Month: April 2007

OHIO BECOMES THE 40th STATE TO RECOGNIZE THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
April 20 2007

The Armenian National Committee of America- Eastern region welcomes
a proclamation issued by Governor Ted Strickland (D-OH) on April 17,
2007 recognizing the Armenian Genocide.

The "Buckeye State" proclamation brings the number of states to
formally recognize the Armenian Genocide to forty. The proclamation,
the first ever issued by the state of Ohio, comes a week after North
Dakota became the 39th state to recognize the Armenian Genocide.

The powerfully worded proclamation calls on "Ohioans to honor those,
who died in the Armenian Genocide, conceived and carried out by the
Ottoman Empire, by recognizing their suffering resulting from the
deportation of nearly 2 million Armenians." It goes on to cite the
"collective responsibility to uphold these values and to focus
the world’s attention on human rights abuses, ethnic cleansing,
and genocide."

Commenting on the proclamation, Governor Strickland stated: "We
have designated April 24 as the Ohio Day of Remembrance for those,
who suffered under the Armenian Genocide 92 years ago. I join Ohioans
in remembering the victims and continuing our commitment to justice
and human dignity across the world."

Ohio’s Congressional delegation has a strong record of support for
Armenian Genocide legislation with Representatives Dennis Kucinich
(D-10), Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-11), Betty Sutton (D-13), Steve
LaTourette (R-14), Tim Ryan (D-17), and Zack Space (D-18) having
already cosponsored H. Res. 106. Newly elected Senator Sherrod Brown
(D) is a cosponsor of the Senate version of the initiative, S.Res.106.

The ANC of Ohio worked closely with Gov. Strickland’s office in
support of state recognition of this crime against humanity.

"Armenian-Americans applaud the Governors Proclamation," commented
ANC-OH activists David Krikorian. "His courage in giving voice to
this awful truth exemplifies the kind of leadership that will restore
America’s promise of greatness!"

Krikorian recently traveled to Washington, DC, and visited the
Ohio Congressional delegation as a part of the two-day grassroots
anti-genocide effort titled "End the Cycle of Genocide." Organized by
the ANCA and the Genocide Intervention Network, the campaign attracted
some 100 activists from across the U.S., who advocated passage of
Armenian Genocide legislation and targeted divestment from Sudan as
part of a series of concrete steps to stop the genocide in Darfur.

US STATE DEPARTMENT REVISES MISSTATEMENT REGARDING NAGORNO- KARABAGH

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
April 20 2007

The U.S. Department of State has revised the mistaken assertion,
within the Armenia section of its recently released annual human rights
report, that, "Armenia continues to occupy the Azerbaijani territory
of Nagorno-Karabagh and seven surrounding Azerbaijani territories,"
reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

The amended language, released this week, has been posted on the
Department’s website. It reads as follows: "Armenian forces occupy
large portions of Azerbaijan territory adjacent to Nagorno-Karabakh.

Armenian officials maintain that they do not ‘occupy’ Nagorno-Karabakh
itself." The Azerbaijan section, which included nearly identical
language, has yet to be revised.

"We take note of the fact that the State Department has responded to
our concern that the report’s mischaracterization of Nagorno-Karabagh’s
status would be detrimental to the U.S. government’s role as an
impartial mediator of the Minsk Group negotiations," said ANCA
Executive Director Aram Hamparian. "We remain concerned that the
amended text continues to fall short of accurately describing the
situation, as well as by the fact that the Azerbaijan section of
the report continues to make incorrect assertions, thus making its
text inconsistent with the State Department’s own revision of the
Armenia section."

ANCA Chairman Ken Hachikian, in an April 3, 2007 letter to Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice, expressed the Armenian American community’s
profound concern that, "such statements fundamentally misrepresent the
well-documented reality in the region, contradict the Department’s
previous human rights reports and undermine the credibility of the
United States as an impartial arbiter destined to a leadership
role in the OSCE Minsk Group peace process." He added that,
"These unprecedented assertions are both factually inaccurate
and counter-productive to our government’s aim of reaching a
durable resolution to the Nagorno-Karabagh conflict. To say that
Nagorno-Karabagh is an Azerbaijani territory and that Armenia
occupies Nagorno- Karabagh and other territories is to ignore the
very fundamentals of this conflict. These statements only serve to
send the wrong message to the Azerbaijani side and further complicate
the peace negotiations."

HARDSHIP DIDN’T STEAL LIFE’S JOYSURVIVOR OF MASSACRES IN SYRIA SERVED GOD, OTHERS.
By Jim Steinberg

Fresno Bee, CA
April 20 2007

The Rev. Harry M. Missirlian of Fresno survived Ottoman Turkish
massacres of Armenians in Syria, suffered his parents’ and siblings’
disappearance and began life as an orphan with nothing.

Then he began a new lifetime of learning and prayer.

The Rev. Missirlian, who arrived in Fresno in 1953 to become minister
of Pilgrim Armenian Congregational Church, died April 11 at 94.

Reflecting on his life, he wrote in his book, "Treasures in Earthen
Vessels": "Bitterness takes the glory out of sunset, the joy out of
life, the song out of a gurgling brook, the light out of stars. Let
bitterness bury itself. There are more important things to do."

The Rev. Missirlian spoke Armenian, Arabic, French, Turkish and
English. He read the Old Testament in Hebrew and the New Testament
in Greek.

He did not dwell on his traumatic childhood but told daughter Dora
Crawford about early terror.

"He was in a train car or on a wagon with a bunch of boys in the
Syrian desert," she said.

"Dad realized this was not good, that they were being taken to
be killed."

Young Missirlian, about 4, managed to free himself, running literally
for his life. He heard others screaming.

He lived in doorways, begging for food, Crawford said, but his
harrowing memories never drowned the Rev. Missirlian in mourning.

He wrote in the third person in his book that he "carries no hatred
in his heart" and "is grateful to God for having miraculously survived
the massacres."

He became a ministry student and did field work in the slums of Beirut,
elsewhere in Lebanon and in Syria.

He married his first wife, Lydia, and worked toward a doctorate at
the University of Chicago.

Before he could write his dissertation, he received a call from the
Pilgrim church in Fresno. He had become used to subzero temperatures
in Chicago, but arrived in Fresno on July 1, 1953. It was 104 degrees.

He served 27 years, drawing satisfaction from construction of its
present campus at First Street and Dakota Avenue, particularly the
sanctuary.

Architect Richard Manoogian designed the church in close consultation
with the Rev. Missirlian, accentuating Armenian history and the life
of Jesus on Earth.

"He was overjoyed about a new sanctuary," Manoogian recalled.

Lydia Missirlian died in 1991. The Rev. Missirlian married his second
wife, Arousiag, a lifetime family friend, in 1993.

She recalled her husband’s compassion, religion and memory of hardship.

"He gave his heart and soul to that congregation," she said. "He
loved the children."

The Rev. Karl Avakian said that the Rev. Missirlian considered
the evil he had seen and suffered within his understanding of God:
"It is remarkable what he overcame. He did not hold that against
humanity and the world."

Arousiag Missirlian said her husband’s outstanding qualities were
compassion, his Christian faith and understanding of hardship: "He
loved the Christian church. He loved visiting people in sickness and
bereavement. People said that whenever anything happened, Harry was
right there."

A memorial service will be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Pilgrim
Armenian Congregational Church, 3673 N. First St. The family requests
that any remembrance be sent to the Armenian Evangelical Union of
North America, 609 E. Colorado St., Glendale, CA 91205.

ANCA LAUNCHES "CLICK FOR JUSTICE" CAMPAIGN

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
April 20 2007

Today the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) escalated its
nation-wide campaign to end the cycle of genocide with the launch
of its "Click for Justice" internet campaign, slated to become the
nation’s largest online genocide protest.

>>From April 20th to 30th, the ANCA website homepage, ,
will feature a special "Click for Justice" banner, directing
e-advocates from across the country to a targeted Congressional
WebMail message. In letters to their Senators and Representatives,
these advocates will call for the passage of the Congressional
Armenian Genocide Resolution (H.Res.106 & S.Res.106) and urge the
U.S. government to take concrete steps to end the ongoing killing
in Darfur.

The 10-day program will be accompanied by extensive netroots outreach
programs to MySpace and Facebook members, as well as partnership with
Armenian American and human rights organizations in this internet
initiative. Over 100,000 postcards promoting the "Click for Justice"
campaign are being distributed at events and university campuses
across the country. Organizations and student associations wishing
to participate in the initiative can email [email protected].

"Take a moment today to send a clear signal to the officials who
represent you in Washington that you expect them to deliver results in
the fight against genocide," said Aram Hamparian, Executive Director
of the ANCA. "In less than two minutes, you can be part of the growing
wave of Americans, who are committed to ending the cycle of genocide."

The "Click for Justice" effort comes in the wake of the ANCA and
Genocide Intervention Network sponsored "End the Cycle of Genocide"
advocacy days on Capitol Hill, which brought together over 100
anti-genocide advocates from across the U.S. for a two-day Capitol
Hill campaign in support of Armenian Genocide legislation, targeted
divestment from Sudan, and calls for concrete U.S. steps to stop the
Genocide in Darfur.

SLAIN EVANGELISTS WERE TORTURED, SAYS TURKISH DOCTOR

Middle East Times, Egypt
April 20 2007

DEMONSTRATION: People lay carnations at the entrance of the Zirve
publishing house in Malatya April 19 where three Protestants were
tortured for three hours before being murdered.

(REUTERS)

MALATYA, Turkey — Three Protestants murdered at a Christian publishing
house in Malatya, Turkey, were tortured for three hours before their
assailants slit their throats, a press report said Friday, quoting
one of the doctors involved in the grisly case.

Dr. Murat Ugras, a spokesman for the Turgut Ozal Medical center, told
the daily Hurriyet of hospital surgeons’ fruitless efforts to save
Ugur Yuksel, one of the three victims of the massacre at the Zirve
(summit) publishing house, which distributed Christian literature.

"He had scores of knife cuts on his thighs, his testicles, his rectum,
and his back," Ugras said. "His fingers were sliced to the bone.

"It is obvious that these wounds had been inflicted to torture him,"
he said.

The two others who were killed, Necati Aydin, pastor of Malatya’s tiny
Protestant community, and German Tilmann Geske, a Malatya resident
with his wife and three children since 2003, were also tortured,
press reports said.

The abuse lasted for three hours as the five men detained at the crime
scene interrogated the three on their missionary activities, they said.

"We tied their hands and feet and later gagged them," the mass daily
Sabah quoted one of the suspects as telling police. "Emre slit
their throats," said the youth, who was not named, referring to
Emre Gunaydin, the alleged leader of the gang, who is at the same
hospital in serious condition after jumping out of the publishers’
third floor office in a bid to flee police.

Gunaydin, 19, had reportedly made several visits beforehand to the
publishing house to gain the confidence of the people working there,
newspapers said.

The daily Radikal said that the German was the first to die and the
two Turks were slaughtered only when police arrived at the door after
receiving a call from a member of the Protestant community who grew
suspicious when he found the office door locked.

Proselytizing is not banned in Muslim, secular Turkey, but is generally
viewed with suspicion.

Newspapers linked the Malatya massacre to other recent attacks against
minorities in Turkey, including the murder last year in Trabzon
of Italian Catholic priest Andrea Santoro and the assassination in
Istanbul in January of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink.

The reports said that the killers were believed to be members of a cell
of nationalist-Islamist fanatics recently set up in Malatya and similar
to one based in Trabzon that has been blamed for the Dink murder.

Newspapers also said that three of the five main suspects – police
have detained 10 people in all – were taken into custody two days
before the killings for shooting air guns in an empty lot, but were
released after paying a fine.

Geske’s wife Suzanna, meanwhile, told a television channel that she
"forgives" her husband’s killers and that she intends to stay on in
Malatya, where her husband will be buried.

The killings shocked Turkey and were strongly condemned by the
international community, prompting Germany, which holds the rotating
presidency of the European Union Turkey is seeking to join, to call
on Ankara to take greater measures to protect religious freedoms.

BEKIR COSKUN: WE NEED TO ASK: ARE WE THE REAL MURDERERS?

Hurriyet, Turkey
April 20 2007

This is a difficult column for me to write. The Malatya murders are
neither the first nor the last of their type. So maybe someone needs
to look back, and ask: "Is it we who are the murderers?"

It is difficult to recall anything said during our school days by our
Turkish elders about peace and love. But there’s a lot I recall being
said about three pointed javelins. And castles made from skulls. We
were always told about the Ottoman’s state order, and about where the
stability and continuation of the Ottomans derived from: the pasha
would tie his siblings to the caste vaults, and cut off their heads.

These stories were told to us with great pride, and thus we would
repeat them in pride to others…….

*

Pushing aside history for a moment though, we have a culture that
believes in letting blood flow, like when we are born, and when we get
out first diploma. Even people who get their first driving licenses
get told "…..make a sacrifice, at least a rooster if nothing
else." And of course, there was always the greatest show of belief,
the sacrificing of the lamb in the backyard of the house.

*

We all know the three men whose throats were cut in Malatya were
neither the first, nor will they be the last. Because the children of
this society have grown up hearing up the length of swords in schools,
seeing the lambs slaughtered in the backyards, and hearing the stories
of Ottoman skulls.

No one has ever taught them simply: "First, be human." Just as
we saw when the chants of "We are all Armenian" arose after Hrant
Dink’s funeral, those who have try to cry out "First, be human,"
have been labeled as "aetheists and traitors" by others. We need to
ask ourselves then, is it we ourselves who are the murderers, and
not just the handful of youngsters who carried out what they have
been taught in this society?

TWO MORE SCHOOLS TO HAVE BEEN BUILT IN NKR MARTAKERT REGION BY THE NEW SCHOOL YEAR

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
April 20 2007

New schools are being built in the Nagorno-Karabagh Republic Martakert
region within the frames of Hayastan All-Armenian Fund’s "Artsakh’s
Revival" program. In part, a new school has been built in the village
of Matagis; a kindergarten was repaired in the village of Aterk. Two
more schools are to have been constructed by the beginning of the
new school year – in the villages of Kochagot and Verin Khoratag of
the Martakert region.

According to the information DE FACTO received at the Fund’s Public
Relation Department, a three-storied school had been built under the
auspices of the Fund’s Canadian branch (Toronto) in Matagis. To note,
the village’s children studied at home before.

The schoolchildren of the village of Kochogot will also study at a
three-storied school in the new school year. Now they study at an old
building, which is not heated. The new building is being constructed
under the aegis of the Fund’s French branch.

Hayastan All-Armenian Fund’s above-mentioned branches are also
implementing projects on the new schools’ furnishing.

SUSPECTS SAY THEY KILLED FOR ISLAM
By: Matthew Cresswell.

Religious Intelligence Ltd, UK
April 20 2007

THE SUSPECTED killers of three Turkish Christians at a publishing
house said they did it for the sake of Islam, it was revealed today.

Turkish newspaper Hurrivet reported that one of the suspects said: "We
didn’t do this for ourselves, but for our religion," and: "Our religion
is being destroyed. Let this be a lesson to enemies of our religion."

The three Christians were bound before having their throats slit by
the attackers at a Christian publishing house in Malatya, a central
Turkish city known for it nationalist population. Four suspects are
currently being detained for questioning over the deaths while another
suspect is in hospital after falling from the building.

Among the dead was 46-year-old Tilman Ekkehart Geske, a German who
had lived in Malayta since 2003, and two Turkish citizens. The attacks
add to the ongoing victimisation of the Christian community in Turkey
which number under 700,000 out of a population of 70 million.

Earlier this year the Christian Armenian-Turkish editor Krant Dink
was shot dead by an ultranationalist causing a large public up cry.

Last year a Catholic priest praying in a church was shot dead by
a teenager while Pope Benedict XVI’s recent visit was greeted with
peaceful protests by nationalists.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has described the attack as
"savagery" while German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has
condemned the attack "in the strongest terms". An evangelical pastor
in Turkey, Carlos Madrigal, told Reuters: "We would like a government
campaign to get rid of the myths, such as that missionaries are trying
to divide the country, these are the things which feed such acts.

"In some ways the situation has improved because we have got
legal rights … but there are parts of society which have become
radicalised."

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TURKEY DENOUNCES GRISLY MURDERS

Gulf Times, Qatar
April 20 2007

MALATYA, Turkey: Turkey condemned yesterday the gruesome murder
of three people at a Christian publishing house, as church leaders
warned of a "witch hunt" against their tiny minority in this largely
Muslim nation.

Police detained 10 people over Wednesday’s attack in this conservative
eastern city in which three people, among them a German, were tied
to chairs and had their throats slit.

"This is an attack against Turkey’s stability, peace and tradition
of tolerance," Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said in Ankara, as he
voiced concern for the country’s image abroad.

"There have been similar attacks in the past… we will certainly
take stricter measures," he added.

Turkey is under pressure to guarantee the protection and freedom of
non-Muslim minorities as part of its efforts to join the European
Union.

The Zivre (Summit) publishing house, which distributes bibles and
publishes Christian literature, had previously been the target of
protests by nationalists, media reports said.

In remarks to the Italian daily La Stampa, the papal envoy to Turkey
linked the killings to upcoming presidential elections, noting the
"presence of well-known fanatical, ultra-nationalist groups".

"Events like this have already happened during electoral campaigns,"
Monsignor Antonio Lucibello said.

Pope Benedict XVI made a landmark visit to Turkey in November – his
first to a Muslim country – during which he stressed that respect
for religious freedom must be a criterion for EU membership.

Ambassadors from the 27 EU member countries met in Istanbul yesterday,
after which the envoy from Germany, which currently holds the
rotating EU presidency urged Ankara to take measures to protect
religious freedoms.

"We see the murders as an attack not only against individuals,
but also against the principles of freedom and tolerance," German
Ambassador Eckhart Cuntz said.

Turkish newspapers said all those arrested at the scene were carrying
copies of a letter that read: "We did it for our country. They are
trying to take our country away, take our religion away."

Protestant leaders here spoke of a growing intolerance towards
Christians, which they said was being fuelled by politicians and
the media.

"Today in Turkey, there is a missionary hunt, just like the witch
hunts of medieval times," Ihsan Ozbek, a leader of the Alliance of
Protestant Churches in Turkey, said.

"Turkey is facing dangers and threats unprecedented in its history.

The fact is that Turkey has become a place of unprecedented intolerance
and rejection," he said.

The dead were identified as German Tilman Geske and Turkish nationals
Ugur Yuksel and Necati Aydin, the pastor of Malatya’s 30-strong
Protestant community.

Proselytising is not banned but generally viewed with suspicion
in Turkey, whose population is 99% Muslim; small Greek Othodox,
Catholic, Armenian and Jewish communities are concentrated mainly in
Istanbul.

ARMENIAN-CAPTURED AZERI SOLDIER’S FATHER WRITES TO HIS SON

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
April 20 2007

Father of Samir Mammadov, Azerbaijani soldier captured by Armenian
Armed Forces again wrote to his son, the soldier’s uncle Vidadi
Mammadov told the APA. He said that his letter will be presented to
the International Committee of the Red Cross representation in Berde.

"Samir’s father noted that his son has not replied to his letters
since March 9 and wanted him to write," he said.

Samir Mammadov was captured on December 24 last year.