Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

REVUE DE PRESSE
Commémoration du génocide arménien à Toulouse : « un devoir de mémoire »

La commémoration du génocide arménien s’est déroulée devant le
Monument aux Morts ce mardi. Le 24 avril 1915 représente une date
tragique pour ce peuple victime du plan d’extermination turque où 1,5
millions d’arméniens ont péri. L’Amicale des Arméniens de Toulouse, le
Conseil Régional, ainsi que Michel Pech, conseiller municipal chargé
de la mémoire et du monde combattant, ont déposé des gerbes de fleurs
aux pieds du monument.

La communauté arménienne de Toulouse a commémoré mardi le 97e
anniversaire du génocide arménien devant le Monument aux Morts. Des
gerbes de fleurs ont été déposées au pied du monument place François
Verdier avant de respecter une minute de silence pour toutes les
victimes de cette « extermination ». L’hymne arménien a retentit,
ainsi que la Marseillaise pour honorer le pays qui les a accueilli. Le
24 avril 1915 est une date de souffrance pour cette communauté, date
du lancement du massacre d’1,5 millions de personnes par les turcs.

Stéphane Kojayan, président de l’Amicale des Arméniens de Toulouse,
s’appuie sur cette tragique date d’anniversaire afin de se battre pour
faire reconnaître à la Turquie « sa responsabilité, la réalité des
faits qu’elle nie ». « Nous sommes déterminé à obtenir gain de cause
pour ces crimes qui sont restés impunis » exprime-t-il. A l’heure
actuelle, seulement 24 pays ont reconnu ce génocide. La communauté
juive, également à leur côté à la cérémonie, leur a apporté leur
soutien car « elles ont toutes les deux connu la même souffrance ».

Des gens de tous ges étaient présents. Aram, un jeune français
d’origine arménienne, a tenu à effectuer son « devoir de mémoire ». «
Mon arrière-grand-mère a été victime de ce génocide. J’ai entendu
beaucoup sur ce triste évènement historique depuis mon enfance »,
confie-t-il. Pour lui et comme pour beaucoup, leur présence à ce
rassemblement est un moyen d’honorer leurs ancêtres.

S’en est suivie une marche silencieuse jusqu’à la place d’Arménie où
s’est tenu allocutions, prières et recueillements, ainsi que
récitations de poèmes par les écoliers de l’école arménienne de
Toulouse.

– l-un-devoir-de-memoire-r.html

samedi 28 avril 2012,
Stéphane ©armenews.com

From: Baghdasarian

Unearth more documents on genocide: Fisk
by R. Ramesh

April 27, 2012

Photographs have an unstoppable power to convince and Armenians need
to search for more documents and evidence on the Armenian Genocide,
noted British writer and journalist Robert Fisk said on Friday night.

He was delivering a lecture entitled `Reporting the Middle East: Lies
and Genocides’ to commemorate the 97th anniversary of the Armenian
Genocide at Pierre Keusseyan Community Hall, Sharjah.

Talking exclusively to The Gulf Today on the sidelines, he said many
photographs on the Genocide are yet to be recovered and perused.

Opera singer Chrisine Belbelian sang songs by Gomidas accompanied by
pianist Syuzanna Ohanyan.

The Armenian Genocide was carried out during World War 1 between the
years 1915 and 1918. The Armenian people were subjected to
deportation, abduction, torture, massacre and starvation.

Asked why Turkey was refusing to acknowledge the genocide, Fisk said
the reasons may be many.

`While one of the reasons is Turkey’s attempt to join the European
Union, there are also land issues. Many Armenians may ask for land
back.’

On other topics, Fisk said he doubted `a state of Palestine will come about.’

Asked about being `technogically-challenged’ as he puts it about
himself, Fisk blasted the Internet, saying it took people away from
the reading habit. `It is because of Net that words are misspelt and
are ungrammatical. I receive around 250 real letters a week and that
gives me lots of satisfaction,’ he told this correspondent.

From: Baghdasarian

Terra España (Comunicado de prensa)
25 abril 2012

Miles de libaneses de origen armenio piden el reconocimiento del genocidio

Miles de libaneses de origen armenio se manifestaron hoy ante la
embajada de Turquía en el Líbano para exigir el reconocimiento del
genocidio armenio ocurrido durante la I Guerra Mundial.

Entre 20.000 a 25.000 personas corearon consignas contra Turquía y
quemaron banderas de ese país, al que acusan de haber matado un millón
y medio de sus compatriotas.

Los manifestantes no pudieron acercarse a la legación diplomática,
situada en la localidad de New Nacache, al norte de Beirut, debido al
cordón de policía antidisturbios y a las dos filas de alambradas de
espino.

A la protesta asistieron los representantes de los partidos armenios
en el Líbano -Tashnag, Henchag y Ramgavar-, así como políticos
libaneses, que habían acudido previamente al oficio religioso
celebrado en la sede de los católicos armenios.

En la homilía, retransmitida por televisión, el religioso Aram I
alertó contra ‘la infiltración de Turquía, no solo en el mundo árabe
sino también en los continentes europeo, africano y americano,
utilizando sus relaciones diplomáticas e influencias económicas para
hacer callar al pueblo armenio’.

‘No olviden el pasado, ni los antepasados del Estado turco que
persiguieron a los árabes durante siglos’, dijo, al tiempo que
advirtió de que ‘el regreso del imperio otomano se perfila en el
horizonte’.

Aram I aseguró que los armenios ‘nunca renunciaran a reclamar sus
derechos hasta que se haga justicia’ e instó al Estado turco, que
niega la existencia del genocidio, a ‘reconocer los hechos y la
historia’.

Armenia y numerosos historiadores sostienen que alrededor de 1,5
millones de armenios fueron asesinados en lo que hoy es el este de
Turquía durante la I Guerra Mundial en una política deliberada de
genocidio ordenado por el Gobierno otomano.

A finales del siglo pasado, se estima que había unos 200.000 libaneses
de origen armenio, todos ellos descendientes de las personas que
lograron salvarse del genocidio, aunque esas cifra disminuyó tras la
guerra del Líbano.

Dicha comunidad esta representada en el Gobierno y en el Parlamento
libanés, tiene sus propios centros educativos e incluso una
universidad.

From: Baghdasarian

PadovaOggi , Italia
25 aprile 2012

Genocidio armeni Padova cerimonie 2012

[Armenian Genocide Commeoration in Padua]
?
Genocidio degli armeni, a Padova una cerimonia per non dimenticare
Nel 97° anniversario dello sterminio ad opera dei giovani turchi, le
autorità di Padova, dal sindaco Zanonato all’assessore provinciale
Pavanetto, hanno voluto ricordare una tra le tragedie più aberranti
del 20° secolo, rimasta troppo spesso nel silenzio
di Redazione 25/04/2012
`

Genocidio armeni Padova cerimonie 2012
?
Nella giornata di ieri si è celebrato anche a Padova il ricordo della
strage degli armeni nel 1915.

IL PRIMO GENOCIDIO. Il genocidio, uno dei più cruenti e tragici della
storia, nonché il primo del ‘900, è rimasto per troppo tempo ignorato
ma la città ha voluto ricordarlo con una cerimonia a cui hanno preso
parte le autorità tra cui il sindaco e l’assessore provinciale Enrico
Pavanetto.

“HA DATO IL LA AL NAZISMO”. Queste le significative parole del sindaco
Flavio Zanonato: “Il fatto che fu negata, nascosta, giustificata,
nella migliore delle ipotesi ridimensionata, ha consentito che
quell’orrore non rimanesse un unicum, ma venisse imitato dal Nazismo
di Hitler con ancor peggior feroce a danno di un altro popolo, quello
ebraico, a poco più di due decenni di distanza”.

From: Baghdasarian

UNEARTH MORE DOCUMENTS ON GENOCIDE
R. Ramesh

Gulf Today

April 27 2012
UAE

Photographs have an unstoppable power to convince and Armenians need
to search for more documents and evidence on the Armenian Genocide,
noted British writer and journalist Robert Fisk said on Friday night.

He was delivering a lecture entitled “Reporting the Middle East: Lies
and Genocides” to commemorate the 97th anniversary of the Armenian
Genocide at Pierre Keusseyan Community Hall, Sharjah.

Talking exclusively to The Gulf Today on the sidelines, he said many
photographs on the Genocide are yet to be recovered and perused.

Opera singer Chrisine Belbelian sang songs by Gomidas accompanied by
pianist Syuzanna Ohanyan.

The Armenian Genocide was carried out during World War 1 between the
years 1915 and 1918. The Armenian people were subjected to deportation,
abduction, torture, massacre and starvation.

Asked why Turkey was refusing to acknowledge the genocide, Fisk said
the reasons may be many.

“While one of the reasons is Turkey’s attempt to join the European
Union, there are also land issues. Many Armenians may ask for land
back.”

On other topics, Fisk said he doubted “a state of Palestine will
come about.”

Asked about being “technogically-challenged” as he puts it about
himself, Fisk blasted the Internet, saying it took people away from
the reading habit. “It is because of Net that words are misspelt and
are ungrammatical. I receive around 250 real letters a week and that
gives me lots of satisfaction,” he told this correspondent.

From: Baghdasarian

THOUSANDS MARK GENOCIDE DAY IN ARMENIA AND WORLDWIDE
Lilit Gevorgyan

Global Insight
April 25, 2012

Millions of Armenians in Armenia and across worldwide Diaspora have
been holding a week of rallies and vigils culminating in marking
the Genocide Day on 24 April in memory of killings of Armenians by
Ottoman Turks during the First World War. The Armenian government
and diplomatic dignitaries were among thousands who attended the
Genocide Monument in the Armenian capital yesterday (24 April). The
mass killings and deportations took place between 1915 and 1923,
and resulted in one of the first genocides in the 20th century as
claimed by Armenia. 24 April is when 300 Armenian intellectuals along
with 5,000 members of Istanbul’s Armenian community were rounded up
and killed as the wider-ranging persecutions started.

The killings were recognised as crimes against humanity by a court
martial set up by Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, in early
1923, who personally accused the Ottoman government of carrying out
the atrocities. However, Turkey has increasingly grown determined to
shake off any accusations of crimes against humanity which in 1948
were described as genocide by the UN Convention on Prevention of
Genocide following killings of European Jews during the Second World
War. Turkey argues that the number of killed were not over 1.5 million
as Armenia maintains but 800,000 and they were result of a civil war.

The UN, European Parliament and over 20 countries have recognised the
killings as genocide but one key opponent of the recognition is the
US. The US Congress regularly tables motion on the issue, and this
year is no exception, but these do not normally receive backing from
the majority as such endorsement could affect relations with Turkey.

In recent years Turkish intellectuals and human rights activists have
also been staging protests in Turkey demanding freedom of speech and
more openness on this issue. This is despite the risk of prosecution
as in a number of cases Turkish intellectuals have been charged with
“insulting Turkishness” under Article 301 of the Criminal Code for
using the term crimes against humanity regarding the Armenian killings.

Significance:Genocide Day is a uniquely unifying event for Armenians in
Armenia and abroad. The issue is highly sensitive and emotive not least
because Armenia and Turkey are very far from the healing process. The
arguments that this is a matter of history are clearly irrelevant until
truth and reconciliation takes place. Furthermore, the fact that simply
talking about this historic event can be prosecuted and even results in
death (as seen in the case of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink,
shot dead in 2007 by a Turkish nationalist) highlights once again that
the issue of the killings is nothing but historic. It is an issue that
breeds mistrust between Armenian and Turkish communities. Any efforts
to bypass it have proven ineffective as failed 2010 Armenian-Turkish
protocols on normalisation of relations showed.

From: Baghdasarian

TWO MUSCOVITES TO STAND TRIAL FOR RACIALLY MOTIVATED ATTACKS, MURDERS

ITAR-TASS
April 24, 2012 Tuesday 05:29 PM GMT+4
Russia

Two Muscovites will stand trial for racially motivated attacks and
murders, the Moscow inter-regional transport investigative department
of the Russian Investigation Committee said on Tuesday.

“Underage Georgy Golovanov and his acquaintance Yevgeny Marenchuk
perpetrated a number of cruel crimes against citizens of Central Asian
and South Caucasian states in April-May 2010,” the department said.

The young men armed with knives attacked a citizen of Armenia in the
Maryina Roshcha neighborhood on April 27, 2010. Golovanov stabbed
the Armenian; they seized two cell phones from the victim and ran away.

“The men attacked citizens of Tajikistan and Mongolia near the Moscow
Stankolit railroad platform on May 12. The Tajik citizen was stabbed
in the stomach and the Mongolian citizen was stabbed in the chest,”
he said.

The attackers injured a citizen of Uzbekistan in approximately the
same area on May 5. He died of injuries. A man from Kyrgyzstan was
stabbed on Streletskaya Street on May 8.

“The suspects made a full confession with the exception of killing
the Armenian citizen and shifted the blame on each other,” the
department said.

The investigation is over, and the Moscow City Court will soon hear
the case merits.

From: Baghdasarian

CONGRESSWOMAN LAURA RICHARDSON RISES TO COMMEMORATE THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

States News Service
April 24, 2012 Tuesday

The following information was released by the office of California
Rep. Laura Richardson :

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the victims and survivors
of one of the darkest chapters in human history, the Armenian
Genocide. April 24th marks the 97th commemoration of the first
genocide of the 20th Century where Ottoman Turkish authorities ordered
the systematic annihilation of more than 1.5 million Armenians. The
Armenian Genocide was carried out from 1915 to 1923 through massacres,
deportations, and death marches where hundreds of thousands were
herded into the Syrian Desert to die of thirst and starvation.

Modern-day Turkish authorities sadly have chosen to deny this chapter
of history.

Notable scholars and historians who recognize the Armenian Genocide
include the International Association of Genocide Scholars and the Elie
Wiesel Foundation for Humanity whose opinion is supported by 53 Nobel
Laureates. Many international observers, including then Ambassador
and later U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau, witnessed the
nightmare firsthand and reported detailed accounts of the atrocities
to their governments.

Mr. Speaker, the historical record is clear and the Armenian Genocide
is a tragic fact. It must be acknowledged and remembered so that it
will never be repeated.

As a member of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues, I know
that the refusal of modern-day Turkey to acknowledge one of the worst
examples of man’s inhumanity in the 20th century haunts survivors
of the Armenian Genocide, as well as their families. As a Member of
Congress from California, which is home to more Armenian-Americans
than any other, I believe this is not only an affront to the memory
of the victims and to their descendants, but it does a disservice
to the United States as it seeks to stand up for the victims of
violence today.

The issue of recognizing the Armenian genocide and helping the Armenian
people is neither a partisan nor geopolitical issue. Rather, it is a
question of giving the Armenian people the justice they deserve. In
doing so, we affirm the dignity of humankind everywhere.

It has been said that “all it takes for evil to triumph, is for good
men to do nothing.” This is one of the reasons I am proud to have
joined with so many of my colleagues in cosponsoring the resolution
affirming the occurrence of the Armenian genocide throughout my career
in Congress. I will continue to do for as long as it takes.

In recognizing the Armenian Genocide we do not seek to persecute
any person or state; we seek to build a path that will lead to
reconciliation between Armenians and Turks. And in doing so, we will
remain true to our nation’s highest aspirations for justice and peace.

It was President Lincoln who called us “better angels of our nation”
when he said in his Second Inaugural Address that all Americans should
“do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among
ourselves and with all nations.”

Mr. Speaker, the Armenian Genocide has been officially recognized by
42 states. These states have gone on public record rejecting any claim
or assertion that denies the occurrence of one of history’s worst
crimes against humanity. I believe it is time for us to join these
nations in that endeavor by passing H. Res. 304, the “Affirmation of
the United States Record on the Armenian Genocide Resolution.”

Mr. Speaker, I ask for a moment of silence in memory of the millions
of Armenian voices silenced by genocide at the hands of the Ottoman
Empire.

Thank you and I yield back the balance of my time.

From: Baghdasarian

GOVERNOR BROWN ISSUES PROCLAMATION DECLARING DAY OF REMEMBRANCE OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

States News Service
April 24, 2012 Tuesday

The following information was released by the office of the Governor
of California:

Between 1915 and 1923, Armenians were subjected to torture,
starvation, mass murder and exile from their historic homeland. 1.5
million lost their lives. The Armenian Genocide, also known as the
“First Genocide of the Twentieth Century,” represented a deliberate
attempt by the Ottoman Empire to eliminate all traces of a thriving
noble civilization.

Armenian communities all over the world commemorate this tragedy
on April 24. On this day, we honor the victims and survivors of the
genocide, and reaffirm our commitment to preventing future atrocities
from being committed against any people.

NOW THEREFORE I, EDMUND G. BROWN JR., Governor of the State of
California, do hereby proclaim Tuesday, April 24, 2012 as “Day of
Remembrance of the Armenian Genocide.”

IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great
Seal of the State of California to be affixed this 19th day of
April 2012.

From: Baghdasarian

L.A. COUNCILMEN SEEK TO ADD ARMENIAN LANGUAGE TO BALLOT
by Zach Behrens

KCET

April 26 2012
CA

Two L.A. City Councilmen want to add the Armenian language to the
city’s election materials and ballots, which are already provided in
six languages besides English. With the Los Angeles area being home
to the most Armenians in the U.S. (thousands took to the streets of
Hollywood on Tuesday to observe the beginning of Armenian genocide
97 years ago), they believe there is good reason for this.

“The Armenian population in Los Angeles is significant and continues
to grow; at last count, there were over 28,000 registered voters of
Armenian descent in the City,” reads a motion submitted by Council
President Herb Wesson and Council Member Paul Krekorian, the first
Armenian-American member of the city council. “As such, the City should
consider adding Armenian as a language available on election ballot
materials to ensure that the City’s Armenian community is given the
same consideration that other communities in the City are given.”

Language options currently on L.A.’s election materials and ballots
— that would be Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Tagalog, and
Vietnamese — are required by the federal Voting Rights Act. Based
on census data, single language groups must be given assistance when
the population is more than 10,000 or is more than five percent of all
voting age citizens or the illiteracy rate of the group is higher than
the national illiteracy rate. (The most recent census data indicated
that Hindi and Thai will be added to the next L.A. ballot. Countywide,
those languages and Khmer, the official language of Cambodia, will
also be added to the June 5 primary ballot.)

So if there are close to 30,000 Armenians living in Los Angeles,
shouldn’t they be also included? Well, there is a catch.

The federal law only applies to “American Indians, Asian Americans,
Alaskan Natives, and Spanish-heritage citizens” because Congress
determined the groups “to have faced barriers in the political
process.” Armenians do not fit into those categories, hence the
city motion, which seeks to first study the feasibility of adding
the service starting with the 2013 or 2015 elections and will be
considered in a future city council committee meeting.

Neighboring city of Glendale, where around a quarter of its population
is Armenian, already includes the language on its election materials
and ballots.

From: Baghdasarian