Author: Badalian Vardan

GENOCIDE ARMENIEN : QUAND LA SOCIETE TURQUE S’EVEILLE

Publie le : 14-04-2015

Info Collectif VAN – – France5 a diffuse dimanche
12 avril a 22:25, “Genocide armenien, le spectre de 1915”, l’excellent
documentaire de Nicolas Jallot consacre au genocide armenien et
a ses repercussions actuelles en Turquie, auprès d’intellectuels
turcs. Il donne la parole a Hasan Cemal, petit-fils de l’un des trois
genocidaires de 1915 (Djemal Pacha), dont le livre 1915 : Genocide
vient de paraître en France, et a l’avocate turque Fethiye Cetin qui
s’est decouvert sur le tard des racines armeniennes : sa grand-mère
maternelle lui a revele avant de mourir qu’elle etait une orpheline
armenienne, dont la famille a ete engloutie dans ce premier genocide du
XXe siècle. Ces deux voix turques ouvrent le champ des possibles mais
ne peuvent faire oublier que la population turque est majoritairement
alignee sur le discours ultra nationaliste et negationniste de ses
gouvernements successifs. Une realite masquee par la conclusion très
consensuelle de Fethiye Cetin, concernant la “reconciliation”.

Autre bemol : Hrant Dink est presente en ces termes :”journaliste
turc d’origine armenienne”. Or, la minorite armenienne de Turquie
beneficie officiellement d’un statut de minorite. Ses membres,
chretiens, sont identifies comme “Armeniens de Turquie”. Et non comme
“Turcs d’origine armenienne”, definition qui correspond aux Turcs qui
– comme Fethiye Cetin – se decouvrent pour partie armeniens a l’âge
adulte mais ne sont pas comptabilises dans les chiffres officiels
du Patriarcat armenien d’Istanbul. “Genocide armenien, le spectre de
1915”, a voir et revoir en Replay.

France5

Genocide armenien, le spectre de 1915

Diffuse le dim. 12-04 a 22h25

Nicolas Jallot / Realisateur Nicolas Jallot / Auteur Regis Gente
/ Auteur

Resume 1915. L’Empire ottoman est plonge dans la Grande Guerre,
qui entraînera sa chute. Dans ce contexte historique, plus d’un
million d’Armeniens sont massacres par les Turcs. Le premier genocide
d’un siècle qui n’en sera pas avare. En Turquie, son evocation a
toujours ete occultee. Pourtant, au sein de la societe turque, des
voix s’elèvent pour dire la necessite de la verite. A l’occasion du
centenaire de la tragedie, ce document s’interesse a deux personnages,
un Turc et une Armenienne de Turquie. Hasan Cemal, journaliste et
intellectuel, est le petit-fils de Cemal Pacha, l’un des planificateurs
du genocide. Son cheminement l’a amene a se rebeller contre l’histoire
officielle. Fethiye Cetin, avocate et militante des droits de
l’homme, a decouvert qu’elle etait la petite-fille d’une rescapee du
massacre. Elle oeuvre pour que la Turquie retrouve la memoire.

À visionner ici

Genocide armenien, le spectre de 1915

Lire aussi :

Agenda – Hasan Cemal : “1915: Le genocide armenien” aux Editions Les
Prairies ordinaires

LES PROPOS DU PAPE SUR LES EVENEMENTS DE 1915 SONT UNE DISCRIMINATION ET UNE DIFFAMATION CONTRE LA TURQUIE, SELON CEMIL CICEK

TURQUIE

“Les propos du Pape Francois sur les evenements de 1915 sont une
discrimination et une diffamation” selon le president du Parlement
turc, Cemil Cicek, qui a accorde lundi, une interview a la chaîne de
television turque Haberturk.

“Il est inacceptable qu’une personnalite de ce rang exprime de
telles allegations, a-t-il affirme. Il s’agit d’une discrimination,
d’une diffamation.”

Pour Cemil Cicek, l’annee 2015 represente un tournant pour la Turquie
qui, selon lui, “preoccupee par la politique domestique depuis un
certain temps, ne s’est pas suffisamment interessee a ce qui se passe
a l’etranger.”

Ainsi, Cemil Cicek a fait savoir qu’il a rencontre plus d’une centaine
de chefs d’Etat, de Premiers ministres et de presidents de Parlement
pour leur expliquer clairement que les evenements de 1915 n’etaient
pas un genocide.

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

FELLIPE BARBOSA READS THE TESTIMONY OF GOHAR SARIAN

April 14, 2015 09:21
EXCLUSIVE

Fellipe Barbosa

Photo: Bart Michiels

Mediamax presents 100 Seconds project devoted to Armenian Genocide
Centennial. The project is based on testimonies of Genocide survivors
published by the National Archive of Armenia.

Fellipe Barbosa is a Brazilian filmmaker. His “Salt Kiss” (2007) film
won over 10 international awards. He was featured among Filmmaker’s
Magazine “25 New Faces of Independent Film”.

For 100 seconds project he reads an extract from Armenian Genocide
survivor Gohar Sarian’s testimony.

National Archives of Armenia Collection of Documents

Testimony of Survivor Gohar Sarian on the Massacres of Trabzon
(extract)

[1916] Tiflis

On Saturday, 13 June, the authorities posted an announcement giving
us 5 days to get ready to leave for Mesopotamia.

We could not take any belongings with us or sell them. Everybody had
to hand over everything to the authorities with their hands.

Old, sick, widowed and pregnant women could stay but they had to
produce a certificate from the municipality doctor and the head of
the police to stay on that basis.

No Greek or Turkish families could be seen on the streets. They all
went to villages in order not to see this calamity. We, the women,
gathered and with the children went to the governor. They rudely
turned us out.

We applied to the German consul in the summer house, one hour out of
the town. He received us very badly. We begged him but he ruthlessly
turned us out. We applied to the Austrian consul. He welcomed us, wept
und said:”I wish I could be helpful but there is nothing I can do.”

Producer: Ara
Tadevosyan Filming: Lena Gevorgyan, Mariam Loretsyan Post Production:
Tumo LLC

The source of Gohar Sarian’s testimony: National Archives of Armenia,
Armenian Genocide by Ottoman Turkey, 1915, Testimony of survivors,
Collection of documents, Yerevan-2013.

VivaCell-MTS is the general partner of 100 seconds project.

FERVENT INTERNATIONAL REACTION MAY FADE IF ARMENIA ISN’T CONSISTENT (VIDEO)

12:50 | April 14,2015 | Politics

Turkey responded very aggressively to the speech of Pope Francis,
who called mass killings of Armenians in 1915 “1st genocide of the
20th century”. Turkey even recalled its Ambassador to Vatican.

Armenian political analysts are surprised at the reaction of Turkey.

Pope just repeated the words said still in 2001 by his predecessor-
Pope John Paul II.

Representative of ARF Armenian Cause Office in Yerevan isn’t surprised
at Pope’s speech. He doesn’t reject that the liturgy in memory of
the Armenian Genocide victims and the speech of Pope, which filled
the media, have been for the benefit of our country.

Fervent international reaction, though, may fade if Armenia isn’t
consistent.

The specialists and politicians don’t exclude that Turkey may try to
take more decisive steps by using both the Armenian-Turkish protocols
and the NK conflict. But at the same time they assure that the state,
which killed 1.5 million Armenians in 1915, will sooner or later
recognize and compensate.

ISTANBUL : CONCERT “IN MEMORIAM | 24 AVRIL”

Publie le : 13-04-2015

Info Collectif VAN – – Il y a 100 ans, le 24 avril
1915, 250 intellectuels armeniens de Constantinople (Istanbul) ont
ete victimes d’une rafle et envoyes sur les routes de la deportation
avant d’etre massacres. En souvenir du 24 avril 1915, l’ONG turque
Anadolu Kultur organise, le 22 avril 2015 a 20h30, dans le Palais des
Congrès d’Istanbul a Harbiye, un grand concert reunissant des artistes
turcs, kurdes, armeniens et d’autres artistes internationaux. C’est la
première fois, depuis un siècle, qu’un evenement culturel d’une telle
ampleur est initie – par une association turque – dans la ville meme
où a ete mise en oeuvre l’arrestation des elites armeniennes. Cette
rafle est consideree comme le prelude du genocide orchestre par
le gouvernement Jeune-Turc a l’encontre des Armeniens de Turquie
et des autres minorites chretiennes de l’Empire ottoman. L’action
d’Anadolu Kultur est d’autant plus remarquable et courageuse que le
genocide, dont on commemore le centenaire cette annee, fait l’objet
d’un negationnisme d’Etat de la part de la Turquie (et de son allie
l’Azerbaïdjan); ce qui encourage tous les passages a l’acte haineux,
y compris contre les Turcs qui expriment leur soutien aux Armeniens. Le
Collectif VAN vous propose ci-dessous la traduction de l’annonce en
anglais, en ligne sur le site Anadolu Kultur.

Anadolu Kultur

Concert “In memoriam | 24 avril”

Le Concert “In memoriam | 24 avril” aura lieu le 22 avril 2015 a 20h30,
au Palais des Congrès d’Ýstanbul (Ýstanbul Kongre Merkezi).

Kardeþ Turkuler, Ertan Tekin, Hasmik Harutyunyan, Karine Hovhannisyan,
Erkan Oður, Ara Dinkjian, Onnik Dinkjian, Haig Yazdjian, Þahan
Arzruni, Erman Ýmayhan, Eileen Khatchadourian, Henning Schmiedt, Haig
Sarikouyoumdjian, Gaguik Mouradian, David Mayoral et Jordi Savall se
produiront lors du concert dedie aux intellectuels armeniens, poètes
et ecrivains qui ont ete arretes, envoyes en exil et tues en 1915.

Les debuts de la composition de Zulfu Livaneli “Hommage a Komitas”
seront presentes au public.

En outre, auront lieu des lectures d’oeuvres d’ecrivains et de poètes
armeniens.

Le concert “In memoriam | 24 avril” est realise par Anadolu Kultur
avec le soutien de la Fondation Calouste Gulbenkian, de Fineco et de
Project 2015.

* Les billets pour le concert sont disponibles sur Biletix

** Les recettes du concert seront utilisees pour les depenses du
concert.

(c)Traduction de l’anglais Collectif VAN – 9 avril 2015 –

Lire aussi :

La societe civile turque, moteur de la reconciliation avec l’Armenie

Turquie : > du passe

La Turquie fonce vers 2015 avec une politique negationniste

La Turquie renove les eglises armeniennes d’Ani

Istanbul : Exposition sur la Memoire armenienne

Genocide armenien : Erdogan et Gul, Prix Nobel de la Paix ?

TELECHARGER : Affiche

Source/Lien : Anadolu Kultur

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT ARMENIANS AND GENOCIDE

New York Times
April 13 2015

By RICK GLADSTONEAPRIL 13, 2015

Pope Francis’ description of the killing of Armenians 100 years ago as
a genocide has caused a diplomatic uproar with Turkey and elevated
resilient historical arguments about what really happened. The
arguments are likely to intensify as Armenia prepares to officially
commemorate the event in less than two weeks.

Here are some questions raised by the pope’s statement, made during
Sunday Mass, and by the response from Turkey, which condemned his
remarks as “baseless” and recalled its ambassador from the Vatican.

Q. What does genocide mean and what is its origin?

A. Genocide is generally defined as the deliberate killing of people
who belong to a particular racial, political or cultural group,
with the intent of the killers to destroy the existence of that
group. The term did not exist until 1944, when a Polish-Jewish lawyer,
Raphael Lemkin, was credited with creating it to describe systematic
mass killings conducted by the Nazis, including the destruction of
Europe’s Jews. According to the website of the United States Holocaust
Memorial Museum, Mr. Lemkin combined the Greek word for race or tribe,
“geno,” with “-cide,” from the Latin word for killing. The term was
incorporated into the 1948 United Nations Convention on Genocide.

Q. What is the historical event at issue?

A. It refers to the breakup of the Ottoman Empire, starting in 1915,
when the Ottomans, who were aligned with Germany in World War I,
sought to prevent Armenians from collaborating with Russia and ordered
mass deportations from the empire’s eastern provinces. As many as 1.5
million ethnic Armenians died from the combination of forced exodus,
starvation and killings by Ottoman Turk soldiers and the police. About
500,000 Armenians survived, and many scattered into Russia, the United
States and elsewhere in what became an Armenian diaspora. The term
genocide has been retroactively applied by many historians to that
period, which is now widely acknowledged to be the first genocide of
the 20th century.

Q. Why is Turkey’s government so opposed to the use of the term
“genocide” to describe what happened?

A. Turkey’s government has acknowledged that atrocities were committed
during that period but has argued that a large number of Turks were
also killed, and that to portray the killing of Armenians as systematic
and intentional is historically inaccurate. Turkey’s government has
disputed the number of Armenians killed, suggesting it was far lower
than 1.5 million. The government has often responded angrily when
other countries, groups and individuals call the Armenian killings
a genocide.

Q. How many other countries have taken a position on this question?

A. According to the website of the Armenian National Council of
America, legislatures in at least 15 countries, and the Council
of Europe and the European Parliament, have passed resolutions
recognizing the Armenian genocide. The United Nations Sub-Comission on
the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities has also
described the period as genocide. Some countries, including Switzerland
and Greece, have called for criminal charges against those who deny it.

Q. What is the position of the United States government on use of
the word genocide to describe what happened?

A. Successive administrations have sought to skirt this question
because of Turkey’s growing importance, both as a NATO ally and as an
influential political and economic power in the Middle East. They have
also described the use of the term genocide as harmful to efforts at
Turkish-Armenian reconciliation. When President Obama first campaigned
for president in 2008 he used the term genocide but has softened
his description since taking office, calling the period of history
an atrocity and a dark chapter, but resisting efforts by members of
Congress to bring a resolution on the question to a vote. Pope Francis’
use of the term genocide in his Sunday Mass has raised speculation
that Mr. Obama might do so as well.

Q. What special events are planned to commemorate the centennial?

A. Prominent Armenians in the diaspora have already started
commemorating the 100th anniversary. Some have collaborated with
Hollywood celebrities to award a humanitarian prize, starting next
year, in honor of those who helped to save Armenians during that
period. In Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, the centennial will be
officially remembered on April 24 and will be attended by a number
of world leaders, including President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.

The parliament of Armenia is also likely to adopt a statement
before the centennial remembrance calling on parliaments and
interparliamentary organizations around the world to recognize the
Armenian genocide.

Daily Sabah, Turkey
April 12 2015

Pope’s Armenia comments one-sided and incoherent: PM DavutoÄ?lu

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet DavutoÄ?lu on Sunday blamed Pope Francis
for using a ‘inappropriate’ and ‘one-sided’ language after the pontiff
described the killings of Armenians during World War I as “the first
genocide of the 20th century.”

Speaking at a closing ceremony in Istanbul, DavutoÄ?lu said “only
highlighting one side’s suffering during war time and discriminating
the others’ pain is not appropriate for the pope and the authority
that he holds.”

DavutoÄ?lu also said that the pope’s one-sided and incoherent statement
gives credence to rising racism and anti-Turkish approach in Europe.

On Sunday, Pope Francis called the 1915 incidents involving Armenians
“genocide” on Sunday during a Mass in the Armenian Catholic rite at
the St. Peter’s Basilica, which Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan also
attended.

Following the pope’s remarks, The Turkish Foreign Ministry summoned
Vatican’s envoy to Ankara and re called its ambassador to Vatican to
Ankara for consultation and related the message that the incident has
caused “loss of trust” and would be met with a response.

The foreign ministry also released a statement regarding the incident,
saying “Pope Francis, who has defended the opinion of building peace
and friendship between different groups around the world since the day
he was assigned as Pope, has discriminated about people’s suffering,
overlooked atrocities that Turks and Muslims suffered in the First
World War and only highlighted the Christian suffering, especially
that of the Armenian people.”

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt ÇavuÃ…?oÄ?lu also slammed Pope’s
statement earlier in the day via social media, saying: The Pope’s
statement, which is out of touch with both historical facts and legal
basis, is simply unacceptable.

“Religious offices are not places through which hatred and animosity
are fueled by unfounded allegations,” ÇavuÃ…?oÄ?lu shared through
Twitter.

The Ottoman Empire relocated Armenians in eastern Anatolia following
the revolts and there were Armenian casualties during the relocation
process.

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

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

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

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

Ankara agrees that there were certainly Armenian casualties during
World War I, but says that it is impossible to define these incidents
as “genocide.”

In 2014, Turkish PM Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an expressed his condolences for
the first time to all Ottoman citizens who lost their lives in the
events of 1915.

“May Armenians who lost their lives in the events in the early
twentieth century rest in peace, and we convey our condolences to
their grandchildren,” ErdoÄ?an said.

Independent Catholic News
April 12 2015

Pope Francis: Opening address to Armenian Christians during Mass on
Divine Mercy Sunday

Posted: Sunday, April 12, 2015 4:11 pm.

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

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

In the past century our human family has lived through three massive
and unprecedented tragedies. The first, which is widely considered
“the first genocide of the twentieth century” (JOHN PAUL II and
KAREKIN II, Common Declaration , Etchmiadzin, 27 September 2001),
struck your own Armenian people, the first Christian nation, as well
as Catholic and Orthodox Syrians, Assyrians, Chaldeans and
Greeks.Bishops and priests, religious, women and men, the elderly and
even defenceless children and the infirm were murdered.

The remaining two were perpetrated by Nazism and Stalinism. And more
recently there have been other mass killings, like those in Cambodia,
Rwanda, Burundi and Bosnia.

It seems that humanity is incapable of putting a halt to the shedding
of innocent blood. It seems that the enthusiasm generated at the end
of the Second World War has dissipated and is now disappearing. It
seems that the human family has refused to learn from its mistakes
caused by the law of terror, so that today too there are those who
attempt to eliminate others with the help of a few and with the
complicit silence of others who simply stand by. We have not yet
learned that “war is madness”, “senseless slaughter” (cf. Homily in
Redipuglia , 13 September 2014).

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

I greet you with affection and I thank you for your witness. With
gratitude for his presence, I greet Mr Serž Sargsyan, the President of
the Republic of Armenia. My cordial greeting goes also to my brother
Patriarchs and Bishops: His Holiness Kerekin II, Supreme Patriarch and
Catholicos of All Armenians; His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the
Great House of Cilicia, His Beatitude Nerses Bedros XIX, Patriarch of
Cilicia of Armenian Catholics; and Catholicosates of the Armenian
Apostolic Church and the Patriarchate of the Armenian Catholic Church.

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

Source: VIS

Civilians killed in Aleppo as rebels attack Armenian neighbourhood

22:30, 11 Apr 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

Syrian rebels shelled a government-held neighbourhood in the northern
city of Aleppo early on Saturday, killing at least nine people and
wounding dozens, the Associated Press reports quoting Syrian state
television and an activist group reported.

Hours after the shelling, helicopter gunships struck a market in
Aleppo’s rebel-held neighbourhood of Maadi in apparent retaliation,
according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and
the opposition-run Aleppo Media Center.

The Observatory said the airstrike killed eight people and wounded
dozens, some seriously. The Aleppo Media Center reported casualties
but did not provide a precise toll.

The violence came as the head of the UN agency for Palestinian
refugees planned to undertake an “urgent mission” to Damascus later on
Saturday amid concerns over the situation in the Palestinian refugee
camp of Yarmouk, most of which has been captured by Islamic State
(Isis).

State media said the shelling on the predominantly Christian and
Armenian neighbourhood of Sulaymaniyah in Aleppo early on Saturday
killed nine people, wounded another 50 and damaged several buildings.

The Observatory, which has a network of activists around the country,
said the shelling killed 10 people and wounded “tens”.

Syrian rebels have shelled residential areas in government-held parts
of the contested city in the past, killing hundreds of people.
Government aircraft have dropped explosives-filled barrels on
rebel-held neighborhoods in Aleppo and other cities, killing
thousands.

State media reported the rebels shelled the neighborhood with a
so-called Hell Cannon, a crude, locally made weapon that fires gas
cylinders filled with explosives. The projectiles cause widespread
damage and cannot be precisely targeted. State television showed a
building with its top three floors collapsed.

Ha’aretz, Israel
April 12 2015

100 years since Armenian slaughter, Pope remembers ‘first genocide of
20th century’

Pope Francis has previous spoken out about the massacre, and has
Turkey to recognize it as ‘the gravest crime’ of the Ottoman Empire;
Turkey cancels Holy See press conference scheduled for Sunday.

Pope Francis on Sunday remembered the 100th anniversary of the
slaughter of Armenians by calling it “the first genocide of the 20th
century,” a politically explosive pronouncement that will certainly
anger Turkey.

Turkey’s embassy to the Holy See had canceled a planned press
conference for Sunday, presumably after learning that the pope would
utter the word “genocide” over its objections.

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

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

This was not the first time that the Pope has spoken out over the
Armenia genocide. In 2013, at a meeting with Catholicos Patriarch of
Cilicia of the Armenian Catholics at the Vatican, he declared: “The
first genocide of the 20th century was that of the Armenians.”

In 2006, before he became pontiff, he urged Turkey to recognize the
genocide as the “gravest crime of Ottoman Turkey against the Armenian
people and the entire humanity.”

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

Turkey however denies that the death constituted genocide, saying that
the toll has been inflated, and that those killed were victims of
civil war and unrest.

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