Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

LA SANGLANTE HISTOIRE QUI HANTE LA TOURNEE DE SYSTEM OF A DOWN

Centenaire du Genocide des Armeniens

L’artiste Serj Tankian, sur sa mission d’inspirateur de la musique
du groupe et les perspectives d’un nouvel album…

Par Kory Grow, Rollingstone

8 janvier 2015

Entre leurs rythmes spasmodiques et leurs melodies syncopees, System
of a Down ont toujours ete engages dans une demarche grave : appeler
a la reconnaissance du Genocide Armenien de 1915. Le disque longue
duree eponyme des debuts comportait une chanson titree ” P.L.U.C.K
” ; le leader du groupe Serj Tankian y chantait ” Une race entière,
genocide/ Enlevee toute notre fierte “, et a travers les annees,
le groupe a donne plusieurs concerts ” Souls ” uniques pour aider a
la prise de conscience de cette tragedie.

À present, le groupe dont les membres sont les enfants des survivants,
commemore le centi̬me anniversaire du genocide Рau cours duquel
les Turcs ottomans arretèrent puis executèrent quelques 1,5 millions
d’Armeniens, un fait que la Turquie et plusieurs pays refusent encore
de reconnątre officiellement Рdans une tournee internationale
baptisee ” Reveiller les Âmes “. Elle se terminera le 23 avril,
veille du jour de commemoration par l’Armenie, par la toute première
representation du groupe dans le pays de ses ancetres. Le groupe
prevoit de diffuser le concert en direct de facon a ce qu’il soit
suivi dans le monde entier.

System of a Down a egalement cree sur son site internet une ” carte
thermique ” interactive, permettant aux fans de suivre la facon
dont on reagit au Genocide dans les diverses parties du monde, avec
l’indication des pays qui l’ont officiellement reconnu. Par ailleurs,
le site heberge un appel a l’action, afin que les fans demandent au
president et au parlement turc qu’ils le reconnaissent.

” Il s’agit en partie d’attirer l’attention sur le fait que des
genocides se produisent encore, que l’on emploie les termes ” genocide
“, ” holocauste “, ou ” catastrophe humanitaire “, dit Tankian. ”
Rien ne change vraiment dans ce domaine. Nous voulons prendre part au
changement. Nous voulons que la reconnaissance du premier genocide du
20ème siècle soit un renouveau de la confiance des hommes dans leur
capacite d’arreter par eux-memes de se tuer eux-memes “. Il a un petit
rire. ” Je dis cela, en riant, parce que bien sûr, c’est ridicule “.

Qu’est-ce qui vous a decide a commemorer le 100ème anniversaire du
Genocide Armenien par une Tournee ?

C’est le renouvellement et la montee en puissance d’un engagement que
nous avions pris il y a des annees, concernant le Genocide Armenien.

Le concept ” Souls ” [âmes] est complètement devenu une tournee, et
c’est une chose en laquelle nous avons tous foi, etant tous enfants
de survivants du genocide. C’est important pour la reconnaissance
du genocide, qui est le resultat final a atteindre, tout comme
l’accomplissement de la justice.

Quelles sont les etapes a franchir pour obtenir justice ?

Je pense qu’il est important pour la Turquie, qu’elle connaisse sa
vraie histoire. Il ne s’agit pas simplement du genocide des Armeniens,
des Grecs et des Assyriens, mais de ce qui se passe en ce moment. Il
n’y a pas d’accords internationaux executables qui permettent de mettre
fin au genocide. En depit d’un certain nombre de grandes structures
des Nations-Unies dont certaines sont meme basees aux Etats-Unis,
s’agissant de prevention du genocide, il n’y a aucune resolution
sur un genocide ou un holocauste quel qui soit, alors qu’il est en
cours. Nous assistons toujours a leur reapparition. J’ai lu dans la
presse d’aujourd’hui qu’on a decouvert a Deir ez-Zor en Syrie, une
fosse commune de victimes des massacres de l’Etat Islamique, et cela
m’a rappele tous les os qui gisent sous le sable de Deir ez-Zor depuis
le premier genocide du vingtième siècle, exactement au meme endroit. Si
cela n’est pas un symbole, je me demande ce qui peut en etre un.

Vos grands-parents ont tous vecu le Genocide Armenien. Que vous en
ont-ils dit ?

Ils avaient ces recits incroyables, obsedants, de leur survie. Ils
etaient tous dans leur première enfance, des petits enfants. Ma
grand-mère et sa grand-mère ont ete sauves par le maire turc d’un
village, tandis qu’elles etaient forcees de marcher vers la Syrie,
vers Deir ez-Zor, le desert. C’est ainsi qu’elles furent sauvees. Mon
grand-père a perdu la majeure partie de sa famille au cours de
pogroms. Il a ete recueilli dans divers orphelinats avant de se
retrouver finalement au Liban, pour y trouver un refuge et grandir.

Des histoires a vous serrer le coeur, vraiment.

Lorsque mon grand-père etait encore en vie, nous l’avons filme pour
cette sequence que nous avons inseree dans Screamers. C’etait une
bonne facon de raconter son histoire, ce qui m’a fait beaucoup de
bien. Nous avons engage une equipe de cameramen pour enregistrer
16 heures de ces importantes histoires avant que ne disparaissent
presque tous les survivants.

Vous vous etes produit sur scène en solo en Armenie. Comment avez-vous
vecu cette experience ?

C’etait reellement etonnant. La première fois, j’etais avec mon
orchestre, le F.C.C, pour une tournee en solo a travers l’Europe. Nous
nous sommes produits dans un beau et grand theâtre. La deuxième
fois, j’ai joue avec un orchestre armenien, l’Orchestre de l’Opera
d’Armenie. Nous avons donne ce spectacle pour le lancement d’un
centre technologique public nomme Tumo. Il y avait environ 11 000
personnes dans cette belle place attenante a un parc, sur des gradins
prefabriques, surplombant cette magnifique vallee. C’etait vraiment
etonnant. Beaucoup de jeunes, beaucoup d’enthousiasme. C’etait vraiment
très encourageant d’entrevoir qu’un futur s’offre a l’Armenie.

Avez-vous percu les sentiments eprouves par ces gens envers les
artistes lors de ce concert ?

En Armenie, notre reputation est sans equivalent. Je ne veux pas user
de noms comme les Beatles ou quoi que ce soit, mais c’est un genre de
chose unique. C’est pour cela que nous voulons y aller et jouer pour
ces gens, ce que nous n’avons jamais encore fait en tant que System
of a Down. C’est tout a fait interessant.

Comment se fait-il que System of a Down ne se soit jamais produit en
Armenie ?

C’est une bonne question, vraiment. Je n’ai aucune reponse directe sur
ce point. On nous a demande de nous produire, mais cela n’a jamais
debouche, soit du fait des possibilites de calendrier, soit du fait
de l’etendue de l’investissement dans les infrastructures. Cela
prend du temps, quelle que soit l’infrastructure necessaire a ce
grand spectacle.

La formation a-t-elle jamais joue en Turquie ?

Non. Nous avons envisage la Turquie comme l’un des lieux où roder la
tournee Souls. Nous avions besoin de la permission du gouvernement,
conditionnee au silence envers le genocide et envers les actes du
gouvernement d’Erdogan [alors premier ministre] en particulier. À
ce moment, le nouveau premier ministre, ancien ministre des affaires
etrangères, venait d’etre designe, et bien sûr Erdogan avait abandonne
le poste de premier ministre pour celui de president. Nous avons
attendu un peu, mais n’ayant jamais obtenu de reponse, nous avons
mis en programme la suite de la tournee.

À quoi ressemblent vos relations avec vos fans turcs ? Cela doit etre
frustrant pour vous de ne pas pouvoir jouer pour eux.

Complètement. Je tiens personnellement a aller jouer la-bas. Nos
relations avec eux sont vraiment decontractees. Il y a des annees,
quelqu’un a fait passer dans la presse turque des affirmations
destinees a nous nuire – un agent du gouvernement, je pense, disant
que nous avions fait des choses que nous n’avons jamais faites. Nous
avons donc fait paraître sur notre site internet un message, expliquant
que cela etait de la desinformation, et qu’il ne fallait pas y preter
attention. Que ce n’etaient que mensonges. Ce sont nos fans qui nous
ont proteges en Turquie. Ils ont ecrit aux redacteurs qui avaient
publie ces fausses informations, et ont lutte pour nous.

Nous en sommes restes bouche-bee. Le fait est que nous avons des
fans en Turquie qui defendent System of a Down. Il n’y a pas de
societe unipolaire.

Pensez-vous que la Turquie reconnaîtra un jour le Genocide ?

Je pense que c’est très possible. Je viens de lire qu’une resolution
pour la reconnaissance de tous les crimes passes, y compris les
genocides armeniens – specifiquement nommes- vient d’etre deposee
au parlement turc par une Kurde, membre du parlement de la minorite
Sebahat Tuncel. Meme si je suis sûr qu’il n’y a pas de majorite pour
la voter, c’est de sa part un geste etonnant de courage, mais ces
temps pourraient changer, et c’est positif.

S’agissant de changement, des celebrites armeniennes ont recemment
attire l’attention sur le genocide.

Absolument. Les gens retiennent avant tout Kim Kardashian. Je pourrais
dire qu’avec sa commemoration annuelle du Genocide Armenien et l’impact
qu’elle donne a ce mot, il faut lui en etre reconnaissant.

Elle a fait du bon travail.

Elle est capable de beaucoup secouer les consciences ?

Absolument. Elle a plus de fidèles Twitter que j’en ai, c’est certain
[rires].

Pour changer de sujet, il y a dix ans sortait le dernier album de
System of a Down. Parlez-vous entre vous de la possibilite d’en faire
un nouveau ?

Nous en avons parle. Cette tournee etant faite, de retour, nous verrons
où nous en sommes. S’il y a des chansons qui marchent pour System,
si je le pense et si Daron [Malakian, guitare] le pense. Il y a une
opportunite pour travailler ensemble, mais nous n’avons encore fait
aucun plan que nous pourrions annoncer.

Avez-vous personnellement ecrit des chansons en pensant a System ?

J’en ai quelques-unes qui pourraient convenir, mais je ne suis pas
sûr de pouvoir reellement les jouer pour voir si elles eveillent
favorablement l’interet des garcons.

Pour l’instant, je me concentre sur un projet de musique de film.

C’est en realite une musique vraiment sereine, pour un film base,
une fois de plus, sur le Genocide. C’est le seul sujet sur lequel je
travaille pour le moment. Son titre est 1915. C’est une dramatique
très interessante actuellement tournee a Los Angeles, au Los Angeles
Theater, un très vieux et très distingue theâtre. C’est une histoire
moderne, une intrigue psychologique vraiment, vraiment interessante.

Elle s’inspire du negationnisme et des impacts psychologiques d’un
genocide plutôt que de ses aspects materiels.

Pour revenir a un nouvel album de System, je suis sûr que vos fans
attendent de savoir où vous en etes.

Ils seront les premiers a savoir. Les Fans savent avant la presse,
je vous le garantis.

Traduction Gilbert Beguian pour Armenews

vendredi 16 janvier 2015, Jean Eckian (c)armenews.com

From: Baghdasarian

DISCUSSIONS DEDICATED TO THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE HELD IN SWEDEN

10:30, 16 Jan 2015

On January 14, Stockholm’s “ABF” Centre, cultural- educational
institution of Social-Democratic ruling party of Sweden, organized
seminar-discussion on the Armenian Genocide.

Among the Speakers at the seminar, that raised public interest and
attracted large number of participants, were Ingmar Karlsson, former
Consul General of Sweden in Istanbul, his daughter Andrea Karlsson,
Human Rights Studies, Lund University, and Thomas Hammarberg, former
Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe.

The Speakers touched upon the history of the Armenian Genocide,
the legal aspects of the issue, as well as current situation in Turkey.

Ingmar Karlsson presented the situation in the Ottoman Empire in the
days of Genocide, sounding the reasons behind it. Andrea Karlsson
in her turn mentioned the denial policy pursued by the Government of
Turkey and as a result, the lack of information in society, stressing
that nevertheless, the number of people accepting that fact among
the academic and public circles in Turkey rises.

In his speech, Thomas Hammarberg raised legal aspects of the Genocide,
explaining how the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of
the Crime of Genocide, December 9, 1948, could have retroactive effect.

Last two Speakers especially stressed the inevitability of compensation
for the Genocide.

From: Baghdasarian

THOUSANDS OF RUSSIA’S LABOUR MIGRANTS ARE PACKING BAGS

ITAR-TASS, Russia
January 13, 2015 Tuesday 05:00 PM GMT+4

by Lyudmila Alexandrova

MOSCOW January 13.

On my way to work the other day I overheard a telling dialogue between
two guest workers: the share taxi’s driver (judging by his appearance,
an ethnic Tajik), and one of his passengers (obviously a guest from
Armenia). Both were speaking fluent Russian

“I’m leaving,” the Tajik driver said. “The kind of money I am making
these days I will be able to earn at home just as easy.”

“Me, too,” the Armenian passenger replied. “The more so, since now
you’ve got to buy a license to get a job.”

The rouble’s 50-percent slump and latest measures to tighten migration
legislation have succeeded there where the most ardent xenophobes had
repeatedly failed. Guest workers have begun to flee Russia. Back last
year the representatives of ethnic communities repeatedly warned that
even an exchange rate of 45-50 roubles per dollar was unacceptable
for most labour migrants. At the moment one dollar is traded for
65 roubles.

In the first days of January the influx of guest workers dwindled by
70% in contrast to that in the same period of a year ago, the chief of
Russia’s Federal Migration Service, Konstantin Romodanovsky, said on
the Rossiya-24 round-the-clock news channel. According to the official,
the overall number of migrants from Central Asia is declining.

“The economy is one of the factors. The other is we have restored
order to the rules of presence in Russia,” Romodanovsky said. In the
meantime, the number of migrants from neighbouring Ukraine and from
Moldova has been on the rise, he added.

Labour migrants – are they an evil or a blessing? This is a question
Russians have been asking themselves ever more often of late, as
crowds of guest workers have been leaving for home. On the one hand,
many Russians still have a rather strong xenophobic sentiment, fuelled
with media reports of high level of migration-related crime. On the
other, many Muscovites are already complaining that the removal of
snow from the city streets in the first days of the new year leaves
much to be desired.

“Since January 1 five migrant workers have quit their jobs of their
own accord,” a man who identified himself as Irakly, a restaurant
owner in St. Petersburg, complained on the Ekho Moskvy radio station.

“No Russian is eager to do the dishes. I just don’t know how go about
this business.”

With the beginning of 2015 migrants have found it far more difficult
to get employment in Russia. Instead of quotas for migrant workers
the authorities have introduced a system of licenses that will have to
be paid for not by the employees, but by the guest workers themselves.

Under the newly-effective rule each new arrival is obliged to apply
to the Federal Migration Service for an employment license within a
30-day deadline. Also, guest workers will have to acquire a voluntary
medical insurance policy for the whole period the employment license
will be effective, certificates testifying the Russian language,
history and legislation tests have been successfully passed. Also,
starting from January 1 all CIS citizens will be able to enter Russia
only upon the presentation of a foreign travel passport. Exceptions
are made for the countries affiliated with the Eurasian Economic
Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Armenia, as well as Kyrgyzstan,
which hopes to join the EEU later this year.

The local authorities are free to decide how much to charge for an
employment license. In Moscow it may cost 4,000 roubles, which,
according to migrants’ own calculations implies a monthly pay of
more than 30,000 roubles. Wages that big exist only in the building
industry. The average pay in the housing and utilities sector is
far smaller.

Punishments for abusing the migration rules have been tightened since
January 10. Those who stay in Russia for more than 120 days without
the proper legal formalities accomplished would entail an automatic
entry ban for three years. Those who have been present in Russian
territory illegally for more than 270 days can forget about coming
to Russia again for the next five years, and illegal stay for 360
days and more will be punishable with a ten year entry ban.

Romodanovsky said the number of migrants who are present in Russia
legally and that illegal workers are now approximately equal. He
estimates that per 2.7 million legal guests there are about 2.9
million illegal ones.

Experts believe that the measures to tighten legislation are ill-timed
and the Russian economy should brace for a heavy blow.

The economic situation as it is, Russia these days needs migrants
more than before, says the head of the Civil Assistance committee,
Svetlana Gannushkina. “We can no longer afford to pay foreigners
lucrative wages to keep them here. The guest workers are leaving. In
the meantime, Russia has been tightening laws,” the daily Novyie
Izvestia quotes Gannushkina as saying.

Harsher migration rules will yield no benefits, warns the president of
the Migration 21st Century foundation, Vyacheslav Postavnin. “It will
merely push up the number of illegal migrants and fuel corruption,”
says Postavnin.

“At a time when migrants were arriving in uncontrolled flows such steps
to tighten migration legislation would have been quite reasonable,
but today’s situation is very different,” senior lecturer at the
Russian Presidential Academy of the National Economy and Public
Administration, Tatyana Ilarionova, has told TASS.

“The rouble’s fall makes it still worse. Migrants feel that having
a job in Russia is fraught with too many risks. But over the past
fifteen years these people have managed to get blended into our
economic landscape. Such industries as construction, retail trade,
the services, and the housing and utilities sector will begin to
experience problems. Naturally, this is very bad for the economy.”

The events in the southeast of Ukraine have pushed up the influx
of Ukrainian migrants, but they are very unlikely to take the niche
vacated by leaving guest workers from Central Asia and do the jobs
in the building industry, the housing and utilities sector or to seek
fortune in Siberia or the Far East,” Ilarionova said. –0–str

From: Baghdasarian

ARAM 1ER DENONCE LA PERSECUTION DES CHRETIENS AU MOYEN-ORIENT

LIBAN

Le Catholicos de Cilicie Aram 1er a deplore le ciblage des chretiens
par des groupes extremistes de la region et a appele le Liban pour
elire un nouveau president pour proteger le pays contre la violence
endemique.

> a declare Aram 1er aux fidèles assistant
a la messe du Noël armenien. > a dit Aram 1er soulignant,
toutefois, la necessite urgente et primaire d’elire un president.

From: Baghdasarian

GISORS : MARC HAIRABEDIAN, PASSIONNE D’HISTOIRE LOCALE, EST DECEDE

REVUE DE PRESSE
Depuis un peu plus de deux ans, il etait devenu le secretaire de
l’association Passes-Compose.

Figure bien connue de Gisors, specialement en ce qui concerne
l’histoire du Vexin, Marc Hairabedian est decede samedi 20 decembre
a l’âge de 72 ans des suites d’un cancer fulgurant. Cette region, il
l’avait d’abord connu dans sa jeunesse au cours de nombreuses semaines
de vacances passees dans sa famille avant de choisir de s’y etablir
lui-meme. À côte de son activite professionnelle d’informaticien dans
une societe d’assurance, il prend rapidement part a la vie locale
et fonde en 1986 l’Association Heraldique et Genealogique des deux
Vexins, domaine dans lequel il cumule de nombreuses connaissances.

Diplôme en genealogie

Depuis un peu plus de deux ans, il etait par ailleurs devenu le
secretaire de l’association Passes-Composes, dont il etait l’un des
cofondateurs et au travers de laquelle il prenait part a l’ecriture
de textes historiques dont plusieurs ont ete publies dans nos colonnes.

Diplôme en genealogie, il travaillait depuis plusieurs mois a
la redaction d’un livre traitant du genocide armenien, son pays
d’origine. S’il n’a pas eu le temps de publier cet ouvrage, il laissera
en revanche un souvenir emu aux membres du collectif Passes-Composes
avec lequel il venait de collaborer depuis deux mois pour la redaction
de poèmes de noël dans une demarche intergenerationnelle.

Un hommage unanime

Marie-Claude Cussac, presidente de l’association garde un souvenir
emu de son ami disparu :
From: Baghdasarian

IMF TO GIVE ARMENIA SECOND EFF TRANCHE FOR $17 MLN

Interfax, Russia
Jan 12 2015

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
completed the first review of Armenia’s economic performance under
the three-year Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program on December 22,
2014, and the IMF will give Armenia 11.74 million SDR, or around $17
million, according to an IMF statement.

“After a steady recovery during 2010-12 from the deep 2009 recession,
Armenia’s growth softened in 2013 and has remained subdued in 2014.

The softening of economic activity has been broad based, as growth of
exports and remittances slowed, and government spending was lower than
budgeted. Construction, which had declined since the 2009 crisis,
was relatively flat. Growth is projected at 2.6% in 2014 and is
expected to increase only gradually in 2015 and over the medium term
in light of expectations of slow growth in key trading partners,”
the statement says.

The extended arrangement for 82.21 million SDR, or about $119.1
million, was approved on March 7, 2014. Armenia will receive the
loan in seven equal tranches and the program will be tracked every
six months. It was previously reported that Armenia might receive
the second tranche in early December 2014.

From: Baghdasarian

THE WATER DIVINER: FANTASY NOT HISTORY

Neos Kosmos – Hellenic Perspective
Jan 14 2015

The premise of an Australian wandering around western Anatolia in
1920-21 is itself incredulous

DR PANAYIOTIS DIAMANTIS

‘Satan’s army: the dark side of The Water Diviner’, ‘Bizarre’,
‘Disgusting’, ‘Lies’ and ‘Disgraceful’. These are some of the responses
to the depiction of Hellenes in The Water Diviner, screenplay and novel
by Andrew Anastasios and associates. Anastasios and his co-writers
have done serious disservice to both Kleio, Muse of History, and
to Hellenism.

A daughter of Zeus, Këåßù may translate as ‘to recount’, ‘to make
famous’, or ‘to celebrate’. Anastasios’ misconstructions and omissions
result in the film and its accompanying novel presenting the indigenous
Hellenes of Anatolia as ‘Satan’s army’, as barbarous invaders. In
its drive to create an anti-war message, The Water Diviner ends up as
fantastic propaganda where victims become perpetrators and perpetrators
become victims.

In The Water Diviner, Anastasios omits that Hellenes, Armenians
and Assyrians are the indigenous peoples of Anatolia, omits that
Armenians lived in the region where most of the action in the film and
the novel takes place, depicts the indigenous Hellenes of Anatolia
so disparagingly even the Turkish newspaper Zaman decries it, and
much more.

In a recent interview, Russell Crowe claimed that “after 100 years,
it’s time to expand that mythology”, Australia “should be mature enough
as a nation to take into account the story that the other blokes have
to tell”. Fair enough. This should include the story of the indigenous
peoples of Anatolia who were being subjected to genocide at the time
when the film is set, in the land where the film’s action unfolds.

The first step in setting right a litany of wrongs is a disclaimer
at the beginning of each screening of this film acknowledging that
Hellenes, Armenians and Assyrians are the indigenous peoples of
Anatolia and that the film may offend them and their descendants.

History and fantasy

The Water Diviner is about a man who travels to eastern Thrace and
Anatolia after the Battle of Gallipoli to try to find his three missing
sons. The premise of an Australian wandering around western Anatolia
in 1920-21 is itself incredulous. Australian World War One veteran
Major George Devine Treloar told the Sydney Morning Herald in May
1927 that “Turkey was a bad place for foreigners at the present time”.

The story deals (in part) with the Anzac prisoners-of-war of the
Ottoman Empire in World War One. The climax of the story takes
place in a medieval Orthodox church in the city of Akroinos (modern
Afyonkarahisar).

Anzac and other Allied POWs (especially Indians) died in captivity by
the thousand. Anzac POWs recorded how Armenian and Hellenic churches
and houses across Anatolia were their prison camps. Akroinos’ main
prisoner-of-war camps were the massive Armenian church and its
neighbourhood of formerly Armenian-owned houses.

The Water Diviner paints indigenous Anatolian Hellenes as barbaric
invaders, at one point being labelled ‘Satan’s army’ by one character.

Surviving Anzac prisoners recorded how Hellenes assisted in their
survival – and in some cases, their escape.

Crowe and his writers are derided by Guy Walters of The Telegraph
(London), Barry John Clark, president of the New Zealand Veterans
Association, and Major General David McLachlan, president of the
Victorian RSL, amongst others, for holding positions “utterly without
foundation”.

In Major General McLachlan’s words, “Russ must have been asleep
during that lesson at school”, referring to the inclusion of the
Turkish view of Gallipoli in this country’s schools and universities.

The danger of this and other similar films that claim to be ‘inspired
by actual events’ is that because Crowe is a famous actor, his words
are taken as being authoritative. His film may be treated as actual
history. As educators and as consumers, we should take this problem
seriously.

As demonstrated by Peter Weir’s Gallipoli (1980) – a favourite of
secondary school teachers – the problem with the glib Anastasios-Crowe
approach is that audiences develop completely skewed, often false,
historical knowledge; implanting false memories in public history.

As seen with the explosion of ‘Anzackery’ over the last generation,
this collective false memory has major effects on our understanding
of our own past, how we explain our past to ourselves, how we regard
ourselves, and how we act as a national collective. The 1934 Mustafa
Kemal ‘statement’ about mothers and sons exemplifies this point. As
illustrated by Professor Peter Stanley, there is no evidence Mustafa
Kemal ever addressed a message to grieving Australian mothers. Yet
the ‘statement’ is omnipresent in political and historical writing
around Anzac.

Similarly, Anastasios and Crowe ‘expand’ the very mythologies they
are seeking to undermine. As Crowe stated: “You know, because we did
invade a sovereign nation that we’d never had an angry word with …

we shouldn’t celebrate the parts of that mythology that shouldn’t
be celebrated.”

The Ottoman Empire launched a campaign of destruction against its
indigenous peoples from January 1914, beginning with violent expulsions
of Hellenes from the very region (the Gallipoli Peninsula) where so
many Anzacs and other allies fell only months later.

The Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers and invaded British Egypt
and the Russian Caucasus in 1914. On New Year’s Day 1915, two Afghan
cameleers flew the Ottoman banner in their assault on a trainload of
picnickers outside Broken Hill, NSW.

In seeking to promote an anti-war message at a time when extreme
ideologies are wreaking havoc, Anastasios and Crowe are engaging in
a dangerous revisionism of historical events. In some aspects, this
constitutes genocide denial by omission. While Anastasios may claim
‘artistic licence’, that this film and its novel are entertainment,
historical events should not be used as the basis of works that
distort them. This is not the History Kleio personifies.

Dr Panayiotis Diamadis lectures in Genocide Studies at the University
of Technology, Sydney.

From: Baghdasarian

HUNDREDS OF ARMENIANS DEMAND HANDOVER OF MURDER SUSPECT

New Zealand Herald
Jan 15 2015

YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) ” About 1,000 Armenians have surrounded a
Russian consulate and Russian military base, clashing with police
to demand the handover of a Russian soldier suspected of murdering
a family to Armenian authorities.

Hundreds of cars blaring horns moved Wednesday through the town of
Gyumri, laying siege to the consulate and the base where the suspect
is being held.

Armenian officials suspect the Russian soldier, Valery Permyakov, of
shooting a family of six dead at their home Gyumri early Monday. The
only family member to survive the massacre was a 6-month-old baby,
who suffered stab wounds.

Russia, Armenia’s main sponsor and ally, offered condolences and
assistance in the investigation, but the protesters demanded that
the suspect be handed over to the Armenian authorities.

From: Baghdasarian

ARMENIAN BAR ASSOCIATION LAUNCHES GENOCIDE JOURNAL

Wednesday, January 14th, 2015

Armenian Bar Association

LOS ANGELES–On the occasion of the centennial of the Armenian
Genocide, the Armenian Bar Association will publish a law journal
encompassing a collection of manuscripts focusing on the range of
potential legal responses to the events of 1915-1923, which resulted
in genocide and dispossession. The Armenian Bar Association is thereby
calling for papers on the 100th day before the 100th year anniversary
of the Armenian Genocide and is directed exclusively to students
currently enrolled in any law school in the world. The authors of the
top three articles will be awarded monetary scholarships, with $3,000
for first place, $2,000 for second place, and $1,000 for third place.

The deadline to submit manuscripts is April 24, 2015.

Armen K. Hovannisian, Chairman of the Armenian Bar Association,
described this important research, writing and implementation
initiative as follows: “Turkey pirouetted to the vulgar dance of
denialism throughout most of the first century after the Genocide.

While the tricksters’ spins and swirls of indecency will reappear,
probably stronger still, in the second century after the Genocide,
they had better get used to having some company. A whole nation will
lie in wait little longer. Though many years and several lifetimes
have passed between the wrongful acts and their judgment days yet to
come, we- and not time-will heal our own wounds.”

Contributors are asked to concentrate their efforts on the following:
Research, analyze, and write on the viability of legal claims,
under the laws of the United States and/or under international law,
to reparations and restitution for damages and losses resulting
from the Armenian Genocide. Please discuss who (i.e., descendants
of victims/survivors, the Republic of Armenia, Armenian Churches,
etc.) has standing to sue, the applicable substantive law, the
appropriate forum for the prosecution of claims, and any applicable
judicial/tribunal precedent. Included in the discussion should be an
analysis of the status of the Republic of Turkey as a successor state
to the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Turkey’s legal responsibility
to pay damages and make reparations for events that occurred during
the Ottoman Empire. In addition, a critical study of the anticipated
defenses (i.e., statutes of limitation) and a discussion of a
claimant’s potential arguments against such defenses should be made.

The editorial board offers the following recommendations: the articles
to be printed will analyze the given issue and suggest a solution.

Such analysis usually articulates some background information to
inform the reader, before turning to an existing or novel argument.

Along these lines, published articles regularly follow a traditional
roadmap of introduction, background, analysis/argument, and conclusion,
and provide a comprehensive treatment of a particular area of
law. Articles tend to be formal in both the author’s tone and in
the obligation to ground information and analysis in comprehensive
substantive support via consistent citation.

The Armenian Bar Association encourage contributors to submit their
manuscripts electronically, preferably in Microsoft Word format,
to [email protected]. Articles must be under 12,500 words in
length–the equivalent of 25 law review pages–including text and
footnotes. Please use footnotes rather than endnotes. Footnotes should
conform to the 19th edition of The Bluebook. Please also include a
table of contents, a current CV, and a cover letter with the author’s
name, address, telephone number, and email address.

From: Baghdasarian

NAGORNO-KARABAKH AND BORDER DISPUTES

[ Part 2.2: “Attached Text” ]

* The Guardian, Wednesday 14 January 2015 19.23 GMT A bride and groom
in front of a regional government building seized by pro-Russians
in Kramatorsk A bride and groom in front of a regional government
building seized by pro-Russians in Kramatorsk, Ukraine. ‘The
break-up of multi-national entities is usually messy,’ writes Yugo
Kovach. Photograph: Baz Ratner/Reuters

Your inclusion of Nagorno-Karabakh in an article on “the best
new adventures for 2015” (Totally out there, Travel, 10 January)
is disrespectful to the people of Azerbaijan.

Nagorno-Karabakh is an internationally recognised part of Azerbaijan
currently under the occupation of Armenian armed forces. Do you think
it is morally right to encourage an aggressor to maintain control over
a portion of a territory of another country and show total neglect of
the sufferings of hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people?

Sadly, your piece plays into the hands of the separatist regime, which
strives to legitimise its act of occupation. The Guardian’s
stance against recent separatist tendencies in the post-Soviet space
is commendable, and one would wish the same sensitivity shown to
Azerbaijan.

The Foreign Office warns against any travel to Nagorno-Karabakh
and surrounding occupied regions of Azerbaijan. By promoting
Nagorno-Karabakh as a so-called tourist “destination”
you mislead the public and potentially put their lives at risk; also,
those taking unauthorised trips will be unable to travel to the rest
of Azerbaijan in future.

Tahir Taghizadeh Ambassador of Azerbaijan in London

####

* It’s one thing to accuse Putin of forcibly changing borders,
quite another to overlook what Nato did in Kosovo (This trauma
could lead to a European reawakening, 14 January). The break-up of
multinational entities is usually messy. Algeria springs to mind.

Also, wasn’t Northern Ireland less a land grab by London and
more an instance of a young Irish state not commanding the allegiance
of the protestant north? The same sort of thing could be said of the
Ukraine conflict.

Other examples abound from the break-up of the USSR. The Slavs of
Transnistria don’t feel any affinity with the Romanian-speaking
Moldovan authorities, and they furthermore fear that Romania will
eventually absorb Moldova. Nor do the Armenians of the Nagorno-Karabakh
enclave wish a return to rule by Azerbaijan. Then there are the
Abkhazians and South Ossetians of Georgia who distrust Tbilisi rule.

To treat these conflicts as instances of Russian ultranationalism is
unhelpful. Must the federalists stoop so low as to picture Russia as
the indispensable common enemy that will unite Europe?

Yugo Kovach Winterborne Houghton, Dorset

s-russia

From: Baghdasarian