Author: nina hovnanian

ARGENTINE PRESIDENT EXPRESSES ‘SOLIDARITY’ ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE CENTENNIAL

09:52, 15 Apr 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

Agencia Prensa Armenia – The President of Argentina Cristina Kirchner
met on Tuesday with representatives of the Armenian community of
Argentina to “express her solidarity with the hundredth anniversary
of the Armenian Genocide,” according to presidential press office.

The meeting was attended by Minister of Justice and Human Rights
Office, Julio Alak, along with Archbishop Kissag Mouradian, Primate
of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Alberto Djeredjian, president of
the Administrative Institution of the Armenian Church, Bartholome
Ketchian, representative of the Armenian National Committee of South
America, businessman Eduardo Eurnekian, president of the Corporation
America, Leon Arslanian, former Minister of Justice of the Nation,
and Dr. Daniel Stamboulian, president of FUNCEI.

ARTE – 28′: 100 ANS APRES, POURQUOI LA TURQUIE NIE LE GENOCIDE ARMENIEN – VIDEO

Publié le : 15-04-2015

Info Collectif VAN – – 28′, le rendez-vous
quotidien d’actualité sur ARTE, revient sur le tabou turc du
génocide arménien. Pour en discuter, Elisabeth Quin et son équipe
ont recu Selcuk Demir, secrétaire général de l’alliance des
juristes franco-turcs, Franck Papazian, co-président du Conseil de
Coordination des organisations arméniennes et Guillaume Perrier,
journaliste et spécialiste de la Turquie. Le Collectif VAN vous
invite a revoir l’émission du 14 avril sur le plateau de 28′.

ARTE

28 minutes (28′ est le rendez-vous quotidien d’actualité sur ARTE,
100% bimédia, du lundi au vendredi dès 20h05. )

Mardi 14 avril, a 20h05

100 ans après, pourquoi la Turquie nie le génocide arménien

Dans un message aux ArmeÌ~Aniens le 12 avril dernier, le pape
François eÃŒ~Avoque pour la première fois le ” premier geÃŒ~Anocide
du XXe sieÃŒ~@cle ” pour qualifier le massacre par l’armée ottomane
d’un million aÃŒ~@ un million et demi d’Arméniens il y a un siècle. A
l’occasion de ce centenaire, des commémorations publiques devraient
être organisées le 24 avril dans plusieurs villes en Turquie. Peut-on
y voir le signe d’un tabou qui s’estompe en Turquie ?

Pour en discuter, Elisabeth Quin et son équipe ont recu :

Selcuk Demir, secrétaire général de l’alliance des juristes
franco-turcs Franck Papazian, co-président du Conseil de Coordination
des organisations arméniennes et Guillaume Perrier, journaliste et
spécialiste de la Turquie.

Voir l’émission

Découvrez le passage “100 ans après, pourquoi la Turquie nie le
génocide arménien” a partir de 13:04

Source/Lien : 28 minutes

POPE FRANCIS RISKS INTERNATIONAL OUTRAGE BY USING TERM ‘GENOCIDE’ TO DESCRIBE ARMENIA MASSACRE

Catholic Online
April 14 2015

Risking international opinion and possibly stirring up anger throughout
Turkey, Pope Francis used the word “genocide” to refer to the mass
killings of Armenians a century ago under the Ottoman Empire.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) – “In the past century, our human
family has lived through three massive and unprecedented tragedies,”
the Pope said at a Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica. The occasion
commemorated the 100th anniversary of the Armenian massacres.

“The first, which is widely considered ‘the first genocide of the
20th century,’ struck your own Armenian people,” the pontiff said,
referencing a 2001 declaration by Pope John Paul II and the head of
the Armenian Church.

The Pope’s use of the term genocide greatly upset Turkey.

The nation recalled its ambassador to the Vatican for “consultations”
following Francis’ comments, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said. Turkey
had earlier summoned the ambassador from the Vatican for a meeting.

“This does not mean that our diplomatic ties with the Vatican are
over,” Turkey’s former ambassador to the Vatican, Kenan Gursoy, said.

The occasion did mark the first time Turkey has summoned its ambassador
home from the Vatican,

“Since this is a situation that we do not approve of, as a first
reaction, (the ambassador) is summoned to get consultation,”
Gursoy said, adding that the Pope’s use of the word “genocide” was
“a one-sided evaluation.”

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu called the Pope’s use of
the word “unacceptable” and “out of touch with both historical facts
and legal basis,” in a Tweet.

“Religious offices are not places through which hatred and animosity
are fueled by unfounded allegations,” the tweet reads.

The use of the word “genocide” occurs regularly in describing these
historical events. Armenians are equally upset, when Turkey protests
it.

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian, rebuked Turkey. “We are in
a situation in which Turkey speaks a different language from the rest
of the international community and it seems that it doesn’t understand
that it is speaking a different language,” he said to reporters.

“During these past days there have been several international
organizations that adopt resolutions or issue statements that recognize
the Armenian genocide and that appeal to Turkey to make this step,”
he said.

“The Pope’s statement is in this context of universal value. When
Turkey is able to understand this, it will be able to understand
what the International community and big personalities (or better
translations ‘leaders’) are saying.”

Turks planned and carried out genocide, starting in 1915, when more
than a million ethnic Armenians were massacred in the final years of
the Ottoman Empire.

Turkey officially denies this took place, saying hundreds of thousands
of Armenian Christians and Turkish Muslims died in intercommunal
violence around the bloody battlefields of World War I.

HRAYR HOVHANYAN FAIT UN DON DE 500 000 $ POUR LA COMMEMORATION DU CENTENAIRE DU GENOCIDE ARMENIEN

USA

Le president du conseil de l’Assemblee Armenienne d’Amerique (AAA)
Hrayr Hovnanian a fait un don de 500 000 $ a l’Assemblee pour les
evenements commemoratifs du centenaire du genocide armenien.

L’AAA prevoit d’organiser un certain nombre d’evenements aux Etats-Unis
pour commemorer les victimes du genocide armenien et promouvoir les
interets armeniens au Congrès americain.

mercredi 15 avril 2015, Stephane (c)armenews.com

FRANCE CULTURE/SUR LES DOCKS : UNE FAMILLE ARMENIENNE A LYON

Publie le : 15-04-2015

Info Collectif VAN – – Sur les Docks se rend
a Lyon, a Bron, a Decines traditionnellement terre d’accueil des
Armeniens depuis les annees 20, et rencontre 3 generations marquees
par le double exode de 47 : Margot Jordikian, qui a fait le voyage
sur le Rossia quand elle avait 13 ans ; Patricia Sarikouyoumdjian,
sa nièce, nee en Armenie sovietique, et Haïg, le fils de Patricia, ne
a Lyon, aujourd’hui un joueur de Duduk renomme que sa quete musicale
conduit souvent en Armenie. Le Collectif VAN vous propose d’ecouter
et de voir ces reportages mis en ligne sur France Culture.

Legende photo: Margot Jordikian Francois Teste (c) Radio France

France Culture

Sur les docks par Irène Omelianenko

14 avril 2015, de 17h a 17h55 Duree moyenne : 53 minutes

Semaine Armenie : Une famille armenienne a Lyon

Un documentaire de Marie Chartron et Francois Teste

A ecouter

Le 6 septembre 1947, dans le port de Marseille, une foule accompagne
le depart du Rossia dans un desordre de bagages et d’au revoir. Le
navire emporte a son bord quelque 3600 personnes en partance vers
la Republique Socialiste Sovietique d’Armenie. Ce sont des rescapes
du genocide et leurs familles, etablis en France depuis les annees
20 ; certains sont apatrides, d’autres naturalises francais, et au
lendemain de la Seconde Guerre Mondiale, ils partent reconstruire et
repeupler un pays que bien souvent, ils n’auront de cesse de vouloir
quitter. Pour ces >, comme on les appelle, ces >,
les conditions de vie en Armenie sovietique se revèlent souvent très
dures, leur integration douloureuse. Si certaines sont restees, nombre
de ces familles sont revenues en France a partir des annees 1960.

Sur les Docks se rend a Lyon, a Bron, a Decines traditionnellement
terre d’accueil des Armeniens depuis les annees 20, et rencontre 3
generations marquees par le double exode de 47 : Margot Jordikian,
qui a fait le voyage sur le Rossia quand elle avait 13 ans ; Patricia
Sarikouyoumdjian, sa nièce, nee en Armenie sovietique, et Haïg, le
fils de Patricia, ne a Lyon, aujourd’hui un joueur de Duduk renomme
que sa quete musicale conduit souvent en Armenie.

Avec : Margot Jordikian, Patricia Sarikouyoumdjian, Haïg
Sarikouyoumdjian et Katia Boudoyan

En partenariat avec : France 5 et La Croix

Le documentaire “Genocide armenien : le spectre de 1915”, a revoir
en cliquant ici

Reportages, interviews et analyses a l’occasion du centenaire du
genocide armenien a retrouver aussi sur le site du quotidien La Croix

Une famille armenienne a Lyon

Une famille armenienne a Lyon by franceculture

———————————————————————————-

Les Armeniens d’Alfortville – 1980

Source/Lien : France Culture

U.S. MUST END ITS DENIAL OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

Asbury Park Press, NJ
April 14 2015

Chris Smith

Genocide is the most terrible crime a people can undergo, or another
people can commit. It must never be forgotten. To forget it would be
to dull our consciences and diminish our own humanity. It must never
be denied, but fully acknowledged. Otherwise, any meaningful attempt
at reconciliation will be thwarted.

Brookdale College, the Center for Holocaust, Human Rights, and Genocide
Education (Chhange), and everyone who contributed to making exhibits
the center unveiled April 12 a reality, has performed a great service
to our community, not only to Armenian-Americans, but to everyone,
including those who deny the genocide. They are opening paths to the
truth, and therefore to a better future.

In September 2000, I had put together and chaired a hearing on the
Armenian genocide and legislation to finally put the United States
on record officially acknowledging it. It was a four-hour hearing,
the first hearing the House of Representatives ever held on it. The
testimony I heard that day, and accounts of the atrocities I have read
in the articles and books over the years, have shocked me deeply. A
related resolution on the genocide, H. Res. 398 — vigorously opposed
by the Clinton administration — never got a vote.

But just as shocking then is what we still see today: a completely
political and callous campaign to deny the Armenian genocide.

In 1915, there were about 2 million Armenians living in what was then
the Ottoman Empire. They were living in a region that they inhabited
for 2,500 years. By 1923, well over 90 percent of these Armenians
had disappeared. Most of them, as many as 1.5 million were dead. The
remainder had been forced into exile.

There is no lack of historical record. In fact, we only have to
listen to the words of the U.S. Ambassador to Turkey at the time,
Henry Morgenthau, who called it a “campaign of race extermination.”

We only have to listen to the British, French, and Russian governments
who said the Young Turks committed a “crime against humanity,”
the first time in history that charge was ever made by one state
against another.

And we only have to listen to the government of Turkey itself, which
tried and convicted a number of high-ranking Young Turk officials
for their role in what the Turkish government’s indictment called,
“the massacre and destruction of the Armenians.”

When the term genocide was invented in 1944 to describe the systematic
destruction of an entire people, its author Raphael Lemkin explained
the term by saying it was “the sort of thing Hitler did to the Jews
and the Turks did to the Armenians.”

The campaign to deny this genocide, often driven by the Turkish
government, is repulsive. It is a slap in the face to Armenians
everywhere. It is this denial that keeps the Armenian genocide a
burning issue and prevents much needed healing of old wounds.

Armenians are unfortunately not alone in suffering the hurt and pain
that stems from the denial of truth. The international community failed
the victims of the Holocaust, China, the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe,
Ethiopia, Rwanda, Bosnia, DRC, Darfur and Syria, to name a few.

That means that we here in the United States, and that means not
only the Congress but also the president, have the responsibility
to speak truthfully and to speak boldly about the past in order to
secure our future.

We must write and speak the truth so that generations to come will
not repeat the mistakes of the past.

Only 20 nations around the world have recognized the Armenian
genocide. That includes Canada as well as eleven EU countries including
France, Germany Italy, Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, Lithuania,
Poland, Slovakia, Greece and Cypress. Conspicuously absent from the
list of nations that have officially recognized it is the United
States.

For my part, I am preparing to chair a congressional hearing on
April 23 — the day before Armenian Remembrance Day (April 24) —
which this year marks the 100th anniversary of the genocide.

When political leaders fail to lead or denounce violence, the void
is not only demoralizing to the victims but silence actually enables
the wrongdoing. Silence by elected officials in particular conveys
approval — or at least acquiescence –and can contribute to a climate
of fear and a sense of vulnerability.

History has taught us that silence is not an option. We must do more.

Chris Smith is a Republican congressman representing New Jersey’s
4th District, which includes portions of Mercer, Monmouth and Ocean
counties.

BE AS BRAVE AS KIM KARDASHIAN AND THE POPE, MR. PRESIDENT: CALL THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE A ‘GENOCIDE.’

Washington Post
April 14 2015

A century after more than 1 million Armenians were killed by the
Ottomans, Obama should call this atrocity what it was.

By Chris Bohjalian

It sounds like the set-up for a joke in a late-night talk show host’s
opening monologue:

“So, Kim Kardashian and the pope were the biggest news stories last
Sunday.”

But it’s no laughing matter. Kardashian and Pope Francis made
headlines in recent days in ways that were poignant, powerful and —
speaking as an Armenian American and descendant of survivors of the
Armenian Genocide — game-changing. Last week, Kardashian, easily
the most famous Armenian American, along with husband Kanye West and
daughter North, visited the Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan,
Armenia, and on Sunday night, Kanye gave a free concert at Swan Lake
in the city center. This week, during Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica,
the pope called out the Ottoman Empire’s systematic annihilation of
an estimated 1.5 million Armenians as “genocide,” and went on to say
that “Concealing and denying evil is like allowing a wound to keep
bleeding without bandaging it.”

Now, I hope President Obama follows their lead and takes the
opportunity, at last, to fulfill his 2008 campaign promise and
do the same. Because for seven years, he’s put realpolitik before
righteousness, avoiding the word “genocide” in an effort to appease an
American military ally — Turkey — that offers very little in return.

For most of the world, the Armenian Genocide is — to paraphrase
a character in one of my novels — the slaughter you know next to
nothing about. But every year on April 24, Genocide Remembrance
Day, we Armenians remember the injustice of a crime that is rarely
acknowledged and often flatly denied. It was April 24, 1915, when the
Armenian intellectuals, professionals, editors and religious leaders
in Constantinople were rounded up by the Ottoman authorities — and
almost all of them executed. During World War I, the Ottoman Empire
killed three of every four of its Armenian citizens. The majority of
Armenians alive today are descendants of the few survivors.

And for the last hundred years, Turkish leaders have endeavored to deny
the genocide by falsifying the historical record, despite the fact that
the International Association of Genocide Scholars unanimously calls
it genocide. In February, a Kurdish member of the Turkish Parliament,
Ahmet Turk, acknowledged his Kurdish ancestors’ role in the killing
and apologized to the Armenians for the “blood on their hands.” Even
the first postwar Turkish government convicted the three architects
of the genocide for their crimes against the Armenians in 1919 and
sentenced them to death in absentia. It wasn’t until the second postwar
government took over in 1924 — the government led by Mustafa Kemal
Ataturk — that Turkey began to rewrite the history of this atrocity.

Kim Kardashian walks in Victory Park while filming in Yerevan, Armenia
on Thursday, April 9, 2015. While in Armenia, she met with Prime
Minister Hovik Abrahamyan. (AP photo/Artur Harutyunyan, PAN Photo)

They’ve gotten away with it, in part, because many Western nations
viewed Turkey as the last stop against Soviet expansion during the
Cold War, and later as a moderate ally in the Middle East. The United
States has certainly been an enabler. Washington is so fearful of
Ankara that we’ve never passed a resolution here condemning the
Armenian Genocide. While campaigning in 2008, then-candidate Barack
Obama said, “America deserves a leader who speaks truthfully about
the Armenian Genocide and responds forcefully to all genocides. I
intend to be that president.” As a U.S. Senator, he supported passage
of an Armenian Genocide resolution. But for the last six years as
president, every April 24, he finds a euphemism for the “G” word to
avoid angering Turkey.

But it hasn’t helped him. Turkey, a NATO member, won’t authorize
American military flights from the U.S. Air Force’s Incirlik Air Base
for strikes against ISIS. ISIS black market oil flows through Turkey.

It is a transshipment point for weapons going to al-Qaeda affiliates,
while becoming a new hub for Hamas. Internally, Turkey has cracked
down so hard on journalists that Reporters Without Borders ranks them
149th on the World Press Freedom Index — below Myanmar and barely
above Russia.

Turkey’s leaders bristle when it comes to discussing the Ottoman
Empire’s crimes. Immediately after Pope Francis spoke, Turkey
recalled its Vatican ambassador, and its foreign minister raged,
“The pope’s statement, which is far from historic and legal truths,
is unacceptable.” But the truth hurts, and decades of scholarship
about the genocide, sometimes by Turkish scholars, has illustrated
this painful truth. So has the activism of Armenians around the world,
frustrated by the way our ancestors were massacred and our homeland
was taken from us. Now we’re a century from the start of the genocide,
and we must no longer enable Turkish efforts to sweep this mass murder
under the rug. Most years, April 24 passes without much recognition
beyond Armenian communities. But not this year. It is the centennial,
the world has taken notice of this grim milestone and Turkey has
proven itself to be an unreliable ally.

In a year that both the most visible leader in the Christian faith and
the ubiquitous face of the Kardashian empire both stood up to demand
accountability, the world, including our country, has to recognize,
mourn and condemn this atrocity.

My hope today is that the president will cement his legacy as a
statesman possessing an accurate moral compass, speak what has
previously been unspeakable, show the same courage as the pope and
call our tragedy what it is: genocide.

Chris Bohjalian is the author of 18 books, including his novel of
the Armenian Genocide, The Sandcastle Girls.

CHRETIENS : GROUPE RELIGIEUX LE PLUS PERSECUTE AU MONDE

Publie le : 15-04-2015

Info Collectif VAN – – Les graves persecutions
vecues par des millions de chretiens dans le monde violent de manière
flagrante les articles 18, 19 & 20 de la Declaration universelle des
droits de l’homme. Aujourd’hui, les chretiens sont consideres comme
les croyants les plus persecutes au monde, une realite que plus
personne ne peut ignorer aujourd’hui, tellement sont nombreux les
faits d’actualite concernant la persecution des chretiens. Au
Parlement europeen et a l’ONU, parce que la persecution constitue une
atteinte grave aux droits de l’homme, Portes Ouvertes plaide la cause
des chretiens persecutes auprès des instances internationales. En
France, en tant que membre de la CHREDO (Coordination des Chretiens
d’Orient en Danger), Portes Ouvertes participe a des actions de
sensibilisation et d’information auprès des politiques, afin d’etre la
voix de ceux qui ne peuvent pas parler. En 2013 et 2014, plusieurs
rencontres et conferences ont eu lieu a l’Assemblee nationale et au
Senat et ont donne lieu a des prises de position et promesses de
soutien de la part d’elus. En droit international, en vertu de
l’article 7 (2) (g) du statut du Tribunal Penal International, la
persecution est un > En outre, en
vertu de l’article 7 (1) (h), est considere comme un acte constitutif
du crime contre l’humanite la >

Les minorites chretiennes sont considerees aujourd’hui comme le groupe
religieux le plus persecute dans le monde. L’Index Mondial de
Persecution est un outil indispensable pour mieux comprendre les
contextes de cette persecution en 2015. Cette annee, il met en
evidence une intensification generale de la persecution contre les
chretiens dans le monde avec deux principales tendances: Pour la
première fois, on compte trois pays dans la zone de persecution
absolue. Presque tous les continents sont concernes: Afrique, Asie,
Amerique, Europe. Chaque annee, depuis 1997, Portes Ouvertes elabore
l’Index Mondial de Persecution, un classement des 50 pays où les
chretiens sont le plus persecutes en raison de leur croyance. Cet
outil permet de mieux connaître les besoins du terrain, d’agir en
consequence et de faire connaître au grand public la condition de
millions de personnes opprimees en raison de leur foi chretienne. Le
Collectif VAN vous soumet ici un extrait du rapport 2015 publie sur le
site de Portes Ouvertes.

Portes Ouvertes

L’Index Mondial de Persecution 2015

Telecharger l’extrait du rapport 2015 ICI

Les 6 tendances de la persecution antichretienne en 2015

1- Pour la Première fois trois pays en Zone noire

La persecution augmente encore et le pire ne semble ne jamais
atteindre son paroxysme.

La Coree du Nord est en tete de l’Index Mondial de Persecution depuis
2002, totalisant a chaque fois plus de 86 points de persecution sur un
total de 100 points. Elle atteint desormais 92 points et est suivie de
près par la Somalie (90 points) et l’Irak (86 points).

2 – Quatre continents concernes

Afrique, Asie, Amerique, Europe : la persecution contre les chretiens
s’intensifie encore et s’etend, meme dans des pays a majorite
chretienne. On constate une nouvelle hausse des points de persecution
attribues a chaque pays. En 2014 on totalisait 3019 points pour les 50
pays de l’Index Mondial de Persecution. En 2015, on atteint le nombre
de 3170.

3 – L’extremisme islamique : principal mecanisme de persecution

C’est le cas dans 40 des 50 pays de l’index, que ce soit une
persecution violente ou d’oppression. Sur les 10 pays où les chretiens
subissent le plus de violences, 8 connaissent une radicalisation
islamique : Nigeria, Irak, Syrie, Centrafrique, Soudan, Pakistan,
Egypte et Kenya (les deux autres pays sont le Myanmar et le Mexique).

4 – De plus en plus de chretiens chasses de chez eux

De nombreux chretiens ont dû fuir la persecution, creant un flot sans
precedant de refugies et de deplaces internes vivant dans une extreme
precarite. En Syrie, 40% de la population hretienne a quitte le pays.

Sur les 1,8 million de chretiens que comptait le pays avant la guerre,
700 000 sont partis. En Irak, depuis l’ete dernier, 140 000 chretiens
ont ete deplaces et 5 000 familles chretiennes ont emigre. Au Nigeria,
des milliers de chretiens ont ete chasses de chez eux par Boko Haram.

En Erythree, ils quittent le pays pour echapper a la prison.

5 – Les chretiens de plus en plus marginalises socialement et culturellement

Cette annee, le seuil d’entree dans l’Index Mondial de Persecution est
de 49 points de persecution (Koweït). L’annee dernière, il etait de 45
(Niger). Cette augmentation de points est en general liee aux
pressions et discriminations familiales, sociales et culturelles
vecues par les chretiens au sein de leur societe. Les 10 pays les plus
touches par ce type de persecution sont : la Somalie, la Coree du
Nord, l’Afghanistan, les Maldives, l’Erythree, l’Arabie Saoudite, le
Yemen, l’Irak, l’Iran et la Libye.

6 – L’Afrique dans la tornade

C’est dans les pays d’Afrique et en particulier en Afrique
sub-saharienne, que la persecution augmente le plus rapidement. Pour
la troisième annee consecutive, c’est un pays d’Afrique qui connaît la
plus forte progression dans le classement. En 2013, il s’agissait du
Mali, en 2014 de la Centrafrique et en 2015 du Kenya (de la 43ème
place en 2014 a la 19ème en 2015).

(….)

Points d’analyse

* Irak (3ème) et Syrie (4ème) – la survie de l’Eglise en danger

En Irak, dans les regions aux mains du groupe Etat Islamique, comme a
Mossoul ou dans la plaine de Ninive, toute presence chretienne a
quasiment disparu. Plus de 140 000 chretiens ont quitte ces
territoires pour se refugier au Kurdistan ou a l’etranger. Ceux qui
sont restes ont ete contraints de se convertir a l’islam. Si l’Irak
continue d’etre parmi les pays en tete de l’Index Mondial de
Persecution, c’est a cause de cette oppression qui pèse sur les
chretiens et de cette violence perpetree par les islamistes radicaux.

L’Irak reste donc a la 3ème place avec 86 points de persecution. En
2014, il en avait totalise 78.

En Syrie, alors que le pays comptait 1,8 million de chretiens avant la
guerre, il n’en reste plus qu’1,1 million. Cela signifie que depuis le
debut de la guerre en 2011, 700 000 chretiens ont quitte le pays, dont
200 000 au cours de la seule annee dernière. Aujourd’hui, la plupart
des chretiens ont fui les zones contrôlees par le groupe Etat
Islamique. Sous l’influence grandissante des groupes djihadistes, la
societe se radicalise, particulièrement dans les zones contrôlees par
ces djihadistes.

* Iran (7̬me) Рles chretiens plus souvent emprisonnes

Le pays a vu son total de points de persecution augmenter (de 77 a 80)
suite a une intensification de la pression subie par les chretiens,
surtout par ceux qui sont en prison en raison de leur croyance. Les
methodes utilisees lors des interrogatoires sont devenues plus
violentes. Davantage de peines de prison sont prononcees a l’encontre
de chretiens et les chefs d’accusations que l’on porte a leur encontre
sont de plus en plus graves (par exemple ) meme si par la suite, ils tendent a etre
abandonnes au profit d’accusations moins lourdes. Entre le 1er
novembre 2013 et le 31 octobre 2014, au moins 75 chretiens ont ete
arretes en raison de leur croyance.

Turquie (41ème) et Azerbaïdjan (46ème)

Persecution sevère : entre 41 et 55 points.

La Turquie, absente de l’index depuis 2013, fait de nouveau partie des
50 pays où les chretiens sont le plus persecutes. Avec un total de 52
points de persecution, elle se place 41
ème. Elle doit son retour a la persistance de restrictions legales,
aux commentaires antichretiens de fonctionnaires du gouvernement, a
l’hostilite de la societe en general a l’egard
des chretiens, mais aussi a la montee d’un islam plus rigoriste. Les
chretiens doivent vivre au sein d’une societe qui les surveille de
plus en plus. Les chretiens d’origine musulmane sont les chretiens les
plus rejetes, et subissent de fortes pressions pour revenir a l’islam.

Quelquefois ils sont aussi maltraites physiquement. Seules deux
denominations sont reconnues : l’Eglise Orthodoxe Grecque et l’Eglise
Apostolique Armenienne, qui ne regroupent que 70 % des chretiens du
pays. La legislation turque interdit a ces deux denominations de
former de nouveaux pretres dans leurs seminaires. Pas moins de 4
eglises ont ete attaquees entre le 1er novembre 2013 et le 31 octobre
2014. Un complot visant a assassiner Bartholomee 1er, l’actuel primat
de l’Eglise Orthodoxe de Constantinople, a ete dejoue en mai 2014 et
le 2 juillet 2014, un groupe d’hommes ont penetre dans l’eglise
catholique romaine de Saint Stephanos a Yesilkoy, dans la ville
d’Istanbul, et y ont insulte et agresse des chretiens. Un responsable
de l’eglise a appele a l’aide des policiers qui se tenaient non loin
mais ils ne sont pas intervenus.

L’Azerbaïdjan: Le pays totalise 50 points de persecution et se classe
46ème. De moins en moins d’eglises ont le droit de continuer leur
activite. Toute activite religieuse non declaree est punissable par la
loi, et les amendes pour ceux qui transgressent la loi sont très
elevees. Dans le meme temps, il est quasi impossible d’arriver a faire
enregistrer son eglise auprès des autorites. Le gouvernement du pays
cherche
a restreindre toute expression publique de la religion qu’il considère
comme une menace pour le regime. De nombreux chretiens n’arrivent pas
a trouver un emploi ou a le garder et ils sont etroitement surveilles
par les services secrets.

Decouvrez l’Index Mondial de Persecution 2015 ICI

Lire aussi:

Les chretiens sont le groupe religieux le plus persecute

Source/Lien : Portes Ouvertes

JON DEE READS THE TESTIMONY OF TOVMAS POGHOSIAN

April 15, 2015 09:46
EXCLUSIVE

Jon Dee

Mediamax presents 100 Seconds project devoted to Armenian Genocide
Centennial. The project is based on testimonies of Genocide survivors
published by the National Archive of Armenia.

Jon Dee is an Australian campaigner and social entrepreneur.

For “100 seconds” project he reads an extract from Armenian Genocide
survivor Tovmas Poghosian’s testimony.

National Archives of
Armenia Collection of Documents

Testimony of survivor Tovmas Poghosian on the massacre of the Armenian
population of Karin

1917 Karin

The next day we were on the road together with the engineer. A wounded
Armenian with his head bandaged approached us and asked for bread. We
asked where he was coming from. He said: “They buried me alive. After
suffering in the grave for three days, I came out.”

He was from the group we had buried. We gave him some bread. He went
to the tents of working soldiers. We returned to our tents. The same
wounded guy was sitting there. The soldiers were digging a grave. We
asked who it was for. The wounded guy said: “It is for me. They are
going to bury me.” Indeed, they put him into the grave and buried him.

After these events the general deportation from the Karin region and
Derjan started. At that moment, they suggested that those who had a
house and family from those regions should join them and be exiled.

But knowing that they would murder us, we didn’t allow the soldiers
from Derjan to go with their families though when they saw them being
driven off, they gave in and wanted to join them.

At that moment the supervisor came and instructed them strictly not
to go, saying that everybody had been killed a little far away. After
hearing that, no one wanted to leave.

Producer: Ara Tadevosyan Post Production: Tumo LLC

The source of Tovmas Poghosian’s testimony: National Archives of
Armenia, Armenian Genocide by Ottoman Turkey, 1915, Testimony of
survivors, Collection of documents, Yerevan-2013.

VivaCell-MTS is the general partner of 100 seconds project.

UNITED ARMENIAN FUND
1101 N. Pacific Avenue # 204
Glendale, CA 91202
Tel: 818.241.8900
Fax: 818.241.6900

PRESS RELEASE
20 April 2015

UAF delivers $9 Million of Aid
To Armenia in Last Six Months

Glendale, CA -The United Armenian Fund (UAF) sent $9 million of humanitarian
assistance to Armenia on board 43 containers, during the last six months.

The UAF itself collected $4.1 million of medicines and other materials
donated by several charities, including AmeriCares ($2.6 million), Direct
Relief International ($895,000), Catholic Medical Mission Board ($302,000),
Fawn Grove Compassion Center ($257,000), Feed the Children Fund ($111,000),
and MAP International ($39,000).

Other organizations which contributed valuable goods during this period
were: World Vision ($499,000), Society for Orphaned Armenian Relief
($483,000), Action Sante Armenie France ($445,000), Armenia Fund USA
($436,000), UMAF of France ($423,000), Eastern Prelacy of the Armenian
Apostolic Church of America ($300,000), Armenian Ministries in UK
($253,000), Armenian Christian Mission of Australia ($235,000), Knights of
Vartan ($204,000), Project Agape ($199,000), Birthlink of UK ($192,000),
Focus on Children Now ($191,000), Armenian Lighthouse Charitable
Organization ($142,000), Ordre of St. Lazare ($104,000), and Herman
Hinteryan ($103,000).

Also contributing relief supplies were: George Asadorian ($92,000), North
Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church ($88,000), Garni
Foundation ($84,000), Toufayan Bakeries (75,000), St. Kevork Armenian Church
($45,000), and Dr. Albert Phillips ($24,000).

Since its inception in 1989, the UAF has sent $706 million of humanitarian
assistance to Armenia on board 158 airlifts and 2,235 sea containers.

The UAF is the collective effort of the Armenian General Benevolent Union,
Armenian Missionary Association of America, Armenian Relief Society, Diocese
of the Armenian Church of America, and Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic
Church of America.

For more information, contact the UAF office at 1101 North Pacific Avenue,
Suite 204, Glendale, CA 91202 or call (818) 241-8900.

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