Author: Kajoyan Gevork

TURKISH PM OFFERS UNEXPECTED CONDOLENCES FOR 1915 ARMENIAN MASSACRE

The Japan Times
April 24 2014

AFP-JIJI

ANKARA – Turkey’s prime minister offered his condolences on Wednesday
over the massacre of Armenians during World War I, calling it “our
shared pain,” the country’s most significant overture yet on the
deeply divisive episode.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s statement — on the eve of the
99th anniversary of the start of mass Armenian deportations in 1915 —
is the first such overt comment by a Turkish leader over the killings,
considered by many as the first genocide of the 20th century.

He acknowledged that the events of 1915 had “inhumane consequences”
but also said it was “inadmissible” to use them as an excuse for
hostility against Turkey today.

“The incidents of the First World War are our shared pain,” said
Erdogan, in what Turkish media described as an unexpected statement
issued in several languages, including Armenian.

Armenia has been trying to get Turkey to recognize the killings of
up to 1.5 million people under the Ottoman Empire as genocide.

But Turkey puts the death toll at 500,000 and says they died of
fighting and starvation during World War I, categorically rejecting
the term “genocide.”

“Millions of people of all religions and ethnicities lost their lives
in the First World War,” Erdogan said.

“Having experienced events which had inhumane consequences — such as
relocation — during the First World War, should not prevent Turks and
Armenians from establishing compassion and mutually humane attitudes
toward one another.

“It is our hope and belief that the peoples of an ancient and unique
geography, who share similar customs and manners, will be able to talk
to each other about the past with maturity and to remember together
their losses in a decent manner.

“And it is with this hope and belief that we wish that the Armenians
who lost their lives in the context of the early 20th century rest in
peace, and we convey our condolences to their grandchildren,” he said.

Etyen Mahcupyan, a well-known Turkish columnist of Armenian descent,
called the prime minister’s statement “a first.”

“It’s very important. This reference to the suffering and offering
of condolences, it’s a first — symbolic even,” he told broadcaster
CNN-Turk.

Washington also welcomed what it said was “Prime Minister Erdogan’s
public acknowledgement of the suffering that Armenians experienced
in 1915.”

“We believe 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,”
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

The arrest and massacre of 2,000 Armenian leaders accused of
collaborating with the Ottoman Empire’s enemy Russia began in Istanbul
on April 24, 1915, and in less than a year hundreds of thousands
of people were forcibly displaced, their possessions seized and
many killed.

A century on, the killings still fuel bitter controversy, often
upsetting relations between Turkey and the West.

But there have been gradual signs of change in Turkey, with Foreign
Minister Ahmet Davutoglu last year calling the events of 1915-1916 a
“mistake” and an “inhuman act” during a trip to the Armenian capital
Yerevan.

“It is indisputable that the last years of the Ottoman Empire were
a difficult period, full of suffering for Turkish, Kurdish, Arab,
Armenian and millions of other Ottoman citizens, regardless of their
religion or ethnic origin,” Erdogan’s statement said.

“Nevertheless, using the events of 1915 as an excuse for hostility
against Turkey and turning this issue into a matter of political
conflict is inadmissible,” he added.

Erdogan’s condolences came as he and his Islamic-rooted Justice
and Development Party (AKP) faces challenges on a number of other
fronts, including a damaging corruption scandal and lingering anger
from massive protests last year against what critics say is the
government’s creeping authoritarianism.

But Turkey has seen strong economic growth during Erdogan’s 11-year
rule, and the prime minister’s party scored a sweeping victory in
local elections last month.

The nearly century-old Armenian massacre remains an extremely sensitive
issue both in Turkey and abroad. Armenia and a vocal Armenian diaspora
have lobbied for international recognition of the events as a genocide.

The issue has been a stumbling block for Turkey’s long-held dream of
joining the European Union.

ARMENIANS, TURKS AND THE SHADOW OF HISTORY

Daily Sabah, Turkey
April 23 2014

İbrahim Kalın 24 April 2014, Thursday

Honoring the memory of ancestors is a noble yet often difficult
enterprise. It usually involves blaming someone. Having lived together
for centuries, Turks and Armenians have different memories of the
great losses of World War I. Since 1965, the genocide narrative
created deep divisions between them.

People like William Gladstone, British Prime Minister James Bryce and
American Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire Henry Morgenthau provided
the alleged grounds for the genocide narrative, but their racist
attitudes toward the “terrible Turk” are hardly acknowledged.

Morgenthau’s distaste for the “inarticulate, ignorant…barbarous…

brutal…” Turk is well known from his diaries. But he has been
hailed as an impartial observer of the events that led up to the 1915
decision to relocate some Armenian citizens of the Ottoman Empire in
the middle of the Great War. The voice of people like Lew Wallace,
the American ambassador to the Ottoman Empire from 1881-1885 and the
author of the famous “Ben Hur,” has been suppressed. In his newly
released book “Ottomans and Armenians: A Study in Counterinsurgency,”
American military historian Edward Erickson rejects claims of genocide
and sees the Ottoman measures in terms of counterinsurgency when the
Ottoman Empire was fighting on several fronts including Gallipoli
where it lost 250,000 people against Western powers.

Prominent Western historians such as Stanford Shaw, Guenter Lewy,
Justin Mc-Carthy, Michael Gunter, Norman Stone and Jeremy Salt, as well
as numerous Turkish historians, refute the genocide thesis and state
that the Ottomans did not carry out a systematic massacre against
any groups, including Armenians. Turkish, Russian, British, French
and German archives provide compelling evidence for the machinations
of warring states to incite Armenians against the Ottoman state and
local populations.

A balanced view of history requires a full treatment of this evidence.

As far as the historical truth is concerned, serious historians have
already spoken.

But there is more work to do. That is why Turkey called for a joint,
international historical commission in 2005 to investigate the events
that led up to the decision to relocate Armenians on April 24, 1915.

This call, which is still out there, has not been answered by Armenia.

As in all important issues, however, politics gets in the way. The
genocide industry became a convenient tool to score points in local
politics and to pressure Turkey. History is politicized to the point
of becoming an ideological tool. The speaker of the U.S.

House of Representatives, John Boehner, takes the most responsible
position when he says that it is best to leave this issue to
historians.

The politics of identity only distorts historical facts and leads
to deeper animosities. This does not mean that we should turn a
blind eye to the great losses and suffering of Ottoman Armenians
in the early years of the 20th century. Turk, Armenian, Kurd, Arab,
Muslim, Christian – millions died and millions were injured, forced
to migrate, lost their homes and had their lives destroyed. We all
need to mourn this terrible loss. It is our shared pain. Instead of
putting our pain and agonies to a meaningless contest, we, Turks,
Kurds, Armenians and others, should acknowledge this painful history
and approach it from a just and balanced standpoint.

This is admittedly a difficult task. And the problem lies not so
much in historical facts, though they are extremely important, but
in perceptions of the future. Our versions of history underwent a
drastic change the day Turks and Armenians were made to feel they
were at the end of a long history of cohabitation and needed to chart
a new course for themselves as separate and independent nations. It
is not so much what happened in the early 20th century between Turks,
Kurds and Armenians, but how we look at the present and the future that
creates the deep divide between Turks and Armenians today. It is not
our history, but our future vision that is dividing us. Pitting Turks
against Armenians and vice versa is not the best way to deal with a
checkered history. It is this binary opposition that must be overcome.

Turkey acknowledges the suffering of Ottoman Armenians and shares the
pain of their descendants. Armenians in Turkey and around the world
have every right to mourn this loss. This is only to be respected.

Millions of Ottoman Muslims from Bosnia and Greece to Iraq and
Syria also lost their lives and deserve the same sympathy. Their
memories should be cherished to nurture understanding and respect,
not hostility.

While mourning their losses, Turks and Armenians can work toward a
historic reconciliation based on mutual respect and shared interest.

US CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION TO PARTICIPATE IN ARMENIAN REMEMBRANCE DAY COMMEMORATION

April 22, 2014 | 17:30

YEREVAN. – A U.S. Congressional delegation including Congressmen Ed
Royce, Eliot Engel, David Cicilline and Congresswoman Lois Frankel
will visit Armenia on April 23-26.

The delegation will meet with a broad range of interlocutors in the
executive branch and members of the National Assembly, as well as
with civil society activists and political analysts.

Other visits will include a meeting with the Catholicos at the
Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, a tour of the Armenian National
Engineering Laboratory (ANEL) and a discussion with the American
Chamber of Commerce.

The delegation will participate in the Armenian Remembrance Day
commemoration in Yerevan on April 24.

The Congressmen are all members of the U.S. House Committee on Foreign
Affairs; Congressman Royce serves as the Committee’s Chairman and
Congressman Engel is the Ranking Member. The travel of this delegation
includes visits to Azerbaijan, Ukraine and Armenia.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

FIRST SHEEP SHEARING FESTIVAL IN ARMENIA SCHEDULED FOR MAY 3 IN SYUNIK

YEREVAN, April 22. / ARKA /. The first sheep shearing festival in
Armenia is scheduled to take place on May 3 at Halidzor village in
Armenia’s southern region of Syunik, near the longest aerial tramway
called Wings of Tatev.

The visitors will be treated also to dances and music. The organizers
of the festival have designated special pavilions for soft drinks,
picnic areas, a playground, samples of national crafts and weaving
will be also in display.

The festival organizers are the Tatev Revival Foundation and the
Homeland Development Initiative.

The Tatev Revival Project, worth $50 million, is designed to revitalize
Tatev Monastery and its surrounding region, highlighting its religious,
academic and cultural legacy, and making it a world-class destination.

The project consists of several components: restoring the monastery,
reviving its monastic and scholarly tradition, and developing tourism
attractions and infrastructure in the adjacent villages, including
the world’s longest aerial tramway. -0-

– See more at:

ABDEM: ANYONE NOT COMPLYING WITH THE NOTION OF “TURKISH TRIBE” CONSIDERED AN ENEMY IN TURKEY

16:47 22.04.2014

Alisa Gevorgyan
Public Radio of Armenia

Members of the European Peace and Democracy Assembly (Avrupa BarıÅ~_
ve Demokrasi Meclisi – ABDEM) will visit the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial
on April 24 to pay tribute to the memory of the Armenian Genocide
victims.

“It’s our pain and shame that we have been silent and have failed
to respond to the denial of the Armenian Genocide both in Turkey
and around the world. On April 24 at the Genocide Memorial we should
demand from the Turkish government to recognize the Armenian Genocide
and assume the whole burden of responsibility. We demand justice for
all victims of the Genocide,” ABDEM members told reporters in Yerevan.

“We are here to share the pain of the Armenian nation and support
it in the struggle for justice. Turkey should face its history and
recognize the Armenian Genocide. Otherwise, the democratic perspective
of Turkey will never become a reality,” President of the organization,
member of the Kurdish liberation movement Rozhda Yuldirim said.

The European Peace and Democracy Assembly (ABDEM) was founded in
Brussels in 2013. It has more than one million members in different
countries of the world. Among them there are Kurds, Greeks,
Circassians, Alawites, Assyrians and Armenians – representatives
of the nations subjected to Turkey’s policy of racist pressure and
annihilation that have become a minority in the country over time.

According to the members of the Assembly, the nations that suffered
from genocide are considered “suspicious foreigners” among the Turkish
society. Kurds are seen as a threat to the territorial integrity of
the Republic of Turkey, and Alawites are considered a “perversion”
in Sunni Islam. There are different reasons for those not complying
with the notion of the “Turkish tribe” to be considered enemies in
the country.

“Alawites comprise 1/3 of the 75 million population of Turkey, about
25 thousand Alawites live in the country, and about 1.5 million live
in Europe. We recognize and condemn the Armenian Genocide and demand
that Turkey accept its crime. It should fulfill all requirements
Armenians will present as compensation,” representatives of Turkey’s
Alawite community Alekbaf Pektash said.

Turkey’s Armenian syndrome
By Fehim Tastekin

[Summary: Turkey wants to reconcile with the Armenians without taking
any real step to appease them, marking the 99th anniversary of 1915 as
that of the “Armenian atrocities” ‘ signaling its denial policy is
growing even tougher ahead of the centenary of the massacres.]

On April 20, a solemn couple lit candles and prayed in a church in
Derik, a town near Turkey’s ancient city of Mardin, that has come to
symbolize religious peace. They were there all alone, for the Surp
Kevork Armenian Church has neither a bishop nor any parishioners but
them. Muslim neighbors, however, visited the Demircis ‘ Yursalin, 58,
and Naif, 66 ‘ to convey their good wishes for Easter, and were
treated with sweets and candy by their hosts.

On the same day, in the village of Gedikli in Igdir province, the
Igdir Azerbaijan House Association and the Igdir Cyprus Peace
Operation Veterans Association commemorated villagers killed by
Armenians in 1919 at the spot where the mass grave of 96 people was
dug up in 2003. Speaking at the ceremony, Igdir Gov. Davut Haner said,
`We struggled a lot to survive as a state in these lands. We
sacrificed a lot. The Turkish people, however, have not nourished
hatred.’ The head of the veterans association, Ismet Tagal, said,
`Armenian gangs brutally killed our grandfathers and grandmothers and
buried them here. The Gedikli people will never forget the atrocities
of the Armenians.’

In Istanbul, meanwhile, a series of events kicked off April 21 to
remember the Armenian genocide, backed by the European Grassroots
Antiracist Movement and prominent figures such as French-Armenian
singer Charles Aznavour, former French Foreign Minister Bernard
Kouchner, French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy and Turkish academic
Ahmet Insel.

The three simultaneous events above illustrate Turkey’s `Armenian
syndrome,’ which recurs on each anniversary of April 24, 1915. The
Armenian couple in the first story represents the legacy of a
historical tragedy and a numerical proof of what happened. The empathy
accorded to the couple shows that facing up to history is possible in
places of cohabitation. The second story reflects the popular
sentiment that matches the state’s narrative of the `Armenian
atrocities.’ It’s symbolic of the large social base in which the
official policy of denial of the events of 1915 is readily embraced.
The third story is quite new for Turkey. It represents the urge to
face its own history, a trend that currently lacks popular support.

It took ages for a small group of Turkish intellectuals and
politicians to utter the words `Armenian genocide’ in a country where
the 1915 chapter of history books was headed the `Armenians’
atrocities.’ A newly published book ‘ “1965: 50 years before 2015, 50
years after 1915” by Aris Nalci and Serdar Korucu ‘ provides a
striking account of Turkey’s attitude on the `genocide’ throughout the
years.

According to the book, the first serious international accusation of
genocide against Turkey came on the 50th anniversary of the 1915
events. A rally held in Beirut remained the focus of media attention
for weeks. To counter the global Armenian campaign, the Turkish press
carried articles about the `Armenians’ atrocities’ and the loyalty of
remaining Armenians, arguing that those people were considered
`Christian Turks,’ that the commemoration events were the work of a
small Armenian group incited by Greek Cypriots seeking to revive the
Sevres Treaty, that Turkish Armenians were equally supportive of the
Cyprus cause and that the Armenians of the diaspora did not actually
hate the Turks.

In the meantime, shipments of an issue of Le Monde that featured a
story about the `genocide’ were confiscated before they could enter
Turkey.

The first trauma of 1965 is now decades past. Yet, the narrative of
deportations necessitated by the `Armenians’ atrocities’ came to use
the word `massacre’ only in conjunction with “so-called.” Today the
use of the word `genocide’ remains equivalent to treason in social and
political terms. Hence, organizing a commemoration at Taksim Square
means taking risk.

The Justice and Development Party (AKP) government’s drive to
normalize ties with Armenia had raised hope that certain fears could
be laid to rest. But soon it became clear that what Ankara meant by
facing its history had nothing to do with recognizing the genocide, as
the Armenians expected. Rather, the Turkish government envisages a
reconciliation process in which the Turkish thesis is also given a
voice, and then the story is left to history without any chance for
accountability.

Hence, with one year to go to the centenary of 1915, Ankara sticks to
sustaining the denial policy. That is, Ankara pursues the goal of
rapprochement with Armenians on the one hand, while waging a
propaganda war with its counter thesis on the other. This approach
meshes with the AKP government’s recent policy to backpedal from the
goal of peaceful resolutions to chronic problems besieging Turkey and
turn inward to cater to its conservative-nationalist roots. Yet, it
stands no chance of success.

The government dropped hints of its intentions back in November,
during a parliamentary debate on the 2014 budget of the Turkish
Historical Society (TTK). A budget of 8.2 million lira ($3.8 million)
was allocated to the TTK, which planned to hold 14 meetings to refute
the genocide claims. One of those gatherings is now scheduled for
April 24-25 in Van, not far from the Armenian border. The event is
being promoted as a `scientific’ symposium by TTK Chairman Metin
Hulagu, who argues that the deportations of Armenians became necessary
after they torched Van and started a revolt.

`There was no Armenian genocide, for our culture would not sanction
anything like that,’ Hulagu told Al-Monitor, adding that a series of
panels titled `Historians Discuss 1915′ will be held this year in
Sakarya, Kayseri, Erzurum, Ankara and Karabuk.

In the meantime, the Foreign Ministry draws attention to itself with
moves that seem to signal tough diplomatic lobbying, including Hakki
Akil’s appointment as Turkish ambassador to France, which is home to a
large Armenian diaspora. Akil is known for being on especially good
terms with the Armenian community in Marseille.

In a recent interview with Hurriyet, Akil revealed his
great-grandfather’s second wife was Armenian, while arguing that the
genocide issue was up to international courts rather than parliament,
and calling for an end to policies of hate speech that fuel enmity
between Turks and Armenians.

`It breaks my heart to see hate speech antagonize two peoples that
have lived side by side and still listen to the same music, eat the
same food, laugh at the same jokes and resemble each other so much,’
he said. `I grew up in Anatolia. I saw how close Turks and Armenians
are.’

But while posting a sensible diplomat to Paris, the Turkish Foreign
Ministry left the ambassador’s office in Washington vacant, just when
a genocide resolution came up on Congress’ agenda. The new ambassador,
Serdar Kilic, hit the road to Washington in haste only after the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed the resolution April 3. The
tenure of the former envoy, Namik Tan, ended March 31.

`Our ambassador there was asked to leave in April. What kind of a
foreign minister we have? To make such a move in the most critical
month of the year is either ill intention or poor planning,’ said
Faruk Logoglu, deputy chairman of the main opposition Republican
People’s Party and a former ambassador to Washington.

The Foreign Ministry said the delay in dispatching Kilic to Washington
resulted from purely logistical reasons. Yet, one should remember that
Tan was recalled to Turkey in March 2010 in protest of a vote at the
House Foreign Relations Committee that approved a genocide resolution.

Judging by the countermeasures the government is drawing up over 1915,
it seems that Turkey facing up to its past is still far away.

Just Before She Died, Woman Stabbed by Her Husband Said She Could See
This Coming

04.20.2014 14:59 epress.am

Murdered in August 2013 from repeated stab wounds, Lusine Davtyan on
the way to the hospital on the day she died confessed that she was
always afraid that the quarrels between her and her husband would end
tragically one day.

Davtyan’s daughter, 16-year-old Syuzy Arakelyan, during the hearing at
the Armavir District Court of First Instance in Etchmiadzin on April
18, said she saw through an opaque glass how her father beat her
mother. Though at the last court session, the accused, Arsen
Arakelyan, claimed he stabbed his wife while “in an emotional state”
and he wouldn’t do what he did if his wife didn’t provoke him, their
daughter confirmed in court that the knife with which her mother was
killed was in her father’s pocket for a long time. This was conveyed
to Epress.am by Lida Minasyan, the coordinator of the Rapid Response
Unit of Society Without Violence, the NGO monitoring the case, who
said that Syuzy Arakeylan’s testimony complicates the defendant’s
situation, since the daughter essentially claimed that her mother
forebode such an ending.

“I was always afraid of this,” Davtyan said on the way to hospital,
according to her daughter.

The defendant’s uncle, Karapet Sargsyan, according to Lina Minasyan,
implied that Lusine provoked the quarrel. He said that he saw through
the door how Arsen was hitting his wife, and at that moment he burst
into the room and grabbing Arsen from behind, he threw him on the bed.
The witness said that Lusine’s chest was covered in blood; meanwhile,
in the testimony he gave during the preliminary investigation he said
he didn’t notice Arsen having a knife.

Recall, accused of murdering his wife, Arsen Arakelyan has admitted
his guilt, insisting, however, that he stabbed his wife while “in an
unstable mental state”.

Relatives of the deceased claim that Lusine was preparing to divorce
her husband; she had even moved out of the house, but immediately
before the incident, upon her brother-in-law’s request, she returned
to Arsen’s house ‘ to talk.

Lusine’s father, Ruben Davtyan, earlier said that over the years his
son-in-law beat his daughter 3 times, whereas Lusine’s close friend
and neighbor told a different story: “There’s simply a lot that Lusine
didn’t tell her parents, but she confided in me. Nearly every day
Arsen scolded Lusine for some trifling reason or another. Say, she
forgot to put the salt on the table or brought the knife or fork late
‘ he would start a fight. It happened that in the dead of winter, he
kicked her out of the house with the child in her arms; supposedly he
was punishing her. He made Lusine stand on one leg in the corner for
hours. From where should I begin?”

France Info
19 avril 2014

France-Arménie : le lien précieux entre tous les Arméniens

le Samedi 19 Avril 2014

Le 24 avril 1915 restera à jamais la date du génocide arménien. Le
mensuel “France-Arménie” revient sur cet événement dont on célébrera
le centenaire l’an prochain.

C’est un mensuel d’information, d’analyse et d’opinion. Le dossier du
numéro d’avril est consacré aux préparatifs des événements qui sont
prévus en France l’an prochain, année du centenaire du génocide
arménien.

On y trouve les principales dates des manifestations en rapport avec
ce centenaire et une longue interview d’Alexis Govciyan, Président de
la Mission 2015.

Également dans ce n°407, un dossier sur l’affaire Perinçek. Un homme
qui a été condamné par le tribunal de police de Lausanne pour avoir
proféré sur le territoire suisse des propos niant le génocide des
Arméniens.

France-Arménie, c’est aussi un magazine culturel et un magazine qui
relate la vie de la communauté des Arméniens en France.

Cihan News Agency, Turkey
April 20 2014

Forgotten Ottoman legacy: Armenian intellectuals

The Young Turks and the Young Ottomans are the most popular Ottoman
intellectuals. Namık Kemal, Ä°brahim Å?inasi, Ziya PaÅ?a and Abdullah
Cevdet are renowned intellectuals who are considered Young Turks.
These are names we are familiar with; however, there are also some
leading figures most of us do not remember: Ottoman-Armenian
intellectuals. One of these intellectuals attempted to translate the
Quran and the Seerah (biographical texts on the Prophet Muhammad) into
the Armenian language; another tried to launch a Western-style music
school. Some of them were deputies in Parliament, whereas others were
members of the Committee of Union and Progress. But all were Ottomans.
And, sadly, they were taken to either Çankırı or AyaÅ? after massive
arrests on April 24, shortly before the mass deportation. Here are the
stories of these Armenian intellectuals.

Some refer to the 1915 mass killings as genocide; some, however, refer
to them as deportation. According to Hrant Dink, what happened back
then was total destruction for both the Turks and Armenians. Some
terrible and horrible things that both communities are unable to
define, acknowledge and address happened in that year.

The Deportation Law was adopted on May 27, 1915. The bill, which
formally entered into force on June 1, was specifically designed to
facilitate the deportation of the Armenian communities of the Ottoman
state; thousands of Armenians were relocated under the provisions of
the law. Even though the bill was adopted on May 27, April 24 is
marked as Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day by Armenians around the
world. Interior Minister Talat PaÅ?a ordered the arrest of leading
Armenian figures on that day. Armenian intellectuals, writers,
artists, teachers, lawyers, doctors and deputies were arrested in
their homes early on April 24 and taken to detention centers. The
arrests spread to other provinces within a few days. Nesim Ovadya
Ä°zrail, author of the book `24 April 1915 Ä°stanbul, Çankırı, AyaÅ?,
Ankara,’ recalls that initially, 197 intellectuals were put under
arrest. Then an additional 53 were taken into custody. Ninety-two
people considered major criminals were imprisoned in AyaÅ?; the
remaining 158 were taken to Çankırı and released, but they were not
allowed to leave the town. Armenians who were forced to live in the
town rented apartments there. There were doctors, dentists,
pharmacists, lawyers, architects, engineers, scientists, clerics,
actors and teachers among them. Nesim Ovadya Izrail notes that
well-educated Armenian intellectuals were mostly engaged in writing
and journalism in Çankırı. Overall, this group of Armenians could be
properly called intellectuals. The people who were placed under arrest
included high-level bureaucrats and bankers as well as politicians,
local administrators and mayors.

Ä°zrail further argues that 174 Armenian intellectuals were executed
without a trial after four months of detention. The remaining 76 were
released on the orders of the central government. Izrail says: `Back
then, it was impossible for an Armenian to move from Çankırı or AyaÅ?
to another part of the country without a certificate confirming his
release. Some of them were even unable to survive despite the fact
that they had such a certificate.’

Here are some of these intellectuals:

Krikor Zohrab: journalist, parliamentarian, university professor.
Zohrab was elected after the pronouncement of the second
constitutional monarchy as an Ä°stanbul deputy; he was one of the
Armenian representatives of the Committee for Union and Progress in
Parliament. Zohrab, one of the most active members of Parliament, was
famous for his eloquent speeches. He addressed a large audience in
Turkish on July 31, 1908 in the Taksim Municipal Garden. He ended his
speech saying: `We have different religions; but we do have the same
path. And that path is the road to freedom.’ These remarks suggest
that Zohrab was an Ottoman. He was not a nationalist; he was a
pro-Ottoman intellectual. He supported the idea of promoting different
identities on the basis of a common Ottoman identity. He worked to
foster brotherhood between Armenians and Turks. For this reason, he
defined himself as both a Turk and an Armenian. He had a lot of
friends, including Talat PaÅ?a, the most powerful man of the time.
According to Izrail, both were Freemasons. During the massive wave of
arrests on April 24, Zohrab, like Erzurum deputy Vartkes Serengülyan,
was comfortable, feeling no pressure at all. But this did not last
long; while having dinner and playing cards on June 2 at the Cercle
d’Orient, a social club and restaurant, Zohrab got up to leave, and
Talat also stood up and kissed him on the cheek. Surprised, Zohrab
asked why; Talat said he had wanted to do so. This is known as a kiss
of death, because that same day, Talat signed the papers for the
arrest of Zohrab and his deportation to Diyarbakır. Talat was aware
that this simply meant death. Despite their friendship, Talat did not
hesitate to make this move. Zohrab was killed in Urfa; his head was
smashed with a stone.

Zabel Yesayan: She was an Ottoman-Armenian intellectual who lived in
Ã`sküdar, Ä°stanbul. She was born in the Silahtarbahçe neighborhood of
Ã`sküdar in 1878. In her autobiography `Silihdari Bardezneri’ (The
Gardens of Silihdari), where she narrates her childhood memories, it
is possible to get a good description and depiction of the Ã`sküdar of
that time and to experience the mindset of Ä°stanbul in the 1880s. She
was the first Armenian woman to study literature and philosophy at the
Sorbonne. She witnessed the Adana massacre in 1909. Yesayan compiled
her observations in another book, `Averagnerun Meç’ (Amid the Ruins)
which was translated into Turkish. Most of her essays addressed to
women are collected in a compilation, `Isbasman Sırahin Meç’ (Waiting
Room). Her novel `GeÄ?dz Hancarner’ (Phony Geniuses), in which she
sarcastically criticizes Armenian intellectuals, was never completed
because of pressure from male intellectuals. She was a socialist and
an anti-militarist. She invited the Ottoman people to live in peace.
She was never complicit in nationalist propaganda and asked her
readers to forget about her nationality and religion. However, despite
this, she was listed among those who would be arrested on April 24.
Yesayan was the only woman on the list; she fled to Bulgaria. However,
in 1937, she was placed under arrest for publishing anti-Soviet
propaganda during Stalin’s rule and exiled to Siberia. There is no
precise information on when and how she died.

Gomidas Vartabed: Born in Kütahya, Vartabed is one of the most
important musical artists in this country. He was the first
non-European musician to be admitted into the International Music
Association. At an early age, he compiled folk songs that he heard
from his classmates from different parts of Anatolia. In 1896, he
moved to Berlin to study music. After his return, he continued his
work compiling folk music in different cities in Anatolia. He
performed in concerts in Ä°stanbul, trained musicians and recorded
compilations. He occupied a special place among the Ottoman
intellectuals of the time because of his talent in music. He started
preparations to found a Western-style music academy. However, he was
sent into exile before he could realize his dream. It is reported that
Ottoman intellectuals, particularly Halide Edip, tried to secure
Gomidas’ release. Ä°zrail says that there is evidence suggesting that
Edip worked hard to ensure that he would be released, concluding that
she worked all her connections to this end. He returned to Ä°stanbul
after a while, but most of his friends were already dead. This made
him depressed. Izrail says: `Germans are proud of Beethoven; and
Turkey would have been associated with Gomidas. But unfortunately,
Turkey is remembered with a Gomidas who lost his mind because of what
he had to deal with in his country.’

Levon Larents: Born in Samatya in 1875, Larents graduated from Robert
College, a private high school in Ä°stanbul. He had a short life;
Larents was a journalist, writer and interpreter. A supporter of the
pro-Armenian Hınçak Party in his youth, Larents became a highly
skilled journalist and interpreter; he was fluent in French and
English. In 1911, he translated the Quran and the biography of Prophet
Muhammad into the Armenian language. He was placed under arrest while
he was translating Rumi’s seminal work, `Mesnevi.’ He was only 33 when
he was taken from AyaÅ? to a rural area in Ankara, where he was killed.

Dr. Dikran Allahverdi: He studied medicine in Berlin and Vienna; his
work on typhoid fever was remarkable. Allahverdi, who was charged with
containing a cholera epidemic in Bandırma and Edincik, brought it
under control in a very short time. He was an ardent supporter of the
Committee for Union and Progress and served as chairman of the
Pangaltı Branch of the Association of National Defense created by the
committee. Pangaltı was a predominantly Armenian neighborhood in
Ä°stanbul. Armenians were generally cool to this association; however,
he made a generous donation to the association, which attracted the
attention and appreciation of the Turkish press. But this leading
committee member was arrested on April 24, 1915 and sent to AyaÅ? as a
major criminal. He was later released, but things were never the same
for him. Allahverdi did not leave his country; he died in 1930 in
Ä°stanbul.

Born in Adana, Arisdekes Kasparyan was a lawyer who practiced law in a
modest office in Galata, Ä°stanbul. He is also known for his works on
law. Kasparyan, who wrote `Kavanin’ (Sources of Law), `Cüzdan-ı
Kavanin-i Osmaniye’ (A Treatise on Ottoman Laws), `Hukuk MüÅ?aviri’
(Legal Adviser) and `Tefsir-i Usul-i Muhakeme-I’ (Procedural Law) is
also known for his opposition to nationalistic movements and
sentiments among Armenians. But he was also one of those who were sent
to AyaÅ?. Kasparyan was one of the 54 Armenian intellectuals who were
killed in Ankara.

Armenian intellectuals in Turkish nation-building

Ottoman Armenian intellectuals were supportive of nation-building
efforts in Turkey. Izrail says: `Given that we are aware of Armenian
intellectuals who defended Turkish nationalism, without the Armenian
massacres in 1915, there would have been many Armenian intellectuals
promoting Turkish nationalism and nation-building.’ Such intellectuals
include Gomidas Vartabed and Diran Kelekyan. Gomidas performed a
concert at the Military Academy in Ä°stanbul in 1912 for the veterans
who were injured in the Battle of Tripoli. He was praised in the
Turkish press. Gomidas, at an event organized by the nationalist
Turkish Association, delivered a famous speech where he emphasized
strong ties of friendship and brotherhood between different peoples
and nations sharing a common culture under the same roof. The audience
included famous Turkish nationalists Hamdullah Suphi Tanrıöver, Mehmet
Emin Yurdakul and Halide Edip Adıvar. Papers of the day described the
speech as touching and influential, and reported that it brought the
audience to tears. Turkish intellectuals frequently visited Gomidas at
his home in Pangaltı.

Another example is Kelekyan, chief columnist of the Turkish-language
Sabah daily of the time, who delivered a speech at a political rally
organized by Committee of Union and Progress members in Sultanahmet
Square on the eve of the Balkan War. Izrail says: `It was Diran
Kelekyan who delivered one of the most enthusiastic and nationalistic
speeches to encourage the Ottoman state to enter the war and defended
the reacquisition of the lands that were previously lost in the
Balkans in his columns. If history had been written differently, he
would have been remembered as a nationalist intellectual who would
promote Turkish nation-building.’ Kelekyan, who also taught political
history at Ä°stanbul University, was one of the people who were
arrested on April 24; he was murdered in Sivas.

Cihan News Agency (CNA), Turkey
April 19, 2014 Saturday

Armenians committed an ugly attack to Turkish tourism office in Paris

PARIS (CIHAN)- A group of Armenians carried out an occupation protest
at the Turkish Tourism and Information Office in Champs Elysee street
of Paris on Friday after.

Protestors chained themselves to the enterance of the office and
spilled red liquid to the walls of the office. Reportedly protestors
who committed this ugly attack, were the members of New Generation
Armenians Association.

Witnesses claim that despite being at the scene, French police didn’t
intervene the demonstration in time.