Month: February 2015

EurasiaNet.org
Feb 15 2015

Azerbaijan: U.S. Doesn’t Appreciate Us

February 15, 2015 – 1:48pm, by Joshua Kucera

After a U.S. Congressional committee held a hearing critically
examining U.S.-Azerbaijan relations, Azerbaijan’s parliament responded
with a retaliatory event of its own, accusing the U.S. of ignoring
Baku’s strategic cooperation with Washington.

On February 12, the House’s Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia, and
Emerging Threats held a hearing, “Azerbaijan: U.S. Energy, Security,
and Human Rights Interests.” As expected, members of Congress and
American experts on Azerbaijan criticized Baku for its accelerating
crackdown on any opposing voices in the country, including the raid on
and closure of the U.S. government-funded RFE/RL office.

Baku has been increasingly vocal in its criticism of the U.S., and
this time took the step of organizing its own counter-hearing just two
days later, “Energy and Security Cooperation: Partnership Based on
Mutual Interests.” Azerbaijani opposition website contact.az noted
that government officials in Baku resent what they see as ingratitude
for the contributions that they make to U.S. security interests:

The head of the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Relations Samad
Seyidov described relations between the two countries ‘strategic
partnership’. He further spoke about the support that Azerbaijan
provides to Washington and how the US does not appreciate this.

Azerbaijan and the United States cooperate closely in combating
international terrorism, through Azerbaijan there is transit for
coalition forces in Afghanistan, the Azerbaijani servicemen are in the
coalition, providing airport security in Kabul. In addition,
Azerbaijan provides energy security of Western countries.

“Therefore, we expect a fair and adequate treatment from the United
States, and especially in the Karabakh conflict,” Seyidov said,
alluding to the bias of the United States in this matter.

One of the witnesses at the Washington hearing, former ambassador to
Baku Richard Kauzlarich, was also the subject of an ad hominem
takedown in the Azerbaijani press, in which he was accused of being a
“loser” with a “weakness for alcohol.”

Interestingly, in none of Baku’s criticisms of Washington’s criticisms
was there a defense of Azerbaijan’s policies on human rights and
dissent. The focus seemed to be solely on Azerbaijan’s strategic
interest to the U.S. and Washington’s shortsightedness in not valuing
that over human rights problems. Kauzlarich, that article noted, tries
to make the case that Azerbaijan is becoming less important a partner
for the U.S., “while officials from his government say the opposite.”
As long as they are important enough strategically, officials in Baku
appear to be thinking, they can get away with whatever they want to do
internally.

RTL Belgique
13 fevr 2015

Video: Génocide arménien: des officiers turcs ont pris des risques
pour sauver des familles arméniennes

Vidéo publiée le 13-02-2015

On commémorera cette année, au printemps, les 100 ans du génocide
arménien; le massacre de plus d’1 million de membres de cette
communauté, qui vivaient à l’époque dans l’Empire Ottam, la Turquie
d’aujourd’hui.

la vidéo sur le site

Le Monde. France
Mercredi 11 Février 2015

Témoigner du drame des ‘invisibles’

par: Philippe-Jean Catinchi

Le 19 janvier2007, en sortant des locaux d’Agos, le premier journal
bilingue turco-arménien jamais fondé en Turquie, son directeur et
fondateur Hrant Dink est assassiné de trois balles dans la tête. Un
meurtre commandité par l’appareil d’Etat. Soucieux d’éliminer un
opposant condamné six mois plus tôt pour ‘insulte à l’identité
turque’. Quelques jours plus tard, ils étaient plus de 100000
manifestants à suivre l’enterrement, scandant: ‘Nous sommes tous
arméniens, nous sommes tous Hrant Dink!’ Arméniens ou non, unis dans
la douleur et la ferveur du combat pour qu’en Turquie la pleine
lumière soit faite sur le génocide de 1915 et, par-delà le crime, la
refonte d’une identité nationale faussée par le mensonge originel.

Petite-fille d’un pionnier de la gauche révolutionnaire, cofondateur
du Parti des travailleurs de Turquie (TIP), Pinar Selek a grandi à
Istanbul dans un milieu de gauche, démocrate, donc suspect aux yeux du
pouvoir qui incarcère son père dès le coup d’Etat de septembre1980. Au
lycée, elle résiste grce à la poésie des auteurs interdits qu’elle
placarde, mais elle passe à côté d’autres victimes effacées, comme
éteintes, presque invisibles à force de discrétion, ces Arméniennes
dont elle saisit mal le statut et la faute que le régime éructe en
leitmotiv. Un rendez-vous manqué mais le germe d’une réflexion qui ne
va plus cesser de la hanter.

Antimilitariste, féministe

Se tournant vers la sociologie, la jeune Pinar veut ‘analyser les
blessures de la société pour être capable de les guérir’. Approchant
tous les réprouvés, les exclus voués à la rue -elle en nourrira, outre
ses essais, son premier roman, La Maison du Bosphore (Liana Levi,
2013)-, elle ose aborder la question kurde. Or, comme elle refuse de
livrer ses interlocuteurs à la police, elle est accusée d’action
terroriste et est incarcérée en juillet1998, torturée puis finalement
élargie fin 2000. Son activisme sort renforcé de ces épreuves qui
ouvrent son regard. Antimilitariste, féministe -elle cofonde, dès
2001, l’association Amargi qui lutte contre les violences faites aux
femmes-, Pinar Selek comprend alors que les fantômes arméniens qui
l’entourent ont droit au repos, donc à la justice, à la sanction de
l’Histoire seule capable de restaurer la dignité dont l’humanité a
besoin, autant que les Turcs ou les Arméniens.

‘ Que devient-on lorsqu’on oublie? On s’habitue au mal.’ Conjurant
l’irréparable, menaçant quand ‘l’horreur peut rendre la poésie
impossible’, elle témoigne de façon crue, nue, sans pathos, ni
grandiloquence, de sa prise de conscience d’un drame qu’elle a appris
à faire sien. Avec sensibilité et sans esquiver l’autocritique sur sa
longue cécité. Mais, par-delà l’équité due aux Arméniens, elle dénonce
les impasses de la violence et tempère l’illusion de l’efficacité de
l’engagement collectif car elle a mesuré la force de résistance des
oppresseurs. Par sa lucidité, franchit-elle encore la ligne rouge?
‘J’aime les lignes rouges. Elles te montrent que tu es sur le bon
chemin. ‘

‘Parce qu’ils sont arméniens’, Pinar Selek. Traduit du turc par Ali
Terzioglu, Ed. Liana Levi, ‘ opinion ‘, 96p., 10euros

U.S. JEWISH GROUPS BACK AZERBAIJAN DESPITE RIGHTS CONCERNS

RFE

WASHINGTON — Azerbaijan has long lauded its relations with pro-Israeli
groups that advocate on its behalf in Washington, a bond rooted in
Tel Aviv’s rapport with the former Soviet republic that touts itself
as a haven for the Jewish people in the Muslim world.

And amid mounting international criticism of Azerbaijan’s human
rights record, U.S.-based Jewish organizations are standing firm in
their support of Baku, which they see as a linchpin of stability in
a region replete with governments hostile to Israel.

“Our message is clear and consistent: Azerbaijan is an important
strategic partner for the United States and the West, as well as
a valued friend of Israel and the Jewish people,” American Jewish
Committee (AJC) executive director David Harris last week following
a meeting in Baku with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

“In an increasingly turbulent world, Azerbaijan’s contributions to
regional stability, energy security, counterterrorism operations,
and religious tolerance are all things to be valued,” Harris added.

The 75-minute private meeting on February 2 followed a flurry of
recent public relations activities in Washington to highlight Baku’s
public embrace of its Jewish population and strategic ties with Israel.

These efforts are part a broader lobbying campaign by oil-rich
Azerbaijan to bolster its credibility as an important strategic partner
with the United States on issues such as energy, counterterrorism,
and Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea territory in March 2014.

At the same time, Western officials say the human rights situation
has deteriorated precipitously in Azerbaijan, where numerous rights
activists, journalists, and government critics have been arrested in
the past year.

Speaking at a January 30 panel discussion in Washington, Samad
Seyidov, chairman of the international and interparliamentary
relations committee in the Azerbaijani parliament, swiftly pivoted
to his country’s friendly record toward Judaism and other religions
in response to a question about alleged human rights abuses committed
by the government.

“I wanted to remind you that in Azerbaijan today, Jewish people and
Azerbaijani people, Muslim people and Christians, they are living
in peace,” Seyidov said, adding that Azerbaijan has a Jewish member
of parliament.

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov lays a wreath during
a ceremony in the Hall of Remembrance at the Yad Vashem Holocaust
memorial in Jerusalem in 2013.

Kenneth Bandler, a spokesman for the AJC, said in e-mailed comments
that the issue of human rights “did come up” at the organization’s
recent meetings in Baku, but he declined to provide further details,
citing the “private” nature of the conversations.

Azerbaijan’s Jewish population totals more than 9,000, according to
the country’s most recent census in 2009, though other estimates have
put that figure as high as 30,000. The nation of around 9 million
people is also home to several synagogues.

Azerbaijan has made no secret that it values U.S.-based Jewish
organizations as a key lobbying lever in Washington ever since Baku
and Tel Aviv began cultivating ties the 1990s — a rapprochement
widely seen as aimed at countering Iran’s influence in the region.

In 2000, then-Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev “for acting in our
favor” by trying to persuade U.S. lawmakers to repeal a 1992 ban on
direct aid to Baku due to its conflict with Armenia over the disputed
region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

A 2006 quoted an Azerbaijani Embassy official in Washington as saying
that “Jewish organizations made a certain contribution” to a U.S.

waiver on the embargo enacted after the September 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks as Washington sought Baku’s help for counterterrorism
operations in Afghanistan.

Azerbaijan’s outreach to Jewish groups in the United States continues
as part of a lobbying campaign that it has ramped up in Washington
in recent years.

U.S. Foreign Agent Registration Act filings show that the Podesta
Group, a lobbying firm that Azerbaijan pays $60,000 per month,
contacted pro-Israel advocacy groups such as the America Israel
Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and the Jewish Institute for National
Security Affairs in the second half of 2014.

The Podesta Group declined to comment when contacted by RFE/RL.

Meanwhile, Azerbaijan’s partnership with Israel — which includes
energy and arms trade greatly valued by both sides — was highlighted
in several op-eds in Washington newspapers in recent months.

In November, the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call published co-authored
by Mark Levin, executive director of the Washington-based National
Coalition Supporting Eurasian Jewry, titled Muslim Azerbaijan:
Bucking The Anti-Semitic Trend In Europe.

“With a new Congress taking shape, now is the time for Congress’ many
friends of Israel to learn more about Azerbaijan…. Once they do,
they will see that Azerbaijan is an example for other countries to
follow with respect to supporting Israel,” wrote Levin.

The Washington Times ran a sponsored article on January 28 titled
Azerbaijan’s Rich History With Jewish Settlers Opened Door To Israel
Alliance.”

The same day, it published by former U.S. Congressman Dan Burton,
who serves as chairman of the Azerbaijan America Alliance. In the
piece, Burton calls Azerbaijan a “strong defense and economic partner
to Israel” and quotes Israel’s ambassador in Baku as saying that
“tolerance in Azerbaijan is an example to the entire world.”

Media reporter that Burton’s position with the Azerbaijan America
Alliance was omitted from the original piece. The Washington Times
later updated the op-ed to include the affiliation.

While senior U.S. officials and lawmakers have criticized Azerbaijan
for what they call a crackdown on critics, including the jailing of
independent investigative journalist and RFE/RL contributor Khadija
Ismayilova, leading American Jewish groups have portrayed Baku’s
rights record as a symptom of democratic growing pains.

“Full democracy and transparency can take decades to develop,” Harris
of the AJC was as saying in December. “And if these were the sole
litmus tests for foreign relations, then both the U.S. and Israel
would have far fewer partners.”

Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of
Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, that continued
rapprochement between Baku and Jewish communities could be an effective
approach to improving human rights in Azerbaijan.

“Countries that have demonstrated friendship to their Jewish
communities — even though their records on human rights issues and
other things are not perfect, and we know that — we have to try
to encourage them to change, but at the same time to recognize the
progress that has been made and the importance of the relationship
with them,” Hoenlein told the news agency.

Richard Kauzlarich, a former U.S. ambassador to Baku, said Azerbaijan’s
tolerance toward Jewish communities is indeed a positive and a “good
example” to the rest of the Muslim world.

At the same time, Azerbaijan’s official message “has gotten more
developed in terms of trying to deflect some of the questions that are
obviously difficult to answer,” such as human rights, added Kauzlarich.

“Pointing to this, religious tolerance for them is another plus in
the dialogue on things like human rights, which aren’t as pleasant,”
he said.

A. CHRISTIAN VAN GORDER, BOARD OF CONTRIBUTORS: IT’S HIGH TIME AMERICANS RECOGNIZED ARMENIAN GENOCIDE 100 YEARS AGO

Waco Tribune-Herald, TX
Feb 13 2015

A. CHRISTIAN VAN GORDER Board of Contributors Waco Tribune-Herald

Adolf Hitler, before launching the Holocaust against Europe’s Jews,
asked, “After all, who today speaks of the Armenians?” One hundred
years ago this year, more than 1.5 million Armenian Christians were
massacred by agents of the Turkish government.

Men of all ages were shot, crucified, stabbed; women and girls of
all ages — often in front of their husbands and families — were
raped before being killed. Even children were tortured and murdered
in every barbaric way imaginable. People were set on fire and forced
to eat their own body parts. Tens of thousands of Armenians were sent
to the desert to starve.

Armenian Christians today are at the forefront in speaking up for
their Syrian and Iraqi sisters and brothers suffering at the hands
of terrorists who murder in God’s name. Their Christian compassion
springs from the searing memories of their own horrific experiences.

They know what can happen when Christians are abandoned and forgotten
while surrounded by neighbors who hate them simply because of their
faith. We are so blessed with many precious freedoms here in America.

People of all faiths in America need also to offer more vigorous
support for the persecuted Christians of the Middle East. We cannot
blindly look the other way while our dear sisters and brothers are
suffering.

Armenians formed the first Christian-led kingdom on earth. Yet
their contributions to the world’s artistic and intellectual riches
across three millennia have been largely forgotten. Today’s Turkish
government has sought to erase Armenians from the pages of their
history, yet these ghosts and legacies will not quietly vanish. Why
do we tolerate our government’s tepid unwillingness to confront these
bigoted genocide denialists?

Before becoming president, Sen. Obama publicly pledged that, if
elected, he would recognize as fact the 1915 killing of 1.5 million
Armenian Christians as an act of genocide. President Obama has yet to
keep this promise. The Turkish government, to this day, has denied that
a genocide took place. Now is the time for the United States to join
dozens of other nations (France, Canada, etc.) who have acknowledged
the Armenian genocide. It is the morally right thing to do.

The facts of history should not become political footballs to be
rationalized away by those who deny these killings as a byproduct of
war among rivals when, in fact, it was a war of extermination. Why
does our nation prevaricate in the face of Turkish denials of these
hellish atrocities? Because Turkey is a major American military ally
who hosts a huge air force base in Turkey.

None of us can solve all of the nightmarish problems of the world,
but each of us can make some concrete contribution for change. All
of us can pray and speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves.

Write, call or email your representatives as well as Obama. Support
organizations are helping persecuted believers worldwide — and
especially the plights of Christians, Yazidis and the Baha’i —
who are suffering and dying for their faiths in Syria, Iraq and
other Muslim-majority nations. Remember the genocide of 1.5 million
Armenian Christians and insist that those who deny the grim facts
of their genocidal history are held to account. Do something. As
Theodore Roosevelt challenged, “Do what you can where you are with
what you have.”

A. Christian van Gorder, an associate professor of religion at Baylor
University, is an ordained pastor with the American Baptist Churches
and served as associate pastor in Burton, Michigan, and interim
pastor in Conneaut, Pennsylvania. He is the author of numerous books,
including “Islam, Peace and Social Justice,” “Violence in God’s Name:
Christian and Muslim Relations in Nigeria” and “No God but God:
A Path to Muslim-Christian Discussions About the Nature of God.”

CONGRESSMAN ISSA SUGGESTS RUSSIA & IRAN ARE USING ARMENIA TO AVOID SANCTIONS

Virtual Press Office
Feb 13 2015

Turkish Institute for Progress Suggests Stronger Turkish-Armenian
Bilateral Relationship to Avoid Foreign Policy Shift

WASHINGTON, Feb. 13, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — At the U.S. House
of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs Hearing Wednesday,
Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA-49) raised questions about Armenia’s
banking relationship with Iran. In the Hearing, entitled, State Sponsor
of Terror: The Global Threat of Iran, the Congressman stated in part,
“…Armenia’s banking relationship with Iran, authorized, pushed
prodded and cajoled by Russia is new and concerning…”

Members of the Turkish Institute for Progress attended the Hearing
and are suggesting that by participating in a formal dialogue and
exploring more partnership with Turkey, Armenia can reclaim its
national sovereignty, be truly independent from Tehran and Moscow,
and prevent alienating itself from the west by allowing Iran and
Russia to, Congressman Issa asserts, circumvent US sanctions.

At the Hearing Mr. Issa stated, “Today’s hearing is important, but
it is not new. We will say a great many things, but very few of them
will be new. Certainly, questions about Armenia’s banking relationship
with Iran, authorized, pushed prodded and cajoled by Russia is new
and concerning.” He further stated, “I look forward to questions,
particularly questions about Russia’s involvement through Armenia in
the backdoor circumvention of the sanctions that are in place today.”

“Congressman Issa touched on some deeply troubling revelations,
however, we believe that a stronger Turkish-Armenian bilateral
relationship is a viable option to stabilize the balance of power
in the region, and we hope Armenia will join us in exploring ways to
avoid a foreign policy shift Mr. Issa suggests,” stated Derya Berk,
President of the Turkish Institute for Progress. “We welcome an
opportunity to work together with the Armenian community to explore
ways to work in the spirit of cooperation and for the greater good
of Turks and Armenians across the globe.”

To view the original version on PR Newswire,
visit:

SOURCE Turkish Institute for Progress

SCHOOLCHILDREN FEATURE IN SHORT FILM ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

Transitions Online, Czech Rep.

Feb 13 2015

Ara Yernjakyan, the artistic director of the Yerevan Chamber Theatre,
has screened a new film in the city about children who survived in
the 1915 Armenian genocide.

Yernjakyan used children from the northwestern town of Ashtarak to
portray those who had lost their parents in the genocide. He told
ArmeniaNow that “you can rarely find actors of such quality.”

Though the 15-minute film, Eclipse, is not based on a specific
incident, Yernjakyan said it portrays the impact of the genocide on
young people. “During any tragedy children are the first to suffer,
grown-ups somehow manage to overcome the tragedy, but children are
innocent, they do not understand why it happened so that yesterday
they had parents and today they don’t,” he said.

Yernjakyan began working on Eclipse after failing to secure funding
for a full-length film on the genocide. The Armenian government and
organizers of Armenia’s Golden Apricot International Film Festival
provided support for the short film, according to ArmeniaNow.

Eclipse will be aired on television in April, during events marking
the 100th anniversary of the genocide. An estimated 1 million people
died in the mass killings and starvation of Armenians who were accused
by their Ottoman rulers of siding with Russia during World War I.

Despite efforts at reconciliation, the genocide continues to haunt
relations between Armenia and the Ottoman Empire’s successor, Turkey.

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE A WARNING TO RESIST RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION

Baptist Standard
Feb 13 2015

February 13, 2015 By Marv Knox / Editor

DALLAS–The genocide of Armenian Christians almost exactly 100 years
ago provides a graphic reminder of evil and a call to vigilance,
since Christians across the Middle East still suffer persecution,
an expert on the atrocity told Dallas Baptist University audiences.

Artyom Tonoyan, the grandson of Armenian Genocide survivors, described
the massacre of his people and current implications during the annual
T.B. Maston Lectures at DBU Feb. 9.

Child victims of the Armenian genocide in 1915. (Photo: Armenian
Genocide Museum)Armenians, who populated part of modern Turkey,
originated as a political entity between 3,000 and 4,000 years ago,
noted Tonoyan, a lecturer at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities’
Institute for Global Studies and a research associate at East View
Information Services in Minneapolis. He is a graduate of DBU and
Baylor University.

Armenian society and culture rose and fell several times across the
centuries, Tonoyan said. Their pilgrimage to Christianity began in
the first century B.C., when the apostles Bartholomew and Thaddeus
traveled to Asia Minor and told them about Jesus. They became the
first to embrace Christianity as a state religion in 301 B.C., more
than a decade before Rome.

But with the rise of Islam, “Armenian civilization underwent an
existential crisis,” he added. “Armenians were forced to islamize.”

The Ottoman Empire, which fully embraced Islam and dominated the region
for most of the second millennia, discriminated against the Armenian
Christians, he said. For example, Armenians could not own firearms
and were barred from representation in court. They were not allowed to
own horses or build a home taller than their Muslim neighbors’ houses.

Armenians singled out as ‘cancerous’

During the final throes of the Ottoman Empire in the 18th and
early 19th centuries, “Armenians were singled out as cancerous”
and a “parasitic entity,” he said. Young Turkish leaders found the
Armenians offensive because, despite political discrimination, the
Armenians prospered financially and controlled the Ottoman economy.

Shortly after the Ottoman Empire entered World War I, on April 24,
1915, the empire launched a horrendous siege against its Armenian
residents.

Authorities rounded up practically every Armenian leader–“poets,
doctors, professors, composers, teachers”–in a purge that predated
the Jewish Holocaust by decades.

About 400,000 Armenian men were killed almost immediately. Elderly
men, women and children were rounded up, their property confiscated,
and forced on a “death march” into the same desert where the Islamic
State dominates today, Tonoyan said. The marches pushed them to the
geographical and political edges of the empire.

Five thousand Armenian villages were destroyed, he said. Hundreds
of churches were confiscated and converted to mosques, stables and
restaurants.

A family ‘cut down’

The Ottomans decimated the Armenian Christian population, he added.

One and a half million Armenians were murdered. The Armenian population
declined from 2.1 million before World War I, to 600,000 by 1918,
to 50,000 today, he added.

“Our own family was cut down,” Tonoyan reported. Ottomans forced his
grandfather, then a boy, to watch the rape of his own mother and
sister. The last image Tonoyan’s great-grandfather saw before his
murder was the rape of his wife and daughter.

Even though the Armenian Genocide occurred a century ago, Christians
around the world, and particularly in the Middle East, are being
persecuted today, he said. Some of the persecuting countries, such
as Saudi Arabia, are strong U.S. allies.

“This is the greatest ethical dilemma facing the American Christian
church,” he said. “What are we to do as Christians? Sit back and relax,
… or do something?

“Christians are dying for their faith by the hundreds and thousands. I
cannot keep silent.”

Pray for the persecuted

U.S. Christians should start by praying for their persecuted fellow
Christians in hostile regions of the world, Tonoyan urged. He also
called on Christians to insist their senators and representatives
pay attention to persecution and demand change.

“Please, whatever you do, do not remain silent,” he pleaded. “Your
brothers and sisters need you.”

T.B. Maston, namesake of the lecture series, taught Christian ethics
at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth for much
of the 20th century. The lectureship is sponsored by the T.B Maston
Foundation and Dallas Baptist University.

‘ISTANBUL’ MOSQUE PLANNED IN CUBA

Saudi Gazette, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Feb 13 2015

ISTANBUL — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan unveiled his
ambitious plan to build a major Ottoman-style mosque in Cuba, saying
it should be similar to a nineteenth century one on the Bosphorus
in Istanbul, the presidency said Thursday. Erdogan acknowledged
after holding talks with Cuban President Raul Castro in Havana that
Cuban officials had appeared to have already made an agreement for
the construction of a mosque in Havana. But Erdogan, who caused
astonishment last year by claiming Muslims discovered the Americas
before Columbus, said Turkey was pressing for an Ottoman-style mosque
in another city in Cuba. “We have told them that we could build a
similar one to Ortakoy Mosque in another city, if you have promised to
others for Havana,” Erdogan said in the communist island, the second
stop of his Latin America tour. The Ortakoy Mosque, designed by the
Balyan family of Armenian architects, was built in 1853 during the
rule of the Ottoman sultan Abdulmecid I. The neo-Baroque edifice is
a familiar sight on the shore near the Bosphorus Bridge.

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE LECTURE SERIES KICKS OFF

The Collegian, CSU Fresno, CA
Feb 13 2015

Posted by: Dolores Peralta Feb 12, 2015

Chatting at an hors d’oeuvres reception, a group of people waited for
the first illustrated lecture of the “The Armenian Genocide in Film:
Theoretical and Comparative Perspectives” series presented by the 11th
Henry K. Khanzadian Kazan visiting professor of Armenian Studies at
Fresno State, Dr. Myrna Douzjian.

Douzjian, earned her doctorate in comparative literature at UCLA. She
will give a total of three illustrated lectures during the spring
semester at Fresno State.

The first discussion Wednesday night was “The Genocide as Allegory
in Serge Avedikian’s Chienne d’Histoire.” “Chienne d’Histoire” is a
short animation film that makes no mention of the Armenian Genocide.

Instead, the film depicts the eradication of stray dogs in the city
of Constantinople in 1910.

The film won a Short Film Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival
in 2010.

Avedikian did not deliberately intend to represent the Armenian
Genocide in his film. It was pointed out to him after the movie was
made, Douzjian said.

“People who know about the genocide, and studied it, can clearly
see the resemblance, and it just makes you more emotional about it,”
said Marine Vardanyan, president of the Armenian Students Organization.

The film represents an earlier historical event. The streets
were overrun with stray dogs in Constantinople in 1910. The newly
established government decided to deport the dogs to a deserted island
away from the city to starve to death.

“The movie really brought out shivers on me. I know they are not
humans. They are dogs, but you can really see the parallel. The
scene where they deported the stray dogs into the deserted island —
with the Armenian Genocide they deported the people in the desert,”
Vardanyan said.

Fresno State student Josie Osorno connected the film with the Armenian
Genocide only because of the title of the lecture.

“Honestly, I do not know a lot about the genocide. If I had watched
the movie before, I could have also connected it with the Jewish
Holocaust,” Osorno said. “I think the film is symbolic and open to
interpretation depending on your background. There is still a message
getting across.”

Douzjian said these types of events are significant to the community,
because it exposes them to underrepresented or lesser known filmic
representations of the genocide.

“As an Armenian, this type of event speaks to my heart, and it
is something I want to get involved in. For students, in general,
it is good to keep an open mind, definitely learning about other
cultures and other backgrounds and a historical event like this one,”
Vardanyan said.

She encouraged students to attend the lectures. She said it is a
good cultural educational experience, especially because the 100th
anniversary of the genocide is approaching.

“The turnout was fantastic. It will be nicer to see more students,
you know: students who are generally interested in film. I think they
could get a lot out of this. You do not need to be interested in the
Armenian Genocide. This is more about how we read and interpret film
than it is about historical accounting of the genocide,” Douzjian said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress