muslim leaders in Malaysia, Ahmadinejad said, “the main solution to the Middle East crisis is for the elimination of the Zionist regime.”

• In 2008, marking Israel’s 60th Independence Day, Ahmadinejad declared: “Those who think they can revive the stinking corpse of the usurping and fake Israeli regime by throwing a birthday party are seriously mistaken. Today, the reason for the Zionist regime’s existence is questioned, and this regime is on its way to annihilation.”

• In June 2008, the Iranian presidency issued a statement calling to “wipe Israel off the map”: “O dear Imam [Khomeini]! You said the Zionist regime is a usurper and illegitimate regime, and a cancerous tumor that should be wiped off the map. I should say that your illuminating remark and cause are going to come true today. The Zionist regime has lost its existence philosophy … the Zionist regime faces a complete dead end, and under God’s grace, your wish will soon be materialized, and the corrupt element will be wiped off the map.”

• In 2014, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on social media that: “This barbaric, wolf-like and infanticidal regime of Israel, which spares no crime has no cure but to be annihilated.”

A 9-point table, published on Twitter, outlining why and how Israel should be eliminated: “The only means of bringing Israeli crimes to an end is the elimination of this regime. … The only means of confronting a regime that commits crimes beyond one’s thought and imagination is a resolute and armed confrontation.”

• In January 2019, the head of Iran‘s air force, Brig. Gen. Aziz Nasirzadeh, called to eliminate Israel from the Earth: “The young people in the air force are fully ready and impatient to confront the Zionist regime and eliminate it from the Earth.”

The 1948 U.N. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide determined in its third article that incitement to genocide is a crime under international law. Iran is plainly violating this basic provision of international law.

It is incumbent upon the international community and the United Nations, in particular, to respond with commensurate measures. The silence of the international community can and will continue to be interpreted by Teheran as a form of acquiescence to Iran’s declarations.

Conclusion

The above panoply of threats, when complemented by Iran’s intentions and ongoing efforts to acquire nuclear capability and weaponry, must surely be taken into consideration by the U.S. administration, as well as by the European countries, as a central factor in any resumed negotiation with Iran.

There cannot exist a double standard that acknowledges and condemns past occurrences of genocide, while out of the same “political correctness” that was demonstrated vis-à-vis Turkey, and “out of fear of offending Iran,” overlooks, ignores, downgrades and sidelines genuine, ongoing threats by the Iranian leadership to destroy the State of Israel.

Alan Baker is director of the Institute for Contemporary Affairs at the Jerusalem Center and the head of the Global Law Forum. He participated in the negotiation and drafting of the Oslo Accords with the Palestinians, as well as agreements and peace treaties with Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon. He served as legal adviser and deputy director-general of Israel’s Foreign Ministry and as Israel’s ambassador to Canada.

This article was first published by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.

Turkey’s Armenians keep heads down after genocide recognition

May 3, 2021May 3, 2021 Jane Topchian

France 24

April 27 2021

Issued on: 27/04/2021 – 12:00

Istanbul (AFP)

Members of Turkey's tiny Armenian community have kept a low profile since US President Joe Biden recognised the Armenian genocide, fearing retribution should they openly celebrate the landmark step.

"Discretion has become a part of our daily lives," said an Armenian Turk who, like many others interviewed by AFP, wished to remain anonymous to protect his local business.

Biden on Saturday became the first US president to brush aside Turkish pressure and call the 1915-1917 events a genocide in which "1.5 million Armenians were deported, massacred, or marched to their deaths in a campaign of extermination".

His words caused relief and bittersweet joy in Armenia and among the the tiny Caucasus state's vast web of ethnic communities across Europe and the Americas.

Once an integral part of the Ottoman Empire's multifaceted society, only 60,000 ethnic Armenians are still believed to live in modern Turkey, most of them in Istanbul.

Ankara accepts that both Armenians and Turks died in vast numbers while the Ottomans battled tsarist Russia, but denies the existence of a deliberate policy of genocide.

Dozens of angry Turks rallied outside the US consulate in Istanbul on Monday to express outrage at Biden's decision.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called it "groundless, unfair" and detrimental to US-Turkish ties.

The Turkish-Armenian businessman said his community faces waves of anti-Armenian sentiments whenever debates resume about the century-old events.

"We were raised since childhood not to speak Armenian on the street. We were even told to call our mothers 'anne' (in Turkish) instead of 'mama'," he said.

"Everyone has differences on every issue but when it comes to the Armenian question, everyone is united in Turkey."

– 'Hate speech' –

Yetvart Danzikyan, editor-in-chief of the Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos — whose former editor Hrant Dink was gunned down in Istanbul in 2007 — said the annual commemorations pass in a "climate of tension" in Turkey.

"The climate is shaped by (Turkey's) tough response, which goes as far as to hold Armenians responsible" for what happened, Danzikyan said in a telephone interview.

Fahrettin Altun, Erdogan's powerful press adviser, tweeted on Tuesday that "distorting history further encourages Armenian extremism", pointing to the Turkish diplomats assassinated by Armenian militants in the 1970s and 1980s.

For Agos's Danzikyan, Altun's words and similar comments represent a campaign of psychological pressure and intimidation that make it difficult to speak freely.

"How can you expect a community which has lived under pressure for decades to speak up?" Danzikyan asked.

Selina Dogan, an ethnic Armenian ex-MP from the main opposition CHP party, agreed that her community's silence since Biden's announcement was part of an attempt at self-preservation.

Armenians have remained discreet "to maintain their presence in these lands," said Dogan, who is now a municipal assembly member representing a district on the European side of Istanbul where many Armenians live.

In Turkey, "hate speech is glorified", said Dogan.

Paramaz Mercan, a 50-year-old Armenian who lives in the mostly Kurdish southeastern city of Diyarbakir, said his attempts to relate the way his community felt to the media did not end well.

"On one particular occasion, I expressed a thought and said I wanted to live my own culture, which prompted some to say that I should be deported," he recalled.

As hatred festers, some Armenians and Azerbaijanis fight for friendship

May 3, 2021May 3, 2021 Jane Topchian

EurasiaNet.org

April 30 2021

Mountains in Karabakh (Ogannes/Creative Commons)

In the months following last year’s war, hatred between Armenians and Azerbaijanis has only grown. Interethnic friendships have been severed, former liberals have turned nationalist and Caucasus social media has become a wasteland of insults and racism.

But in this toxic environment, some Armenians and Azerbaijanis are fighting back. A handful of new social media initiatives have emerged allowing people from both sides to talk to one another with the goal of dialogue and understanding rather than winning arguments.

“During the war I ‘met’ Azerbaijanis on social media for the first time and I realized that I don’t know anything about these people, I was just automatically afraid of them,” said Anahit Baghdasaryan, a 30-year-old tour guide in Dzoraghbyur, just outside Yerevan. “Then, obviously, it was impossible to have conversations.”

But after the war she got more curious about the Azerbaijani perspective, and a friend invited her to a closed Facebook group, Kavkazskiy Perekrestok (Russian for “Caucasus Crossroads”). Created in January, it now has more than 1,000 members and features multiple posts a day ranging from serious discussions about the conflict to self-deprecating memes and simply pretty pictures from Baku and Yerevan, which gather dozens of likes from users of both nationalities.

“I immediately jumped at the chance” to join the group, Baghdasaryan told Eurasianet. “Every day the group has more and more people, and the tone is more and more calm and friendly. This group is a break from the rest of Facebook, where it’s only hate and insults.”

The friendly tone isn’t a given. The group has eight moderators, evenly distributed between Armenians and Azerbaijanis, and there is a long list of rules. Members can only invite people “whom you know personally and whose peaceful approach is certain.” Users are required not to quibble about place names or flags in profile photos: “There was just a war, and people support ‘their’ side. This is normal.” Comments are required to be respectful, and avoid “insults, vulgarity, personal attacks, and stoking nationalism.”

Facebook even shut down an earlier version of the group because comments got out of control. The earlier group also was the subject of a hit piece on Sputnik Armenia that accused its Armenian participants of being too solicitous toward Azerbaijanis. But a new group of organizers and moderators reformed it.

“It’s not easy to make sure all the rules are being followed in such a complex group and at the same time remain impartial,” the moderators said in a joint response to written questions from Eurasianet. “People get tired and burnt out” and new moderators regularly replace them.

The efforts have paid off, though.

“This group is the only place on the social networks where both Armenians and Azerbaijanis can free themselves from any prejudices towards each other,” said another active user, Elchin Karimov, a 32-year-old Azerbaijani now living in Canada and working as a business consultant. He joined because he is “tired of this conflict, of this hatred towards Armenians and their hatred towards my people,” he told Eurasianet.

“After the war, I finally overcame any last prejudices toward our neighbor and seeing Armenians craving peace and friendship made me believe even more that our two nations are 99 percent the same,” Karimov said. “I hope my children, who are born abroad, will witness this peace as I am trying to raise them without hate or prejudice towards anyone – something that no one taught me in school and I still have to learn myself.”

A meme about Kavkazskiy Perekrestok

There are few illusions about the group contributing to a broader peace between the two sides; users instead describe it as therapeutic for them personally. Sergey Harutyunyan, a 55-year-old living in Yerevan, said the group allows him “to maintain a grain of optimism – outside this group is so hateful that it wears down any decent person.”

Another new initiative, Bright Garden Voices, also was launched in January and also is run by a mixed group of volunteers. They have put on a series of Zoom discussions, also broadcast on YouTube, featuring young scholars and activists from each side of the conflict. While the topics are serious, the organizers strive to orient them more to “regular citizens” than the usual think tank events that have proliferated since the war.

Those events “were interesting to watch for those who wanted to learn more about the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, but at some point we noticed that it was always academics, many times the same people, talking about the same stuff with a very political focus, and also, mostly men,” the organizers said in a joint response to written questions from Eurasianet. “What about the regular citizens? What about other aspects of the conflict other than the war, Putin, Erdogan, and whoever? What about women?”

The three main organizers – an Argentinian, an Armenian-American, and an Azerbaijani – first “met” one another on Twitter. (Twitter, too, has seen the emergence of a handful of new accounts amplifying cross-cultural understanding, including Karabakh Voices and Armeno-Azerbaijani Transformation.)

But for the most part, they said, “the conversations [on Twitter] would quickly be taken over by fanatics and one wrong word would derail the whole discussion. We figured that it was necessary to create a safe space for discussion where alternative voices could be heard.”

The series started gently, with an English teacher from Baku and an Armenian graduate student simply talking about how it is to be non-nationalist in their respective societies. But it has since taken on more sensitive issues, like national identity, the status of women in the Caucasus, and the fates of those displaced from their homes in the first conflict 30 years ago.

“We’re not really trying to start debates but rather creating the atmosphere for everyone to really listen to what the other has to say and to try to understand their positions and opinions,” the moderators said. “Bright Garden is intended as a platform for regular people to re-engage with and listen to each other.”

The grassroots origin of these new projects stands in contrast to the countless NGO-run peacebuilding projects that brought together Armenians and Azerbaijanis before the war in an attempt to reduce distrust between the two societies. Those efforts have become a common punching bag since the war broke out, as many former participants’ ostensible interest in peace was quickly revealed to be superficial and insincere.

“The liberal NGO model is not flexible enough for bringing together voices in a constructive way,” said Leon Aslanov, a UK-based scholar and activist who works on the Caucasus. “It’s a bureaucratic process and it doesn’t yield any results. People met at workshops once in a while [and then] during the war 95 percent of them went back to the nationalist discourse of their respective society.”

Aslanov is a founder of another new initiative, Caucasus Talks, which was created shortly before war broke out last year, in June. It was originally intended as a sort of Caucasus annex of a left-wing European movement, DiEM25, and not to specifically deal with the conflict. “But we were forced into it because of the events,” Aslanov told Eurasianet.

During the war Caucasus Talks organized a petition calling for peace that became the source of controversy, especially in Azerbaijan. Since then it has produced an eclectic range of output including podcasts, YouTube discussions and a series of interviews with anonymous people on both sides about their personal encounters with the other. “We’re trying to make this a more organic, open space for discussion,” Aslanov said.

That grassroots theme is one emphasized by all the new initiatives. “Don’t forget, we aren’t politicians or historians. We are people who want peаce,” the mission statement of Kavkazskiy Perekrestok explains. “So, leave history to the historians and politics to the politicians. We are just going to talk like normal people.”

Joshua Kucera is the Turkey/Caucasus editor at Eurasianet, and author of The Bug Pit.

Erdoğan’s games: "Armenians killed Greeks in Pontus"

May 3, 2021May 3, 2021 Jane Topchian

Greek City Times

April 30 2021

by Paul Antonopoulos

Armenia facilitates tax legislation for introduction of trade-in system in motor vehicle market

April 30, 2021April 30, 2021 Jane Topchian

11:34,

YEREVAN, APRIL 29, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian government approved amendments to the tax code related to imports of cars, a move aimed at developing the required tax environment for the introduction of the trade-in system in the Armenian car market.

Caretaker Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan noted that the current tax system isn’t favorable for this process and therefore they decided to change it.

He said that the trade-in system is widely used throughout the world. “We concluded that our current tax system isn’t favorable for this process. With these changes we are trying to contribute to getting our country’s motor vehicle fleet updated and so that replacing old cars with new ones gets easier,” Pashinyan said.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

Press Release: Colorado Commemorates the Armenian Genocide, Stands with Artsakh

April 29, 2021April 29, 2021 Jane Topchian

For Immediate Release
Contact: Armen Sahakyan
tel. (818) 500-1918

Colorado’s top public officials joined the Centennial State’s vibrant Armenian-American community in Armenian Genocide commemoration events over the weekend that included acknowledgment of the Genocide’s ongoing consequences in Artsakh.

On April 23, both chambers of the Colorado General Assembly unanimously passed Senate Joint Resolution (SJR) 21-017, sponsored by State Senator Dominick Moreno and State House Majority leader Daneya Esgar, in commemoration of the Armenian Genocide. This year’s annual genocide resolution, which was first introduced in 2002, noted the ongoing consequences of the Armenian Genocide, including Turkey-Azerbaijan’s recent aggression, occupation, ethnic cleansing in Artsakh, as well as Azerbaijan’s refusal to release Armenian POWs or allow UNESCO monitoring of churches.

[ VIDEO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47QhCRB9mYo ]

“While Pres. Biden’s recognition of the Armenian Genocide was a historic event for the entire world, Colorado’s vibrant Armenian community yet again set a national precedent by successfully urging their state legislature to not only commemorate the Armenian Genocide but also recognize its ongoing consequences in Artsakh,” remarked Armenian National Committee of America Western Region (ANCA-WR) chair Nora Hovsepian, Esq. “The Armenian Genocide is not just a historical fact, it’s an ongoing process, which Colorado has been a global leader in acknowledging in the past by erecting a replica Djulfa khachkar erased by Azerbaijan on the grounds of its State Capitol,” continued Hovsepian. “In addition to the resolution, Colorado’s top three elected leaders – the Governor and two US Senators – also spoke on the Armenian Genocide, which is also a tribute to our local grassroots’ unwavering efforts in keeping Armenian-American priorities on Colorado’s political agenda.”

In a video address to Colorado’s Armenian community, Governor Jared Polis commemorated the Armenian Genocide while acknowledging fresh trauma experienced by the Armenian community due to the recent Artsakh war. In particular, Gov. Polis noted that “we know this past year Armenians have endured additional tragedies in defense of their sovereignty, culture, rich history, and we want to let all Armenians in Colorado and across the world know that we stand with you.”

[ VIDEO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcdLwtQbVm0&t=10s ]

On April 24, both of Colorado’s US Senators, Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, commemorated the Armenian Genocide on Twitter and lauded President Biden’s recognition of the Armenian Genocide. Congressman Jason Crow, who represents Colorado’s vibrant city of Aurora, which has the largest concentration of Colorado’s Armenian community, also commemorated the Armenian Genocide on Twitter, as well as with a video address addressed to the Armenian community.

“Colorado’s Armenian community is immensely grateful to our state legislature, governor, and federal officials for once again standing with our community and doing the right thing,” remarked Armenians of Colorado (AOC) President Byuzand Yeremyan. “As we continue to build our community through cultural and educational programs, including the Armenian School, AOC looks forward to continuing its partnership with local, regional, and national organizations to raise educational awareness about the history and modern ramifications of the Armenian Genocide,” concluded Yeremyan.

SJR 21-017 highlighted the recent aggression on Artsakh as an ongoing consequence of the impunity for Ottoman Turkey’s 1915-1923 extermination of two million Armenians, Assyrians, Greeks, Yazidis and other indigenous minorities. Most significantly, Colorado’s legislature unanimously called out Turkey-Azerbaijan’s recent aggression on Artsakh and raised the issue of Armenian POWs and threatened cultural sites.

[ VIDEO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVNSk07xelw ]

The resolution noted that “Turkey’s ongoing denial of the Armenian Genocide paved the way for another tragedy in late 2020, when Turkey-aided Azerbaijan invaded the Republic of Artsakh, a region of the Armenian homeland, in an onslaught that despite a ceasefire announcement continues to this day through Azerbaijan’s unwillingness to release nearly 200 Armenian Prisoners of War, forbiddance of the return of Armenian refugees to Hadrut and other occupied regions of Artsakh; and refusal of international missions to monitor the nearly 1,500 antique and medieval Armenian cultural sites that have recently come under Azerbaijan’s control.”

In his floor remarks, primary Senate sponsor of SJR 21-017 Sen. Moreno stated “this is something that is dearly personal to the Armenian community especially with events over the summer when there was graffiti and damage done to the Armenian khachkar memorial. We should continue each year to recognize this tragic event… This is particularly painful for the Armenian community because they recently lost control of territories to Azerbaijan.” Sen. Moreno reiterated the importance of continuing “acknowledging the pain and suffering [Armenians] have gone through both in contemporary times and the past.”

State Senator Faith Winter, who spoke in support of the resolution, noted that “history can be uncomfortable” but that “recognizing the Genocide that happened nearly 100 years ago is important to understand history” because “when history is uncomfortable when it is hard for us to admit what happened is when we probably grow the most.” In particular, Sen. Winter recounted her visit to Turkey, where she met young people who were willing to discuss and learn from the Armenian Genocide.

In her House remarks, primary sponsor of SCR 21-017 State Representative Daneya Esgar, who is also the House Majority Leader, noted that “The Armenian community is feeling very vulnerable because of losing access to territory and their sacred sites, so I feel that it is important to stand with them.” Both Moreno and Esgar recounted their planting of a memorial tree at the Yerevan Genocide Memorial at Tsitsernakaberd during an ANCA-WR-sponsored legislative study trip in 2019. Both mentioned that even though the legislative body typically refrains from commenting on current international events, it is important to stand with the Armenian community. They also acknowledged the presence of two local Armenian-American leaders: AOC President Byuzand Yeremyan and ANCA-WR’s Simon Maghakyan.

Following Majority Leader Esgar’s remarks, Speaker Pro Tempore Adrienne Benavidez spoke in staunch support of the resolution’s language calling out Turkey-Azerbaijan’s on Artsakh. According to Benavidez, “this is not just a historical situation… this is continuing and we, as members of this body, have a duty to speak out against atrocities like this.” The Speaker Pro Tempore further noted that “We have to make it clear that we support Armenians and send a clear message to Azerbaijan and their supporters like Turkey.” Benavidez also referenced the lead oped of The Denver Post’s Sunday edition, in which former State Representative Cole Wist and Simon Maghakyan had argued that Pres. Biden should recognize both the past and the present of the Armenian Genocide.

[ VIDEO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sei-_-hu_ko&t=27s ]

Several other lawmakers also spoke in strong support of the resolution. State Representative Jennifer Bacon noted, in part, that “humanity in general has a deep sense of wanting to belong.” State Representatives Dafna Michaelson Jenet and Emily Sirota recalled their joints efforts in championing last year’s Armenian Genocide and Holocaust education law. Michaelson Jenet stated: “There is often a question: if the Armenian Genocide had been stopped, could have the Holocaust been stopped to?” In her remarks, Sirota stated that “I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to carry the bill to ensure that our students are educated on the Holocaust, the Armenian Genocide, to know that this is part of the ongoing work that we do.” State Representative Iman Jodah noted that “standing in with support with Armenian brothers and sisters is how we put an end [to genocide].”

In the Senate, SJR 21-017 was co-sponsored by Colorado State Senators Bridges, Buckner, Coleman, Cooke, Coram, Danielson, Donovan, Fenberg, Fields, Garcia, Gardner, Ginal, Gonzales, Hansen, Hisey, Jaquez Lewis, Kirkmeyer, Kolker, Lee, Liston, Lundeen, Moreno, Pettersen, Priola, Rodriguez, Scott, Smallwood, Sonnenberg, Story, Winter, Woodward, and Zenzinger.

In the House, SJR 21-017 was cosponsored by Representatives Amabile, Bacon, Baisley, Benavidez, Bernett, Bird, Bockenfeld, Bradfield, Caraveo, Carver, Catlin, Cutter, Daugherty, Duran, Esgar, Exum, Froelich, Garnett, Geitner, Gonzales-Gutierrez, Gray, Hanks, Herod, Holtorf, Hooton, Jodeh, Kennedy, Kipp, Larson, Lontine, Luck, Lynch, McCluskie, McCormick, McKean, McLachlan, Michaelson Jenet, Mullica, Neville, Ortiz, Pelton, Pico, Ransom, Rich, Ricks, Roberts, Sandridge, Sirota, Snyder, Soper, Sullivan, Tipper, Titone, Valdez A., Van Beber, Van Winkle, Weissman, Will, Williams, Woodrow, Woog, and Young.

On April 24, at 5pm, Colorado’s Armenian community and supporters gathered at the Colorado State Capitol Armenian Memorial Garden and Khachkar, which was vandalized last year, for the commemoration. Present dignitaries and supporters included former Colorado State Representative Cole Wist, Regional Transportation District (RTD) Board Member and former State Representative Paul Rosenthal, who is the only Colorado official to have visited the Republic of Artsakh, and members of Colorado’s Turkish-American community who officially recognize the Armenian Genocide.

In his remarks, Rep. Wist stated that “This day belongs to the Armenian people, it belongs to this community, my heart is with all of you. Le’s think of those who are not with us, and of those in the broader Armenian family. Today is for all of you. Love you all.”

At the end of the commemoration, community leaders announced upcoming plans for restoring the khachkar, and summarized the recent support the community received: from President Biden to Governor Polis, from Colorado’s legislature to the Congressional delegation. The brief program was concluded by a violin performance of Armenian News and Adanayi Voghb by Nina Fronjian.

Armenians of Colorado, Inc. (AOC) was established in June 1980 as a 501(c)3 non-profit cultural organization. Its purpose is to create a cohesive Armenian community and to further the understanding of Armenian history, culture, language, customs, and heritage. AOC actively supports issues and concerns of the Armenian-American community in Colorado as well as those identified within the Armenian Diaspora throughout the world.

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The Armenian National Committee of America – Western Region is the largest and most influential nonpartisan Armenian-American grassroots advocacy organization in the Western United States. Working in coordination with a network of offices, chapters, and supporters throughout the Western United States and affiliated organizations around the country, the ANCA-WR advances the concerns of the Armenian-American community on a broad range of issues in pursuit of the Armenian Cause.

April 24, 2021 Armenian Genocide Commemoration at the Colorado State Capitol Armenian Genocide Memorial Garden, Photograph by Mher Ginosyan.HEIC
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