Author: Kalantarian Kevo

Pianiste
Mars 2015

ARAM KHATCHATOURIAN (1903-1978)

par S.F.

Concerto pour piano + Prokofiev : Concerto pour piano n°3 op. 26 Nareh
Arghamanyan (piano), Orchestre symphonique de la Radio de Berlin, dir.
Alain AltinogluPentaTone PTC5186510. 2013. 1 h 07′

I Programme absolumentlogique et magnifiquement réalisé que celui de
la pianiste arménienne. Voilà une musicienne qui sait animer un récit
sans « briser l’ivoire » de son clavier ! Elle le fait avec d’autant
plus d’inspiration qu’elle reçoit le soutien vigilant et subtil
d’Altinoglu. Tout ce que le Concerto pour piano de Khatchatourian
comporte de pièges, dont le plus évident est celui de l’emphase, nous
est épargné dans cette lecture.

Ce ne sont plus les traits en tous sens, la pyrotechnie brouillonne
qui animent la partition, trop souvent réduite à une succession de
poncifs exotiques. Le charme de l’oeuvre nous est montré rien que par
le dialogue entre la clarinette basse, les cordes et le piano dans le
mouvement central. Même la Toccata finale gagne ici en lisibilité. On
goûte (avec une prise de son DSD remarquable) la finesse des timbres
de l’orchestre et la souplesse du jeu de Nareh Arghamanyan. L’une des
versions modernes les plus abouties de la discographie.

La présente lecture du Concerto pour piano de Pro- kofiev nous ferait
presque oublier une discographie si abondante. Le délié du jeu, tout
d’abord, est impeccable. Maîtrise du phrasé, des tensions, clarté du
chant et sens aigu du lyrisme…

De cette lecture émane un sentiment de fraîcheur, de pureté et de
simplicité réconfortant. On citera bien des versions peut-être plus
dynamiques et engagées, plus personnalisées assurément (Argerich,
Toradze, Matsuev…), mais rares sont celles qui respirent avec une
̩l̩gance si fluide. Ce Prokofiev Рet ce pourrait ̻tre a contrario un
reproche car une telle musique se passe aisément d’être « belle » –
se tourne résolument vers le postromantisme. À elle seule, l’entrée du
piano dans l’Andantino et variations nous dit beaucoup de cette
artiste si musicienne.

Assyrian International News Agency AINA
March 7 2015

The Armenian Genocide: Turkey’s Hundred Shades of Denial

By Grigor Boyakhchyan

Posted 2015-03-07 19:08 GMT

Picture showing Armenians killed during the Armenian Genocide. Image
taken from Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story, written by Henry Morgenthau,
Sr. and published in 1918. Original description: “THOSE WHO FELL BY
THE WAYSIDE. Scenes like this were common all over the Armenian
provinces, in the spring and summer months of 1915. Death in its
several forms–massacre, starvation, exhaustion–destroyed the larger
part of the refugees. The Turkish policy was that of extermination
under the guise of deportation” (Public Domain/Wikimedia
Commons).Repentant or emboldened through a hundred long years of
denial, the Turkish statehood stands at a critical juncture of its
historical past, present, and future. The Armenian Genocide and the
Great National Dispossession of the Armenian people from their
homeland will ultimately determine its decent place in the family of
civilized nations. Recognition and repentance, along with elimination
of dire consequences, is the right way forward for the Turkish
government.

Only a month ahead of the April 24 Centennial of the Armenian
Genocide, the Republic of Armenia, together with Diaspora Armenians
from many far-flung corners of the world, brings together the vestiges
of enduring historical memory and remembrance on human suffering,
extermination and resurgence to denounce past inhumanities and prevent
future ones. Unbroken in spirit against this unprecedented crime, the
message they bring to the fore of international agenda stretches far
beyond the tragedy of a single nation to embrace the whole humanity.

Against the backdrop of Turkish official denialism, distortion, and
propaganda stunt — as the commemoration of Gallipoli landings staged
by the Turkish government on April 24 demonstrate — looms the larger
decay of a state rooted in organized forgetting and long-enforced
oblivion. Not only does the strenuous denial of the Armenian Genocide
by the Turkish government constitute a form of renewed aggression that
should be condemned and outlawed in its own right, but it also
forecloses the mere opportunity for many decent men and women in
Turkey to come to grips with their own history.

Despite the vast amount of evidence that points to centrally planned
and systematically orchestrated genocide against the Armenian people
— the testimony of survivors, documentary evidence, official
archives, and the reports of diplomats — the denial of Armenian
genocide by successive regimes in Turkey has proceeded from 1915 to
the present. Among the scores of articles available in the archives of
the New York Times, one featured on February 23, 1916 presents the
reflections of Lord Bryce, the head of British delegation to the
Anglo-French Parliamentary conference, on Turkish atrocities committed
against Armenians. It reads in part: “The cause of Armenians is
especially dear to me. There is no people in the world which has
suffered more. It has been a victim not of religious fanaticism, but
of cold-blooded, premeditated hatred on the part of the brigands who
term themselves the Turkish Government and who do not intend to permit
the existence of any national vitality except in their own element.”

In an attempt to assassinate the entire civilization and culture, the
Ottoman Turkish government unleashed the deportation of Armenian
people to the arid deserts of Syria that would come to be known as
death marches of men, women and children, with many dying along the
way of exhaustion and starvation. The American ambassador Henry
Morgenthau would later write in his memoirs: “When the Turkish
authorities gave the orders for these deportations, they were merely
giving the death warrant to a whole race; they understood this well,
and in their conversations with me, they made no particular attempt to
conceal the fact.”

Various perspectives on denial can be brought to bear on the form and
content of Turkish attempts to transplant a benign political image
around the world; what unites them together, however, is the
state-sponsored struggle to diminish, disguise and consign to oblivion
the memory of race extermination behind their actions in whatever way
possible — a struggle of forgetting against memory.

Regardless of the state of play on the ground in the Middle East or
elsewhere and the ensuing geopolitical significance allegedly
attributed to Turkey in world affairs, it is crystal clear that the
only enduring strength, authority and leadership that a country seeks
to obtain in international arena proceeds along the principles of
morality and justice. Unwillingness to embrace this route is an
attribute of politicians who think in short timelines.

There are no “smart denials” on the face of justice, irrespective of
the strategies and techniques the Turkish authorities choose to
concoct behind the sealed borders and closed doors. Denials are either
short-or long-lived; but they never mature into reality. Nor does the
known fade into the unknown — no matter how intensely the hundred
shades of distortion and denial envelop the truth — and those who
have attempted it have themselves ended up in the dustbin of history.
To bind the country to the same path of government-backed denial is an
expression of no strategy, no goals, and no vision for its future. It
is a sign of moral decay.

Armenian Men are Also Eager to Look Young

“ArmInfo” News Agency interview with “Erebuni” medicenter plastic
surgeon Nara Tornikova Vardapetyan

by Tatevik Shahunyan
Monday, March 9, 00:40

Nara Tornikova, plastic surgery has become popular with our society
over the recent years. What is this tendency mandated by? Compared
with the previous years, how often have people started turning to
plastic surgeons aiming to correct their appearance?

– Yes, you have got the point. Plastic surgery has recently become
more popular with the Armenian society. The reason for this tendency
is particularly the change of people’s attitude towards their
appearance, as well as better availability of western trends in our
republic. For example, mostly women would turn to plastic correction
several years ago and even then not that often. However, nowadays men
are also aspiring to look handsome. When turning to rhinosurgery
before, the Armenian menfolk would particularly mention the correction
of the curved nasal floor or a slight correction of the nose but the
way “no one would notice”. However, nowadays they are quite bold at
making appearance correction requests. It is remarkable that most our
clients are “men of high profile” ; that is probably mandated by their
welfare, for plastic surgery still remains a costly affair for a
country like Armenia. Speaking of men in that matter, I believe it to
be quite clear that the number of women, who turn to plastic surgery
services, is permanently growing drawing on their natural desire to
always look good.

If we are to compare the number of utilization of plastic surgery
services to the ratio of population and operations carried out in
Armenia and the ones in foreign countries, do we lag behind?

– I wouldn’t say so; the ratio is almost the same.

Nara Tornikova, what are the most frequent requests of your patients?

-Well, number one, of course, is nose surgery; moreover, this service
is popular both with men and women. It is remarkable that there is
long held perception that, by reference to the so-called “Armenian
nose”, this type of surgery is extremely popular in Armenia. However,
that is not true, for “nose job” is as popular overseas as in our
country. After rhinosurgery come breast, belly and buttocks correction
types.

What types of plastic surgery are popular with men and women?

– Well, women are quite often to turn with belly correction requests.
Rejuvenating procedures, such as botox injections and
hyaluronan-products, are in great demand, too. However, it is
remarkable that these procedures have become more popular with men as
well. As it happens, Armenian men are also eager to look young. By the
way, in such cases they prefer absolute confidentiality.

What about the quality of plastic surgery services? Are our
specialists’ skills inferior to their overseas colleagues’?

– As for nose surgery, I can say that they are almost at the same
level. Moreover, compared to services offered in CIS, our services
appear to be of higher quality. This is evidenced by clients from
abroad as well.

What about financial issues? Despite the adverse socio-economic
situation you are saying that the number of plastic surgery patients
is growing taking into account the cost of the service and the fact
that plastic surgery is not on the list of health compulsory surgical
interventions.

– I have already said that mostly wealthy men turn to us. However,
representatives of middle class have recently shown a trend for
utilizing our services. Pursuit of beauty often makes them save
expenditure in order to turn to a plastic surgeon.

Let’s speak of the psychological aspect of the topic. Why do people
turn to a plastic surgeon – drawing on their natural desire to always
look beautiful and various appearance complexes, are there lots of
people who see appearance correction as a solution to their personal
problems?

– There is a disorder – dysmorphophobia. It is characterized by the
constant need for appearance correction, as well as by the permanent
resentment over the latter. However, that is not to say that people,
who turn to plastic surgery, suffer from some psychiatric deviations.
In most cases they are guided by the natural aspiration to look young
and beautiful at any age. However, as a plastic surgeon, I can assure
you that the appearance is not always a recipe for success. All too
often people with less symmetric forms and features make greater
advances than people with a perfect and faultless appearance.
Nevertheless, appearance correction gives people more self-confidence.

I am a person to favour natural beauty. What do you think, doesn’t a
person “lose” from repairing to plastic surgery? Doesn’t a person
become just a copy and lose his/her native trait?

– Definitely, it is not so if there’s need for surgery, and the
surgical intervention is performed correctly. If there is no need for
a surgical intervention, we, doctors, often back down operations.

My last question probably interests all filler-lovers. How safe is it
to use fillers and are there any counter indications?

– As for botox, there are no special counter indication, except
perhaps, allergic individuals, people with diabetes and pregnant women
shouldn’t betake such procedures. I want to advise patients to do
injections at medical centres, and not in skin-care shops, for
botulinum toxin may cause allergic reactions up to Quincke’s disease.
In such cases there is need for emergency interventions which,
however, one cannot get in skin-care shops. As for hyaluronan, there
are counter indications in case of autoimmune diseases.

To sum up, can we say that plastic surgery is a successful medical
sphere in Armenia?

– Definitely, this is evidenced both by service quality improvement
and the growing number of clients.

ÃŽE2FE90-C5DB-11E4-9C090EB7C0D21663

Message of His Holiness Karekin II on International Women’s Day

10:28 * 08.03.15

>From the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, We extend our pontifical
blessings and congratulations to all women and girls on the occasion
of March 8. In these days of the renewal of spring we praise our
beloved mothers, sisters and daughters, and show appreciation their
devoted efforts in our daily, national and spiritual lives.

Truly, the virtuous description of the Armenian woman in our national
life is unique, and her mission is eternally blessed to be the anchor
of the Armenian family. The role of women is irreplaceable in the
strength of families, educating our children with Christian values and
native traditions, being and remaining the anchor of the Armenian
family, with her focus of love, loyalty, selflessness and devotion. In
our century of equal opportunities the role of women is also
undeniable and they have made contributions in science, education,
economy and all other spheres of social life; contributing to the
welfare and development of our society.

Dear mothers, sisters and daughters, we extend our prayers to God that
you enrich our lives filling it with your good deeds, love, care and
virtuous example, as according to the Bible “The virtuous woman is
precious of all the gems”.

May the Almighty God graces you with spiritual virtues and grant a
peaceful and secure family life, boundless happiness and endless joy
with your families, children and loved ones.

May the grace of Jesus Christ, the love of God and the sanctity of the
Holy Spirit be with you now and forever.

Amen

GENOCIDE DES ARMENIENS
Deutsche Welle s’interroge sur la culpabilité de l’Allemagne dans le
génocide des Arméniens

Le site d’information allemand > vient de consacrer
un large article au génocide des Arméniens à l’occasion de son 100ème
anniversaire et tentant d’analyser sur le rôle de l’Allemagne dans ce
génocide. sous la signature de Richard
Fouks. >. L’article
retrace l’historique des positions et déclarations des politiques
allemands sur le génocide des Arméniens et s’étonne qu’en cette année
du 100ème anniversaire de ce génocide, les autorités allemandes

GENOCIDE DES ARMENIENS
CNN classe l’église arménienne des Saints Martyrs de Der Zor (Syrie)
au rang des monuments et lieux précieux détruits par les islamistes de
l’EI

La chaine de télévision américaine CNN a classé l’église arménienne
Saints Martyrs (Sourp Nahadagats en arménien) de Der Zor (Syrie)
bombardée par les islamistes en septembre dernier dans la liste des 19
monuments précieux de détruits. Cette église qui contenait les
reliques des Arméniens victimes du génocide de 1915 recevait d’après
le site de CNN des milliers de visiteurs Arméniens de la diaspora qui
venaient en pèlerinage dans le désert syrien sur les lieux même du
génocide. Le 21 septembre dernier, un groupe se réclamant de l’Etat
Islamique l’a bombardé. A noter que dans cette liste de la CNN des
monuments et lieux précieux détruits, figurent la vielle ville de
Beyrouth, la grande mosquée de Samarra (Irak), la grande mosquée
d’Alep, la ville assyrienne de Nemrout, la ville antique de Palmyre
(Syrie) ainsi que d’autres monuments du patrimoine historique de
l’humanité.

Krikor Amirzayan

dimanche 8 mars 2015,
Krikor Amirzayan (c)armenews.com

FRANCE
Programmation spéciale Centenaire du génocide arménien en avril sur ARTE

AÃŒ l’occasion du centenaire du geÃŒ?nocide armeÃŒ?nien le 24 avril, ARTE
consacrera une programmation speÌ?ciale aÌ cet anniversaire en
diffusant un documentaire ineÃŒ?dit, « La vengeance des armeÃŒ?niens – Le
proceÌs Tehlirian » et un film, « Le mas des alouettes ».

Lundi 27 avril à 22h20 – Le Mas des alouettes Un film de Paolo et
Vittorio Taviani avec Paz Vega, Moritz Bleibtreu, Angela Molina,
AndreÃŒ? Dussollier, Tcheky Kary…

Mardi 28 avril à 22h20 – La vengeance des armeÃŒ?niens – Le proceÃŒs
Tehlirian Documentaire de Bernard Georges / Ecrit par Laurence Chassin
/ Avec la voix de Simon Abkarian En 1921, Talaat Pacha, un haut
dignitaire turc en exil aÌ Berlin, est abattu en pleine rue. Son
agresseur, Soghomon Tehlirian, est un jeune ArmeÌ?nien. Quelques mois
plus tard, son proceÌs connaiÌ?t un basculement inattendu : plutoÌ?t que
de condamner l’accuseÃŒ?, les audiences eÃŒ?tablissent la culpabiliteÃŒ? de
Talaat Pacha dans le geÃŒ?nocide armeÃŒ?nien. Mais ce que l’auditoire
ignore, c’est que Soghomon Tehlirian n’est pas l’eÃŒ?tudiant qu’il
preÃŒ?tend eÃŒ?tre…

AÃŒ l’heure des commeÃŒ?morations du centenaire du geÃŒ?nocide armeÃŒ?nien,
le film deÃŒ?voile les meÃŒ?canismes du premier crime contre l’humaniteÃŒ?
du XXe sieÃŒcle, et pose la question de sa reconnaissance
internationale, qui fait encore deÌ?bat un sieÌcle apreÌs les faits.

dimanche 8 mars 2015,
Stéphane ©armenews.com

IL FOGLIO, Italia
6 mar 2015

L’Armenia a Roma. A cent’anni dal genocidio degli armeni, al
Vittoriano reperti e storia del popolo dell’Arca

06 Marzo 2015

Per il centenario del genocidio che nel 1915 portò alla deportazione e
all’annientamento del popolo armeno nell’Impero Ottomano, anniversario
che verrà commemorato il 24 aprile, dal 6 marzo al 3 maggio nel Salone
Centrale del Complesso del Vittoriano si terrà la mostra “Armenia. Il
Popolo dell’Arca”, un modo per ricordare e vedere una delle più
floride culture del mondo antico, ha una storia ricca di fascino che
affonda le sue radici nella tradizione biblica del Diluvio Universale.
E’ proprio alle pendici dell’Ararat, sulla cui cima si era arenata
l’Arca di Noè, che nel VII sec. a.C. si formò il popolo armeno. Ancora
oggi il monte Ararat è un richiamo simbolico fondamentale per
l’Armenia, che nel 301 d.C. fu il primo paese al mondo ad adottare il
Cristianesimo come religione di stato.

L’esposizione si articolerà in sette sezioni ricche di reperti
archeologici, codici miniati, opere d’arte, illustrazioni e documenti.

Cihan News Agency (CNA)
March 6, 2015 Friday

British jurist highlights German role in mass deportation of Armenians

Aydın Albayrak, The Hague

Ä°STANBUL (CÄ°HAN)- A leading British jurist well-versed in human rights
cases has implicated Germany in the forced relocation of Armenians by
the Ottomans during World War I, a move which led to mass killings
that Armenians describe as genocide.

It was Germans who suggested that Armenians be relocated, Geoffrey
Robertson, who also served as an appeals judge with the UN Special
Court for Sierra Leone from 2002 to 2007, said Friday at a conference
titled “The Armenian Genocide Legacy: 100 Years on.”

Robertson, who was one of the panelists on the first day of the
conference in The Hague, Netherlands, maintained that Germans advised
Ottoman Turks to settle the Armenian question based on Germany’s
practice of ethnic cleansing in southwest Africa back in 1905.
“Germans were in complicity with the Turks,” he added. The Ottoman
Empire and Germany were allies in World War I.
In response to a rebellion by native people against German colonial
rule in the area corresponding to today’s Namibia, the German army
allegedly let the native people who fled the violence die from
starvation and thirst by preventing them from leaving the Namibian
dessert. The number of victims is estimated to be in the tens of
thousands.

“This is the first genocide of the 20th century,” said Robertson, who
also described the suffering Ottoman Armenians experienced during
their relocation as genocide.
In contrast to the opinions voiced at the panel, Turkey denies claims
that the forced relocation of Armenians, which mainly took place in
1915, amount to genocide, arguing that the relocation was a necessity,
as some of the Armenians in eastern Anatolia collaborated with Russian
forces against the Ottoman army during fighting that took place
several months before the relocation began.

The two-day conference, organized ahead of the centennial
commemoration of the forced relocation of Ottoman Armenians, was held
at the Hague Institute for Global Justice.

In an interview in January with the state-run Turkish Radio and
Television Corporation (TRT), President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an
criticized the Armenian diaspora for exploiting the mass killings of
Armenians in 1915 and said Turkey would not acknowledge the 1915
events as “genocide” just because others push Turkey to recognize them
as such.

Every year on April 24, Armenians around the world commemorate the
Armenian victims who died during the forced relocation, which
officially began in June 1915.

As the 100th anniversary of the forced relocation approaches, Armenia
and the Armenian diaspora have increased their efforts to have the
suffering of the Armenians be recognized as genocide, as well as
seeking ways to demand reparations from the Turkish Republic, the heir
to the Ottoman Empire, for the Armenian properties seized by the state
following the relocation.

In an interview with the TRT, ErdoÄ?an said on Thursday that the
Armenian diaspora is pushing for acknowledgement that the events at
the end of World War l constituted “genocide” and is trying to create
pressure on Turkey, but that this issue needs to be handled by
historians.

Robertson, who is also the author of a book titled “An Inconvenient
Genocide: Who Now Remembers the Armenians?” lashed out at the European
Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) for a verdict which concluded that
denying what Armenians suffered is “genocide” does not constitute a
crime.

In December 2013, the lower court of the ECtHR ruled by five votes to
two that Switzerland violated the right to freedom of speech by
convicting DoÄ?u Perinçek, chairman of the Turkish Workers’ Party (Ä°P),
for having publicly denied that a genocide took place against the
Armenian people.

Perinçek declared that the events that befell the Armenians under
Ottoman rule in 1915 are an “international lie.”

Maintaining that the ECtHR decided that this was not genocide because
there were no gas chambers involved, as was the case during the
Holocaust, Robertson said: “This was stupid.”

The court’s decision regarding Perinçek set a precedent that it is
counter to the freedom of expression to charge individuals for
expressing views different than the officially accepted ones
concerning issues under public debate.

Ronald Suny, a professor of history at the University of Michigan,
said “genocide” might have been avoided if the rulers of the Ottoman
Empire had granted rights to minorities in the Ottoman state, instead
of seeing them as existential threats to the state.

They took a path that led to destruction, said Suny, who was the
keynote speaker of the conference.

Suny said estimates of the number of Armenians who lost their lives
during the relocation range from 600,000 to over 1 million. But some
Turkish sources maintain that the figure is much less.

Referring to what Aboriginal Australians, the continent’s indigenous
people, and Native Americans lived through in the past, Suny also
underlined that all states should make an effort to come to terms with
their history.

Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso, Italia
2 mar 2015

Il centenario del genocidio armeno

Simone Zoppellaro | Yerevan
2 marzo 2015

Il prossimo 24 aprile, in Armenia e nel mondo, verranno ricordati i
100 anni dall’inizio del genocidio degli armeni nell’Impero Ottomano.
L’attesa, il programma delle commemorazioni a Yerevan

Gli armeni si apprestano a ricordare i cento anni trascorsi dal primo
grande genocidio del XX secolo, il Metz Yeghern, che in lingua armena
significa “il Grande Male”.

Il culmine delle celebrazioni sarà il 24 aprile, data tradizionalmente
scelta per commemorare i tragici eventi che, nel 1915 e 1916 in
particolare, portarono alla morte di circa un milione e mezzo di
persone e alla quasi completa cancellazione della presenza armena nei
territori dell’allora Impero Ottomano.

Una scelta, quella di questa data, dal valore fortemente simbolico:
nella notte fra il 23 e il 24 aprile del 1915 alcune centinaia di
intellettuali armeni vennero arrestati a Istanbul e in altre località
dell’Impero per essere in seguito deportati e uccisi. L’intento di chi
diede quell’ordine, il ministro degli Interni Taalat Pasha, era di
privare gli armeni delle loro guide spirituali e politiche prima di
mettere in atto la soluzione finale. Fra loro, è giusto ricordare
almeno il poeta Daniel Varoujan, uno dei massimi della letteratura
armena moderna, ucciso insieme a medici, giornalisti, sacerdoti,
avvocati, politici, insegnanti, architetti e mercanti.

Ogni anno – e non solo in occasione di questo centenario – si celebra
a Yerevan una commemorazione molto sentita dalla gente, che accorre in
gran numero anche dai paesi e dalle città dell’interno (e persino
dall’estero, dalla diaspora) per prendervi parte.

Il Forte delle Rondini

La prima manifestazione ebbe luogo nel 1965, nell’allora Unione
Sovietica, quando centomila persone sfilarono per ricordare il
cinquantenario di un evento che, in Oriente e in Occidente, nessuno
sembrava allora disposto a ricordare. Oggi come ieri, luogo simbolo è
Tsitsernakaberd, il “Forte delle Rondini”, un collina non lontana dal
centro di Yerevan dove l’anno seguente al cinquantenario ebbe inizio
la costruzione del memoriale delle vittime del Genocidio, ultimato nel
1967. Dopo l’indipendenza, nel 1995, qui è sorto anche il
Museo-Istituto del Genocidio armeno, che anche quest’anno sarà
protagonista della commemorazione.

Questa giunge in un momento da molti punti di vista non semplice per
la Repubblica d’Armenia. Innanzitutto a causa del conflitto del
Nagorno Karabakh, dove la tensione è alta. In un mese solitamente
calmo – anche a causa delle temperature rigide – come gennaio, si sono
registrati diversi scontri e un bilancio di 12 morti e 18 feriti da
entrambe le parti. Un’altra ragione è la politica: il 2015 si è aperto
con una serie di scontri e scandali che, coinvolgendo anche una figura
di primo piano dell’opposizione come Gagik Tsarukyan, rischiano di
rendere ancor più incontrastata l’egemonia del Partito Repubblicano
nel paese. Infine l’economia, che continua a soffrire dell’isolamento
geopolitico del paese, e vede pesare in aggiunta gli effetti negativi
dell’eccessiva dipendenza da Mosca, a sua volta in difficoltà
economica. A tal proposito, il centenario dovrebbe rappresentare un
momento di sollievo, almeno per quanto riguarda il settore turistico.
Si stima per il 2015 un incremento del 10% in questo settore, secondo
i dati presentati dal ministro dell’Economia Karen Chshmarityan. E
ciò, come ha ricordato lo stesso ministro, anche a causa del
centenario.

Non ti scordar di me

Come simbolo per la commemorazione del centenario è stato scelto un
fiore, il non-ti-scordar-di-me, che molti armeni hanno già iniziato a
usare come immagine di profilo sui social network. Il tema della
memoria è centrale, in questo caso, non solo per il tributo da
prestare alle vittime, ma anche da un punto di vista politico.

Un secolo di silenzi e omissioni, complicità e negazionismi, non è
purtroppo bastato, e così ancora oggi la questione del riconoscimento
del Genocidio armeno è al centro del dibattito politico
internazionale. In primo luogo per la Turchia, erede dell’Impero
Ottomano che pianificò ed eseguì lo sterminio, che si ostina a negare
che quanto avvenne in quegli anni possa essere definito un genocidio.
E questo nonostante molte voci della società civile turca – a
cominciare dal premio Nobel Orhan Pamuk – si levino sempre più
numerose. Ma anche per gli Stati Uniti che, nonostante le promesse di
Obama in campagna elettorale, non hanno ancora riconosciuto il
Genodicio, nel timore di compromettere i rapporti con la Turchia. O
ancora Israele, che ha preferito sacrificare il riconoscimento del
Genocidio armeno in nome del suo legame strategico con la Turchia
prima, e in seguito con l’Azerbaijan, un altro stato negazionista.

System of a Down

Per quanto riguarda la commemorazione a Yerevan, oltre alla
tradizionale fiaccolata serale del 23 aprile che dalla piazza del
Teatro dell’Opera conduce fino a Tsitsernakaberd, proseguendo poi
anche il giorno seguente, ci saranno una serie di eventi inediti. Fra
questi, desta particolare attesa – soprattutto fra i giovani – il
concerto dei System of a Down. La band statunitense, composta da
quattro discendenti di sopravvissuti al Genocidio, si esibirà nella
centralissima Piazza della Repubblica il 23 aprile. Nonostante il
legame profondo del gruppo con la loro identità armena, evocata in
diverse canzoni dedicate al tema del Genocidio, si tratta della loro
prima esibizione in Armenia.

Il 22 e il 23 di aprile si terrà invece una conferenza internazionale
intitolata “Contro i crimini di genocidio”, dove si attende la
presenza di importanti personalità politiche e religiose
internazionali. Sempre il 23, a Etchmiadizn, antico centro spirituale
degli armeni che sorge a una ventina di chilometri da Yerevan, la
Chiesa Apostolica celebrerà la canonizzazione di tutte le vittime del
Genocidio. A chiudere gli eventi, la sera del 24, ci sarà invece un
concerto di musica classica dove si esibiranno, simbolicamente,
musicisti provenienti da paesi che hanno riconosciuto in via ufficiale
il Genocidio armeno.

Un’iniziativa legata a Eurovision Song Contest 2015, infine, viene
utilizzata in questi mesi dall’Armenia per sensibilizzare l’opinione
pubblica internazionale sul tema del Genocidio. Anziché da un solo
cantante, l’Armenia sarà rappresentata quest’anno al festival della
canzone che si terrà a maggio a Vienna da un gruppo di sei membri, i
Genealogy, ognuno dei quali proveniente da un diverso continente, più
uno dall’Armenia. Il titolo della canzone che presenteranno, quanto
mai significativo, è Don’t deny (“Non negare!”). Un imperativo che, a
discapito dei cento anni trascorsi da quei tragici eventi, non ha
ancora perso d’attualità e d’urgenza.