Author: Badalian Vardan

20 Nisan 2014 Pazar

WHY ISLAM IS WORSE THAN NAZISM

I am an atheist author and poet, who had lived as a Sunni Muslim for
23 years from his birth, and I am still living in a Muslim country,
Turkey, and also all of my parents and relatives are already
Muslim. So, my critics about Islam can be easily considered as an
inside view.

I know that the title of the essay seems assertive, but I will explain
the rightness of this title step by step in this essay.

First of all you have to learn that about Islam, if you are an
`outsider’, a non-Muslim, for example a Christian, an atheist, a
Buddhist, a Jew or whatever else, all Muslims have the `right’ of
killing and raping you, grabbing your all properties, your country,
land, money and anything else. They take this `right’ from the book of
their belief Quran. With another words, they take this `right’ from
their belief’s core, theology of Islam.

Here are some example verses from Quran.

This verse of Quran is about `all non-Muslims’, all `heretics’!,
Christians, Buddhists, Atheists, Jews, etc., as describing them `who
wage war against Allah and His Messenger (Muhammad)’

Surat Al-Ma’idah (5.33)

`Indeed, the penalty for those who wage war against Allah and His
Messenger and strive upon earth [to cause] corruption is none but that
they be killed or crucified or that their hands and feet be cut off
from opposite sides or that they be exiled from the land. That is for
them a disgrace in this world; and for them in the Hereafter is a
great punishment,’

And this verse of Quran is about the killing order of the humans who
left Islam, the apostates.

Surat An-Nisa’ (4.89)

`They wish you would disbelieve as they disbelieved so you would be
alike. So do not take from among them allies until they emigrate for
the cause of Allah. But if they turn away, then seize them and kill
them wherever you find them and take not from among them any ally or
helper.’

Look at the current situation in Syria. How can Islamist terrorists
slaughter Alevi people or rape Christian women so easily, because they
take this `right’ from their belief and they believe that they will go
to the heaven because of these vandalistic actions against
`outsiders’, who are out of Islam, who don’t believe the same
religious with them, in other words who are the `heretics’ according
to their belief. Some Muslims say that `But they are not the real
Muslims.’ That is big lie that is the exact form of real Islam,
because these vandalistic actions are proper to the orders of Quran.

You have heard many times that `Islam is a tolerance religion’. That
is the biggest lie that you can hear all over the World, and this lie
is used as a mask to hide the terrible face of Islam. There is NO
difference between Islam and Islamism. This is the main fault that
modern world make about Islam. There are not different forms as Islam
and Islamism, they are the same thing, and they have the same
content. This separation is just only an illusion and it is used by
Muslims to hide the brutal, hateful, oppressive, murderous, genocidal
face of Islam.

Islam theology is based on the verses of Quran and hadiths. Hadiths
are the words and actions of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and all
Muslims must follow these words and actions addition to the orders of
Quran. For example, you have to have a shit as Muhammad did, and you
have to clean your ass as he did, or you can rape and enslave a
`heretic’ woman in a war as a sex slave as Muhammad did, or you can
torture your enemy in a war to learn the place of his hidden money as
Muhammad did.

You `must’ cut the hand of a thief as Muhammad did, not any prison
sentence according to the modern laws is enough.

You must stone a woman to death as Muhammad did, because she made sex
out of the rules of Islam (but you must only whip her partner a
hundred times). You can never set them free as considering that their
sexual actions are about their own personal relations and freedom
according to modern laws, if you are Muslim. You must definitely apply
the punishments of Muhammad as stoning the woman to the death and
whipping a hundred times her partner if you want to be a good Muslim.

You must kill the man who left Islam belief as Muhammad did. You can’t
say `This is his own chose and he has the freedom of thought and
belief’, because it is an order of Quran that you `must’ kill the
persons who were Muslim before and then left the Islam religion.

You must kill all homosexuals according to the orders of Islam. None
of Muslims can say according to Islam that their sexual orientation is
their own natural right according to the human rights norms of our
age.

You have the `right’ of marry a little girl at 9 years old as Muhammad
did. In other words, you can rape a little child legally in Islam and
make her a sex slave, and also a domestic slave till the end of her
life.

You can lie alongside of your dead wife in 6 hours as Muhammad did. In
other words you can rape the dead body of your wife in 6 hours after
death.

Here is Islam¦Here is the `tolerance religion’¦Here is the right
way to the heaven¦Here are the orders of Allah¦Here are the
actions of Muhammad¦

You can easily see how much civilized the Muslim countries of the
World because of Islam as Afghanistan, Nigeria, Turkey, Iran, Sudan
and the others. You can see how much they had contributed to the
philosophy history, the art history, the science history of the whole
world. You can see how respectful they are to the human rights, women
rights, children rights, freedom of expression and thought, press
freedom, belief freedom, etc.

The first genocide wave of 20th century, the Armenian Genocide, the
Assyrian Genocide and the Pontian Greek Genocide had been perpetrated
by Turk and Kurd people of Ottoman Empire and new Turkish Republic
with getting motivation from the `rights’ that they had because of
Islam; the `rights’ of killing and raping the non-Muslims, enslaving
their women and little girls as sex slaves and also domestic slaves
and grabbing their money, houses and lands. However `The Committee of
Union and Progress’ (CUP) (Turkish: Ä°ttihat ve Terakki
Cemiyeti) was based on Turkish nationalism, they had used Turk and
Kurd people easily for these genocides because of Islam religion’s
content about non-Muslims. All the Turk and Kurd Muslims believed that
they will go to the heaven as they killed more non-Muslims like
today’s Islamist terrorists.

The owners of the second genocide wave of 20th century were Nazis as
you know. They took the genocides of Turks as a sample. It is know
that Adolf Hitler said to his military commanders `Who, after all,
speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?’ while they were
talking about the reaction of the world about the genocides that they
were planning to perpetrate.

Nazism was considered as a legal and respectable ideology at the
beginning of thirties and then the world saw how dangerous was
Nazism. Millions of people died because of Nazism and today it is
illegal to support Nazism in any civilized country. You can never make
propaganda of Nazism legally. Today, Nazism is not considered as a
thought alternative and it is not being included in freedom of thought
and expression.

As I have detailed above, Islam is against the human rights norms of
our age and it has more dangerous content than Nazism. Islam is not a
belief alternative, it is just a humanity crime, and any crime can’t
have freedom in our modern world. So, Islam must be illegalized all
over the world like Nazism, because of its vandal content and orders
against the human rights. All actions about Islam must be forbidden
and the propagandists of Islam must be judged because of instigating
to the crimes of murder, rape, grab and crimes against humanity.

Otherwise, the world will meet with a big tragedy when the Islamists
will get more power as the world had met because of Nazism.

SERKAN ENGIN
April 2014

Serkan Engin zaman: 08:48 2 yorum:
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8 Nisan 2014 Salı

AM I ARMENIAN?

AM I ARMENIAN?

Some friends ask me if I am an Armenian or not, and some fascists
call me as “Armenian bastard” according to their tiny brains.

Yes, I am an Armenian. I am a Kurd as Ismail Besikci, I am a
Palestinian as Rachel Corrie and I am an Armenian as Ottoman Governor
Mehmet Celal Bey.

SERKAN ENGIN April 2014
Serkan Engin zaman: 02:26 Hiç yorum yok:

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6 Nisan 2014 Pazar

A Poem for Peace in West Armenian- Azerbaijani- Turkish

Dar Dar Gı Sirem Tsez – HÉ’rf HÉ’rf SevirÉ’m Sizi –
Harf Harf Seviyorum Sizi

(A Poem for Peace in West Armenian- Azerbaijani- Turkish)

Dar Dar Gı Sirem Tsez

`Yes mardig çem, vart hastsnoÄ? mın yem’ Eozkan Mert

Krderen varter badrasdetsi tsez yeraznerus nurp deÄ?en
Lazeren gı taylayli papaknerus sriga cncÄ?ugnerı, geankin userun vra
Hunaren gı hampurem kiÅ?eruin tats nahatasutyunnerı, lusnin dag
Karnan zaza gı pattuim meçkit amenen kmahac deÄ?en

Tsavert gı hampurem srdis kar nedoÄ? dÄ?ots tserkagaberen
Å?akanagakuyn açkerıs Hayeren voÄ?p mın yen vorahnerut meç, godruadz
Volorvadz darerıs çen paver tsaverut reontgenı kaÅ?elu hamar

Posor arakasdanav mın yem Kırdistan’i lernerun vra loÄ?atsoÄ?
Kurd yev Turk hokiners gı tsavin hon, dar dar hoÄ?in vra tapuelov
Vran Dolar dolar tavacan gerbov gı partsarana
Gı harsdana Å?adager yersabaÅ?dutyan tignatornerı, usanotsnerı
Paravonneru zenk ıngerutyan Å?ahi purkerı

Hazar ankam Auschwitz’i meç ayruetsank srdin meradz deÄ?en
Yotanasun hazar yergu ankam suinuetsan Dersim’i meç, vayrakutyan çar jbdumov
Amerigyan lezvov Irak’i meç anuÃ…?eÄ?eni deÄ? çarçaranki Ä?aÄ?alik yeÄ?ank
MaraÃ…?’i, Çorum’i meç poÄ?ots poÄ?ots zarnuetstank kaÄ?akagrtutyan srden
Kosova’yi meç çdesnuetsan mer kovı mertsuov dzaÄ?ignerı
Filistin’i meç karerov godretsin azadutyan teverı
Meg milyon ankam voçnçatsan Hayeren orornernis , Ararad’i teverı
Çulamerg’i meç mer mangutyan kluhnerun zenkerov zargetsan
Ruanda’yi meç gdrestin gor turerov mer mangutyan papaknerı
Vran Dolar dolar tavacan gerbov gı partsarana
Gı harsdana Å?adager yersabaÅ?dutyan tignatornerı, usanotsnerı
Paravonneru zenk ıngerutyan Å?ahi purkerı

Yerani te hampuerink mer çkidtsadz lezunerov inkzinknis
Darper gronknerov lur genayink antsaynoren, hantard
UriÅ? deÄ?eru meç layink vazvzoÄ? kaylerov
Baderazmı taylayloÄ? nahatasutyunnerun verçı dar mı ankam çı tıneink
Mer sirdı çıgırtıneink vayreni ciçerun
Arteok ur deÄ?en mernelu gı sgsi baderazm u tramadirutyunı

Vayrakutyunı ur deÄ?en lur gılla mer hahaÄ?utyan hamanuaki arçeven

: Dar dar gı sirem yergnki polor kuynerı

Written in Turkish by Serkan Engin
Translated to West Armenian by Mayro Kuyrik

***

HÉ’rf HÉ’rf SevirÉ’m Sizi

`MÉ’n döyüÅ?çü deyil gül yetiÃ…?diricisiyÉ’m’ Ã-zkan MÉ’rt

KürdcÉ’ güllÉ’r yıÄ?dım xülyalarımın incÉ’ yerindÉ’n
Lazca Ã…?akıyor ümidimin tÉ’nbÉ’l sÉ’rçÉ’lÉ’ri, hÉ’yatın çiyinindÉ’
YaÃ…? cümlÉ’lÉ’rini Yunanca öpürÉ’m gecÉ’nin, ay altında
Bahara Zazaca sarılıram É’n nazlı yerindÉ’n belinin

Ã`rÉ’yimÉ’ daÃ…? atan uÃ…?aqların qandallarından öpürÉ’m aÄ?rılarını
Kayutlarında ErmÉ’nicÉ’ bir mersiyedir É’la gözlÉ’rim, qırıq dökük
KÉ’dÉ’rlÉ’rinin rontgenini çÉ’kmÉ’yÉ’ çatmır buruk hÉ’rflÉ’rim
Qırmızı bir Laz takasıyam Kürdüstan daÄ?larında üzÉ’n
Kürd vÉ’ Türk canlarım yanır orada, heca heca düÅ?É’rÉ’k torpaÄ?a
Dollar dollar üstünÉ’ xaincÉ’ yüksÉ’lirkÉ’n
Firon silah Ã…?irkÉ’tlÉ’rinin qazanc marjı piramidaları
Kresloları, apoletleri palazlanırken gonbul eqoizmin

AuschwitzdÉ’ milyonlarla dÉ’fÉ’ yandırıldıq vicdanın öldüyü yerdÉ’n
YetmiÃ…? iki min dÉ’fÉ’ süngülÉ’ndi xülyalarımız DÉ’rsimdÉ’, arsız sırıtıÅ?ıyla vÉ’hÃ…?iliyin
Ä°raqda hamburger üstü dadli niyyÉ’tinÉ’ iÃ…?gÉ’ncÉ’ oyuncaÄ?ı olduq Amerikanca
MaraÃ…?da, Çorumda küçÉ’ küçÉ’ vurulduq sivilizasiyanın ürÉ’yindÉ’n
Kosovada görmÉ’mÉ’zlikdÉ’n gÉ’lindi yaxamızda qÉ’tl edilÉ’n çiçÉ’klÉ’r
FÉ’lÉ’stindÉ’ daÃ…?la qırdılar azadlıÄ?ımızın qollarını
Bir milyon dÉ’fÉ’ yox edildi ErmÉ’nicÉ’ ninnilÉ’rimiz, Araratın qollarındakı
HakkaridÉ’ uÃ…?aqlıÄ?ımızın baÃ…?ına qundaqla vurdular
Ruandada palalarla kÉ’sdilÉ’r É’n uÃ…?aq hÉ’vÉ’slÉ’rimizi
Dollar dollar üstünÉ’ xaincÉ’ yüksÉ’lÉ’rkÉ’n
Firon silah Ã…?irkÉ’tlÉ’rinin qazanc marjı piramidaları
Kresloları, apoletleri palazlanırken gonbul eqoizmin

BilmÉ’diyimiz dillÉ’rdÉ’ dÉ’ öpÉ’ bilsÉ’k ya bir-birimizi
BaÃ…?qa dinlÉ’rdÉ’ susa bilsÉ’k yavaÃ…?ca, dinc
DigÉ’r coÄ?rafiyalarda aÄ?laya bilsÉ’k qaçar addım
Bir hÉ’rf belÉ’ É’lavÉ’ etmÉ’sÉ’k döyüÅ? çıÄ?ırtkanı cümlÉ’lÉ’rin quyruÄ?una
Ã`rÉ’yimizi É’sla yaslamasak vÉ’hÃ…?ilik qıÅ?qırıqlarının çaÄ?ırıÅ?ına
Harandan ölmÉ’yÉ’ baÃ…?lar acep döyüÅ? vÉ’ kapitalizm
VÉ’hÃ…?ilik harandan lal olar barıÅ? simfoniyalarımızın qarÃ…?ısında

: HÉ’rf hÉ’rf sevirÉ’m dünyanın bütün rÉ’nglÉ’rini

Written in Turkish by Serkan Engin
Translated to Azerbaijani by Can Pelit

***

Harf Harf Seviyorum Sizi

`Ben savaÃ…?çı deÄ?il gül yetiÃ…?tiricisiyim’ Ã-zkan Mert

Kürtçe güller derledim düÅ?lerimin ince yerinden
Lazca Å?akıyor umudumun haylaz serçeleri, hayatın omzunda
Islak tümcelerini Rumca öpüyorum gecenin, ay altında
Bahara Zazaca sarılıyorum en nazlı yerinden belinin
Kalbime taÅ? atan çocukların kelepçelerinden öpüyorum acılarını
KoÄ?uÅ?larında Ermenice bir aÄ?ıttır ela gözlerim, kırık dökük
Kederlerinin röntgenini çekmeye yetmiyor buruk harflerim

Kızıl bir Laz takasıyım Kürdistan daÄ?larında yüzen
Kürt ve Türk canlarım yanıyor orada, hece hece düÅ?erek topraÄ?a
Dolar dolar üstüne haince yükselirken
Firavun silah Å?irketlerinin kr marjı piramitleri
Koltukları, apoletleri palazlanırken obur bencilliÄ?in
Auschwitz’de milyonlarca kez yakıldık vicdanın öldüÄ?ü yerden
YetmiÃ…? iki bin kere süngülendi düÅ?lerimiz Dersim’de, arsız sırıtıÅ?ıyla vahÃ…?etin
Irak’ta hamburger üstü tatlı niyetine iÃ…?kence oyuncaÄ?ı olduk Amerikanca
MaraÃ…?’ta, Çorum’da sokak sokak vurulduk uygarlıÄ?ın kalbinden
Kosova’da görmezden gelindi yakamızda katledilen çiçekler
Filistin’de taÃ…?la kırdılar özgürlüÄ?ümüzün kollarını
Bir milyon kere yok edildi Ermenice ninnilerimiz, Ararat’ın kollarındaki
Hakkari’de çocukluÄ?umuzun kafasına dipçikle vurdular
Ruanda’da palalarla kestiler en çocuk heveslerimizi
Dolar dolar üstüne haince yükselirken
Firavun silah Å?irketlerinin kr marjı piramitleri
Koltukları, apoletleri palazlanırken obur bencilliÄ?in

BilmediÄ?imiz dillerde de öpebilsek ya birbirimizi
BaÃ…?ka dinlerde susabilsek usulca, dingin
DiÄ?er coÄ?rafyalarda aÄ?layabilsek koÅ?ar adım
Bir harf bile eklemesek savaÅ? çıÄ?ırtkanı tümcelerin kuyruÄ?una
Kalbimizi asla yaslamasak vahÅ?et çıÄ?lıklarının çaÄ?rısına
Neresinden ölmeye baÅ?lar acep savaÅ? ve kapitalizm
VahÅ?et neresinden ll olur barıÅ? senfonilerimizin önünde

: Harf harf seviyorum dünyanın tüm renklerini

Serkan Engin

Serkan Engin zaman: 14:50 Hiç yorum yok:

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SERKAN ENGIN BIOGRAPHY

FotoÄ?rafım Serkan Engin

A socialist Laz poet-author from Turkey, Serkan Engin was born in 1975
in Izmit, Turkey.

His poems and articles on poetry theory have been published in English
in The Tower Journal, Poetry’z Own, Belleville Park Pages, Far Enough
East, Spilt Infinitive Lit Magazine, Empty Mirror, The Writer’s
Drawer, Poetry Super Highway, Miracle E-zine, Industry Night Lit
Magazine, Typoetic.us Literary Magazine, Open Road Review, Shot Glass
Journal, Songsoptok, The Criterion and Mediterranean Poetry. Some of
his poems appeared in Japanese in the leading Japanese philosophy and
poetry journal Shi to Shisou.

His political articles have been published in many countries like USA,
Greece, Sweden, India, Armenia, France, Indonesia, etc.

Serkan Engin’s E-Books (In Turkish):

Poetry:

1- Shameless Acrostic (Art of Labour E-Publishing House)

2- Rhymeless of All Poems (Art of Labour E-Publishing House)

3- Hard Verses (Self Published)

4- First Poems (Self Published)

5- My Erotic Poems Atlas (Collected Erotic Poems of Serkan Engin)

(Art of Labour E-Publishing House)

6- Chatty Poems (Serkan Engin’s poems translated from Turkish to the
other languages of Turkey as Kurdish, Lazuri, Romaic, Zazaki, etc.)

(Art of Labour E-Publishing House)

Essay:

1- Left Hook (Poetic Reviews) (Self Published)

2- Left Direct (Poetic Reviews) (Self Published)

3- Shadow Boxing (Collected Poetic Reviews) (Art of Labour
E-Publishing House)

4- Poemed Letters (Collected Letters to Poets) (Self Published)

Article:

1- Be a Dynamite (Collected Newspaper Politic Articles) (Self
Published)

Novella:

1- Mild Murders (Art of Labour E-Publishing House)

Dictionary:

1- Inconvenient Poetry Dictionary (Alternative Poetry Dictionary)

(Self Published)

Profilimin tamamını görüntüle

European Human Rights Court Hears Genocide Denial Case – Video

Wednesday, January 28th, 2015

Representing Armenia at the European Court of Human Rights were from
left Amal Alamuddin Clooney, Geoffrey Ronald Robertson and Armenia’s
Prosecutor General Gevorg Kostanyan

EAFJD Welcomes the Hearing in the European Court of Human Rights
STRASBOURG, France’A first-rate legal team, which included renowned
human rights lawyers Geoffrey Robertson and Amal Allamudin Clooney, as
well as Armenia’s Prosecutor General Gevorg Kostanyan, represented
Armenia at the European Court of Human Rights Wednesday during an
appeals hearing on the court’s ruling in 2013 in favor of a Turkish
Armenian Genocide denier, in a case that is known as Perinçek v.
Switzerland.

The case concerns the criminal conviction of DoÄ?u Perinçek, Chairman
of the Turkish Workers’ Party, for publicly challenging in Switzerland
the existence of the Armenian Genocide. The government of Switzerland
has also joined the appeals process, as have two Turkish human rights
organizations that have submitted legal briefs in favor of Armenia.

Representatives of Armenian organizations from Switzerland, France,
Belgium were present, and a handful of them have provided the Court
with written notes, alongside the Human Rights Association from Turkey
and The [Turkish] Center for Truth Justice Memory, which focused on
the personality of Perincek, his nationalist, anti-Semitic,
anti-minority and anti-Armenian rhetoric, for the Court to fully
understand the entire context, something which Geoffrey Robertson
stressed `Perincek is a denialist window shopper, going from one
European country to another.’

In her arguments Clooney highlighted Turkey’s hypocrisy for defending
the Right to Freedom of Speech in Europe, while at the same time Hrant
Dink is murdered in Istanbul, and the same anti-Armenian sentiments of
a 100 years ago are still alive in the country.

Clooney went on to accuse the court of being `simply wrong. It [the
court] casts doubt on the reality of Genocide that Armenian people
suffered a century ago.’

`Armenia must have its day in court,’ she added. `The stakes could not
be higher for the Armenian people.’

In her presentation, Clooney pointed out Turkey’s double standards on
freedom of expression, when the country has been notorious in
suppressing speech, jailing journalists and event going as far as to
ban social media platforms such as YouTube and Twitter.

`Armenia is not here to argue against freedom of expression any more
than Turkey is here to defend it. This court knows very well how
disgraceful Turkey’s record on freedom of expression is,’ she said.
`You have found against the Turkish government in 224 separate cases
on freedom of expression grounds.’

Clooney also made reference to Hrant Dink, who was prosecuted in
Turkey for expressing his view about the Armenian Genocide and
subsequently was gunned down by Turkish nationalists in 2007. For
eight years the Dink case lingers in Turkish courts.

`Armenia has every interest in ensuring that its own citizens do not
get caught in a net that criminalizes speech too broadly. As the
family of Hrant Dink know about all too well,’ said Clooney.

Switzerland has laws against the denial of all genocide as part of its
anti-racism laws but the ECHR ruled that Perinçek’s right to freedom
of speech was violated when he was convicted as a criminal by a Swiss
court for his claims.

Perincek, whose 2007 conviction by a Swiss court stemmed from
statements made in 2005 in Lausanne where he said the Armenian
Genocide was an `International lie,’ spoke in his own defense saying
he never incited hatred toward Armenians. He claimed that his comments
at the time were in reference to the Kurds.

`We are here for the liberty of Europeans,’ said Perincek. “Liberty
for those who criticise the established status quo.

`I share the pain of Armenian citizens, you cannot find a word of mine
that expresses antagonism against them. I hold the great powers
responsible for what happened in 1915. There should be no taboos for
the right to speak.’

Robertson fired back by saying Perincek specifically went to Europe to
deny the Genocide, adding that the Turkish politician was an admirer
of the Talaat Pasha, whom Robertson called the `Ottoman Empire’s
Hitler.’

`It [the statement] was made by a man who only came to Switzerland in
order to be convicted. That was his purpose. He went to Germany,
France, at the end of the day he tried to go Greece to expostulate but
was turned away. He is genocide denier forum shopper. He is an
incurable genocide denier, a criminal and a vexatious litigant,’ said
Robertson.

`The Armenian nation survived and overcame. It has never asked this
Court to pronounce on the sufferings it has witnessed. But nor did it
expect this Court to allow the deniers to find a safe haven in its
pronouncements, which are already used for propaganda purposes of
falsifying the history,’ Armenia’s Prosecutor General said in his
remarks.

Kostanyan said that Armenia’s role is to point to the principles,
under which this case should be decided and to indicate the errors
that affected the lower court judgment.

`We are here to ensure that such errors are never repeated by a Court
that speaks in the name of human rights,’ Kostanyan concluded.

EAFJD Welcomes the Hearing in the European Court of Human Rights
The European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy welcomed
the hearing and thanked the legal team representing Armenia for its
unwavering efforts to shed light on the truth at the international
forum.

`This is a Justice vs. Denial case, and we have confidence in the
European Court of Human Rights that they will overturn the initial
verdict, which acquitted Perinçek from any wrong doing and decided
that Switzerland was limiting his right of free speech,’ said the
EAFJD in a statement issued on Wednesday after the court adjourned.

`Denial of Genocides, inciting hate and making racist comments in
Europe are not a right, are crimes and shall be punished accordingly.’
said Bedo Demirdjian, the EAFJD’s Communications director, who
followed the Court hearings in Strasbourg.

`We welcome the participation of the Republic of Armenia, represented
by Prosecutor General Gevorg Kostanyan. The International recognition
and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide is not a matter of the
Armenian Diaspora only, as some mention, willing to divide us, but
it’s an all-Armenian issue and will be pursued as such,’ said
Demirdjian.

`Perincek’s defense tried to confuse the Court, by saying that he
doesn’t refute the massacres of Armenians, acknowledges the pain
suffered, and that Turks have also been killed, thus we cannot give
the Genocide characterization. This is unacceptable to us, equating
the victim and perpetrator, and this is the official line of the
Turkish state to whitewash their crime,’ said Demirdjian, and
concluded that the EAFJD and Armenians have full confidence that the
Court will issue the right and just verdict, especially this year, in
2015, when we commemorate the centennial of the Armenian Genocide.

J-Wire Jewish Australian News Service
Jan 29 2015

President Rivlin addresses United Nations

Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin has addressed the United Nations
General Assembly in New York…and tells its members “never again”.

His address in full:

stand before you, at a time of great tension in our region. My heart
and my thoughts, are with my people in Israel. Terrorism does not
distinguish between blood. In this war, all of us, all the nations
united, countries of the free world, must form a united front. Today
we are marking the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the
Victims of the Holocaust. It is seventy years since the Red Army
threw open the gates of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp. Now in its
tenth year, this day was established in the calendar of the United
Nations, at the initiative of the former Israeli Foreign Minister,
Silvan Shalom, and each year since then, this Assembly has marked
this day, with the commitment to preserve the memory of the Holocaust.

Paul Celan, the great Jewish poet of the 20th century, himself a
prisoner in a Nazi work camp, once said, “Only in one’s mother tongue
can one speak one’s own truth. In a foreign tongue, the poet lies.”
My friends, I am no poet, but I must agree, that there are truths,
there are prayers, and there is pain, deep pain, that one can only
express in one’s mother tongue. Therefore, on this important day, I
have chosen to stand before you, and speak in the language of my
mother, my father, in the ancient language of my forefathers, the same
language that my grandchildren speak today.

This is the same language in which my fellow Jews cried “Shema
Yisrael” Hear O’ Israel, as they were marched to the gas chambers. The
language of my brothers and sisters, whose memory we honor today.

“Oh that my head was water, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I
might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! .
. . For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for
the pastures of the wilderness a lamentation.” [Jeremiah, chapters
8,9]

Ladies and Gentlemen. In 1915, when the members of the Armenian
nation were being massacred, Avshalom Feinberg, a leading member of
Nili, the Jewish underground which cooperated with the Allies during
the First World War, wrote the following and I quote, “My teeth have
been ground down with worry, whose turn is next? When I walked on the
blessed and holy ground on my way up to Jerusalem, I asked myself if
we are living in our modern era, in 1915, or in the days of Titus or
Nebuchadnezzar? Did I, a Jew, forget that I am a Jew? I also asked
myself if I have the right to weep ‘over the tragedy of my people’
only, and whether the Prophet Jeremiah did not shed tears of blood for
the Armenians as well? ”

Avshalom Feinberg wrote that exactly one hundred years ago, one
hundred years of hesitation and denial. But in the Land of Israel of
that time, in the Jerusalem in which I was born, no one denied the
massacre that had taken place. The residents of Jerusalem, my parents
and the members of my family, saw the Armenian refugees arriving by
the thousands – starving, piteous survivors of calamity. In Jerusalem
they found shelter and their descendents continue to live there to
this day.

There were two questions reverberating then, whose turn is it next?
And will we Jews weep tears of blood for the tragedy of others too?
The first question was answered by history, some two decades later.
The Jews were next. We, the members of my people, were next. In the
valley of death of Europe it was the Jewish People who were the
victims of a methodical, brutal, perverted and murderous
extermination. Six million people, one-third of my nation, about a
million and a half of them children, were killed, slaughtered,
suffocated, gassed to death, buried alive, burnt, massacred, died from
hunger, from thirst, from disease, and other gruesome kinds of death,
in the most horrifying crime ever committed in the history of the
human race. The answer to the second question asked by Feinberg.
Truly, shall we weep, each one of us, only for our own nation’s
tragedy, or shall we be able to cry also for the tragedies of others;
for the tragedy of wounded children from Syria; for the tragedy of the
young men and women from Europe, from the Middle East, from Africa and
from Asia. This question still awaits an answer.

Ladies and Gentlemen. There has been no atrocity in the history of
the human race to compare in its viciousness, its scope and its
magnitude, with the Holocaust of the Jewish People. However, the
slaughter of nations and of communities was not born in Nazi Germany
and did not cease with the opening of the gates of Auschwitz-Birkenau,
Majdanek and Buchenwald. Now, in our own time, when the
fundamentalist viper is raising its ugly head, we must remember that
evil is not the property of any specific religion; just as it is not
the attribute of any specific country or ethnic group. It is evil,
that by its very nature, seeks to differentiate and discriminate
between one life and another, between one human being and another,
while the only real difference is between good and bad; between
humanity and darkness. For exactly that reason, those who regard
Islam, Judaism, or Christianity, as enemies of the world are wrong and
they mislead others. My father, Yosef Yoel Rivlin, of blessed memory,
devoted his life to translating the Quran into Hebrew, believing in
the importance of dialogue and the cultural significance of the Quran
for all the children of Abraham. As my father’s son, I too believe
implicitly that neither the West, nor the Christians nor the Jews are
at war with Islam. Right now, Islam encompasses, under its enormous
wings, victims of persecution and of terrorism, while at the same time
it also serves as the banner of the attackers. The victims consist of
hundreds of thousands of Muslim men and women, together with
Christians, Yazidis, Kurds and Druze, each one of them a helpless
victim of vicious barbarity, of wicked terrorism that has nothing at
all to do with the religion or with the words of the Prophet. It is
our duty and our responsibility to fight without mercy against the
attackers; just as it is our duty and our responsibility to protect
all the victims.

Ladies and Gentlemen. The United Nations Organization arose on the
basis of the great visions of peace of the prophets of Israel, “They
shall beat their swords into plowshares”; it was established on the
foundations of human solidarity and the values of humanism. But above
all, this Assembly arose on the ruins left by that war of devastation,
the Second World War.

This day, the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the
Victims of the Holocaust, is not just a gesture of memorial for the
members of the Jewish People, the victims, or even the survivors.
This day, this International Day of Commemoration, is not merely
another memorial day on the UN’s annual calendar. This day – so I
believe – is the most important day on that calendar. “Never again”,
is not just a pledge by the survivors, and also not a pledge by the
world only to the members of the Jewish People. “Never again” is,
first and foremost, the very essence of this United Nations
Organization, it is its mission, it is the primary and principal
rationale for its existence.

Since the establishment of this organization following that world war
that claimed so very many casualties, the UN has expanded and branched
out. Today, its enterprises include economic and environmental
development, preservation of heritage and the maintenance of peace.
But despite all this, on this day, we once again remember the essence
of the mission of this institution: all-out war against genocide.

To our great regret, since the UN was established – this rationale for
its existence, its very raison d’être, has become ever more acute.
Bosnia; Rwanda; Sudan; Cambodia; Syria; Nigeria. These are just a few
of the places where nations and communities have been slaughtered in a
way that reminded the world that the Holocaust of the Jews was not the
final chapter in the brutal scheme of man against his fellow man Each
and every one of them were victims of genocide, even without wearing a
yellow star. As a Jew, as a Zionist, as an Israeli, as a human being,
even though my hands are tied – my heart weeps together with those
anonymous people marching to a mass grave. When we stand here today
and declare, “Never again”, we call out, never again racism and
incitement; never again anti-Semitism; never again systematic rape and
humiliation; never again concentration camps and torture; never again
killing pits and mass graves, gas chambers and crematoria; never again
– this is the task set before the gates of this Assembly. This is the
mission laid before us.

Ladies and Gentlemen. On this day we must ask ourselves honestly, is
our struggle, the struggle of this Assembly, against genocide,
effective enough? Was it effective enough then in Bosnia? Was it
effective in preventing the killing in Khojaly? Of Afghans by the
Taliban? Is it effective enough today in Syria? Or in the face of the
atrocities of Boko Haram in Nigeria? Are we shedding too many tears,
and taking too little action? I am afraid that the United Nations
“Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide”
that came into force as long as sixty-four years ago, has remained a
merely symbolic document. It did not succeed in realizing its
commitment and fulfilling the objective that underpins the
establishment of the United Nations Organization. Therefore, this
institution, where we are standing today, has a duty of unparalleled
challenge not to make do with statements but rather to push ahead with
decisive action. The international community that is joined together
in this organization bears the duty to lay down the red lines that
define genocide – and to agree that the crossing of those red lines
makes it compulsory to intervene. On the other hand, and in the same
breath, we must remember that definition of the red lines requires
putting an end to the devaluation and the cynical, supposedly
objective usage in rhetoric on human rights of concepts such as
“genocide”, for political purposes. Thus, for years, this Assembly
(whose resolution validated the establishment of the State of Israel)
identified Zionism – the Jewish revival movement – with its greatest
enemy, racism. That shameful UN resolution, number 3379 – has since
been annulled. However, unfounded comparisons of that type, to which
we, as Israelis, are constantly exposed (among them the attempt to
make a link between Israel and genocide, and only recently, once
again, with war crimes), not only do they confuse between partner and
enemy; they also sabotage the ability of this Assembly to effectively
fight the phenomenon of genocide.

My friends, at the end of the day, this Assembly too, like any
political institution, is motivated by many different considerations
and interests. Even if we agree on clear red lines – that is not
enough. We must agree that in the fight against genocide – the
humanitarian and moral consideration must take precedence over
economic, political and other interests. As a member of the Jewish
People, I stand here before you and say, nations cannot be saved and
must not be saved ‘as an afterthought’, or from considerations of cost
benefit.

Unless the moral fire burns within us, the lesson of the Holocaust
will never be learned. Communities and nations will continue to be
murdered, children, women, men and the elderly will continue to march
to their death to the enlightened music of the ‘orchestra of death’,
against the background of a cynical and apathetic world, and through
no fault of their own. The oath of “never again” will remain hollow
and defiled, and we, all of us, will remain forever – prisoners of the
camps.

Ladies and Gentlemen, to the extent that we believe that the voice of
justice has not been silenced; to the extent that we believe in the
dream of a different, more compassionate human race; we have the duty,
here, in this Assembly, to act together as a determined and unified
international community, which does not yield to narrow and
inappropriate interests. In the name of the members of my People,
victims of the Holocaust; in the name of the hopeless, persecuted
people; in the name of our children; we must remain silent no longer
we must rise up and take action.

As I conclude, I would like to return to the words of the ancient and
sorrowful Jewish Yizkor memorial prayer for victims of the Holocaust:
‘Judge of the earth, please remember the rivers of blood shed like
water, the blood of fathers and sons, the blood of mothers and their
babies . . . The cry of “Shema Yisrael” called out by those taken to
their death are not silenced; and may the moans of the tortured rise
up to thy heavenly throne.’

May the memory of the victims of the Holocaust, and the memory of the
persecuted and the tortured be engraved upon our hearts forever. May
their souls be bound up in the bond of life. Amen.

SwissInfo, Switzerland
Jan 28 2015

Swiss case in Perinçek appeal rests on protecting public peace

Switzerland has defended the grounds for its anti-racism laws in the
appeal of the case regarding DoÄ?u Perinçek, a Turkish politician
convicted for denying the 1915 Armenian massacre was genocide.

During the a hearing on Wednesday at the European Court of Human
Rights (ECHR), the Swiss delegation maintained that the argument used
to convict Perinçek under anti-racism laws was intended to protect the
public peace and was not a reflection on specific definitions of
historic events.

For his part, the 72-year-old defendant and president of the Turkish
Workers’ Party, argued before the Strasbourg-based court that his
right to free speech was violated when Swiss tribunals convicted him
in 2007.

The panel of judges is set to deliberate the case behind closed doors
over the next few weeks. A ruling is expected `at a later stage,’
according to a court press release.

Court history

In his 2005 speech, Perinçek called the genocide an `international
lie’. The Armenians, however, say Ottoman Turks slaughtered up to 1.8
million Armenians in a planned genocide between 1915 and 1918. Turkey
denies the mass killings were genocide, saying the death toll is
inflated.

Switzerland has anti-racism laws in place that legislate against any
denying, belittling or justifying of genocide.

In 2007, the Federal Court decided that the facts of the Armenian
genocide were widely accepted as common knowledge and that Perinçek’s
denial of these facts was driven by racist motives. He was
subsequently fined.

However, Perinçek appealed the decision to the ECHR, which in an
initial verdict in December 2013 ruled in favour of the Turkish
defendant.

In turn, Switzerland also filed an appeal last year.

Perinçek has argued in the appeal that Article 261bis, paragraph 4, of
the Swiss Criminal Code ` anti-racism legislation which forbids the
public denial, belittlement or justification of genocide ` `is not
foreseeable in its effect’ and breaches the freedom of expression
which is `necessary in a democratic society’.

See the document below for the Swiss Criminal Code’s specific wording
on the subject.

Although the ECHR left open the question of defining the Armenian
killings as genocide and Switzerland has said it does not want to
enter into such a debate in Strasbourg, that question is set to be
debated by Turkish and Armenian delegations before the court. It has
also drawn scores of protesters from both sides who gathered outside
the court with flags and signs.

Amal Clooney, wife of film star George Clooney, is on the legal team
arguing that the Armenian killings should be called genocide.

Access Hollywood
Jan 28 2015

Amal Clooney Takes Up Europe Human Rights Case With Arguments Over
Armenian Genocide

January 28, 2015 09:20 AM EDT

image:

Lawyer Amal Clooney is going before Europe’s top human rights court to
argue against a man convicted for denying the 1915 Armenian genocide.

Clooney is arguing on an appeal before the Strasbourg-based European
Court of Human Rights, which ruled in favor of the man, Dogu Perincek,
in December 2013.

Perincek argued his right to free speech was violated when Swiss
courts convicted him of denying the genocide in 2005.

Historians estimate up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman
Turks around the time of World War I, an event widely viewed by
genocide scholars as the first genocide of the 20th century. Turkey,
however, denies the deaths constituted genocide, saying the toll has
been inflated and that those killed were victims of civil war and
unrest.

Daily Sabah, Turkey
Jan 28 2015

Anti-Semitism foreign concept to Turks, stresses deputy PM

ALI Ã`NAL
GENEVA

The United Nations Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review
(UPR) Working Group discussed Turkey’s status in the context of human
rights on Tuesday in Geneva. The delegation, led by Deputy Prime
Minister Bülent Arınç representing Turkey at the meeting, answered
questions and discussed suggestions coming from U.N. member countries
on Turkey’s developing works and efforts in human rights since 2010.
Arınç, speaking at the U.N. building in Geneva, emphasized in a speech
that Turkey, at the base of its principle, greatly values and
progresses toward an equal relationship among individuals at
democratic levels, regardless of their identities.

In response to a question presented to him by the U.S. delegation,
Arınç said that Turkey has never been an enemy of the Jewish people:
“Anti-Semitism is a foreign concept to the Turkish population. In
fact, Turkey, throughout its history, has always hosted Jews escaping
from oppression. Any sort of anti-Semitic statement is deeply
condemned and all necessary judicial and/or governmental action is
taken. Yesterday, Jan. 27, is the International Holocaust Remembrance
Day for the victims, and our minister of foreign affairs has
personally attended the ceremony at Auschwitz along with
representatives from our Jewish community. Additionally, the president
of Turkish Parliament along with Turkey’s Chief Rabbi Ishak Haleva and
other representatives from the Jewish community will attend the
Commemoration of the Holocaust Victims ceremony in Ankara.”

In response to questions asked by representatives from Norway, Germany
and Sweden relating to the freedom of the press in Turkey, Arınç
emphasized the appearance of full pluralism of numerous media
organizations in Turkey and said that there are many newspapers and
television channels in which journalists can freely and independently
work. Arınç also said: “The media sector in Turkey has both those in
support of the government and those who criticize the government.
According to the records from the Radio and Television Supreme Council
[RTÃ`K] in Turkey, excluding channels at the national level, there are
221 private television channels of which 205 are local and 16
regional. According to the Directorate General of Press and
Information, there are 4,074 newspapers available ` 66 national, 68
regional and 3,960 local.” Regarding the issue of imprisoned
journalist in Turkey, called “detained journalists” by some, Arınç
said that the detention status of those individuals has no relation to
any sort of journalistic activity and that they were arrested and
detained as part of the Dec. 14 TahÃ…?iye investigation and have no
relation to any journalistic profession or activity.

In regard to the prevention of access to Twitter and YouTube last year
in Turkey, Arınç said that the relevant companies were spoken to
regarding the method of warning and removal of content illegal in
Turkey at the time and added: “Despite our efforts with good faith,
the relevant companies remained insensitive to court decisions while
the contents remained available and the court decisions were not
fulfilled. Therefore, as a measure of last resort, blocking access had
to be applied. However, after the decision by the Constitutional
Court, these measures were removed.” In response to a question by U.K.
representatives regarding the use of tear gas by police, Arınç said
that there were two separate notices published in 2013, and that the
rules for the use of tear gas and other gases must be repeatedly
respected and followed during their usage, and the helmets of those
forces have been numbered in order to detect those who are using
disproportionate force during protests and demonstrations.

Regarding a question from the Norwegian delegation about the Gezi Park
protests, Arınç said that security officers who had allegedly used
excessive force have been continuing to be meticulously investigated
at the governmental and judicial levels. He also added: “A total of
149 staff had been penalized as a result of the administrative
investigation that was carried out. In the scope of judicial
investigations, there has been 329 investigations opened in 13
provinces in which 59 of those had decided not to prosecute and some
received public action. Finally, in regard to the Ali Ismail Korkmaz
case, two police officers have been sentenced to prison for 10 years
by the Istanbul Penal Court decision on Jan. 21, 2015. Other
investigations are still ongoing.”

Arınç also said that Turkey has never limited minorities from various
religious backgrounds from practicing their religion. He also stressed
the fact that since the review began back in May 2010 until today
there have been numerous restorations completed of churches that were
closed to worship by the government and are re-opened for use. Arınç
continued by saying that, “Armenian textbooks prepared by the Ministry
of Education of Turkey began to be distributed free of charge to
students in Armenian schools. The Greek Primary School on Istanbul’s
Gökçeada has been re-opened and began its educational activities. In a
kindergarten within the Syriac community foundation, Turkey’s Ministry
of Education gave the opportunity to provide Syriac courses as part of
curriculum on certain days and at specific times of the week.”

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Jan 28 2015

Turkish politician reiterates position, says events of 1915 not genocide

Chairman of the Turkish Workers’ Party DoÄ?u Perinçek is seen before
the start of his hearing before the European Court of Human Rights in
Strasbourg on Wednesday. (Photo: DHA)

January 28, 2015, Wednesday/ 18:04:10/ ARÄ°F TEKDAL / STRASBOURG

A Turkish politician has defended himself at the European Court of
Human Rights (ECtHR) for having publicly denied in Switzerland that a
genocide took place against the Armenian people, saying he stands by
his position that the events of 1915 do not fit the legal
classification of genocide.

On Dec. 17, 2013, the ECtHR ruled by five votes to two that
Switzerland violated the right to freedom of speech by convicting DoÄ?u
Perinçek, chairman of the Turkish Workers’ Party (Ä°P), for having
publicly denied that a genocide took place against the Armenian
people.

Perinçek declared that the events that befell the Armenians under
Ottoman rule in 1915 and which the Armenians call genocide are an
`international lie.’

The hearing on Wednesday came after Switzerland’s objections were
accepted by the ECtHR. Switzerland is one of the countries that
recognize the 1915 events that led to the killings of the Armenian
minority in the Ottoman Empire during World War I as `genocide,’ and
accepted the law that legitimizes its denial as a crime.

A Turkish court ruled on Jan. 19 to lift a travel ban on the
ultranationalist politician, ahead of the ECtHR hearing allowing him
to be present at the hearing. Perinçek was convicted in Turkey of
being a member of Ergenekon, a network described by a court as an
armed terrorist organization bent on overthrowing the government
through a coup. He was released from prison in March of last year, and
his travel ban has remained in force until now.

The Ergenekon case is being heard by the Turkish Supreme Court of
Appeals; however, the Ä°stanbul court ruled to lift the travel ban,
saying Perinçek’s appearance at the ECtHR is of importance.

After the members of the grand chamber made their opening remarks,
Mehmet Cengiz, one of Perinçek’s representative counsels, took the
floor, saying, `This is a case of freedom of speech.’

Cengiz said, `Dr. Perinçek made a judicial analysis and acknowledges
there was an `actus reus’ [objective element of a crime], but
reiterated that the events of 1915 cannot be deemed a genocide.”

Cengiz also stated that the court does not have jurisdiction to
preside over historical matters. He said Perinçek also made similar
speeches in France and Germany but had no judicial action taken
against him.

Stating that his client has been against xenophobia and racism all his
life, Cengiz said: `Dr. Perinçek has spent his life in prison for
fighting against prisons. A socialist [political] party he led was
shut down in 1991 for taking a pro-Kurdish stance.’

Perinçek: We’re here for liberty of Europeans

Perinçek then took the floor saluting the members of the court and
declaring, `I trust your court.’ He continued, `We’re here for the
liberty of Europeans.’

Stating that freedom is needed for divergent opinions and that the
ruling given out by the court on Dec. 17 represents the European
heritage, Perinçek said: `We fully defend this decision. This ruling
guarantees freedom of expression.’

Perinçek reiterated his position by saying, `The events of 1915 do not
fit the legal classification of genocide,’ adding, `It is the duty of
the European judicial system to protect our freedom of speech.’

Indicating that he always felt that what happened during the 1915
events was due to the “super powers” of the time, Perinçek said, `I
[have] always felt close to the Armenians.’

Stefan Talmon, one of the counsels of the Turkish government, stated
that the Swiss government does not recognize the genocide, so the
ruling given by the Swiss government is interesting.

`The present case cannot be compared to the Holocaust. The applicant
has not claimed that the victims have distorted history. The applicant
[Perinçek] actually acknowledges it. He disputes the legal
characterization,’ Talmon said. `Calling something an international
lie is not the same as claiming a group of people liars.’

Franck Schürrman, representing the Swiss government, then took the
floor and said, `We’re convinced that the domestic [Swiss] courts gave
a well-reasoned judgment.’

Stating that the provision came into force by a referendum and had
neutral wording, citing `a’ genocide, not `the’ genocide, Schürrman
went on to say that the referendum was 54.6 percent in favor of
passing the legislation.

Recalling that the provision allowing the criminalization of those
rejecting the Armenian genocide in Switzerland has been in force since
1995, Schürrman said: `There have been 16 instances of parliamentary
action for its abolition. Fifteen have been rejected. One is ongoing.’

Highlighting that genocide and such acts are the most serious crimes
against humanity and that many European countries recognize this,
Schürrman said, `Switzerland opted for a criminal procedure.’

According to Schürrman, Perinçek was the first to be criminalized in
terms of the Armenian genocide in Switzerland.

Turkey categorically denies the claims of Armenian genocide, saying
there were deaths on both sides when Armenians revolted against the
Ottoman Empire during World War I to create their own state in
collaboration with Russian forces invading Eastern Anatolia.

The Turkish Republic attended the hearing as a third party and was
represented by ErdoÄ?an Ä°Å?can, Stefan Talmon and Halime Ebru Demircan.

The government of Armenia also attended the hearing as a third party
and was represented by Gregorv Konstanyan, Geoffrey Robertson QC and
Amal Clooney. A delegation from the Turkish Constitutional Court was
also at the hearing.

At the two-and-a-half-hour hearing, Clooney offered a historical
account of what happened a century ago in eastern Anatolia in line
with the Armenian perspective. She criticized the court’s earlier
ruling in favor of Perinçek, saying the judges did not examine
relevant documents or hear witnesses and noting that the Ottoman
Empire had promised, while signing the 1920 Treaty of Sevres, to bring
to justice the perpetrators of the killings of Armenians. She also
said Armenia had joined the case to expand freedom of expression, not
to curtail it.

Lawyers for Turkey emphasized that the case is about freedom of
expression. They defended Perinçek, saying his speeches in Switzerland
did not contain racist elements and that he merely opposed the
characterization of the events as “genocide,” something which, the
lawyers said, should be possible in a democratic society.

Many high-profile figures from Turkey were present at the hearing such
as Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputies Deniz Baykal, Gülsün
Bilgehan, Haluk Koç; independent deputy Sühel Batum; Justice and
Development Party (AK Party) deputies Egemen BaÄ?ıÅ? and Å?aban DiÅ?li;
artist Bedri Baykam as well as groups of supporters outside the
building.

The Strasbourg court will announce its ruling on the case at a later date.

Armenia and Cyprus must create common front against Turkey, says Omirou

Yiannakis Omirou
CYPRUS – FAMAGUSTA GAZETTE
* Friday, 21 November, 2014

House of Representatives President Yiannakis Omirou, who is in Armenia
on an official visit, has said that the two countries must intensify
their bilateral cooperation.

According to the Cyprus News Agency, he said the countries must join
forces in international organisations, and utilise their access to
decision-making centres around the world, creating a common front
against Turkey.

Omirou, who was addressing, on Wednesday, the Armenian National
Assembly declared his “full readiness to undertake action, both on a
personal and parliamentary level”.

Armenian Folk Band Performed at the Largest Folklore Festival of Argentina

Agencia Prensa Armenia

The Armenian Folk Band Kusan performed for the first time in history
at the National Folklore Festival of Cosquin (),
Argentina, on Monday, January 26. “Despite the genocide, they are
here. They kept their identity and cultural legacy and transmitted it
to humanity,” said the presenter of the most important festival of
folk music in Argentina and Latin America.

“From the beginning, people connected with us. When we spoke about the
genocide people joined us. We perceived a feeling of solidarity,” said
Enrique Avakian, director and creator of Kusan after the show. At the
end, they played traditional Argentinean songs like Carnavalito and
Zamba para olvidar with the typical Armenian instruments.

The Cosquin Folk Festival lasts nine days and gathers the most
important folklore musicians and bands of the continent.

( Link -> )
Agencia de Noticias Prensa Armenia
Armenia 1366, Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina
Tel. (5411) 4775-7595
[email protected]
twitter.com/PrensaArmenia

PRESS RELEASE
January 28, 2015

FLORIDA ARMENIANS
Contact: Taniel Koushakjian
Email: [email protected]
Web:

Sayat Nova Dance Company of Boston Brings Armenian History and Culture to
Life in South Florida

By Mercedes Gechidjian
FLArmenians Miami Contributor

BOCA RATON, FL – What does it mean to be an Armenian? What have the
Armenian people been through in 3,000 years? How have we flourished as a
people and as a nation? These are some of the questions that Sayat Nova
Dance Company of Boston’s (SNDC) production A Journey Through Time
answered during their powerful performance on Saturday, January 24 at
Florida Atlantic University, in Boca Raton.

The event was held in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the 1915
Armenian Genocide, in which 1.5 million Armenians were brutally tortured
and killed by Turkish nationalists. The show took the audience on a magical
and heartfelt journey through Armenian history, in which the adoption of
Christianity, the genocide, and the creation of a free and independent
Armenia were portrayed.

The program was organized into two parts. Part one, consisted of a travel
through time, in which the audience met famed Armenian hero’s Saint Gregory
the Illuminator in Khor Virab and Vartan Mamigonian in the Battle of
Avarayr, among many others. Yet, the most agonizing encounter was with the
twenty brides of Adana in 1909, where the audience saw the gruesome
execution of twenty, innocent, young women. Part two, on the other hand,
celebrated the many cultural and melodic dances of the Armenian culture,
including crowd favorites, Kochari and Nare Nare. This part of the
production showed that, even amid tragedy, Armenians have always managed to
stay connected to their roots and the essence of being Armenian; in
addition to finding both peace and courage through the art of music and
dancing.

(According to the definition by SNDC: Kochari- `Is an ancient national,
ritual dance symbolizing movements that express the sense of `fighting the
battle of life.’ Nare Nare- `[is a] festive dance celebrating the spirit,
love, and allegiance of Armenians to their homeland.’)

This wonderful event would not have been possible without the Armenian
Genocide Commemoration, Inc. (AGC) and their efforts to raise awareness of
the Armenian Genocide in Florida. Their mission is to educate Armenian and
non-Armenians in the local community on a very dark time in world history.
`I
felt proud, relieved, wired,’ stated Arsine Kaloustian, the Public
Affairs
Director of Florida Armenians and Chairman of AGC. `A lot of people and a
lot of work went into bringing Sayat Nova to Florida. There were a lot of
moving parts to this and to watch it come together so seamlessly was
energizing. To know that it was the first official event in the USA that
was commemorating the centennial was very emotional for me,’ Kaloustian
said.

With over 700 tickets sold, Sayat Nova’s A Journey Through Time was a
great success for the Armenian community of Florida, and encouraged all of
us to help raise awareness and seek justice towards the atrocities that
occurred in 1915. As the Armenian proverb states, `If the village stands,
it can break a trunk (strength increases unity).’

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