Author: Hambardsumian Paul

Moscow is confident that prisoners will shortly return to Karabakh, says Lavrov

Hambardsumian Paul
TASS, Russia
May 6 2021
The sides understand the symbolical and emotional meaning of the move, the Russian top diplomat said

YEREVAN, May 6./TASS/. Russia is confident that it will soon be possible to resolve the issue of returning prisoners captured during the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at talks with Acting Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan on Thursday.

Together with the other co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia “continues seeking the settlement of all humanitarian issues, including finalizing the process to return the detained persons,” he said.

“We understand the symbolical and emotional meaning of this move, and we are confident that we will be able to solve this problem shortly. This will create a positive, constructive atmosphere for advancing on all other issues of the final settlement,” he went on to say.

“We will be facilitating in every way the settlement of these issues in all forms, formats, through the implementation of trilateral settlements. And we will, of course, encourage in every way the activity of the OSCE Minsk Group to create a maximally positive atmosphere for the resolution of all remaining issues,” the top diplomat added.

He said that Russia supported the activity of the trilateral working group of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan at the level of deputy prime ministers, that is engaged in “practically important, and maybe even most significant at the current stage issues of unblocking economic, transport communication that will make it possible to end the blockade in practice and ensure mutually advantageous interaction of all countries of the region,” Lavrov stressed.

“We will go on with the efforts of our peacekeeping contingent in Nagorno-Karabakh. Our peacekeepers will be doing their best to settle the remaining issues, related to determining the exact line of contact, ensuring mutually arrangements on its passage. Of course, delimitation and demarcation of the boundary between Armenia and Azerbaijan will be possible only once these moves have been put into practice,” Lavrov summed up.

Armenian MP Paylan: I will never give up my fight for Turkey’s democratization

Hambardsumian Paul
May 7 2021
By

 SCF

 –

May 7, 2021





Garo Paylan, an Armenian deputy from the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) who was threatened by far-right independent member of the Turkish Parliament Ümit Özdağ with facing the same fate as his ancestors, said “he will never give up my fight for Turkey’s democratization.”

Paylan spoke to Alin Ozinian of Turkish Minute.

In an April 24 statement remembering the massacre of Armenians in their indigenous land by the Ottoman Empire, US President Joe Biden said the word “genocide,” marking a historic moment for Armenians and Turks.

Armenian communities across the globe have long been waiting for this step; however, the recognition brought a new wave of denial of the history and a renewal of the hatred of Armenians in Turkey.

Turkish far-right independent lawmaker Ümit Özdağ threatened Garo Paylan, an Armenian deputy from the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), with another genocide. Özdağ, who was sacked from the nationalist far-right İYİ (Good) Party last year, said in a tweet that Paylan should have a “Talaat Pasha experience,” referring to the Ottoman politician who ordered the Armenian genocide in 1915.

The knives were out for Paylan, who told Turkish Minute he would continue to fight for the democratization of Turkey and would never give up.

 “With his tweet, Ümit Özdağ admits the Armenian genocide they denied for 106 years. We know very well that these genocidal crimes went unpunished and therefore are still happening. We Armenians have always lived under ‘Talaat Pasha oppression and fear’ in Turkey and have constantly witnessed the hate crimes that have been repeated,” said Paylan.

On April 24 Paylan criticized the naming of streets in Turkey after Talaat Pasha in a tweet.

“We are walking on streets 106 years later named after Talaat Pasha, the architect of the genocide. We send our kids to schools named Talaat Pasha,” tweeted Paylan.

“You shameless, provocative man. You can go to hell if you’re not happy [here]. Talaat Pasha exiled traitors like you, not patriotic Armenians. You’ll go through a Talaat Pasha experience when the time comes, and you should,” Özdağ tweeted on April 26 in response to Paylan’s criticism.

Turkey’s Human Rights Association and Paylan filed a complaint under the penal code articles of “incitement of enmity,” “insults and threats” and “incitement to commit a crime” against independent lawmaker Özdağ for his tweet amid a heated social media debate on the topic in the days after Biden recognized the Armenian genocide by saying “Each year on this day, we remember the lives of all those who died in the Ottoman-era Armenian genocide.”

Paylan said hate speech leads to hate crimes in Turkey and that he wants to expose this. “I filed a criminal complaint not because I had any hope from the politicized judiciary, but to make a note in history. I hope there will soon be changes in this country, and when that day comes, they will be held to account and answer for what they’ve done. That’s why I’m struggling today.”

Paylan, who is frequently the target of insults and threats, knows his struggle for the truth is very dangerous but emphasizes that he will not give up.

“We live in a climate of hate, and we are exposed to hate speech every day. This climate of hate and rhetoric causes hate crimes, but I still feel that I’m not alone. Millions of citizens who want Turkey to be a democratic country oppose the government and fight against racist Turkish policies. Regardless, I live with the awareness that this hate speech against me can lead to hate crimes, but this struggle never distracts me from my determination,” Paylan said.

Turkey’s parliament on April 27 condemned Biden’s remarks. “As the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, we regretfully and strongly condemn US President Joe Biden’s remarks in a statement dated April 24, 2021 to adopt the Armenian lobbies’ claims on the events of 1915,” said a joint declaration by political parties in the legislature.

The parliament called on Biden to correct his mistake by changing his remarks on the events of 1915 in the statement that was approved by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), the Republican People’s Party (CHP), the IYI Party and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).

Only the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) voted against it and called for justice for the Armenian genocide in the land in which it took place. “The great crime went unpunished, and discrimination and hate crimes became commonplace,” said the statement.

According to the HDP, the Armenian genocide symbolizes the “politics of massacre” toward the Greek, Syriac, Chaldean, Kurdish, Alevi and Yazidi minorities of Turkey and that confronting this genocidal tendency.is the “sine qua non of a common life together.”

Paylan thinks Armenians have been trying to continue living in Turkey since the genocide but says they always remain silent in racist environments. “We experienced a long silence that lasted for three generations, and this silence was broken only after the 1990s, with the struggle for democratization and Hrant Dink’s efforts. After this silence, we, a small number of Armenians who spoke out, introduced the 1915 Armenian genocide to the majority of Turkish society, and even though they were reluctant to use the word ‘genocide,’ they acknowledged this great catastrophe. This is progress that cannot be underestimated.”

According to Paylan, the Armenian genocide took place in Turkey, and justice should be achieved again in these lands. Therefore, the first step should be to realize the pain of the Armenians.

“We should be the narrators of our history and suffering because only a democratic Turkey can face the Armenian genocide. For this confrontation, we need to support our comrades who are struggling for democracy in Turkey. In the parliaments of the world, genocide is being recognized, but our wounds are not healing. We need to continue our struggle in Turkey where we belong.”

Paylan is convinced there is a regression in Turkey today and that the country is in great darkness, but he believes this regression will come to an end and that Turkey will emerge from the darkness.

“One thing that should not be forgotten is that millions of people in Turkey accept the Armenian genocide. In this respect the democratization movement should be kept alive in Turkey. I am fighting for democratization and paying the price; I will never give up and will continue my fight. I am not afraid, many people are standing by me. I never think of leaving Turkey. I hope I will not have to do that.”

Armenpress: Central Bank of Armenia: exchange rates and prices of precious metals – 05-05-21

Hambardsumian Paul

Central Bank of Armenia: exchange rates and prices of precious metals – 05-05-21

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 17:43, 5 May, 2021

YEREVAN, 5 MAY, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 5 May, USD exchange rate up by 0.16 drams to 521.04 drams. EUR exchange rate up by 0.20 drams to 625.46 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate up by 0.04 drams to 6.97 drams. GBP exchange rate up by 1.00 drams to 723.93 drams.

The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.

Gold price up by 513.32 drams to 30115.59 drams. Silver price up by 16.05 drams to 449.37 drams. Platinum price up by 508.82 drams to 20906.28 drams.





‘Late, But Not Too Late’: What Biden’s Recognition Of The Armenian Genocide Means To My Family

Hambardsumian Paul
WBUR
April 27 2021
April 27, 2021
  • John Christie

When President Joe Biden formally recognized the Armenian genocide last Saturday I was one of millions of Armenian-Americans feeling both grateful and sad.

I felt grateful that my country had finally acknowledged a truth well-established by historians: that 100 years ago the Ottoman Empire — the Turks — killed 1.5 million Armenians living in their midst as a Christian minority. This nearly-successful effort to wipe a people off the face of the earth inspired a human-rights lawyer to coin the word “genocide.”

And sad because the people who most needed, who most deserved, to hear their president officially say the words no U.S. president ever had – “Armenian genocide”–  were, to a person, long dead. There is not one known survivor to the Armenian genocide alive today.

Among those long in their graves is a woman named Gulenia Hovsepian Banaian: Rose to her friends; Nana to me.

My Nana’s father was murdered in the Adana Massacre of 1909, a precursor to the full-blown genocide of 1915 to 1918. Her mother died in 1918, likely of starvation on one of the forced marches across a desert to a concentration camp. Her baby brother, my great uncle Moses, also died of starvation.

Nana and her siblings escaped from their village in the Musa Dagh region, set in the mountains a few miles from the Mediterranean Sea. She was raised in a Lutheran orphanage in Beirut, later worked as a nurse’s aide in Cairo and then came to the United States for an arranged marriage to an Armenian man who had settled in Dover, New Hampshire.

My grandparents, Gulenia and John Banaian, had six children including my mother. Months after their youngest child was born, my grandfather died and Nana took a job in a cotton mill. She raised her family in the tenement that my grandfather had bought with his meager savings from working in Dover’s tannery. My family lived in the tenement next door. She was a warm, loving woman who gave iron-armed hug and fed me meals when my parents were at their factory jobs.

Like most children and grandchildren of immigrants, I was raised to be more American than ethnic — not that the Armenian side was hidden or a source of shame. We ate the foods of her homeland: stuffed grape leaves, pilaf, shish kabob. I knew she was a survivor of the genocide, but there were never any details, just Nana’s sad, deep, dark watery eyes to suggest something she had not forgotten.

For decades, I knew little of her story, until I discovered a recording she had made of what happened when she was a 9-year-old girl.

In that recording, she recalls a spring day in 1909 when her family had sent her to gather their cows so they could be taken to pasture. That’s when a Turkish boy ran up to her and shouted, “They’re killing the kifir.” Translation: they’re killing infidels, the Christians, the Armenians.

Left, Gulenia “Rose” Hovsepian, circa 1921, in her passport photo. And Rose on Wentworth Street in Dover, New Hampshire. (Courtesy)

The Adana Massacre had begun a few days earlier, 150 miles away. Her father grabbed his rifle and sabre and ran towards the village center to join other Armenians to defend their families. But, as Nana recalls in the recording, “There were too many of them. He tried, he did … All I’ll say is, hundreds of them. He was killed. He was beaten.”

His body was found not far from their home, stripped of everything but his homespun shirt.

Historians estimate that from 15,000 to 25,000 Armenians were killed. It was one of the many pogroms that were preludes to the genocide, where the atrocities shocked the world. Henry Morgenthau, the U.S. ambassador to Turkey at the time of the genocide, called the treatment of Armenians by the Ottomans “sadistic.”

Armenian mothers killed their children rather than see soldiers cut their heads off. Families were marched off high cliffs. Women were raped within earshot of their husbands, who were then executed. Tens of thousands died on the forced marches for lack of food and water or were shot or stabbed if they fell behind. Wells were found stuffed with dead Armenians. Others were nailed to a cross.

These are the memories, the truths, that haunted Armenians like my Nana. Their pain was deepened by a lifetime of waiting in vain for the world to officially acknowledge what happened to them was more than a series of massacres, more than mass murders. It was a genocide: the killing of a people.

These are the memories, the truths, that haunted Armenians like my Nana.

Thirty years ago, my nana was asked about Turkey’s denial of what was done to the Armenians – a denial that continues to this day. Biden’s announcement made me recall her words: “It happened,” she said, in a rare defiant tone. “My father went. My brother starved to death … my mother died on the road.”

This weekend I drove to Pine Hill Cemetery in Dover and stood at Nana’s gravestone. She died in 1995 at 96 years old, at a time when the efforts for the U.S. to acknowledge the genocide were beginning, but thwarted time and again for fear of offending Turkey, a key ally.

As I stood there, I wondered what she would think of Biden’s announcement. I settled on: “Late, but not too late. We survivors of the survivors, can take some comfort in the name of our fathers, mothers, grandparents.”

Leaving the gravesite, I noticed I had received a text, not from the grave, but from the San Fernando Valley, home to thousands of Armenians, including Nana’s youngest daughter, my Aunt Lity.

Her few words were the next-best thing to a message from the hereafter: “Biden said Genocide!”

 

Joe Biden has recognised the Armenian genocide – will the UK ever follow?

Hambardsumian Paul
New Statesman, UK
April 27 2021

The US’s formal recognition of the horrors that killed my ancestors is a historic moment, but the country is still one of just 32 to have acted. 

By Anoosh Chakelian

From a very young age, I could recite by heart two lists of countries: those that had recognised the Armenian genocide, and those that had not. The United Kingdom and the United States were on the latter list.

I imagine this rather niche childhood ritual might have been on the minds of many Armenians, particularly in the western diaspora, when Joe Biden delivered on his election campaign promise to formally recognise the killing of 1.5 million Armenians from 1915 as genocide.

As Armenians, we could finally switch a major world power from one mental list over to the other.

That makes 32. Thirty-two countries that condemn a brutal campaign of dehumanisation, massacre and deportation executed from 24 April 1915 by the Ottoman regime. Thirty-two countries that acknowledge the historic wrong that emboldened Hitler to invade Poland in 1939, and led to mass desert graves in the same killing fields used by Islamic State a century later. Thirty-two countries that do not deny the reason six ancestors on my family tree are remembered not with names but as “lost without a trace”.

Until Biden’s declaration on Armenian Remembrance Day – 24 April, when each year my family and I march through London to Downing Street to protest against the UK government’s position – there was cause for cynicism. 

Barack Obama, who promised as a presidential candidate in 2008 to use the word “genocide”, never did in office, preferring the euphemism “Meds Yeghern” (“great catastrophe” in Armenian). Donald Trump also avoided the word, referring instead to “one of the worst mass atrocities of the 20th century” and distancing himself from the Senate’s unanimous vote to recognise the genocide in December 2019. Indeed, no US president has used the term “genocide” since Ronald Reagan in a 1981 speech – though this did not herald a change in policy.

[see also: Will Armenia’s political turmoil undo its democracy?]

Western indifference to the Nagorno-Karabakh war of 2020, when half of the ethnically Armenian separatist region’s population was displaced, brought a fresh sense of betrayal. The realpolitik that has compelled so many nations to avoid using the word “genocide” in case it angers Turkey appeared to be reflected in a certain deference to the oil-rich autocracy of Azerbaijan, where the disputed land is located. The sluggish diplomatic response from the US during the conflict, marked by an abortive Washington-brokered ceasefire, left a vacuum for the Kremlin to fill.

Hours before Biden’s announcement on 24 April, it was still difficult as an Armenian to trust it would happen. An official briefed the Associated Press just two days beforehand that the President may still change his mind. I couldn’t bear to read any news reports – sent by friends and family in anticipation – suggesting his intentions. More than a century of waiting for justice should have detracted from the excitement of the occasion, but when it finally happened, it did feel like a historic moment. As the Armenian proverb goes, “hunger is the tastiest sauce”.

With Turkey increasingly isolated, the hope for Armenians is that other governments will now follow. The UK is still high up on my deniers list, after all. While all the devolved nations (and Derby City Council, lest we forget) do officially recognise the Armenian genocide, the UK government does not.

If Biden isn’t inspiration enough, perhaps Boris Johnson could look to his own ancestors. His Turkish great-grandfather, an Ottoman official called Ali Kemal, spoke out against the killing of Armenians by the regime and was lynched by the authorities for his treachery – left with a mock Armenian-sounding name, “Artun”, written across his chest.

Foreign Office memos over the years, released under Freedom of Information, have confirmed that the UK avoids Armenian genocide recognition for geopolitical expedience. After agreeing a Brexit deal with the European Union, the first free trade agreement the UK signed was with Turkey. As long as both nations remain somewhat stranded on the fringes of Europe, their relationship is likely to strengthen. For us British Armenians, there’s always next April. 

Nagorno Karabakh: school, victim of war

Hambardsumian Paul
Italy, April 27 2021
27/04/2021 –  Armine Avetysian

“It was Sunday, we were not at school but at home, otherwise we would not have survived, we heard unceasing explosions and gunshots”. Lilit, 14, recalls the morning of September 27, 2020.

On that day, intense bombings hit the entire line of contact between Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh, the unrecognised state mostly inhabited by Armenians. A few days after the start of hostilities, Lilit moved to the Armenian capital Yerevan with her mother. Staying was no longer safe.

“After moving, I could not think of going back to school. I had completely different thoughts in my head. Then I got better and realised that I was behind in my studies. I was conflicted, I wanted to study and at the same time I had no desire to open a textbook”, says Lilit. In those days, after registering in Yerevan, she received an offer from the Ministry of Education to attend a school near the new place of residence.

All displaced minors in Armenia were given the opportunity to attend the school closest to their place of residence, regardless of vacancies. They also received textbooks and stationery.

Many friends of Lilit’s accepted the offer, but she refused.

“I could not go to another school. I kept thinking of mine. It was very hard. I preferred to attend volunteer classes”, she says.

“There was an announcement about volunteers on the Internet. I registered. A few days later, they called and offered me to teach the children who had moved from Nagorno-Karabakh to Yerevan. I gladly agreed”, says Ani, a foreign language specialist who spent several weeks teaching children that war robbed of their right to education.

Ani volunteered for about 20 children hosted in a temporary shelter in Yerevan with their mothers. The beginning was difficult for both her and the children, but soon everything got better.

“I was given a small room in the apartment where children stayed. I divided them into 2 groups according to their age. I taught them foreign languages, Armenian, and history. There were also other volunteers. We tried to include each and every child. Saying it was difficult is an understatement. The children were under stress. They often talked about their native village, school…”, recalls Ani, adding that through play they were able to integrate children into the new environment and ease the stress, at least in part.

On 27 September 2020, a new, violent chapter opened of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno Karabakh, with hundreds dead and wounded. A conflict that has never been resolved in thirty years. Our dossier 

 

The conflict ended on November 9 with a ceasefire agreement that redesigned the borders in the South Caucasus. In this dossier the situation in the Region

“We also organised trips in the city. Step by step, the children found some normalcy. When they started returning to their hometowns, it was hard to say goodbye”, says Ani, noting that many friends of hers also volunteered in dozens of other centres where children were sheltered.

According to the Armenian Human Rights Defender, over 100,000 civilians of Nagorno-Karabakh were displaced during the hostilities. Over 40,000 people were left homeless. About 30,000 schoolchildren and students were deprived of their right to education. 12 kindergartens and 71 schools were damaged or destroyed.

“Children enjoy special respect; they are protected from any form of harassment. The parties to the conflict shall ensure their protection and assistance”, reads the Protocol to the Geneva Conventions on the “Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflict”. This principle is also enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. And yet, children all over the world have suffered and are suffering because of hostilities.

“Fortunately, our school was not damaged and I was able to go back. I have many friends who could not. Some say: “What difference does it make which school you attend or if you miss some classes?”, but not many. It seems to me that my friends and I will never be able to forget those days”, Lilit says.

Classes in the secondary schools of Nagorno Karabakh resumed on November 30 last year. Many students have already returned to their schools. However, there are still children who attend schools in Armenia – some have lost their home, others are not yet ready to return.

Armenia to have new strategy for reproductive health

Hambardsumian Paul

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 16:43,

YEREVAN, APRIL 28, ARMENPRESS. Caretaker minister of health of Armenia Anahit Avanesyan had a meeting with the representatives of the Office of the United Nations Population Fund (UNPFA) in Armenia, the ministry told Armenpress.

A number of strategic directions, the programs to be implemented in 2021 were discussed during the meeting.

Starting from reproductive health to demographic issues, maternity-child mortality and other issues were touched upon. In addition, the sides also talked about the strategies which are under development stage.

In particular, Armenia will soon have a new strategy for reproductive health. Given the changes made in the sector, the caretaker minister said citizens, who want to use the medical aid provided by reproductive technologies, are a lot, and the government does everything for expanding the program.

She reminded that following the 44-day war in Artsakh, the families of fallen servicemen can also apply for the program.

As for the demographic figures, the caretaker minister said it was affected not only by the war, but also by the pandemic.

She highlighted the role of the vaccines against COVID-19 in order to be able to stop the spread of the virus and reduce the death cases.

The sides agreed to continue the cooperation in a number of strategic directions.

 

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Erdogan urges Biden to reverse ‘wrong step’ on Armenian declaration

Hambardsumian Paul
Reuters

Erdogan urges Biden to reverse ‘wrong step’ on Armenian declaration

Reuters
Tuvan Gumrukcu & Ezgi Erkoyun

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan urged U.S. President Joe Biden to swiftly reverse his declaration that 1915 massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire constituted genocide, an action he said was upsetting and diminished bilateral ties.

Biden’s historic declaration on Saturday infuriated its NATO ally Turkey, which has said the announcement had opened a “deep wound” in relations already strained over a host of issues. read more

In his first comments since Biden’s statement, Erdogan said “the wrong step” would hinder ties, advised the United States to “look in the mirror”, and added Turkey still sought to establish “good neigbourly” ties with Armenia.

“The U.S. president has made baseless, unjust and untrue remarks about the sad events that took place in our geography over a century ago,” Erdogan said after a cabinet meeting. He again called for Turkish and Armenian historians to form a joint commission to investigate the events.

“I hope the U.S. president will turn back from this wrong step as soon as possible.”

He slammed the United States for having failed to find a solution to the decades-old conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia in Nagorno-Karabakh – where the United States, Russia and France were mediators – and said Washington had stood by as massacres unfolded.

“If you say genocide, then you need to look at yourselves in the mirror and make an evaluation. The Native Americans, I don’t even need to mention them, what happened is clear,” he said, in reference to the treatment of Native Americans by European settlers. “While all these truths are out there, you cannot pin the genocide accusation on the Turkish people.”

Turkey supported Baku in the conflict last year, in which Azeri forces seized swathes of lands in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Baku has criticised Biden’s statement, while Yerevan has praised it. read more

Erdogan also contested the death toll from the 1915 killings and said some 150,000 people had been killed, as opposed to the roughly 1.5 million people Armenia says were killed, adding the toll was “exaggerated by adding a zero to the end.”

Turkey accepts that many Christian Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire were killed in clashes with Ottoman forces during World War One, but it contests the figures and denies that the killings were systematically orchestrated or constitute a genocide. read more

COMPARTMENTALISING ISSUES

Ankara and Washington have been struggling to repair ties, strained in recent years over several issues, including Turkey’s purchase of Russian defence systems which resulted in U.S. sanctions, policy differences in Syria, and legal matters.

On Sunday, Erdogan’s spokesman and national security adviser Ibrahim Kalin told Reuters the statement was “simply outrageous” and Turkey will respond over the coming months. read more

Speaking to reporters in Ankara, Turkey’s parliament speaker Mustafa Sentop said lawmakers would respond to Biden’s remarks on Wednesday.

Turkey’s government and most of the opposition have shown a rare unity in their rejection of Biden’s statement.

Erdogan said he expected to “open the door for a new period” in ties and to discuss all disputes with Biden at a NATO summit in June, but warned that ties would deteriorate further unless the allies can compartmentalise issues.

“We now need to put aside our disagreements and look at what steps we can take from now on, otherwise we will have no choice but to do what is required by the level our ties have fallen to on April 24,” he said.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/erdogan-calls-biden-reverse-wrong-step-armenian-declaration-2021-04-26/

Similar news at the following links:

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/4/26/erdogan-slams-bidens-armenian-genocide-recognition
https://wibqam.com/2021/04/26/erdogan-calls-on-biden-to-reverse-wrong-step-on-armenian-declaration/
https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/turkey/erdogan-calls-on-biden-to-reverse-wrong-step-recognizing-armenian-genocide-1.9748935
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/erdogan-calls-biden-reverse-calling-mass-killings-armenians-genocide-n1265408
https://7news.com.au/politics/turkey-urges-us-reverse-armenia-call-c-2694137

https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/politics/1550283-erdogan-urges-biden-to-reverse-wrong-step-on-armenian-declaration

The Genocide’s Echo

Hambardsumian Paul
April 22 2021

Father Ramzi weeps as he prays over Scripture for his parents’ safe return.

This story was originally published in the April issue of ICC’s Persecution magazine.

04/21/2021 Turkey (International Christian Concern) – A priest prays in a cave, wishing his kidnapped parents will return home. A woman survives a blast flattening her city, but finds herself a prisoner of war. A scholar spends his days in jail, simply for speaking about historical truths. Did they have the misfortune of surviving?

As Turkey expands its anti-Christian sentiments into other regions, Christians from diverse backgrounds are being impacted by the invasions.

Or is the resilience that helps them survive these difficulties the same resilience that brings hope for a thriving future?

Mourning the Unknown: An Assyrian Priest
An Assyrian priest, Father Ramzi, travels throughout Turkey and brings hope to his congregation, several of whom were displaced by ISIS. Last year while on the road, his parents, Hurmuz and Simoni, were kidnapped. A brief official investigation revealed nothing. “Life became so hard for my family,” he said. He prayed in cave churches around the hillside, his face buried in Scripture as he cried for their safe return home. “I still have faith in God. I can’t blame God because it is not the work of God. It is the work of the sons of evil.”

A few months pass. His brother discovers their mother floating dead in a nearby river. The investigation reveals nothing. His family searches on their own, eventually discovering some of their father’s personal items. Is he alive, is he dead? Why aren’t the authorities helping?

No answers, just deadening silence. Turkey had turned its back on Father Ramzi’s pleas for justice and for answers.

“How in one year [do they not] know who killed my parents?” he asks. “We don’t feel safe in our village, in our country. No one cares about us.” Though his parents are gone and his family is struggling, he must travel again to help tend the church. He has a flock to shepherd, but asks God constantly, “How can I forgive if no one says sorry or confesses?”

Trapped by Genocide: An Armenian Prisoner

At the time of writing this article, Meral was in prison and her status was unknown. She is now free and living in Lebanon. Updated details can be found here. 

Genocide doesn’t observe boundaries. In 1915, genocide forced Armenian Christians to flee the area that is now Turkey and resettle in Lebanon, where they formed a community. Today they are under increasing pressure from Turkey and terrible local governance. Meral, a middle-aged Armenian woman, dreamed of a good future. Just days prior to emigrating to Artsakh, an explosion flattened much of Beirut. It confirmed her belief there is no future for Armenians in Lebanon.

The future looked bright as she made plans to open a Lebanese Restaurant in Artsakh. But soon war came. Azerbaijan, backed by Turkey, invaded and again pursued genocide. Armenian Christians were under threat. Meral became a refugee, abandoning her belongings. However, winter was coming. She needed her clothes and supplies. Meral traveled back to Artsakh, but never returned. Her sister shared, “Meral would never go off without telling me. She would have told me where she was.”

Her sister contacted everyone, finally discovering on Christmas Eve that Meral was held prisoner by Azerbaijan. “I don’t know how this will end. The European Court says it has no right to interfere… It can only confirm that Meral is in Baku. We are waiting for nothing else. We are tired of waiting.”

Every day, evidence grows of Azerbaijan’s mistreatment of prisoners of war: beatings, body mutilations, executions, etc.

But as of this writing in February, there is still no word of Meral. What is she experiencing, and will she ever be reunited with her family?

Counting Time: A Greek Scholar
“I was not anxious when I was detained, and I am still not. But it is a strange thing not to see the face of justice.” Two years have passed since Osman Kavala penned these words from a Turkish prison. More recently, he shared, “the passing of time does not normalize the gravity of this unlawful practice, which by itself has become a parallel punitive action; it only exacerbates it. Every single day I spend deprived of my freedom brings a far greater loss for me.”

Kavala’s family were farmers from Greece who were forcibly relocated to Turkey as part of the 1923 population exchange. This exchange removed ethnic Muslim Turks and Greek Christians, resettling them in their new respective countries. The scars of this exchange is felt among both communities. Reconciliation and speaking the truth about the genocide became a cornerstone of Kavala’s life’s work. Now, he is incarcerated for it.

Over 1,000 days have passed since his imprisonment. International bodies urged Turkey to release Kavala, with no success. “The measures taken against him pursued an ulterior purpose, namely to reduce him to silence as an NGO activist and human-rights defender, to dissuade other persons from engaging in such activities and to paralyze civil society in the country,” said the European Court of Human Rights.

Perseverance Despite Persecution
The priest, the prisoner, and the scholar have joined their ancestors in facing difficult circumstances. But their determination to prevail and to live remains undeterred. Persecution continues in a seemingly endless cycle, but so also does resilience.

 

The Armenian Genocide – Never Forget Them

Hambardsumian Paul
Queens Gazette, NY
April 22 2021

By qgazette | on April 22, 2021

The Armenian Genocide happened 106 years ago, from 1915-1923, and is commemorated annually on April 24 by Armenia and the Armenian Diaspora around the world. One does not hear much about it, but it should never be forgotten, by anyone. The victims must always be remembered. The massacres and starvation of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire was a horrible crime against humanity, as was the Holocaust, whose victims are also remembered and honored annually in April. Hitler is said to have stated, “Who after all remembers the Armenians?” as an excuse to rally his swarm to invade Poland and annihilate all its people. The Nazis killed six million Jews, in addition to millions of Polish people, homosexuals, Roma, dissidents, and others. Most Americans know about the Holocaust, though deniers would atrociously try to erase it, but most do not know about the Armenian Genocide or others that have been perpetrated around the world. This is something that must not be allowed to fester in the dark.

Genocide against any group must never be tolerated, ignored or forgotten. Respect should always be practiced toward those of all religions, cultures, ethnicities, races, gender identities, sexual orientations, and none should ever be judged as evil in their entirety, no matter what any individual does. It is not enough to fight prejudice publicly, we must all be sure not to propagate or tolerate any form of bigotry in our homes, as children unquestioningly absorb all they hear from the trusted adults in their lives, even just careless remarks or generalizations. To prevent any genocides ever being forgotten – and repeated – it should always be required in school curriculums to make very certain we do all we can to prevent such atrocities anywhere. Evil can only prevail if good people allow it.