Author: Kalantarian Kevo

CHURCH OF CHRIST HAS A MISSION TO HELP PREVENT CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY: HIS HOLINESS KAREKIN II

13:28, 22 Apr 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

Address of His Holiness Karekin II Catholicos Of All Armenians at
the Global Forum Session on the Occasion of the Centennial of the
Armenian Genocide

22 April 2015

Dear Brothers in Christ:

We praise the Lord most high on the occasion of this gathering. By
the will of God, we have come together to commemorate the 100th
Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in brotherly love, prayer,
and with united efforts to witness and realize Christ’s message
“that all may become one” (John 17:21)

At the beginning of the twentieth century the monstrous crime of
genocide was planned and carried out by Ottoman Turkey, millions of
Armenians were forced out of their native lands and were decimated,
and others were forced to convert. The wave of these horrific evils
did not spare the other ethnic and religious minorities of the Ottoman
Empire, like the children of the brotherly Greek and Syrian peoples.

Dear faithful brothers, today in your countries many sons and daughters
of our nation, who are the descendants of those Armenians who survived
and dispersed throughout the world, live and work side-by-side with
the Christ-loving flock entrusted to your care by the Lord and share
in your sorrows and joys. They are living testimony to the barbaric
crime. They are also our answer to the denial of the Armenian
Genocide. In the name of our faithful, we express our gratitude to
you for the care, love and your paternal blessings that you have
continuously shown towards our people.

Many of you have come from countries of the Middle East. Today within
the borders of your countries rest the remains of Armenians killed in
the deserts of the Ottoman Empire, whom in the words of the Book of
Revelations, still await justice (cf. Revelations 6:9-10). We believe
that justice must be established on a firm foundation for the sake
of humanity’s well-being, peace and solidarity.

The Armenian Genocide was accompanied by cultural obliteration as
well. Many holy shrines, churches, monasteries, sacred spiritual and
cultural treasures were destroyed and will never be replaced. Many
of you have had occasion to visit Christian holy sites in Turkey,
where prayers are no longer heard and which lie in ruins or are on
the verge of collapse due to intentional neglect.

This is just a sketch of the horrendous crime that was committed
at the beginning of the 20th century. The 100 years following the
Genocide have been years of resurrection in our national life and a
long, challenging path to bring justice for our people. It has been
comforting that along this difficult path we have been assisted
by our brothers in the great Christian family and by peoples and
individuals of good will. We have been consoled by the unwavering
support of civilized and progressive humanity, when various countries,
organizations and individuals have recognized the Armenian Genocide
and condemned this crime of the early 20th century.

The Church of Christ has a mission bestowed upon by the Lord to
preach the life-giving Divine word to establish love, brotherhood and
peace amongst people and to help prevent and heal the consequences
of crimes against humanity. Crimes of all kinds, whether murder,
terror, atrocity, or genocide, are violations of God’s creation and
are transgressions against the sanctity and dignity of human life and
therefore sins that must be atoned for through confession, repentance,
and redemption. Guided by the apostolic word “to do everything in love”
(1 Corinthians 16:14) and adhering to the church father’s exhortation
to “love the sinner, but hate the sin,” the church never considers
the expression of Christian love toward sinners to be acceptance or
approval of sin or transgression. There should be no doubt that the
condemnation of committed crimes is essential for the prevention of
new evils and calamities.

Dear spiritual brothers, this is an occasion once again to raise
our voices to condemn the crimes against humanity which have not yet
received the justice they are due as well as the crimes being committed
today, especially in the continuing conflict and terrorism in the
Middle East, and to call on the leaders of all nations, states and
international institutions to exert every effort to stop these crimes,
which are bringing about destruction and slaughter of innocents.

We are deeply upset, that on the eve of the commemoration events of
the Armenian Genocide, we are informed once again of crime against
the faithful of the Ethiopian church that has been perpetrated by
extremists in Libya, as was the same case against the Coptic Christians
only months ago. As a result, our beloved brother, His Holiness Abune
Mathias I, Patriarch and Catholicos of the Ethiopian Tewahedo Orthodox
Church, was unable to participate in these commemorative events. We
offer our support to our beloved brother and his faithful flock,
praying that God receive in His dwellings on high the souls of the
martyred children of the Ethiopian Church.

We convey Our brotherly love and gratitude to you all for partaking
in the events commemorating the Armenian Genocide.

We pray that All-Merciful God will help and support us so that we
may fulfill our mission and continue to work together for the sake
of establishing peace, justice and solidarity in the world, for the
glory of God, the vibrancy of Christ’s Holy Church, and the well-being
of all humanity.

SCHOLAR: ITTIHADISTS’ GOAL WAS OTTOMAN SOCIETY’S TRANSFORMATION

12:51, 22.04.2015
Region:World News, Armenia, Turkey
Theme: Politics

YEREVAN. – The objective of the Ittihadists in the Ottoman Empire
was not solely the extermination of the ethnic groups, but the
transformation of the Ottoman society in the absence of these groups.

The president of the International Association of Genocide Scholars
(IAGS), Daniel Feierstein, noted the aforementioned at the two-day
International Social and Political Global Forum against the Crime of
Genocide. This event is devoted to the Armenian Genocide Centennial,
and it got underway Wednesday in Armenia’s capital city of Yerevan.

In Feierstein’s words, this transformation was also the objective
of Nazi Germany, and terrorism was used as a tool to achieve this
objective.

The IAGS director stated that if we analyze the genocide from the
perspective of the Armenian community in the Ottoman Empire, we would
see that the Assyrians, Greeks and other nations have suffered to a
lesser degree.

“We need to challenge our thinking in terms of reconsideration of
the Armenian Genocide,” Daniel Feierstein added.

As reported earlier, about 600 participants from fifty countries are
taking part in the International Social and Political Global Forum
against the Crime of Genocide.

REPUBLIKA SRPSKA PRESIDENT TO VISIT ARMENIA FOR APRIL 24 EVENTS

12:57, 22.04.2015
Region:World News, Armenia
Theme: Politics

YEREVAN. – President of the Republika Srpska – one of two entities
in Bosnia and Herzegovina – will arrive in Yerevan on Wednesday for
the commemoration events on the Armenian Genocide Centennial.

Earlier Milorad Dodik submitted the text of a statement to recognize
the Armenian Genocide perpetrated in 1915-1917.

VIGIL SERVICE AT HOLY ETCHMIADZIN IN PREPARATION FOR THE CANONIZATION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE VICTIMS

20:30, 22 Apr 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

On April 22 at 21: 30, in the Mother Cathedral of Holy Etchmiadzin, His
Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians;
will offer a Vigil Service, in preparation for the Canonization of
the martyrs of the Armenian Genocide. Participating in the service
are the Armenian clergy, and the leaders and official delegations of
the Christian Churches in Armenia for the 100th Anniversary of the
Armenian Genocide.

On April 23 at 10:00 am, Divine Liturgy will be celebrated in the
Mother Cathedral of Holy Etchmiadzin.

On April 23, starting at 17:15, at the St. Trdat Open Air Altar at
the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, the Canonization Service for the
Martyrs of the Armenian Genocide will be offered.

The Armenian Church invites its faithful children to bring their
prayerful participation to the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin for
this historic event.

IRAN WILL WAIT FOR ARMENIA AFTER APRIL 24

Hakob Badalyan, Political Commentator
Comments – 22 April 2015, 11:48

The presidents of none of the four neighbors of Armenia will be in
Armenia on April 24. It is clear with Turkey and Azerbaijan. Neither
the presidents of Georgia and Iran, nor other high-level delegations
of these countries will arrive. Georgia’s deputy speaker will arrive
in Armenia, while the delegation of the Georgian minister of defense
will be leaving for Turkey.

Although, here the situation is quite clear too. Armenia is not at
a conflict with these countries but they have not recognized the
Armenian genocide, each has their interest. Georgia does not want
to earn problems with Turkey and Azerbaijan which make significant
investments in the Georgian economy.

Iran also has its goals and objectives, and though Turkey is a
competitor in regional aspirations, Tehran does not find it expedient
to cause tension with Ankara.

Besides, there are several other circumstances relating to the
regional setting, the Russian-Turkish influence on this setting, as
well as problems in the Near East, and in some of them the service
for tactical issues of the Iran-Turkey cooperation.

Many years ago, during Robert Kocharyan’s presidency, the Iranian
president Mahmud Ahmadinejad visiting Yerevan avoided the visit to
the Genocide memorial envisaged in the protocol of official visits.

Ahmadinejad returned home early to avoid this visit, which was
explained by some urgent problems in Iran.

In this respect, the positions of Georgia and Iran are clear, and
their absence on April 24 can be understood. At the same time, there
is an important circumstance – the roll call on April 24 cannot be
a measure of the foreign policy of Armenia, despite the temptation.

The Armenian Genocide, the Armenian issue is highly important as a
foreign political resource of Armenia, as a trump card for Armenia, as
an international subject which Armenia still needs to be able to manage
efficiently for a lasting and broad process. However, this resource
cannot be a starting point for building foreign relations because
it will place Armenia in front of restrictions, transforming from an
important resource of foreign policy to a national security threat.

Moreover, Georgia and Iran who will not be in Yerevan on April 24 are
more valuable for Armenia amid the current geopolitical tendencies
and environment than, for example, Russia represented in Yerevan
by its president, the Caucasian policy of which has been built
on the priorities of strategic development of Russian-Turkish and
Russian-Azerbaijani relations since the mid 2000s, entering into an
increasingly threatening controversy with the national interest and
security of Armenia and culminating in the past two years.

Georgia and Iran are important for Armenia, at least for the land roads
provided the blockade by Azerbaijan and Turkey as subjects which have
a big potential for forming a new valuable and prospective regional
vector in the economic, political and security aspects.

Now this potential is actually scattered in three countries for
different reasons. In Armenia, for example, it is the lack of
sovereignty and Russian dominance for which the Iran-Armenia-Georgia
pole is seen as a threat while this pole is an opportunity for Armenia
to break through the Turkish-Azerbaijani policy of blockade.

At the same time, there are problems in Tbilisi. Tbilisi prefers
dealing with Ankara and Baku because it has more economic benefits
provided that the Iran-Armenia direction is closed, and the
political-military aspect is more reliable for Georgia, considering
Russia’s aggressive stance towards Georgia’s orientation to the EU
and NATO.

Tbilisi fears that Russia may use its influence to make Armenia or the
factor of the Armenian community in Georgia a tool for its aggression.

The core of the problem is again the ability of Armenia to conduct
an independent and sovereign foreign policy which will help overcome
Georgia’s lack of confidence, at the same time facilitating Tbilisi’s
awareness of the essential strategic issue.

Even though the Turkish-Azerbaijani direction is reliable and
economically beneficial for Georgia, in strategic terms this direction
is no less a threat to Georgia. And if Tbilisi has the smallest
inclination for the idea of the Georgian state, the Russian-Turkish
direction cannot be superior to the political- military cooperation
with Armenia. Therefore, it is important for Armenia to rid of Russia’s
strategic counterinfluence.

Iran which is facing the strategic process of normalization with
the West is waiting for this. Recently Iran has been making hints to
Armenia on starting a more strategic and comprehensive relationship
but Yerevan has not responded. In this respect, Yerevan’s refusal to
initiate negotiations on import of cheap gas from Iran despite the
Iranian ambassador’s straightforward statements is indicative.

The Iran-Armenia-Georgia direction can be one of the roads of the
West-Iran relationship which still has to overcome a lot of tactical
reefs and be a lasting process.

Unfortunately, despite the delineating prospects, due to the Russian
imperial influence Yerevan is actually a tactical reef for both Iran
and the West.

Hence, the problem is not the presence or absence in Armenia on April
24 but the presence or absence of Armenia in the region as a sovereign
political subject.

TURKEY TOO POWERFUL A STATE TO RECOGNIZE GENOCIDE – US-ARMENIAN JOURNALIST

17:21 * 22.04.15

Turkey, as a state far more powerful than Armenia, will be too
much influenced by pressures to ever dare to recognize the Armenian
Genocide, according to Harut Sassounian, a columnist for The California
Courrier.

Speaking at the anti-Genocide forum in Yerevan, the journalist said
he feels that the country is more likely to pursue its own interests
rather than stand up for a universal cause for justice. According to
him, Turkey will not dare to acknowledge the tragedy even if all the
world countries do so.

“We are not, of course, a powerful state and do not have a powerful
army; otherwise the Turks would have recognized [the Genocide] and
offered reparation. Turkey is powerful, but we are not. So truth and
justice have no value in the world when your army is weak. They will
if you have a strong army,” he noted.

Commenting on Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s recent
condolence address, Sassounian said he finds the move part of Turkey’s
foul tricks aimed at cheating the world.

“They express sorrow to both the Turks and the Armenians who died
during the First World War. But they died because of them, standing
up against powerful states. Yet, we aren’t victims of war; we are
innocent victims of Genocide,” he said, noting regretfully that the
world is still very often misguided by Turkish lies.

As for the Turkish authorities’ plan to celebrate the Gallipoli
Campaign centennial on the April 24 Genocide Remembrance Day,
Sassounian said he is sure that the country has intentionally sought
such a coincidence. “Turkey did that deliberately, scheduling it for
the wrong day. The purpose is one: to disrupt the April 24 events in
Armenia,” he added.

PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Use – Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Tel: (+961- 4) 410001, 410003
Fax: (+961- 4) 419724
E- mail: [email protected]
Web:
PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

The ideology of Pan Turanism was the basis for the Armenian Genocide by
the Ottoman Empire,

Stated His Holiness Aram I

Following the Mass commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Armenian
Genocide at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, where Pope Francis
reaffirmed the Armenian Genocide, Catholicos Aram I was interviewed by
the Vatican Insider newspaper.

The interview covered the following issues: The statement of His
Holiness the Pope and Turkey’s reaction to the statement; the current
situation in the Middle East; and Christian presence in the region.

Responding to the question of genocide, Catholicos Aram I said,
`Historical research, including that of Turkish historians, affirm
that the genocide of the Armenians was planned and executed by the
Ottoman Empire because of Pan-Turanism, the nationalist ideology of the
political party in power at that time–the Committee of Union and
Progress, popularly known as the Young Turks. The Young Turks sought to
unify the people of Turkish origin, politically, culturally and
ethnically, not only in Turkey but also in the Middle East, Asia and
beyond. The presence of Armenians in Cilicia and Western Armenia was a
stumbling block to this ideology. In order to uproot them, the
government instituted a process of genocide. The authorities implemented
this program in three ways: First, they killed or imprisoned the
Armenian lay and spiritual leadership. Second, they organized massacres
in the regions densely inhabited by Armenians. Third, they deported the
others to the Deir Zor desert (Syria) to die of hunger and disease.’

His Holiness continued, ` Today Turkey is distorting the facts by
referring to our people’s demand for justice as religious incitement.
We condemn this manipulation of facts. Armenians are demanding justice
and the restitution of their rights. Our cause has nothing to do with
religion. We have been living with Islam, following the principles of
mutual respect and understanding, since the 7th Century and will
continue this way of living together’

His Holiness Aram I concluded his interview by thanking Pope Francis for
his courageous stand; he said, `The Church is the voice of justice and
represents the will of the people. It does not pursue political goals.’

###

Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia

Communication and Information Department
PO Box : 70 317 Antelias – LEBANON
Tel: (+961-4) 410 001 / 3
Fax: (+961-4) 419724
E-mail: [email protected]

Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
PO Box : 70 317 Antelias – LEBANON
Tel: (+961-4) 410 001 / 3
Fax: (+961-4) 419724
E-mail: [email protected]

Opinion / Editorials

‘After 100 years, Turkey should acknowledge Armenian genocide: Editorial*The
Turkish people today are not responsible for the Armenian genocide. They
should be able to come to terms with the past.*
[image: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses media in
Bucharest, Romania, April 1.]

VADIM GHIRDA / AP

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses media in Bucharest,
Romania, April 1.
Published on Mon Apr 20 2015

After 100 years, it is now widely accepted as the first genocide of the
modern era. The killing of as many as 1.5 million Armenians in Ottoman
Turkey that began in April, 1915, was a stain on the conscience of
humanity, the first such horror in a century that would sadly see many more.

Here in Canada, Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government recognizes the
genocide ,
and Parliament passed resolutions more than a decade ago condemning it as a
crime against humanity.

As Armenians the world over mark the 100th anniversary on Friday of the
beginning of the `great catastrophe,’ they know that the mass slaughter and
expulsion that their community suffered as the First World War raged has
gained iconic status as a crime of monstrous proportions. Nazi leader
Adolph Hitler may have believed that few would remember the Armenian
tragedy, but history has proved him wrong.

Just this past week Pope Francis used his powerful pulpit to urge world
leaders to recognize the genocide
,
saying that `concealing or denying evil is like allowing a wound to keep
bleeding without bandaging it.’ The Pope alluded, as well, to the current
persecution of Christians by Islamic State jihadists and other radicals in
places such as Syria, Iraq and Nigeria. Even so, his remarks predictably
infuriated Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government. It
recalled
its envoy to the Vatican and accused the Pope of fanning hatred with
baseless claims.

As the Star’s Olivia Ward wrote on Saturday, the Turkish government has
always maintained the claim that the Armenian `tragedy,’ while terrible,
has been exaggerated, and was a byproduct of an ugly civil war as the
Ottoman Empire disintegrated. But diplomats at the time were shocked by the
sheer scale of the suffering of two million Christian Armenians in what is
now eastern Turkey. They faced mass deportation, death marches, starvation,
executions, torture and rape. To one American diplomat it looked like a
systematic bid to crush the Armenian race.

The Armenian tragedy proved to be just the first of several in a 20th
century drenched in the blood of two world wars and state-sanctioned mass
slaughter.

The singular evil of the Shoah, the Holocaust, towers above the rest.
Hitler’s Nazi killing machine murdered 6 million Jews seeking to annihilate
an entire people. But millions of Ukrainians died in Joseph Stalin’s
man-made famines. In Cambodia the Khmer Rouge killed millions. And nearly a
million perished in Rwanda and Bosnia.

Modern Turkey is a democratic, advanced state and a valued ally of Canada
and the rest of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization alliance. The
Ottoman Empire is long gone and Turkish people today have no such blood on
their hands. With the hindsight of a century, they should be able to come
to terms with past events, however painful.

Yet, discouragingly, the Turkish government continues to attack any and all
who dare utter the word genocide. In Erdogan’s mind, `it is out of the
question for there to be a stain or a shadow called genocide on Turkey.’
That perversely casts Turkey in the role of victim. That simply doesn’t
stand serious scrutiny. Modern scholarship has documented a campaign by
Mehmed Talat Pasha and his regime against the Armenians, who were regarded
as pro-Russian enemies from within, at a time when Turkey was allied with
Germany against Russia.

Turkey’s current leadership, innocent of century-old crimes, should
recognize that their country’s international standing is suffering
by their
corrosive refusal to come to grips with the past. The European Parliament
has just made that very case
,
urging Turkey `to come to terms with its past, to recognize the Armenian
genocide and thus to pave the way for a genuine reconciliation between the
Turkish and Armenian peoples.’ That reconciliation is long overdue. It’s
time to look history squarely in the face, or be haunted by a terrible
wrong.

LARGEST EVER GATHERING OF DIASPORA ARMENIANS IN ISTANBUL TO COMMEMORATE CENTENNIAL WITH TURKISH GROUPS

11:25, 21 Apr 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

On the eve of the centennial of the Armenian Genocide, Turkish and
Armenian-American organizations, assembled with record-breaking number
of Diaspora Armenians from around the world, called on the Turkish
government to recognize the truth of the historic events, issue an
unequivocal apology, and move towards accountability and reparations,
DurDe and Project 2015 said today at a press conference in Istanbul.

The concerted campaign by Ottoman leaders a century ago resulted in
the deaths and exile of the vast majority of their Armenian citizens,
but successive Turkish governments have failed to recognize or take
responsibility for the deliberate and systematic mass extermination
of the ethnic group.

“We have come together with Armenians from around the globe with
a single, unified message to the Turkish government: recognize the
genocide, so we can move forward on a project of reconciliation,” said
Levent Sensever of DurDe. “Whatever the position of our government,
we want the world to know that many citizens of Turkey recognize
the truth about the terrible crime against Armenians, and to pay our
respects to the victims and the survivors.”

The groups have been working with a number of other organizations
in Turkey and Europe for the past two years to coordinate the
participation of Armenians from around the world in centennial
commemoration events in Istanbul, including:

a concert at the Istanbul Congress Center on April 22; a public
assembly near Taksim Square on the evening of April 24, as well as
the decoration of a Wishing Tree in the square; events at Sultanahmet
Square and HaydarpaÈ~Ya Station, where Armenians were rounded up,
imprisoned and deported; a memorial service at È~XiÅ~_li Armenian
Apostolic Cemetery, where Sevag Ã…~^ahin Balikci is buried; Balikci was
an Armenian soldier serving in the Turkish military who was murdered
by a Turkish soldier on April 24, 2011; and an academic conference
on the Armenian Genocide sponsored by UCLA and Istanbul’s Tarih Vakfi
(History Foundation), and convened at BoC§azici University on April 26.

Project 2015 has assembled a record-breaking delegation of almost 200
Armenians from around the world to participate in the commemoration
events. Project 2015’s participants include nationals from 15
countries, including Armenia, the United States, Canada, France, the
United Kingdom, Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Hungary,
Burundi, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Turkey, Israel, Brazil,
Ethiopia, and Hong Kong (China).

“As Armenians, we have come to Istanbul in record numbers to
memorialize the brutal massacre of our family members, and to remind
the Turkish government that 100 years later, we are still seeking
justice and accountability, and will continue in our quest as long as
it takes,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, board member of Project 2015. “We
are heartened to see so many citizens of Turkey ready to face this
country’s past and look now to the government to come to terms with
an undoubtedly difficult and painful truth.”

The groups urged representatives of the international community to
attend the commemoration events organized in Istanbul on April 24.

“We have invited governments and non-governmental organizations alike
to join us for this historic centennial of what is a global tragedy
and a crime against humanity,” said Whitson. “Governments sending
representatives to the Gallipoli commemoration should in particular
ensure that they also send representatives to the Armenian Genocide
commemoration in Istanbul.”

Genocide is recognized as a crime under international law and defined
as the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of
an ethnic, racial, religious or national group under the 1948 Genocide
Convention. While the destruction of the Armenian population through
massacres and deportations preceded the Convention, the deliberate
and systematic actions of the Ottoman authorities undoubtedly meet
the 1948 definition. Recognition of the internationally wrongful acts
committed against the Ottoman Armenian population would constitute the
first step in addressing the obligations of the Turkish government
towards the survivors of the massacres and their descendants under
international law.

In 2014, then-Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan expressed his condolences
to the grandchildren of “Armenians who lost their lives in the context
of the early 20th century” but failed to acknowledge the role of the
Ottoman government in systematically causing these losses. The Turkish
government has refused to recognize the massacres of the Armenians
as genocide.

“President Erdogan and Prime Minister Davutoglu have a moral duty
to use their unique position of leadership to lead the people of
Turkey to come to terms with the near-total destruction of one of
our region’s oldest indigenous communities,” Sensever said. “We will
stand tall and proud as citizens of Turkey when we can say that our
government has paved a way for truth and accountability that will
let us all move forward, at last.”

“Erdogan should apply the Islamic principles he has claimed guide him
above politics and do the right thing with respect to recognizing and
apologizing for the Armenian Genocide,” said Whitson. “Leadership
in this issue means stepping forward and acknowledging the past
unequivocally, without looking for political trade-offs from
Armenians.”

The groups also urged the Turkish government to take
confidence-building measures that would demonstrate its sincerity in
addressing what it has acknowledged were tragic and terrible events
leading to the near total extermination of the Armenian population.

Among the gestures that the government could take is the establishment
of an independent council commission with a government-funded endowment
to restore 100 Armenian churches and monuments throughout the country
within 10 years. The commission should work in cooperation with
Turkish and Armenian architects who can survey, select and design
the restoration of these important heritage sites.

“100 years since the near-total extermination of its minority Armenian
population and the destruction of its centuries-old institutions,
one thing the Turkish government can do is move to restore Armenian
heritage sites throughout the country,” said Nancy Kricorian,
Project 2015 board member. “Such a gesture would not substitute for
reparations, but would indicate a good faith desire to reestablish
what past governments allowed to be recklessly destroyed.”

Discussion of the Armenian Genocide in Turkey remains a highly
sensitive subject in Turkey and subject to criminal sanctions. The
Turkish government has prosecuted journalists, writers and academics
for making reference to the Armenian Genocide. However, past
commemorations of the Armenian Genocide in Istanbul have taken place
without incident, and with the benefit of municipal police protection.

Yet Bilgi University canceled a conference planned to coincide with the
centennial, apparently on the grounds that the academic discussion of
the Genocide in Turkey remains too controversial. While the conference
organizers will now hold the conference at BoC§azici University,
its cancellation by Bilgi University stands as a poignant reminder
of latter-day Genocide denial and its consequences.

DurDe is one of Turkey’s leading civil and human rights organizations,
working to combat racism, nationalism and hate crimes. It is an
activist network that in recent years has played an important role
in organizing commemorations for the Armenian Genocide in Istanbul.

Project 2015 is a US-based non-profit organization comprised of
Armenians, Turks and Americans to encourage global participation in
the commemoration events in Istanbul.

WORLDWIDE READINGS MARK THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

15:36, 21 Apr 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

The planned extermination of Armenians started a century ago. To
remember all the voices lost, Armenian texts will be read worldwide
on Tuesday, according to Deutsche Welle.

The international literature festival berlin (ilb) and the Lepsiushaus
Potsdam launched a call for a worldwide reading of literary texts by
Armenian authors, as well as excerpts of Varujan Vosganian’s “The
Book of Whispers,” which describes the horrors of the deportations
and the extermination methods used by the Ottoman forces.

The initiators of the worldwide reading remind that these events were
well documented by several international sources. As stated in their
appeal, “As early as August 1915, ‘The New York Times’ reported on
a methodically planned program of ethnic cleansing and extermination
which was unprecedented in history up to that time. The German Reich’s
government, which was allied to the Ottoman Empire, reached the same
conclusions without undertaking anything against what was happening.”

More than 300 authors from all over the world are supporting this
initiative, among them the laureates for the Nobel Prize for Literature
Mario Vargas Llosa, Herta Muller, Elfriede Jelinek, Orhan Pamuk and
John M. Coetzee.

On Tuesday April 21, over a hundred literary events will be held
in more than 30 countries. No Turkish event has been announced. The
complete list of participants can be found on the initiative’s website