Originally posted by londontsi
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Re: The 100th Anniversary - and Events to Mark it
Your own signature seems to address this issue in the sense that it has become a political issue and not a moral one. I think this decision speaks volumes about how we can expect to be received by the West as you can clearly see how corrupt that system really is. The point of this ruling is quite clear and that point is that only jjeewwss can be the victims of genocide and everyone else simply does not matter. The suffering of Hebrews is real suffering and everyone else is just making stuff up.... Recently we have seen some very clear indications from the west regarding our rejection by it. The absence of western presidents on April 24 in Armenia(except France) and now this ruling clearly show that we will not be welcomed with open arms into Europe. The hypocrisy here is quite outrageous but who is even talking about it? -
Re: The 100th Anniversary - and Events to Mark it
xxxx the eu
EuroTopics, EU
Oct 18 2015
Holocaust not more important than Armenian genocide
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled that denying the
Armenian genocide is not an incitement to racial hatred and should
therefore not be punishable by law. With their decision the judges are
making awkward comparisons, the centre-left daily Tages-Anzeiger
complains: "The problem is not so much that a person who denies the
Armenian genocide will now go unpunished. ¦ Far more worrying is that
the ECHR is treating genocides differently. Those who deny the
Holocaust are automatically inciting racial hatred, but those who deny
the Armenian genocide don't necessarily do so with the intention of
inciting hatred. This distinction is incomprehensible. Whether the
Armenians and Turks will ever reconcile is questionable. The ECHR's
ruling has weakened the position of the minority and therefore
achieved nothing in terms of mediating between the two peoples."
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Re: The 100th Anniversary - and Events to Mark it
Euractiv , EU
Oct 16 2015
Human Rights Court: Denial of Armenian genocide is not a crime
The European Court of Human Rights ruled on Thursday (15 October) that
a Turkish politician should not have been prosecuted for denying that
the mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turkey in 1915 was a
genocide.
Switzerland had violated the Turkish politician's right to freedom of
speech by convicting him for denying that the killing of Armenians by
Ottoman Turks in 1915 amounted to genocide, the Court ruled.
In a landmark free speech ruling, the ECHR judges ruled by 10 votes to
seven that Dogu Perincek, chairman of Turkey's Patriotic Party, should
never have been convicted of racial discrimination by a Swiss court
for saying that the "Armenian genocide is a great international lie".
Perincek was convicted and fined in 2007 after a series of press
conferences on the topic, which the ECHR ruled was an infringement on
his right to free speech.
In its judgement, the court said Perincek's statements related to an
issue of "public interest and did not amount to a call for hatred or
intolerance ... and could not be regarded as affecting the dignity of
the members of the Armenian community to the point of requiring a
criminal law response".
The court made a clear distinction with Holocaust denial, whose
specific history meant it could always be "seen as a form of
incitement to racial hatred" in certain countries.
Its judges have earlier noted that the historical facts of the
Holocaust, "such as the existence of gas chambers" were "considered
clearly established by an international jurisdiction".
Sensitive debate
The events of 1915 are a highly sensitive issue both in Turkey and
among Armenians in Armenia and in the diaspora. Muslim Turkey accepts
that Christian Armenians were killed by Ottoman forces during World
War One, but denies there was any systematic attack on civilians
amounting to genocide.
Perincek tweeted his reaction, presenting the case as part of a
national struggle reaching back into the early years of the 20th
century when the modern Turkish state emerged.
"This is not a historical debate or legal dispute. This is a defence
of the country. A fight for independence!" he said.
The Strasbourg-based court said in a statement it had ruled that it
was not necessary to criminally convict Perincek to protect the rights
of the Armenian community.
"The Swiss courts appeared to have censured Mr Perincek simply for
voicing an opinion that diverged from the established ones in
Switzerland, and the interference with his right to freedom of
expression had taken the serious form of a criminal conviction," the
court said.
Perincek had been ordered to pay a number of fines, suspended for two
years, and 1,000 Swiss francs in compensation to the
Switzerland-Armenia Association for non-pecuniary damage.
Decision left to international criminal courts
The ECHR said it did not have the authority to rule on whether the
Armenian killings were a genocide or not, which was a job for
international criminal courts.
It also accepted that "the dignity of the victims and the dignity and
identity of modern-day Armenians were protected by Article 8" of the
European Convention on Human Rights.
But it ruled that in the specific circumstances of the case, a
democratic society should not have gone as far as prosecuting Perincek
over his comments.
"The context in which they were made had not been marked by heightened
tensions or special historical overtones in Switzerland," the ruling
said.
"The Swiss courts appeared to have censured Mr Perincek simply for
voicing an opinion that diverged from the established ones in
Switzerland," it added.
The ECHR's Grand Chamber ruling is final and binding on all Council of
Europe members.
Perincek's lawyer Laurent Pech has earlier said that his client
"neither contested nor defended the massacres," but merely denied that
the Ottoman authorities of the time had a genocidal intention.
Armenia: Judgement is 'very good result'
Even though the ECHR ruling went in Perincek's favour, it was welcomed
by Armenia's government, which said that although the Turkish
politician was exonerated, the court had recognised Armenians right to
protection against hate speech.
"It means that states in Europe can punish Armenian genocide denial if
it is calculated to incite violence or racial disharmony," Armenia's
prosecutor general Gevorg Kostanyan said in a statement.
"The judgement is a very good result for Armenia and for Armenians," he added.
That interpretation was backed by Geoffrey Robertson, the high-profile
British lawyer representing Armenia, who said the ruling clearly
stated Armenians had "a right to respect for their history".
The Swiss authorities were indeed wrong to prosecute Perincek,
Robertson added, but only because he was "a worthless provocateur".
Background
The European Parliament backed a motion earlier this year that calls
the massacre a century ago of up to 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman
Turkish forces a "genocide".
MEPs stressed the need for Turkey to recognise the Armenian genocide,
so as to pave way for `genuine reconciliation'.
Muslim Turkey agrees that Christian Armenians were killed in clashes
with Ottoman forces that began on 15 April, 1915, when large numbers
of Armenians lived in the empire ruled by Istanbul, but denies that
this amounted to genocide.
Some European and South American countries use the term to describe
the killings, but the United States and some others, keen to maintain
good relations with an important ally, avoid doing so. Germany has
long resisted using the term `genocide' but the government recently
changed its mind.
Turkey is a candidate country to join the 28-nation EU but accession
talks have dragged on for years with little progress.
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Re: The 100th Anniversary - and Events to Mark it
TURKS RELEASE ANOTHER BOOK DENYING THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Posted By: adminPosted date: October 12, 2015in: News & Articles
Turkey is editing history by publishing "historical" books that don't
contain information about the genocide.
Another book has been released within the scope of Turkey's state
policy of denial of the Armenian Genocide with the title "The 100th
Year of the Armenian Question: Claims, Lies and Truths".
As reports ife.org.tr, the book contains 15 articles reflecting on
the Armenian Question and Turkish-Armenian relations from the social,
political and historical perspectives, writes ermenihaber.am.
The book is obviously devoted to the provisions of the policy of
denial.
It is mentioned that the need for writing such a book emerged because
"the Armenian Question is still current, as in the past, though 100
years have already passed."
The book was compiled by 15 authors
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Re: The 100th Anniversary - and Events to Mark it
ARMENIAN AUTHORS COMING TO UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN-DEARBORN
Dearborn Press and Guide, MI
Oct 6 2015
Published: Tuesday, October 06, 2015
By Teresa Duhl
Special to the Press & Guide
In Turkey, a 100-year-old Armenian woman, named Asiya, still resides
in her family's hometown of Chunkush. Not far away, a new school was
erected in 2014. The connection between this new school and Asiya
brings the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide into sharp
focus. New York Times bestselling author Chris Bohjalian met Asiya
when he visited Turkey in 2013. In two Washington Post op-ed pieces,
he wrote about Asiya's story and the anger he felt when he saw the
school for the first time.
In 1915, Turkish and Kurdish killing squads rounded up the 10,000
Armenians living in Chunkush. They took them to the very spot where
the new school now stands, at the edge of a ravine about two hours
from Chunkush. At the pit of the ravine is the Dudan Crevasse.
Asiya's mother was among the Armenians taken. She stood at the edge of
the ravine holding her infant daughter. What did she see? Her neighbors
and family pushed or stabbed into the crevasse? Did she look around at
the frightened faces next to her? Perhaps she closed her eyes. What
sounds did she hear? Screams, shouting, gunshots, the thud of bodies
thrown onto other bodies? Was Asiya crying in her arms? What did she
feel? Fear, rage? Would it be possible to feel peace?
One thing is certain, at the edge of the ravine, she waited for the
force, whether bullet, bayonet, or boot, that would thrust her into
the Dudan Crevasse below. She held her daughter and waited. She did
this in the same space that, 100 years later, would be the home of
a new, gleaming elementary school.
But death did not come. One of the Kurds found her attractive, so he
pulled her from the line. He married her and raised Asiya as his own
daughter. Asiya and her mother were saved from death, but they also
had to hide their Armenian heritage for the remainder of their days.
Even in 2013, when Bohjalian first met Asiya, she would not speak of
her Armenian heritage with him, he said.
Bohjalian suggests the new school was built to cover up the mass
grave and the larger history of Turkey's orchestrated slaughter of
1.5 million Armenians.
"I do not know the thinking behind the placement of the Yenikoy
elementary school. But I have my suspicions. I would not be surprised
if next year when I visit, the crevasse has been filled in: the
evidence of a crime of seismic magnitude forever buried," he wrote
in 2014.
Whether the school has been erected out of genuine need or as a
means of covering up the evil that took place at the Dudan Ravine,
its existence is ironic. A school now marks the unmarked mass grave
of 10,000 Armenians. An institution of knowledge serves as the symbol
of a space where heinous acts of ignorance were perpetrated.
"The irony, however, is this: It will no longer take complex directions
or GPS coordinates to find the 10,000 dead at Dudan. All you will
need to tell someone is to visit the Yenikoy elementary school. Go
stand by the playground. The dead are right there," wrote Bohjalian.
Though, as of yet, he has not made Asiya's story into a novel,
Bohjalian has written 18 books, including one that focuses on the
Armenian Genocide, "The Sandcastle Girls." He and eight other Armenian
authors will present at the Book and Author Festival at the University
of Michigan-Dearborn on Saturday.
The festival is one of several events organized this year by
the Armenian Genocide Centennial Committee of Greater Detroit to
commemorate the 100th anniversary of the start of the Armenian
Genocide. For Dearborn, the festival is at least the third
commemorative event this year. In April, the committee hosted a
remembrance at Edsel Ford High School featuring actor and author Eric
Bogosian and journalist Robert Fisk. In May, the Catholicos Aram I,
one of two pontiffs who rules the Armenian Apostolic Church, visited
St. Sarkis.
The Book and Author Festival is the result of a partnership between
the committee and the university's Armenian Research Center. According
to the university's website, It is the only Armenian research facility
associated with an American university.
The festival will take place from 9:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. at the
university's Kochoff Hall. The morning session, which runs until 12:30
p.m., will feature Michelle Andonian, Christopher Atamian, Robert
George Koolakian, Marian Mesrobian MacCurdy, and Scout Tufankjian. The
afternoon session begins at 1:30 p.m. and features Bohjalian, Matthew
Karanian, Nancy Kricorian and Aline Ohanesian. Each session will
include the authors' presentations, as well as a question and answer
period and opportunity for book signings. Admission to the festival
is free, but lunch must be ordered and purchased in advance. For more
information on the festival, contact Gerald Ottenbreit at 313-593-5181.
That same evening, the authors will gather for the Authors' Banquet
at Pine Lake Country Club in West Bloomfield. Tickets for this
event are limited and cost $60 per person. For information on the
banquet, contact Gloria Korkoian at 313-730-6698 or Tamar Kadian
at 248-723-5520. Fliers for both events are posted at the Armenian
Genocide Centennial Committee of Greater Detroit Facebook page.
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Re: The 100th Anniversary - and Events to Mark it
GERMAN AMBASSADOR TO ARMENIA EVADES "GENOCIDE" TERM WHEN SPEAKING OF EVENTS OF 1915
by Marianna Mkrtchyan
Friday, October 2, 18:23
German Ambassador to Armenia Matthias Kiesler evaded the "genocide"
term when speaking of the events of 1915.
At today's press conference in Yerevan, Ambassador Kiesler said that
Armenian people have suffered much and it is not important what word
will be used to describe the suffering. In the ambassador's words,
the most important thing is that due to the commemoration events
Armenia was able to raise the international community's awareness. Now
everyone knows what happened in early XX century and no one denies
that fact no matter which states have recognized those events and
which states have not, the diplomat said.
At the same time, he failed to say whether the German Bundestag would
adopt a resolution on recognition of the Armenian Genocide and why the
adoption is constantly delayed. However, he recalled that Bundestag
held debates on that issue in April and that German President Joachim
Gauck delivered a speech in Berlin on April 23.
When asked whether the delay is connected with the close trade and
economic cooperation between Turkey and Germany, the ambassador
qualified such questions as speculation.
As regards the Armenian-Turkish normalization, Ambassador Kiesler
said that Germany attaches much importance to that issue. He noted
that the German Government supports a number of programs aimed at
establishing contacts between the Armenian and Turkish societies.
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Re: The 100th Anniversary - and Events to Mark it
TURKEY'S NEW EU ENVOY ADMITS ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Rudaw, Iraqi Kurdistan
Sept 1 2015
By RUDAW
ANKARA, Turkey -- Turkey's newly appointed envoy to to the European
Union (EU) said Tuesday that genocide was committed against Armenians
in Turkey during the First World War.
Ali Haydar Konca, a parliamentarian with the Peoples' Democratic Party
(HDP), was recently appointed as Minister of European Union Affairs
by the Turkish interim cabinet. His comments contradict the long-held
position of the Turkish government.
"The fact that genocide happened is explicit and clear and everybody
accepts that. Right now, the issue is what it should be called. We
will make a decision in our party about that," Konca told the press.
In April, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey will ignore
any decision by the EU parliament qualifying the 1915 killings of
Armenians as genocide.
"Whatever decision the European parliament makes today would go in
one ear and out from the other because it is not possible for Turkey
to accept such a sin or crime," Erdogan told reporters in Ankara on
April 15.
The denial of the Armenian Genocide is officially outlawed in
Switzerland, Cyprus, Slovakia, and Greece.
This is the first time that a Turkish authority has admitted Turkey
committed genocide against Armenians.
The Turkish government acknowledges that during the First World War
many Armenians died, but has rejected claims that Turks committed
genocide against Armenians the during ethnic conflicts of the time.
The number of Armenians killed ranges from 800,000 to 1.5 million,
according to historians.
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Re: The 100th Anniversary - and Events to Mark it
A new movie
"The Promise"
Set during the last days of the Ottoman Empire, The Promise follows a love triangle between Michael, a brilliant medical student, the beautiful and sophisticated Ana, and Chris
Starring : Christian Bale , Oscar Isaac , Charlotte Le Bon
Director : Terry George ( He won an Oscar for "Hotel Rwanda" )
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