ARMENIANS MARK 92nd GENOCIDE ANNIVERSARY
ARMENPRESS
Apr 24 2007
YEREVAN, APRIL 24, ARMENPRESS: Hundreds of thousands of Armenians
from Armenia proper and its vast Diaspora struggled today against an
unexpected snowfall to go uphill to the Genocide Memorial in Yerevan
to remember 1.5 million of their ancestors killed brutally at the
orders of the government of Turkey from 1915-1923.
President Robert Kocharian, Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian, Parliament
Chairman Tigran Torosian, Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II and
other top government officials and senior clergy were the first to
remember the victims by visiting the Memorial and laying flowers to
it. The heads of foreign diplomatic missions in Yerevan were the next
to lay wreathes at the Memorial.
On Aril 23 evening thousands of young Armenians marched across the
central Yerevan to the Genocide Memorial in the traditional torchlight
procession to remember the Genocide victims. The torchlight procession
was organized by the Armenian Youth Federation and the Nikol Aghbalian
Student Union, an affiliation of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation.
The young people carried national flags singing patriotic songs and
chanting "recognition."
"Turkey has begun to realize that the time is coming for it to
recognize the crime its government committed against Armenians in 1915
and is trying to veil its fears by display of extreme nationalism
and radicalism. We shall continue pressing not only for Turkey’s
acknowledgment of this horrific crime, but also for compensating the
damages Armenians suffered in those years," Kiro Manoyan head of the
Armenian Cause Office said to thousands of young men.
In Georgia the Armenian Cooperation Center organized a peaceful torch
protest April 23 evening outside the Turkish Embassy in Tbilisi to
demand that its government acknowledge the genocide of Armenians in
the last years of the Ottoman empire.
Thousands of Armenians in Athens and Saloniki, the two biggest cities
of Greece, rallied yesterday to remember the genocide victims and
raise their voice of protest against the ongoing Turkish denial of
this crime.
Robert Atarian from the Council of Armenians in Italy, said to
Armenpress a liturgy will be conducted today in memory of the genocide
victims in Saint Nicolaus Armenian Church in Rome and later flowers
will be laid at a cross-stone monument erected in its yard last year
with the permission of the Rome municipality in commemoration of the
Armenian genocide victims.
A special ceremony of repose of souls of the victims will be held by
Father Mikael Muradian in Vatican in front of a cross-stone that was
placed in it as a gift of Catholicos Karekin II, head of the Armenian
Church, to Pope John Paul II.
Armenian foreign ministry said various events will be held in German
cities to pay tribute to the genocide victims.
In Moscow, Russia, the Russian Eparchy of the Armenian Apostolic
Church, the Union of Armenians in Russia and the World Armenian
Congress laid wreaths at the cross-stone erected in front of the Holy
Cross Cathedral and a liturgy in the Holy Cross Church was served
in memory of the Armenian Genocide victims, and a little later the
youth branch of the Union of Armenians in Russia rallied outside the
Turkish Embassy in Moscow demanding that its government recognizes
the genocide.
Extensive events to commemorate the 92nd anniversary of the Armenian
genocide began Monday in California, USA that hosts the biggest
Armenian community worldwide, after Russia, with a flag-raising
ceremony in Fresno. Commemorations also include church and cemetery
services, vigils and a poetry reading.
Despite vast academic recognition of the Armenian Genocide, this has
not always been followed by governments and media. Many governments,
including the United States, the United Kingdom, Israel, Ukraine, and
Georgia, do not officially use the word genocide to describe these
events. Although there is no federal recognition of the Armenian
Genocide, 40 of the 50 U.S. states recognize the events as genocide.
In recent years, parliaments of a number of countries where Armenian
Diaspora has a strong presence have officially recognized the event
as genocide. Two recent examples are France and Switzerland.
The French lower house decided on October 12, 2006 to make it illegal
to deny the Armenian genocide. The bill has yet to be ratified by
the French Senate in order to become law.
Countries officially recognizing the Armenian Genocide include
Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy,
Lebanon, Lithuania, The Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden,
Switzerland, Uruguay, Vatican City and Venezuela.
Although part of the United Kingdom, Wales also officially recognizes
the Armenian Genocide. The Parliament of the State of New South Wales,
Australia passed a resolution acknowledging and condemning the Armenian
Genocide in 1997.
Many newspapers for a long time would not use the word genocide
without disclaimers such as "alleged" and many continue to do so. A
number of those policies have now been reversed so that even casting
doubt on the term is against editorial policy, as is the case with
the New York Times.
On June 15, 2005, the German Bundestag passed a resolution that "honors
and commemorates the victims of violence, murder and expulsion among
the Armenian people before and during the First World War". The German
resolution mentions that "many independent historians, parliaments and
international organizations describe the expulsion and annihilation
of the Armenians as genocide", but stops short of doing so itself. It
also contains an apology for any German responsibility.
On 10th May 2006, the Bulgarian Government rejected a bill on
recognition of the Armenian Genocide. This came after Emel Etem
Toskova, the Deputy Prime Minister of Bulgaria and one of the leaders
of the MRF, the main Turkish party in Bulgaria, declared that her party
would walk out of the coalition government if the bill was passed. The
bill itself was brought forward by the nationalist Ataka party.
International bodies that recognize the Armenian genocide include
the European Parliament, the Council of Europe, the United Nations
Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of
Minorities, the International Center for Transitional Justice, the
International Association of Genocide Scholars, the Union of American
Hebrew Congregations, the World Council of Churches and the Permanent
Peoples’ Tribunal.
On 4 September 2006, Members of the European Parliament voted for the
inclusion of a clause prompting Turkey "to recognize the Armenian
genocide as a condition for its EU accession" in a highly critical
report, which was adopted by a broad majority in the foreign relations
committee of the Strasbourg Parliament. This requirement was later
dropped on 27 September 2006 by the general assembly of the European
Parliament by 429 votes in favor to 71 against, with 125 abstentions.
On September 26, 2006, the two largest political parties in the
Netherlands, Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) and the Labor Party
(PvdA), removed three Turkish-Dutch candidates for the 2006 general
election, because they either denied or refused to publicly declare
that the Armenian Genocide had happened.
On November 29, 2006, the lower house of Argentina’s parliament
adopted a resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide. The bill
was overwhelmingly adopted by the assembly and declared April 24th,
the international day of remembrance for the Armenian genocide as an
official "day of mutual tolerance and respect" among peoples around
the world.
On July 17, 2006, the Brazilian state of Ceara became the second state
after Sao Paulo to ratify a bill recognizing the Armenian Genocide. On
March 8, 2007, Turkish nationalist Dogu Perincek became the first
person convicted by a court of law for denying the Armenian Genocide,
found guilty by a Swiss district court in Lausanne.