Author: Babajanian Karo

ADDRESS OF ARTSAKH REPUBLIC PRESIDENT BAKO SAHAKYAN IN CONNECTION WITH THE 1915 GENOCIDE VICTIMS’ MEMORIAL DAY

Tuesday, 24 April 2012 10:18

Dear compatriots,

In the history of our people April 24 has become the day of pain and
slaughter, the day of hardship and grief that unites all the world
spread Armenians for the remembrance of 1,5 million innocent victims
of the 1915 Armenian Genocide.

It unites against evil and crime, violence and terrorism that must be
recognized and condemned by humankind. We are grateful to all those who
are with us today and who raise their voice for the triumph of justice.

We come together today to say that the Armenians are now strong
and protected, and will do everything to ensure that such terrible
crimes would never be repeated. The Turkish people must turn this
dark chapter in its history and free the generations from this heavy
and humiliating legacy. It is an imperative that cannot be avoided.

OSKANIAN’S AND SYSTEM’S DESTINY
HAKOB BADALYAN

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 13:19:40 – 25/04/2012

Following the Prosperous Armenia campaign and Vartan Oskanian’s
special role in it, many think what Oskanian will do when the PAP
forms a coalition with the RPA after the elections.

In that case, Vartan Oskanian will either have to leave the party or
form opposition inside it.

Yet in that case, the PAP will be the unique party in Armenia to
have internal debates on its place and role in politics and in
government, and where the minority will not leave the party due to
internal disputes.

But the internal party debate in this case will hardly be the result
of democratic mind. It can be a technical trick when the PAP will try
to come to terms with the RPA and ensure minimum gain. On the other
hand, it will also try to ensure minimum public support to have a
firm foothold in dealing with the Republicans.

However, such a prospect is not likely.

First Vartan Oskanian is not so naïve to use a solid scheme of
criticism of government without leaving room for retreat. And Vartan
Oskanian is hardly the person who would use any option to retreat,
unlike some other political figures.

Besides, in case of coalition with the RPA, the so-called internal
democracy will hardly be helpful to the Prosperous Armenia, since the
Armenian society lacks political taste and ideas to be committed to
democratic mechanisms. In this case, the low level of the political
development of the society will not be helpful in deceiving but will
help avoid manipulations.

For this reason, it is more probable that the Republicans and PAP
will have a post-election agreement which will not be the traditional
coalition. It is more likely that the Prosperous Armenia will not enter
the coalition this time and will assume the role of the parliamentary
opposition promoting its own candidate for the presidential elections
of 2013.

The point is that the coalition mechanism of keeping power has
ceased being effective in Armenia. Along with the growth of civil
consciousness and development of informational technologies the
coalition partnership becomes ineffective. The division of the system
into government and opposition becomes more effective and consistent
with the public processes, since it is evident that the RPA and PAP
with their quality are unable to meet the state and public requirements
of Armenia.

The new government -opposition system may exhaust itself sooner than
the coalition partnership if the issue of mutual change is not posed
as a priority.

Certainly, the society has its own option – to rid of the RPA and PAP
altogether. Hence, it is necessary that the society form a political
system based on civil principles and priorities which will be different
from the current party system. The point is that the current party
systems, declaring the issue of getting rid of the acting system,
cooperate with the same parts of the system promoting only their next
replacement of each other.

ARMAVIA SUPPORTS CHIEF CIVIL AVIATION DEPARTMENT’S INITIATIVE TO REDUCE NUMBER OF COMPANIES CARRYING OUT MOSCOW-YEREVAN AND YEREVAN-MOSCOW FLIGHTS

arminfo
Wednesday, April 25, 14:53

We fully support the Chief Civil Aviation Department’s initiative
to reduce the number of companies carrying out Moscow-Yerevan and
Yerevan-Moscow flights, Mikhail Bagdasarov, the owner of Armavia,
the national air carrier of Armenia, said in an interview to ArmInfo.

He said that the current flight regime, when the Russian side is
represented by three-four companies, while the Armenian one by just
one carrier, is contrary to Armavia’s interests.

Bagdasarov believes that it is not normal when several Russian
companies carry just 300 passengers from or to Moscow. “This may
result in either their bankruptcy or the closure of the flights. We
have no such problems with other foreign companies. The main thing
that attracts foreigners is the high service prices at Zvartnots
Airport. So, what we call self-sufficiency, they call a profit,”
Bagdasarov said.

He dismissed the allegations saying that Armavia enjoys monopoly in
the sphere. “What monopoly are you talking about if there are dozens
of foreign companies having flights to Armenia. The only monopoly is
our flights to Tel Aviv and Athens,” Bagdasarov said,

ITAR TASS reported on Tuesday that during its last consultations with
Russia’s Transport Ministry Armenia’s Chief Civil Aviation Department
suggested that only two companies carry out the flights from each side
and that the flight frequency be reduced from 49 to 42 flights a week.

The Russians declined the offer. The new consultations are scheduled
for May 30.

To remind, in Mar 2012 Russia’s Federal Air Navigation Authority
stopped maintaining Armavia’s planes because of the company’s debts.

Armavia promised to repay its $5.3mln debt to Zvartnots Airport by
Sept 2012 in exchange for 25% discount in tariffs.

EGYPT COMMEMORATES VICTIMS OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

ARMENPRESS
25 April, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, APRIL 25, ARMENPRESS: Commemoration events of the 97th
anniversary of the Armenian Genocide launched in Egypt in the
evening of April 24. A holy liturgy was chanted in Saint Gregory the
Illuminator Church under the head of leader of the Egyptian-Armenian
Diocese Bishop Ashot Mnatsakanyan and a requiem for repose of the
victims was held.

The ritual was followed by a ceremony of putting wreaths to the
cross-stone dedicated to the memory of the Armenian genocide victims,
Foreign Affairs Ministry of Armenia told Armenpress. Armenian
Ambassador to Egypt Armen Melkonyan, the personnel of the embassy,
heads of community organizations, representatives of the Armenian
community attended the event.

In the evening “The Lark Farm” film about the Armenian genocide was
shown at Husaber Armenian club, Heliopolis.

Liturgy and requiem for repose of the victims of Armenian Genocide
were held in Saint Poghos-Petros Church of Alexandria as well.

On the same day ON TV Life satellite television channel broadcasted
a TV programme on Armenian genocide with participation of renowned
Armenologist, expert of genocide, professor, Dr. Mohamed Refaat
El Imam.

SARKOZY AND HOLLAND COMMEMORATE THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

armradio.am
25.04.2012 11:09

French presidential candidates Nicolas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande
attended the commemoration of the 97th anniversary of the Armenian
genocide in Paris on Tuesday. The candidates, however, didn’t meet
one another during the event.

The first to arrive up to 19h of Canada, the Socialist candidate
reiterated his commitment to pass a law criminalizing denial of the
genocide of 1915 whatever the pressures.

I will take all necessary steps for passage of the bill. The Armenian
history will never be forgotten as it will never be disputed,” he said.

Sarkozy, too, pledged to adopt a bill penalizing the Armenian Genocide
denial.

“As head of state, I was forced to bow to the decision of the
Constitutional Council but not in front of my conviction,” the
incumbent President said, promising new text, which will be presented
in June.

OBAMA APPELLE A LA RECONNAISSANCE ” TOTALE ET JUSTE ” DES MASSACRES EN ARMENIE
Stephane

armenews.com
mercredi 25 avril 2012

Le president americain Barack Obama a commemore mardi les massacres
en Armenie du debut du siècle dernier, appelant a une “reconnaissance
totale, franche et juste des faits”.

Denoncant ces massacres d’Armeniens sous l’Empire ottoman comme “une
des pires atrocites du 20e siècle”, Barack Obama n’a cependant pas
employe le terme de genocide, mais appele implicitement la Turquie
a reconnaître son rôle.

“J’ai a de maintes reprises donne mon point de vue sur ce qui s’est
passe en 1915. Mon point de vue sur ce fait historique n’a pas change”,
a declare M. Obama dans un communique publie par la Maison Blanche a
l’occasion du 97e anniversaire des massacres d’Armeniens sous l’Empire
ottoman, qui constituent un genocide selon l’Armenie, un terme rejete
par la Turquie.

“Une reconnaissance totale, franche et juste des faits est dans
l’interet de tous. Nous ne pouvons pas aller de l’avant sans prendre
en compte les faits qui se sont deroules par le passe”, a souligne M.
Obama.

Le communique de la Maison Blanche intervient au moment où des milliers
d’Armeniens defilaient a Erevan a l’occasion du genocide. Dès le matin,
des foules ont afflue vers un memorial de la capitale armenienne pour
y deposer des fleurs et allumer des bougies en souvenir des victimes.

Les persecutions des Armeniens sont commemorees chaque annee le 24
avril, date de l’arrestation en 1915 a Constantinople de plus de 200
intellectuels et dirigeants de la communaute armenienne, un evenement
qui avait marque le debut d’une vague de massacres et de deportations
ayant dure jusqu’en 1917.

Pour les Armeniens, le genocide a fait plus de 1,5 million de morts,
alors que la Turquie ne reconnaît qu’entre 300.000 et 500.000 morts.

Elle refute ainsi le terme de genocide, meme si elle reconnaît des
massacres.

Le president Obama a assure que cet anniversaire devait “honorer
la memoire du million et demi d’Armeniens qui ont ete brutalement
massacres ou ont marche vers la mort”. “A travers nos mots et nos
actions, il est de notre obligation d’entretenir la flamme du souvenir
de ceux qui ont peri et de nous assurer que de tels chapitres sombres
de notre histoire ne se repètent plus jamais”.

CE SOIR RAFFY SHART PRESENTE ” LES ENFANTS DE L’OUBLI ” A L’UGAB
Jean Eckian

armenews.com
mercredi 25 avril 2012

A l’occasion de la parution de son premier roman ” Les enfants de
l’oubli “, le cineaste Raffy Shart, auteur et metteur en scène de la
pièce ” Ma femme s’appelle Maurice ” (1997) avec Philippe Chevallier
et Regis Laspalès et du film ” Incontrôlable ” (2006), avec Michaël
Youn, Thierry Lhermitte, Patrick Timsit et Helène de Fougerolles,
presentera l’histoire tragique de du peuple armenien en 1915 et le
destin croise de Zevart et Kevork sur plusieurs decennies.

1913, Bitlis, ancienne province du royaume d’Armenie, dans l’est
de l’Empire ottoman. Kevork et Zevart se jurent leur amour mais
doivent se dire adieu. La jeune fille part vivre a Paris car son père
souhaite l’eloigner d’un danger qu’il pressent imminent. À peine un
an plus tard, des hommes de Constantinople debarquent a Bitlis. Les ”
Jeunes-Turcs “, qui ont pris le pouvoir, ont donne l’ordre d’arreter
et de deporter des millions d’Armeniens. Kevork et ses proches vont
dès lors devenir les victimes d’une traque impitoyable.

Presente par Raffi Montjiant, ancien president de l’UGAB Paris/IDF,
Raffy Shart dedicacera son livre au Centre Culturel Alex Manoogian
de l’UGAB Mercredi 25 Avril a 20h : 118 rue de Courcelles, Paris 17e,
metro Coucelles.

Depuis sa recente parution, ce roman est classe dans les meilleures
ventes du site Amazon dans la categorie ” romans historiques”.

“Les Enfants de l’oubli” : Editions du Cherche Midi – 22 ~@

“MODERN TURKISH STATE DOES NOT WANT TO FACE THE GENOCIDE, BECAUSE…”

BIAnet.org

April 24 2012
Turkey

THE DIRECTOR OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE MUSEUM INSTITUTE HAYK DEMOYAN:

The director of Armenian Genocide Museum Institute Hayk Demoyan spoke
to bianet about the museum studies, the new partition of the museum
“Anatolians that helped Armenians” and the genocide process.

Ekin KARACA [email protected] 24 April 2012, Tuesday

At the 97th anniversary of April 24th, 1915 Armenian Genocide, we
interviewed with the director of Armenian Genocide Museum Institute
Hayk Demoyan about the genocide process and the “Anatolians that
helped Armenians” partition of the museum.

Demoyan states that more than a million Armenians were killed within
1915-1918 and they were killed on their own territories, however he
mentions that “Genocides are not measured by the number of victims”
and “Genocide is a process and preplanned policy”.

Demoyan says they’ve been working on the “Anatolian people rescued
the Armenians against genocide and dislocation” issue for 4 years
and he adds:

“Any documents, photos related to those ‘righteous’ people will be
much welcomed.”

First of all, could you please tell us about the history of the
museum? How is the interest of people to the museum? What kind of
activities you carry out? What are exhibited in the museum regarding
1915?

Our museum was established in 1995 as a part of the Armenian genocide
memorial constructed on the Tsitsernakaberd hill in Yerevan in 1967.

Since then we had millions of visitors, among them are Presidents,
Ministers, political figures, military and religious leaders from
all over the world. Visiting to the Tsitsernakaberd memorial and
the museum is a part of official protocol visits in Armenia. The
museum is also a research institute operating as a separate unit in
the system of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of
Armenia. The museum focuses on collecting anything related to the
Armenian Genocide, including oral histories, handwritten memoirs,
personal belongings of victims and survivors, books, magazines,
newspapers, memorabilia, photographs, films and many other items. We
study, preserve and exhibit those items both in permanent and temporary
exhibitions of the museum. We also work on identifing victims. This
is very important, since everyone out of one and half million victims
must be remembered and honored.

The Museum is getting prepared for the Centennial in 2015. We plan
to extend the existing building with new blocks and facilities. We
have more to show and to tell.

In the permanent exhibition we show only five percent of what we have
in our collection. Every year AGMI organizes temporary exhibition,
publishes dozens of volumes on the subject of the Armenian Genocide.

We have our website: which is the richest web
resourse on the topic of the Armenian Genocide materials available
in Armenian, English, Russian and Turkish.

In the museum you have a project about the Turks that saved Armenians
from the genocide in Anatolia. How do you think this project will
affect the genocide debates that exist for many years?

The Museum collects data on such cases as part of the overall study
of the Armenian Genocide. Yes, many Muslims saved Armenian lives, and
this is an inseparable part of the history of the Armenian Genocide.

While finding such cases, it gives us confirmation of the situation
during the Armenian Genocide. As for affecting “Genocide debates”,
I do not think it will have any influence on the meaning of Genocide,
rather it will reveal important part of the story, which is very
common by the way in other Genocidal related occurrences. We call them
“Righteous”, person who while risking his own and family member’s lives
try to rescue representatives of the targeted group from inescapable
death. The names of such individuals must be remembered.

There are special categories for these individuals who saved Armenian
lives, depending on their personal motivations: economical, personal
interest in terms of forced marriage, labor force. But we consider
real rescue those cases those when a person or family hosted, hid,
fed and supported the escape from death.

“The rescue stories come to prove the very planned character of the
Armenian Genocide”

According to your surveys, how many Armenians are estimated to be
saved from the genocide/deportation by both local administrators and
the public in Anatolia? Would the size of the genocide change much
if there were no such protection/support?

It is very hard to bring any statistical data on this. It could be
hundreds or thousands. We know that some of the administrators either
were removed from their position or were punished for opposing the
Ottoman State policy of Genocide. As for the “Size of Genocide,” let’s
not forget that Genocides are not measured by the number of victims.

Genocide is a process and preplanned policy with the clear intention
to eliminate targeted group in whole or in part. Armenians were
targeted and the Armenian Genocide was a state planned and implemented
policy. The intention of the Young Turkish leaders also is proven by
numerous testimonies and documents. In case of the number of Armenians,
more than a million were killed within 1915-1918 and they were killed
on their own territories of their historical homeland known since
the ancient periods as Armenia. These events are major reasons the
modern Turkish State does not want to face with.

How is the reaction of the Armenians towards your project? Are there
any risks of opening such a partition at the Armenian Genocide Museum?

We do our job openly and everyone can check what we do on our website.

Many Armenian families had stories of rescue. Actually who were
the rescuers? Those who opposed the Government orders not to help
Armenians, being under the danger to be punished severely. The Ottoman
government ordered to execute those Muslims, in front of their houses,
who hid Armenians. Those who opposed to this order, they opposed
against the genocide policy of the government. The rescue stories
come to prove the very planned character of the Armenian Genocide so
we have no fear or reservation concerning those facts.

How was your work about the Anatolian people protected the Armenians
against genocide? For how many years does it last?

Four years ago we started to collect more data on the cases of
rescue on the territory of Western Armenia and other territories
of the Ottoman Empire. I would like to call all those who have such
stories to send us their own family stories and to help us enrich the
Collection of the Museum, and to preserve the facts of the Armenian
Genocide and hopefully, to prevent future Genocides. The photos of
the rescuers will be much welcomed.

At one of your interviews you mentioned that Ataturk was also against
deportation. He stopped the train when he saw hundreds of people
walking on the road and told them to go back home, so saved their
lives. Could you please tell us in short Ataturk’s approach towards
Armenian genocide / relocation?

Actually there is misinterpretation of my words concerning my interview
and some comments about the Ataturk case which was published in 2008 in
“Economist”. After that misrepresentation many Armenian pseudo-patriots
began to accuse me in “treachery.” They were not aware that I was
speaking about the case when in 1932 Ataturk sent some Armenian
deportees from the surrounding villages of Istanbul back to their
home after witnessing their miserable situation… Ataturk did so in
1932, but not in 1915 as it was reported in that article .We have
that Norwegian source in our collection and it was translated and
disseminated couple of years ago Let’s say… So what if Ataturk did
save a few Armenians during his own administration?

Every professional historian knows that Ataturk was a member of the
“Union and Progress” party, the leaders of which were responsible
for organizing and committing the Armenian Genocide. Moreover he was
a member of “TeÅ~_kilat i- Mahsusa”, a special organization set for
implementation of diabolic plan of the genocide. Even if, there are
no evidence that he was directly involved in the decision making and
implementation of the genocidal plan, by being one of the protectors of
the persons directly involved in mass killings and looting of Armenian
property Ataturk continued the policy of mass murder of Armenians
on the territory of Russian Armenia, tens of thousands returnees who
survived horrors of Young Turkish deportation were massacred in Cilicia
in 1920-1922. This year we will also remember the Armenian and Greek
victims of “Smyrna fire” in September 1922. It was the final stage
of the Armenian Genocide in overall genocidal policy that started
from Sultan Abdul Hamid’s period in 1894-1896, continued in Adana
in 1909, and went to its apex in 1915-1918 by the Young Turks and
was finalized by Kemalists within 1920-1922. During the last period
nearly 200,000 Armenians lost their lives. So having all this data
and facts we could claim that Armenian Genocide was on the agenda of
three regimes in Turkey: Sultan’s, Young Turkish and Kemalist.(EKN)

OBAMA AGAIN BREAKS PROMISE TO COMMEMORATE ARMENIAN ‘GENOCIDE’
By Olivier Knox

ABC News

April 24 2012

One day after paying a solemn visit to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial
Museum, President Barack Obama on Tuesday called the mass killings
of Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Turks in 1915 “one of the
worst atrocities of the 20th century” but again broke a 2008 campaign
promise to label the tragedy “genocide.”

“We honor the memory of the 1.5 million Armenians who were brutally
massacred or marched to their deaths in the waning days of the Ottoman
Empire,” Obama said in a written statement on Armenian Remembrance Day.

“A full, frank, and just acknowledgement of the facts is in all of
our interests. Moving forward with the future cannot be done without
reckoning with the facts of the past,” Obama said in a implicit
appeal for vital American ally Turkey to move closer to recognizing
the massacre.

Turkey, a NATO member, fiercely disputes the genocide charge, and has
warned that formal U.S. steps to use the term will hamper relations.

Turkey’s Ambassador to Washington Namik Tan sharply criticized a
similar statement from Obama in 2011, taking to Twitter to denounce
it as inaccurate, flawed, and one-sided.

The issue is also a powerful one for Armenian Americans. “The Armenian
Reporter” news site has repeatedly and forcefully condemned what it
mockingly calls “amnesia” on the part of Obama and Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton, who as senators co-sponsored a resolution calling
for the use of the term “genocide” when discussing the tragedy.

On Oct. 2, 2008, the paper published a letter from then-candidate
Obama in which he trumpeted “my firmly held conviction that the
Armenian Genocide is not an allegation, a personal opinion, or a
point of view, but rather a widely documented fact supported by an
overwhelming body of historical evidence.”

“The facts are undeniable. An official policy that calls on diplomats
to distort the historical facts is an untenable policy,” Obama wrote.

“As President I will recognize the Armenian Genocide.”

The chairman of the Armenian National Committee of America, Ken
Hachikian, issued a blistering denunciation of Obama’s latest
statement, saying it made “a stark lie” out of his 2008 campaign
pledge and charged it “represents the very opposite of the principled
and honest change he promised to Armenian Americans and to all the
citizens of our nation.”

Armenian-American celebrity Kim Kardashian marked the event on her
official Twitter feed, @kimkardashian. “Today lets all stand together
& remember the 1.5 million people who were massacred in the Armenian
Genocide. April 24th, 1915. #NEVERFORGET,” she wrote.

ANCA, which has a list detailing Obama’s pre-White House support for
labeling the massacre a “genocide,” recently condemned Clinton for
saying recently that whether to call it that “has always been viewed,
and I think properly so, as a matter of historical debate.”

Over 20 countries have recognized the events of 1915 as genocide,
and 42 U.S. states have done so as well, either by legislation or
proclamation. Congressional resolutions aimed at doing the same at
the national level have never become law. Successive presidents have
objected on grounds that doing so risks angering Turkey.

TURKEY VOICES ‘DEEP REGRET’ OVER OBAMA’S ARMENIAN ADDRESS

Dawn
April 25 2012
Pakistan

People attend a religious service marking the anniversary of mass
killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in 1915, at an Armenian
church in Tbilisi April 24 2012. -Reuters Photo

ANKARA: Turkey Tuesday voiced “deep regret”over US President Barack
Obama’s description of the massacre of Armenians as “one of the worst
atrocities of the 20th century,” saying it was biased.

“We find the statement that distorts historical facts as very
problematic in every respect and deeply regret it,” the foreign
ministry said in a written statement.

In an annual message commemorating the World War I massacre of
Armenians by Ottoman Turks, Obama Tuesday called for “a full, frank,
and just acknowledgment of the facts” of the “brutal” killings.

While denouncing the massacre of 97 years Obama did not use the term
“genocide,” but he implicitly called on Turkey to acknowledge the
role played by the Ottoman Empire.

The foreign ministry said such “one-sided statements” were complicating
efforts to normalise ties between neighbours Turkey and Armenia.

“We expect an important ally like the United States not to deepen the
problem by adopting an approach harming Turkish-Armenian relations,
but to contribute to a solution in a constructive manner,” said
the ministry.

Armenians say up to 1.5 million people were killed during World War
I as the Ottoman Empire was falling apart.

Turkey denies a genocide occurred and says up to 500,000 Armenians
and at least as many Turks died in civil strife when Armenians rose
against their Ottoman rulers and sided with invading Russian troops.