Author: Kajoyan Gevork

Time Has Come To Get Beyond Recognition

By MassisPost
Updated: April 27, 2014

Dr. Harry Sarafian, Social Democrat Hunchakian Party Central Committee
Secretary, took part in commemorating the 99th anniversary of the
Armenian Genocide in Pasadena California. The following is his speech
in its entirety:

As Armenians across the globe commemorate the 99th anniversary of the
Armenian Genocide, I am sure each and every one of us has their sights
set on April 24, 2015, the centennial of the first Genocide of the
20th century. Confidentially, that date also represents the 50th
anniversary of the day when the Armenian nation refused to continue to
be the sorrowful and grief-stricken group of people who simply mourned
the victims of the genocide and instead embarked upon the quest for
worldwide recognition of the Armenian Genocide and restoration of
justice.

Indeed, the past five decades have been a mixture of achievements and
disappointments. To date, 21 countries have formally recognized the
Armenian Genocide and here in the US, 43 states have passed
resolutions or issued proclamations in reference to the Genocide.
Unfortunately, year after year, facing immense pressure and relenting
to threats made by the Turkish government, every president since
Ronald Reagan in 1981 when issuing a statement on April 24th has
danced around the word genocide by using every available euphemism in
the English dictionary. This year was no exception and as citizens of
this great country of ours we are disappointed that our own government
cannot muster the courage to do the right thing and once and for all
recognize the Armenian genocide.

As we look ahead to the centennial anniversary and beyond, we realize
that there is much work left to be done. While we have succeeded in
making the Armenian Genocide an internationally accepted fact,
successive Turkish governments have not only steadfastly denied the
genocide but also have led a shameful campaign of distortion,
obfuscation and outright lies cleansing their history books of any
reference to the darkest passages of their recent history or turning
the facts upside down by making the victim into a villain. In the past
decade, any brave soul who dared to question the official version of
events, most prominently our beloved Hrant Dink, was charged with the
infamous article 301 of the Turkish penal code for `insulting
Turkishness’.

More recently, the Turkish government seems to have adopted a new
approach regarding the genocide issue. During his visit to Yerevan in
December of last year, the Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu
called the deportation of the Armenians in 1915 as inhumane. Had he
stopped there, it would have been considered a tiny step forward.
Unfortunately he went on to say that Armenians in their `collective
consciousness’ had mischaracterized the deportations as genocide, thus
rendering his whole statement meaningless.

Yesterday, the prime minister of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued a
statement offering condolences to the grandchildren of Armenians who,
in his words, lost their lives `in the context of the early twentieth
century’ implying that Armenians were not systematically massacred but
were just casualties of WW I just like other citizens of the Ottoman
Empire. This woefully inadequate and misleading statement once again
shows that the Turkish government is far from being ready to honestly
confront its own history and is nothing more than a reaffirmation of
the Turkish policy of denial presented in a more nuanced way. Their
calls for reconciliation and dialogue sound hollow when they have
unilaterally sealed their border with Armenia and continue to deny the
Genocide.

Neither Mr. Erdogan nor Mr. Davutoglu seem to realize that the time
for half truths and distorted facts has passed. It is indeed a shame
that instead of using both occasions to make meaningful and
constructive statements, they chose to engage in pure demagoguery.

As we approach the centennial, we need to be mindful of the challenges
that lie ahead.

In our pursuit of Genocide recognition we have spent enormous amount
of time and resources and yet have done little toward establishing the
legal framework upon which our demands for compensation and reparation
will be based. Recognition by Turkey without reparation will be
meaningless. The Turkish government is well aware of this and that is
why it is doing everything in its power to keep us stuck at the
recognition phase. I believe the time has come to get beyond
recognition and start work on the next phase, which will require far
more extensive resources and expertise.

Also, it is imperative that there be a better coordination and
cooperation between the Republic of Armenia and the Diaspora. The
priorities and the roles have to be clearly defined so that we do not
find ourselves in the same quandary as we did in 2009 when the
protocols were negotiated and signed without any input from the
Diaspora.

Although our task in enormous and the challenge is great we remain
optimistic and resolute, because despite the passage of time, the
fading memories and only a handful of Genocide survivors remaining,
the struggle for the Armenian Cause has been ingrained in our nation’s
DNA and is seamlessly passing from one generation to the other, thus
giving us hope to believe that our future generations will carry on
with the fight until justice prevails.

WPTZ The Champlain Valley-
April 25 2014

Celebrity Author Remembers Armenian Genocide

Thursday, April 24, 2014 marked the 99 year anniversary of the start
of a genocide that led to the deaths of more than a million Armenians.

Vermonters of Armenian descent went to the state capital for
“Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day.”

Social media was full of references to the event that unfolded
during World War I across the Ottoman Empire; an area now encompassing
Turkey and the Middle East.

According to New York Times best selling novelist, Chris
Bohjalian, it was widely covered in the U.S. at the time.

“I’m the grandson of survivors of the Armenian genocide. My
novel, Sandcastle Girls, is about the genocide. It’s the slaughter
you know next to nothing about. Once upon a time Americans knew all
about the Armenian genocide. There were 154 articles in the New York
Times alone,” said Bohjalian.

Some nations deny it ever happened, but many historians said it
ranks second only to the Holocaust in the number of dead.

AL-Monitor
April 25 2014

Turkish civil society paves way for Erdogan’s Armenian opening

Author: Amberin Zaman Posted April 25, 2014

On a gray Istanbul morning, Raffi Hovannisian, a prominent Armenian
opposition politician stood outside the historic Haydarpasha rail
station on the Asian shore of Istanbul and began to speak. `It was
more than a million and a half lives, it was more than genocide ‘ it
was a loss of 3,000 years of schools and churches, an entire
civilization and a way of life.’

Summary?’ Print Some say Erdogan is trying to restore his international
credibility.
Author Amberin Zaman Posted April 25, 2014

Hovannisian was speaking on the 99th anniversary of the mass slaughter
of more than a million Ottoman Armenians, which most respected
scholars (and a growing number of Turks, myself included) say
constituted the first genocide of the 20th century. His grandmother
was among those who survived, thanks to the `brave Turkish and Kurdish
families who saved Armenians’ lives.’

For Armenians worldwide, the tragedy began on April 24, 1915, when
over 200 Armenian intellectuals, including the world-famous musician
Gomidas, were rounded up in Istanbul and brought to Haydarpasha for a
sinister journey that, for many, ended in death.

As I listened to Raffi, a treasured friend from my days in the
Armenian capital Yerevan, where I spent three exhilarating years from
2007 to 2010, I was filled with a mix of grief and nostalgia but also
hope. I say hope because until recently it would have been unthinkable
for anyone to utter the word `genocide’ in public without being
branded a traitor and hauled into court, as Orhan Pamuk, the
world-acclaimed Turkish novelist found out.

Not only that, a day earlier, Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan issued an official statement to mark April 24. The text,
published in nine different languages (including Eastern and Western
Armenian) parroted the official version of events, denying in effect
that the deliberate ethnic cleansing of Christians had ever taken
place. Yet, Erdogan acknowledged the suffering of the Armenians,
offering condolences and signaling that from hereon, free and
unfettered debate of 1915 was acceptable.

What rendered the statement extraordinary was that Erdogan made the
comments in his capacity as the prime minister of the Republic of
Turkey ‘ a first for any Turkish government leader. This, in turn,
means that Turkey’s official policy is shifting and that it is no
longer imponderable that Turkey may some day offer an apology and make
amends for the horrors of the past. Turkish officials confirmed that
plans are in preparation to offer Turkish citizenship to the
descendants of survivors.

Not surprisingly, these moves unleashed a torrent of wildly divergent
emotions. Diaspora Armenians, for the most part, expressed wariness
and disdain. `Erdogan’s message, although unprecedented, is actually
far from being sincere. It is void of any true meaning or openness for
reconciliation, as it is in fact not a departure from the denialist
policy to date of the Turkish government,’ Giro Manoyan, a senior
member of the Armenian nationalist Dashnak party, told Al-Monitor.

`True reconciliation and friendly relations among century-old
neighbors requires a truthful and genuine recognition of the full
scale of the suffering of Armenians, not questioning or minimizing it.
It is by putting into question that truth or by minimizing it that
exacerbates the pain and relations between victims and perpetrators,’
he added.

Many Turkish Armenians, however, sounded cautiously optimistic. Raffi
Hermonn, a prominent Turkish Armenian intellectual, told Al-Monitor
that while Erdogan’s statement fell far short of Armenians’
expectations `in the political and legal sense,’ it had `on a human
level touched us in every way.’

The mood was perfectly captured by the headlines of the Istanbul-based
Armenian weekly newspaper Agos, one of which roughly translated as:
`The condolence threshold on the road to truth.’ Agos’ views carries
special weight because its founder, Hrant Dink, was among the first
Turkish Armenians to speak openly about the genocide. Dink was
murdered in 2007 by an ultra-nationalist youth who is widely believed
to have been acting under orders from the Turkish state. Dink’s
slaying struck a chord. More than 100,000 people attended his funeral.
It was a turning point.

Indeed, it would have probably been impossible for Erdogan to make his
statement, no matter how lame, had civil society initiatives spurred
by Dink’s death and quietly encouraged by the government, not laid the
ground. The April 24 commemoration in Haydarpasha is but one example
of a broad swathe of gestures aimed at healing the wounds of the past.

As the veteran Turkish genocide scholar Taner Akcam explained in his
column for the Turkish daily Taraf, in some respects the prime
minister is catching up with a Turkish public whose fight for truth
and justice is merging with that of the Armenian diaspora. This is
somewhat optimistic. Most Turks still believe the official narrative
that says the Armenians killed as many Turks, if not more, than the
Turks killed Armenians as the empire collapsed. And the tired canard
that the Armenians continue to plot with Turkey’s enemies (read: the
United States and Israel) to carve out their own state from Turkish
lands continues to hold sway.

Akcam’s other argument ‘ that Erdogan is seeking to restore his
international credibility by reaching out to the Armenians ‘ certainly
rings true. Indeed, many Turks echo the suspicions of the diaspora
Armenians, saying that the statement is a cynical ploy aimed at
winning Western favor and diverting attention from the corruption
scandals engulfing Erdogan and his government.

Besides, if Erdogan were as humane as suggested in his condolence
message, many ask why does he not extend the same compassion, say, to
the families of the victims of the Gezi Park protests. And why are
there no Armenians in the government or the parliament? As Turkey’s
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu frequently points out, there were
under the Ottomans. Why not today, then?

A crime against humanity was committed in 1915. It needs to be
acknowledged, and amends need to be made. I fully agree with Akcam
that a first and immediate step would be to revive a deal signed in
2009 that foresaw the establishment of formal ties and the reopening
of Turkey’s sealed borders with Armenia. Turkey shelved it in 2010
under pressure (some would call it blackmail) from Azerbaijan. Many in
the diaspora would argue that genocide recognition needs to come first
and that Armenia should embrace that position, too.

They need not worry. Shortly after making his landmark statement
Erdogan said Turkey’s position on Armenia remained unchanged. In other
words, until Armenia withdraws from parts of Azerbaijani territory
that it captured during its war over Nagorno Karabakh, Turkey will not
make peace with Yerevan.

What Turkey doesn’t get is that until Armenian citizens feel secure in
their relationship with Turkey they are not likely to make concessions
on Karabakh.

When I lived in Yerevan I learned that some 60% of Armenia’s citizens
are descendants of Ottoman Armenians who fled the bloodletting a
century ago. This explains why, once I scraped away its Soviet crust,
Armenia felt so much like home. And that as I uncover Turkey’s
secrets, it feels, well, like Armenia.

Al-Monitor
April 25 2014

Can Erdogan overcome Azeri obstacle in ties with Armenia?

Author: Semih IdizPosted April 25, 2014

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s groundbreaking message
of condolence for Ottoman Armenians killed in 1915 ‘ details of which
are provided by Cengiz Candar in his April 24 post for Al-Monitor ‘
was instantly castigated by hard-line Armenians as a shallow attempt
by Ankara to “repackage its genocide denials.”

Summary?’ Print Turkey’s support for Azerbaijan in the dispute over
Nagorno-Karabakh is blocking improved ties between Turkey and Armenia.
Author Semih IdizPosted April 25, 2014

The message was not welcomed by nationalist quarters in Turkey either.
`Prime Minister Erdogan has long since been promoted to the position
of being a window of hope for the genocide gang that is openly acting
against Turkey and the Turkish nation,’ said Devlet Bahceli, the
leader of the Nationalist Action Party (MHP), in his angry reply to
Erdogan.

Armenians maintain that 1.5 million of their brethren were murdered by
Ottoman Turks in a genocide that began on April 24, 1915. Turks
vehemently deny this, maintaining that millions of Muslims, including
Turks, and not just rebellious Armenians, were killed in the
slaughterhouse of Anatolia during World War I.

Washington, however, welcomed Erdogan’s `historic public
acknowledgement of the suffering that Armenians experienced in 1915.”
The State Department expressed its belief that `this is a positive
indication that there can be a full, frank and just acknowledgement of
the facts, which we hope will advance the cause of reconciliation
between Turks and Armenians.’

Over Twitter, US Secretary of State John Kerry said of the April 24
Armenian commemoration: `Thoughts and prayers with Armenians today. PM
Erdogan’s striking statement affirms global principles.’

There is no shortage of analysts ‘ Turkish, Armenian or otherwise ‘
who contend that Erdogan’s statement is merely aimed at appeasing
Washington in the lead-up to the centenary of what most Americans also
believe to be a genocide perpetrated by Turks, and to prevent the US
Congress from adopting anti-Turkish resolutions for the occasion.

The acrimonious debate between Turks and Armenians, which has often
had a negative influence on Ankara’s ties with West, rages on between
these two deeply estranged nations.

This topic has also prevented normal ties from being established
between Turkey and neighboring Armenia, despite goodwill gestures by
various citizens’ groups on both sides, including businessmen,
academics, journalists, artists and writers.

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said they had received very positive
messages from Armenians after Erdogan’s message. `The reactions from
the Armenian diaspora are extraordinarily positive. We received very
nice messages,’ said Davutoglu, as reported by Hurriyet.

Not all Armenian diaspora organizations appeared to support Erdogan’s
statement. Aram Hamparian, the executive director of the Armenian
National Committee of America, said Erdogan was attempting “in vain,
to escape responsibility for the Armenian Genocide, by somehow
downgrading this still unpunished international crime to the level of
a simple, unresolved bilateral conflict.”

Ara Toranian, the head of France’s Federation of Armenian
Organizations, was milder in his response. The daily Hurriyet quoted
him as saying that Erdogan’s remarks resulted in an `emotional shock,’
and that he had doubts regarding Erdogan’s sincerity.

Toranian said that while Erdogan’s remarks were important, they
expected positive follow-up gestures. `For example, there is mention
of dialogue with Armenia. The first gesture could be the opening of
borders,’ he said.

Embedded in Toranian’s remark is a basic complication facing Ankara in
terms of normalizing ties with Yerevan. Even if Turkey and Armenia
find the means to overcome the obstructionism of hard-line Turks and
Armenians, Ankara must still contend with the seemingly insurmountable
hurdle of Azerbaijan.

Press reports suggesting that Ankara is exploring ways to build on
Erdogan’s message and improve ties with Yerevan were bound to raise
eyebrows in Baku. Azerbaijan considers Armenia a bitter enemy, having
gone to war with it over the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh after the two
countries gained independence from Moscow in the early 1990s.

The predominantly Armenian enclave, known as Artsakh to Armenians, was
lost in 1994 to Armenian forces. Armenia’s current president, Serzh
Sargsyan, is from the enclave. A fragile cease-fire exists between
Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Baku has sworn to regain Nagorno-Karabakh by military force if
necessary. The peace talks, spearheaded by the so-called Minsk Group,
formed under the auspices of the Organization for Security and
Co-operation in Europe, have provided little progress.

Turkey was one of the first countries to recognize Armenia’s
independence in December 1991, but diplomatic relations were never
established because of the disputes over genocide and
Nagorno-Karabakh, the latter of which is sensitive for Turks given
their close ethnic ties to Azeris.

Although Turkey opened its border to Armenia shortly after Armenia
gained independence, Turkey closed it again in 1993 because of the
Armenian-Azeri dispute. It remains closed today. In May 2009, Erdogan
personally vowed in Azerbaijan’s parliament that the border would not
be opened until the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute was resolved. Erdogan’s
commitment followed the emergence of tensions between Ankara and Baku
after the 2009 announcement that the two years of Swiss-mediated
reconciliation talks between Turkey and Armenia had resulted in the
drawing up of two protocols for normalizing ties.

Baku went ballistic following the publication of reports that the
Turkish-Armenian border would be opened as a part of this process.
Baku sent parliamentary deputies to Ankara to mobilize Turkish
nationalist sentiments to agitate the Erdogan government.

Keeping the border closed has become a strategic objective for
Azerbaijan as it aims to keep Armenia landlocked and isolated. Erdogan
could not risk alienating Turkish nationalists ‘ those within his own
Justice and Development Party (AKP) included ‘ and traveled to Baku to
provide the necessary assurances.

`When was the Turkish-Armenian border gate closed? It was closed when
Nagorno-Karabakh came totally under Armenian occupation. Therefore,
these gates will remain closed until this situation changes, or when
we agree with our Azeri brothers on this. We will not take any steps
until then,’ Erdogan told Azeri deputies on May 14, 2009.

Erdogan’s remarks undermined the protocols initialed by Foreign
Minister Davutoglu and his Armenian counterpart Edward Nalbandian in
October 2009 in Zurich under the eyes of the US secretary of state and
the foreign ministers of Russia, France and Switzerland. The protocols
received a further blow when Yerevan sent them to the country’s
constitutional court before submitting them to be ratified by
parliament. Ankara said the court’s ruling, even though it recommended
a parliamentary endorsement of the protocols, “contained contradictory
elements to the letter and the spirit of the protocols.”

Armenia’s constitutional court said in effect that even if a
commission of historians were to be established between the two
countries to study the events of 1915, Armenia would not give up on
its claim that those events represented genocide. Ankara subsequently
held back from sending the protocols to parliament for ratification
and Yerevan followed by withholding its ratification process.
President Sargsyan said in an April 2010 television address that they
were suspending the ratification process.

The stalemate between Turkey and Armenia continues as the centenary of
1915 approaches. Regardless of what his Turkish and Armenian
detractors may say, Erdogan has taken a bold first step with his
condolence statement.

It’s unclear how this stalemate will be broken, even if bilateral
problems between Ankara and Yerevan are resolved, because of Erdogan’s
concrete commitment to Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Given the hold Baku has over nationalist sentiment in Turkey, there is
only so far Erdogan can go with Yerevan unless Armenia and Azerbaijan
establish peace. This does not appear to be a likely prospect anytime
soon.

Galust Sahakyan nominated as Armenia parliament speaker

April 26, 2014 | 17:27

YEREVAN. ` Armenia’s ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA)
nominated Galust Sahakyan as a president of the National Assembly. The
decision was made during RPA meeting on Saturday.

Former president Hovik Abrahamyan has been appointed Prime Minister
following Tigran Sargsyan’s decision to resign.

RPA has majority in the parliament, and Galust Sahakyan is expected to
be elected during the next four-day session.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

Azerbaijan violated the ceasefire about 600 times in the past week

14:48 26.04.2014

According to the data of the NKR Defense Army, about 600 cases of
ceasefire violation were registered at the line of contact between the
armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan from April 20 to 26.

The rival fired more than 3,500 shots from weapons of different
caliber in the direction of the Armenian positions.

Besides the ceasefire violations, the Azerbaijani side conducted a
number of flights close to the line of contact.

The NKR air defense forces kept control of the situation all along the
line of contact.

JOURNAL LA PROVENCE
Les condoléances turques accueillies avec méfiance par la communauté arménienne

Un geste fort mais insuffisant`.

`Un premier pas encourageant mais qui ne change rien sur le fond`.
`Une évolution salutaire du discours qui devra être confirmée par des
actes.` A la veille de la commémoration du 99e anniversaire du premier
génocide du XXe siècle, les condoléances adressées pour la première
fois par un chef de gouvernement turcaux descendants des Arméniens,
victimes de ce massacre, ont suscité des réactions positives, mais
très prudentes au sein de la communauté française d’origine arménienne
de Marseille, estimée à 80 000 personnes. Secrétaire national du
Conseil de coordination des associations arméniennes de France, Pascal
Chamassian salue ainsi cette `première manifestation de compassion` de
la part du Premier ministre turc Recep Tayyip Erdogan, mais considère
qu’il reste `un long chemin encore pour passer de ce message de
condoléances à la reconnaissance par l’État turc du génocide de 1915.`
Doutant de `la sincérité` de cette démarche, Pascal Chamassian se
méfie de `l’habileté de la diplomatie turque, qui a déjà su prendre
des positions aumoment opportun pour manipuler les opinions
publiques.` Même sonde cloche chezDidier Parakian, adjoint (UMP) Ã
l’Économie de Jean-Claude Gaudin, qui voit là `un geste important pour
les descendants des rescapés du génocide`, mais aussi un `signe
positif qui doit nous inciter à continuer le combat pour cette juste
cause.` Quant à Christophe Masse, vice- président (PS) du Conseil
général, depuis longtemps impliqué dans cette bataille, le discours
d’Erdogan `n’est pas innocent` venant d’un homme `qui a souvent
soufflé le chaud et le froid`. Il admet toutefois une `première
historique de la part de la Turquie`, mais estime que le Premier
ministre turc `ne mérite pas encore le prix Nobel` pour ça. La députée
(UMP) Valérie Boyer, Ã l’origine d’une proposition de loi visant Ã
pénaliser la négation du génocide arménien, estime pour sa part
qu’Erdogan `a besoin de faire en sorte qu’au niveau de la communauté
internationale, certains signaux soient envoyés`, Ã un an du
centenaire du génocide. Pour elle comme pour les autres, le seul geste
attendu, c’est la reconnaissance par l’État turc de ce massacre qui a
fait plus de 1,5 million de victimes en trois ans. De son côté Garo
Hovsepian, (PS) président de la maison de la culture arménienne,
estime que `C’est une déclaration historique, après un siècle de
négationnisme. Un geste fort.Une fissure dans le tabou du mot génocide
en Turquie. On est encore loin de la reconnaissance mais c’est un
langage nouveau. La stratégie turque, sous la pression de la société
civile, semble évoluer.` Et de rajouter : `Toutefois la Turquie ne
ressortira grandi de son histoire seulement lorsqu’elle aura reconnu
auprès de la communauté internationale sa responsabilité pleine et
entière dans le génocide arménien, le premier du XXe siècle. Le combat
continue pour la mémoire et la justice des victimes.`

samedi 26 avril 2014,
Stéphane ©armenews.com

99e ANNIVERSAIRE DU GENOCIDE DES ARMENIENS
« La Marseillaise » offre sa couverture et trois pages aux
manifestations du 99e anniversaire du génocide arménien à Marseille

Le quotidien marseillais « La Marseillaise » daté du 25 avril titre en
couverture sur une demi-page « Génocide arménien : le devoir de
reconnaissance » et sous-titre « En Arménie et partout dans le monde,
les Arméniens ont commémoré hier le 99e anniversaire du génocide.
Malgré les propos d’Erdogan, la Turquie refuse toujours de le
reconnaitre ». Avec une grande photo de la manifestation des jeunes
Arméniens à Erévan, lors de la marche troche en main vers le mémorial
du génocide arménien de Dzidzernagapert.

« La Marseillaise » consacre trois pages entières au 99e anniversaire
du génocide arménien. L’un des articles titré « Les Arméniens exigent
la reconnaissance », le journal reprend les réponses du président
arménien Serge Sarkissian à la déclaration d’Erdogan présentant ses «
condoléances ». « La Marseillaise » diffuse également l’information
de« Hollande à Erévan pour le centenaire ». Un autre article titré «
La Turquie essaie de gagner du temps » donne une interview de Pascal
Chamassian, membre du CCAF. Enfin dans un dernier article titré « les
condoléances d’Erdogan passent mal » le journal évoque la
manifestation des milliers d’Arméniens le 24 avril à Marseille, Ã
Beaumont (12e) ainsi que devant le Consulat de Turquie.

Krikor Amirzayan

samedi 26 avril 2014,
Krikor Amirzayan ©armenews.com

histoire-Turquie-Arméniens-France
La communauté arménienne de France pas dupe des condoléances turques ( AFP)

Les membres de la communauté arménienne de France, Ã l’image du
chanteur Charles Aznavour, ont dénoncé jeudi les `condoléances` de
l’Etat turc aux petits-enfants des Arméniens massacrés en 1915, y
voyant non la reconnaissance du génocide mais de la `condescendance`
ou `un piège`.

Des cérémonies étaient organisées dans plusieurs villes pour
commémorer le début des massacres le 24 avril 1915, en présence du
président François Hollande à Paris.

Le chef de l’Etat a jugé que les condoléances du Premier ministre turc
Recep Tayyip Erdogan constituaient `une évolution` mais qu’elles ne
suffisaient pas. Plaidant `pour une reconnaissance par le monde
entier` de ce génocide, il annoncé qu’il se rendrait le 24 avril 2015
à Erevan pour son centième anniversaire.

Pour Charles Aznavour, les `condoléances` présentées mercredi par le
Premier ministre turc Recep Tayyip Erdogan ne valent pas
reconnaissance du génocide et `encore moins` excuses. Il faut y lire
`une simple volonté personnelle de se montrer un homme politique
prétendument +ouvert+`.

Le Conseil de coordination des organisations arméniennes de France
(CCAF) dénonce une `opération de communication` pour éviter d’avoir Ã
reconnaître le génocide, terme que l’Etat turc se refuse toujours Ã
employer. `On ne présente pas des condoléances 99 ans ans après un
génocide`, souligne Mourad Papazian, co-président du CCAF.

A Lyon où vit une importante communauté, après une cérémonie
religieuse, entre 1.000 et 2.000 personnes ont défilé dans le
centre-ville vers le Mémorial du génocide, derrière une banderole
réclamant `justice pour le peuple arménien`. Dans le cortège, beaucoup
de jeunes criaient `Turquie assassin`.

Georges Képénékian, premier adjoint au maire Gérard Collomb, estime
qu’il ne faut pas `qu’un mot remplace un autre` : `la grandeur d’un
Etat, c’est assumer son histoire et permettre aux victimes de trouver
la sérénité`.

Ses parents arméniens avaient fui l’empire ottoman avant leur arrivée
en France en 1921-22. Evoquant `Willy Brandt, chancelier de la
République fédérale d’Allemagne, qui s’était agenouillé devant le
mémorial du ghetto de Varsovie en 1970`, l’élu fait le rêve d’un geste
similaire d’Erdogan dans le désert de Mésopotamie.

– ‘Le mot qui manque’ –

`Ils pourraient prendre part à leur responsabilité plutôt que prendre
part à notre souffrance !`, critique un porte-parole du Centre
National de la Mémoire Arménienne inauguré récemment à Décines
(Rhône), Daniel Meguerditchian, qualifiant le geste d’Erdogan de
`condescendant`.

Vartan Balian, petit-fils de survivants du génocide, se sent `insulté`
: `Imaginez des +condoléances+ des Allemands en 2044 après un siècle
de négationnisme, voilà ce que ressentent les Arméniens aujourd’hui`,
dit-il, ajoutant qu’ils `ne sont pas dupes de ces fausses
repentances`.

A Strasbourg, une trentaine d’Arméniens se sont rassemblés au
centre-ville, brandissant des pancartes accusant la Turquie de `nier`
le génocide. `Ce qu’a dit (M. Erdogan) ne suffit pas. Il a voulu
calmer le jeu juste avant les 100 ans`, jugeait Hamlet Housepian, tout
en reconnaissant `une avancée`. `Pour nous, c’est un piège, il n’a pas
prononcé le mot génocide. C’est le mot qui manque`, lançait Artur
Boghosyan, un lycéen.

A Rennes, une centaine de personnes se sont rassemblées devant la mairie.

Pour Vigen Arakelyan, responsable de la communauté locale,
l’initiative d’Erdogan `ne compte pas beaucoup. Parce qu’il n’a pas
utilisé le mot génocide`.

A Marseille, 1.300 personnes selon la police ont manifesté dans le
calme devant le consultat de Turquie. Vartan Arzoumanian, porte-parole
de l’Association pour la recherche et l’archivage de la mémoire
arménienne, parle d’une `stratégie de diversion` destinée à `brouiller
les cartes`, tout en s’inquiétant de la commission d’historiens
évoquée par Erdogan, `alors que ce génocide ne fait aucun doute`.

L’association `Nouvelle Génération Arménienne` en France crie enfin Ã
la `stratégie négationniste` : `Le Premier ministre parle de +période
difficile+, de +nécessité de compassion mutuelle entre Arméniens et
Turcs+, comme si les Arméniens avaient eux aussi leur part de
responsabilité`.

`C’est la première fois depuis 99 ans que la Turquie présente des
condoléances aux descendants des victimes. Il s’agit donc d’un pas sur
le chemin de la reconnaissance`, a estimé de son côté Patrick
Devedjian, député UMP issu d’une famille arménienne. Pour lui, M.
Erdogan, contraint à une évolution par l’opinion turque et mondiale,
`essaye de noyer le poisson` en reconnaissant le drame sans le
qualifier.

Par Philomène BOUILLON

AFP

samedi 26 avril 2014,
Stéphane ©armenews.com

Trend, Azerbaijan
April 25 2014

Turkey may give passports to descendants of Armenians who left country in 1915

Baku, Azerbaijan, April 25
By Rufiz Hafizoglu – Trend:

Turkey is studying the possibility of giving passports to descendants
of Armenians who left the country during the 1915 events, according to
ruling Justice and Development Party’s Deputy Chairman, Yasin Aktay.

Aktay said the Armenians, who had to leave Turkey, are the country’s
citizens, Turkish Haber7 TV channel quoted him as saying on April 25.

“If not for the World War I, the Armenians would have remained our
citizens,” he added.

Earlier it was reported that Turkey will give passports to the
descendants of Armenians who left the country during the 1915 events,
and Turkish Cabinet of Ministers and Foreign Minister are currently
working on this issue.

Armenia and the Armenian lobby claim that Turkey’s predecessor the
Ottoman Empire allegedly carried out “genocide” against the Armenians
living in Anatolia in 1915. While strengthening the efforts to promote
the so-called genocide in the world, Armenians have achieved its
recognition by the parliaments of some countries.

Despite Turkey’s efforts to create a joint commission with Armenia to
investigate the events of 1915, Armenia hasn’t responded to this
proposal so far.