Author: Babajanian Karo

OMBUDSMAN EXPRESSES CONCERNS OVER AZERBAIJAN’S ASSAULTS

18:47, 2 March, 2015

YEREVAN, 2 MARCH, ARMENPRESS. Ombudsman of the Republic of Armenia
Karen Andreasyan received today newly appointed U.S. Ambassador
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Armenia Richard Mills.

As the apparatus of the Human Rights Defender of the Republic of
Armenia reports to “Armenpress”, the Ombudsman congratulated Mr. Mills
on assuming the office of U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Armenia
and expressed certainty that the partnership in the sphere of human
rights protection would continue during the Ambassador’s term in
office.

Touching upon the presence of danger posing a threat to the right of
humans to live and the escalation of tension in the region, Ombudsman
Karen Andreasyan expressed deep concern over Azerbaijan’s regular
diversions and provocations and attached importance to the need for a
peaceful regulation of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict once again. The
Ambassador attached importance to the activities of Ombudsman Karen
Andreasyan and his staff and assured that during his term in office he
would continue to make efforts to strengthen the already established
partnership and close relations between the Office of the Human Rights
Defender and the U.S. Embassy.

VIDEO: PROTESTER THROWS JUICE AT TURKEY’S AMBASSADOR IN PARIS

France 24
March 2 2015

A French-Armenian protester hurled a cup of pomegranate juice at
Turkey’s ambassador to France, Hakkı Akil, as he gave a talk at a
university in the French capital on Monday. The pomegranate is the
symbol of Armenia.

The protester threw juice on Akil during his talk on “Secularism
in Turkey and France” at the faculty of law at Paris Descartes
University. The attacker, who is not a student, was quickly detained
by security.

After the attack, Akil told Turkey’s Cihan news agency that the
protester was a French citizen of Armenian descent, adding that the
French police had identified him.

“They have orchestrated attacks before. In Marseille and Paris,
they attacked [Turkey’s] tourism offices,” he said.

IL LEGHISTA CONSIGLIA I LIBRI SU FOIBE E GENOCIDIO ARMENO DA RENDERE OBBLIGATORI A SCUOLA

La Stampa, Italia
28 feb 2015

Fallaci, Marco Paolini e Don Luigi Sturzo: il variegato pantheon
federalista di Salvini

marco bresolin

Tra un Vaffa alla Fornero e uno ad Alfano, c’è spazio anche per
i preti nel pantheon di Matteo Salvini. Dal palco di piazza del
Popolo, il segretario leghista ha sfoderato citazioni del fiorentino
Don Milani e del siciliano Don Sturzo. Centro e Sud, perche non di
sola Padania si vive, elettoralmente parlando. E poi ha elencato una
serie di libri che dovrebbero essere obbligatori in tutte le scuole
d’Italia – anzi, delle “Italie”, come ha definito il Belpaese –
se al ministero dell’Istruzione ci fosse un leghista. Deluso chi
si aspettava Sottomissione di Houellebecq. Certo non manca Oriana
Fallaci, osannata a destra per il suo anti-islamismo, ma tirata qui in
ballo per il romanzo “Un uomo”, che narra la storia del greco Alekos
Panagoulis, compagno della scrittrice e oppositore della dittatura
in Grecia. E poi le foibe, il genocidio armeno (il consiglio va
su “La masseria delle allodole” di Antonia Arslan), per il quale
“la Turchia dovrebbe chiedere scusa prima di entrare nell’Unione
Europea”. E finalmente si arriva al Nord. Alla tragedia del Vajont,
per la quale vine citato citato ad esempio Marco Paolini, e alle
montagne narrate dallo scalatore Mauro Corona.

Non colpisce la citazione di Don Milani (“l’obbedienza a una legge
sbagliata non è virtù, ma complicita”, dice Salvini), peraltro gia
usata da Grillo, altro principe dei Vaffa. E nemmeno quella di Don
Luigi Sturzo, non tanto in quanto fondatore del Partito Popolare, ma
piuttosto come personaggio amato in Sicilia. Dove Salvini è a caccia
di voti con il suo movimento “Noi con Salvini” (e infatti tra i più
criticati nel suo intervento ci sia il governatore Rosario Crocetta).

E se, con due sacerdoti nel pantheon c’è il rischio di sembrare
troppo moderati, Salvini non si è lasciato scappare l’occasione per
elencare anche tutti quelli che vuole tenere fuori dal suo pantheon:
gli “sfigati” comunisti che lo contestano, più volte etichettati
come “zecche” e “barboni”. E poi i rom (“con le denunce dell’ufficio
immigrazione mi ci soffio il naso”, dice rimarcando un certo distacco
dal suo predecessore Bossi che invece usava il tricolore per la
toilette), fino all’immancabile questione sicurezza: “Non deve esistere
l’eccesso di legittima difesa. Se entri in casa mia in piedi, sai
che potresti uscirne steso”. All’estrema unzione ci pensa Don Sturzo.

DIVINE LITURGY AND REQUIEM SERVICE IN MEMORY OF SUMGAIT POGROM VICTIMS IN BEIRUT

21:12, 2 March, 2015

YEREVAN, 2 MARCH, ARMENPRESS. On March 1, the Surp Nshan Mother Church
of Beirut served a Divine Liturgy, which was followed by a Requiem
Service in memory of the Armenians who fell victim to the Sumgait
Pogrom that took place on 27-29 February 1988.

As the Department of Press, Information and Public Relations of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia reports to
“Armenpress”, among those attending the event were Armenia’s Ambassador
to Lebanon Ashot Kocharyan, Representative of the Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic in the Near East, members of the Armenian Genocide Centennial
Lebanon Central Committee, leaders of Armenian organizations and
national structures, as well as MPs, public and political figures
and journalists.

In his speech, Armenia’s Ambassador to Lebanon Ashot Kocharyan
mentioned that the genocide perpetrated against the Armenians of
Sumgait 27 years ago was an example of the first manifestation of
the policy on ethnic cleansing in the territory of the Soviet Union.

Talking about the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the Ambassador emphasized
that the people of Nagorno-Karabakh were compelled to defend their
right to live freely in a war that was imposed.

On the same day, a Requiem Service was performed in memory of
the innocent victims of the Sumgait Pogrom under the direction of
Catholicos Aram I of the Great House of Cilicia at the Saint Gregory
the Illuminator Mother Temple of the Catholicosate of the Great House
of Cilicia.

TURKEY AND ARMENIA: GENOCIDE? WHAT GENOCIDE?

Open Democracy
March 2 2015

John Lubbock, 28 February 2015

April 1915 saw the start of the Turkish genocide against Armenians
and other minorities. Erdogan hopes he can ignore the anniversary
and it will go away–while Armenian politics is stuck in victim mode.

With the centenary of the onset of the Armenian genocide less than
two months away, the economically aggrandising but politically
repressive Turkish state needs to take stock–for the sake of its
international relations as well as its domestic rapport with its
minority communities.

Although many Turks now accept that hundreds of thousands of Armenians,
Assyrians and Greeks were massacred during the first world war,
their government is increasingly unwilling to negotiate with Armenia
to establish diplomatic relations and reopen the land border.

Reconciliation is a low priority as the executive seeks to increase
its authority over the remaining semi-independent state institutions,
like the central bank and the judiciary. In the run-up to important
elections in June, the ruling AK Party cannot afford to alienate its
base of nationalistic, religious Turks or divert its attention from
the Kurdish peace process–around 3.5m Kurds vote for it.

Gallipoli manoeuvre

The plan which the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, seems to
have formulated to deal with the awkward genocide anniversary is to
ignore it completely. The commemoration of the Battle of Gallipoli,
in which the Ottoman army halted the Allied invasion, has been moved
from the usual date of 18 April to 24 April–the day the genocide is
marked annually.

Erdogan even invited the Armenian president, among other world
leaders, to the Gallipoli observances. Zaman, the opposition media
group influenced by the Cemaat movement of Erdogan’s ally-turned-rival
Fethullah Gulen, reported that so few foreign leaders had accepted
the offer to attend that the event was being cancelled. This is
likely to be an exaggeration, intended to make Erdogan look bad,
but it seems to reflect Turkey’s increasing political isolation.

One country Turkey does count as a close ally, Azerbaijan, is more
important than any European validation, due to its natural gas reserves
and ethnically Turkic population. It is the conflict between Azerbaijan
and Armenia which seems to be the biggest obstacle in Armenian-Turkish
relations, though Turkey could be using Azerbaijan as an excuse.

While hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed
Nagorno-Karabakh region ended in 1994, tensions have never been
resolved and there are periodic border clashes. Last year, the
Azerbaijani president, Heydar Aliyev, went on a long Twitter rant about
the strength of his army after some of its soldiers had been killed.

Posturing

The emotive nature of the genocide lends itself to political posturing
and exaggeration of all kinds. Armenian media are reporting that
Turkey paid the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt to destroy ‘Armenian
genocide documents kept at an institute’–which it’s very unlikely
Egypt would have had in the first place. In Turkey, there are still
extreme nationalist groups willing to display banners praising their
ancestors for the ‘cleansing’ of 1915. Erdogan maintains that an
‘impartial board of historians’ should decide if the Ottoman
authorities were guilty at all.

A number of diaspora groups and some Armenian parties are demanding
that Turkey provide compensation–including all of ‘Western Armenia’,
in what is now eastern Turkey. Western, or ‘Wilsonian’, Armenia was
granted to the latter in the Treaty of Sevres, which partitioned the
Ottoman Empire and large parts of Anatolia among the victorious allies
in 1920. Its terms were seen as vindictive and spurred a nationalist
rebellion, led by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, which ejected the occupying
forces of Britain, Greece and Italy. The treaty was largely unratified
and unimplemented, and was replaced by the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923.

The 1920 treaty has given rise to a reflex in Turkish politics so
common it has a name: Sevres Syndrome. This manifests itself as a
paranoia that outside forces are conspiring against Turkey. Armenian
groups demanding that Turkey voluntarily cede territory play perfectly
into this fear.

Giro Manoyan is a politician with the Armenian Revolutionary Federation
(ARF), a small leftist party in Armenia with a big social and cultural
role among the diaspora. Asked why such groups demanded the unlikely
return of territory which no longer contains an Armenian population,
Monoyan said: “For the ARF, the territorial claims are a strategic
issue. When Turkey asks Armenia to sign agreements that it has no
territorial claims from Turkey, then it becomes a priority for us not
to sign such a document or make such an announcement. It is actually
Turkey which by its preconditions to Armenia to establish diplomatic
relations is making the territorial issue a priority.”

Progress stalled

In 2009 a provisional roadmap towards restarting a diplomatic
relationship and reopening the border was announced by the two
countries, but progress stalled and Armenia withdrew, saying
Turkey was imposing preconditions such as a deal with Azerbaijan on
Nagorno-Karabakh and the dropping of territorial claims. Armenia has
however never officially demanded territorial reparations, though
groups like the ARF and Armenia’s prosecutor general have done so.

Both states look on the complex issue of compensation legalistically.

Turkey is intent on securing a legal declaration from Armenia that
it does not seek any Turkish territory, while Armenians, many of
whose families had property confiscated during the genocide, insist
on legal compensation for their losses. What Armenian groups like
the ARF are effectively saying is that they are insulted that Turkey
wants them to drop legal claims to material compensation–and that
that is exactly why they are going to keep making them.

While Erdogan took the unprecedented step in 2014 of offering
‘condolences’ to the families of those killed in 1915, the government
is reluctant to offer a formal apology. This stems partly from fear
that it could be used to support claims for reparations–similar to
the reticence of the British Foreign Office about apologising for
colonial-era crimes.

Respected figure

A final strand to the complex interplay of national groups within
Anatolia and the wider region is the pro-Kurdish HDP, now the only
serious left-wing party in Turkey. It has a female as well as a male
leader but the latter, Selahattin DemirtaÃ…~_, is undoubtedly more
prominent. He is a respected figure with undeniable charisma, in
stark contrast to the old-fashioned and uninspiring leadership of the
secular-nationalist (now social-democratic) CHP, founded by Ataturk.

>From my conversations with leftist Turks, Armenians and Kurds in
Istanbul, the HDP is seen as the only promising trend in Turkish
politics. Many wealthier Armenians and Kurds vote for Erdogan’s AKP
but those of a more liberal disposition like what the HDP is saying.

They hope that, by pushing its support above 10% in June, they
will prevent the AKP from winning the 330 seats it needs to pass
constitutional amendments giving Erdogan even more power. This could
be a risky strategy, as falling short of the 10% threshold would see
the HDP win no seats at all.

The HDP has recognised the 1915 massacres as a genocide. In a recent
interview, DemirtaÃ…~_ said that “as long as democracy does not develop
in Turkey, as long as freedoms aren’t improved in Turkey, it will
not be possible to solve any of the country’s problems. Firstly,
there is a need for freedom of expression, the freedom to openly
express thoughts … As long as this freedom is not provided, how
can we talk about, for example, the Kurdish problem, the Armenian
genocide or the Alevi issue?”

The HDP is sponsoring reconciliation projects in eastern Turkey;
allowing Armenian churches to be rebuilt and conferences to be held. A
new generation of Kurds are talking about the historical guilt felt
by the descendants of those who participated in massacres, only to be
subsequently persecuted by the Turkish state themselves. Projects such
as these, and the social progress promised by the HDP in the areas
it administers, offer the best prospect of reconciliation between
the Turkish state and its minorities.

Silent

Armenians in Istanbul live today much as their ancestors did in
the 19th century–economically, socially and culturally integrated
in Turkish society. Unless they were to broadcast their ethnic
affiliation, nobody would know they were part of any minority, as
the ethnic mix of those who today call themselves ‘Turks’ is drawn
from all over the former Ottoman Empire. “Happy is the one who says
‘I am a Turk’,” said Ataturk, but the reality was that thousands who
were not Turks simply kept silent about the fact.

The AKP’s rise to power and its removal of the old Kemalist power
structures in the military, government and education was associated
with a period of relative freedom of expression in Turkey. Although
the authorities attempted to prosecute Orhan Pamuk, the Nobel Prize
winning author, for recognising the genocide in 2005, the charges
were eventually dropped.

Once the AKP was fully in control, however, it found that it quite
liked being in charge. Life has remained difficult for journalists in
Turkey, particularly if they are from a minority. If the government
continues its slide into ‘competitive authoritarianism’, things will
get worse for poorer Kurds, Alevis, Armenians, Jews and members of
other minorities.

The undercurrent of hatred created by the unresolved historical
question continues to create violence, such as the murder of
the Armenian Turkish journalist Hrant Dink in 2007, who was being
prosecuted for ‘insulting Turkishness’. His crime, ironically, was to
appeal to Armenians to let go of their demand for Turkey to confess
its historical guilt, to “replace the poisoned blood associated with
the Turk, with fresh blood associated with Armenia”. This statement
was read by extreme Turkish nationalists as suggesting that Turkish
blood was somehow dirty and probably inspired those who commissioned
his murder. But his words still stand: both sides must let go of
their hatred if there is to be any progress.

Further away

The centenary of the Armenian genocide is a milestone, to be sure,
but it will have little impact on the political direction of the
Turkish and Armenian states. If anything, the emotional significance
of the anniversary seems to have pushed any possible diplomatic
reconciliation further away.

On 24 April in Yerevan, System of a Down, the famous Armenian-American
rock band, will play to a crowd including thousands of diaspora
Armenians who will be travelling to the country for the first time.

They will find an impoverished country in an unstable region, with
thousands of new Armenian refugees from the Syria conflict. Meanwhile,
in Canakkale, the nearest town to the site of the Battle of Gallipoli,
as well as the historical site of ancient Troy, Turkish officials
will be remembering how their ancestors bravely fought off the
invading allies, while in the provinces Turkey’s minorities were
being systematically liquidated.

Away from the international posturing, though, in the newly
reconstructed Armenian church of Sourp Giragos in Diyarbakir, eastern
Turkey, Armenians and Kurds will hold a remembrance service likely
to be attended by many of Turkey’s ‘hidden Armenians’. While the
government’s history books still deny that the events of 1915 amount to
a genocide, many of the younger generation are looking again at their
national mythology and concluding that Turkey is no longer the victim
of Western political meddling–but an economic powerhouse which could
use its influence to bring greater stability to a troubled region.

—-John Lubbock is a journalist and research and advocacy officer
for the Bahrain Center for Human Rights.

PRESS RELEASE
National Association for Armenian
Studies and Research (NAASR)
395 Concord Avenue
Belmont, MA 02478
Tel.: 617-489-1610
E-mail: [email protected]

LAURE MARCHAND AND GUILLAUME PERRIER, NOTED FRENCH JOURNALISTS, TO
SPEAK AT NAASR

Acclaimed journalists Laure Marchand and Guillaume Perrier
will present a talk in conjunction with their newly published book
Turkey and the Armenian Ghost: On the Trail of the Genocide, on
Thursday, March 19, 2015, at 7:30 p.m., at the National Association
for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) Center, 395 Concord Ave.,
Belmont, MA 02478.
The first genocide of the twentieth century remains unrecognized and
unpunished. Turkey continues to deny the slaughter of over a million
Ottoman Armenians in 1915 and the following years. What sets the
Armenian Genocide apart from other mass atrocities is that the country
responsible has never officially acknowledged its actions, and no
individual has ever been brought to justice.
In Turkey and the Armenian Ghost (McGill-Queen’s University Press,
2015), with a foreword by Taner Akçam, a translation of the
award-winning La Turquie et le fantôme arménien, Laure Marchand (Le
Figaro and Le Nouvel Observateur) and Guillaume Perrier (Le Monde and
Le Point) visit historic sites and interview politicians, elderly
survivors, descendants, authors, and activists in a quest for the
hidden truth. Taking the reader into remote mountain regions, tiny
hamlets, and the homes of traumatized victims of a deadly persecution
that continues to this day, they reveal little-known aspects of the
history and culture of a people who have been rendered invisible in
their ancient homeland.
Seeking to illuminate complex issues of blame and responsibility,
guilt and innocence, the authors discuss the roles played in this
drama by the “righteous Turks,” the Kurds, the converts, the rebels,
and the “leftovers of the sword.” They also describe the struggle to
have the genocide officially recognized in Turkey, France, and the
United States. Arguing that this giant cover-up has had consequences
for Turks as well as for Armenians, the authors point to a society
sickened by a century of denial.
For more information about this event please contact NAASR at
617-489-1610 or [email protected].

Belmont, MA
March 2, 2015

PRESS OFFICE
Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern)
630 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Contact: Chris Zakian or Karine Abalyan
Tel: (212) 686-0710; Fax: (212) 779-3558
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:

Armenian Apostolic Church of Crescenta Valley-Education Committee
6252 Honolulu Ave.
Lacrescenta, CA. 91214
Tel: 818-244-9645
E-mail: [email protected]

On Sunday, March 8, 2015, the Educational Committee of the Armenian
Apostolic Church of Crescenta Valley will host a lecture on the
`Jesus’ Teaching on Fasting in the Gospel of Matthew’, presented by
Rev. Fr. Boghos Tinkjian. The lecture will begin at 1:00 p.m., at the
conclusion of Divine Liturgy, at the Prelacy `Dikran and Zarouhie Der
Ghazarian’ Hall (6250 Honolulu Ave, La Crescenta, CA 91214).

During His ministry on earth, Jesus taught us many things through His
lifestyle. The first lesson we should look at is the fasting, which He
performed before beginning His ministry.

In Matthew’s Gospel’s 6th chapter, Jesus teaches us how to live and
act on earth, in order to be worthy of heavenly rewards and how to
perform gracefully, only in ways that God can see and appreciate in
His Kingdom to come.

Jesus talks about the foundations of the Christian life, the ideal
acts that a Christian should build his life on, and the heavenly
necessities we all should worry about, instead of the earthly goods
that are perishable.

Fr. Boghos Tinkjian was born in Aleppo, Syria, where he received his
primary education. From 2003-2011 he attended the Seminary of the
Catholicosate of Cilicia. Upon completion of his studies he was
ordained a celibate priest by Seminary Dean H.E. Archbishop Nareg
Alemezian in 2011. Fr. Boghos has taught liturgical music and
Christian ethics within the Seminary, was the assistant librarian at
the Catholicosate Library, and during his last academic year was a
member of the administration at the Seminary.

In 2013, he arrived in Los Angeles where, by the ordinance of H.H.
Catholicos Aram I, he began studies at Fuller Seminary in Pasadena.

We invite our parishioners and the greater community to attend Divine
Liturgy and the presentation to follow. The event is free of charge to
the public. Those who would like to receive more information on or
sponsor the Educational Committee’s future lecture series are
encouraged to contact the Church at [email protected]
.

Below is the YouTube video on `Canonization of the Martyrs of the
Armenian Genocide’ presented by His Eminence Archbishop Moushegh
Mardirossian, Prelate of Western Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic
Church of America at the Crescenta Valley Armenian Apostolic Church in
LaCrescenta, California on Sunday 2/22/15.

Artsakh Remembers Sumgait Pogroms, 1,200 ARF Members Join Commemoration

By Weekly Staff on February 28, 2015

STEPANAKERT (A.W.)–Around 1,200 members of the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation-Dashnaktsutyun (ARF-D) joined high-level officials and
citizens in Nagorno-Karabagh (Artsakh) on Feb. 27 to commemorate the
27th anniversary of the Sumgait anti-Armenian pogroms, which took
place in 1988.

More than 1,000 ARF-D members traveled from Armenia to Artsakh to
participate in the commemoration events, carrying a message of
solidarity.

Artsakh President Bako Sahagyan, Speaker of the National Assembly
Ashot Ghulyan, high-level officials, and clergy–including Primate of
the Artsakh Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church Archbishop Pargev
Martirosyan–visited the Sumgait Memorial site in Stepanakert, where
they laid flowers. ARF-D Bureau Chairman Hrant Markarian led the
visiting party members in the commemoration events, reported
YerkirMedia.

The 1988 anti-Armenian Sumgait pogroms are commemorated in Artsakh,
with the participation of around 1,200 ARF-D members. (Photo:
Aparaj.am)

Sahagyan met with the ARF-D representatives and a delegation of
Artsakh War veterans from Armenia, as well as members of Armenia’s
National Assembly.

ARF-D Bureau Chairman Hrant Markarian joined President Bako Sahagyan
and other high-level officials in the commemoration ceremonies.
(Photo: Aparaj.am)

Speaking with the Armenian Weekly on Feb. 25, ARF-D Bureau member Giro
Manoyan said the purpose of the visit was to express support for
Artsakh. “The visits to the military units and outposts are aimed at
bringing attention to the constant ceasefire violations by Azerbaijan
and expressing support to our soldiers who are defending the borders
and the line of contact. The meetings with the Republic of Artsakh
leadership are also to express support to Artsakh,” said Manoyan.

2014 was the bloodiest year in the Nagorno-Karabagh conflict since the
1990’s, with 39 Azerbaijanis and 33 Armenians killed. By comparison,
the previous worst year on record, 2012, saw 14 Armenian and 20
Azerbaijani soldiers killed.

This year marks the 27th anniversary of the deadly pogroms of Sumgait,
which took place on Feb. 27, 1988. The pogroms are considered the
beginning of a systematic campaign by Azerbaijan’s OMON Special Forces
to use mass violence to uproot Armenians from Azerbaijan and Karabagh.
The Sumgait tragedy and its violent repetitions throughout the country
between 1988-91 led to the disappearance of 450,000 Armenians living
in the long-established Armenian community of Azerbaijan.

UNEMPLOYMENT AND DANGER OF RENEWED WAR NAMED AS LARGEST CHALLENGES FACING ARMENIA

YEREVAN, March 2. / ARKA /. Over 40% of respondents of a last autumn
survey named unemployment and the danger of a renewed war as the
largest challenges facing Armenia. The survey conducted by Gallup
International Association office in Armenia in 2014 November involved
1,067 respondents.

Asked which were the most serious challenges faced by their country
right now 43% of respondents said it was unemployment and as many
said it was the likelihood of renewed hostilities.

These findings were announced today by the head of Gallup International
Association in Armenia Aram Navasardyan

Other largest challenges were emigration and poverty.-0-