Author: Babajanian Karo

ERDOGAN CONDAMNE LES REMARQUES DU PAPE FRANCOIS SUR LE GENOCIDE ARMENIEN

TURQUIE

Le President turc Recep Tayyip Erdogan a reagi avec colère a la Sainte
Messe de Francois programmee pour le 100e anniversaire du genocide
armenien et commemorer ses victimes.

“La declaration du Pape est inacceptable pour la Turquie. Les positions
religieuses sont pas des endroits où les revendications non fondees
sont faites et la haine est agitee “, a declare M. Erdogan dans un
message sur Twitter.

Plus tôt, la Turquie a rappele son ambassadeur au Vatican “pour
consultations”. Dans le meme temps, l’ambassadeur du Vatican a Ankara
a ete appele au ministère des Affaires etrangères de la Turquie.

mardi 14 avril 2015, Stephane (c)armenews.com

U.S. SHOULD CALL ARMENIAN GENOCIDE BY ITS NAME: LA TIMES

11:59, 14 Apr 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

The Los Angeles Times Editorial Board calls on U.S. President Barack
Obama to take a cue from Pope Francis and include the word genocide
in his annual message marking the centennial of the Armenian genocide.

Sunday, Pope Francis took the audacious step of celebrating a Mass
at St. Peter’s Basilica to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the
slaughter of 1.5 million Armenians, and then calling those killings
by their name: genocide. For that, the Turkish government summoned
the Vatican’s envoy in Ankara for a talking-to and recalled its
own ambassador to the Vatican for “consultation.” Turkish Foreign
Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced that “the pope’s statement,
which is out of touch with both historical facts and legal basis,
is simply unacceptable.”

That’s right: A full century after the mass killings by the Ottoman
Empire, the Turkish government continues to reject the documented
historical reality that Turkey was responsible for the first genocide
in what turned out to be a century of grotesque ethnic, religious
and political violence, from the Holocaust to the Cambodian killing
fields to the Rwandan genocide.

Turkey’s disingenuous view compounds the original crime with the
insult of denial. (Turkey claims that most Armenian victims were
killed in a civil war, and that many Turks also perished at the hands
of Armenians.) Yet the U.S. government has been complicit in Turkey’s
defiance, thanks primarily to a policy of realpolitik that calls for
deference to a strategic ally in an increasingly unstable region of
the world. That’s why American presidents have repeatedly refused to
call the genocide a genocide.

Although Barack Obama promised as a candidate to “recognize the
Armenian genocide” if he became president, so far he (like his
predecessors) has avoided using that apparently too-blunt word in
annual statements condemning the “Meds Yeghern,” as it’s known in
Armenian. The farthest he’s gone is to call the killings a “horror”
while reaffirming the U.S.

government’s adherence “to the principle that such atrocities must
always be remembered if we are to prevent them from occurring ever
again.”

But how can you remember if you won’t acknowledge the facts? Obama
has said that “a full, frank, and just acknowledgment of the facts
is in all of our interests,” yet he has continued to engage in a
diplomatic dance out of misdirected fidelity to an ally.

It’s true that the U.S.-Turkey relationship is a very important one,
and one worth nurturing and protecting, but not at the expense of
denying history.

Strategically, Turkey needs U.S. support — and weapons — as much
as the United States needs a presence in the region (including its
Air Force base near Incirlik). This is a partnership based on mutual
interests, and we would hope that it would not be imperiled by an
insistence on truth.

The president should take a cue from Pope Francis and include the
word genocide in his annual message marking the carnage a century ago.

Enduring friendships require such honesty.

POPE’S STATEMENT ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE, ‘POLITICALLY EXPLOSIVE’, ARMENIANS IN CYPRUS SAY

CYPRUS – FAMAGUSTA GAZETTE*
Tuesday, 14 April, 2015

The National Armenian Committee of Cyprus has described a recent
statement by Pope Francis on the Armenian Genocide as “politically
explosive”, which will create havoc in Turkey.

In a written statement issued on Monday, the Committee says that with
his statement the Pontiff pays tribute to the 100th anniversary of the
Armenian Genocide, and it refers particularly to the Pope`s observation
that “it is his duty to pay tribute to the memory of innocent men,
women, children, clergymen and Bishops who were murdered by the
Ottoman Turks”.

Pope Francis Uses ‘Genocide’ To Describe Armenian Killing, Turkey Reacts

VATICAN CITY (AP) – Pope Francis on Sunday called the slaughter of
Armenians by Ottoman Turks “the first genocide of the 20th century”
and urged the international community to recognize it as such,
sparking a diplomatic rift with Turkey.

Turkey, which has long denied a genocide took place, immediately
summoned the Vatican ambassador to complain and promised a fuller
official response.

“The pope’s statement which is far from historic and legal truths is
unacceptable,” Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu tweeted. “Religious
positions are not places where unfounded claims are made and hatred is
stirred.”

Francis, who has close ties to the Armenian community from his days in
Argentina, defended his pronouncement by saying it was his duty to
honor the memory of the innocent men, women and children who were
“senselessly” murdered by Ottoman Turks 100 years ago this month.

“Concealing or denying evil is like allowing a wound to keep bleeding
without bandaging it,” he said at the start of a Mass in the Armenian
Catholic rite in St. Peter’s Basilica honoring the centenary.

In a subsequent message directed to all Armenians, Francis called on
all heads of state and international organizations to recognize the
truth of what transpired and oppose such crimes “without ceding to
ambiguity or compromise.”

Historians estimate that up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by
Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I, an event widely viewed
by scholars as the first genocide of the 20th century.

Turkey, however, has insisted that the toll has been inflated, and
that those killed were victims of civil war and unrest, not
genocide. It has fiercely lobbied to prevent countries, including the
Holy See, from officially recognizing the Armenian massacre as
genocide.

Turkey’s embassy to the Holy See canceled a planned news conference
for Sunday, presumably after learning that the pope would utter the
word “genocide” over its objections. Instead, the Foreign Ministry in
Ankara issued a statement conveying its “great disappointment and
sadness.” It said the pope’s words signaled a loss in trust,
contradicted the pope’s message of peace and was discriminatory
because Francis only mentioned the pain of Christians, not Muslims or
other religious groups.

Reaction to the pope’s declaration on the streets in Istanbul was
mixed. Some said they supported it, but others did not agree.

“I don’t support the word genocide being used by a great religious
figure who has many followers,” said Mucahit Yucedal, 25. “Genocide is
a serious allegation.”

Francis’ words had immediate effect in St. Peters, where the head of
the Armenian Apostolic Church, Aram I thanked Francis for his clear
condemnation and recalled that “genocide” is a crime against humanity
that requires reparation.

“International law spells out clearly that condemnation, recognition
and reparation of a genocide are closely interconnected,” Aram said in
English at the end of the Mass to applause from the pews, where many
wept.

Speaking as if he were at a political rally, Aram said the Armenian
cause is a cause of justice, and that justice is a gift of
God. “Therefore, the violation of justice is a sin against God,” he
said.

Several European countries recognize the massacres as genocide, though
Italy and the United States, for example, have avoided using the term
officially given the importance they place on Turkey as an ally.

The Holy See, too, places great importance in its relationship with
the moderate Muslim nation, especially as it demands Muslim leaders to
condemn the slaughter of Christians by Muslim extremists in
neighboring Iraq and Syria.

But Francis’ willingness to rile Ankara with his words showed once
again that he has few qualms about taking diplomatic risks for issues
close to his heart. He took a similar risk by inviting the Israeli and
Palestinian presidents to pray together for peace at the Vatican – a
summit that was followed by the outbreak of fighting in the Gaza
Strip.

Francis is not the first pope to call the massacre a genocide. In his
remarks, Francis cited a 2001 declaration signed by St. John Paul II
and the Armenian church leader, Karenkin II, which said the deaths
were considered “the first genocide of the 20th century.”

But the context of Francis’ pronunciation was different and
significant: He uttered the words during an Armenian rite Mass in
St. Peter’s Basilica marking the 100th anniversary of the slaughter,
alongside the Armenian Catholic patriarch, Nerses Bedros XIX Tarmouni,
Armenian Christian church leaders and Armenian President Serzh
Sargsyan, who sat in a place of honor in the basilica.

The definition of genocide has long been contentious. The United
Nations in 1948 defined genocide as killing and other acts intended to
destroy a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, but many
dispute which mass killings should be called genocide.

In his remarks Sunday, Francis said the Armenian slaughter was the
first of three “massive and unprecedented” genocides last century that
was followed by the Holocaust and Stalinism. He said other mass
killings had followed, including in Cambodia, Rwanda, Burundi and
Bosnia. ___

AP writers Desmond Butler and Ayse Wieting in Istanbul and Suzan
Fraser in Ankara contributed to this report.

Daily Sabah, Turkey
April 12 2015

Turkey summons Vatican ambassador over Pope’s comments on Armenian `genocide’

Ankara on pope’s genocide remark: Religious bodies not meant to
instigate hatred

The Foreign Ministry has summoned Vatican’s Ambassador to Turkey
Antonio Lucibello after Pope Francis referred to the 1915 incidents
involving Armenians as genocide.

Foreign Minister Mevlüt ÇavuÃ…?oÄ?lu also slammed the pope’s position:
“The pope’s remarks, which are both historically and juristically far
from the truth, cannot be accepted. Religious bodies are not there to
instigate hatred with unsupported claims,” he said in a message he
posted on his Twitter account.

Pope Francis held a service in the Vatican City commemorating the
Armenians who lost their lives in the 1915 incidents. The spiritual
leader of the world’s estimated 1 billion Catholics held a service
lasting about one-and-a-half hours at St. Peter Basilica on Sunday.

Despite calls for contribution to a reconciliation between Turkey and
Armenia, and also to call historians to examine archives to study the
1915 incidents, Pope Francis opted to take a political stance and
said: “The first genocide of the 20th century struck Armenians.”

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan; Catholicos Karekin II, the current
Catholicos of All Armenians and also the supreme head of the Armenian
Apostolic Church, and Aram I Keshishian, the head of the Catholicosate
of the Great House of Cilicia, also attended the service.

The 1915 events took place during World War I when a portion of the
Armenian population living in the Ottoman Empire sided with the
invading Russians and revolted. The Ottoman state forcibly relocated
Armenians to eastern Anatolia following the revolts and there were
some Armenian casualties during the relocation process.

Armenia has demanded an apology and compensation while Turkey has
officially refuted Armenian allegations over the incidents saying that
although Armenians died during the relocations, many Turks also lost
their lives in attacks carried out by Armenian groups in Anatolia.

The Turkish government has repeatedly called on historians to study
Ottoman archives pertaining to the era in order to uncover what
happened between the Ottoman government and its Armenian subjects.

The debate on genocide and the differing opinions between the present
day Turkish government and the Armenian diaspora along with the
current administration in Yerevan still generates political tension
between Turks and Armenians.

Turkey’s official position against allegations of genocide is that it
acknowledges the past experiences were a great tragedy and that both
parties suffered heavy casualties, including hundreds of Muslim Turks.

Turkey agrees that there were certainly Armenian casualties during
World War I, but does not recognize these incidents as genocide.

Eglise Sainte-Croix à Aghtamar
L’Incomparable Der Voghormia du centenaire

Dans l’enceinte épure de l’église de la Sainte-Croix d’Aghtamar sur le
Lac de Van, à la veille de la centième commémoration du génocide des
Arméniens, Nelly Gasparyan nous transporte, et semble, en résonance
des chants arméniens passés en ce lieu sacré à l’incomparable
acoustique, restituer par son interprétation prenante de la prière Der
Voghormia (Seigneur ai pitié), la douleur pénétrante de l’oeuvre
inspirée de Komitas.

dimanche 12 avril 2015,
Jean Eckian (c)armenews.com

‘We must build a future free of genocides’ – Serzh Sargsyan

17:45 * 10.04.15

Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian speaks at a dinner meeting with
Italian members of parliament. April 9, 2015. (Photo: official
publication)

During his official visit to Italy, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan
participated in a supper party with Italian MPs on Thursday evening.

I his speech at the supper party, Armenia’s leader particularly said:

“Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

“The year 2015 is a special year for Armenians because it sees the
100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire – the
first genocide in the 20th century. It was the first, but,
unfortunately, not the last. In several days, the Armenians throughout
the world will loudly say ‘no’ to all the genocides, and bells will be
rung in churches from Argentine to Italy, from the United States to
Armenia. And especially loud will be the bells of sister-churches. We
cannot change the past, but we must build a future free of genocides.
It is our duty to the victims and survivors.

“The current developments in the Middle East are the result of
permissiveness and impunity. As a representative of a people that has
for 100 years been struggling against recurrence of genocides I can
assure you that such crimes are not the result of discrimination
between Christians and Muslims, Jews or Germans, Armenians and Turks.
Rather, it is the result of discrimination between those accepting and
rejecting fundamental common values. Italy has joined this struggle –
its Chamber of Deputies recognized the Armenian Genocide.

“We highly appreciate the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by
individual cities and regions. I am sure that the criminalization of
denial of the Armenian Genocide by the Parliament of Italy will
produce results. Armenia is known to have been declared Rome’s ally
before Common Era. Italy gave refuse to Armenians after the Armenian
Genocide. The relations between our countries entered a new stage
after declaration of Armenia’s independence.

“At present we have cooperation programs in different areas, and Italy
is our second largest trade partner among the EU member-states.
Inter-parliamentary contacts are an all-important elements of our
cooperation. My sincere desire is that Italian MPs continue an active
dialogue with their counterparts in Armenia and Artsakh.

“More and more MPs from EU member-states – France, Germany,
Switzerland, Great Britain – are visiting Artsakh. They can make sure
of full-fledged democratic and government institutions of the
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. Taking the opportunity, I would like to
express my gratitude to the Italian government for its impartial
position on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.”

Vatican Radio
April 12 2015

Pope Francis: greetings to Armenian pilgrims

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis greeted the pilgrim faithful of Armenia
gathered in St. Peter’s Basilica for Mass on Divine Mercy Sunday,
during which the Armenian monk and mystic, St. Gregory of Narek, was
proclaimed Doctor of the Church and the centenary of the mass killing
of Armenians – as many as 1.5 million people – under the Ottoman
Empire was remembered. Below, please find the official English
translation of the Holy Father’s remarks.

***************

Greeting of the Holy Father

Mass for the Faithful of the Armenian Rite

12 April 2015

On a number of occasions I have spoken of our time as a time of war, a
third world war which is being fought piecemeal, one in which we daily
witness savage crimes, brutal massacres and senseless destruction.
Sadly, today too we hear the muffled and forgotten cry of so many of
our defenceless brothers and sisters who, on account of their faith in
Christ or their ethnic origin, are publicly and ruthlessly put to
death ` decapitated, crucified, burned alive ` or forced to leave
their homeland.

Today too we are experiencing a sort of genocide created by general
and collective indifference, by the complicit silence of Cain, who
cries out: `What does it matter to me? Am I my brother’s keeper?’ (cf.
Gen 4:9; Homily in Redipuglia, 13 September 2014).

In the past century our human family has lived through three massive
and unprecedented tragedies. The first, which is widely considered
`the first genocide of the twentieth century’ (JOHN PAUL II and
KAREKIN II, Common Declaration, Etchmiadzin, 27 September 2001),
struck your own Armenian people, the first Christian nation, as well
as Catholic and Orthodox Syrians, Assyrians, Chaldeans and Greeks.
Bishops and priests, religious, women and men, the elderly and even
defenceless children and the infirm were murdered. The remaining two
were perpetrated by Nazism and Stalinism. And more recently there
have been other mass killings, like those in Cambodia, Rwanda, Burundi
and Bosnia. It seems that humanity is incapable of putting a halt to
the shedding of innocent blood. It seems that the enthusiasm
generated at the end of the Second World War has dissipated and is now
disappearing. It seems that the human family has refused to learn
from its mistakes caused by the law of terror, so that today too there
are those who attempt to eliminate others with the help of a few and
with the complicit silence of others who simply stand by. We have not
yet learned that `war is madness’, `senseless slaughter’ (cf. Homily
in Redipuglia, 13 September 2014).

Dear Armenian Christians, today, with hearts filled with pain but at
the same time with great hope in the risen Lord, we recall the
centenary of that tragic event, that immense and senseless slaughter
whose cruelty your forebears had to endure. It is necessary, and
indeed a duty, to honour their memory, for whenever memory fades, it
means that evil allows wounds to fester. Concealing or denying evil
is like allowing a wound to keep bleeding without bandaging it!

I greet you with affection and I thank you for your witness.

With gratitude for his presence, I greet Mr Serž Sargsyan, the
President of the Republic of Armenia.

My cordial greeting goes also to my brother Patriarchs and Bishops:
His Holiness Kerekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All
Armenians; His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of
Cilicia, His Beatitude Nerses Bedros XIX, Patriarch of Cilicia of
Armenian Catholics; and Catholicosates of the Armenian Apostolic
Church and the Patriarchate of the Armenian Catholic Church.

In the firm certainty that evil never comes from God, who is
infinitely good, and standing firm in faith, let us profess that
cruelty may never be considered God’s work and, what is more, can find
absolutely no justification in his Holy Name. Let us continue this
celebration by fixing our gaze on Jesus Christ, risen from the dead,
victor over death and evil!

Arutz Sheva, Israel
April 12 2015

Turkish Anger at Pope for Calling Armenian Massacres ‘Genocide’

Ankara summons Vatican ambassador after Pope Francis compares massacre
of Armenians by Ottoman Turkey to Holocaust, Stalinism.

By Ari Soffer

Turkey has reacted angrily to a declaration by Pope Francis in which
he labeled the mass-murder of more than one million Armenians by
Ottoman Turkey a “genocide”.

The Turkish foreign ministry summoned the Vatican’s ambassador to
Ankara to express its “disappointment” Sunday, saying the Pope’s
speech had caused “a problem of trust” between the two states,
according to the BBC.

Turkey’s embassy to the Vatican had already canceled a press
conference scheduled for today in response to the comments.

In his comments, the Pope had named the Armenian genocide, the
Holocaust and Stalinism as the three greatest human tragedies to occur
during the last century.

“In the past century, our human family has lived through three massive
and unprecedented tragedies,” Francis stated, at the beginning of a
Mass in the Armenian Catholic rite held at the Vatican.

“The first, which is widely considered ‘the first genocide of the 20th
century’, struck your own Armenian people,” he said, in comments he
would have been aware would not go down well in Turkey, where
authorities deny the scale of the massacre which took place between
1915-1917.

But the Pope called categorically for an end to such denial.

“Concealing or denying evil is like allowing a wound to keep bleeding
without bandaging it,” he said.

Only 22 countries recognize the systemic murder of Armenians as
“genocide” (Israel and the US are not among them), but Armenia marks
the genocide every year on April 24.

Between 1-1.5 million Armenians were killed by Turkish forces in a
series of massacres, ultimately leading to the genocide of over
one-third of the Armenian population.

The carnage began after Turkish authorities ordered the executions of
much of the Armenian elite in Istanbul on April 24, 1915.

Men, women, and children were later murdered by various means,
including through forced marches, starvation, and poison.

The Ottoman government set up some 25 concentration camps as well
throughout the period, and mass graves of up to 60,000 people were
found in some locations.

Ambassador Tumanyan hands over copies of credentials to Iranian FM

20:53, 11 April, 2015

YEREVAN, 11 APRIL, ARMENPRESS. On April 11, newly appointed Ambassador
of the Republic of Armenia to Iran Artashes Tumanyan handed over
copies of his credentials to Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran
Mohammad Javad Zarif.

As the Department of Press, Information and Public Relations of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia reports to
“Armenpress”, during the talks following the handing of copies of
credentials, Ambassador Tumanyan transmitted the warm greetings of
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia Edward
Nalbandyan to the Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs and mentioned
that, as Ambassador, he would put in all his efforts for further
deepening of the cordial diplomatic relations that the two countries
have had for the past 23 years.

In his turn, Iran’s Minister of Foreign Affairs praised the current
state of Iran-Armenia relations and expressed his support to the newly
appointed Ambassador of the Republic of Armenia in carrying out his
mission.

The sides touched upon the negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program
in Lausanne. In that context, Ambassador Tumanyan mentioned that
Armenia was one of the first countries to welcome the framework
agreement reached as a result of the negotiations.