Gomidas Inst. to Commemorate Armenian Genocide in Diyarbekir and Ist

GOMIDAS INSTITUTE
42 Blythe Rd.
London W14 0HA
United Kigdom
Tel: 00 (44) (20) 7603 7242
Email: [email protected]
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PRESS RELEASE
16 April 2013

Director of Gomidas Institute to Commemorate Armenian Genocide in
Diyarbekir and Istanbul

Gomidas Institute will be active in Turkey to commemorate the Armenian
Genocide of 1915. This involvement reflects the Institute’s continuing
work in Turkey since 1991.

23 April, 2013. Ara Sarafian will visit Diyarbekir, where he will pay
homage to the victims of 1915 at Sourp Giragos, Virgin Mary, and Mar
Petyun churches. He will meet local officials in the city, including
the Mayor Osman Baydemir, and participate in a commemorative event at
Ongözlü Köprüsü, Diyarbakir, the city’s ancient bridge over the
Tigris. This was the location where over 630 Armenian community
leaders were sent to their deaths in 1915, followed by the destruction
of their communities.

24 April, 2013. 11 a.m. Sarafian, accompanied by the representatives
of the Human Rights Association of Turkey, will visit the grave of Ali
Faik Ozansoy at Zincirlikuyu Cemetery, Esentepe Mh., 34394
Å=9EiÅ=9Fli/Istanbul. Ali Faik Ozansoy was the Mutasarrıf of Kutahya
who refused to deport the Armenian population of his province in
1915. Sarafian will pay tribute to Ozansoy and other righteous Ottoman
officials who opposed the persecution of Armenians.

At 12:30 p.m. Sarafian will participate at the main commemorative
event organised by the Turkish Human Rights Association (IHD) in
Istanbul. The commemoration will take place at the Turkish and Islamic
Arts Museum, Atmeydanı Caddesi 46 Sultanahmet/Istanbul. This was the
city’s central prison in 1915 and Armenian intellectuals who were
arrested on 24 April 1915 were held there before being sent into the
interior of the Empire. This year’s commemoration is particularly
important because it will give voice to the Seyfo – the destruction of
Assyrian communities in upper Mesopotamia in 1915.

After this commemorative event, Sarafian will join the IHD delegation
visiting the Armenian Cemetery in Å=9EiÅ=9Fli to pay tribute to the
memory of Sevag Å=9Eahin Balıkçı, the Armenian private shot dead
while doing his military service in Diyarbekir on 24th April
2011. Sarafian will then visit the photo exhibition, “Before 1915:
Assyrian Life in the Ottoman Empire,’ at IHD Main Office, Ã=87ukurlu
Ã=87eÅ=9Fme Sokak, Bayman Ap. No: 10/1, Taksim/Istanbul.

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* Ara Sarafian is a historian specialising in late Ottoman and modern
Armenian history. He is the director of the Gomidas Institute – an
independent academic institution dedicated to modern Armenian Studies
and research.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress