Author: Badalian Vardan

L’ARMENIE COMMEMORE LE 97E ANNIVERSAIRE DU DEBUT DU GENOCIDE DES ARMENIENS
Laetitia

armenews.com
mercredi 25 avril 2012

Des centaines de milliers de personnes ont fait une marche jusqu’au
memorial d’Erevan mardi 24 avril 2012 pour commemorer le 97e
anniversaire du debut du genocide des Armeniens en Turquie.

Cette commemoration est un rituel annuel depuis les cinq dernières
decennies. De nombreuses personnes ont depose des fleurs tout au long
de la journee au memorial Tsitsernakabert.

” Les grands-parents de mon mari ont fui la Turquie “, a declare une
femme venant deposee une rose rouge. ” Les Turcs ont tue le frère de
son grand-père. ”

La procession silencieuse a commence dans la matinee après une
ceremonie officielle en presence du president Serge Sarkissian,
d’autres fonctionnaires de l’Etat et le clerge de l’Eglise apostolique
armenienne. Le Catholicos Garegin, chef supreme de l’Eglise, a fait
une prière pour les morts.

” Aujourd’hui, nous, tout comme beaucoup d’autres personnes dans le
monde, nous pensons aux victimes du genocide armenien “, a declare
Sarkissian lors de son discours.

Sarkissian a declare que le gouvernement armenien va intensifier ses
efforts pour parvenir a une plus grande reconnaissance internationale
du genocide. Le porte-parole du parti republicain, Edouard Sharmazanov,
a reaffirme cet engagement mardi.

” Nous pensons que la Turquie doit reconnaître le genocide armenien,
lever le blocus et normaliser les relations [turco-armeniennes] sans
conditions prealables “, a declare aux journalistes Sharmazanov au
memorial du genocide. ” La necessite que la Turquie reconnaisse le
genocide a egalement ete soulignee par les Armeniens en visite au
memorial de Tsitsernakabert. Le monde va reconnaître le genocide,
tôt ou tard, mais il est important que la Turquie le reconnaisse “,
a declare un homme.

” La Turquie doit etre prete a le reconnaître. Ce n’est pas grave si
nous n’obtenons pas le mont Ararat ou une indemnisation. Ils ont juste
besoin de reconnaître ce que leurs ancetres ont fait “, at-il dit.

Un autre homme a suggere que la normalisation des relations
turco-armeniennes est essentielle pour la reconnaissance du genocide.

” L’Armenie ne franchira pas l’etape [vers la ratification du
protocole] tant que la Turquie ne fait pas quant a elle un pas vers
nous “, a declare Sharmazanov .

ARTSAKH SPEAKER: GENOCIDE RECOGNITION CAMPAIGN MUST CONTINUE

PanARMENIAN.Net
April 24, 2012 – 22:22 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – There must be continuation of the Armenian Genocide
recognition campaign, Nagorno Karabakh National Assembly speaker said.

“We won’t stop making demands even after all the countries worldwide
recognize the Armenian Genocide due to its being a legal and political
assessment,” Ashot Ghulyan told a press conference in Stepanakert.

He noted that all the marches to Genocide memorials prove the
commitment of Armenians worldwide to principles of demands on
acknowledgment of the blatant fact.

“Hopefully the turning point that occurred about two decades ago
when the Armenian Genocide recognition issue was put on a number of
parliaments’ agenda will have a continuation, as the current policy
of Turkey fits into the framework of neither international law, nor
the international relations,” Karabakh-open.info quoted the speaker
as saying.

ON ARMENIAN REMEMBRANCE DAY, OBAMA AGAIN AVOIDS ‘GENOCIDE’

KGO 810

April 24 2012
San Francisco

(WASHINGTON) — On the fourth Armenian Remembrance Day of his
presidency, President Obama has for the fourth time in a row broken
his promise to the Armenian community to use the word “genocide”
in describing what happened at the hands of the Turks roughly a
century ago.

As a senator, and then as a presidential candidate, Obama often
talked about how bold he was to call the slaughter of an estimated
1.5 million Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire just what
it was: a genocide.

“America deserves a leader who speaks truthfully about the Armenian
Genocide and responds forcefully to all genocides,” he said. “I intend
to be that president.”

In a January 2008 letter to the Armenian Reporter, Obama said he
shared “with Armenian Americans — so many of whom are descended from
genocide survivors — a principled commitment to commemorating and
ending genocide. That starts with acknowledging the tragic instances
of genocide in world history.”

In 2006, Obama noted, “I criticized the secretary of state [Condoleezza
Rice] for the firing of U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John Evans,
after he properly used the term ‘genocide’ to describe Turkey’s
slaughter of thousands of Armenians starting in 1915. I shared with
Secretary Rice 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.”

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

That was then, and this is now. As previous presidents have concluded,
Obama has decided that distorting the historical facts is better than
alienating ally Turkey, which disputes that term. And that policy
has been, at least in the short term, quite tenable.

The president in his statement on Tuesday said: “I have consistently
stated my own view of what occurred in 1915. My view of that history
has not changed. 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. …Some individuals
have already taken this courageous step forward. We applaud those
Armenians and Turks who have taken this path, and we hope that many
more will choose it, with the support of their governments, as well
as mine.”

OBAMA AVOIDS ARMENIAN ‘GENOCIDE’

The Daily Beast

April 24 2012

President Obama is getting heat for his speech honoring Armenian
Remembrance Day. The president avoided mentioning the word “genocide”
for the fourth year in a row, despite having vowed as a presidential
candidate to acknowledge it. In a statement, the chairman of the
Armenian National Committee of America voiced his feelings of betrayal,
condemning the president and saying his “pledge to recognize the
Armenian genocide stands as a stark lie.” While Obama emphasized that
his “view of history has not changed” and applauded diplomacy efforts
between Armenians and Turks, his speech was criticized by the other
side as well, with the Turkish ambassador in Washington calling the
president’s statement “wrongful” and “distorted.”

IN TURKEY, HUNDREDS MARK ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

Focus News

April 24 2012
Bulgaria

Istanbul. Hundreds demonstrated in Istanbul’s central Taksim square on
Tuesday to commemorate the 97th anniversary of the Armenian genocide
by Ottoman Turks during World War I, AFP reported.

The large group of Turkish, Armenian and Kurdish protesters staged a
sit-in, holding pictures of prominent Armenian intellectuals including
journalist Hrant Dink, who was killed in 2007 in front of his Istanbul
office.

“We are here to say this pain belongs to all of us … We are trying
to share the pain of Armenians,” said Senol Karakas, a spokesman for
the group.

The group sat in silence, some of them crying.

ANGELENOS COMMEMORATE, SEEK RECOGNITION FOR ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

89.3 KPCC

April 24 2012

Hundreds of Angelenos gathered at the steps of Pasadena City Hall
on Tuesday to pay tribute to the hundreds of thousands of Armenians
killed by forces loyal to the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1923.

The event was organized by the Armenian Community Coalition on the
massacre’s 97-year anniversary.

While the event was focused on raising awareness and recognition of
the attacks within the Armenian community, lawmakers and speakers
also pushed for official recognition of the Armenian genocide from
the city and federal governments.

“If we continue not to recognize the genocide, officially, it not
only hurts us as Americans, I believe it hurts Turkey also,” says
David Mgrublian, CEO of IDS Real Estate Group. “As long as the
Armenian-American community doesn’t allow the American public to
forget, I think the likelihood of recognition is inevitable. It’s
just a matter of time.”

Mgrublian lost seven of eight grandparents in the killings.

Roy Boulghourjian of the Armenian Community Coalition says they are in
talks with the city of Pasadena to erect a monument in Memorial Park.

The slaughter of Armenians that began in 1915 is regarded by many to
be the first genocide of the 20th Century. But Turkey has historically
denied that the killings qualify as genocide, and President Obama has
been hesitant to use the term – even after a congressional committee
voted to.

“It’s not in our culture to not act on the truth,” said Khatchik
“Chris” Chahinian, chairman of the Armenian Community Coalition. “When
we have put it to the side, it’s hurt our country.”

The commemoration included a number of speakers, performers, school
groups and religious leaders. Pasadena Mayor Bill Bogaard spoke, as did
representatives of Congress and the Consul of the Republic of Armenia.

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE DENIED AND REMEMBERED

Examiner.com

April 25 2012

John M. Curtis
LA City Buzz Examiner

Forced to deal with one of the great crimes of the 20th Century,
Armenian Remembrance Day commemorates the systematic extermination
of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Young Turks regime during
and after WWW I [1915-1923]. Calling the event “one of the worst
atrocities of the 20th Century,” President Barack Obama stopped short
of labeling the massacre a “genocide,” something vehemently rejected
by the current Turkish government. Events surrounding the Armenian
genocide have been well documented, beginning April 24, 1915 when
the Young Turk military rounded up some 250 Armenian intellectuals
and community leaders in Constantinople suspected of ties to Russia’s
Marxist Bolshevik revolution, leading them on a death march into the
Syrian desert, depriving them of food and water. Young Turks continued
the Armenian massacre through 1923.

“We honor the memory of the 1.5 million Armenians who were brutally
massacred or marched to their death in the waning days of the Ottoman
Empire,” Barack read from a prepared statement, stopping short of
labeling the event “genocide.” Coined by Polish Jewish legal scholar
Raphael Lemkin [1900-1959] in 1944 following the Nazi extermination
of European Jews, the term genocide designates the “destruction of
a nation or an ethnic group,” something akin to wiping out social,
cultural, political and religious institutions. Lemkin’s first
definition in 1933 to the League of Nations included “a crime of
barbarity,” citing the Ottoman Turks slaughter of Armenians during and
after WW I. Lemkin’s definition surfaced in Count 3 at the Nuremberg
Trials of 24 Nazi war criminals, specifying defendants “conducted
deliberate and systematic genocide-namely, the extermination of racial
and national groups.”

AZERBAIJAN PROTESTS ARMENIA’S NUCLEAR POWER STATION

The Messenger
April 25 2012
Georgia

Azerbaijan has appealed to the Security Council of the UN to force
Armenia to close down its nuclear power station. Azeri representative
to the UN Akshim Mekhdiev supports the idea that the South Caucasus
should become a nuclear energy free zone. He highlighted the possible
problems the Armenian nuclear power plant may cause to environment.

AAA MEMBER: U.S. IS NOT A COUNTRY WHERE WE MAKE EXCUSES

PanARMENIAN.Net
April 24, 2012 – 10:44 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – The Armenian Assembly of America joined with
thousands of fellow Armenians for the 97th anniversary commemoration
of the Armenian Genocide in New York City organized by the Knights
and Daughters of Vartan, reported the Assembly.

Alex Karapetian, an Armenian Assembly Intern Alumnus and ARAMAC State
Chair from Pennsylvania, delivered remarks on behalf of the Armenian
Assembly. “There have been too many atrocities, too many genocides,
and the Armenian-American community has a special responsibility to
rise in defense of others who become targets of persecution,” said
Karapetian. “We must continue to raise our voices until the scourge of
genocide is ended and all those who suffered are awarded their dignity
through recognition for the crimes committed against them. These
crimes against humanity must not go unanswered,” Karapetian continued.

Recognizing the tremendous responsibility of his generation to carry
the community’s message forward, Karapetian stated that “I am here
to tell you that we will. No one can or will deny us that.”

Acknowledging the remarks made by Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY),
Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Representative Carolyn Maloney (D-NY)
along with Armenian Caucus Co-Chair Representative Frank Pallone, Jr.

(D-NJ), Karapetian stated that there is another elected official
he would like to hear from, and that is the President of the United
States. “The United States of America is not a country where we make
excuses or shirk our responsibilities,” Karapetian said. Recounting
the promise to recognize the Armenian Genocide, Karapetian quoted
then Senator Obama wherein he stated “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. These facts are undeniable.”

“Mr. President, we are watching. The whole world is watching,”
Karapetian concluded.

ARMENIAN-AMERICANS HOLD PROTEST AT WHITE HOUSE

PanARMENIAN.Net
April 24, 2012 – 10:33 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Armenian-Americans from across the Greater Washington
area rallied in front of the White House just days before President
Obama’s annual April 24 remarks, urging him to honor his pledge to
properly characterize the murder of 1.5 million Armenians by the
Ottoman Turkish Government as Genocide.

According to Asbarez, the protest was organized by the Armenian
Youth Federation “Ani” Chapter, in coordination with a coalition of
Armenian American groups comprising the Armenian Genocide Commemorative
Committee of Greater Washington.

“President Obama’s record on genocide – whether it has been his
failure to recognize the Armenian Genocide or to put an end to
Sudanese President Omer al Bashir’s attacks on the Nuba people
and South Kordofan – falls far short of the ‘unstinting resolve’ he
pledged as Senator and presidential candidate to stand up to genocide,”
said AYF Ani Chapter President Tevin Polatian.

“President Obama has instead resorted to empty rhetoric and worse,
in the case of the Armenian Genocide, pressured Armenia to support
the Turkey-Armenia Protocols – the latest in the arsenal of Turkey’s
tactics to avoid dealing with this dark page in its past.” Polatian
continued to note, however, that “It’s not too late. President Obama,
on April 24th, has the opportunity to set the record straight – honor
the bravery and principles of U.S. diplomats like Henry Morgenthau
and John Evans – and describe the murder of 1.5 million Armenians
for what it was – Genocide.”

Among the White House protesters was Visalia, California Mayor Amy
Shuklian, who marched in memory of her grandmother, Aroosiag, who was
a survivor of the Armenian Genocide. Shuklian was clear and succinct
in her message to President Obama that day: “Recognize the Genocide
for what it was, Mr. President – a Genocide.”

Armenian Genocide Commemorative Committee of Greater Washington member
Jake Bournazian offered a passionate message to President Obama,
urging him to honor the founding principles of the United States and
become a great president by recognizing the Armenian Genocide.

Bournazian detailed the cultural genocide being committed by the
Turkish Government today, citing the ongoing destruction of centuries
old Armenian Churches, and the need for Turkey to not only recognize
the Armenian Genocide but make reparations to the Armenian people.

At the end of the two-hour demonstration, protesters were drenched
from the torrential rain, but undeterred in their calls upon President
Obama to end Turkey’s gag rule on U.S. affirmation of this crime with
a clear and unambiguous statement on April 24.