Month: April 2007

THE CRUELEST MONTH
Rodel Rodis

Philippine News Online, Philippines
April 25 2007

It was not surprising that the Virginia Tech massacre should occur
in the month of April. The poet T.S. Elliot wrote back in 1922 that
"April is the cruelest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead land,
mixing memory and desire, stirring dull roots with spring rain."

The Siege of Waco occurred on April 19, 1993, when FBI agents raided
the headquarters of cultist David Koresh causing a fire which killed
72 people. Two years later, on the anniversary of the Waco Siege,
a right-wing zealot named Timothy McVeigh, seeking to avenge Waco,
bombed the federal building in Oklahoma City killing 168 people and
injuring 800. Four years later, on April 20, two teenage students,
Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, entered their Columbine High School
in Littleton, Colorado, and killed 12 students and a teacher. And
this month, on April 16, deranged "Asian" student Cho Seung-Hui,
invoking the memories of Harris and Klebold, massacred 32 students
and instructors at Virginia Tech.

But April is not only cruel to the US, it is also cruel to other
countries.

On April 9, 1942, 66,000 Filipino soldiers and 12,000 American
soldiers surrendered to the invading Japanese Army in Bataan after
defending their posts for three months. The Japanese then forced the
78,000 Bataan defenders to march about 100 miles to Capas in what has
gone down in history as the Bataan Death March. Only 54,000 soldiers
survived the march.

Six years later, on April 9, 1948, Jewish armed factions including
the Irgun, led by Menachem Begin, attacked the Arab town of Deir
Yassine in what was then Palestine killing about 250 men, women and
children. Stories of how they were killed caused many Palestinians to
leave their homes (the Palestinian Exodus) in fear that they would
suffer the same fate, allowing Jews to take over their land and
proclaim the state of Israel. Many believe the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict began on that day.

Before the Nazi genocide of six million Jews, there was the Turkish
genocide of one million Armenians from 1914-1917. The implementation
of the first genocide of the 20th century began on April 24, 1914
when 250 Armenian leaders were arrested and subsequently executed
by the Young Turks led by Mehmet Talat Pasha. What followed was the
forced removal and deportation of all Turks of Armenian descent from
Turkey. While they were being transported out of Turkey, they were
systematically slaughtered.

Perhaps the last genocide of the century occurred in Rwanda in
1994 when 800,000 Rwandan Tutsis were killed by their Rwandan Hutu
neighbors. The first day of the slaughter was on April 24.

To Christians, April is generally when Holy Week falls, with Good
Friday marking the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ.

Why is April so cruel? Perhaps because it carries the teasing promise
of spring and rebirth – "lilacs out of the dead land", "stirring dull
roots with spring rain"- but not delivering on that promise.

Perhaps we should remove April from the calendar and get by with the
rest of the 11 other months.

Many of us who remember where they were on September 11, 2001 may
also now recall where we were on April 16, 2007 when the early press
reports identified the Virginia Tech killer as an "Asian man".

Members from every Asian ethnic group must have prayed that the killer
did not share their same ethnic heritage. Filipinos must have heaved
a sigh of relief when it was announced that the lunatic killer was
a Korean immigrant.

The fear that the American public would wreak its collective
vengeance on all Koreans caused South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun
to immediately condemn the killings and offer condolences and support
to the families of the victims.

Even though the 23-year old Cho Seung-Hui immigrated to the US when
he was 8 years old and grew up totally immersed in American culture,
the repeated press reference to him as a "resident alien" caused many
to fear another upsurge in anti-Asian, anti-immigrant sentiment among
the American people.

Many still recall that after the Oklahoma bombing in 1995, press
reports that Arab terrorists had blown up the building caused a wave
of anti-Arab hysteria in the US leading to the killing of a Pakistani
who looked "Arab" to a racist who wanted to avenge the killing of
800 people in Oklahoma.

When Andrew Philip Cunanan began his killing spree in 1997, Filipinos
with his surname were questioned by FBI agents if they were related
to him and if they knew where he was hiding.

After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, the most popular button
among Chinese and Filipinos was one that declared that they were not
"Japs", just in case people lumped them in the same category. In
fact, the US government lumped all Japanese in the same category,
incarcerating 110,000 of them in concentration camps throughout the
US for the duration of the war.

It was this fear that America would turn its wrath against all Koreans
that prompted the Korean people to stage candlelight vigils all over
South Korea to offer their condolences to the families of the victims,
demonstrating to Americans that they share their grief.

Cho’s murderous rampage had nothing to do with being Korean or Asian
but everything to do with being psychologically disturbed and having
guns and ammunition readily available to even deranged individuals.

The families of the victims can thank the National Rifle Association
(NRA) for guaranteeing Cho Seung-Hui that right.

Our heartfelt condolences and prayers to the families of the victims.

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‘SHIITE CRESCENT’ MIGHT NOT BE WHAT IT SEEMS
By Brenda Shaffer

Baltimore Sun, MD
April 25 2007

"Shiite Crescent" is Washington’s new buzzword. Coined by Jordan’s
King Abdullah, the Shiite Crescent extends from Iran through Iraq to
Syria and Lebanon and threatens the Middle East’s status quo. With the
Shiite community’s rise to political prominence in Iraq, instability
in Shiite-majority Bahrain, and Iran’s invigorated confrontation
with the West, the spotlight is shining on the rising power of this
religious minority.

The premise of the Shiite Crescent assumes that states sharing
common sectarian ties tend to form alliances and choose cooperation
partners. But do they?

Several new Muslim-majority states emerged in the Caspian basin and
Central Asia from the dissolution of the Soviet Union, neighboring
the self-declared "Islamic Republics" of Iran, Afghanistan and
Pakistan. If Islam and cultural affinity were a basis for alliance
formation and cooperation, surely it would be seen in the relations
among these states.

But an examination of the foreign policy decisions of these new states
and their neighbor Iran during their first 10 post-Soviet years
reveals that neither Islamic identity nor common culture reliably
served as a predictor for either alliance formation or cooperation –
but the material interests of the state did.

The multiethnic Islamic Republic of Iran clearly illustrates this
point.

Despite all its rhetoric on Islamic solidarity, Iran has rarely
promoted cultural or ideological goals at the expense of its material
interests. A number of conflicts erupted among Iran’s neighbors to
the north in which Muslims were pitted against non-Muslims, and Tehran
aligned with the non-Muslim side each time (Moscow vs.

Chechnya, Russia vs. Islamic forces in Tajikistan’s civil war, and
Christian-majority Armenia vs. Shiite-majority Azerbaijan).

In the first two examples, Iran’s siding with Russia at the expense
of Muslims and Islamists is explained by the nuclear assistance and
other aid that Russia has been providing to Iran. The third and
most blatant example is the Nagorno-Karabakh war between Armenia
and Azerbaijan: Azerbaijan lost close to a fifth of its territory,
more than 800,000 Azerbaijani Shiites became refugees, and yet Iran
deepened its cooperation with Armenia. Most recently, Tehran opened
a gas pipeline to Armenia, serving as an important energy supplier
to the state at war with Shiite Azerbaijan. Why? Tehran fears
domestic repercussions from a strong neighboring Azerbaijan because
Azerbaijanis, although Shiites, are Iran’s largest ethnic minority.

Consider Tehran’s relations with Arab Shiites in neighboring Iraq.

Iran has ties with some of these groups, but rivalries do exist, and
many Iraqi Shiites fear Iran’s meddling and attempts to lead them. In
Afghanistan as well, Tehran arms and supports non-Shiite groups.

The United States should not be deterred by other states’ rhetoric.

As with Iran, other states can make policy choices that contradict
their official, culturally based rhetoric without serious
repercussions. This can help analysts to identify a number of conflict
lines and rivalries among groups sharing common culture and religion –
and help policymakers to act upon them.

Culture has its limits: It is only one of the many forces that shape
foreign policy outcomes and is not the defining element. The Islamic
Republic of Iran and the rest of the Shiite Crescent states can be
deterred and enticed just like other states. We are not in the era of a
"clash of civilizations" but only of a clash of rhetoric.

Brenda Shaffer, research director of the Caspian Studies Project at
Harvard University, is editor of the book "Limits of Culture: Islam
and Foreign Policy." Her e-mail is [email protected].

TURKS AND AZERBAIJANIS PROTEST AGAINST ARMENIANS IN WASHINGTON

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
April 25 2007

A group of Armenians living in Washington hold a protest action
outside Turkey’s embassy in the US on the anniversary of so-called
Armenian genocide, APA’s US bureau reports.

Accusing Turkey of committing genocide against Armenians, the
protesters raised Armenian and Greek flags.

Turks and Azerbaijanis living in Washington protested against
Armenians’ actions. They marched towards the Embassy holding posters
"Don’t bring up your children with hatred!", "It is up to historians
to investigate history!" shouting slogans "Long live Turkey!",
"Long live Azerbaijan!", "End Armenian lies!"

The sanctioned action was held within the allotted time.

ARMENIAN FORCES VIOLATE CEASEFIRE

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
April 25 2007

Armenian Armed Forces fired on the positions of Azerbaijan Armed
Forces from their positions in Shikhlar village of Agdam from 00.15
till 00.35 and Javahirli village with machine and submachine guns
from 04.20 till 04.45 on April 25, Defense Ministry’s press service
told the APA.

The same situation occurred in Mazamli village of Kazakh region. The
enemy was silenced by counter-fire. No casualties were reported.

MEMBERS OF BULGARIAN PARLIAMENT FELL INTO DISAGREEMENT IN THE BEGINNING OF PARLIAMENTARY MEETING

Focus News, Bulgaria
April 25 2007

Sofia. The Bulgarian Parliament honored the memory of the victims
of the Armenian genocide with a minute of silence in the beginning
of today’s plenary meeting, after a proposal made by the Parliament
Chairman Georgi Pirinski, a reporter of FOCUS News Agency informed.

The World marked the genocide over Armenians yesterday. During the
forced deportation of Armenians from the Ottoman Empire in the period
1915 – 1918 more than 1,5 Million people died – most of them elderly
people, women and children.

Several MPs presented declarations for the genocide and proposed them
for adoption.

The leader of the nationalist movement Attack Volen Siderov noted
that there were no members of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms
/of the ethnic Turks/ present at the hall to honor the memory of
the victims. The member of MRF Lyutfi Mestan declined and mentioned
the forceful changing of ethnic Turks’ names during the Bulgarian
communist regime in the past.

SCHOOL PROGRAM FOCUSES ON GENOCIDE
By Rachel Kane

Burbank Leader, CA
April 25 2007

Students learn more about Armenian deaths, express concern over
carnage in Darfur.

Photo: Suzanna Douzmanian calls for a question as she speaks to
eighth-grade students during a program on the Armenian genocide that
was presented at John Muir Middle School on Tuesday.

BURBANK – Most of the nearly 500 Armenian students at John Muir Middle
School were absent on Tuesday, but not because of some mass illness
or fun-filled field trip.

They were at home with their parents or at their churches, attending
events to remember and reflect on the anniversary of the Armenian
genocide.

"We have 1,532 kids and probably a third of them will be gone [today],"
said Principal Dan Hacking of this year’s Armenian Genocide Remembrance
Day on Tuesday.

In the late morning, Suzanne Douzmanian, a regional coordinator for
the Genocide Education Project and the descendant of Armenian genocide
survivors, spoke to about 450 students in the school’s auditorium
about remembering and recognizing all genocide.

Douzmanian urged students to be proactive in the fight against
reoccurring and current genocides as she shared the story of her
family’s survival through the massacre of her people.

Ottoman Turks killed an estimated 1.5 million Armenians between 1915
and 1918. The Turkish government denies the killings were genocide.

Students said they were riveted by Douzmanian’s presentation.

"She was wonderful," Isabel Navarro, 14, said.

"I think she said everything that needed to be said. Not only that
we remember how terrible it was, but that we need to put a stop to
it now."

Isabel and Hannah Kolus, 13, combined their efforts this week to
raise awareness on their campus of genocide in general, particularly
in Darfur, Africa.

They watched Douzmanian intently and said they took her message of
action, information, vigilance and remembrance to heart.

"We think it’s important that we promote awareness," Isabel said.

"I didn’t even know Darfur was happening until half a year ago."

Through the sale of Darfur genocide awareness wristbands, a
demonstration on cooking alternatives for women in Darfur and a
postcard-writing campaign to the president, the girls hope to make
a difference in stopping genocide worldwide, they said.

"It’s our responsibility as part of the world to stop situations like
this," Hannah said.

The students worked throughout the week on raising awareness for Darfur
as part of Global Days for Darfur Week, but said that all genocides
are equally evil in their eyes, echoing Douzmanian’s sentiment that
the world should never forget or allow those instances.

For more information on the Armenian and Darfur genocides, visit The
Genocide Education Project at

ARMENIAN AMERICANS WILL NEVER FORGET GENOCIDE

CBS2 Chicago, IL
April 25 2007

(CBS) NEW YORK Somber commemorations were held on Tuesday to mark
the beginning of a dark time in history. It’s been more than 90 years
since the organized extermination of Armenians began at the hands of
Turkish nationalists.

It’s something Armenian Americans are refusing to let the world forget.

They hold the rally every year, and every year there are fewer and
fewer actual survivors from the first genocide of the 20th century.

Armenians were driven from land in what is now modern day Turkey. A
million and a half victims vanished in the horror of forced relocation
marches and ethnic cleansings.

"They took them in a group, took them in the desert," said 96-year-old
genocide survivor Annie Karakian said. "If they fell they were shot,
they exterminated them."

Added fellow survivor Ononk Eminean, 94: "They took the gun and shot
my mother right in the chest. My mother was 22 years old."

A handful of the survivors live at the Armenian Home in Queens,
growing old and living with the memory of what happened "on the other
side." It’s a reality the modern Turkish government is trying to deny.

"They’re liars! How could they say something like that?" said
98-year-old Adrian Bagcujian.

These days, the Turks insist it wasn’t genocide but collateral war
damage and the U.S. government, anxious to curry favor with a regional
ally, complies with that view despite extensive documentation to
the contrary.

The U.S. ambassador to Armenia was even fired recently for even using
the g-word.

"I came to a point where it became an ethical issue to support our
policy which did not recognize the facts or to break with it," said
John Marshall Evans, former Ambassador to Armenia.

The aging survivors appreciate the gesture.

"The Turks don’t want to talk about it," Karakian said. "I know
they’re lying."

Sometimes it is too easy, too convenient to forget. Adolf Hitler knew
that. During World War II he said, "Who, after all, remembers the
annihilation of the Armenians?" The people here seem to be saying,
"We remember, even after all this time."

Democrats in Congress now vow to fight the appointment of Ambassador
Evans’ replacement — and point to the president’s annual message
on Armenian Remembrance Day that talks about "forced exile," and
"mass killings" but avoids the word genocide.

TURKISH OBJECTIONS TO "ARMENIAN GENOCIDE" YIELDS RESULTS

The New Anatolian, Turkey
April 25 2007

Turkey is not losing its battle against the radical Armenian diaspora
in all front as its latest diplomatic victory shows.

Last week the European Union approved a framework decision aimed at
criminalizing denial of the Holocaust and other genocides following
six years of intense debate. Attempts by the Armenain to qualify
the incidents of 1915 as an act of genocide by the Ottoman Turks was
turned down and were not included in the scope of the law..

The end product was described as a carefully-balanced compromise
by EU diplomats, which allows EU countries to opt out of enforcing
the law if national laws do not prohibit similar conduct. The bill
authorizes a maximum sentence of three years for:

Publicly condoning, denying or grossly trivialising: (1) crimes of
genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes…directed against
a group of persons or a member of such a group defined by reference
to race, colour, religion, descent or national or ethnic origin, and
(2) crimes defined by the Tribunal of Nuremberg…directed against
a group of persons or a member of such a group defined by reference
to race, colour, religion, descent or national or ethnic origin.

Thus, the bill only covers incidents that are covered within the
scope of the International Criminal Court’s jurisdiction, such as the
Holocaust and the 1994 Rwanda genocide, but does not cover events such
as the alleged Armenian genocide or Stalin’s purges and deportations
in Soviet Russia.

The decision allows member states to retain constitutional language
granting freedoms of speech and press. The decision also criminalizes
publicly inciting to violence or hatred , even by dissemination or
distribution of tracts, pictures or other material, directed against
a group of persons or a member of such a group defined by reference
to race, colour, religion, descent or national or ethnic origin.

The International Herald Tribune quoted EU officials as saying the
law was notable for what it omitted.

Fearing that the legislation could be hijacked by groups trying to
right historical wrongs, a majority of EU countries rejected a demand
by the formerly communist Baltic countries that the law criminalize
the denial of atrocities committed by Stalin during Soviet times. As
a political gesture, however, Franco Frattini, the EU’s justice
commissioner, said the EU would organize public hearings on the
"horrible crimes" of the Stalin era in the coming months.

The scope of the law also does not cover other historical events,
like the alleged massacre of Armenians during the First World War by
Ottoman Turks, which Armenians claim a genocide.

France has recognized the Armenian claims and is trying to pass
legislation that makes it a crime to deny the events as a genocide.

U.S. SHOULD CALL THE GENOCIDE BY ITS NAME
Editorial

Burbank Leader, CA
April 25 2007

It’s been more than 90 years, and the United States has not come to
terms with what Argentina, France, Canada, Italy, Greece, Lebanon,
Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, the European Parliament,
Uruguay and Armenia recognize: that the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians
between 1915 and 1923 at the hands of the Ottoman Turks were more
than the collateral damage of war.

The time is long overdue for the federal government to officially
recognize that these deaths constitute genocide.

A "Week of Remembrance" culminates on Tuesday with the 92nd anniversary
of this grim episode.

Locally, that means rallies and solemn remembrances, which local
school clubs, city officials and organizations have so diligently
put together.

Throughout the state and nation, it has meant marches for humanity
and hopes that the first genocide of the 20th century will never
be forgotten, and that lawmakers will acknowledge it. Many states,
including California, have acknowledged it.

It is time for the United States government to put aside its apparent
hesitance to offend Turkey and, for the sake of humanity, acknowledge
what U.S. Ambassador to Ottoman Turkish Empire Henry Morgenthau Sr.

was convinced of when he wrote his superiors in Washington back
in 1915. Morgenthau wrote that Armenians were slaughtered by the
thousands, beginning on April 24, 1915, when the Young Turk government
arrested and began executing Armenian intellectuals.

Back then, the U.S. turned away from Morgenthau’s pleas to intervene
in what he said seemed to be a "systematic plan to crush the Armenian
race." Neutrality was the U.S. mantra.

When the United States entered World War I in 1917, we refused to
break ties with the Ottoman Empire, which had ordered wholesale
deportation of thousands of Armenians, which led to more death.

That massacre has been documented by official records, Ottoman tribunal
records, eyewitness accounts, missionaries, diplomats, oral histories
of survivors and scholars’ research.

Yet, three years ago, a day after the House of Representatives approved
an amendment sponsored by Rep. Adam Schiff that prohibited Turkey from
using U.S. foreign aid funds to lobby against genocide recognition,
Schiff was already feeling heat from Republican leaders to drop
the issue.

"Turkey has been a reliable ally of the United States for decades,
and the deep foundation upon which our mutual economic and security
relationship rests should not be disrupted by this amendment," Reps.

Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), Tom DeLay (R-Texas) and Roy Blunt (R-Mo.)
said in a statement at the time.

To Schiff, the passage was a boon, effectively putting the House on
record as saying that the genocide took place.

But the Bush administration opposed the measure, leaving Schiff
and recognition supporters to write their annual letter to the
administration seeking recognition.

Schiff’s efforts continue. He has introduced the bill for the third
time this year.

But recognition is elusive and stymied.

Only last year John Marshall Evans lost his job as U.S. ambassador
to Armenia after calling the events of 1915 genocide. The State
Department ordered a retraction of his statements and he was dismissed
in September.

And in March, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary
of Defense Robert Gates sent a letter to chairs of Congressional
committees opposing recognition of the Armenian genocide.

"I think that the best way to have this proceed is for the United
States not to be in the position of making this judgment, but rather
for the Turks and the Armenians to come to their own terms about this,"
Rice said in response to Schiff’s questioning on recognition during
a recent congressional hearing.

It’s a hands-off approach – not unlike the U.S. neutrality of the
early 20th century – that undercuts the call for recognition so many
have struggled for. And it erodes this government’s own credibility
as it seeks the moral high ground in foreign affairs.

Two years ago, on the 90th anniversary of the genocide, Schiff wasn’t
all that optimistic about the chances of recognition, citing a fierce
Turkish lobby against it and the U.S. government’s own desire not to
offend an ally of the United States.

But there’s cause for hope.

The strong Turkish lobby remains, having the ear of both sides of the
political aisle, but with new leadership in Congress, pro-recognition
leaders hope this year may be the one in which recognition comes.

If not?

"It would be a great setback," Schiff said. "If not now, when?"

Modern-day Turkey should not be punished for the sins of its
forefathers.

But too many have died, and too much time has passed, for the United
States not to recognize those sins.

We’ve come close. President Bush in 2001 recognized the "forced
annihilation of approximately 1.5 million Armenians in the closing
years of the Ottoman Empire" – a statement that met with disappointment
for its ambiguity.

Recognition should not be political.

If it comes, it will only make us stronger and more credible in
speaking out against atrocities, wherever they are, regardless of its
political expediency or benefit. And in a world in which violence
and division seem more rampant than ever – right down to our own
communities – a strong, moral voice against them was never more needed.

Unfortunately, it’s sometimes the most heinous voices that still echo.

It was Adolf Hitler who in 1939 asked, "Who today still speaks of
the massacre of the Armenians?"

It should be us.

AN ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
by Kinga Kali

Budapest Sun, Hungary
April 25 2007

April 25, 2007 08:00 am | The Armenian Genocide of 1915-17 is
commemorated around the world on April 24, wherever Armenians are
living – and that includes Budapest, where cultural events have
accompanied a solemn remembrance of one of the worst massacres of
the last century.

After more than 90 years, the Mets Yeghern (The Great Calamity,
in Armenian) that killed 1.5 million Armenians in Turkey (as well as
many Greeks and Assyrians), it is still a matter of much controversy,
officially denied or not recognized by many countries, despite
eye-witness accounts, documentary and photographic evidence, the
testimony of thousands of survivors and decades of historical research.

Silence often shrouds the issue in Hungary as well and, despite,
or perhaps because of, Hungary’s 150 years of Ottoman occupation,
Hungary still doesn’t officially recognize the Armenian genocide.

The Turkish state denies that its Ottoman predecessor committed
genocide, and protests vehemently against countries and individuals
who insist otherwise.

Armenians may shiver, in fact, that an alley in Budapest’s beautiful
Castle District is named after Kemal Ataturk, founder of the modern
Turkish state – and if that state is the successor of the Ottoman
Empire, then isn’t Turkey responsible of the crimes committed by the
Young Turk Party, of which Ataturk was once a member?

Ataturk himself was, in fact, scathing about his people’s behavior
towards the Armenians. At a military tribunal in January 1919, he
said, "Our compatriots committed inhuman crimes, they resorted to
every kind of despotism, they organized deportations and massacre,
they burnt babies alive sprinkled with petrol, they raped women and
girls. They brought such insupportable conditions to people, that no
other people had seen before in history."

Failing to punish

But, as President of Turkey, Ataturk, failed to punish the perpetrators
of those crimes, and the barbarous events of 1915-17 fell into a deep,
silent and secure whirlpool of oblivion.

Due to this terrifying ethnic cleansing, the Armenian Diaspora is
now much bigger than the population of Armenia itself, and Hungary
is home to a significant Armenian community.

Armenians first arrived in Hungary in the 13th century, when legend
says 300 Armenian families fled Ani, one of Armenia’s ancient capitals,
the so-called city of the Thousand Towers, to escape the Tatars.

After wandering in Crimea, Poland, and Moldova, in 1672 they arrived
in Transylvania, where they were settled by Duke Mihaly Apafi and
functioned independently as traders.

They established four towns and initially used their own tongue,
before learning the language of the surrounding people: Hungarian,
Romanian and German. In the late 18th century, Armenian traders
migrated to the Hungarian Plain, and the descendants of these traders
are the foundations of the Armenian community in Hungary.

Over time, they assimilated the culture of the Hungarians they lived
alongside and, nowadays, Hungarian-Armenians don’t speak the language
of their ancestors, although they are well aware of their Armenian
origins. "We are Hungarians during the week, and Armenians on the
weekends, in church," they often say.

The second "layer" of the Armenian community constitutes descendants
of those who arrived after the events of 1915 in Turkey. There is
often tension with the earlier arrivals, because the "newcomers"
refuse to accept those who use Hungarian as their mother-tongue as
real Armenians.

Paradoxically, this year’s Week of Armenian Culture was organized by
the Hungarian-Armenian group, mainly the Transylvanian Armenian Roots
Cultural Association and the Metropolitan Armenian Self-Government,
which was not directly affected by the events in Turkey.

Paying homage

They paid homage to the Armenian martyrs of the Mets Yeghern by putting
flowers at the Armenian Khachkar (a stone cross made by Armenian
monks) near the Danube, close to Petôfi ter, and, from April 19-25,
several cultural events commemorated the genocide.

These include an exhibition of archive photos, entitled The First
Genocide of the Twentieth Century, in Árkad Galeria (Pest, District
VIII, Rakoczi út 30.), at the opening of which a book Nikolaj
Hovhanniszjan: The Armenian Genocide, was presented.

On April 22 at Bela Bartok’s Memorial House, there was a concert
introducing music from the Armenian Miniatures for Piano album,
released during the week. The CD includes a selection of music by
Aram Hachaturian, Komitas and Bartok.

These events surely deserve the support of all those who would give
a belated reply to Hitler, architect of the Holocaust, who allegedly
asked his Nazi aides on August 22, 1939, "Who, after all, speaks
today of the annihilation of the Armenians?"

The First Genocide of the Twentieth Century – Archive Photographs
Until April 27.
Árkad Galeria Pest, District VIII.
Rakoczi út 30.

–Boundary_(ID_SOT9khE/WmKljHs0AOOsLg)–