The California
Courier Online, April 6, 2023
1- Ottoman
Parliament and Senate in 1918
Acknowledged
‘the Armenian Massacres’
By Harut
Sassounian
Publisher,
The California
Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
2- At Mount
Davidson, 90-year-old time capsule unearthed
3- In San Diego, George
Kirazian’s ‘Book of Ruth’ Ballet to Premiere in April
4- Sassounian,
Markarian, Armenian to Discuss
‘Collective
Unity: Armenia-Artsakh-Diaspora’
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1- Ottoman
Parliament and Senate in 1918
Acknowledged
‘the Armenian Massacres’
By Harut
Sassounian
Publisher,
The California
Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
I wrote an article in January 2016, titled: “Turkey
was first country to recognize the Armenian Genocide in 1918.” However, most
people are still unaware that ‘the Armenian Massacres’ were discussed and
acknowledged by the Ottoman Parliament and Senate in 1918.
More recently, two Armenian members of the Turkish
Parliament, Selina Dogan and Garo Paylan, raised the issue of the Armenian
Genocide in the Parliament on January 14, 2016. Earlier, in November 2014,
Parliament member Sebahat Tuncel submitted a resolution on the Armenian
Genocide to the Turkish Parliament, asking Erdogan to issue an apology, declare
April 24 as an official Day of Mourning, make public the documents in the
Turkish archives about this mass crime, and pay material and moral restitution
to the descendants of the victims. The proposed resolution was ignored by the
Turkish Parliament.
Since writing my 2016 article, I came across a detailed
analysis written by Prof. Ayhan Aktar in the History Workshop Journal, titled:
“Debating the Armenian Massacres in the Last Ottoman Parliament, November –
December 1918.” That debate took place following the defeat of the Ottoman
Empire in WWI and occupation of Constantinople (Istanbul) by the victorious allied countries.
In the last two months of 1918, the Ottoman Parliament
discussed over several days the Armenian Genocide, described at the time as
massacres. A motion was presented which stated: “A population of 1 million
people guilty of nothing except belonging to the Armenian nation were massacred
and exterminated, including even women and children.” In response, Interior
Minister Ali Fethi Okyar declared: “It is the intention of the government to
cure every single injustice done up until now, as far as the means allow, to
make possible the return to their homes of those sent into exile, and to
compensate for their material loss as far as possible…. Yes, Gentlemen, I
also say that our officials butchered many Armenians, including women and
children and that their properties were plundered.”
A Parliamentary Investigative Committee was set up to
collect all relevant documents showing the actions of those responsible for the
‘Armenian deportations and massacres.’ The evidence was turned over to the
Turkish Military Tribunal, and those found guilty were hanged or given lengthy
prison sentences.
Here are some excerpts from Aktar’s article: “Discussion of
the Armenian massacres in the Ottoman Parliament began with motions calling the
Union and Progress governments to account. When
on November 4, 1918 the Ottoman Parliament convened in Istanbul the political attempts to find the
perpetrators started with the first motion, tabled by Baghdat-Divaniye Deputy
Fuat Bey a few days earlier. This demanded that members of the Sait Halim Pasha
and Talaat Pasha cabinets be tried by the High Court…. Clause 10 [of the
motion] made direct reference to the Armenian deportations and to the
Teshkilat-i Mahsusa (the Special Organization), an irregular military force
organized by the CUP [Committee of Union and Progress] leadership that had
carried out deportations and massacres.”
Some of the parliamentarians who belonged to the old guard
of Unionists, which were the majority in the parliament, without denying the
Armenian massacres, made excuses similar to today’s Turkish Government, stating
that Turks were also killed during this period.
Six Armenian deputies of the parliament submitted a motion
demanding that “the deportation decision of May 27, 1915 and the decree of
September 27, 1915 concerning expropriation of abandoned properties and real
estate should be revoked, and that those deported from their native land be
permitted to return. It further asserted that the administrative measures
facilitating the sharing out among local notables of properties which had
belonged to deported Armenians went absolutely against the spirit of the
Ottoman Constitution of 1876.”
In response to accusations that some Armenians on the
Eastern front had rebelled against the Ottoman Empire,
Armenian Deputy Matyos Nalbandian responded: Even if some Armenians had
committed illegal acts, it does that justify “the removal and extermination of
all Armenians” and “the confiscation and plunder of their properties.”
Nalbandian also made a distinction between the Turks killed at the warfront and
the innocent Armenian civilians who were massacred.
A similar discussion took place in the Ottoman Senate on
Nov. 21, 1918. Ahmet Riza Bey made a motion demanding that “‘the atrocities
committed under the name of deportation’ be investigated; that the negative
impact throughout the country be determined; and that those involved in these
affairs be prosecuted.”
Former Governor and Minister of Interior, Reshit Akif Pasha,
stated that his investigation indicated that “these orders of deportation had
been given by the well-known Minister of Interior [Talaat Pasha] and officially
communicated to [governors in] the provinces.”
On December 9, 1918, Minister of Justice Haydar Molla told
the Ottoman Senate that the crimes against Armenians were committed by state
officials, politicians and ordinary Turks.
Importantly, none of the deputies, regardless of their party
affiliation or background, denied the occurrence of the deportation and
massacres of Armenians.
On December 21, 1918, the Ottoman Parliament was dissolved
by Mehmed Vahdettin, the last Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
“When the Parliament finally reconvened with the newly-elected deputies on
January 12, 1920, it was dominated by supporters of the resistance movement
which had developed in Anatolia, under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Pasha
(later Ataturk),” wrote Aktar.
The Turkish Military Tribunals in 1919–20 tried and
sentenced to death in absentia the masterminds of the Armenian massacres,
Enver, Djemal and Talaat, the Young Turk leaders who had fled the country.
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2- At Mount Davidson, 90-year-old
time capsule unearthed
By Megan Rose Dickey
(Axios News)—San Francisco’s
community leaders dug up a 90-year-old time capsule buried near the base of Mount Davidson’s
towering cross on Saturday, April 1.
The Council of
Armenian Americans of Northern California unearthed a time capsule that a Boy
Scout troop buried at the cross in on April 1, 1933 to commemorate the site’s
inaugural Easter sunrise service.
The time capsule held old editions of the Bible, gospel
tracts, water from the Jordan River, city and
telephone directories from 1933, and issues of the leading newspapers of the
time, including the San Francisco News and the San Francisco Chronicle.
The cross atop Mount
Davidson has a long, complicated
history in San Francisco
involving legal battles and ballot measures.
Despite threats to its existence, the cross has served as a
community-gathering place since the Great Depression, including for Easter
services and to commemorate the 1915 Armenian genocide.
Between 1923 and 1934, the cross evolved from a 40-foot
wooden structure to the 103-foot-high concrete structure with reinforced steel
you see today.
The first cross was built for the 1923 ceremony, which
attracted about 5,000 attendees, Friends of Mount Davidson Conservancy
co-founder Jacqueline Proctor told Axios.
In 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt pressed a button in
D.C. that lit the permanent cross atop Mount Davidson
for the first time. More than 50,000 people attended that event.
Proctor noted that the concrete version of the cross was
built in the middle of the Great Depression, when “people were feeling pretty
hopeless. But they came together to be together and to find hope.”
In 1992, the American Civil Liberties Union, along with
other plaintiffs, sued the city, arguing it was illegal to have a religious
symbol on public property. The city lost the suit and was required to either
remove or sell the cross.
In 1997, the Council of Armenian Americans of Northern
California became the legal owner of the cross, following a voter-approved
measure allowing the sale.
San Francisco
became a refuge for Armenians who were able to escape the genocide nearly a
century ago, Roxanne Makasdjian, the executive director of The Genocide
Education Project, told Axios.
Armenians in San
Francisco wanted to become custodians of the cross as
a thank you to the city for providing the Armenian community with a haven,
Makasdjian explained.
The time capsule from 1923 was replaced with a new time
capsule, featuring an iPhone, an Armenian Bible, an Armenian khachkar
(cross-stone), a face mask, issues of the San Francisco Chronicle, The
California Courier, and other items that reflect current events and
information.
The San Francisco Historical Society and the members of the
Mt. Davidson Cross Armenian Council placed the new time capsule in the hopes
that it, too, will be unearthed in a centennial ceremony.
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3- In San Diego, George Kirazian’s
‘Book of Ruth’ Ballet to Premiere in April
SAN DIEGO—Armenian Composer
George Kirazian’s new ballet based on the Book of Ruth will be produced by
Mojalet Dance Collective and premiering in San Diego on April 29 to 30, 2023. The
performances will be combined with three other original dance pieces,
Aftermath, Tainted, and a New Solo. A reception will be held in between each
day’s performances, as well as a brief Q&A after each show.
The Book of Ruth: A Ballet, will be choreographed by Faith
Jensen-Ismay, Mojalet’s Founder and Artistic Director. Based on the Old
Testament story of the Hebrew woman Ruth and her family, the new work will
combine traditional and modern dance components, choreographed by Jensen-Ismay
to Kirazian’s music, recorded by The Parnassus Ensemble of San Diego.
Mojalet Dance Collective has been entertaining and inspiring
San Diego
audiences for more than 30 years with traditional, modern and contemporary
dance productions, including many world premieres, as they are dedicated to
developing new and groundbreaking work. They are also developing The Book of
Ruth: A Ballet, for a larger-scale production in Fall 2023.
The Book of Ruth in the Old Testament might well be the
world’s first short story. When the elder Jewish woman Naomi loses her husband
and both her sons, she implores both her widowed daughters-in-law to go back to
their native land
of Moab. One of them,
Orpah, leaves. The other, Ruth, insists on staying with her mother-in-law
Naomi, to embrace her people and her God. They go to Judah, where after a period of
poverty, they meet a generous landowner named Boaz, who changes their lives.
The story teaches its audience that love and devotion can heal after great
losses and enable us to rise above our harmful prejudices against others.
Although Ruth’s story has often been retold and depicted in films, it has never
been set to music as a ballet.
A longtime member of the Armenian community who helped
establish the first Armenian Church in San Diego, composer George Kirazian is a
retired college instructor of Humanities, Composition, and Opera Appreciation.
Born and raised in New Jersey, he completed
his undergraduate and graduate studies at New York
University and taught English
Literature and Composition at Grossmont
College for nearly 40
years, and served as Chairman of the English Department. He also taught Opera
and Music Appreciation at San
Diego State University. He is a longtime resident of
San Diego with
his wife Dikranouhi. They have three daughters: Yvette (husband John
Harpootian), Andrea (husband Steven Urrutia) and Lisa (husband Steve Kradjian),
and six grandchildren: Mark, Eric, Zari, Dante, Ani and Mari.
Kirazian’s musical compositions include The Book of Ruth: A
Ballet, various art songs, hymns, and a new version of The Divine Liturgy of
the Armenian Apostolic Church,
which has been performed and recorded by Pacific Camerata of San Diego, the
Paros Chamber Choir of Armenia, and also performed by members of the Armenian
Church of San Diego. He has also published fiction and non-fiction: Easy
Writing: A Practical Guide for Practically Everybody; A Time for Fathers (short
novel), and five young reader books: The Sleeping Violet, Perry the Peacock,
Beyond the Koala Kingdom, Leo and the Mulberry Flute, and The Princess of
December.
For more information, visit georgekirazian.com
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4- Sassounian, Markarian, Armenian
to Discuss
‘Collective
Unity: Armenia-Artsakh-Diaspora’
On Tuesday April 11, the Educational Committee of the
Crescenta Valley Meher & Satig Der Ohanessian Youth Center (2633 Honolulu
Ave., Montrose, CA. 91020) will organize a panel discussion: “Collective Unity:
Armenia-Artsakh-Diaspora”, presented by Dr. Haroutune Armenian, Harut
Sassounian and Robert Markarian. This will be followed by a question and answer
session from audience members. The presentation will begin at 7:30 p.m.
The event will cover current issues and challenges
confronting the Armenian nation in Armenia, Artsakh and Diaspora.
Brief presentations by the panelists will offer historical overviews of the
current situation, existing problems and future visionary outlook. The
presentation will consider using analytic methods from public health sciences
to present diagnostic and process approaches that may be useful in developing a
collective vigor in the Armenian reality.
Dr. Haroutune K. Armenian was trained at the Johns Hopkins
Bloomberg School of Public Health where he received his MPH & DrPH degrees,
and also at the American University of Beirut
for his MD specializing in internal medicine. Dr. Armenian’s extensive academic
and development leadership includes systems and services development at the
Ministry of Health in Bahrain,
Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the American
University of Beirut,
Dean of the College of Health Sciences at the American
University of Armenia and President of the American University
of Armenia (AUA) for 14 years.
Armenian was Editor-in-Chief of Epidemiologic Reviews for 14
years and has served on the editorial board of a number of professional
journals and publications. He has published over 100 scientific papers and many
peer reviewed chapters, as well as edited or published 20 books. He has
published 3 collections of his watercolors and prose-poetry in Armenian and
English. Currently he leads the Turpanjian Rural Development Program as well as
the Entrepreneurship in Medicine projects of AUA in Armenia.
Harut Sassounian is the Publisher of The California Courier,
founded in 1958. His weekly editorials, translated into several languages, are
reprinted in scores of U.S.
and overseas publications and posted on countless websites. He is the author of
“The Armenian Genocide: The World Speaks Out, 1915-2015, Documents and Declarations.”
As President of the Armenia Artsakh Fund, he has
administered the procurement and delivery of $970 million of humanitarian
assistance to Armenia
and Artsakh during the past 34 years. As Senior Vice President of Kirk
Kerkorian’s Lincy Foundation, he oversaw $240 million of infrastructure
projects in Armenia.
From 1978 to 1982, Sassounian worked as an international
marketing executive for Procter & Gamble in Geneva, Switzerland.
As a human rights delegate at the United Nations for 10 years, he played a
leading role in the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the U.N.
Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities in
1985. Sassounian has a Master’s Degree in International Affairs from Columbia University,
and a Master’s in Business Administration from Pepperdine University.
Robert Markarian received his higher education in the fields
of physics and law. For about 25 years, before moving to the USA, he worked at the Armenian-language radio
station in Tehran
as a presenter, commentator and translator.
He cooperates with the Armenian mass media in political
analyses. His analytical articles on the topics of Armenia and Artsakh were published
on Armenian and Persian websites as well as in different newspapers.
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