Author: Kalantarian Kevo

US DEPARTMENT OF STATE REFUSED TO RECOGNIZE THE “ARMENIAN GENOCIDE”

APA, Azerbaijan
April 14 2015

[ 15 April 2015 00:51 ]

State Department spokesman Marie Harf again did not say the word
“genocide”

Baku-APA. The US State Department on Tuesday condemned the events in
the Ottoman Empire at the beginning of the last century, but again
refused to recognize “genocide”, APA reports quoting RIA Novosti.

“The US president and other senior administration officials have
repeatedly acknowledged destruction of 1.5 million Armenians in the
last days of the Ottoman Empire as historical fact and stressed that
full acknowledgment of this responds interests of all, including
Turkey, Armenia and the United States”, – said State Department
spokesman Marie Harf, answering reporters’ question to comment on
the statement of Pope Francis that it was “the first genocide” of
the 20th century.

However, again Harf did not say the word “genocide”. But when
reporters asked her to respond to the words of Pope Francis, said:
“Nothing more than what I have said.”

TURKEY’S ERDOGAN: ‘I CONDEMN THE POPE’ OVER ARMENIA GENOCIDE COMMENT

Assyrian International News Agency AINA
April 14 2015

Posted 2015-04-14 19:18 GMT

Turkey’s President Erdogan takes part in a welcoming ceremony in Kiev
(Thomson Reuters).ISTANBUL (Reuters) — Turkish President Tayyip
Erdogan said he condemned Pope Francis on Tuesday for comments that
the 1915 mass killing of Armenians was genocide and warned him not
to make such a statement again.

The pope became the first head of the Roman Catholic church to publicly
call the killing of as many as 1.5 million Armenians “genocide” on
Sunday, prompting a diplomatic row with Turkey, which summoned the
Vatican’s envoy and recalled its own.

Muslim Turkey agrees Christian Armenians were killed in clashes with
Ottoman soldiers that began on April 15, 1915, when Armenians lived
in the empire ruled by Istanbul, but denies hundreds of thousands
were killed and that this amounted to genocide.

“We will not allow historical incidents to be taken out of their
genuine context and be used as a tool to campaign against our country,”
Erdogan said in a speech to a business group.

“I condemn the pope and would like to warn him not to make similar
mistakes again.”

While other Turkish politicians, and now Erdogan, have lashed out at
the pope, some ordinary Turks have dismissed the row as empty politics
and voiced a desire to leave history be.

Erdogan’s comments are likely to put a focus on whether the United
States, a traditional ally of NATO-member Turkey, will eventually
use the term “genocide” for the mass killings.

Unlike almost two dozen European and South American states that use
the term, Washington avoids it and has warned legislators that Ankara
could cut off military cooperation if they voted to adopt it.

Pope Francis appeared to refer to his use of the term “genocide”
on Monday, saying in a sermon that “today the Church’s message is
one of the path of frankness, the path of Christian courage”.

Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk; Writing by David Dolan and Louise Ireland.

SILK ROAD TRANSPORT CORRIDOR TO BENEFIT ARMENIA: LAWMAKER

China Daily
April 10, 2015 Friday

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

DIALOGUE DE SOURDS ENTRE MOURAD PAPAZIAN ET SELCUK DEMIR SUR ARTE – VIDEO/PHOTOS

1915-2015

Hier soir, mardi 14 avril, sur Arte, dans l’emission >, le
co-president du CCAF, Mourad-Franck Papazian, l’avocat-secretaire
general de l’Alliance des juristes franco-turcs, Selcuk Demir, et
le journaliste Guillaume Perrier ont ete convies a debattre de la
question 100 ans après, pourquoi la Turquie nie le genocide armenien ?.

Autant dire qu’il n’y a rien a en attendre et qu’il est fâcheux
de debattre avec des personnes de mauvaise foi, negationnistes au
service d’un Etat prostre dans sa rectitude, alors que ce dernier
sait parfaitement ce qu’il est advenu sur le territoire ottoman
entre 1895 et 1923. Un dialogue de sourds dans lequel il n’y a rien a
justifier face aux sempiternelles rhetoriques made in Turkey avec le
deroulant d'”historiens” patentes se comptant sur les 5 doigts de la
main, comme a voulu le demontrer Selcuk Demir face a une multitude
de chercheurs et d’historiens dignes de ce nom oeuvrant de part le
monde. S’il y a un semblant d’interet dans ce genre de debat, c’est
celui qui permet aux telespectateurs de se faire une idee du comment
s’articule le negationnisme.

a partir de 12,45mnMourad Papazian et Guillaume Perrier ont demonte
point par point le faible argumentaire de l’avocat franco-turc,
apportant des elements d’informations meconnues du public.

J.E

Audio- ecouter (1ère partie)

2ème partie

mercredi 15 avril 2015, Jean Eckian (c)armenews.com

WORLD’S LARGEST MEDIA OUTLETS RESPOND TO POPE FRANCIS’S STATEMENT ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

by Marianna Lazarian

Tuesday, April 14, 00:39

World’s leading mass media have responded to Pope Francis’s statement
on Genocide of Armenians during a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on
April 12.

Pope Francis on Sunday marked the 100th anniversary of the slaughter
of Armenians by calling the massacre by Ottoman Turks “the first
genocide of the 20th century” and urging the international community to
recognize it as such. His Holiness called the Genocide of Armenians,
Nazism, and Stalinism as three massive and unprecedented tragedies
of 20th century.

German Deutsche Welle writes: “On the 100th anniversary of the
slaughter of Armenians, Pope Francis has described the mass killing
by the Ottoman Empire as “the first genocide of the 20th century.” The
move could strain diplomatic ties with Turkey.”

Tagesschau, in turn, writes Pope Francis expressed a strong stand on
an explosive political issue by calling the pogroms of Armenians in
Ottoman Turkey as the first genocide of the 20th century.

According to Reuters, Pope Francis described the massacre of as many
as 1.5 million Armenians as “the first genocide of the 20th century”
at a 100th anniversary Mass on Sunday, choosing words that could draw
an angry reaction from Turkey.

AFP writes: “Pope Francis uttered the word “genocide” on Sunday to
describe the mass murder of Armenians 100 years ago, sparking fury
from Turkey which slammed the term as “far from historical reality.”

Commenting on the Pope’s statement, Le Monde writes Turkey offered
its hand to Armenia but did it quite poorly. The liturgy has aroused
a heated response of the Islamic conservative government of Turkey.

Referring to Turkish media, Le Figaro wrote that after Pope Francis’s
statement on Genocide of Armenians, Turkey summoned papal nuncio
for explanations.

Italy press also reflected on the event. Repubblica quotes the Pope
as saying: “It seems that humanity is incapable of putting a halt to
the shedding of innocent blood.”

The Times of Israel writes: ” Pope Francis on Sunday honored the 100th
anniversary of the slaughter of Armenians by calling it “the first
genocide of the 20th century,” a politically explosive declaration that
will certainly anger Turkey. Turkey’s embassy to the Holy See canceled
a planned news conference for Sunday, presumably after learning that
the pope would utter the word “genocide” over its objections.”

“The blunt-speaking Pope on Sunday set off a diplomatic row by calling
the slaughter of Armenians during World War I “the first genocide of
the 20th century.”

While some 1.5 million Armenians were massacred by Ottoman Turks
between 1914 and 1918, politicians including George W. Bush and
Barack Obama — who during his 2008 campaign vowed to call the
slaughter a genocide — have refrained from using the word, fearing
political fallout. Pope Francis, however, had no such fears,” The
Truth Revolt said.

According to CNN, “Pope Francis risked Turkish anger on Sunday by
using the word “genocide” to refer to the mass killings of Armenians
a century ago.”

Fox News says Pope Francis’ comments again show that he is willing to
take diplomatic risks for issues he feels strongly about. In 2014,
he invited the Israeli and Palestinian presidents to pray together
for peace at the Vatican.

Acconrding to NBC, “Pope Francis sparked a diplomatic incident with
Turkey on Sunday by calling the slaughter of Armenians by Ottoman Turks
“the first genocide of the 20th century.”

“Francis, who has close ties to the Armenian community from his days
in Argentina, defended his pronouncement by saying it was his duty
to honor the memory of the innocent men, women and children who were
“senselessly” murdered by Ottoman Turks 100 years ago this month,”
NBC said.

Pope Francis described the 1915 mass killings of Armenians by Turks
as the “first genocide of the 20th century” on Sunday, touching off
a diplomatic furor with Turkey and entering into a tense historical
debate with wider implications for the Vatican’s relations with Islam,
the Wall Street Journal writes.

Los Angeles Times: “A number of countries have issued statements
over the years condemning Turkey’s actions as genocide. Although
President Obama, before his 2008 election, referred several times to
the deaths as genocide, he has not done so as president, maintaining
his predecessors’ reluctance to alienate Turkey, a highly valued ally
in the Middle East.”

USA Today: “The killings are recognized as genocide by a number of
countries around the world, but Turkey’s allies Italy and the United
States have avoided using the contentious term. The United Nations
defined genocide as acts intended to destroy a national, ethnic,
racial or religious group, in whole or in part.”

Russia media also responded to the issue: “Turkey is disappointed at
Pope Francis’s statement on the Genocide of Armenians,” TASS writes.

According to RIA, religious leaders should create environment for
peace and unity of people, but not stir up hatred and confrontation.

Lenta.ru writes Turkey is outraged with Pope Francis’s speech on
Genocide of Armenians. Azerbaijani, Lithuanian, Moldavian, Arab press
have also reflected on the Pope’s statement on Genocide of Armenians.

FOUNDING PARLIAMENT’S “DECLARATION”: EMBATTLED GROUP SEEKS TO ESTABLISH “NEW STATE”

POLITICS | 14.04.15 | 10:54

By GAYANE MKRTCHYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter

With a week’s delay caused by arrests of its leading members, Armenia’s
radical opposition group, Founding Parliament, has published its
declaration on “Forming and Developing the Armenian State”, stressing
that the main goals of the 1990 Independence Declaration and the 1995
Constitution of the Republic of Armenia have not been fulfilled.

Five members of the group, including its chairman Garegin Chukaszyan
and leading member Jirair Sefilian, were arrested on April 7 and
were later charged with attempting to organize mass disturbances at
an April 24 rally. All were taken into two-month custody pending trial.

Another Founding Parliament activist was charged with keeping arms
and ammunition, but was released on bail pending trial.

Hayk Grigoryan, deputy chairman of the Founding Parliament, says
despite the developments they are determined to initiate a process
aimed at “removing the anti-national regime”.

Alek Yenigomshyan, the temporary coordinator of the group, adds
that they have a program for the transitional stage after “removing
the regime”. In particular, he says, they plan to submit a draft
Constitution to be approved in a referendum, after which, if they get
sufficient votes, they will undertake to implement preterm nationwide
and local elections.

“And if not, then the elections will be held under the current
Constitution. The citizens who sign contracts with us commit themselves
to accepting the ideas of the Founding Parliament, while the Founding
Parliament assumes the obligation to building a State of a new
quality,” Yenigomshyan says.

The Founding Parliament’s temporary coordinator says they are not
“Utopists”, but they believe in the idea of solidarity. He gives
assurances that the arrests of Sefilian and other leaders of the
movement have not thwarted the group’s plans and that the struggle
will continue.

The Founding Parliament’s rallies held in provinces so far have failed
to attract any significant number of supporters. Even fewer people
appear to support the radical opposition group’s plans for launching
a non-government push specifically on April 24 – the day when public
events attended by high-level foreign delegations are due to be held
in Yerevan to mark the centenary of the Armenian Genocide. Only two
of the parliamentary opposition parties, namely the Armenian National
Congress and Heritage, publicly condemned the arrests of the Founding
Parliament activists last week.

The group’s Yenigomshyan says that they have no expectations of
cooperation with anyone, as, he emphasizes, they are “going to create
a new State”, nor are they preparing for the next general elections
“as the Founding Parliament’s philosophy is to find a system solution
outside the current system.”

The Founding Parliament says it plans to hold a march and a rally in
Yerevan’s Liberty Square on April 17, which has been approved by the
city authorities. The group also reminds that its plans for holding
a rally near the Erebuni Museum on the outskirts of Yerevan on April
24 have also been approved by the Municipality.

KIM KARDASHIAN ET KANYE WEST A JERUSALEM POUR LE BAPTEME DE LEUR FILLE

Israel-USA-celebrites-Armeniens-christianisme

La vedette de tele-realite americaine Kim Kardashian et son epoux,
le rappeur Kanye West, etaient a Jerusalem lundi pour le bapteme de
leur fille dans la cathedrale armenienne de la ville sainte.

Des centaines de fans ont accueilli l’arrivee du couple dans les
ruelles etroites du quartier armenien de Jerusalem, criant et sifflant
lorsque Kim Kardashian, d’origine armenienne, est sortie de sa voiture,
sa fille North, 21 mois, dans les bras.

“La fille de Kim Kardashian va etre baptisee, et elle va officiellement
devenir chretienne, et membre de l’Eglise armenienne”, a declare
l’archeveque Aris Shirvanian a la foule de journalistes presses devant
son eglise.

La star, celèbre entre autres pour ses formes voluptueuses,
etait drapee dans une robe beige et doree, son epoux et sa fille
integralement vetus de blanc.

La famille, entree dans l’eglise pour la ceremonie, en est sortie 90
minutes plus tard.

Elle devait ensuite visiter la basilique du Saint-Sepulcre bâtie a
l’endroit où, selon la tradition chretienne, Jesus a ete crucifie
avant d’etre mis au tombeau et de ressusciter, puis se rendre au Mur
des Lamentations, le site le plus sacre du judaïsme.

Le couple a ete ensuite recu par le maire de Jerusalem Nir Barkat qui a
profite de l’occasion pour leur demander de “devenir des ambassadeurs
de Jerusalem et de transmettre au monde que Jerusalem est ouverte a
tous”, a indique un communique de la municipalite.

Kim, Kanye et North West, sont arrives lundi en Israël, après un sejour
en Armenie. Les ancetres du côte paternel de la famille Kardashian
ont emigre aux Etats-Unis depuis l’Armenie pour fuir les massacres
de 1915-1917.

Durant sa visite de huit jours en Armenie, Kim Kardashian a ete recue
par le Premier ministre et a visite le memorial du “genocide” a Erevan.

Les Armeniens s’appretent en effet a marquer le 24 avril le 100e
anniversaire du “genocide”, commis pendant la Première guerre mondiale.

A la veille de ces celebrations, le pape Francois a, pour la première
fois dimanche, utilise le mot “genocide”, provoquant la fureur de la
Turquie qui a toujours recuse ce qualificatif.

AFP

mardi 14 avril 2015, Stephane (c)armenews.com

AZNAVOUR : UN JOUR LA JEUNESSE VA SE REVOLTER

1915-2015

Nikos Aliagas * a recu Charles Aznavour, sur EUROPE1, pour la
promotion de son nouvel album Encores qui sortira le 4 mai. Il en
a profite pour l’interroger sur la declaration du pape Francois
reconnaissant explicitement le genocide des Armeniens. Selon lui,
les choses devraient changer, sinon “la jeunesse va se revolter”.

Charles Aznavour se rendra en Armenie le 24 avril et donnera 6
representations au Palais des Sports de Paris entre le 15 et le 27
septembre 2015. Le 22 mai, il entrera dans sa 91ème annee. Mais ne
lui souhaitez pas un heureux anniversaire, il n’aime pas trop…

* Sortez du cadre : tous les samedis de 11h a 12h30 sur Europe1

mardi 14 avril 2015, Jean Eckian (c)armenews.com

OBAMA’S HYPOCRISY ON THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

Algemeiner
April 14 2015

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach

Last week, Thomas Friedman of The New York Times interviewed
President Obama about the Obama Doctrine. After two weeks of watching
the President appease the Iranians and then publicly legitimize
dictator Raúl Castro – all while continuing to assail Israel’s
democratically-elected leader Binyamin Netanyahu – we might define
the Obama Doctrine thus: a steadfast refusal to be repulsed by evil.

There seems to be almost no dictator on earth whom the President will
punish for their cruelty to their own people, no autocrat to whom
he will not reach out in the naïve belief that his recognition will
change their behavior. A powerful case in point of the President’s
refusal to identify evil is his broken promise to recognize the
Armenian genocide, the 100th anniversary of which is this month.

Last Sunday, Pope Francis showed moral courage in openly calling for
recognition of “the first genocide of the twentieth century.” Turkey,
run by the increasingly brutal dictator Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
immediately recalled its Ambassador, as befits a bully. Why won’t
President Obama recognize the genocide, especially since he promised
as a presidential candidate that he would do so?

CNN’s Chief Washington correspondent Jake Tapper captured the
President’s failure succinctly: “For the sixth year in a row President
Barack Obama has broken his promise to the Armenian community, made
when seeking their votes as a senator and a presidential candidate,
to use the word “genocide” to describe the massacre of an estimated
1.5 million Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire a century
ago. He did this in deference to the government of Turkey, which –
historical revisionism aside – the Obama administration regards as
a more crucial ally.”

President Obama won’t recognize the genocide of the Armenian people
for fear of provoking the Turkish tyrant.

It was back in January of 2008 that then-Senator Barack Obama said:
“Two years ago, I criticized the Secretary of State for the firing
of U.S. Ambassador to Armenia, John Evans, after he properly used
the term ‘genocide’ to describe Turkey’s slaughter of thousands of
Armenians starting in 1915. I shared with Secretary Rice 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. As a senator,
I strongly support passage of the Armenian Genocide Resolution
(H.Res.106 and S.Res.106), and as President I will recognize the
Armenian Genocide”

It doesn’t get much clearer than that. The President’s emphatic
promise that he would recognize the Armenian genocide was followed
by six years of broken promises and obfuscation.

But, the best part is this: President Obama won’t even acknowledge
having broken his commitment. On the contrary, he does verbal
summersaults to show that he has honored it, as he did in April of
2009: “I have consistently stated my own view of what occurred in 1915,
and my view of that history has not changed. My interest remains the
achievement of a full, frank and just acknowledgment of the facts.”

And yet, all it would take to acknowledge those “facts” is to simply
use the word “genocide” to describe the Armenian slaughter. Just one
Presidential speech with the word genocide would do it. But Obama
steadfastly refuses to do so.

President Obama later said: “On this solemn day of remembrance, we
pause to recall that ninety-five years ago one of the worst atrocities
of the 20th century began. In that dark moment of history, 1.5 million
Armenians were massacred or marched to their death in the final days
of the Ottoman Empire.”

We hear the word “massacre.” We hear the words “marched to their
death.” But still, he won’t call it what it was and what he promised
to acknowledge: genocide.

“It’s a sad spectacle to see our President,” said Armenian National
Committee of America executive director Aram Hamparian, “who came into
office having promised to recognize the Armenian Genocide, reduced to
enforcing a foreign government’s gag-rule on what our country can say
about a genocide so very thoroughly documented in our own nation’s
archives. We remain profoundly disappointed that he has, once again,
retreated from his own promises and fallen short of the principled
stand taken by previous presidents.”

But Hamparian should not be surprised. An inability to call out evil
has been the hallmark of this presidency. From the President’s recent
visit to Saudi Arabia where he made no mention of the kingdom’s
vast human-rights abuses, to his reconciliation with Cuba without
any demands that they stop the grotesque persecution of political
dissidents, to turning a blind eye to Erdogan’s destruction of Turkish
democracy, to refusing to enforce his red line against Syria when
Assad gassed Arab children –President Obama is the quintessential
leader who hears no evil and sees no evil.

The bigger question about Obama’s refusal to recognize the Armenian
genocide is how this sits with American Ambassador to the United
Nations Samantha Power. I offered significant public support to
Samantha for the position of Ambassador when she was being assailed
by American Jewish leaders for being anti-Israel, and I did it because
of my reverence for her as one of the world’s strongest voices against
genocide. Samantha won the Pulitzer Prize for her 2002 book A Problem
from Hell where she condemned successive American presidents for
doing next to nothing when it came to calling out genocide.

Now that she is an actual part of an Administration that refuses
to acknowledge a genocide, will she speak out? Has she challenged
President Obama about his broken promises on Armenia? Will she pressure
the Administration to do the right thing, or risk becoming part of
the same “problem from hell” for not confronting genocide?

The next few weeks, as the centenary is commemorated, will be telling.

In the final analysis, it was President Obama himself who said in
2008 that “America deserves a leader who speaks truthfully about
the Armenian Genocide and responds forcefully to all genocides. I
intend to be that president.” Intentions are meaningless. Action
is everything. Keep your word, Mr. President. More than 1.5 million
victims are waiting.

Shmuley Boteach, “America’s Rabbi” whom the Washington Post calls “the
most famous Rabbi in America,” is the international best-selling author
of 30 books, including The Fed-up Man of Faith: Challenging God in
the Face of Tragedy and Suffering. Follow him on Twitter @RabbiShmuley.

UN CHIEF: 1915 SLAUGHTERS OF ARMENIANS ARE ‘ATROCITY CRIMES’

Sioux City Journal
April 13 2015

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s spokesman
says the U.N. chief considers the slaughter of Armenians by Ottoman
Turks 100 years ago “atrocity crimes,” but he isn’t supporting Pope
Francis’ description of the killings as “the first genocide of the
20th century.”

Turkey denies the killings were genocide and accused Francis of
spreading hatred.

Stephane Dujarric told reporters Monday that Ban took note of the
pope’s comments on Sunday. He said the U.N. chief is fully aware of
“the sensitivities related to the characterization of what happened”
in 1915.

Dujarric said Ban believes the commemoration of the centenary and
continuing cooperation with Armenians and Turks “with a view to
establishing the facts about what happened should strengthen our
collective determination to prevent similar atrocity crimes from ever
happening in the future.”