In Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide - 2008

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Re: In Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide - 2008

Netherlands

Armenians: More pressure on Turkey

Reformatorisch Dagblad
Dutch daily newspaper

23 April 2008

By Political Editor

THE HAGUE - The Netherlands should give more support to those who want an
open discussion on the Armenian Genocide in and outside of Turkey.

The Netherlands should also more strongly emphasise the necessity of
Genocide recognition in the process of the negotiations for accession of
Turkey to the European Union.

This is written in a petition that the Federation of Armenian Organisations
in the Netherlands (FAON) offered Tuesday to the Dutch parliament. Tomorrow
it will be the 93rd anniversary of the deportation and annihilation of about
1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire. Turkey still refuses to
recognise the massacres as genocide.

The Dutch parliament indeed recognised the Genocide by adopting the motion
submitted by Mr. A. Rouvoet in 2004. The government however should work out
more seriously the conditions drawn up in the motion, according to the
Armenians. For example the government should keep harking on the issue of
human rights within the framework of the accession negotiations to European
Union.

The Armenians rectified on Tuesday the misconception, that the recognition
of the black past would not be part of the conditions for the accession of
Turkey to the European Union. That is in fact one of the conditions, they
emphasised. Minister Bot has in the past pointed out in the parliament that
the recognition of the Genocide is implied in the condition of the so-called
³good neighbourhood².

In addition to the petition the FAON also handed over to the Parliament the
Dutch translation of the book ³The First Holocaust² by the journalist Robert
Fisk, in which the correspondent of the British newspaper The Independent
draws attention to the Genocide of the Armenians.

http://groong.usc.edu/news/msg230551.html

Federation of Armenian Organisations in The Netherlands (FAON)
24 April Committee for recognition and commemoration of the Armenian
genocide of 1915
Address: Weesperstraat 91
2574 VS The Hague, The Netherlands
Telephone: +31704490209
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.24april.nl
Contact: M. Hakhverdian

PRESS RELEASE

Commemoration of Armenian Genocide on 24 April 2008 in The Netherlands

By Inge Drost

ASSEN - 24 April 2008 - Several hundred Armenians gathered together in the
city of Assen for the annual commemoration of the Armenian Genocide that
took place 93 years ago in the Ottoman Empire. The commemoration was
organised by the 24 April Committee of the Federation of the Armenian
Organisations in the Netherlands (FAON).

Prior to this commemoration, earlier this week a petition was submitted to
the Parliament by a FAON delegation. In addition to the petition, a copy of
recently published Dutch translation of the book `The First Holocaust' by
British journalist and writer, the Middle East correspondent of The
Independent Robert Fisk was also handed over to the Parliamentary Commission
of European Affairs. This book is about the Armenian Genocide. The copy was
signed especially for this occasion by the author.

The commemoration began by a quiet march towards the Armenian Genocide
Memorial, where during a ceremony wreaths were laid at the Genocide monument
on behalf of, among others, the newly established Armenian Consulate in The
Hague, the FAON and the Gladzor Armenian Student Association.

During the Commemorative meeting in the auditorium, Nicolai Romashuk Jr.
played duduk music and Nicolai Romashuk Sr. recited a poem. Moreover,
`Twenty Voices' from www.twentyvoices.com and `Holy Mountain' by System Of A
Down were presented. Speeches were delivered by, among others, Mr. Arshak
Manoukian, the Armenian Consul in The Netherlands, Mr. Noubar Sipan,
chairman of the 24 April Committee of FAON, Mr. Dariush Madjlessi, an
Iranian human rights activist. Two other invited speakers, Ms. Esme Wiegman,
Member of Parliament and Rabbi Awraham Soetendorp, had not been able to
attend the ceremony due to unforeseen circumstances. Their speeches were
instead read.

Mato Hakhverdian, chairman of the FAON, opened the commemorative meeting. He
cited the words of Robert Fisk, that the Armenian Genocide is `one of those
historical tragedies that by elapse of time gets more and more
significance'. This is mainly because the consequent generations of
Armenians have kept the memory of the victims alive. This is in spite of the
fact that Turkey has tried with huge financial and political means to erase
the reality from human memory, such as by changing the written language,
which makes the access to old literature difficult for the new generations
and by renaming the geographical places. He pointed out that this subject is
handled in a TV documentary `The land of our grandparents', a road movie,
scheduled for broadcasting the same evening by Dutch National TV. It is our
duty to keep alive the memory of the Genocide and to hope for recognition
and reconciliation. It is our dream to see Armenia thus being prosperous and
living in peace and harmony. We believe that with our best efforts this
dream will be realised in the the future.

Consul Manoukian expressed his gratitude to the Netherlands for accepting
the Armenian refugees during the Armenian Genocide. He mentioned that the
Armenian Genocide was not only a criminal act against the Armenians, but
also a crime against humanity. Therefore other countries call continuously
upon Turkey to account for this act. He emphasised that Armenia is ready to
establish relations with Turkey without any precondition and to consider
together the black pages of the past. The aspiration of Armenia to reach
stability and to live in peace is only possible if the conflict about the
past has been solved.

The Chairman of the 24 April Committee Noubar Sipan concluded that the
events of 1915 cannot be erased from the collective memory, but still, after
93 years, it is forbidden in Turkey to read about these black pages of the
history. But there are also white spots, according to Sipan, namely the
courageous Turks and Kurds, who saved the lives of their Armenian friends
and neighbours endangering their own lives. They deserve also to be
remembered. He mentioned that the first commemoration took place in Istanbul
on 24 April 1919, the only case of public remembrance in Turkey. Later it
became a taboo, `the tears turned inwards.' At present, with Article 301 in
force, the numerous persecutions on the basis of this article have led to
self-censure. We are still hoping that things will change, because a small
group in Turkey has chosen to look for truth. In this context, a group of
intellectuals will meet today in one the universities of Istanbul to discuss
`what happened on 24 April 1915.' Sipan expects that thanks to such
initiatives, the truth will no longer remain hidden and he is thankful for
these courageous people.

In her message of solidarity, Ms. Esme Wiegman, who is the spokeswoman for
the Christian Union parliamentary faction in the European Affairs
Commission, had stated that even after 93 years, the Genocide is a real
topical issue: `It is something that is on the agenda every day, through
silence and denial. The death of Hrant Dink showed how could, speaking about
Genocide, could mercilessly be punished'. Ms. Wiegman, who had attended in
January this year the commemorative ceremony of the first anniversary of the
assassination of Hrant Dink in Assen, stated that it is good that today we
speak about the Armenian Genocide and we are commemorating it in loud voices
and that `we can remember it in a moment of silence, but that is another
silence than the silence of denial.'

A very strong expression of solidarity with the Armenian people came from
Mr. D. Madjlessi, an Iranian human rights activist, former chairman of the
Dutch-Iranian People's Front (Jebhe-Mellie-Iran). He pleaded in his speech
that Turkey, just as Germany and South Africa have done in the past, `should
come clean with her sordid past' and that without such admittance of guilt
Turkey cannot be a part of Europe. He considered the Armenian Genocide not
an issue of the Armenians only, but also of all Iranians and in fact of the
whole world. He considers that it is his duty to struggle side by side with
the Armenians against denial and declared in the clearest terms: `I, too, am
an Armenian'.

The example of admittance of guilt by Germany was also emphasised by Rabbi
A. Soetendorp. He referred to a reconciliation conference in Germany last
year, where he had appealed for appeasement between the xxxs and Germans and
where a spontaneous response had come from thousands of young people from
the audience in the form of a peace song. `For the first time, I felt myself
at home in Germany, and I realised then the great significance of the
kneeling down of Willy Brandt before the monument of the Ghetto of Warsaw in
1970'. In this context, Rabbi Soetendorp expressed hope `that a process of
recognition would commence in Turkey as well'.

Ms. Inge Drost of 24 April Committee concluded the dignified commemoration
function with a summary. Persistence and duty to commemorate, but not
hatred, was present in the speeches, she mentioned. Although, all speakers
severely condemned the Genocide and its denial, their words were still
characterised by expressions of hope, reconciliation and solidarity among
people. First of all, it was emphasised that there had been courageous Turks
and Kurds who at the risk of endangering their own life had given shelter to
their Armenian neighbours and friends, just as mentioned also by Rabbi
Soetendorp that he had remained alive thanks to a brave German woman.
Secondly, there were warm words of solidarity between nations in general and
with the Armenian people in particular.

Finally it is to be mentioned that a TV coverage of the commemoration is
broadcasted by TV Drente that you can watch at the websites of tvDrenthe
(http://www.tvdrenthe.nl/761e2b9b-260...aspx?NewsID=22
620) and You Tube (http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=4fC_aLprXtE&feature=user).

http://www.24april.nl/index_e.html

Federation of Armenian Organisations in The Netherlands (FAON)
24 April Committee for recognition and commemoration of the Armenian
genocide of 1915
Address: Weesperstraat 91
2574 VS The Hague, The Netherlands
Telephone: +31704490209
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.24april.nl
Contact: M. Hakhverdian

PRESS RELEASE

Iranian Solidarity with Armenians to keep memory of Armenian Genocide alive

Speech delivered by Mr. Dariush Madjlessi during the commemorating function
of 24 April 2008 in the city of Assen, The Netherlands. Mr. Madjlessi is an
Iranian human rights activist, former chairman of the Dutch-Iranian Peopleıs
Front (Jebhe-Mellie-Iran).

Translated for Groong/ANN by Arsen Nazarian

Armenian friends,

It is for me, as an Iranian, an honour to have the privilege of being among
you.

I have to admit, though, that notwithstanding the historic bonds between the
Armenians and Iranians, the terrible Genocide of 1915 is little known by the
Iranians. It is therefore gratifying to see that in recent times things have
begun to change. Pro-Armenian demonstrations in Tehran and the articles in
different Iranian sites and weblogs are, but a few examples of, this
development.

Armenian friends, you are carrying out a tough job. Against the superior
power of Turkish (and sometimes Islamic) fanaticism, you are trying to
prevent a bloody and historic tragedy from going into oblivion.

Friends, the Genocide of 1915 was too extensive and too horrible to forget.
It is therefore your historic obligation towards 1.5 million Armenian men,
women and children, who were butchered barbarously only because they were
Armenians, to keep the memory alive.

Armenians, go ahead, do not yield to the fascistic tendencies of a state
that denies the Genocide that was carried out by its predecessors.

It is also the task of Iranians to strive with you, side by side, to keep
the memory of this utmost murderous genocide alive. Only in this manner can
we prevent genocides from being repeated. We should strive hand in hand to
make our part of the world liveable and free of ethnic hate.

However, the Turkish government continues to deny its crimes. But, you,
courageous men and women hold a mirror against Turkey, so that she can see
the ugly pages of her history.

As long as Turkey continues to deny her criminal past, she cannot be part of
Europe. It is up to Turkey to come clean of its dirty past. Germany has done
it in a praiseworthy manner and so has South Africa. Turkey should in fact
kneel down before the Armenian people and ask for forgiveness for 1.5
innocent victims who were butchered in cold blood on its own territory.

The Turkish nationalist-Islamic government that does not respect even the
individual freedoms and rights of its own people should never be admitted to
the EU as a member. If culture and traditions are criteria then Armenia is
more European than Turkey.

I was hoping that today the members of the Dutch Labour Party would be
present here in order to make good of the shameful scandal that their
leaders, Ms. Albayrak and Mr. Bos, caused during the last elections in
connection with the Genocide issue.

Armenians, I wish you much success in your just struggle. Your struggle is
our struggle. I do not consider it a favour, but an obligation to be here
with you. The fate of our two peoples and their historic alliance obligates
me to declare, just as president Kennedy did so in Berlin by saying ³Isch
bin eine Berliner², to announce here: ³I am an Armenian².

We Iranians are too indebted to our Armenian citizens to call this Genocide
an issue for Armenians only. It had to be an issue for all Iranians, were it
not for the fact that religion forms a big obstacle. The Genocide of 1915
should never be an exclusively Armenian issue. It is, just as the Holocaust,
a stain on the conscience of the whole humanity.

The beautiful bridges laid over the river Zayandehroud in Isfahan and the
struggle of Yeprem-Khan at the forefront of the Constitutional Revolution of
Iran in 1906, are only examples of the invaluable services Armenians have
rendered to the Iranian society.

Therefore, I repeat:
Your struggle is our struggle.

Pirouz bashid
Haghtanak dzez.

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London (UK)

Voice of Nor Serount
1 Marsh Road
Wembley
Middlesex
United Kingdom
HA0 1ES
Tel: +44 (0)20 8997 1200
Fax: +44 (0)20 8997 0900
email: [email protected]

Press release

Armenia Solidarity
Nor Serount Cultural Association

Unprecedented collaboration between Armenians, Assyrians and Kurds on Genocide day in the UK parliament, London.

(Establishment of a Permanent People's Commission on 'Reconciliation
after the Anatolian Genocide' proposed)

The irresistible ethical arguments for the recognition of the
Anatolian Genocides as the only ground for Reconciliation between the
victim groups and the Turkish state, was articulated by scholars on
Genocide Day in the House of Commons, London, organised by Armenia
Solidarity & Nor Serount Cultural Association.

Sabri Atman of the Seyfo Centre delivered a passionate interpretation
of the Assyrian trauma at the continuing denial of the Genocide of
their nation. Sara Aziz, also of the Seyfo Centre, put the case for
the criminal penalisation of Turkey under international Law. Ruth
Barnett expounded on the psychological effects of Genocide denial
illustrating the complexities of traumatisation.

Gregory Topalian, concentrating on the Armenian experience, addressed
the issue of possibilities of reconciliation, based on recognition
alone, and how some historians may adversely affect this
process. Desmond Fernandes showed that Genocide still continues in
Turkey, and that Denial owes much to US, Israeli and UK
realpolitik. Professor Khatchatur Pilikian showed in his address, 'A
bird's eye view on the phenomena of Genocide and the Armenian
experience of it', that Genocidal intent of the Turkish state can be
traced back to 1878.

Some of the speakers emphasised the universal significance of Genocide
Day, reflecting the increasing adoption of the 24th April as a day to
dwell on all Genocides. Professor Pilikian, in this vein, claimed that
the annual deaths from hunger of 14.6 million constituted 'the
unmentioned Genocide'.

The organiser proposed the establishment of a Permanent People's
Commission (to be based in London in co-operation with UK politicians)
on the Consequences of the Genocides perpetrated by the Turkish State,
to focus on the search for Reconciliation based on truth and
honesty. He also reminded the conference of the brutal murder of three
Christians in Malatya almost a year to the day, as a reminder that
Christians, as well as other minorities, are still living under a
sustained threat in Turkey.

Messages of support were sent from The Halabja Centre London; The
Kurdish Museum, London; The Foundation For The Kurdish Library and
Museum, Stockholm; Ms Rosie Malek Yonan, Los Angeles; Mr Ragip
Zarokulu, Istanbul;
Dr Tessa Hofmann, Berlin; Canon Andrew White, Baghdad; Barzoo Eliassi,
Kurdish Ph.D. Student, The Department of Social Sciences, Mid-Sweden
University; Martin Blecher, member of the Israel Group in Sweden;
Sukran Kavak, a Kurdish journalist, Sweden; Shoresh Rahem,
International Affairs for the Kurdistan Student Association and
Kurdistan Youth Freedom Organization; Hediye Guzel, Press secretary
for the Left wing party, Sweden; Gurgin Bakircioglu, Stockholm; Haydar
Isik, Germany, and Greeks from across the world.

The meeting was chaired by Mr Andrew George MP, Mr Daniel Rogerson MP,
both Members of Parliament for parts of Cornwall.

It was also supported by Mr John Marks, on behalf of Baroness Cox, Rev
Stuart Windsor, of Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Mr Andrew
Stonestreet of the Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the
Middle East and The Halabja Centre, London.

Two Ministers at the Foreign Office, the Rt Hon. Jim Murphy MP
(minister For Europe) and Lord Maloch-Brown, sent their apologies to
the conference for their unavoidable absences. The book by Taner
Akcam, 'A Shameful Act' was given to Mr Andrew George to be presented
to the Minister for Europe. This was a gift from The Armenian-Turkish
Studies Group of London.

Attendees were encouraged to buy the book by Kemal Yalcin, 'You
Rejoice My Heart' (Taderon Press). The following quote from Mr Yalcin
was read to illustrate the possibilities ahead:

'I bow to the memory of the Armenians and Assyrians who lost their
lives on the road of deportation through planned killings. That is the
greatest pain of our century, the stigma on the face of humanity. Your
pain is my pain. As a Turkish writer, I beg forgiveness from you and
mankind ...'

[email protected]
[email protected]

(Speeches delivered at the conference will be published shortly)




EXCERPTS OF MESSAGES:

Canon Andrew White - President of the FRRME:

Blessings from Baghdad

I am so sorry that I have been unable to be with you today for this
most important meeting. It is so important as in our life time there
has still been genocide. The Genocide of the Armenians and Assyrians
has never even been recognised. So many of the families of my people
here in Iraq fled to Iraq to find sanctuary in the violence and
Genocide of the Ottoman Empire. Both Assyrians and Armenians were
killed in their masses.

I have dedicated my life to the work of reconciliation. Forgiveness is
indeed the only thing that will prevent the pain of the past from
determining the future, but to have forgiveness and reconciliation you
must have recognition of the evil deeds of the past. We have had clear
recognition of the evil past of Germany and even the Rwanda's but
Turkey still refuses to acknowledge past massacres of the Armenians
and the Assyrians. To me that is totally unacceptable and
unforgivable. They want to join the EU; people say how a can a Muslim
nation be part of the EU. I have absolutely no problem with that but I
do have a huge problem with the nation of Turkey not recognising the
genocide of it past.

My prayer is that this horror will not indeed be committed again,
thank you all for taking this most important issue so seriously.




Ragip Zarokulu of the Human Rights Association, Istanbul Branch:

Today, 24th of April, is worldwide recognised as the date signifying
the Armenian Genocide. Only in Turkey it indicates a taboo. The
Turkish state mobilises all its resources to deny the meaning of this
date. At diplomatic platforms Turkish officials and their advocates
claim that they recognise the `big tragedy' and they only object to
its being named as a `Genocide'. That's not true. At every occasion
in Turkey not only the Armenian Genocide, but also the great agony of
the Armenian people is denied and attempts are made to justify the
genocide.

It was only last month that during a Symposium on the Armenian-Turkish
relations the denialist official theses were voiced one after another,
offending the Armenians in Turkey and elsewhere and insulting the
memory of their grandparents. Lies were told in the name of `science',
like `Armenians have always sold their masters', `deportation was a
means of crisis management', `death toll of deportation is comparable
to the death toll of flu epidemic in England that time', `there is no
other people as noble as the Turkish nation in the world, it is
impossible for them to commit a genocide', and many more, humiliating
a people who was one of the most advanced in science, art, literature,
and in all other aspects.

Denial is a constituant part of the genocide itself and results in the
continuation of the genocide. Denial of genocide is a human rights
violation in itself. It deprives individuals the right to mourn for
their ancestors, for the ethnic cleansing of a nation, the
annihilation of people of all ages, all professions, all social
sections, women, men, children, babies, grandparents alike just
because they were Armenians regardless of their political background
or conviction. Perhaps the most important of all, it is the refusal of
making a solemn, formal commitment and say `NEVER AGAIN'.

Turkey has made hardly any progress in the field of co-existence,
democracy, human rights and putting an end to militarism since the
time of the Union and Progress Committee. Annihilation and denial had
been and continues today to be the only means to solve the
problem. Villages evacuated and put on fire and forced displacements
are still the manifestation of the same habit of `social
engineering'. There has always been bloodshed in the homeland of
Armenians after 1915. Unsolved murders, disappearances under custody,
rapes and arrests en masse during the 1990's were no surprise, given
the ongoing state tradition lacking any culture of repentance for past
crimes against humanity.

Similarly the removal of a public prosecutor and banning him from
profession just for taking the courage to mention an accusation
against the military, a very recent incident, is the manifestation of
an old habit of punishing anybody who dares to voice any objection to
the army. And today's ongoing military build up of some 250,000 troops
in the southeast of Turkey is the proof of a mindset who is unable to
develop any solution to the Kurdish question other than armed
suppresion.

Turkey will not be able to take even one step forward without putting
an end to the continuity of the Progress and Union manner of
ruling. No human rights violation can be stopped in Turkey and there
will be no hope of breaking the vicious circle of Kurdish uprisings
and their bloody suppression unless the Turkish state agree to create
an environment where public homage is paid to genocide victims, where
the sufferings of their grandchildren is shared and the genocide is
recognised.

Today we, as the human rights defenders, would like to address all
Armenians in Turkey and elsewhere in the world and tell them `we want
to share the pain in your hearts and bow down before the memory of
your lost ones. They are also our losses. Our struggle for human
rights in Turkey, is at the same time our mourning for our common
losses and a homage paid to the genocide victims'.



Rosie Malek-Yonan, Author of The Crimson Field and Board of Advisor at
Seyfo Center:

The absence of the negotiation of world peace is the single greatest
threat to humanity and the future of a violent-free world.

In order to achieve freedom from war, we must examine the actions that
continually create the cycle of anger and hatred as the catalyst to
any conflict between nations.

World peace will always remain a distant thought when reconciliation
in the aftermath of genocide is not at the forefront of all
discussions of human rights violations relative to those crimes.

When we perpetually allow the practice of genocide and holocaust and
consent to the denial of such actions to linger for decades as in the
case of the Assyrian, Armenian and Pontic Greek Genocide, we are in
essence consenting to denial as a compromise. Denial is not
compromise.

To the survivors and the children and grandchildren of the survivors
of the Assyrian, Armenian, and Pontic Greek Genocide of 1914-1918 in
Ottoman Turkey and northwestern Iran, there is no valid justification
for the renunciation of facts.

With the acknowledgement of past and present genocides we can slowly
begin to mend the broken bridges that may ultimately lead the human
race to eradicate bloodshed and violence among nations of this
world. But so long as we turn a blind-eye to these killings, we are
sanctioning the ongoing slaughter such as today's modern-day Assyrian
Genocide occurring in Iraq since the beginning of the 2003 war.

A formal pronouncement by the Turkish government of the Assyrian,
Armenian, and Pontic Greek Genocide will bring closure to not only the
survivors of the genocide, but also to the Turkish people in that the
nearly century-old hatred can begin to give way to human
solidarity. Anything short of that will surely continue to threaten
all hope of peace.
.......

http://groong.usc.edu/news/msg230565.html

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Re: In Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide - 2008

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London (UK)

Voice of Nor Serount
1 Marsh Road
Wembley
Middlesex
United Kingdom
HA0 1ES
Tel: +44 (0)20 8997 1200
Fax: +44 (0)20 8997 0900
email: [email protected]

Press release

Armenia Solidarity
Nor Serount Cultural Association

Unprecedented collaboration between Armenians, Assyrians and Kurds on Genocide day in the UK parliament, London.
.....
Dr Tessa Hofmann, Chairperson of the Working Group Recognition -
Against Genocide, for International Understanding (AGA):

The Armenian Genocide Day Conference poses a demanding and challenging
aim. The recognition of historic facts - Truth - and of justice is
the precondition of any reconciliation and lasting peace, if the
ultimate crime of genocide was committed. The comparative study of
genocides of the 20th and 21st centuries reveals that again and again
survivors and their descendents need legal justice in order to
re-establish trust and the capability to come to terms with their
fate.

The case of the Ottoman genocide against 3.5 million Christian
citizens is unique in the duration and obstinacy, displayed by
official Turkey in the refusal to acknowledge the states crimes which
were committed during the last decade of Ottoman rule. The refusal to
come to terms with this past and to take responsibility for the murder
and destruction of Non-Muslim ethnic groups in the process of building
a Turkish nation-state have long ago turned into severe obstacles for
democratization and regional stability in international relations. To
help Turkey to overcome her self-imposed deadlock means the contrary
of a policy of eye-closing and palliation. It means the exploration of
the roots of nowadays hate towards ethnic and religious minorities.

We hope that the Conference will be able to explain the necessity of
such standards to the political decision-makers in the United Kingdom
and thus will immediately contribute both to justice and
reconciliation.




Foundation For The Kurdish Library and Museum in Stockholm, Sweden:

The new Turkish Republic which has been rebuilt on the remnants of the
Ottoman Empire, has to confess once all the history of Turkish legacy
of their ancestor. It is not possible for Turkey to accept parts of
Turkish history and reject the other historical occurrences.

The genocide of Armenians is a historical fact and whole world knows
who committed these crimes. It is time once for all for Turkey, for
the candidate of EU membership, to confess all events in Turkey's and
Turks history. This is necessary for making the peace and democratic
progress secured in the whole region and in the entire world.




Barzoo Eliassi, Kurdish Ph.D. student at the Department of Social
Sciences of Mid-Sweden University:

The transition from the multicultural Millet system of the Ottoman
Empire to the Republic of Turkey created an ocean of killing in the
name of a threatened Turkish nation. It is not an exaggeration to
compare the Nazi extermination of the xxxs with the systematic Turkish
mass murder, or aptly put, the genocide against the Armenians during
the First World War. The Turkish governments have been denying this
event and labelled it as a conspiracy against the existence of the
Turkish state. Any demand on raising and debating this issue of
genocide and atrocities against the Armenians is seen as an external
threat that attempts to undermine the political authority of the Turks
over the Turkish history. History books in Turkey see surely this
genocide in other terms and legitimatize it in the name of the Turkish
nation and its right to existence and its right to use any means to
protect itself from internal and external `threats'. Using any means
included also the genocide of the Armenians, an evil crime that
Turkish history has to pay back to its victims through recognition.




Martin Blecher, member of the Israel Group in Sweden:

Today our thoughts go to the one and half million that were killed in
Ottoman Empire in 1915-1916. Our thoughts also go to the children and
grandchildren of the survivors who have witnessed the horror by
survivors passing their story along. The xxxish people and our
Armenian brothers have experienced one Holocaust upon us ... We deeply
sympathize with the Armenian nation and encourage them to continue
their search for national justice. It is our responsibility to forget
in order to live in the present and move along the path that leads to
peace. It is also our responsibility not to forget and to tell the
story that once were told to us.




Sukran Kavak, a Kurdish journalist in Sweden:

The legal definition of genocide was found in the 1948 United Nations
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
But the crimes of genocide were committed much earlier then this legal
definition. The world failed to stop the genocide of the Armenians
during and after the First World War by the Ottoman Empire. To honour
the hundreds of thousands of victims and their relatives, the crimes
against the Armenians must be acknowledged as genocide by the
world. To not recognize this is a further crime and insult against the
victims, the survivors and the whole Armenian people.




Shoresh Rahem, International Affairs for the Kurdistan Student
Association and Kurdistan Youth Freedom Organization:

When I came to Sweden at the age of eight, I learnt about Kurdish
history through my family. The Swedish history classes were limited to
the European countries and those who Europe had relations with. Few
people knew that there was a Kurdish genocide in Iraq during
1980's. Neither did we study that more than one million Armenians were
victims of genocide in Turkey. There is nothing we can do today to
get back the victims of the genocide. But we must inform and
acknowledge the crimes so that it will not be repeated, but also to
honor the survivors to the victims that they are not forgotten. To
know that a crime of genocide has been committed but to deny it is
another serious crime. Therefore, I see as my obligation to the Kurds
and to our friends, the Armenians, not to keep quiet about the crimes
of genocide as my teachers and the politicians did when I grew up.



Hediye Guzel - Press secretary, Left wing party, Kurdish origin:

Reconciliation must be the leading star, when discussing the Armenian
genocide. This awful genocide has also affected the Assyrians/Syrians
and Chaldeans in the Ottoman Empire. But reconciliation must be
founded on truth, not on manipulation of truth. Without true and
honest historical research and approaches, we will never reach this
goal. We must not hesitate to use the right words about happened in
the Ottoman Empire 1915 and the following years. We cannot be afraid
of truth! And we cannot deny or hesitate as the Turkish republic does.

The genocide in the Ottoman Empire is a trauma not only for the
Armenians, the Assyrians/ Syrians and the Chaldeans, it is also a
trauma for the Turkish people. Nationalist and chauvinist institutions
and forces in Turkish society which deny the genocide prevent and
punish people who recognize the genocide of 1915. They stop the
development of reconciliation and peace of a whole society. With a
recognition of what happened in 1915 in the Ottoman Empire, hatred and
bitterness can disappear and reconciliation can be reached.

As long as the Turkish state denies the genocide of 1915 it will be
caught in the past. We have to look at the future and leave the
past. To reach peace and harmony between people, it is necessary to
see the truth and condemn the genocide.




Haydar Isik, Germany:

I am an Alevi Kurd! Where we lived there were no mosques. In my
childhood I admired the ruins of the Armenian churches in the
area. Though their walls had crumbled the domes supported by the
columns still stood. The marvelous pictures painted on them could
still be seen. My birth city was called 'Kizilkilise' or 'Red Church'
in the Kurdish language [it probably had a Syriac or Armenian name
before]. But later like other Kurdish names the Kizilkilise was
changed to 'Nazimiye' by the Turkish government.

My childhood was affected by two important historical events. One was
the Dersim massacre of the Kurds in 1937/38 , when 70,000 of them were
killed by the Turkish army which still is very fresh and sorrowful in
my mind. The other was the Armenian Genocide, of 1915-16 by the Turks
which exterminated one and half million Armenians and a half million
Assyrians. During the winter months I often heard about the sorrowful
fate of our Armenian neighbors and it made me cry.

To achieve racial supremacy in Anatolia, the Turkish regime wiped out
first the Armenians and Assyrians and then the Kurds. General Kazim
Karabekir, who had participated in the killing of the Armenians and
Assyrians once had said: 'le yandan zo zo lari, doenuence de lo lo
larin isini bitirecegiz.' 'We will exterminate the Armenians with an
invasion to the east, on our way back we will do the same with the
Kurds.'

It was always the strategy of the Turks to kill or drive out the
country first the Christian Armenians, Assyrians, and Greeks to turn
the country into an Islamic nation, then to carry out similar genocide
and ethnocide against the Kurds. To accomplish this Turkish rulers
promoted hatred and incited one people against the other ... The
Kurdish feudal chieftains became instrumental in carrying out these
Turkish policies.

The Turkish regime used sunni tribes in Northern Kurdistan who lived
side by side with the Armenians and Assyrians in Mesopotamia to
implement its policies. The Aschirets (tribe) which lived in Van,
Urfa, Agri; Mus and Bingöl were known as Hasenen, Cibran, Zirkan,
Sipkan, Zilan, Milan etc.. These Aschirets were a minority of the
Kurds. The Aleviti Kurds, the yezidis and the rest of the sunni Kurds
provided no assistance to the Turks.

A minority of Kurds was used to kill Christians to prove their loyalty
to Turkey and Islam. Today's Kurds see the massacre of the Armenians
[and Assyrians] as a shame on Kurds. I am ashamed that Kurds were
involved in killing their neighbors in such barbarous manners.

In the shadow of the 1ST world war, during the rule of Pascha Enver
Talat and Cemal, Turks organized the Christian pogrom in Anatolia and
Mesopotamia with the approval and knowledge of Germany. It was the
first genocide in human history that was carefully planned and carried
out. However one needs to see the other side of the coin also. The
rag-tag brigades, recruited by Turkey out of 36 Kurdish tribes, which
were used to massacre the Christian were also incited against the
Alevi and the yezidie (moslem) Kurds.

The regiments were formed exclusively out of the sunni tribes in
Northern kurdistan which means, the young Turkish regime (Ittihat
Terakki) intentions were to incite one section of the Kurds against
the other according to the principle of 'divide and
conquer'. Consequently animosities between Sunni and Alevi Kurds
continues to this day.

The Hamidiyeh regiments was also used against the Kurds to undermine
the Kurdish aspirations for independence. Their Attacks against the
Armenians, Assyrians or Kurds remain a blemish in the history of the
Kurds. Nothing holds back the Kurdish descent bandits who attacked
Armenian villages yesterday and killed countless people from killing
their own. One has to ask: is it just for anyone to kill other human
beings because someone orders them to do so?

Yes, the story of humanity is full of such events. About 50 years ago,
German fascism massacred the xxxs in industrial fashion. They believed
that their victims deserved to die! ...

Now Turkey is using Kurds to fight their compatriots. Like the
Hamidiyeh brigades of the past which killed 100,000 of their own
people, Kurdish gangs have been equipped to fight against the Kurdish
liberation movement, which fights for liberty and well-being being of
the Kurds living in the mountains.

The same mentality which massacred the Armenians and the Assyrians
yesterday, is responsible for the killing of the Kurds today. The
Kurds in Dersim provided protection for their Armenian neighbors
despite pressure >From the Turks, however such kindness cost them
dearly when Turks massacred them in 1937/38, partly for that reason.

Turkey is a country of various people, Turks, Kurds, Armenians,
Assyrians and other minorities. Although Turkey has signed almost all
the international treaties including: The 'General Declaration of the
Human Rights', the 'European Convention of Human Rights', the 'CSCE
treaty' , which promises Equal Rights, Self-determination, and rights
of minorities to teach their mother tongue, Turkey has denied such
liberties to its non-Turk[ish] citizens, yet it wants to join the
European Union.

The Armenians were exterminated by the policy of Turkey in
Anatolia. We, the Kurds would like to live peacefully together with
our neighbors, Armenians, Assyrians and Turks in a country, where the
sound of the church-bells and the call of the Muezzin can be heard
side by side. We are not any more the Kurds who were used as tool by
Turkey to exterminate their Christian neighbors. We are ashamed and
would like to make amend and do well - From: 'Confessions of an Honest
Kurd: The Assyrian & Armenian Genocide, Past and present' - Translated
from the German Language. wm.warda;

http://groong.usc.edu/news/msg230565.html

ARMENIANS ORGANIZE ACTION OF PROTEST IN FRONT OF EMBASSY OF TURKEY IN LONDON ON OCCASION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE ANNIVERSARY

Noyan Tapan
April 28, 2008

LONDON, APRIL 28, NOYAN TAPAN - ARMENIANS TODAY. On the occasion of the
93rd anniversary of Armenian Genocide, a group of Armenians organized
an action of protest in front of the Embassy of Turkey in London.

As the Cihan agency reported, at that moment a group of Turks with
Turkey's flag in their hands approached the Embassy. The Police
interfered at that moment and in order to avoid incidents took Turks
away from Embassy's territory.

It was also mentioned that London-based Armenians intended to organize
a procession on Sunday.

http://groong.usc.edu/news/msg230329.html

[Siamanto]

Re: In Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide - 2008

Washington, DC (US)

AMERICAN-BASED ARMENIANS ORGANIZE ACTION OF PROTEST IN FRONT OF EMBASSY OF TURKEY ON OCCASION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE ANNIVERSARY

Noyan Tapan
April 28, 2008

WASHINGTON, APRIL 28, NOYAN TAPAN - ARMENIANS TODAY. On the occasion
of the 93rd anniversary of Armenian Genocide American-based Armenians
organized an action of protest in front of the Embassy of Turkey
in Washington.

As the Anadolu agency reported, at the same time, not far from
Armenians, American-based Turks also organized an action of protest
with Turkey's flag and different placards.

Reporting that it is the first time American-based Turks are organizing
such a large action of protest, the agency in no way mentioned the
approximate number of Turks taking part in the action.

It was also mentioned that Nabi Shensoy, the Ambassador of Turkey to
Washington, thanked Turk demonstrants for the "efforts they exerted."

http://groong.usc.edu/news/msg230326.html

[Siamanto]

Re: In Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide - 2008

1 of 2

THE ARMENIAN QUESTION, 2008
Harut Sassounian

PRIMARY SOURCE
April 24, 2008
LAT

Harut Sassounian, publisher of the California Courier and a leading
figure in the local Armenian-American community, visited the Times
this week to discuss relations with Turkey, genocide recognition and
other matters. Here are some highlights.



Giving a forum to the ATAA

Tim Cavanaugh: The Times recently put up a transcript of our meeting
with the Assembly of Turkish American Associations. You've indicated
that that's comparable to giving, says, skinheads a platform to deny
the Holocaust.
Could you expand on that?

Harut Sassounian: I fully respect freedom of expression -- after
all, I'm the publisher of the California Courier, so I understand
the mission and purpose of journalists and editors. However, I took
offense, and a lot of the people who contacted me were offended, that
this group could come in an not only have a meeting -- which is not a
problem, having a meeting with any group -- but then have their words
of denial put on the world wide web. Even with the best intentions
of educating and informing the community about their position, the
L.A. Times is becoming in indirect conduit for denial of genocide,
which is very offensive to us.



Tim Cavanaugh: Clearly anything I say on this is going to sound
defensive, but I would say there's news value in hearing these
people state their position. This is not a fringe group; it's a well
established organization.

Harut Sassounian: Well let me just say one thing about that and then
we can move on. Any group, no matter who they are, that denies any
genocide or holocaust, I can not with a clear conscience call them
a respectable group.
They lose respectability when they deny genocide.



Talking Turkey

Harut Sassounian: I avoid interfacing with Turkish officials, because
they're bound by their positions to propagate the official Turkish
line of denial. So there's no point in having any communication
with an official who can't say anything other than the government's
position. I've had wonderful conversations with individual Turkish
citizens, even when we may disagree.

I've had many offers to meet with consuls or ambassadors, but I turn
down all invitations because they know what I'm going to say and I know
what they're going to say, so there's no point offending each other.



Paul Thornton: But they would say they're inviting you to join them
in some kind of fact-finding mission that will determine the final
say in this -- even though historians agree...

Harut Sassounian: Yeah, as far as fact finding, I'm not the one who
needs fact-finding. So there's nothing for me to join. I welcome
and encourage Turkish, officials, scholars and journalists to do all
the fact finding they need. If they have questions, I'll be happy to
answer questions or direct them to sources. But I don't need to find
out what happened. I know what happened. My grandparents' families
on both sides were wiped out. So that's not something I read in a
book. I grew up with my grandfather and grandmother telling me the
hell they went through. It would be besmirching their good name to
join in some kind of fact finding. I know what happened.



Widespread recognition of the Armenian genocide

Tim Cavanaugh: My anecdotal impression is that there's pretty wide
acceptance of the reality of the Armenian genocide: popularly in the
United States, and maybe worldwide. I mean, a substantial number of
people in the world don't even know the Holocaust happened, so you're
never going to have total awareness, but there does seem to be pretty
wide recognition.

Harut Sassounian: That is a very correct impression. After all, if you
just look at what has taken place, it goes all the way back to 1915. So
it's not surprising that not many people know what happened. Most
people don't follow the news as closely as journalists. To that
effect the Holocaust is a more recent event, and it took place in the
center of Europe, where there were films and archives, and the Allies
filmed all the evidence in the death camps. With the Armenian genocide
there were some pictures, some films, but the memory is much dimmer,
because it's so far in the past.

However, your observation is correct. Scores of countries, parliaments,
have passed resolutions recognizing it as genocide. The U.S. Congress
itself, all the way back in 1916. There was a Senate resolution in
1920; more recently in 1975 the House passed a resolution recognizing
the genocide. In 1984 there was a second resolution. President Reagan
in 1981 signed a presidential proclamation saying "genocide." The
UN Sub-commission on Human Rights did a study and concluded it was
genocide. The European Parliament in 1987 passed a resolution. And
many others have since then. So at this point it's no longer what
we used to call the forgotten genocide or the hidden Holocaust. Most
people who know such things are aware of it.



Tim Cavanaugh: So what are you campaigning for now? I mean there was
this thing last year where Jane Harman disappointed a lot of people
locally. What would we be looking for now in terms of recognition?

Harut Sassounian: Let's dispose of Jane Harman before we get on to more
serious issues. Jane Harman's mistake was that she was a co-sponsor of
the genocide resolution; while remaining on record as the co-sponsor,
she wrote a letter to the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs
Committee asking that the resolution not be brought up for a vote. So
she was saying one thing openly and doing something else behind the
scenes. That's double-talk and dishonest in my book. If she'd come
out and said "I don't support this resolution" that would have been
something we could respond to. But instead she gives the impression
to the community: "I'm on your side, I support you.

But I'm going to work behind your back to undermine this resolution."

Coming back to the more serious issue, for several decades after 1915,
parts of various families survived the genocide. Some families were
completely wiped out, so there are no inheritors there. Others, like
my family, they married other survivors and formed new families. So
initially, they found themselves in the deserts of Syria, no housing,
no food, nothing. Completely in destitute shape. So what was on their
mind was getting a mud hut to live in and a piece of bread to eat. Over
time, they built churches, schools, a semblance of normal life. Then
people of the next generation started forming groups dedicated to
recognizing the injustice that was done to them. They would write
letters to government officials, which would get ignored.

When my generation came along, we were the first to get educated,
know foreign languages, understand the ways of politics. It was this
generation that began to get some recognition of the genocide. Little
by little, as things began to change, the Turkish government started
to react, started saying there's no such thing, just ridiculed it. But
as the world began to accept this, the Turkish government started
putting serious money and effort behind the denial. So they brought
in hundreds of Turkish and non-Turkish scholars, hired lobbying firms.

But now the genocide is an established fact. So we're not clamoring
anymore about the world ignoring us. And the L.A. Times is the best
example of that.

The paper is on record recognizing the genocide. So are the New York
Times and the Boston Globe. Even recently, Time magazine issued a
statement recognizing it as genocide and saying it would be referred
to as such.

So now we're back to 1915. In 1915 there was a nation living on its
own ancestral homeland. They had been there long before there was a
Turkey. In addition to losing 1.5 million people, we were uprooted
from our homeland.

So what Armenians would like, and this is not a dream that can be
realized anytime in the near future, is justice. Everything was taken
from them: their lands, their churches, bank accounts, livestock,
homes, everything.

This was a gross injustice done to these people. Just asking for
recognition from the Turks, having them come and say "Yes, 90 or 100
years ago, your ancestors were wiped out," that doesn't do anything. We
already know we were wiped out.

So what we want, as a right, no matter how impossible the
implementation, as a right we demand justice for the Armenian
people. For all the stuff that was taken from them we demand just
compensation. And that can take many forms. This is where Armenians
and Turks should sit down, and have a very lengthy and serious
discussion about what can be done, what's realistic and what's not,
what form it should take, whether it's realistic to demand land at
this point, whether it's realistic to make financial compensation,
as Germany did with survivors of the Holocaust... At least at the
surface level, Armenian churches, religious monuments in Turkey,
should be returned to the Armenian Church in Turkey. Not to the United
States or Armenia or some foreign entity. But for the few survivors
who live in Turkey still.

These are citizens of Turkey and these are their houses of worship. And
they have the right, under the Treaty of Lausanne, to worship there...
.......

http://groong.usc.edu/news/msg230422.html

[Siamanto]

Re: In Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide - 2008

2 of 2

THE ARMENIAN QUESTION, 2008
Harut Sassounian

PRIMARY SOURCE
April 24, 2008
LAT
......
Court cases

Paul Thornton: What's preventing a case from being brought to the
international court right now?

Harut Sassounian: Nothing's really preventing anyone. There are
several practical issues. One is that Armenians for many decades were
trying to recover and establish the facts of the genocide, so they
weren't running to court. In recent years, lawyers filed against New
York Life, and got a $20 million settlement for people who had life
insurance policies. Now there are suits against several German banks,
to recover funds that Armenians deposited before the genocide. There
was also a large amount of money deposited in Ottoman Bank. And that
line still exists today. So at some point, Armenians are going to
go for their possessions, and go to the European courts with their
deeds of trust and demand that they get their possessions back.

The second answer is that the world court can only take cases brought
by governments. For many years there was no Armenian nation. So now
we have the Republic of Armenian, which is in desperate straits,
so they're not going to go and antagonize Turkey, which is a much
stronger neighbor. And the Diaspora has no standing to go into court.

This is not about wishful thinking. You have to go to international
experts and find out, for example, does a court now, in 2008, deal
with an event that took place 93 years ago? You have to look at
questions regarding the Genocide Convention of 1948, whether that has
any retroactive effect. Those are very complex legal issues. It's not
a matter of just civilians saying "I want this or that." Because the
worst thing that can happen to Armenians is, if they're not skilled
in legal issues, if they just go and file in court and the court
dismisses the case because it has no jurisdiction, then the next day
the Turkish propaganda machine will say, "The Armenians tried to file
a genocide claim but it was dismissed because it had no merit."



[/b]Realpolitik axis[/b]

Tim Cavanaugh: One of the things that really seems to make it tough
for these kinds of discussions is this axis in Washington D.C. of
realpolitik types who take the line that we can't do anything
to infuriate Turkey, that we need to have them on board, they're
important to Israel, and so forth.
What presence do you maintain in D.C.?

Harut Sassounian: We have a couple of small Armenian organizations
with small staffs, who try to defend Armenian interests and counter
the Turkish efforts.

But as for realpolitik, I studied international affairs and I was
a U.N.

delegate for ten years, so I know the reality of the world. And I know
many of the things we say run counter to realpolitik. But let's stay
at the level of realpolitik for a moment, and not get into issues of
justice or truth. If U.S. officials and Israeli officials, from day
one, or even now, would say to the Turkish republic: "We are allies,
we share common interests, we wouldn't want to do anything to hurt
you. But this is something that was done more than 90 years ago, by a
former regime that no longer exists. We cannot, because of friendship,
go against the truth. This is history. We're not talking about taking
action, of grabbing a chunk of Turkey and giving it to Armenia. We
have no ill will against Turkey. But we cannot change history. This
thing happened in 1915. We will continue to be friends."

Think of it this way: Say a new administration came up in Germany
and said, "We are deeply offended by the constant reminders of
the Holocaust, and if the United State ever again brings up the
Holocaust, we're going to walk out of NATO, send the ambassador back,
cut off trade, etc. We're going to do that unless you shut down
the Holocaust Museum in Washington." What would the U.S. government
do? The government would say, "I'm sorry, we're going to continue to
recognize the facts and we're not going to be bullied by anybody,
especially a country that is much less powerful than the United
States." And Germany's much more powerful than Turkey.

This is what they should have done with Turkey. But instead, to the
detriment of U.S. interests, they are always trying to appease,
trying to say "Yes, it was a tragedy but it was not genocide. We
can't pass this resolution." If you are always trying to appease,
and saying you're sorry whenever Turkey gets offended, once they see
that you're being soft and weak and not determined, then they start
being demanding. That's why last year when the resolution came up,
Turkey threatened to block delivery of military hardware going through
Turkey to Iraq. Now they've got you. Now you've allowed yourself
to be manipulated by a regime that's not only denying history but
threatening your interests.

Instead, you should show you are resolute. In 1981, when President
Reagan signed that proclamation, the Turkish government complained, and
there were negative articles in the Turkish press. Three days later,
and until now, it was completely forgotten. That's the position the
U.S. government should take. Many other countries have taken that
position, and for a while Turkey was mad at them, but to this day
they don't take the position that this or that country recognizes the
Armenian genocide and punish them for it. It's just finished. So if
you want realpolitik, just bite the bullet and get it over with.



Changing governments

Tim Cavanaugh: Do you see different attitudes from the Turkish
government, on this or any other issues, since the Islamist party
has been in power?

Harut Sassounian: I think the government in power now is much more
people-oriented, sympathetic in general to all sorts of minority
rights and human rights. That doesn't mean they're pro-Armenian by
a long shot. But that's a government that eventually could lead to
positive developments between Armenians and Turkey.

However, on the negative side, that government is under tremendous
internal pressure from the Turkish equivalent of neocons. The radical,
nationalist, and kemalist Turks are putting so much pressure on
Erdogan's government that Erdogan is not in position to take any
positive steps on this point.

However, since the new government has come into power in Armenia,
there has been an exchange of letters between Turkey and Armenia,
saying they're interested in establishing normal relations. So there
are early indications that possibly with new officials, this could
lead to something positive.

http://groong.usc.edu/news/msg230422.html

[Siamanto]

Re: In Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide - 2008

New York (US)

NEW YORK GOVERNOR DAVID A. PATERSON ISSUES A PROCLAMATION ACKNOWLEDGING ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
mailto:[email protected]

NewsBlaze
http://newsblaze.com/story/200804230750 ... itics.html
April 23 2008
CA

93rd Anniversary Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide to be Held in Times Square On Sunday, April 27th From 2-4 PM

NEW YORK, April 23, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- New York Governor David
A. Paterson issued a Proclamation for the Empire State to join in
with the entire community to commemorate the 93rd anniversary of
the Armenian Genocide. In the proclamation, the Governor states,
"Whereas, it is fitting that all New Yorkers recognize the hardships
the Armenians faced, for the purpose of preventing such as the Armenian
Genocide of 1915-23 from recurring and to appreciate the United States
role as a refuge for all oppressed people."

The public is welcome to participate in the 93rd Anniversary
Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide to be held in Times Square
(43rd & Broadway) on Sunday, April 27 from 2-4 PM. Organized by
the Knights & Daughters of Vartan, an Armenian-American fraternal
organization, the Commemoration theme is "We Cannot Forget, We Will
Not Forget." Armenian-Americans and their supporters will gather to
pay tribute to the 1.5 million Armenians who were annihilated by the
Young Turk Government of the Ottoman Empire. The Commemoration will
also celebrate the survival of the Armenian people, their rich heritage
and their contributions. Dennis R. Papazian, PhD, Founding Director
of the Armenian Research Center of the University of Michigan and
Mary A. Papazian, PhD, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic
Affairs at Lehman College, C.U.N.Y, will preside over the ceremonies.

Commemoration participants will include Armenian Genocide survivors
and their families, elected officials, and humanitarian, cultural,
religious, educational and community leaders. Distinguished speakers
include U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ); U.S. Representative Frank
Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian
Issues; Carla Garapedian, director of the award-winning documentary
Screamers, which explores the history of reoccurrence and denial of
genocides in the 20th and 21st centuries; Attorney Mark J. Garagos,
who helped lead groundbreaking Federal Class Action Lawsuits against
New York Life and other insurance companies for insurance polices
issued to Armenians living in Turkey prior to the Armenian Genocide;
Alex Hinton, PhD, Director of the Study of Genocide and Human
Rights at Rutgers University and Vice President of the International
Association of Genocide Scholars; and Dr. Daniel Jonah Goldhagen,
author of Hitler's Willing Executioners. In 2009, Goldhagen will
host the PBS documentary Worse Than War, based on his forthcoming
book exploring the general phenomenon of genocide throughout the world.

Armenian Genocide Experts Sam Azadian and Dr. Dennis R. Papazian
are available for media interviews via phone and in-person. Armenian
Genocide Survivors are also available (with translators) to discuss
their eyewitness accounts as refugees from the Armenian Genocide. Their
painful accounts of the horrendous horrors and mass destruction
they witnessed and lived through are critical contributions to world
history.

Free round-trip bus transportation will be available from all Armenian
New York and New Jersey churches, Baruyr's (40th Street & Queens
Boulevard) and the Hovnanian School, New Milford, New Jersey. For
information about the Commemoration and bus transportation contact:
Dr. Dennis Papazian-PH: (201) 505-1591.

The Knights of Vartan logo is available at

http://www.primenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=3420

69-23 47th Ave.
Woodside, NY 11377
(718) 651-1530
April 29, 2008
For Immediate Release

New York AYF Commemorates April 24 with Month-Long Activities

NEW YORK - April as a month of remembrance and a call to action was the theme
for the New York Hyortiks this year as they approached Armenian Genocide
commemorations. The chapter organized various activities and carried out
several projects throughout April to lead the community in a continuous
remembrance.

Early in April the chapter's educational committee organized two
consecutive screenings of movies with Armenian Genocide-related
themes. On April 13 the Hyortiks showed *Back to Ararat* at St. Sarkis
Armenian Apostolic Church after services. The following week on April
20 they showed *Genocide in Me*to an audience at St. Illuminator's
Armenian Apostolic Cathedral. Community members were engaged with the
films and issues they brought up regarding Genocide recognition,
different ways of commemorating, and the concept of "never
forgetting."

In conjunction with the Armenian National Committee (ANC) of New York
the Hyortiks also put together general "April is Genocide Remembrance
Month" posters that gave a brief description of the Genocide and why
certain businesses might be closed on April 24. The posters - that
were hung outside local Armenian churches and a few Armenian
businesses in Manhattan - targeted those passing by the buildings,
educating them on this issue.

On the day of April 24 members hit the streets and passed out flyers in
Manhattan's xxxelry district. The flyers called for the United States to
"end the gag rule," referring to Turkish pressure on the US when it comes to
the Armenian Genocide. In the afternoon some members attended a
commemorative service and lunch at St. Vartan Cathedral in Manhattan.
Finally that evening, the chapter helped set the solemn mood for a memorial
service at St. Sarkis Armenian Apostolic Church. Members decorated the
stairs leading up to the church with small candles and posters remembering
the Genocide. After the service junior and senior members led attendees in
singing "Adanayin Voghpuh."

The following evening the Hyortiks volunteered at the welcome table of the
annual City Hall Event sponsored by the ANC of New York. As in years past
the chapter presented a speech on behalf of the organization during the
program. This year's comments highlighted the theme of freedom and human
rights. Presented by Hyortik executive member Maria Nercessian, the speech
discussed freedom as an essential component of humanity. "Nintey-three years
ago, Armenian citizens of the Ottoman Empire had all of their freedoms taken
away, the freedom to laugh, to sing, to think, and to live freely as
Armenians. What makes these individuals different from those suffering here
and now and to those, for example, in Darfur who are constantly enduring
such pain on a daily basis? Nothing. We are all humans," said Nercessian.
She ended her presentation with remarks in Armenian, quoting from Mikael
Nalbantian's poem "Yerk Azadoutyan" that touched upon the human desire for
freedom.

On April 26 the AYF Central Hai Tahd Council led many in the region on the
March for Justice. Drawing in people from New York, New Jersey, Boston,
Providence, and Philadelphia, the march led the group from St. Illuminator's
Armenian Apostolic Cathedral to the UN xx Plaza where they rallied for
justice for the Armenian Genocide. That day New York AYFers came out early
to help set up for the event, run the technical aspect and support CHTC's
leadership on the protest. Flyer-ing the community weeks before the event,
the Hyortiks brought out local community members to the march. Staying until
the very end to clean up, New York's AYFers helped CHTC pack up and return
to the Armenian Center in Woodside, N.Y.

Finally the Hyortiks participated in an Armenian youth and student movement
to help out at the annual Times Square Rally as an organized and unified
body. Together with youth from various local organizations, AYF members
assisted at the event by passing out t-shirts; bringing and handing out
placards to attendees; distributing booklets to passers-by; and cleaning up
at the end. After the event the Hyortiks joined fellow youth at a small
gathering held at St. Vartan Cathedral where they mingled and discussed
various issues in the Armenian community.

"I think it was important for the Hyortiks to host and participate in
Genocide commemoration events throughout the month of April in order to show
the world that all Armenian youth have not forgotten our martyrs, our Cause.
We will keep protesting and marching until Turkey admits the crimes it has
committed against our ancestors," said Hyortik member Arousiag Markarian. **


PHOTO CAPTIONS:

CityHallHyortiks: Some New York AYF members with ANC Eastern Region Director
Karine Birazian at the annual City Hall Commemoration sponsored by the ANC
of New York

March for Justice1: On April 26, New York AYFers came out early to help set
up and helped out all day for the March for Justice held by the AYF Central
Hai Tahd Council

St Sarkis Candle Lighting: New York AYF members decorated the stairs leading
up to the St. Sarkis Armenian Church with small candles and posters
remembering the Armenian Genocide

Times Square AYF: Together with youth from various local organizations, AYF
members assisted at the annual Times Square Rally by passing out t-shirts;
bringing and handing out placards to attendees; distributing booklets to
passers-by; and cleaning up at the end

http://www.ayf.org/Home/tabid/36/mid/424/newsid424/68/Default.aspx

ARMENIAN COMMEMORATION AT BINGHAMTON SOUTHSIDE PARK
Ed Arzouian

Press & Sun-Bulletin, NY
May 1 2008

On Sunday, April 27, 2008 St. Gregory the Illuminator Armenian Church
of Binghamton along with the Armenian Community of Broome County
commemorated the 93nd Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

Pictured is the Southside monument to the those 1,500,000 Armenians who
died in the Genocide from 1915-1923 at the hands of the Ottoman Turks..

Statements were read from: US Senator Hillary Clinton, NYS Senator
Thomas Libous, Congressmen Maurice Hinchey & Arcuri. Present were:
Kevin McCabe, representative from NY Governor David Paterson to read a
resolution, Bob Messinger as representative of US Congressman Michael
Arcuri, Broome County Executive Barbara Fiala, and City of Binghamton
Mayor Matt Ryan.

http://www.pressconnects.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080501/COMMUN/805010364/1055

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[Siamanto]

Re: In Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide - 2008

Fresno, California (US)

FADING MEMORIES OF GENOCIDE: AS ARMENIAN SURVIVORS GROW OLD, RECOGNITION GROWS MORE URGENT.
by Vanessa Colon

The Fresno Bee (California)
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News
April 24, 2008 Thursday

Apr. 24--Lucy Jamgotchian of Fresno lived through the panic and peril
of the Armenian genocide. The tears she shed as a 6-year-old caused
her mother to briefly abandon her as the family fled, fearful that
her cries would cost them their lives.

But at age 98, her memories of the seminal event in Armenian history
have largely faded. And many other survivors have died.

That worries a younger generation of Armenians. They fear their efforts
to pressure the United States to formally recognize the genocide will
weaken without the emotional testimony of its survivors. Even more,
they fear the residents who lived through the genocide won't live to
see it recognized by their adopted homeland.

"I can't imagine any Armenian who went through that isn't tremendously
disappointed for the country they became citizens and pledged their
allegiance to but didn't recognize it," said Alan Yengoyan, a Fresno
County deputy district attorney whose mother, a genocide survivor,
died in 1997.

On the 93rd anniversary of a day recognized as the start of the
genocide, fewer than a dozen survivors remain in California -- and
only an estimated 50 are still living nationwide, according to the
Armenian National Committee, Western Region, an Armenian-American
advocacy organization.

Between 1915 and 1923, 1.5 million Armenians were killed in the
Ottoman Empire. The Republic of Turkey emerged out of the empire's
collapse in World War I. Turkish officials have denied that any
genocide occurred, calling it a tragedy of World War I in which both
Armenians and Turks died.

For decades, congressional resolutions to formally recognize the
event with the term "genocide" have stalled because of Turkey's strong
opposition. The most recent attempt failed last year when President
Bush warned that a genocide resolution would harm relations with
Turkey, a U.S. ally bordering Iraq and Iran.

The failure of Congress -- and Turkey -- to recognize the genocide
disappoints one of its survivors, Melena Boghosian of Fresno. At 102,
she is one of the oldest survivors still living in the Fresno area.

"I want to see [genocide recognized] before I die," Boghosian said
in Armenian. Her daughter, Jessy Shahbazian, interpreted for her.

Boghosian became an orphan when she was about 8 after her parents
were killed by Turks, she said. Her aunt, who carried Boghosian as
they traveled through the desert to Syria, also died.

Boghosian emigrated to the United States as an adult in the 1920s,
eventually settling in Fresno.

About 60,000 residents of Armenian descent live in Fresno
County. Although Armenians began settling here in the 1880s, their
numbers grew dramatically after the start of the genocide.

Jamgotchian was a child when she traveled with her mother in a caravan
fleeing the village of Van in August 1915, according to a written
account by her younger brother, Bob Der Mugrdechian, who was born
in Fresno.

Jamgotchian and her mother battled hunger and thirst and saw thousands
of refugees die before they reached Tiflis, Georgia, according to
Der Mugrdechian's book.

At one point, Jamgotchian cried so much that her mother was pressured
by their group to leave her behind a boulder because her cries could
alert the Turks to find them, according to the book. Her mother
couldn't bear leaving her behind and soon returned for Jamgotchian.

Jamgotchian's own recollections are hazy.

"We were suppose to hide away so we wouldn't be killed," she said
holding a black-and-white photo of her family taken in Georgia in 1916.

But asked for details, she replies: "I don't remember."

The fading memories of survivors like Jamgotchian adds urgency to the
effort to get Congress to recognize the genocide, said Andrew Kzirian,
executive director for the Armenian National Committee, Western Region.

"It paints a very tragic story how justice will continue to be
denied. It speaks volumes how it's more important to recognize the
genocide [now] more than ever," he said.

Liebe Geft, director of the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, said
survivors of the xxxish Holocaust are facing similar challenges as
their numbers dwindle.

"There is nothing more powerful than the personal testimony of an
eyewitness account," Geft said. "It makes a profound impression on
everyone, young and old alike."

She added: "Because it's so personal, it's not easily forgotten."

Barlow Der Mugrdechian, professor of Armenian studies at California
State University, Fresno, and a nephew of Jamgotchian, said he remains
hopeful that the United States eventually will recognize the genocide,
but he is doubtful that it will happen soon.

Even if none of the genocide survivors lives to see that day, their
stories will never die.

"It will be a case of having to depend on other evidence," Der
Mugrdechian said. "The information is there if people wish to see it."

http://groong.usc.edu/news/msg230082.html

GENOCIDE: ARMENIANS COMMEMORATE GENOCIDE
Clint Olivier & Charlene Lee

KMPH Fox 26, CA -
April 25 2008

Hundreds gathered at Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic Church in Downtown
Fresno, to pray and remember.

"It's not just recognizing the Armenian Genocide, but it's recognizing
all genocide in general," Jennifer Torosian said.

Torosian and Knar Mekhitarian are members of the campus Armenian
organization at Fresno State.

Torosian isn't unlike other worshippers, who have a personal connection
to the tragedy.

Torosian's grandparents were tailors, and only survived by making
uniforms for the Turkish Army.

"There was a genocide committed, and now we're asking for justice,"
Father Vahan Gostanian said.

He is talking about another element of the April 24th story,
reaffirming support for lawmakers in Congress to keep working toward
official recognition of the killings.

Former state lawmaker Chuck Poochigian agrees and blames the pressure
placed on U.S. lawmakers by Turkey's government for the delay.

"It's very painful for Armenians around the world to have to deal
with the denial of that historical fact," Poochigian said.

And on this solemn 93rd anniversary, Jennifer Torosian says she's
committed to using what she knows about the struggle of her ancestors,
to make the world a better place for everyone.

"History will repeat itself if we don't stop and learn from our
mistakes in the past," she said.

Attendees point to the mass killings in Darfur and the Sudan in Africa
as places where genocide is still going on, and must be stopped.

http://www.kmph.com/Global/story.asp?S=8225287&nav=menu612_2_11

[Siamanto]

Re: In Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide - 2008

Canada

NEARLY ALL CANADIAN POLITICAL FORCES STAND FOR INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

PanARMENIAN.Net
29.04.2008 16:20 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Over 1,000 Canadian-Armenians from Montreal, Laval,
Ottawa, Toronto, Hamilton, Cambridge, and St. Catharines gathered
on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on April 24 to commemorate the 93rd
anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, reported the Armenian National
Committee of Canada.

After playing the national anthems of Canada and Armenia by Homenetment
Montreal's boy scouts band, Taline Abrakian, the master of ceremonies,
invited the gathering to observe a moment of silence in memory of
the victims of the Armenian Genocide and all other genocides.

Immediately thereafter, Archbishop Khajag Hagopian, Prelate of the
Armenian Prelacy of Canada; Rev. Mher S. Khatchikian of the Armenian
Evangelical Church of Montreal; Very Rev. Georges Zabarian from Notre
Dame de Nareg Armenian Catholic Church in Montreal and other clergymen
conducted a requiem service for the victims of the Genocide.

Dr. Girair Basmadjian, president of the Armenian National Committee of
Canada (ANCC), extended the Canadian-Armenian community's "expressions
of gratitude to the Canadian Senate and the House of Commons for their
adoptions of resolutions recognizing the Armenian genocide." Moreover,
he said that he was "proud as a Canadian of Armenian heritage to listen
to our Prime Minister reaffirm, in no uncertain terms, the position
of our government," on the Armenian Genocide as a Government policy.

Dr. Badsmadjian said that he welcomed the honest opinions of Turkish
genocide scholars, authors and historians, who have confirmed
unequivocally the Armenian genocide perpetrated by the Turkish
government in 1915. "They deserve praise and congratulations because
they are victimized by their current government, not the government
of 1915.

Actually, the government of today does not miss any opportunity to
prosecute and punish honest Turkish academics who exercise their
freedom of expressions for anti-Turkishness and treason. The terror
against those academic voices is legalized by laws in Turkey."

Pierre Lemieux, parliamentary secretary for official languages and
deputy whip of the Conservative Party, talked about the positive
contributions the Canadian-Armenian community had made to Canada. He
said: "Armenian-Canadians are an integral part of this country's
history, and Canadians of Armenian heritage have definitely made an
important contribution to the Canada of today."

As official opposition and as government, the Conservative Party
recognized the Armenian Genocide and would continue to do so, Lemieux
emphasized. He reminded everyone of the "letter that Prime Minister
Stephen Harper sent to the Armenian National Committee of Canada,"
where the prime minister said: "We have made it very clear that our
recognition of the Armenian genocide represents the official position
of the Government of Canada."

At the end of his speech, Mr. Lemieux read the Right Hon. Stephan
Harper's message. The Prime Minister in his message "on the day of
commemoration of the Armenian genocide," recalled "the terrible loss
of life...and in particular the horrific suffering endured by the
Armenian people." He also reminded Canadians "that both Houses of
Parliament have adopted resolutions recognizing 'the first genocide
of the twentieth century.'"

Dr. Bernard Party representing the Liberal Party of Canada, relayed
the message of the leader of the official opposition the Hon. Stephan
Dion. Mr. Dion said that he greeted with "deep reverence" the people
gathered on Parliament Hill to commemorate the 93rd anniversary of
the Armenian Genocide." He paused to "remember those Armenians who
were persecuted and killed in 1915" and expressed solidarity with
the survivors."

Madam Nicole Demers, representing the Bloc Quebecois, described her
fond memories about her recent visit to Armenia and her admiration of
the Armenian people. She told the gathering that she and her leader,
Gilles Duceppe, would stand by the Armenian community until justice
is rendered. She also urged Armenians to continue the struggle for
the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide and that they
should not stop until it is achieved.

Paul Dewar, representing the New Democratic Party, read the NDP leader,
Mr. Jack Layton's message where Mr. Layton committed the NDP to work
with the Canadian-Armenian community to "press other countries to
recognize this horrific chapter of our collective history and for
non-governmental organizations such as the UN to recognize one of
the worse crimes against humanity in the 20th century."

In his speech, Jon-Carlos Tsilfidis, director of public relations of
the Pontian Community in Toronto, recalled the Armenian Genocide as
"an unprecedented event in human history both in terms of the misery
and destruction it exacted...Many have called it the first holocaust
of the 20th century but sadly, it was not the last...Sadly, there are
still some people who deny the very existence of the Genocide... This
is why events such as the gathering of today are vital...We have to
shout out the truth, to amplify our memories and to let them resonate
in the historical record... In the Turkey of today, Armenian Genocide
denial has somehow been transformed into national doctrine.

"My message to you today is that we can never forget.

We, as the Greeks of Pontos, share your pain of the past and are
prepared for the challenges that lie ahead. We know all too well about
'relocations', 'deportations', and death marches. We have been down
that road ourselves as well. We will walk step by step with you."

The keynote speaker, Ken Hachikian, chairman of the Armenian National
Committee of America, reiterated that "Canada's recognition of the
Armenian Genocide both holds profound meaning for the Armenian nation
and has sent a powerful message to the government of Turkey as well
as to those who condone Turkey's campaign of denial by looking the
other way... The acknowledgement of this crime by your Parliament
and Prime Minister Stephen Harper - in the face of fierce foreign
threats and intimidation and no end of political pressure - speaks
to Canada's courage in matching her actions with her ideals. It
also speaks to her special role as a worldwide leader in advancing
human rights...In taking this step toward justice for the Armenian
Genocide, Canada served many noble aims, first and foremost among
them the cause of our collective conscience, our shared morality,
and our common humanity as citizens of the international community."

Hachikian said that a "vital part of ending the cycle of genocide is
rejecting the denial of past genocides...As Armenians we are owed a
profound debt, but also carry a special burden like the Jews, Pontians,
Assyrians, Cambodians, Rwandans, and, unfortunately, too many others
- to bear witness to the suffering visited upon our people. To make
sure that the horrors of our past are not repeated against any other
people, anywhere in the world."

The ANCA Chairman said he considered it chilling and ominous "the
growing military partnership between Sudan and Turkey. The recent
red carpet, three-day visit to Turkey by Sudan's president," and
the Sudanese Government usage of "Turkish arms to kill the people
of Darfur."

The ANCA chairman said that he found it ironic that after 93 years of
the Armenian Genocide that "Sudan is today using the same tactics -
including starvations and deportations - used by the Ottoman Empire
against Armenians in 1915."

Furthermore, he said: "Sudan is today already employing the same
hateful methods used by Turkey to deny the Armenian Genocide."

At the conclusion of his remarks, Hachikian stated that "denial
stands in the way of the truth. And without the truth, we can never
have justice."

Thereafter the dignitaries and the people at the gathering laid
flowers around the Centennial Flame in memory of the victims.

Among dignitaries present were Secretary of State for Multiculturalism
and Canadian Identity Jason Kenney's chief of staff; the Executive
Assistant of the President of Canada-Armenia Parliamentary Group
President, Gary Goodyear; and Eric Vernon representing the Canadian
Jewish Congress.

Then started the march toward the Turkish Embassy to protest the
Turkish Government's denial policy, and called on the Turkish
Government to recognize the Genocide.

Earlier in the day, a delegation headed by Dr. Vagarch Ehrmadjian,
Chairman of the Armenian National Committee of Canada, visited the
Embassy of Armenian in Ottawa and laid a wreath at the "Armenia
Immortal" monument which is dedicated to the victims of the Armenian
Genocide.

http://www.panarmenian.net/news/eng/?nid=25939

Prelate of the Armenian Prelacy of Canada commemorates 93rd Anniversary of Genocide with community

armradio.am
26.04.2008 14:48

His Eminence, Archbishop Khajag Hagopian, Prelate of the Armenian
Prelacy of Canada, attended the several events held in honour of the
93rd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

On the eve of Genocide Remembrance Day, His Eminence joined the
Armenian Youth for a special event featuring different cultural
presentations and a candle light vigil at the Montreal Armenian
community centre's Aharonian hall.

Following the special commemoration, His Eminence led a procession with
more than 200 youths to the Genocide memorial at park Marcelin-Wilson
for a special requiem service in honour of all victims of genocides.

This event and march were organized by the Montreal and Laval chapters
of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Youth Organization of Canada.

On April 24, Genocide Remembrance Day, Prelate Hagopian joined members
of the Canadian Armenian community at the Embassy of the Republic of
Armenia in Ottawa to take part in a flower laying ceremony at the
`Armenia Immortal' monument.

Archbishop Hagopian then presided over a requiem service at the
Centennial Flame on Parliament Hill, where political representatives,
representatives of other genocide victim nations, Genocide survivors,
and community members laid wreaths around the Flame in memory of the
victims of the Armenian Genocide.

Along with the thousands of Canadian Armenians gathered in Ottawa,
Prelate Hagopian proceeded to the Turkish Embassy to call on the
current Turkish government to recognize the Armenian Genocide. His
Eminence closed the protest with a few words and a prayer.
Prelate of the Armenian Prelacy of Canada commemorates 93rd Anniversary
of Genocide with community

http://groong.usc.edu/news/msg230163.html

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Re: In Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide - 2008

Greater Los Angeles Area, California (US)

Valley Marks 93rd Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide
Astrid Seipelt

Valley Star , CA
April 28 2008


A DAY TO REMEMBER - One of the many signs that were carried by marchers
at the Turkish Consulate April 24. The date marked the 93rd anniversary
of the Armenian Genocide that occured in the Ottoman Empire - the
forerunner of modern Turkey.

Thursday night was a night of remembrance and recognition for the
Armenian community of Valley College, as more than 80 people gathered
in Monarch Hall to honor the 93rd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

Organized by Valley's Armenian Student Association with the support
of the college and the Associated Student Union, the genocide was
remembered through music, dance, poetry and film.

"The Armenian Genocide was the first genocide of the 20th century
and because it was not recognized by the world, other genocides
happened," said Amy Eritsian, president of the Armenian Student
Association. "When we get the Armenian Genocide recognized, these
things will stop happening,"

Monarch hall was filled with candles, flowers and a replica of the
Tsitsernakaberd memorial, which overlooks the Armenian capital of
Yerevan. The 140-feet-high stele represented the rebirth of Armenia,
and the 12 slabs arranged in a circle represent the twelve lost
provinces in modern-day Turkey.

Students who organized the event wanted to send a message of hope
and to keep the memory of the Armenian Genocide alive. Ani Yeremyan,
a speech communication major, attended the event and was proud of
the different groups of Armenians coming together to remember.

"Lebanese Armenians, Persian Armenians, Armenian Armenians came
together on this day not only for Armenians in particular, but for
everybody that has experienced some kind of atrocity in their culture,
whether is be Latinos, African Americans....," she said. "Our Armenian
Student president and ASU president do a great job bringing the
community together, especially the older members,"

Yeremyan also performed at the event, her dance telling the story of
the pain of the genocide.

"The meaning of my dance, it's a very sad and emotional dance, it's
a mothers cry, going back to home, going back to where the heart
belongs...Ninety three years, it's a very long time," she said.

ASU President Mari Kiridjian said that recognition and participation
are the most important aspects of the genocide anniversary, which is
remembered on campus each year.

"Students need to learn outside what is in their history books; they
should know what has occurred to other people," Kiridjian said. "You
go to class with these people, don't you want to know where they come
from, their history?"

The country of Turkey was known as the Ottoman Empire during World
War 1. It was in the Ottoman Empire where Armenians were subjected
to a genocide in 1915.

http://media.www.lavalleystar.com/media/storage/paper295/news/2008/04/23/News/april.27.Valley.Marks.93rd.Anniversary.Of.The.Armenian.Genocide-3351727.shtml

Student Groups Remember Genocide
Silva Sevlian

Daily Trojan Online, CA
Univ. of Southern California
April 25 2008

Students remember Armenian genocide victims with music and speeches.

Naritsa Kazanjian cannot trace back her family linage more than two
generations, a fate common among Armenians because of the Armenian
genocide, which left 1.5 million people dead.

"My grandfather doesn't know who his parents are," said Kazanjian,
a junior majoring in accounting.

"Kazanjian is not even my last name - it is the name he took from
his adopted family."

Members of the Armenian Students' Association and the Armenian Graduate
Students' Association hosted a one-hour ceremony Thursday honoring
the genocide victims, and demonstrated the vitality of the Armenian
culture both on campus and post-genocide.

"Remembering the Past, Celebrating the Future" featured students,
scholars and musicians and was the culmination of a week-long effort
to raise awareness about the culture's past.

Father Vazken Movsesian, executive director of the St. Peter Armenian
Church, spoke about his visit to Rwanda and said the political climate
felt familiar.

"I had one foot in the first genocide of the 20th century and one
foot in the last," Movsesian said. "I saw what my grandparents told
me about, and that same evil continues in Darfur."

Movsesian said that the genocides that have taken place in Armenia and
in other countries such as Darfur are in the hands of the government.

"Let it be clear in your heads that it was not a couple of Turkish men
that got up and killed Armenians - it was a government," Movessian
said.

Although the event attracted many members of the USC community, others
came from outside the university to be part of the commemoration and
share their family's story of genocide.

"When he was sixteen, my grandfather saw a Turkish solider smash the
face of a 2-month-old baby with his rifle because she was Armenian,"
Maraslian said.

Students from the USC Turkish Student Association were at the event
claiming the Armenian deaths arose from fighting during World War I
and not a deliberate campaign to wipe out the Armenian population.

Kanakara Navasartian, a graduate student studying strategic public
relations and president of the Armenian Graduate Students' Association
said, "The students were inappropriate and their reactive tactic was
disrespectful on a day where California's governor and the state has
recognized [April 24] as a day of remembrance."

Turkish students held up signs facing the stage in front of Tommy
Trojan and argued with members of the Armenian group who encouraged
both the Turkish students and the current Turkish government to
recognize the Armenian Genocide as a part of its history.

Caroline Cha, a junior majoring in international relations, said her
only knowledge about the Armenian genocide comes from literature she
has read in her international relations courses.

"The more I read about the flagrant human rights abuses and the
systematic killing of people, the more I sympathize for the Armenians
who have come here to honor their heritage," Cha said.

Magdiel Ledesma, a student visiting from Mira Costa Community College,
said the event is his first exposure to information about the Armenian
Genocide.

"The tone of the instruments gets inside of your heart and makes you
feel the sadness of genocide," Ledesma said.

Non-profit organizations such as the "Never Again" campaign, lead by
Armenian fraternity Alpha Epsilon Omega, are raising funds to create
educational projects to disseminate to students at junior and senior
high school schools.

The event on USC's campus is one of many that occurred in the Los
Angeles County Thursday to commemorate the lives that were lost and
to protest the denial of the genocide.

Members of the Armenian community marched the streets of Little
Armenia, protested in front of the Turkish Embassy and children in
Glendale participated in a 30-hour fast.

http://media.www.dailytrojan.com/media/storage/paper679/news/2008/04/25/News/Student.Groups.Remember.Genocide-3349990.shtml

Armenian Youth Federation - Western Region
104 N. Belmont,
Suite 206
Glendale, CA 91206
Tel. (818) 507-1933
Email: [email protected]

PRESS RELEASE

April 30, 2008

Contact: Ishkhan Boghossian

Armenian Youth Federation - Western Region Organizes Protest In Front Of Turkish Consulate

Courtesy of Asbarez - www.asbarez.com
Author: Allen Yekikian

WATCH VIDEO CLIP - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DbRhN0-DPNF0

Los Angeles, CA- The Armenian Tricolor waved with determination on the
steps of the Turkish Consulate in Los Angeles on Thursday as thousands
of Armenian-Americans came out to demand justice and recognition in
protest of 93 years of Turkey's denial of the Armenian Genocide.

"93 years, no more tears," was shouted by an estimated 15,000 people
as they marched united along the perimeter of the consulate, located
on the corner of Wilshire blvd and Crescent Heights on Los Angeles's
historic miracle mile.

"93 years ago, the perpetrators of the Genocide tried to wipe the
Armenian Race off the face of the earth," Jivalagian exclaimed. "All
of us standing here today are living proof, that the goals and desires
of the Turks failed," he added.

The protest featured speeches in both Armenian and English. California
Assembly member Paul Krekorian took the podium to talk about the
relevance of genocide recognition for America, while AYF Educational
Committee Chairman Saro Haroun and AYF Chairman Caspar Jivalagian
followed with inspiring speeches about the youth's steadfast
commitment to continue the struggle for recognition.

Krekorian, who represents the largest Armenian community outside of
Armenia, told the thousands gathered of his own personal connection
with the Genocide, about his ancestor who was brutally murdered in
Kharpert on June 1915.

"But it is important, not just for our community, but for all
Americans, to commemorate the anniversary of one of the greatest
crimes in human history," stated Krekorian. "Only when Turkey
confesses to their crimes will our people have peace, and Turkey's
soul be saved, and only then can the world community have any hope of
preventing atrocities like the Genocide from happening now and in the
future," he added.

This year's protests were held against the backdrop of intensified
activity by the Turkish government to prevent the United States House
of Representatives from finally recognizing the Genocide.

The annual April 24 protest in front of the consulate has become a
uniting force over the past decade for the community's youth, which
having grown up in America, identify the event as one that helps
connect them to their people's history.

Founded in 1933, the Armenian Youth Federation (AYF) has grown to
become the largest and most influential Armenian American youth
organization; with chapters throughout the United States and
affiliated organizations around the world. Inspired by our past and
motivated by the needs of the future, the AYF actively strives to
advance the social, political, educational and cultural awareness of
all Armenian youth.

###

Photo caption: Members of the Armenian American Community protesting
at Turkish Consulate on April 24, 2008.

http://www.ayfwest.org/news/20080430.php

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