Author: Kajoyan Gevork

A TUNCELI, UNE MELOPEE ARMENIENNE POUR HONORER LES VICTIMES DU GENOCIDE

TUNCELI (Turquie), 24 avr 2013 (AFP) – Des oeillets rouges a la
boutonnière, quelques mots pour decrire la souffrance et un chant de
prière en armenien : pour la première fois, les Armeniens islamises de
la region du Dersim, dans l’est de la Turquie, ont commemore mercredi
le genocide de 1915.

Ils n’etaient qu’une poignee, reunis sur la place principale de
Tunceli, la minuscule capitale de cette province montagneuse, mais
pour ces descendants de rescapes, qui n’ont dû leur survie qu’a leur
conversion a l’islam et a l’entraide de leurs voisins musulmans,
le geste etait historique.

“Nous avons trouve refuge au Dersim et nous avons survecu. Mais depuis
98 ans, nous nous taisons (…) Pour la première fois en 98 ans,
nous parlons en notre nom”, a affirme devant quelques dizaines de
personnes Serkan Sariatac, un membre de l’Association des Armeniens
du Dersim, fondee il y a trois ans.

Le jeune homme a remercie la population alevie -une confession
musulmane heterodoxe- du Dersim, dont la tolerance a permis de sauver
de nombreuses vies armeniennes.

“S’ils n’avaient pas ete nos voisins, il n’y aurait peut-etre personne
aujourd’hui pour commemorer les victimes du genocide”, a-t-il declare,
avant de “maudire” les crimes commis en 1915.

Des centaines de milliers d’Armeniens ont peri dans des deportations
et des massacres survenus pendant la Première Guerre mondiale dans
l’empire ottoman, auquel a succede la Turquie.

Revelation

Les Armeniens avancent le chiffre d’un million et demi de morts
dans un genocide, une qualification adoptee par de nombreux pays,
mais fermement rejetee par Ankara.

Puis, pour la première fois sans doute depuis près d’un siècle,
un chant armenien a resonne sur la place de Tunceli, interprete par
une Armenienne venue de Grèce pour preter main-forte a ses “frères”
du Dersim, qui ont desormais oublie les mots de leur langue d’origine.

“Je suis ici parce que la verite doit etre dite, parce que chaque
Armenien a besoin que la justice soit retablie”, a commente, emue
aux larmes, Quin Minassian, enseignante d’armenien a la retraite,
venue du Piree (Grèce).

Pour elle, la decouverte de survivants islamises du genocide a ete
une revelation.

“Jusqu’a maintenant, de nombreux Armeniens ne savaient pas qu’il
existait des Armeniens ici”, a indique Mme Minassian.

Mais desormais, “c’est comme si nous etions des amis de longue date,
ils sont mes soeurs et mes frères”, a-t-elle ajoute, soulignant
que leur conversion importait peu pour elle. “Nous devons etre
tous ensemble car nous ne sommes plus très nombreux”, a conclu
l’enseignante.

Par Nicolas CHEVIRON

jeudi 25 avril 2013, Stephane ©armenews.com

UN PARTI POLITIQUE KURDE APPELLE LA TURQUIE A RECONNAITRE LE GENOCIDE ARMENIEN

Le pincipal parti politique kurde de Turquie represente au Parlement
a appele mercredi 24 avril 2013 la Turquie a reconnaître le genocide
des Armeniens. Le Parti pour la paix et la democratie (BDP) a egalement
exhorte le Parlement turc a enqueter sur cette periode de l’histoire.

” Les traumatismes du genocide sont encore presents dans la memoire
collective. La Turquie ne s’est pas reconciliee avec sa propre histoire
et n’a pas presente ses excuses au peuple armenien en reconnaissant
la realite du genocide “, a declare le BDP.

D’autre part, des dizaines de personnes se sont rassemblees a Istanbul
pour commemorer le 98e anniversaire du genocide armenien. L’agence
francaise AFP a annonce que la foule etait principalement composee
d’Armeniens de Turquie qui se sont rassembles devant le Musee des Arts
turcs et islamiques, qui etait autrefois une prison où les Armeniens
etaient enfermes avant d’etre deportes pendant la Première Guerre
mondiale. Des cartes de manifestants ont rappele : ” Le Musee des
Arts turcs et islamiques etait une prison en 1915 où des intellectuels
armeniens ont ete emprisonnes avant d’etre deportes. ”

Le genocide des Armeniens a ete commemore dans au moins trois villes
en Turquie. ” Il y a dix ans, un tel evenement, la commemoration du
genocide armenien, etait impossible en Turquie “, a declare Benjamin
Abtan, president du mouvement anti-raciste europeen (EGAM). ” Cela
montre que les mentalites changent ici “, a-t-il dit.

jeudi 25 avril 2013, Laetitia ©armenews.com

RULING PARTY: “ARMENIAN GENOCIDE” IS FICTION NOT BASED ON OBJECTIVE HISTORY

AzerNews, Azerbaijan
April 24 2013

24 April 2013, 18:35 (GMT+05:00)

The “Armenian genocide” is absolute fiction and is not based on
objective history, Deputy Chairman of the ruling Yeni (New) Azerbaijan
Party (YAP) Ali Ahmadov told reporters on Wednesday, expressing his
attitude towards the “Day of Genocide” commemorated by Armenians.

According to him, the propaganda which the Armenians use in talking
about the false “Armenian Genocide” has become less effective against
the information used by Azerbaijan and Turkey that is based on
objective historical reality.

“Objective and fair work to be carried out against the false propaganda
of the “genocide” of Armenians should be based on proving to the world,
international organizations, and every country that these “genocide”
claims are backed with no evidence and are simply anti-Azerbaijani
and anti-Turkish propaganda. Most importantly, our work should be
based on the reporting of the hatred towards Azerbaijan and Turkey
that Armenians nourish. We need to continue this work in the future,”
Ahmadov said.

It should be noted that on April 24 of each year, Armenia commemorates
the fictional “Armenian Genocide”.

Armenia and the Armenian lobby claim that Turkey’s predecessor, the
Ottoman Empire, committed genocide in 1915 against Armenians living
in Anadolu.

ARMENIA’S TEAM ACHIEVES 4 WINS IN GEORGIA

April 24, 2013

YEREVAN. – Armenian women’s under-19 national handball team held test
matches, in the Georgian capital city Tbilisi, with its Georgian peers,
and it won all of its four matches, Armenian Handball Federation
official website informs.

Armenia’s national squad is preparing for the European Championship
qualifying tournament, which will be held in Vienna, Austria, from
May 17 to 19.

Armenia is in Group 5, in this tournament, and it will play against
Austria, the Netherlands, and Bulgaria.

The Armenian national squad started its trainings in November 2012.

NEWS.am Sport

CHRIS BOHJALIAN BELIEVES MANY PEOPLE ARE NOT AWARE ENOUGH OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

19:49, 24 April, 2013

YEREVAN, APRIL 24, ARMENPRESS: Many people are less aware of the
Armenian Genocide than it is necessary. This was noted by Chris
Bohjalian in the interview with Armenpress. “We may at the same time
remember and commemorate the memory of 1,5 million victims. We can
oppose the people who deny indisputable historical truth and enlighten
the world about those historical episodes,” he noted.

Chris Bohjalian’s “Sandcastle Girls” continues to tell U.S people about
the Armenian Genocide. The novel has received stellar reviews from
dozens of publications nationwide, including the NYT, Washington Post,
USA Today, the Boston Globe, the Associated Press, Library Journal,
Publishers Weekly, Booklist, Kirkus Reviews, Entertainment Weekly,
and People Magazine.

PALLONE STATEMENT ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE REMEMBRANCE DAY

PolitickerNJ, NJ
April 24 2013

By Raymond | April 24th, 2013 – 8:51pm

WASHINGTON DC — Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06), co-chair and
founder of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues, released the
following statement in recognition of the 98th Anniversary of the
Armenian Genocide, which is April 24, 2013:

“Today we commemorate the 98th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide,
and remember the lives of the one and a half million Armenians
who were slaughtered by Ottoman Turks between 1915 and 1923. As
we remember the victims, we pay homage to the Armenian people who,
for thousands of years, have shown their perseverance and strength
in the face of great challenges.

“While, the Armenian Genocide has been recognized by scholars all
over the world and has been widely documented as a historical fact,
we are reminded today that Turkey refuses to recognize the atrocities
as genocide. However, I will not stand idly by as the truth of the
murder of one and half million Armenians is distorted.

“The time for the U.S. to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide
is long overdue, and I am as committed today, as I was when I founded
the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues more than 17 years ago,
to push for that formal recognition.

“Armenia stands as a resilient ally of the United States and a nation
dedicated to democracy and regional stability. Today we stand in
support of Armenia and commemorate the bravery of those who perished
in and survived the genocide.”

.

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE VIGIL AT FRESNO STATE

CBS 47
April 24 2013

A vigil was held Tuesday night at Fresno State to remember the victims
of the Armenian Genocide.

Tuesday marked the 98th anniversary of the genocide, where more than
one million Armenians lost their lives.

Marine Vardanyan said, “You can’t forget your history especially as
Armenians, with so many people denying that the genocide happened,
its our goal to teach people that this happened, to learn about the
history and to preserve it and teach their children.”

The documentary “The River Running Red was also shown at Fresno State.

The film includes eyewitness accounts of the genocide and recollections
from survivors.

ARMENIANS IN ROME CALL ON MEDIA TO SCRAP ‘YOUNG TURKS’ TERM

ANSA Med, Italy
April 24 2013

On 98th anniversary of 1915 Turkish genocide of 1.5mln Armenians

(ANSAmed) – ROME, APRIL 24 – Today is the 98th anniversary of the
Armenian genocide at the hands of the Ottoman government, and the
local Armenian community has called on Italian media to scrap the term
“young Turks” when describing a Democratic Party faction.

“For us those words recall the horror of the Great Crime (the
Medz Yeghern, in Armenian) and of the regime of terror that led to
genocide”, Armenian community leaders said in a note Wednesday. The
starting date of the extermination of 1.5 million Armenians is
conventionally held to be the night of April 24, 1915, when police
instigated by the so-called Young Turks in the Ottoman government
arrested hundreds of Armenian journalists, writers, lawyers, priests
and other members of the intelligentsia. Unlike Germany following
World War II, Turkey has yet to acknowledge its government once
followed a policy of extermination of its Armenian minority.

In its 2013 slogan, the Armenian community in Rome exhorted everyone
to “stop and think about what happened in 1915. About this past that
won’t pass, and that needs to be remembered. Stop and think. Don’t
become an accomplice of negationism”.

(ANSAmed).

CALIFORNIANS IN CONGRESS CREATE SIKH CAUCUS, OBSERVE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

89.3 KPCC, CA
April 24 2013

A pair of California House members have announced the formation of
a new group to acknowledge a large religious group in California:
the Sikh Caucus.

Nearly 40 percent of the nation’s estimated Sikh population –an
estimated 250,000 — live in California. Early immigrants worked on
the railroad and farms in California’s Central Valley. The first Sikh
Temple built in California, Gurdwara, opened in 1912.

Rep. Judy Chu, D-Monterey Park, and Rep. David Valadao, R-Hanford,
will co-chair the new caucus, an informal group created to educate
members of Congress and the general public about American Sikh issues.

“More than a decade after 9/11, too many Sikhs across America face
discrimination, bullying, and even bias-motivated violence from
misguided individuals associating them with the terrorist attacks,”
Chu said Wednesday. “This caucus will be the voice for American Sikhs
in the House of Representatives.”

According to the Associated Press, Sikhs have been targeted in more
than 700 violent incidents over the last decade, including a shooting
at a Sikh temple last year in Wisconsin.

Also on Wednesday, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Burbank, made a speech on the
House floor – in Armenian to commemorate the 98th anniversary of the
Armenian Genocide. An estimated million and a half Armenians were
killed in 1915 by the Ottoman government and Schiff’s district is
home to a large Armenian-American community in Glendale.

“I speak to you in the language of the survivors who came to America
for freedom and made a new life,” he said. “I speak to you in the
language of those who were lost. Their voices drift across the decades,
begging us to remember.”

KNESSET MARKS TURKS’ GENOCIDE OF ARMENIANS

Jewish Voice
April 24 2013

Wednesday, 24 April 2013 10:07 By Jason Greenberg

MK Rivlin: “We cannot ignore the catastrophes of others because of
diplomatic considerations.”

The Knesset will hold a ceremony to mark the memory of the Turkish
genocide of Armenians, almost 100 years ago, on Tuesday, April 23.

MK Reuven Rivlin (Likud) said before the ceremony that he believes that
“as human beings and as Jews, we must not ignore the catastrophe of
another nation for any reason, including diplomatic considerations,
important as they may be.”

“We will mark the annual memorial day for the massacre of the
Armenian people regardless of the relations with today’s Turkey,
which is an ally.”

Turkey is highly displeased with the Knesset’s decision to mark
the day, as relations between the countries continue to be tense,
despite a recent rapprochement brokered by U.S. President Barack Obama.

The genocide of the Armenians took place in the course of World War 1,
and it is generally estimated that between 1 and 1.5 million Armenians
were murdered, making up about one third of the entire Armenian people.

The massacre began when about 250 Armenian leaders in Istanbul were
shot to death, on orders from the Turkish government. Later on, men,
women and children were put to death on a daily basis in various ways,
including forced marches that ended in their death from exhaustion,
cold and hunger. Women and children were placed on boats and drowned
at sea, or crucified. There is also evidence that children were put
to death with poison gas in schools that were converted to death camps.

Turkey has consistently denied responsibility for the genocide, which
is sometimes referred to as the Armenian Holocaust. Various events
devoted to the subject, which were supposed to be held at the Knesset,
were cancelled in recent years because of Turkish pressure.